There are hotkeys and then there are Damned hotkeys
The convenience of keyboard shortcuts sometimes comes with a very high price…
Photoshop User TV Celebrates 300th Episode
I heartily recommend the weekly video podcast for anyone with an interest in digital photography, image editing or illustration. Photoshop User TV is hosted by the original three Photoshop Guys: Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski and Dave Cross, who have become something of icons in the digital photography business, considering their books routinely hit #1 status on…
A great way to learn Dreamweaver CS5
For the last several weeks, I have been attending an excellent series of free live webinars on using Dreamweaver CS5 for design and styling web pages using CSS. CSS is the modern standard for laying out and styling web pages and everyone who is involved in the design of web sites needs to know about CSS. However, there…
How my Canon 20D became a 53 megapixel super camera!
Aloha! We recently spent a few days on the Big Island of Hawaii at the Marriott Beach Resort on Anaeho’omalu Bay ( 19°54’57.97″N 155°53’20.17″W). There is a very nice group of beaches along the south shore of the bay that afford a roughly 60 degree panoramic view of the entire bay, including the resort. I…
Preparing images for printing, part 1: How many pixels do you need?
It is very easy to prepare images to get outstanding prints at Turning Point Arts. In fact, it might require fewer steps than you think. I have noticed that some clients perform resizing and resampling steps that are actually unnecessary and had they not been done, very likely would have produced better prints. It would also…
Stop the “App” Insanity!
“Apps” have become the modern “great differentiator” between devices. ‘MY app store has more apps than their app store, so buy MY smartphone. It’s obviously better than theirs.’ Well, that’s the implication anyway. Marketeers love this; it’s Marketing 101–they teach it in school. Find and flog the key differentiator(s) between your product and their product. If…
Be careful what you put on your desktop
I recently encountered some mysterious behaviour in Windows 7 (Home Premium 32-bit). Immediately after logging in (usually right after a reboot), the system would become almost completely non-responsive for about 15 minutes. And just as mysteriously, it would then return to normal until the next time I logged in, which could be several days later.…
How View > Print Size works; or the mythical "72 ppi"
There is a common misconception that the correct “resolution” for images viewed on a monitor or the web is 72 ppi. Find out the truth…
How to make MagicJack work on a server
Getting a MagicJack to work on a server isn’t easy. Here’s how to do it…
Pump Up The Colour!
Do you sometimes have a colour image that appears washed out, lifeless and overly gray, even after adjusting levels and contrast? You know there is more colour in the image, but you can’t seem to coax it out.
Well, if you’re up for a short ride through the Lab colour mode, here’s a very simple trick to “pump up the colour”.