Photoshop CS3 Quick Selection tool

PS3 Quick Selection tool
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

One of the new tools in Photoshop CS3 demo'ed at the Adobe User Group Breakfast was the Quick Selection tool. A smarter magic wand it allows for very accuarate selections. Then when you go to Selection>Refine edges, you get a dialog that allows you to tighten, feather, and enhance the selection to make quit close cuts. It's really quite slick!
While we're talking close cutting, the other impressive tool demo'ed at the show was the Vertus Fluid Mask These kind of things need to be demo'ed live to really understand how fast it can be!

How would some of the great make out?

hilarious article dealing with online critiques of photos. If you've ever been involved in any kind of photo forum you'll get a kick out of this.

Kodak invented the digital camera 30 yrs ago

Steven Sasson knew right away in December 1975 that his 8-pound, toaster-size contraption, which captured a black-and-white image on a digital cassette tape at a resolution of .01 megapixels, "was a little bit revolutionary."

When anyone asked, the Eastman Kodak Co. engineer ventured that it would become a commercial reality in 15 to 20 years.

It would be a quarter century, though, before Kodak began to capitalize on Sasson's breakthrough: the first digital camera.

Kodak Winds of Change

An hilarious movie from Kodak of all companies! Something about how they are gonna keep up with the digital future. Funny if only for recognizing Kodak's mistakes; Advantix, The Disc camera, being in denial over digital years ago. If you known Kodak, they haven't been known for their sense of humour, so if this is a sign of things to come, well maybe there's hope for the old yeller dino yet!

Moo Mini Cards

One of the things I wanted to try when I upgraded my account to "pro" at Flickr were these cute little mini cards made from your Flickr pics. I ordered some, it's like $25US with shipping but if their half as cool as they seem to be, it could be fun to stuff these into packages, letters etc. Jeope, you really need to get a set of these!:-)

Photojojo's Photo Resoultions

a guide to New Year's resolutions with a photo theme. Links to some cool project ideas. If you bought a new camera or are looking to do cool things with the one you already have, then sign up for the emails at this site. Photojojo is the major source of some ofthe cooler photo links I have posted here.

Flickr Easter Egg

crowded
Originally uploaded by drcolossus.

Gonna send this one and see how long it takes to populate the net... you add a note in Flickr and enter the test ho ho ho hat and the note becomes a santa hat! Go to the shot in Flickr to see what I mean. This is a shot of Jeope's. Wonder if he'll notice? ;-)

UPDATE: ho ho ho beard does the same thing to finish the look!:-)

Bruce Fraser terminally ill

Photoshop news is reporting that Bruce Fraser, noted colour expert and author is terminally ill. When I first got into digital photography in a big way and needed to learn about colour managment and all the issues around it, I'd search for articles by Fraser. He knows his stuff, but can alos explain it in a way most of us can understand.

From the article:

For those who don’t know him, Bruce Fraser is an internationally well known author, consultant and speaker on the topics of digital imaging and color reproduction. In addition to authoring the highly successful Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2, he has been a contributing editor for Macworld magazine and co-author of the best-selling books Real World Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Real World Color Management, Second Edition, and the recently released Real World Image Sharpening. Bruce has also penned numerous articles, most recently for CreativePro.com. Bruce is a partner in PixelGenius, LLC. where he designed PhotoKit Sharpener.

Seems the tribute to Fraser and his influence is already being planned for Macworld.

UPDATE: National Association of Photoshop Users has inducted Fraser in their hall of fame. Scott Kelby "I think it's safe to say that this industry wouldn't be where it is today without Bruce's input, advice, and guidance. He's a gifted and talented instructor who has dedicated his life to taking the mystery out of digital imaging technology, and that's why we're proud to honor him as the first recipient of NAPP's Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Camera rant: Olympus XA

A thread Dave linked to on Wpg Photo at Sportshooter.com talks about old rangefinders. A few people on the thread rave about the Olympus XA. I had one years ago, it was ahead of its time in so many ways. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, you could take the flash off if you didn't need it, you could focus, albeit it was faint, like a Leica, it had a 2.8 lens that was very sharp, aperture priority, on and on... This was all well before the first autofocus point and shoots were commonly available. At the time of their release you either had 110's or big SLR's. It was like Apple's Newton, far too expensive, way too ahead of it's time and a niche product. It's the XA's legacy that enable Olympus to lead for many years in the point and shoot market and still today turn out sme very cool digi p&S.
Man that was a fun little camera. I don't think I'd buy the one linked to, I mean FILM?! sorry :-).

Cheap 16X20's

This from WpgPhoto.com:

This week at Don's Photo you can get 16x20 enlargements for only $12.99!

They can be from digital files, negatives (colour or black-and-white, 35mm/120/220), or slides.

This price does not include cropping or colour matching to an existing print. There's a limit of 5 per customer, and no other coupon or discount can be used.

Think of the possibilities for Christmas presents....

Chris B.

Aperture Plugins

One thing I forgot to mention in my presentation. Aperture have a developer kit and you can develop plugins. I used one to export directly to Flickr for example. The link here goes to a plug-in that allows you to export to Gallery, the open source online gallery software.
I think we'll see more and more of this, as the real geeks discover all the tricks to Aperture, it could be really neat!

Presentation went well, disaster averted

Thanks everyone who came out to last nights presentation. Always a bit nervous when I do them, waiting for the sytem to lock up or I forget to speak or something.

Thanks also to Brock for informally talking a poll on how many people in the room read the blog, when he asked what camera I recomend this holiday season! :-) Everyone laughing before he was even done asking the question was very gratifying. You never really know who's reading this stuff, but you could tell at least half the room was in on the joke!

I hope everyone got something from the presentation. I always maintain we need more fo this stuff, just relating our experiences, learn from each other. Photogs are the worst for keep secrets, but as Bob Tinker says, "There really ARE no secrets!"

Life, or at least career, altering gallery of images

To all the pros who drop by, check this out. Follow the link. Click on those snaps, let them load and admire the detail. Pretty nice eh? Yeah I thought so to. Ok wanna hear something wild? You sitting down?...

Those are from a Video camera. That's right, video, not still! Do you hear that? That noise, is a sea change coming to our industry, maybe not right away, maybe 5 years from now, but it's coming.

You know that phrase "But want I really want to do is direct" You might not have the option!

The Biggest Telephoto lens EVAR!!!

arl Zeiss recently announced a totally unique 'monster lens', the built-to-order Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 1700 mm F4 lens. Designed to be used with a Hasselblad 6x6 medium format camera this monster lens weighs in at 256 KG (564 lb) and uses unique methods for handling focusing (because of the weight of each glass element). This lens becomes the largest telephoto lens for non-military use anywhere in the world. The price hasn't been disclosed (although we've heard rumours) nor has the private owner, although some of the text on the lens is in Arabic and it carries a 'State of Qatar' emblem.

Don't ask me

This time of year I get all sorts of emails and phone calls, "which camera should I get this Xmas?" hmmm what day is it, Wenesday? Well that means ALL the cameras have upgraded and changed, so I don't have a clue. Cameras change now as fast as cell phones in terms of features and models. The link takes you to the Flickr page that tracks which cameras were used the most by Flickr users. sigh, Canon wins over Nikon hands down, but still its neat to see which Point and shoot models and which SLR's are actaully been used. So go there, millions of Flickr users can't be wrong.