High-speed photography

Want photos that make an impact? Believe it or not, shots like this don’t require impeccably fast reflexes. I captured this photo of a lightbulb being broken with a steel ball shot from a slingshot using a shoe-mounted flash and a sound-activated trigger called a sound sync.

You can read the rest of this article, written by Jennifer, at MacWorld.com

iPhone apps for Photographers

Most photographers love gadgets, which is why most camera bags have more than just cameras in them. Now you can add the iPhone to your bag. There are hundreds of applications for photography in the App Store. While many of these iPhone apps center on taking photos with your iPhone, I'll restrict this article to the ones that help you shoot with a separate camera. Unlike most camera gear, iPhone app prices are low -- about $1.99 on average -- yet they can turn your iPhone into one of the best assistants you've ever used.

To read the rest link to this article Jennifer wrote on CreativePro.com

MacGyver would love Photoshop

This is for all you who have Photoshop CS3 or CS4 Extended. Among its many fun 3D tools and video tools, there is also a new menu called "Analysis". By using Analysis and measurement tools like the ruler, Photoshop can figure out the size of objects in an image. I've seen a demo of this with medical x-rays --"just how long is that nail that's stuck in your foot?" type of stuff. But u designers and photographers can use Analysis for other purposes.

Recently W+W was asked to help with environmental graphics at Adobe's headquarters. They were to be large posters that might take up entire walls. We could have brought a tape measure, but my dSLR worked just fine.

I lined up Monika firing squad-style against the wall and popped off this image.


Back at our office, I opened the image in Photoshop and went to Analysis > Set Measurement Scale > Custom and drew the ruler from her head to her heels. Since we know that Monika is 5'6", plus an extra inch for her shoes, I was able to add a logical height of 67 inches.


Now that I had set the scale for the image, all I had to do was use Photoshop's ruler to measure the height of the room (9ft), the width of the wall (19ft), and even the size of the picture frames behind her (34"x42").


You can even measure in perspective using Vanishing Point.

All the cool kids are doing it

Not many businesses today lack a web presence. But 10 years ago that was a different story. Just as the web was to 1999, social media is to 2009.

Most people use all sorts of tools now - Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, and MySpace are just a few. To stay current you need to get your business visible in this new information soup. It is a great way to continue to touch your clients and customers. The old adage that keeping old clients is cheaper than making new ones still rings true, and this is a great way to stay connected.

Let's assume that you have a great product to sell or an awesome service that everyone needs. You're now an authority that people can come to when making a purchasing decision! Tell people what you know and how it relates to them in a blog. Most blogging tools are free; Blogger and WordPress are very popular. You don't need a web programmer to start, but do consider branding your blog with your company's identity so that customers make the connection between your product and you.

Once you have made a blog post, broadcast it to your Facebook and MySpace pages, and Twitter so that your followers see that you have new information for them.

Consider making your website more dynamic. In the past most people had "brochure-ware" site. That is just as it sounds: a brochure that you create once and don't change until the next season. Today you can bring people back to your website over and over again if you are constantly serving up fresh content. If you are a restaurant, post rotating specials on your home page, and Twitter the daily specials to your loyal fans (just make sure you do it before lunch!).

Make sure to stay consistent. Start off blogging every Thursday morning (or whatever day works for you). Then if you want to, you can increase the frequency of your blogging and messaging. All of this takes more of your time, of which I am sure you don't feel you have any extra, but the payoff is worth it. Once you start you will see it gets easier and quicker.

While you're at it follow us on Twitter, become a fan of ours on Facebook and link to us on Linkedin.

Our 60 megapixel camera

No, we didn't just get the newest Hasselblad or the Phase One P65+.
Sometimes software just delivers. I mean really smokes it down the center for a strike. Photoshop CS4's Photomerge is just one of those things.

We were teaching a week long class on CS4, mostly Illustrator and Photoshop, and eventually got to the Photomerge command. I was trying to draw a real life example of how and when the group might use this to improve their design lives. After all panoramas of beautiful landscapes are great but can have a limited use. What you can get out of a Photomerged image though is much higher resolution than you could achieve with even a high end DSLR. So after teaching that during the day we went for a walk around Modesto just before dinner. Armed with a Canon G10 we passed the Gallo Center for the Arts. First we made a quick shot of the entire building to compare resolution later, then we zoomed in and took 6 shots covering the entire building. No tripod, no planning, no RAW - total time spent - less than 5 min.

Back in Bridge CS4 I selected all six images, then went to the Tools>Photoshop>Photomerge... and choose OK.



The resulting image provided a 171mb file verses the 41mb file I got from the single shot. You can see the difference in the images of the lights below. Effective resolution bump - 14.7 megapixels to 60 megapixels.
Nice.




If this image was needed for anything of size such as a trade show booth graphic or a a poster background we would have had to rez the single shot up and risk a major loss of detail. Here is the final result.

Tour of California rides through town.

On February 16th, amid a serious downpour we gathered up our camera equipment and walked just two blocks away to watch the Tour of California. We were oh-so fashionable in our raincoats and ziploc bags tied around the front of our lenses. As we waited for the race to come by we enjoyed chatting with the other spectators and sharing exposure settings. About an hour after we got to our location the sun came out and the race came through.

Levi Leipheimer was in the lead



The next group had Lance Armstrong (in front)


Then Francisco Mancebo wearing the yellow jersey


And even Floyd Landis (in front)


It was a great event and we are hoping that it comes through Santa Cruz again next year.

Just hangin' around the studio

Our studio is on the second floor of what was once a train depot. The building has since been rebuilt but they kept some of the old depot stylings like the clerestory windows. We are also, predictably, right next to the train tracks and a cool train tunnel. The other side of the tracks is covered in blackberries which attract birds and people alike.

Yesterday though, we saw some new visitors, two juvenile raccoons just working their way through the bushes eating away.