Affordable DVD Packaging

Affordable DVD Packaging was – amongst others – the topic of yesterday’s exciting Photoshop Ycademy Workshop and great Web Graphics Tutorial.

Affordable DVD Packaging

Is there a way for affordable DVD Packaging?

Well, there is the long way to elaborate all this in hundreds of little steps on Photoshop – that’s what I’ve learned and practised over quite a while based on studying the early Adobe Photoshop Bible 5 – and then there is today’s fast and spiffy way by using Actions or Action Scripts, where basically the whole process is extremely compressed into automatic processes with occasional ’stops’ to insert personalized data like a title, a name, a copyright… that deliver astonishing end products.

These Action Scripts allow even people who are no artists and who don’t intend to go that route… but who have equipped themselves properly with Photoshop and who wish to present their photos and images on Blogs and Websites in a professional and appealing way… to produce great results for say CD wrappers, attractive DVD Jewel cases and many other forms of packaging.

Of course, this is only possible because some professional Graphic Designer has gone the whole route of many little steps to create an Action Script – that basically recorded all these complex steps and wrapped it all up in a PRO Action product at a price or gives it away for ‘free’. Suddenly, anyone can get an eye-catching result at one or two mouse clicks. What’s important here is to find the real good actions between the many thousands out there on the Internet… but for this we have:

Photoshop Ycademy

Whenever working professionally, it is important to be properly equipped.

A good tool may have its price, but it’s all worth it as it saves us time and – if we know how to use it – it definitely gives us an edge over the competition.

Those Photoshop Ycademy Workshop participants who wish to reach the top – and with it a highly sophisticated clientele – have to continuously invest in high quality tools and their knowledge and skills to use them. However, this will allow them to focus on Productivity, get better results and have more music in their PayPal account at the end of the day.

Read more…

• Top Performance in Sports
• Jelly
• Pink Flamingos
• Web Design Consulting
• Top Performance in Sports

Watermark and Copyright with Photoshop CS4

A small but important task for all creative minds: protect your work! Even considering that in certain countries, such as the USA, your images are automatically copyright protected when you publish them, you may want to make it “crystal” clear to everyone that you claim your rights on your work.

In Photoshop CS 4 it is easy to create a simple Action for the purpose of watermarking and to add a copyright notice to your picture. The watermark is the visible sign, while the copyright notice is attached to the file.

Transparent Watermark 1

Transparent Watermark 2

At tonight’s call we will create an Action in CS4 allowing you to add quickly your watermark and copyright notice to your images.

Join the workshop at 8 pm London time at yorGOtalk.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Media Development and Design Ycademy

Website Development has changed in recent years: while 10 years ago simple html sites with some embedded small pictures were the rule, customers ask increasingly for advanced media features, interactivity and connectivity namely with social networks.

The Path to ...

Hiod, YORGOO and Ycademy have made cutting edge technology available to a broad public and part-time site developers since 2001. We continue to develop along general trends by helping ordinary people reaching extraordinary results in an environment where by definition things become more complex and demand permanent education, be it just to allow to target marketing efforts to the ever moving target of the masses: from the PC to the Laptop, to Social Networks and to Mobile devices.

Semiomantics semantic Online Publishing Frameworks

With Semiomantics we have created a versatile WordPress based publishing platform for individuals and pros. Semiomantics scripts can handle most any content in most any format and are fully multimedia enabled; however web designers who customize the scripts need to be able to edit more demanding formats, such as multimedia requiring at least basic knowledge of flash, after effects, media encoding and such like.

Of course these tasks can be out-sourced, however as these features are in the trend, they are also the ones representing most of the added value.

Ycademy will continue to provide to Ycademy Seminar Participants scripts for personal use which can be edited without any knowledge of Flash and such like. Such scripts however are not adapted for commercial use, since they do not represent the necessary security and protection of content.

Ycademy

Ycademy remains the most cost effective access to high performance scripts and advanced technology.

... success ...

For Website Developers and Web designers Ycademy continues to offer support and step by step introduction to advanced technology.

At this point in time, we are preparing to move ahead by focusing on media related basic knowledge. This includes trainings related to programs such as Adobe Flash, After Effects, Media Encoder and more.

Over the last 3 months we have been on a very fast educational track as we needed to catch up rapidly with some missing knowledge, namely in the fields of image editing and publishing and photography.

The next step will be flash for those who are interested in being able to provide better visual effects with lower file weight. Also, Flash allows us to profit from the most recent Semiomantics developments;  Semiomantics advanced xml optimization entails high response from Search Spiders and allows for top ranking with Flash encoded sites.

I am aware that flash encoding requires the use of Adobe’s flash editor and the curriculum is therefore designed for participants who dispose of Flash Pro (at least version CS 3).

Photoshop vs. Flash

When deciding to set up our educational sessions pertaining to Photoshop, we focused already on the logical consequence: Photoshop leads to Flash.

Photoshop is a design tool developed originally for the printing industry, not the web. Photoshop is the industry standard for editing images and bitmaps, while Flash sets the standard for vector and raster graphics. In simple terms: Photoshop is for static stuff, while Flash is for animated 2 dimensional stuff. Photoshop is best for Print output, while Flash is best for Web output.

... with a vision ...

Photoshop’s image output can be easily copied and reproduced, while Flash is not easy to reproduce and is therefore more secure.

Flash has it’s own programing language called ActionScript; using ActionScript we can create applications, games, interactive content and so on. Streaming video can be easily controlled by Flash using ActionScript (see YouTube).

Flash helps to express ourselves better in the web environment, it allows for more flexibility, security and interaction. Flash leads logically to 3D and 3D animation.

Flash Ycademy

Moving on to Flash with interested participants needs some planning based on the following key factors:

1. Interest

Is there sufficient interest in a Flash Curriculum? The plan includes 2 Flash sessions per week (Tuesday and Thursday). The session will focus on Flash Basics in order to learn as quickly as possible to work with templates and to customize templates for customers’ needs.

The remaining 3 weekly sessions, (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) will focus on Marketing, Editing and Publishing using WordPress CMS, Semiomantics and improving our skills and editing by applying our knowledge of CSS, Photoshop,  Digital Photography.

The Flash Curriculum will require thorough preparation from our end and availability form participant’s side. Participants need to be properly equipped, which implies the installation of a Flash editor on the Computer.

In order to make this worth the effort, we estimate that we need at least 10 participants. Cost and arrangements will be comparable to earlier similar set-ups such as our curriculum for Office 2010 or Photoshop CS4.

... to embarke for a Journey ...

2. The Equipment

Participants must be properly equipped to profit from the sessions. We will need Flash Pro as well as Photoshop.

3. The Seminar

If we proceed with the above plan, then we will be able to hold an interesting Ycademy Seminar in May which will be interesting and open for Flash savvy participants as well as for participants who do not edit flash. The seminar will deal with Flash and xml, the latter allowing participants to build flash sites and features without editing flash, while the first will be able to embed content selectively into Flash.

In a certain way, the Seminar will be a continuation of the March Seminar where we have introduced Semiomantics Evolution. New templates will be available for different purposes, whereas some participants will edit just xml, others the fla files to come to the same visual result on the first shot applying different techniques.

Your input is needed

I would be interested to find out what you think about the above plan and get some feed-back about prevailing interest and commitment.

... as successful online editors and publishers.

Please comment here below and join tomorrow’s session where we will detail the above to give you a clear view of what we have in mind and where it will lead to.

Don’t be worried about the eventual difficulties; while we are learning Flash we will have the opportunity to profit from our existing knowledge and solidify our Photoshop, CSS, Digital Photography and xml skills. The pace will be reduced compared to the last 3 months where we have gone fast and often spent more time on a day to day bases than anticipated.

I am looking forward to your input.

Thanks!

PS: The pics have been taken yesterday and I have just pulled them through a B&W Holga Filter in Photoshop.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Let your Zoom tell the Story

Today a simple exercise with your Zoom. The recommendation is to use only optical zoom as the digital zoom chips away loads of data and because the cropping tools in Photoshop return better results.

At tonight’s workshop we will comment the pictures below and work on our Zoom.

600shell4

Zoom 2

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Zoom 3

How about some more Lightroom Presets?

[download_box]Download some Lightroom Presets[/download_box]

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

More Lightroom Presets: The 70s

Back in fashion, the 70s have also their photographic face. If you are of my generation or older, you remember the 70s quite well. Point and Shoot photography with simple 35 mm cams became popular. Plastic lenses and cheap lens’s distortions, zoom available to anyone … photography gained a wider popularity. While film development cost was still high, the Point and Shoot cameras of the seventies guaranteed at least a clear picture.

Stabilizers were not yet available but the shutter speed was set to 1/100 or 1/125 so that most pictures came back shake-free and fairly sharp with wide depth of field.

700y

Seventies

Why use 70s Filters?

In fact, why filtering at all? At a time when most anyone can shoot a sharp picture and where Digital Cameras do “it” all, the trend to filters is increasing; maybe because most images are taken using automatic camera settings, which give to all those pictures the “same look”. That “same look” often is flat and lacking depth, soul and emotion.

Seeking the imperfection of the popular cams of the 70s can help to distinguish your pic from the industrial mass output.

[download_box]Download some 70s Presets for Lightroom[/download_box]

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Well, meanwhile I know most if not all of those pictures were illusions… and that we can all achieve with some good original photo material and a little bit of Photoshop! Ha!

What you see here is definitely the full moon I photographed in that night – around 11: 45 pm – and it stood like that in the pitchblack sky. No halo, no softness – like cut out.

And this was Noordhoek Beach in the very early morning where the full moon was hardly visible – now it is!I mean it was !

The fact is, I photographed the ‘real thing’ on 24 July 2010 and wrote about it HERE. And there was no manipulation involved whatsoever – it was huge, red and definitely super and extraordinary in many ways!

Shoot for Light and Color

Today I would like to suggest two exercises to train the eye and mind. Let’s shoot for Light and Color.

Exercise 1: Light

Without light, there is no photo. However, as light is out there for free and about always available, we tend to forget about it or we just don’t see it. The exercise consists in shooting 20 – 30 pictures of Light!

Don’t look for a subject, just look for light. It can be light and shadow, it can be light spots … just catch the light.

light

Light

light1

Light a

light4

Light b

light5

Light c

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Light 2

Load your Light Shots into a gallery at your seminar site.

Exercise 2: Color

Similar to the above, but this time with color. Don’t look for a subject, just for color and shoot 20 – 30 pictures for your color gallery.

whiteandblue600

White and Blue

sunset_astir_beach

Yellow

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Portrait Shooting

Based on Digital Photography Ycademy 9 we are able to plan our pictures depth of field. The only remaining problem is: you may have a camera which does not allow for A settings (manual Aperture priority settings).

Don’t worry, there is a way to at least partially compensate for this shortfall.

The below gallery can best be viewed HERE (opens new window).

Depth of Field in Portraiting with a low end Camera or Mobile Phone

Remember, we said that the depth of field is function of aperture and distance. Hence, we can use the distance trick which works with most any digital camera or mobile phone.

First we try to compose our picture in a way that the person is not glued to a background, such as leaning on a wall. Position the person at least 2 meters off the next background. Then frame clsosely from maximum 1.5 meters (without zooming). The result may be better if the background is even further away to fall out of the metered focal range (corresponding to infinity settings) which is at about 10-12 meters.

Now shoot your portrait: the autofocus will grab the face and apply the distance, which in it’s turn will trigger the aperture and shutter speed in function of that distance and light. By setting your camera presets on Portrait, the camera does this as well, whereas a narroc depth of field is forced.

In any case, you will end up with a sharp portrait and a more or less blurred background.

Portrait Post Editing

If you have taken your picture according to the above, then your post editing is a sunday walk. Just apply some of the great lightroom presets or photoshop actions. Some of these professional tools will lift the quality of your mediocre picture dramatically and clearly digg a huge canion between you and the competitors in your camera’s class.

Here an example: the below picture has been taken with my 4 years old $50 supermarket camera according to the above rule. Then I just pulled it through some professional filters such as stuff from from Kubota, Davis and onOne. This is a matter of just seconds :-).

Join tonight’s YcademyWorkshop for more tips and tricks.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

The Magic of Depth of Field

At the beginning, many photographers struggle with the concept of aperture and depth of field. I remember back in the 60ies when my dad ciselled the principles into my brain. He was shooting with a good old Leica I loved for all the buttons and little wheels it featured for tons of settings.

I could not imagine what they were good for: but they looked god for sure and that was a good enough reason to fetch my interest.

By the way, have you ever noticed how “look-focused” photographers are? And the look of their camera? It’s part of the over all estethics photographers are in search of and  attached to, I guess.

Of course it is sexier to have your portrait taken in an Indiana Jones Look (or the Marlboro Man minus the smell of the sweating horse and the cow dung…) holding a big cam with a mega lens in front, than Indiana with an iPhone, huh.

Back to the depth of field. I was exercising on flowers in the garden 50 years ago and the game went as follows.

marienkaefer

Marienkaefer

Exercise 1

1. Move as close as you can (don’t use Macro to start with)  to the object you want to take a picture of and set your lens to the widest aperture (that’s the smallers f/number!). In my case it was f/2.8 at that time). If you do this with your digital camera, the cam will automatically select the appropriate shutter speed.

2. Repeat the exercise with f/5.6, f/8, f/11 and f/22.

3. You have now 5 pictures of the same flower with a background (and maybe foreground) of the surrounding flowers. However your pictures are different from each other and the difference is in the depth of field.

Conclusion: The narrower the aperture, the wider the depth of field! This is the real issue here, meaning, the smaller the opening of the lens’s diaphragm (high f/number), the longer the cam will expose the sensor(film) to the light inflow and the sharper your picture gets along the depth (z-) axes.

The wider the aperture (small f/number) the narrower the depth of field (and the faster the shutter speed) and you end up with these beautifully blurred back and or foregrounds. Your digital camera’s auto-focus, focused on the flower you want to feature, will automatically make sure that your depth of field is optimized for the flower.

flower

Flower

Exercise 2

Do the same exercise again by zooming out or moving away from the object you are taking the picture of. Shoot from a distance of about 1 meter to 1.5 meters (4-5 feet). Again you will end up with a series of pictures.

You will find: the further you move away from the flower, the wider the depth of field will get! This is the second important rule.

Put simply: if you want a sharp picture throughout the whole depth, increase the distance and use higher f/numbers. If on the other hand you wish a picture where the focused object is sharp and the background and or the foreground are blurred, then move closer and decrease the f/number (wider aperture or diaphragm of the lens is wider open, which triggers a faster shutter speed).

Conclusion 1

This exercise should help you to improve on your Macro shots and Portraits. The effect is function of depth of field: to limit the depth of field use a wider aperture (smaller f/number) and move closer; the background will be less in focus and you get the desired blur-effect.

Conclusion 2

This is probably the most important single concept which will bring you ahead of the masses. I guess 99% or more of all camera users are not aware of this concept and will continue to shoot happily their flat shots.

Conclusion 3

The best way to achieve the effect is by using your camera’s manual settings (priority on Aperture A-mode). If your cam does not allow for Aperture priority, then you still have the option to pull your picture through Lightroom of Photoshop and to manipulate the background out of focus … but why going that route if your cam can deliver a better quality original?

It’s obvious that skilled Photoshop users are absolutely capable to fake the blur effect, but believe me: if you want it well done, it takes time, loads of it and you have the bitter taste in your mouth of someone who just became aware that he re-invented the wheel. Imagine: the cam does in a fraction of a second (literally) what may cost you hours in Photoshop.

The Camera and Photoshop or Lightroom

No, I am not against Photo Editing Programs at all. Photoshop is a great tool and can do things the camera cannot do; on the other hand the camera is a great tool as well and it can do certain things better than Photoshop. So, let’s use each tool for what it is made and you cumulate the quality of the cam’s work with the quality of PS.

The best results in Photoshop are achieved with a great picture at the base: the more time you spend to make your picture great, the less time you will spend in Photoshop and the better your image data.

Try this over the week-end and come back with some nice, more or less blurred pictures! Stuff them into a new Gallery on Your Semiomantics Evolution site to share your results. I am looking forward to it.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Photo Editing vs. Graphic Design

Sometimes it is difficult to draw a clear line between photo editing and graphic design or editing. The present Ycademy Sessions deal with Photo Editing and the primary goal is to improve our photographic skills.

Whether we use Lightroom or Photoshop, we can push our editing away from photography into the fields of graphic creativity, which is not the purpose of what we are doing at this stage.

Don’t just take pictures – Tell a Story

The beautifu world of Photography starts with your shot and leads to the story your picture will tell after editing. Make sure it is still a photograph for the purpose of the April Ycademy!

vouliagmeni1

Vouliagmeni

Sure we can use most any pictures to tell a story by using the graphic design editors from Photoshop. But it’s a lot more difficult to come back with an optimized photograph, where subtle editing will not destroy the photo caracter of the image and yet allow us to tell a story.

You may argue, that you don’t need an optimized Photo to tell a story. True. Your output however is no longer a photography but a graphich illustration as the case may be. Whether at the base you have been using a photo or a hand designed image is not really relevant. What is relevant, is to know, which language we use to communicate and to express ourselves and how the viewer will percieve our image.

I like to clearly distinguish between photographic work and digital graphic work.

Using Filters and Presets in Lightroom

Tonight’s workshop will deal more in depth with Presets and Filters in Lightroom. Different snapshots taken during the editing proces will help to select the final version of the picture.

In order to study Lightroom in depth, you may want to grab a great piece of literature from here below.

vouliagmeni4

Vouliagmeni 2

[download_box]Download eBook 20 MB[/download_box]

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Working with Lightroom Presets

Presets are of great help to adjust images in Lightroom. For easy editing it is necessary to get familiar with terminology and some technical features. Most Lightroom presets find their equivalent in Photoshop.

Tonight at the Workshop we will play with some Lightroom Presets and Photoshop actions.

praz-sur-arly

Praz-sur-Arly

Get your materials from here-below:

[download_box]Presets and Actions Download[/download_box]

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

New Adobe CS5 Master Collection

It’s smashing, exciting and a milestone, the new Adobe CS5 release! no reason to try to describe all the new goodies wrapped up in the new pack, just go and have a look at the launch presentation at Adobe. Product delivery to the public is expected to start in May.

The single most important reason to buy CS5

If you watch through the various presentation clips, you fill see that for every product being part of the CS5 Master Collection Adobe presents 5 main characteristics. I was wondering, what would be my synthesized single best reason to switch from CS4 to CS5.

With CS5, Adobe introduces eye-bleeding cool features, and loads of them. However one main argument is that the somewhat oldish programs like Photoshop, Flash and After Effects become much more productivity oriented and user-friendly.

Adobe CS5 will definitely make professional tools available to a wider audience and grant a smoother and much more effective workflow. This is where individuals, Home Business Builders, free lancers, designers and developers will find a true possibility to run a media design, development and publishing business as a one-man show. Or, there will be less need for outsourcing, coding, sharing to get a better result faster.

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Yorgo Nestoridis Media Publishing

Adobe CS5 from the point of view of Ycademy

Ycademy, our online Educational Arm has been organizing trainings, workshops and seminars focusing amongst others on Web design and Web site development with Photoshop for some time and we are aware of the difficulties Photoshop represents for the average part-timer or newbie. However with some smart add-on actions, filters and plugins, Photoshop became accessible to average computer users. The new CS5 however makes things much easier in as much as complex manipulations can be executed in just seconds, such as moving, replacing or deleting objects from a photo for example whereas as the case may be, Photoshop will automatically replace the object with the appropriate hypothetical background. Smashing!

Whether you use Lightroom or not, the new Photoshop CS5 is a highly efficient image editing tool, not just for graphic designers, but also for Photographers. The interaction of the various tools provided in the CS5 Master Collection or in any CS5 Pack for that matter, provides a fantastic training environment where I am sure we will have new opportunities to help many people to become familiar with professional tools, cutting edge technology and the joy of exceptional results.

CS5 is in the trend: visual expression has become part of our day-to-day language due to the proliferation of mobile devices and social networks. Amongst all the internet users there will always be a good number who  are reaching out for quality, style and the best possible image or branding. Adobe CS5 is a bundle of tools allowing anyone using it to communicate better and in more creative ways. I am looking forward to explore CS5 with our first training group in June.

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Web Design and Web Site Development

Adobe CS5 from the point of view of Semiomantics

It has never been and it still is not Adobe’s cup of tea: semantics! The proliferation of more visual communication provides increasing challenges for Semiomantics and in fact our way to optimize editing and publishing of visual content and media (images, movies, sound) has still a long way to go and a brilliant future ahead. In short: the more visual content customers publish, the more they will have the need to use Semiomantics tuned scripts to reach Google Top 10or to show up on Bing’s top end. More important even: Semiomantics Approach to Facebook with the new Semiomantics Flash module, which will be released in May, will open completely new perspectives for agents and customers.

Adobe CS5 from the point of view of YORGOO

YORGOO, focusing on free traffic and free leads will wake up soon, simply because we come close to the end of a long development of new content for YORGOO, focusing namely on social networks and Search Engines in the broadest way. YORGOO will remain a starting point for online Marketing efforts and help people to connect quickly with environments where the people are, where the target customers are looking for products and where people interact. The YORGOO approach will remain a no-profit no-ads program and oriented towards all those who want to start an commercial online activity with limited means and high perspectives.

More soon.

astir300

Media Design

Adobe CS5 from the point of view of ChiHosters and Hosting South Africa

More media and more sophisticated media, more creativity and more creation, faster internet lines and computers entail larger file sized and more media oriented hosting needs. At ChiHosters and Hosting South Africa we have planned ahead; entrusting large freely accessible networks with your copyrighted media is not the safest way to protect your interest. Hosting your originals on your own server or host in a reliable way is a necessity for professionals as well as for many security conscious individuals. We are providing the most cost effective solutions in the industry, namely for small enterprises and individuals. Expanding the activity to high end hosting services are under discussion.

Adobe CS5 from the point of view of YORGOO Media

A year ago we have stalled the YORGOO Media development for different reasons, namely because we were not satisfied with the WordPress MU development as well as with the hosting capabilities we had. With the release of WordPress 3 and the possibility to provide advanced media streaming, YORGOO Media is high on our list of priorities since it will provide highly efficient Semiomantics signed publishing solutions to the over 70 000 YORGOO subscribers.

More shortly.

semio300×300

Yorgo Nestoridis Publishing and Editing

Adobe CS5 Ripoff Pricing Policy

As other companies, such as Microsoft, Adobe has a discriminatory pricing policy, privileging the American Markets. Why the heck should Adobe Products cost more in Australia and Europe than in the USA? Funny, that such a high tech company, with a global approach has such a narrow, short sighted pricing policy. It’s comparable to the pharmaceutic industry and there we know what the natural reaction of the markets are. If anyone from Adobe reads this: tell your boss, time has come to change your rip-off attitude, the global market is looking for global pricing.

More about Adobe CS5 pricing shortly.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Lightroom Presets for Landscapes

Presets area handy start … to create your own presets, adapted to your needs, taste and the purpose of your visual communication.

Landscapes are just an example and if I just use here another mediocre picture from the cheap $50 cam, it’s to demonstrate that for the purpose of basic online publishing, most any lens will do.

Here some of the presets we will use at tonight’s call:

By the way: the above images can be better viewed in the Photo Ycademy Gallery: HERE

For the purpose of tonight’s workshop, here are some more presets you may want to grab:

[download_box]Download Lightroom Presets 2[/download_box]

Enjoy!

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Create Ads from your Photos

Sometimes, when you take a picture just for the fun, you may capture an element which can become important in your graphic work. The below example shows the development of a very mediocre picture to a very nice ad.

Take a Picture

Of course YorgoMan loves Hot Wheels and all the donkeys under the hood of this Morgan:

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Morgan 1

Passing through some Black and White filters and adding a touch of sepia in Lightroom, you get this:

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Morgan 2

A touch of blue to allow for a somewhat grungy feel and then the decision about which part of the image you want to use. Asking YorgoMan, he opts for this direction:

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Morgan 3

For the sake of the ad I plan to design, I opt for this, the difference being the focus of the gradient and color overlay in Photoshop:

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Morgan 4

Some fine-tuning, toning and typography and your ad can be submitted to Gene for approval :-).

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Morgan 5

PS: Gene,  If you are interested in the PSD file, it’s about 53 MB and in a 35 MB zipped version available for download.

As usual, your comments are appreciated.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Implement your Flash Showcase

Once your script is cleaned out and reduced to what you actually need as described yesterday and as done at last night’s Ycademy call, we can implement our project.

Prepare your upload

Before uploading you may already edit the index.html file and add the title of your site as well as the font as the case may be.

Also you can edit style.css to define link colors and other details if needed.

You may also want to edit your site logo:

Ideally the logo file is a transparent PNG image which in this case can be rather wide since we have just a few menu items. The bottom border of the logo is in line with the bottom of the menu items; therefore it is indicated to use capitals for the site header and align them with the bottom of the PNG file.

Example:

logo

Semiomantics Header

For better visibility I have added a background layer on the above. The dimensions are 592 x 60 pixels.

Upload and start populating Semiomantics Evolution

Before uploading the evolution folder you may want to rename it to the folder name it should take on the server; if you upload the site to the domain root (public_html) then you just load the content of the evolution folder without the folder itself.

Once uploaded you may want to start adding a background image (photo of graphic); I have loaded just a background pattern:

screen2

Background

For this project I keep a uniform background throughout the whole site; however i would be nice as well to create a nice graphic grunge or photographic background.

Edit menu.xml

Edit menu.xml from your xml folder: define the menu item titles and backgrounds as well as the copyright notice in the footer.

Populate your image gallery (about)

I start now by adding images to my showroom. In fact I am using for this project a showroom gallery instead of the about page: I will oad there graphic images representing my bullet list and then add text to the image legends.

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About Semiomantics

The images are created in photoshop in 2 versions: jpg and transparent png. I load both versions to select later the images to keep – may be a mix of jpg and png images. To create the images I just created two layer sizes: 400 x 600 px and 800 x 600 px. Important: the images must be 600 px high. I drop my messages into the pictures using some grungy Times font and using background colors based on my usual color scheme.

The idea here is to use a gallery to replace the About page by graphically representing the main message I want to deliver and allowing for more information attached to each image. (This way of proceeding is not in line with the terms of the contest!)

Populate your Showcase or Portfolio

For the show case I selected screen-shots of websites I have designed and built for Semiomantics. I have selected 30 screen-shots to see the effect and to measure loading time. I will trim this down later and make a representative selection out of the lot. There are also others I may want to add …:-).

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Semiomantics Showcase

The screen-shots are mega sizes from 100 kb to over 400 kb, whereas they will be adjusted for faster loading. I am testing flash compression and loading them as swf files which is one of the advantages of this gallery script.

A legend will be associated with each screen-shot; each image is based on a Semiomantics script type or module and can therefore be linked to a category or product in the semiomantics shop.

My recommendation: try to keep the image size as compact as possible for fast loading: ideally below 100 kb per image.

More later.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Resizing Pictures in Photoshop

For the purpose of the Seminar, we need to reduce the size of images for faster loading. One of the main issues is related to backgrounds.

Using a background photo can be a real challenge. Here below is an example.

Digital Photo resizing

To start with I choose a digital picture of (this is a mobile phone image and I have not modified it ).

astirbeach10

Astir Beach

The above image (for the purpose of this post) has been down-sized and re-sampled from 3072 px width to 1000 px and from a doc size of over 15 M to 1.6 M. It’s still heavy with 452 kb at 100% jpg.

Resizing in Photoshop

Download the image, decompress it and open it in Photoshop.

You see now an image of 3072 x 2304 px.

We have multiple ways to reduce the size and weight of the image. There are two aspects to resizing:

1. The resizing of the image (pixels)

and

2. the resizing of the document.

Our goal is to end up with a document of about 100 kb and a maximum of image quality.

Resizing the image means that we intervene on the number of pixels per square inch, resize the document means that we intervene on the dimensions of the image.

We aim to optimize the relation between the number of pixels per square inch and the size of the document to obtain the best possible full screen view in Semiomantics Evolution.

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Image size

Modifying the Pixel Dimensions (tick: Resample Image) will lead to:

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Resample Image

Note the resolution remains the same.

If I want to increase the resolution, I need to decrease the Document size, without resampling the image:

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Increase Resolution

Compare the above with the first PS screen above: I have cut the Document size to 50% and kept the Pixel Dimensions: this doubles the Resolution (number of pixels per inch).

The above is the base to understanding Photoshop and the way Photoshop deals with images, whether we import them from a camera or produce them in Photoshop.

Back to our image: The image has 16:9 proportions.

The above demonstrates the example mentioned at yesterdays call about apple and strawberries: you can either fill an inch with fewer but bigger pixels or with more of them but smaller ones (resolution).

When resizing the above image, you will find that the quality finds it’s limits where the gradient of the blue color of the sky starts breaking. This has to do with the resolution.

Practically speaking for a quick result:

Save the original image for Web and Devices and push the Quality slider to the left till the gradient of the sky breaks (that’s just one tick too much). Then resize the image at bottom left by decreasing the width until the JPEG size is about 100 kb.

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Save

You can see the final result on the site HERE.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Having thoroughly tested the new Photoshop CS6 Beta, it seems to me that this version is addressing namely people who are working with digital photos and videos; also the 3D features have been significantly improved.

In other words, if you are not using Photoshop to edit your images, needing content aware patching and selective blurring, there is no real need to upgrade your CS5.

If however you are a photo freak and if you are shooting short videos, then Photoshop CS6 is a smashing program, allowing you to go beyond what photography can do (such as multiple shallow depth of field areas on a single image).

Click to view

This is what’s new on Photoshop CS6:

There are two videos I recommend to get an impression of the good stuff contained in Photoshop CS6:

Russel Brown’s 6 favorites

Julieanne Kost’s Favorites

I have installed Photoshop CS6 on my Windows 8 installation and it works great! I am just still frustrated by the 64 bit version which is still slower than the 32 bit edition. Also my OnOne tools don’t fit into and work on the 64bit version.

Having said that, the new CS6 Photoshop (32 bit) is much faster than the previous version.

Click to view

Here above an exaggerated tilt-shift blur on a picture taken this week at a basketball game (Panathinaikos vs Macabi which we won :-)); the feature helps to blur faces from excited fans allowing the publication of the image.

Click to view

Click to view

Yes, I like Photoshop CS6 simply because I love photography. Any tool helping to make the best use of a RAW or a JPEG file is welcome for as long as it helps to improve my photographic shortcomings. But CS6 goes further: it allows to apply filters to create effects which cannot be achieved just with photography without destroying pure photography. I am namely thinking of the blur filters.

Photoshop CS6 is better than most cameras out there and that’s another big advantage namely for people who don’t invest in high quality cams or who use just mobile phones to shoot pics and videos. The big question remains: is it worth while to invest into the upgrade? Put it that way: if you go for quality photo editing, Photoshop is THE tool and CS6 is a great step ahead of CS5. Together with Lightroom 4 and the latest OnOne Plugins you are well equipped to get the best out of your pics with an efficient workflow.

In as much as I am concerned, I guess I will not open my CS5.5 anymore.

Related posts: 3D Photoshop Exercise Photoshop Ycademy Resizing Pictures in Photoshop Book covers and Jewel Cases with Photoshop Photoshop Borders Ycademy

Polaroid Effect with Photoshop

Referring to last night’s training, here some additional tips and instruction to create the Polaroid effect:

Polaroid Effect with Photoshop

T600 wide format
T600 high format
T600 expired wide format
T600 expired high format
Time Zero wide format
Time Zero high format
Time Zero expired wide format
Time Zero expired high format
Finisher
Finisher INDOOR

Use WIDE for photos in wide format e.g. 3000px width x 2000px height
Use PANEL for photos in panel format e.g. 2000px wide x 3000px height
(you can use images of ANY size and up to 599 dpi)

Choose the desired action with the right alignment and press PLAY in the action tab

After rendering you can optionally change/adjust all parameters in the Layer tab e.g. decreasing the opacity of the grain layer etc.

When you’re done choose the FINISHER action and press play. It will flatten the image, add a layer with streaks like they occur on real Polaroid prints and furthermore a bevel and a fill layer with the background color.

Sample Scrapbook or Grunge Design application from last night’s deYcademy Web Design Workshop

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Grunge and Scrapbook Design

The above was just a quick sample. Leave a link to show your creations.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

Astir Beach Mist

Touch up your Photos with a few clicks and transform the Astir Beach Vouliagmeni image to what I like to call now Astir Beach Mist.

Final Astir Beach Mist

astir3-final-mist

Astir Beach Mist

To get to this result, 3 filters or actions have been used in Photoshop CS4.

Astir Beach Kaleidoscope

Starting with the original image of an Astir Beach Sunset, the kaleidoscope filter by Mehdi was doing the trick to mirror and flip the image.

The Original Astir Beach Photo

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Astir Beach Vouliagmeni

The Kaleidoscope filter produces the following image, which needs to be cleaned with Wire Worm on 4 spots where the Kaleidoscope filter produced stains:

astir-clean

Astir Beach Clean

The Clean Astir Beach Image

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Astir Beach Clean Image

To finish the Image, we just add a simple frame using the Angels Glass Action:

Astir Beach Framed Image

astir-beach-framed-image

Astir Beach Framed Image

This results then in the surprising image as shown on top.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

An extreme but interesting sample development lead to spectacular results.

Photo before development

The above picture could not be taken from another angle and considering time constraints, I thought that this shot was better than no shot at all. Not a good picture but a nice sample to test some of Lightroom’s power, namely when it comes to Lens Correction.

Detail selection of the picture

Note that the picture contains some interesting detail, such as the thin net in front of the scaffolding which results in an apparent lack of punch.

Using the transform tools, distortion, vertical and horizontal, as well as a slight rotation we get the following view:

After first Transformation

We notice that the image is “stretched” too wide compared to the original proportions. We therefore apply a shot of Warping:

The Picture after Transformation

Now we just need to sharpen the image which will also get rid of the thin net hanging in front of the scaffolding:

Final result

While the above sample is is a pure exaggeration, it shows nevertheless some of the power of Lightroom 4.

The YORGOO-Ycademy calls of this week will deal with Lightroom and show, how to use Lightroom 4 for efficient Photo (and Video) management, editing and publishing.

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