Welcome to my new “South Africa Photo Album Online” under construction! As I am South African, live in South Africa, love South Africa and breath South Africa – and each of my photos reflect exactly that – I think my new Photo website deserves that title! It’s only got started… but being surrounded by the most stunning Nature on this planet, my topics are clear… and there will be those amazingly talented, beautiful and smiling people of the rainbow nation… so that’s the journey! As my personal slogan is “Web Design with Passion” and we only talk online environment, here’s something new and exciting evolving…

South Africa Photo Album Online

While being a little bit stuck on a little devilish issue on my Photo Blog HERE, but eager to start a different version for a “South Africa Photo Album Online”, I abused of one of my existing Semiomantics Web Design websites to follow through and experiment featuring a Crowned Crane Photo I took in the World of Birds in Hout Bay, South Africa as well as Insect Photography from my garden.

These are just examples. All this serves to demonstrate how to create your own Photo Album Online.

While I will show the website at a later, more evolved stage (as it’s still a play- and exercise-ground), the basics are to show a large photo – ideally a slide rotator. In fact, I also tried to do this as a sprite which also works perfectly. People clicking on this large picture – or a collection of rotating images – follow links to dedicated pages or even other Photo Websites or Photographic Blogs.

Instead of a navigation bar, I again used a sprite I had created already following an Ycademy Workshop.

The idea is that people can choose the topic of their interest on this mysteriously ‘darkened’ image menu, which illuminates once you hover over them (see lower image and compare with the top)… something we ‘baby boomers’ remember from the good old days with 35 mm slide shows and corresponding light-boxes!

Presenting Digital Photography Online

What is important when presenting Digital Photography Online is that your Photo Album or Photo Blog opens fast; you therefore have to scale the pictures down until you come to a point where you still have enough quality but the image is as light as possible, thus opening fast. It’s quite an art to get there, but crucial online – especially in countries with slow Internet connections… and then don’t forget the booming mobile market. It’s also a protection; once a picture is released onto the online circuit, it’s open for grabs… copyrighted or not … that’s just as it is, learn to live with it. That’s OK… but no professional can or would work with low resolution photos, so I think it’s not worth being that paranoid and rather enjoy to create something beautiful and enjoyable for all. In any case, living in such a beautiful natural environment I feel it’s just right to project a bit of that onto the screens for everybody to share. Never thought of that: bringing Nature into the virtual world… a rather philosophical idea… gotta think about that one!

Stock Photography is a business and a totally different ball game alltogether where you get what you pay for; we will be back with Photo Media Stock one day…

Stay tuned; I will keep you posted on further developments!

Real Estate Blog on Semiomantics

As we continue our “Sandbox Exercise” of setting up a series of extremely affordable blog themes, our first example being a  “Photo Blog“, we went into setting up a Real Estate Blog on Semiomantics.

My example here demonstrates the default theme with no interference in the stylesheet or functions.php (except resizing the Agent picture that was too large for my taste and messed up small pictures when loaded). While these are not my favourite colours, they may appeal to a customer – and that’s what counts: that the customer gets what he or she wants, in their preferred colour and layout.

Real Estate Blog on Semiomantics

A Real Estate Blog on Semiomantics will have to focus on the same main categories as any specialized Property blog or website out there on the market – it’s all about:

~ To Sell
~ To Rent
~ To Buy (we did not include this as yet… but it’s part of the line of thoughts and services obviously).

Then we need additional information about the Agent or the Agency, a Contact form, possibly a Calculator.

What do People look for?

What we need to know is what people look for – so we formulate certain criteria to offer a user-friendly surf and search experience.

Here are the main criteria:
~ Location (position) – meaning where is the object?
~ Price – what price bracket is it in?
~ Type – is it For Sale, To Rent or To Buy?
~ Features – what are the special add-ons, eg. a pool, garden, sea view, double garage, sauna etc…

The Property Salespage

While we don’t follow a typical sales pipeline here, a Real Estate Blog is nothing else but a Property Salespage, providing information and picture material about the different objects via a practical Multi-Search function…, and fast ways to contact the Agent… from there the ball starts rolling.

We will look into changing the colour scheme at this evening’s Call starting @ 7 pm London time in yorGOtalk.

Documentation on Semiomantics Evolution

My Web Design South Africa journey has taken me to a beautiful yet extremely challenging project: presenting a complex Documentation on Semiomantics Evolution.

Documentation on Semiomantics Evolution

What is the challenge with a Documentation on Semiomantics Evolution Flash?

Think about it, when something that has a history is being recorded in a visual way, we cannot normally just rely on our own photos nor on images from one sole source.

If there is a history… and if it’s about some kind of architecture, there may be early plans that still exist… maybe faded up to the point of guesswork, often crumbled and with glue marks showing on the good side. Duhhh!

Also, there may have been publications in glossy magazines and books… meaning pages torn out and kept in a safe place, thumbed through now and then… and those marks are burnt into time as well. And then those large pictures printed over two pages with a center break – and often worse as not at all centered…brutally breaking the beautiful picture apart! Impossible to adapt those frustrating ‘stretch marks’ within reasonable time and in a way noone spots it. What should one do?

Make it more visible so it’s clear… and then it really sticks out and stops your breath each time you look at it … that’s how much it bothers your sense for aesthetics?

Alternatively, find the least visible solution and assume that people just understand what you try to do here…

Or kick the entire picture out? And if it’s important within the context and you can’t?

And to top it all… perhaps there are just small color prints or black and white photocopies or color copies that scintillate in all sort of colors just not those that look like the original?

This certainly is a big challenge… I know… I’m facing it right now!

Semiomantics Web Design

When specializing on Semiomantics Web Design and with a Semiomantics Evolution Flash Script to work on, we have to take the time in Photoshop … and then to experiment and test various variations and transparency shades until the most elegant solution is found to establish harmony and flow throughout the project. It’s what a documentation of any spectacular achievement deserves – right?!

As the Flash Project is a surprise, I may not disclose details at this stage… but wait till after Christmas! Meanwhile, I have my hands full… and let’s see where we go with all of this!

Just stay tuned, there will be more…

Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing. Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

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Presenting Web Design Graphics

In today’s madly media oriented virtual world it’s important to integrate good quality pictures and images into our Websites and Blogs, ideally based on our own digital photography and/or Graphic Artwork.

Within that context and with improving Internet streaming and connectivities even down here in the sticks in South Africa, the ‘packaging’ of anything we present gains in importance. Just as in the ‘real’ world… the ‘look’ is what counts most. This means that we as Web Designers and Graphic Artists have to adapt our skills to be Presenting Web Design Graphics in a professional and appealing way.

Presenting Web Design Graphics

Presenting Web Design Graphics can be done the long and more elaborate way – depending obviously on the effect you wish to achieve as some are really just done in a few mouse clicks if you know the brilliant tools in your Adobe Photoshop CS4 – but for those who want to present their photos and images in a clean and pleasant manner without having to dig through complex Photoshop Tutorials, there is a smart way saving lots of time: Actions or Action Scripts.

Well, it’s what today’s Pro’s use anyway… as time is money and why reinvent the wheel?

How to Create a Reflection

In my Photoshop Series on “How to Create a Reflection” in September 2009, I introduced you to the more complex route – although this one was easy enough.

In the above example I simply used an Action Script to create a Reflection. This example is a simple one and I would say I personally would do it just as fast the ‘normal’ route, however, when it comes to automating hundreds of steps for items we don’t necessarily do every single day… WOW! this is just Magic!

One point I want to emphasize though: we always need good material to work with – sharp big photos, good quality images. It’s jsut a rule and not to be disputed.

Photoshop Ycademy Workshops

In yesterday’s Photoshop Ycademy Workshops we looked into additional Action Scripts and did some Action Script Troubleshooting.

One important point to remember was to not change the image size until at the end. Don’t even try this! I did… and had a beautiful product at the end of Step 1 – however, there was no way to render it!

Why did this happen?

Dali Through My Eyes

I had a specific picture in mind, however, as the Artwork I wanted to integrate – Dali Through My Eyes – was of much smaller size than what was dictated by the Action Script, I just decreased its size so I had a perfect fit!  Well, so thought I !!!

But that made the rendering via the Action Script impossible and, seeing that I cannot enlargen my original Artwork without losing pixels and quality, I have to abandon the idea alltogether. Yeah… any Actions Pro may have a laugh here… but this is part of the learning curve and we will get there!

Of course, I could do it in the ‘old’ way – however… as we approach different markets now – including Printing – , we need BIG pictures of HIGH quality. It requires a different way of thinking and planning… and it’s very exciting!

For the time being, I tested another Action in terms of a Cast Shadow on that well intended DVD Cover… and, of course… that attractive reflection :)

In tonight’s Photoshop Ycademy Workshop we will look into ways of dealing with Portraits and Landscapes – so look into your image folders and have some good, big pictures ready to be ‘manipulated’ for better presentation within your websites and blogs.

And to answer your question: YES! I am and have always been a fan of that great Surrealist painter… Salvadore Dali!

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