Hey yall! My first article is published over at Be A Good Dad.
Be A Good Dad is a fatherhood related blog. The 4 of us dads who are now writing for it are all unique, yet united in our desires to be great dads.
Head over and give it a read!
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I have two, unrelated, things to discuss right now. I really, really want your input.
Wordpress 2.5 is finally released. I haven’t upgraded yet. Mostly because I was a little afraid. You see, the administration panels are drastically different. I’ve been listening to WP podcasts, and reading WP blogs so that I can learn as much as possible.
Someone suggested a test blog. So, this morning I decided to launch a test blog, at http://test.trevorcarpenter.com, and play around. I have been wanting to play with a few plugins, and decided that this would work best for them too.
Once the blog was up and running, my plan was to mess with the plugins first, then upgrade to the 2.5 beta. But, when I sat down to begin, I saw that 2.5 was out of beta, and official. So, I tossed the plugins for now.
The test blog is running 2.5, and the admin dashboard is very different. I’m excited. I like new things.
I have the days off, and I really, really want to go to this exciting photography event in Moab, Utah. I can drive it in 10 hours, and I’m willing to take my car. I plan on camping, to save cash and have a bit more fun. If you can make it, you should try and attend this one. Ann Torrance, who helps plan and organize the Salt Lake City Photowalks, is speaking and she give it a good review.
For those SoCal photographers, who want to go, let’s carpool!
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Yesterday I had the great opportunity to shoot another architectural photo shoot. I shot two residences and earned enough to acquire a copy of Apple Aperture 2.0 and step a bit closer to my first real strobe kit. I’ve been shooting with my one speedlight and renting more when I need them. Yesterday, I rented a pair of genuine dyna-lite strobes, from Samy’s. I’m very grateful to have been able to shoot with those nice lights. I’m sold on strobes!
Additionally, I tested out Aperture 2.0, with their 30 day trial, over the last month. My trial expired a week back, and I was actually sad when it did. Not that I don’t have decent alternative asset management and editing. I have been using a combo Adobe Bridge and Photoshop system. It has worked well for almost a year. Unfortunately, upgrading to Adobe’s Lightroom is really the professional step they want you to make. I trialed Lightroom late last year, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the modular system. I didn’t like how it performed on my slower Mac Mini. I simply didn’t like how it flowed.
I had played with Aperture in version 1.0, and quickly didn’t like it. But I think the biggest killer was that it was dog slow. Then came version 2.0.
The most important change to 2.0 was the speed enhancements. It’s now quite smooth, even on my slower Mac Mini. I can’t afford to upgrade the Mac right now, so a software solution that can effectively operate on it, is more than likely going to get my vote. In the next week or so, I’ll review what I do with Aperture, and show you my workflow. I have noticed that many more people use Aperture than I originally thought. So I’d like to help increase Aperture’s awareness just a bit.
So yesterday, I got it installed and processed the photo shoot with it. Lovely.
Today I woke up to see a big announcement from Apple about Aperture 2.1. What?! No problem, a free upgrade for me. It’s not loaded with a huge number of improvements. However, it is loaded with one massive feature addition. PLUGINS!
Now third party developers can design plugins to assist and enhance the editing within Aperture. Over time, I may not need to load Photoshop at all. I don’t have a problem with Photoshop, but how sweet will it be to only need one clean solution for my photo processing needs. I’ve heard great things about the solutions from Nik Software. Maybe they can be enticed to produce their plugins for Aperture too.
To show us how nice this new plugin system is, Apple included one nice plugin with the update.
“Dodge & Burn Plug-in. A sample plug-in is pre-installed, taking advantage of the Edit API introduced in Aperture 2.0. The plug-in adds brush-based tools for Dodge (Lighten), Burn (Darken), Contrast, Saturation, Sharpen and Blur.”
I was actually poking around the manual last night, looking for dodging and burning. Sweet! I’m real excited about all these new tools and how I’ll get to use them.
****edit***
StudioLighting.net is reporting that several top notch plugin developers have announced…
Expected additions to Aperture plug-ins include:
• Nik Software’s Viveza plug-in, powered by U Point technology, which provides a powerful, precise and easy way for photographers to selectively control and adjust color and light in their digital images;
• PictureCode’s Noise Ninja plug-in that delivers advanced high ISO noise analysis and reduction;
• Digital Film Tools’ Power Stroke plug-in that features a simple, stroke-based interface to quickly mask and intuitively perform targeted adjustments;
• The Tiffen Company’s Dfx plug-in that provides an expansive suite of creative filters and effects;
• dvGarage’s dpMatte plug-in, which is a high performance chroma key tool for creating seamless composites, and the HDRtoner plug-in that enables the selection of multiple photos to create a single high dynamic range (HDR) image; and
• Image Trends’ plug-ins that include Fisheye-Hemi to quickly and effortlessly correct fisheye lens distortion, ShineOff which automatically removes shine from faces and PearlyWhites that automatically whitens and brightens teeth.
Sweet! I shot over to Nik Software’s page and discovered that they’re already announcing compatibility with Aperture 2.1 in May 2008. (less than 2 months away)
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Over on PhotoChallenge.org, I’ve just reminded everyone about the upcoming April Challenge. This should serve as a simple reminder that it is indeed less than a week away.
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Darren Rowse, at the ProBlogger.net, has challenged his readers to put together a creative video. We’re supposed to come up with a video that explains, Why We Blog.
What great timing! Since I’m just getting into using my USB video camera, I’m looking forward to coming up with something fun. I might just write a lame song, to further embarass all my loved-ones.
Keep watching this space for my own special video. Also, if you’re a blogger, head over to ProBlogger.net and see if you can do it too!
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So, I’m reading my regular daily blogs today and I stumbled upon Darren Rowse’s recent post at his ProBlogger.net. He very simply posted all the places he can be found on the internets. So here I go…
I’m sure that there are a few new readers who may have wandered over here from a Google search or a link somewhere else. We live in a ‘net connected time where there are many places to connect with each other. So you may not be aware of the many places I exist.
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Hey, for those who haven’t switched to the PhotoChallenge.org site, I figured that I’d announce the upcoming April Challenge here too. I’m having everyone shoot one photo a day, all month long. The focus is entropy. To find out more and see some examples, head over to the blog post for more details. Happy shooting!
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The Queen got one more out of diapers today! He’ll still wear a pull-up at bedtime, but he’s sporting the superhero undies, and there’s no going back.
Just an FYI. If you had kids, you’d celebrate too.
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Here’s the skinny…I’m taking my wife on a cruise for our 10th Anniversary. We’re going to visit many cities in Great Britain and Ireland. I hate the pre-packaged excursions you buy through the cruise-line. I’ve written a detailed page, you can see the tab above, and I’m interested in your input.
I need tips and ideas on what to do and where to visit. I’m especially interested in photographic locations and places you live or have actually visited.
Please head over and read the article I wrote, and comment there. Commenting has been turned off for this post.
Thanks!
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I briefly blogged about the upcoming Pro Photo Expo, in Pasadena, a few weeks ago. It starts this week, and I’m planning on attending on Sunday.
Oh, and Bryan, the Expo only price is $10. w00t!
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Hey! Notice that little ad in the upper right hand corner of the site?
I have decided join partner with SmugMug, the ultimate in photo sharing. On my other blogs I’ve toyed with a variety of advertising options. First the Google ads, then with B&H. I never felt like they really fit very well, so I eventually dumped each. I figured that over time, I should just conservatively seek out new opportunities.
Then, I found SmugMug. I must say, I wasn’t looking for ads. I was looking for a more professional photo site, that I could use with my professional photography. I wanted a place that I could upload client photos from a portrait sitting and be able to privately share their gallery with them. This would give them the freedom to view and ultimately purchase prints from their photo shoot. I also didn’t want to have to be in the business of ordering and delivering prints. SmugMug does this. They calculate my markup and pass on my profit to me. SmugMug is the solution for me.
So over the next few weeks I’ll be uploading choice images from my past photowalks and photo shoots. Organizing is a serious issue with SmugMug, so I’ll be playing around with my galleries until I’m happy.
As far as the ads are concerned, you’ll be seeing them here, at PhotoWalking.org, PhotoChallenge.org, and the PhotoChallenge & PhotoWalking Forum.
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I’d like to tell you all about a really awesome new photoblog that is launching today, Fine Art Photoblog. This exciting new site is not just the hard work of one person, hoping to capture a small audience. In fact, this is a joint venture between 7 of the most talented photographers I’ve had seen in quite a while. You can learn more about each photographer here. You’ll recognize one right off the bat, Brian Auer, my friend from Epic Edits.
The Fine Art Photoblog is a unique website dedicated to collectors and admirers of fine art photography. The site is something of a mix between art gallery, photoblog, and search engine.
You’ll find that they’re one part gallery, one part photoblog, and one part search engine. Basically, it’s not that they’re just trying to pimp their photos, but that they’re hoping to share their photography experience with you. This isn’t for every photo they take, it’s for the very best. Even now, you’ll see some really great looking photographs and you just might want to purchase one to hand on your wall. Of course, you can do that there too!
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Attention football fans! If you attended the Ventura County Badgers football game in San Bernardino, on May 3rd, head to my special photo gallery to view and purchase the photos from the event.
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A product of Oxnard, CA.
trevor [at] trevorcarpenter [dot] com
