8 steps to a better computer workspace

Our friend Scott Condray of Visualville offers some sage advice on the best way to set up your system for optimum viewing and color correcting conditions, as well as some tips that can help increase your computer speed. Scott has spent years teaching Photoshop classes, calibrating workstations, and creating printer profiles for output. Suffice it to say, he knows his stuff.

8 Easy Things You Can Do To Improve Your Workplace & Workflow

Making improvements to your “workplace” also improves your "workflow".

The following will improve the quality of the product you produce and make your life a little easier at the same time.

1. Always have your monitor desktop set to a neutral color. Preferably a medium gray. Screen Savers don’t really “save” your monitor. If you are concerned about extending the usable life of your monitor simply turn it off when you are not using it.

2. Consistent subdued lighting in your workplace is a must. Avoid strong directional light whether artificial or natural.

3. Use neutral colors in the workplace. No bright yellow, (red, blue, green, etc.), colored walls. They may look cool but will definitely impact your ability to accurately color adjust images.

4. Wear neutral colored clothing when processing images. Your clothes reflect color onto your monitor screen.

5. Use monitor hoods. Monitor hoods block directional light and help improve the consistent subdued light environment mentioned in step two. In a perfect world, a monitor hood would come with every monitor.

6. Always view your print outputs in the same viewing area. This area should be as close as possible to your monitor. What is the correct light source for your viewing area? In a perfect world you would view your print outputs under the same light source they will be displayed under. Obviously that isn't practical.

A good all around color temperature for a viewing source is 5000 degrees Kelvin. There are several manufacturers who make lamps in this color temperature.

7. If you don’t do anything else on this list, CALIBRATE YOUR MONITOR! Adjusting Images using an uncalibrated monitor is like shooting a film camera without knowing what kind of film you’ve loaded.

As the old Chinese Proverb warns, “ If you don’t know where you're going any road will take you there.”

You can purchase a very accurate Calibration System (Hardware and Software) for about $250. It will pay for itself very quickly.

8. Work on the most powerful workstation you can afford. A powerful computer, properly configured, is the heart of any successful digital workflow.

Photoshop classes for photographers

Scott Condray of Visualville teaches Photoshop classes specifically designed for photographers. Since Photoshop is such a complex software, many new users become overwhelmed and do not know where to begin. Scott focuses on the tools that are specific to image editing. He keeps his class sizes small to ensure that every student fully grasps each session. Past students have told me they learned a great deal from Scott's instruction.

Scott has a 5 week course starting next Tuesday night, with spots still available. You can go to the Visualville's website for more information on how you can attend.

Our classes are designed for photographers, but are not limited to photographers. They are open to all who need to learn how to incorporate the power of this amazing software into their creative process.

• All of our classes are designed to meet the needs of photographers, both professional and amateur.
• Each class is designed to introduce students to key features of the program that can benefit both their creativity and productivity.

• Students learn at their own Visualville computer . In person instruction is supported by a class workbook of step by step exercises, and real world example images.

MacBook vs MacBook Pro

If you are like me, you covet any new product that Apple releases. Unless you truly have expendable income, you have to wonder sometimes if it is worth the hefty price tag that some of their products carry.

The folks at Gizmodo did some independent testing to compare the graphic capabilities of the new MacBook Pro vs the standard MacBook. It looks like MacBook Pro blew away the processing time of the standard MacBook. As all you creative people know, nothing can stifle productivity better than slow graphics rendering.

MacBook vs MacBook Pro: Hardcore Graphics Death Match

Here they are, the MacBook and MacBook Pro graphics benchmarks you've been waiting for. Our basic Mac-only benchmarks used in our dual review were great at showing how close the CPU performance was, but not great at illustrating the disparity between chunky-hunky 9600 GT and the comparatively weak integrated 9400M that we saw firsthand while playing Spore. With a little time, we've been able to:
• Install Windows XP and run 3D Mark
• Play a little Crysis—yeah, Crysis
• Get ahold of Adobe CS4 and run some rendering jobs
The conclusion? If you're a serious gamer or work with graphics of any kind and you need an Apple laptop, you're gonna want the MacBook Pro. Here are the raw numbers to prove it.

How to recover deleted files

What do you do if your computer crashes or you accidentally delete a file you need? Years worth of information could be lost in an instant. There are file recovery services that will try to salvage the lost information. The outcome is not guaranteed and it often comes with a hefty price tag. Lifehacker has shared some free softwares available for PC's that you might want to try before you spend hundreds at an outside service. There is also have a link for a Mac software for a nominal fee. It's better than crying on the keyboard.

How to Recover Deleted Files with Free Software

Ack! The computer ate my term paper! We've all been there at some point. You delete an important file, somehow it skips your Recycle Bin altogether, and for all practical purposes, it's disappeared into the ether. But before you hit the big red panic button, there's a very good chance that your file is still alive and kicking somewhere on your hard drive—you just need to know how to find it. With the right tools, finding and recovering that deleted file can be as simple as a few clicks of your mouse.

Keyboard shortcut cheat sheet

Using keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop can help you save valuable time. Who can remember all of them? Sometimes I am doing good to remember my cell phone number.

Photojojo found a great tool to help. These skins are available for Mac laptop and desktop keyboards. They are color coded for quick and easy identification. There are versions for Photoshop as well as other software packages.

Now you can free up some brain space for more important information...like that cell phone number.

The Fastest Way to Learn Keyboard Shortcuts for Photoshop, Aperture, FCP, and more

You know that Photoshop whiz kid friend of yours? The one that plays his keyboard like a Steinway as he dodges and burns his way to photographic perfection?

That could be you.

When we saw these custom-fitted keyboard skins for Macs*, we knew we had to have ‘em.

The color-coded covers show you all the hard-to-remember shortcuts for your favorite apps and are available for Photoshop, Aperture, Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools, After Effects, and Logic Pro.

You wouldn’t learn how to type with a keyboard with no letters on it.

So why learn key commands without seeing them right on your keys?

Photoshop Express launched

The new online version of Photoshop launched today. Although you can not do everything you would be able to do in the full version (no layers here), with Photoshop Express you can do minor spot correction, adjust exposure, set white balance, sharpening and much more. They also offer photo sharing, file storage, and a pretty extensive photo sharing community. Best of all it is free. Here is Jack Nack's run down of the features:

• Includes tools for applying spot healing, distortions, sharpening/softening, color tweaks, image filters, and more
• Offers 2GB of space for storing images
• Supports tie-ins to Facebook, MySpace, and Picasa
• Runs in any browser on Mac, Windows, or Linux using the Flash Player (v9) [Update: Sounds like there are some beta-ish glitches in some browsers]
• Will include an AIR-based desktop version (useful for editing images offline) and printing services
• Will remain free, with paid service adding more functionality

A wealth of digital photography tutorials

I quite literally Stumbled Upon this website today. Sean T. McHugh on his site, Cambridge in Colour, posts a quite and extensive and comprehensive list of digital photography tutorials. He covers topics from understanding your camera, to Photoshop techniques, to how we perceive color, and many more. Lots of technical data, but written in a way that is easy for users at any level to understand and apply. A great resource!

Here is a little background on Sean:

To provide some background, much of this work was conducted while pursing my PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Cambridge. I have previously conducted undergraduate studies at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, also in chemical engineering. My doctoral research focused on understanding reactive flow in multiphase plumes (applications to carbon dioxide sequestration, cloud growth and volcanic eruptions).

As a scientist by training, I am fascinated by the interaction between technological developments and the range of creative options available to photographers. Improvements in sensitivity, ex post facto white balance control and real-time feedback from digital imaging are providing photographers with unprecedented low-light capabilities. Much of this fascination has been channelled into finding unique times, perspectives and techniques for capturing many of these low-light scenes in Cambridge.

As part of the Cambridge University Photographic Society, I conducted student workshops relating to general camera and SLR technique, photographic post-processing and low-light photography. These included participants ranging from those with their first camera, to more seasoned users wishing to refine their techniques. I encourage you to contact me if you would like further information about joining the society.

Computer Viruses as Art

A virus is usually something to be avoided at all costs. They can be fatal for you body or your computer. Artist Alex Dragulescu recently released a series called Malwarez that features computer viruses in a whole new light. It is an interesting concept to display these debilitating viruses as art. It is amazing how beautiful and organic these codes become when transformed in to their visual representations. Also check out National Geographic's video of his show in London.

Malwarez is a series of visualization of worms, viruses, trojans and spyware code. For each piece of disassembled code, API calls, memory addresses and subroutines are tracked and analyzed. Their frequency, density and grouping are mapped to the inputs of an algorithm that grows a virtual 3D entity. Therefore the patterns and rhythms found in the data drive the configuration of the artificial organism.

Lightroom tutorials

Staying in this weekend? Maybe you can spend your time trying out new techniques in Adobe Lightroom. Jack Nack on his blog has posted links to "a wealth of" Lightroom tutorials from the Adobe Design Center. Check them out. It should keep you busy this weekend.

Speaking of Lightroom, Stephen Shankland of CNET reports that Adobe has plans to support HDR image creation and panoramic image stitching in future versions of their software. More on that here.

Print a 30x40 from your cell phone

Well, not quite yet. Researchers in the UK and Jordan have been working on a new method of image enhancement using the Swarm approach. PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) uses a computer algorithm that can intelligently boost contrast and detail in an image without distorting the underlying features. The current application being to help those pesky traffic cameras read your license plate better. If the technology ever disseminates to consumer cameras and printers, like our LightJet, the possibilities could be endless.

Swarm Approach to Photography Improves Contrast and Detail in Digital Photos; Science Daily

There have been several approaches to image enhancement developed by image manipulation software companies and others. However, none comes up to the standards of the kind of image enhancement often seen in fiction, where a blurry distorted image on a screen is rendered pin-sharp at the click of a mouse. PSO, however, takes image enhancement a step closer to this ideal.

PSO is based on a mathematical model of the social interactions of swarms. The algorithm treats each version of an image as an individual member of the swarm and makes a single, small adjustment to contrast levels, edge sharpness, and other image parameters. The algorithm then determines whether the new members of the swarm are better or worse than the original according to an objective fitness criterion.

"The objective of the algorithm is to maximize the total number of pixels in the edges, thus being able to visualize more details in the images," explain the researchers. Such enhancement might be useful in improving snapshots of CCTV quality for identification of individuals or vehicle number plates, it might also have application in improving images produced with lower quality cameras, such as camera phones, that are required for use in publishing or TV where image quality standards are usually higher.

The process of enhancing step by step is repeated to create a swarm of images in computer memory which have been graded relative to each other, the fittest end up at the front of the swarm until a single individual that is the most effectively enhanced.

"The obtained results using grey scale images indicate that PSO is better than other approaches in terms of the computational time and both the objective evaluation and maximization of the number of pixels in the edges of the tested images," they add.

This research was published recently in Inderscience's International Journal of Innovative Computing and Applications.

MacBook Air

The much awaited and highly anticipated announcements from the opening of the Macworld Expo have flooded the internet today. One very cool new product they have launched is an ultra thin laptop. The new 3 pound MacBook Air will start shipping in 2 weeks. To get an idea of the size check out this video posted on Gizmodo.

Apple Launches 13-Inch Ultralight MacBook Air- Christopher Null for Yahoo! Tech

As widely expected, Apple is launching an ultra-thin notebook called the MacBook Air. At 0.76" thick at its widest point, the three-pound Air has a wedgelike shape that tapers down to 0.16" thick at the front base. LED backlighting on its 13.3-inch screen, multi-touch trackpad (which offers some nifty features like rotating photos, all in the touchpad), and a backlit keyboard. Specs are decent: 1.6 or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (on a cleverly shrunken socket), 2GB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive (or 64GB SSD option). No optical drive (of course), and just one USB port. It'll set you back $1,799, which is on the inexpensive side for ultralight notebooks with specs like this.