Who needs cloning?

Yet another very useful feature of Photoshop CS2, the vanishing point tool. Photoshopsupport.com has a video tutorial that shows you how to remove objects from images using this tool. They also have many other tips and tricks for CS2 users. Thanks to Lifehacker for finding this post.

Tell a story with FilmLoop

We are a big fan of FilmLoop. We have utilized their software on our site to showcase the posters we offer from Russo and Steele vintage cars. It is an amazing service, and it's free!

Photo Reporter: FilmLoop 2.0 and New Website Help Users Generate Photo Story Loops
FilmLoop, a provider of free software that enables people to broadcast and share photo story loops, launched FilmLoop 2.0 for Windows, as well as a completely revamped website (www.filmloop.com).
An upgrade to FilmLoop 1.0, the latest version provides new features to allow users to tell “photo stories.”...Users can build collages of multiple photos and use transparency features to build special layering effects. And loops can then be posted to websites like MySpace, Live Journal and Blogger. The new website is designed to showcase photo story loops submitted by users.

Hung out to dry

This unique way of displaying your art reminds me of the old dark room days of hanging your prints up to dry. I know that clients of ours have done similar installations where they have tension mounted wire from wall to wall and hung prints mounted on plexiglas or sandwiched in glass from the wire like a trapeze. Since I don't have pictures to share of that (Hint, hint, to our photog's), this write up from HGTV is the best way I have found to illustrate the effect.

Display art and photos on a wall with clothesline. Attach a length of rope to a long bare wall, select your favorite photos, postcards, prints or artwork and clip to the clothesline.

HD Photo vs. JPEG

Many other file format opponents have tried to box out the popularity of JPEG. Will the release of Vista do the trick for Window's HD Photo? That remains to be seen. Very interesting read from CNet.

Vista to give HD Photo format more exposure:
Microsoft is looking to supplant the ubiquitous JPEG with an image format of its own--and it's hoping the debut of Windows Vista will help do the job.

In 2006, Microsoft began promoting its own image standard, formerly called Windows Media Photo but renamed HD Photo in November. The company makes no bones about its ambitions: "Our ultimate goal is that it does become the de facto standard people are using for digital photos," said Josh Weisberg, Microsoft's director of digital imaging evangelism.

"HD" doesn't actually stand for "high definition," but it's supposed to connote the better image quality that comes with HD TV. Rico Malvar, a Microsoft Research director who helped develop the format, said that compared with JPEG, HD Photo preserves more subtle details, offers richer colors and takes up half the storage space at the same image quality.

Also check out their compression comparison.

Connecting the dots

We recently did some work for an artist in Colorado, Adrian Hanft. Adrian has been a customer of ours for years. He is one of the many people that find us on the web and we do business over the phone or email and have never had the pleasure of meeting in person. Unfortunately, that means that many times we don't know what the end use is for the prints we make. So we were pleased to learn that the prints we produced for him wound up being displayed in a show he had at the beginning of January. It sounds like the show was a great success. Congrats to Adrian! To see pictures of the event check out Adrian's blog. Be sure to read his artist's statement. To see more of his photography work you can also check out his photo blog Found Photography.

Adrian is also the co-founder of a very cool blog Be A Design Group. Along with 4 other authors and a handful of contributors, they have posted some great information, resources, and podcasts about the graphic design industry.

A picture is worth a thousand cans

Over 100,000 to be exact. Chris Jordan Photography produced these thought provoking images for his latest series. Although we did not work with him on the project, we always like to recognize creativity when it comes to big prints. This Cans Seurat image was printed 6'x7' and it represents the amount of cola that the US consumes in just 30 seconds.

Running the Numbers
An American Self-Portrait

This new series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics tend to feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 31,000 American suicides per year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or a trillion dollars spent on the Iraq war. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed photographic prints assembled from tens-of-thousands of smaller images. The series is still in its early stages, and new images will be posted as they are completed, so please stay tuned.

No more megapixels?

This single pixel camera is still under development and not nearly ready for 'prime time' yet. If the technology ever makes it to the market place it could re-revolutionize the digital photography world. The device sounds like it works similar to the DLP technology in HD TV's. It is an interesting concept. We'll see if it ever comes to fruition.

Single-pixel camera takes on digital
Researchers in the US are developing a single-pixel camera to capture high-quality images without the expense of traditional digital photography.

Being developed by a lab at Rice University in Houston, Texas, the single-pixel camera is designed to tackle what its developers see as the "inefficiencies" of modern digital camera.

It currently resembles an old-fashioned pinhole camera and is the size of a suitcase, but assistant professor of electrical engineering Kevin Kelly told BBC World Service's Digital Planet programme that it is only "the beginning of things."

Inefficiencies

The camera was created, according to Dr Kelly and his colleague Richard Baraniuk, because digital cameras are very wasteful. They require expensive microprocessors and massive battery power to capture an image - most of which will not be used in displaying the picture.

This is because the captured image is compressed, to a jpeg file for example, to make the file size smaller and more convenient to store.

"What is so inefficient about this is that we acquire all these numbers - for example 10 megapixels - only to throw away 80-90% when we do the compression process," explained Dr Baraniuk.

Full story courtesy of BBC News/Technology.

3 new cameras from Canon make getting big prints easier

With the announcement today from Canon adding three new models in their PowerShot A range series, it makes getting big prints from an affordable point and shoot camera more accessible to consumers. Canon has these models set to be released in February. They have not released pricing yet for these models, but their previous A series cost less than $150. Files taken in the highest setting on the A550 model will be able to print on the LightJet up to a 20x30 with no file deterioration.

Slotting in at the entry-level, the PowerShot A450 and A460 replace the previous A420 and A430. Both sport 5.0 megapixel sensors and 3.2x / 4x zooms respectively. The A550 meanwhile enters the mid-range to supersede the A530, and offers a little more both in terms of features and control as well as increasing the pixel count to 7.1 million.
Full review provided by Digital Photography Review.

Around the world in 40 days

We are always happy to release good news about one of our Mighty Artists. Rick D'Elia will have a couple of pieces in an upcoming show entitled Around the World in Forty Days at the Shemer Art Center at 5005 E. Camelback Rd. in Phoenix. There will be a reception on the 23rd from 7-9 pm. The show will run until February 22nd.

Rick's background in photojournalism has taken him to some of the world’s hot spots from Somalia and Rwanda to Albania and Gaza. To see more of Rick's images check out his gallery.

Extremely Useful... and free today

This is an invaluable tool for those of us who have tons of images on our drives. I know I sometimes just make a copy of an image and then it gets copied again... sheesh. This little tool looks for all similar images... across file formats!!!! And guess what... it is free today, Friday, till midnight. Go get 'em folks. (Thanks to Giveawayoftheday.com)

Image Comparer is extremely useful to professional photographers, designers, and webmasters, who have “image-heavy” sites to maintain. The program is incredibly fast; after a minute or two one can see how many duplicate images are stored and how much disk space will be saved by removing the duplicates. The “dupes” can then be removed all at once with one click. Alternatively, a user can specify which images need to be deleted, moved or copied.

The list of supported image file formats includes JPEG, J2K, BMP, GIF, PCX, PNG, TIFF, TGA, ICO, and CUR.

Lighting Setups

Don has posted some lighting diagrams, and a few movies over at his blog. Take a look if you are interested in learning a bit about lighting in a studio situation.

The Frame Game

We see a wide variety of finishing styles with the prints we produce. Some people prefer a sleek minimal approach and others insist on traditional matting and framing. Whatever your preference, this article makes some great points about professional framing and installation placement as well as the archival and preservation aspects of framing your artwork.

The Frame Game:
When framing art, the eyes have it. Talk to an expert at a frame shop and you'll hear that personal taste outweighs all other considerations. To paraphrase Duke Ellington, if it looks good (to you), it is good.

..."Framing art properly can really enhance the room decor," says interior designer Karen Cooper of Raleigh, N.C. "It gives the finishing touch to the room. Accessorizing is very important. It can pull it all together, and give the room the personal touch."

Story courtesy of Bill Dupre for the Raleigh News & Observer on HGTV.com

Long long ago in a nebula far far away...

The pillars of the Eagle Nebula made famous by the images taken by the Hubble telescope in 1995 have now been discovered to be toppled by a blast theorized to have happened 6,000 years ago.

Pillars of Creation Toppled By Stellar Blast:
A new picture of the Eagle Nebula shot by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, presented here at the 209th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, show the intact pillars next to a giant cloud of glowing dust scorched by the heat of a massive stellar explosion know as a supernova.

"The pillars have already been destroyed by the shockwave," said study leader Nicolas Flagey of the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale in France.

Astronomers think the supernova's shock wave knocked the pillars down about 6,000 years ago. But because the Eagle Nebula is located some 7,000 light years away, the majestic pillars will appear intact to observers on Earth for another 1,000 years or so.

To get a little piece of ancient history for yourself visit our NASA gallery of images.

Don't forget to back up your cell phone

For any of you that have been to a concert or sporting event recently and have seen the dozens of people grasping for their cell phone to capture the moment, then you probably already knew this information to be true. The CEA recently reported that cell phones now account for 9% of primary image capturing devices.

Tim Herbert, senior director of market research at CEA, said, "Among consumers who now classify their cell phone as their primary image capture device, 47 percent also own a digital camera. Consumers have yet to significantly engage in the practice of substituting devices, but rather use devices in a complementary manner. As cell phones progress to 3+ megapixels, offer greater storage and more features, this trend may change.

But be warned...

The survey found that little has changed since 2005 in the way consumers back-up and store their digital content. Consumers continue to take chances with their digital photos and videos with 78 percent of them relying on their PC for long-term storage, meaning they are just a hard-drive crash away from disaster.

A Kodak Moment

Sigh... wistful memories for the kitties and balloons.

Redefining the self-portrait

In the same way that Cindy Sherman would take 'self'-portraits dressed up in many guises from housewife to B-movie actress the new show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York is displaying a collection of work done in that theme entitled "Photography and the Self: The Legacy of F. Holland Day". Day's 1898 work The Seven Last Words of Christ is a central piece and is shown along with work from 14 other more recent photographers. One of which is Lyle Ashton Harris who can be seen as Billie Holiday to the right in Billie #21. For full NY Times review of the show read article here.

Gigapixel gallery

Pretty soon every photographer will need to get more powerful computers to work on. Gigapixel photography seems to be the wave of the future. The folks at xRez Extreme Resolution Photography have a gallery of images available for people to play around. You can 'visit' anywhere from Boston to Yosemite. It is like the ultimate game of Where's Waldo when you start zooming in and out and take a look at the amazing detail of these images. I am salivating at the chance to print one of these on the LightJet.

1st First Friday of 2007

For those of you unfamiliar with First Friday's here in Phoenix; it is a monthly event where galleries in the downtown area stay open late and showcase a variety of artists and subjects. The first gathering of 2007 will feature one of our gallery artists: Tony Blei. His show aptly named 'Two Parts Hydrogen, and One Part Oxygen' will be displayed at the Holy Click Gallery 1326 W. Roosevelt Rd. starting this Friday, January 5th, and continuing through the month. Tony chose to use FujiFlex paper for his largest images. The smoothness and high gloss of the paper helped convey the feeling of water in movement.

“Two Parts Hydrogen, and One Part Oxygen” is a celebration of water and it’s amazing beauty. From the surface tension of a mountain stream, and the colors that it reflects, to playful, color-filled drops that dance and splash, each image reveals to its audience something seen, yet unnoticed.

Go by this month and check out his show. To see more of Tony's work you can visit his for sale gallery or his site.

Custom photo gifts good idea year-round

Although this year's main gift giving season has just past us by this idea is good for any birthdays, anniversaries or special events that come up during the year.

Recipients Treasure Custom Photo Gifts: Kodak Survey
More than 90 percent of people believe that sharing experiences through photographs helps them bond with others. And, according to the survey, "a nearly identical amount feel that it's important to take photographs to remind their children of their youth." More than tree-quarters of the respondents also wished they had pictures of family members from when they were younger.

It is a great personalized way to keep in touch with family and friends. I know that the restored photos I have done of ancestors have become treasured gifts. Once other family members see the work, they will ask for copies for themselves. It is usually a big hit.

Redecorate a room in '07

The new year is quickly coming upon us. Many of us take this time for renewal, making resolutions for the coming year, or other changes in our environment. How about redecorating a room? iVillage which is always a good resource for tips and ideas on how to get started on a project like this has an article 8 Decorating Rules to Try -- and 8 to Trash. I am glad one of them made it to their 'try' category.

Rule #7: Try to stage a surprise
An element of the unexpected will do wonders for your decor ‑- an oversized picture, a shelf hung lower than usual, a red pillow in a green room, a teacup turned on its side, a wall of family portraits. The backyard and patio areas are great places for surprises. Don't be afraid to do the unusual.

Occasionally...

... We post to something that isn't directly a photographic post. This link at Lifehacker could prove a very nice little tool for those who would like a simple year at a glance tool for making plans.

Download of the Day: 2007 Compact Calendar (All platforms) - Lifehacker

Order Prints Right from Your Flickr Photos

We did it! We now have several ways for you all to print your images easily and right from your browser. This evening we are announcing our Flickr tool. Just choose images from a set in your Flickr account, and we will upload them, print them and mail them to you in 2 days. Oh, and shipping is free for now. Pretty cool, huh?

Here is where you go to order your prints straight from your Flickr site.
Mighty Imaging - Order Mighty Big Prints

LaCie Lego-like Hard Drives

We use LaCie monitors here in the shop. I have been a fan of their products for years. This is a new and creative twist on the normal ho hum external computer equipment scenerio. And just like the real Lego's, they are stackable. Genius! Review provided by CNET.

Setting up the drive is a simple task and can be done in a matter of minutes, if not less. It comes with a single USB cord and an external AC power adapter. One downside we found is that the USB cable is rather short--about 24 inches--so you will have to park the drive very close to your computer, perhaps even on top of it if you use a desktop that sits on the floor. Some users will be fine with this, but we'd like a longer cord to have more flexibility in positioning the drive. LaCie throws in some disk management software for just about any operating system imaginable which is a nice bonus. It also comes with 1-Click software that allows you to easily set the target folders and default sources for easy copying, all at the touch of--you guessed it--a button.

Photo projects for the New Year - Lifehacker

We think that the ideas on Lifehacker are good for all photographers. We would respectfully add that after you have all those great photos, you should print a whole stack of 'em big... 16x24 big. 20x30 big! Yeah, that's what we think!

Hack Attack: Photo projects for the New Year - Lifehacker: "Take a picture every day: Project 365

If you really want to improve your photo skills and put together a well-documented year-in-pictures, you might want to participate in your own Project 365. The idea of Project 365 is that you take at least one photo every day for an entire year. The photo should be of something unique each day, and by the end of the year you'll not only have a great collection of photos documenting your year, but you'll also have vastly improved your photog skills (or at least that's the idea)."

Get a sneak peak at Photoshop CS 3

Although the final version of CS 3 is not due to come out until Spring of '07 you can check out the beta version now.

Users with a valid registration and serial number from one of the Creative Suite 2 digital imaging applications can use the Photoshop CS3 beta until the final version is released. Others can download the application (for Windows and as a Mac Universal Binary) and use it for 2 days.

The latest version of the application comes with some interface enhancements, improved ease of use, and enhanced speed.

New spacewalk images added to NASA gallery

Some amazing images have been added for purchase from our NASA galleries. One of them is from the space walk taken by the shuttle team just a couple of days ago. They are available in 16x24 and 20x30 sizes. These are a perfect tool for educators or students of astronomy to have in their classroom collections. Check back for more images of current and future missions to be added.

Tibet: Photography Paradise

A wonderful story with amazing photos at Photos by Martin.

Photos by Martin - Stories: "The Friendship Highway is definitely not a highway. It's hardly even a road by most definitions, but a rough dirt track that begins in Kathmandu, traverses the steep terraced valleys of Nepal, climbs over the highest mountain range in the world, the Himalayas, weaves through the desolate high-altitude desert of the Tibetan plateau, and ends in Lhasa, the mythical capital of Tibet. It takes a week to make the thousand-kilometer journey, sometimes driving as much as twelve hours a day.

Our Tibetan guide (let's just call him Tashi to keep him out of trouble with his wife) met us at the border with Tibet. Striding around confidently with an air of authority, he seemed to know all the officers at the border, as well as every official in every town between Lhasa and Kathmandu. Surprisingly for a guide, Tashi showed little enthusiasm for explaining the sights that we passed. But he showed plenty of enthusiasm for talking about himself (especially with some of the women in our group)."

Art History 101

ArtandCulture website has a wealth of information not only about photography, but anything pertaining to art and culture. From graphic design, literature, film, music to performing arts it is here. There are interactive essays and endless articles and on the history and movements of each genre as well as new and evolving artists. I could spend hours looking and admiring the work here. It is a really well done site and worth spending some time visiting.

'Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars...

Thanks Frank. This is an incredible image. What a presentation! Another world, or at least another place other than earth. This panoramic shot is simply amazing on many levels. The black and white image gives the image a sense of higher purpose. Hey, this would make a killer panorama! We love big images at Mighty Imaging. (Just send us this image through our 'MightyBigPrints' form and we will get it right out to you!) Additional images of the cosmos here.

APOD: 2006 December 10 - Apollo 17 Panorama: Astronaut Running: "What would it be like to explore the surface of another world? In 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission, astronaut Harrison Schmitt found out first hand. In this case, the world was Earth's own Moon. In this recently compiled panorama of lunar photographs originally taken by astronaut Eugene Cernan, the magnificent desolation of the barren Moon is apparent."

Really Big, Really Inexpensive Images

Free to use big images. This is an interesting way to increase visibility and interest in your work. I love the aerialsl around the bay area. Being familiar with a place and then being able to see it from the air is kind of fun, in a puzzle sort of way.

If you want to use a picture in a product that you intend to sell, or to promote your business or organization, please contact me for permission (USD$ 50 for a nonexclusive license). Very large versions (at least 4MP) are available upon request.

Mounting Photos

We love forums where information is freely exchanged. Here's a good forum on mounting large images.

Mounting Photos - Page 2 - Large Format Photography Forum

Marketing Photos/MARKETING ART « Marketing Photos with Mary Virginia Swanson

Welcome to the Blogoshere Mary!

Marketing Photos/MARKETING ART « Marketing Photos with Mary Virginia Swanson: "When considering the marketing of your photographs, I encourage you to aware of the current climate for marketing ART. It is my strong belief that the newest buyers of photography have been buying art for some time now, and are beginning to add photography to their collections."

PDF help for Printers

This is another great resource from Adobe.

Adobe had started a new online community of Acrobat users called Acrobatusers.com. It offers articles, blogs, tips, help, and a variety of support resources. You even get a free newsletter. To sign up, go to www.acrobatusers.com

Art and wine

One of our artists Bonnie Mitchell will be having a reception this coming Tuesday December 12th at the 56 East Wine Bar & Kitchen in Chandler. It is a great opportunity to see hre work in person as well as Natasha Matveenkova who will be sharing the space. If you plan on attending, it is limited seating, a reservation is recommended.

THE ARTISTS

BONNIE MITCHELL Bonnie is a long-time resident of Arizona and embarking on her third career. All of Bonnie's artistic images begin as a photograph. At first, changing an image beyond recognition of the original seemed inappropriate. But as fascinating images began to appear, those feelings soon dissappeared. Look closely at the images, you might see faces, animals, or a variety of objects. Bonnie's artwork is available for purchase on the Mighty Imaging website at: http://www.mightyimaging.com/artists/bonnie_mitchell.html


NATASHA MATVEENKOVA Natasha Matveenkova is a Siberian born artist that lives and works in Arizona. Her talent shows through in all the styles she works in - abstract, figurative, floral and landscape paintings in a variety of mediums. She began her art career in 2002 and has participated in numerous art shows and exhibits in the United States. Her work is included in various private collections across the country. Natasha continues to show her work in galleries, various art spaces and online. To see more of her art and keep current on upcoming shows visit her website at: www.5thCornerArt.com

Beat the high cost of giving

We Mighty Imaging folks would like to add one more to this list of ten ways to watch the bottom line at Holiday time.

#11. Give Photos: Big photos. A gorgeous 16x20 image of the kids, or the grandparents or the family at the zoo would make a wonderful gift. With the images running at less than $16, and a frame at about $15 - 20 you have a wonderful gift.

Giving a personal image, or one that has personal memories attached can also make warm wishes warmer. Have the lab turn the image into a soft sepia, or try scanning an old image of Grandma and Grandpa and print it big and B&W on metallic paper. Wow.

And if you need a gift for a budding astronomer or car enthusiast, take a look at our easy to purchase galleries of photographic art. Photographs make wonderful gifts, and big images are, well, even better!

Beat the high cost of giving - 11/17/06 - The Detroit News Online: "The holidays are stressful enough without wondering how you'll pay those January credit card bills.

Shopping smarter can help ease that stress. Here are 10 quick and painless ways to cut your holiday spending on gifts."

A Good Article on Selling Photography

I like the point of having several channels for selling. A website is just one channel and having shows, direct mail and gallery work adds more levels of reaching the clients.

Selling: "Having decided that you want to sell your work (and why) you are ready for the next fork. How do you want to sell your work? There are basically three venues offered to you: you can sell wholesale, or through consignment, or via shows where you are personally present. I chose the third option so far, and I sell my work myself at shows. This involves direct contact with the public, long hours of presence at the show, and hard work setting up and taking down displays and photographs. I personally enjoy this approach but I realize this is not for everyone. First it is difficult to have a second 'real' job (I don't). Second, you have to enjoy working with the public and answering many questions all day long (I do). Third, you have to charge sales tax and pay it back to your state. Fourth, you need to carry a relatively large inventory consisting of framed and unframed photographs in matted sizes of 8x10, 11x14, 16x20 and 20x30 or larger. The framed pieces help sell the unframed pieces so you should expect to sell more unframed than framed pieces. Your choice of frame and matting is very important and should fit the type of home decor your photographs will fit in."

At Luminous Landscape

JPG Magazine has relaunched.

Kind of a cool idea. Check it out!

Well, This is Pretty Cool

Need a color scheme? Want to find the right matte color, or a set of colors for your new web site? Adobe has your back. And, uh, your colors too. This is new from Adobe and is very Kule... or cool.

Take a look and play around with this great tool, free for now, and then download the color scheme to your machine (requires Adobe membership to save).

Mighty Imaging presents: Mighty Big Prints

We have created a cool little tool that will let you all quickly load an image and order our most popular sizes for immediate delivery. With only a few clicks. No ftp, logging on or wait. Simply click on our Mighty Big Prints link on the home page, and you are there

We have also made this a little affiliate widget as well. If you would like to offer the ability for your visitors to instantly click from your site or blog and upload their images for quick prints, let us know. Contact Stephanie (see the site for more info) and she will set you up with a little affiliate code that you can use while linking to our tool. Make a little money, have a lot of fun and help your visitors find the best in large format printing.

The Ultimate Party Photographer

Yeah, this doesn't have much to do with large prints, but, dang! This looks really fun, and with parties coming fast and furious this month, keep this idea list in mind.

Photojojo » The Ultimate Party Photographer: "The Ultimate Party Photographer"

Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts

Everyone could use a time saver. Whether you are new to OS X or just need a quick reference, Mac has published a website with common keyboard shortcuts. Bookmark it, learn it, use it.

Adobe Lightroom in Beta

And you can get a copy to use now. Adobe wants your feedback to make it the best tool around, and is letting us all play with it and direct the development. Pretty cool, huh?

I have been using it and have nearly fallen in love with the interface, the operability and user experience. It is very well thought out and they keep working to make it better all the time.

Go on over to Adobe Labs and pick up a copy to work with. Mac and PC.

Some lovely images for the weekend

These are some sites we like to visit regularly. Great images that would look cool big, er... really big!

A Walk Through Durham Township is a delight.

Joe Cunningham has some beautiful images.

Chromasia continues to inspire...

If you have some favorite images sites, photoblogs or Flickr pages, send them to us for mention on the blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving! We hope your holiday is filled with lots of food and family.

Pogue’s Posts - "Yeah, that's about right"

While we think that there can be some areas in which significant detail can be a bit sharper, we have made some exceptionally gorgeous prints from rather smallish files. Seriously... we have a 24x36 in our lobby taken from a 2MB file. Sure - if you stand 4 inches away, you can see a bit of softness, but at normal viewing, the action of the football players is palpable. Read this, and let the healing begin.

Pogue’s Posts - Technology - New York Times Blog: "Anyway, we ran the test for about 45 minutes. Dozens of people stopped to take the test; a little crowd gathered. About 95 percent of the volunteers gave up, announcing that there was no possible way to tell the difference, even when mashing their faces right up against the prints. A handful of them attempted guesses—but were wrong. Only one person correctly ranked the prints in megapixel order, although (a) she was a photography professor, and (b) I believe she just got lucky."

'Tis the season...to buy a digital camera

Just in case you needed some holiday gift ideas, check out this story from the Photo Reporter:

Arlington, VA— The Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) 13th annual holiday survey places digital cameras as the foremost electronics gadget consumers plan to give as a gift this holiday season, followed by DVD players or recorders. In fact, CEA predicts a 27 percent increase in holiday spending in the category. According to the CEA, consumer electronics revenues will reach $140 billion for 2006 in the U.S.—an increase of more than 9 percent from the $128 billion figure posted last year. The survey also reveals that Americans intend to spend $5 billion more on electronics gifts this holiday season, for a total holiday spending of $22 billion.

“We’re seeing greater consumer spending across the board and what’s benefiting in particular is consumer electronics,” said Sean Wargo, CEA’s director of industry analysis.

After digital cameras and DVD players/recorders, consumers listed cell phones, portable music players, video game systems, portable CD players, laptop cases, televisions, cordless phones, flash memory cards, and clock or tabletop radios on their gift-giving lists.

Among the most-asked-for devices for the holidays are mobile music players, digital cameras, computers, televisions, game systems, DVD devices, cell phones and camcorders.

Glamour DVD reviewed at the Strobist

Don's DVD was just reviewed over at Strobist. BTW, if you haven't been visiting Strobist, you have some catching up to do. Go there. Go there now. (Don is the designer of our website, a blogger, and a frequent contributor to this blog.)

Strobist: "But that's not the point. The main takeaways from the DVD are (a) that you can do some very Hollywood-looking stuff right out of the electrical aisle at Home Depot, and (b) that foam core, properly placed, can work lighting magic.

He gives seminars out in sunny (but beautifully fill-lit) Arizona, and these lessons are taken right from those seminars. For people looking to move into the glam lighting scene, the principles are sound to teach you to create that beautiful, wraparound lighting that can pay the bills."

Easy Photo Wall on a Shoestringwire Budget » Curbly | DIY Design Community « Keywords: photos, home, decoration, wall

This is a clever way to show a bunch of images. You could do the same thing with, I dunno... , really big images. Just wouldnt need as many hooks. ;-)

Easy Photo Wall on a Shoestringwire Budget » Curbly | DIY Design Community « Keywords: photos, home, decoration, wall: "A couple years ago I attended a play at The Theater in the Round in Minneapolis (really bad site) and in the lobby they had this cool system for hanging cast bios and other info that consisted of wire, pulled taut across a span, in this case from floor to ceiling, with small hardware holding some photos and glass in place.

I inspected it and it seemed like something I could do at home. So next time I was at the hardware store I picked up some very basic hardware for just a few bucks."

More Winter Tips

This is a wonderful story, full of tips for shooting in bitter cold. We live in Phoenix where bitter cold is somewhere near 50 degrees... but we are aware of some places that get even colder than that... really!

... Alpen Glow:
Dody and I had just arrived at Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Snow Lodge, on our snowmobiles, the day before. The 26-mile trip from West Yellowstone, although somewhat bitter (-25° F), was like traveling through a crystalline fairyland. This was to be our first full day inside of the Park and we were quite anxious to get out on the trail and do some real exploring. With the glimmer of the new dawn on the Eastern horizon, I dared to venture out, from the Lodge into the elements, to warm up the snowmobiles. Much to my chagrin; however, they were frozen solid as a rock. No amount of effort, on my part, could coax the engines to so much as budge from the icy grip. After I had struggled, for what seemed like an eternity, and had worked up a good sweat, Dody, my wife, came out to meet me. She advised that the mercury was hovering somewhere around 50° below zero; no one was quite sure of the actual temperature however, because all of the thermometers there bottomed out at about -43° . Well what were we to do – it was barely dawn, it was freezing and the snowmobiles wouldn’t start!

Another Daily Read

The Alec Soth Blog is all about fine art photography, art and photography in general and the aesthetics of the fine print. We just discovered him (drat!) and will have to spend several hours going through the archives. Recommended heavily for thoughtful posts. The post below is a typically insightful read:

Kiki Smith & Nan Goldin: "Kiki Smith & Nan Goldin
I was recently asked by a magazine (not the NY Times) to photograph Kiki Smith. Because of a scheduling conflict I was unable to do it. I’m both disappointed and relieved. I’m disappointed because this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine profile by Michael Kimmelman described her as an electrifying character. She seems to have great insight into sustaining the creative impulse:"

Resources, Sweet Resources

Finding resources for photographers is one of the things we like to do here at the Big Image Blog. Check out the site posted over at "it's what I do" - and grab a cup of coffee. This is gonna take a while.

it's what I do...: "Isn't it great when someone who is knowledgeable decides to share his/her knowledge with the rest of us. This is a great little site with images and lessons on creating the images. Take a look. Even if you are a full pro, you will find some interesting images/stories here. And if you are still learning... be prepared for a schoolin'."

Coping through photography

We recently had the honor of printing some touching work of Brent Hirak's. Brent is a talented local artist who has a showing of his images coming up at the ASU's Northlight Gallery November 20th - December 2nd.

Fallout
Fallout, the artist Brent Hirak writes, is a photo and video document which comments on the psychosis and addiction that runs in my family. During the 27 months of the project my sister Katie attempts to quit methamphetamine and is subsequently diagnosed with level two manic depression and schizophrenia– she enters treatment in the Maricopa County Psychiatric Recovery Center. The photographs emerge when I am unable to cope with the situation... In general they “speak around” the subject, in ways similar to a family (mis)communicating in avoidance of its own secret trauma.

Sierra Nevada Photos - Home Page

I have always loved the Sierras. Used to take long vacations there just to shoot. Many times I found the sheer size of the landscape to be nearly intimidating. How do you capture something so huge and majestic with such a small device. It was some of the most intense mental excercises that I had ever experienced in photography. In the end, I would be so happy to bring back even a few images that I liked.

So it was exciting to find this site... great photos, maps and lots of stuff relating to the glorious Sierras. Enjoy.

Sierra Nevada Photos - Home Page: "Sierra Nevada Photos is a collection of photography and maps showing the diversity of landscapes of the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. All photographs are available as fine art prints or for stock usage."

Winter Photography Tips & Help

As we move toward the holidays, Mighty Imaging is excited about working with clients to produce incredible gifts and presentation images. Winter provides a wonderful opportunity for imagery, and we are already catching the spirit of the season.

Winter Photography Tips & Help: "If you are thinking that it is cold and you would rather be inside with a hot chocolate, snoozing in front of a warm fireplace, your photographs will reflect that attitude. Get pumped and enjoy the challenge of attacking the wintry conditions outside. Your photographs will display your enthusiasm. This might also be the time to think of 'On-The-Go Photography' when you 'Travel Light & Travel Simply.' "

Here is another small list of things to think about.

• Be careful not to drop anything in the snow. Cleaning it off can be quite time consuming.
• Even if you prefer prime lenses for most uses, seriously consider using a zoom in winter to avoid having to change lenses as frequently. Getting blowing snow in your camera will make your day a lot less enjoyable.

There are more... take a look.

Decorate you house for the season

You can use these ideas not only for the upcoming holiday season, but also they will work great to keep any space fresh and current.

A bounty of harvest-season accents: The tulip centerpiece and red- and white-checkered tablecloth look out of place. There's a chill in the night air, and your summertime embellishments will soon be as appropriate as a Christmas tree in July.

To decorate your home for fall and winter, Robin Brechbuhler of Brechbuhler Interior Designs in North Canton, Ohio, has some suggestions.

• Paint the walls a different color. Remember, if you use a color other than a neutral shade, it can limit you.

• Buy dishware for the summer and something different for the winter.

• Change the artwork on your walls. Thomas Kinkade, for example, has a holiday collection that depicts wintry scenes.

Desiree's image is also a perfect example of this theme.

Walking in a winter wonderland

Just heard about this sleuth exclusive: a By Invitation Only, Winter Wonderland party hosted by Haus Modern Living. If you have not been yet, you must go to one of their stores. They have two amazing showrooms at the Biltmore Fashsion Park as well as on Scottsdale Rd, just north of Camelback across from the Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Our very own published, and local photographer, Desiree Edkins, has been commissioned for three original, "Winter Wonderland" prints. We printed her images on our LightJet on a one day turnaround, so she can get them custom framed by our friends at Decorative Edge on 7th Street, just south of Osborn in time for the event. You can also view 13 additional prints that we produced for Desiree currently on display at Haus' Scottsdale Location.

Haus Design has been offering Desiree Edkins originals for over one year now after they discovered her, and have had great success with moving all of her first commercial body of work. I can see why, they are simply gorgeous.

Chase Jarvis: Focus

Chase offers very cogent advice for photographers who are feeling a little down about the changes that are ongoing around them.

Chase Jarvis Blog: "It seems that so many in our profession are worried about the future of the industry. I'm shocked really. First, it was paranoia by many that the digital age was somehow 'harming' photography. That was true only if 1)you were a stuffy codger unwilling to embrace change and the opportunities that the digital age could bring, and 2)you were overly pretentious and in the dark about the intersection of art and commerce that is professional photography. "

3 Click Color Correction

Our friend Scott Condray of Visualville has a great Photoshop tip on his website on how to take any image and color correct it in quick and easy to follow steps.

Step 1. With the image open select Image > Adjustments > Levels.

Step 2. Click on the Black Eyedropper to make it active.

Step 3. Move the Black Eyedropper over the center of Target 1 and Click.

Notice how the slight bluish cast in the shadows disappears and shadow tonality deepens.

To see the rest of the tutorial go here.

Happy Halloween!

Still need help?

Here is another resource if you are in need of some Photoshop help. Why not go straight to the source? There are hundreds of tutorials on Adobe's website. The search options make it easy to find an article to help you out of a bind or give you inspiration to try something new. They are for CS2, but still very interesting to review even if you haven't upgraded yet. They have everything from little videos on how to correct barrel distortion to step by step instructions on how to make a digital file look like a lithograph (which would look great on the LightJet BTW).

Strobist: Photography's Vanishing Middle Class

No matter where you fall on this question, after reading all the thoughtful and well formed comments, you will have a ton of stuff to think about in relation to photography, business and images in general. Fascinating... grab a cup-'o-joe cause it's a long read.

Strobist: Photography's Vanishing Middle Class: "As a staff shooter for a metro daily paper, I am lucky enough to make a comfortable, if not stellar, income doing what I love. But as I look around, I see that my ranks are thinning fast. And the long-term prospects for my profession do not look very promising for those who are entering it today.

About a month ago I got an e-mail from a friend of mine, John Strohsacker. He's a Baltimore-based lacrosse photographer who happens to have a background in business.

We had several e-mail exchanges and talked both on the phone and at various assignments. The gist of these conversations were pretty much John noting that he liked the Strobist site, but didn't like the idea of my giving the information away for free."

Excellent Resource for Photographers

You will find lots of good information on this site. What a great little resource.

Ask your Adobe Photoshop questions, and I, Debbie Grossman, imaging guru and picture editor extraordinaire, will answer the best of them here.
Send queries to deardebbie@popphoto.com, and check out the About page for more info.

A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow...

Rainbow trout that is. We recently did an amazing image on metallic paper for Leon Ritchie. The colors really lent themselves to the metallic media. It looked like the fish could practically leap out of the water. Leon decided to enter it in the Arizona Game and Fish 2007 Calendar photo contest where he took 1st place in the fish category. Look for Leon's image in next year's Arizona Wildlife calendar. Our congrats, Leon!

Strobist: Free and So Easy: DIY Grid Spots for Your Flash

This is a handy little idea that can transform a problem shoot into a creative solution. Think about three of four of these placed at strategic locations... cool.

Strobist: Free and So Easy: DIY Grid Spots for Your Flash: "It sat on my list of (about 20,000) things to do until I saw a piece of thick, corrugated cardboard yesterday. Making these little grid spots really could not be easier. (Heck, the top picture pretty much explains it.) And can be done with things you are likely to already have around the house."

Expand your visual vocabulary

The folks at Elf Design have a great article called The 9 Advantages to Using a Visual Vocabulary in Brand Identity Design. It has some great points that anyone who is developing a new ad campaign for their company should consider. Here's a sampling.

The elements of your visual vocabulary become a graphic language, which takes your viewer deeper into your graphics and materials....

Graphics in a visual vocabulary are a method of communication that's more quickly understood than text alone. A viewer can absorb the meanings of colors, symbols, photos, shapes and even font types much more quickly than by reading text. So, in cases where time is of the essence—when you're marketing to busy people, creating motion graphics such as animations or commercials or designing items that people will quickly pass by, such as car graphics or billboards, this is an important consideration.

The right combination of visual vocabulary elements can also make your materials more eye-catching. When your materials are in competition with others—in a stack of proposals, on a table with other brochures or even a postcard coming out of a crowded mailbox—they'll have a better chance of getting noticed when they are designed with stunning and unique visual vocabulary elements.

Forty percent of viewers better remember visual elements. A visual vocabulary will increase the memorability of your materials as well, since people will have more visual elements to remember in your materials.

The birth of Photoshop

This is an interesting read about the founders of Adobe; Chuck Beschke and John Warnock. Where would photography be today without Photoshop?

How Adobe launched a revolution It's hard to believe that just 25 years ago, most people couldn't print out documents from their personal computers -- in fact, hardly anyone owned a personal computer.

``They changed the world of communication,'' said Bruce Chizen, Adobe chief executive. ``They made it possible for anybody to publish information. It went from one-to-many to many-to-many overnight.''

Ok... you need to see this page...

Free Photoshop Plugins. Over one hundred eleven of them (111). It is a wonderful resource and they make it easy to see which will work with your platform (mac or win), and what versions of Photoshop they are compatible with. And remember, some of these plugins have multiple filters and such. A great resource. Thanks 111 Free Photoshop Plugins guys.

Download of the weekend

This is a cool little app that may come in handy. Think of it as Photoshop lite... really, really lite. Gotta tell you though, it is very powerful and at a price point of free, well... kind of amazing too.

Paint.NET is image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.

It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple tool for photo and image editing.

Cool Image by "conceptDawg"

Occasionally we find a cool image that we want to share with you all. This is a very interesting effect. Check out the rest of his photostream while you visit.

Good reading

Philipp Greenspun is a semi-pro photographer who likes to write. Here is his blog / site with lots of information, and links. Oh, he's got this cool quote too;

"I have discovered photography. Now I can kill myself. I have nothing else to learn." -- Pablo Picasso

Artful design ideas

This article has some creative ideas on new ways to use and rearrange wall art images for a unique effect.

Decorating : Tips / Hints : Artful Design : Home Pull favorite photos tucked away in shoe boxes or photo albums out and have poster-size copies made. Older black and white photos that have been enlarged take on a grainy quality (much like an old film reel), which is part of the appeal

Put on your walking shoes

For those of you who live here you know that it has been much too hot until recently to even think about going out and walking around for enjoyment. Since it has finally cooled off here in the Valley of the Sun, we are able to re-emerge from our air conditioned caves for the kickoff of the fall art season. On October 19th from 7-9 PM the Scottsdale ArtWalk will feature Western artists and art. Take a walk and enjoy some art!