The ‘Lost Generation’
January 29, 2009 by Syl Arena · Comments Off
Fate has a funny way of reminding me that someday I will have to figure out what I want to be when I grow up (right now, I’m thinking that I want to be a sage). It was impossible for me to ignore the coincidence that the winner of this month’s Best Web Video was sent to me on the day after I stepped just within two years of qualifying for membership in AARP.
It only took 1:44 for me to realize that I’d found January’s Best Web Video winner. ‘The Lost Generation’ was created by Jonathan Reed (a twenty-something film studies major at Georgia State University). It won second place in the AARP U@50 video competition last year – in which filmmakers under 30 were to describe their life at 50 (the age when you’re eligable for membership in AARP). I checked out the other entries – none are worth even mentioning. ‘The Lost Generation’ is so creative… I had to play it twice just to be sure I understood what was happening. And then I just kept playing it… Enjoy.
Jumping Into Facebook & Twitter
January 29, 2009 by Syl Arena · Comments Off
To celebrate (or deny) the fact that I just turned 326 in dog years, I’m setting up shop on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t really know what I’m doing yet… but then I didn’t know anything about running a blog when I created PixSylated last spring.
You can find me here on Facebook and here on Twitter.
PhotographerMentors.com Steals Blog Content From Leading Bloggers
January 28, 2009 by Syl Arena · Comments Off
I truly believe that our world is a better place because of the open exchange of ideas and information that happens through blogs. For me, that’s why the theft of blog content is such an insult.
Blogging is hard work. Remember that “blog” rhymes with “flog” and “slog”. To build a blog entirely on the content of others is #1 illegal and #2 lame.
This week a number of bloggers who cover photography around the world discovered that their content had been posted in its entirely and without comment or analysis on PhotographerMentors.com. In addition to a post from PixSylated, I found posts by David Hobby (Strobist), Joe McNally (blog), Scott Kelby (Photoshop Insider), Rob Haggart (A Photo Editor), Chase Jarvis (blog) and many other great bloggers.
If you are a blogger (or a voyuer), you’ll find all the details about the fight along with a gallery of stolen web content below.
The Right Ways To Use Others’ Web Content
The blogosphere is woven together with links and references from one post to another. I love it when other bloggers provide links to PixSylated. [See links to PixSylated on: Joe McNally's blog, Strobist, Photoshop Insider, Wired, Gulf Photo Plus...]
There are sites like StumbleUpon, Technorati, Delicious where readers can post links to or bookmark favorite posts. Here’s a snapshot of a post back to PixSylated on StumbleUpon. I’m always grateful for Stumblers and others.
There are sites like Photo News Today that aggregate short snippets of content from blogs that cover photography. PNT always provides direct links back to the original sources.
The common factor among all of these sites is that #1 they did not extract my posts in their entirety and #2 they provided open and numerous links back to the original posts.
How I Discovered That PixSylated Had Been Ripped Off
I discovered that PixSylated had been ripped off three ways:
- Kerry Garrison at CameraDojo kindly sent emails to a number of bloggers after he discovered that his blog had been ripped off by PhotographerMentors.com.
- it popped up in my daily report from Google Alerts.
- the offending post showed up as a pingback to PixSylated.
How I Fought PhotographerMentors.com
Thanks to the encouragement of Kerry at CameraDojo, I pursued this theft with a vengeance. The more people who push back against stolen web content, the faster the issue will be resolved. The more people who know about it, the less likely it is to happen again (at least by the same guy).
1. I tried to contact the blogger directly through a link or information from his site. No surprise that there was nothing on the site that would help me here.
2. I did a WhoIs search at GoDaddy (search link here) to find out who owns the URL. (Answer here.)
3. I sent a takedown demand to the contacts listed in the WhoIs search. The guy who owns the site wrote back “My apologies. The material was removed. I thought only an excerpt was posted but was wrong.” Only an excerpt? Liar, liar, pants on fire.
4. I determined the IP address for PhotographerMentors.com by using the IP search tool at Network-Tools.com.
5. I determined the ISP from the IP address by using the same search tool at Network-Tools.com.
6. I pulled up the legal page at website of the ISP for the offending site (turns out it was ThePlanet.com – their legal page here).
7. I followed the detailed instructions for filing a DMCA complaint (”Digital Millennium Copyright Act”). Be exact. If you miss one step, the ISP can ignore you. Give them all the info in the form they require and they have to respond promptly.
8. I emailed the details of my complaint to many other impacted bloggers along with a link to the material stolen from their sites and a request that they also file a DMCA complaint with the ISP. Several did so immediately.
9. I blogged about my experience to let even more people know.
10. I posted about the experience on web forums hosted by ASMP, APA and others.
11. I emailed every blogger I know and asked them to spread the word. Photo Attorney was one of the first to join the cause.
12. I emailed the presidents of every ASMP and APA chapter across the country and asked them to let their local members know. APANY put it up on their Twitter.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Resources
If you find that your site has been ripped off, check out the following:
- Google on the DMCA
- FAQ about the DMCA at ChillingEffects (a legal consortium)
- PDF on the DMCA at the US Copyright Office
- The dark side of the DMCA as seen by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
A Gallery Of Stolen Web Content
Click on any of the photos below and you will go to the original post at the site from which it was stolen.
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A Word of Warning About Stealing Web Content
PhotographerMentors.com has been taken down. By the owner? By the ISP? I think by the collective efforts of the bloggers who were ripped off.
RadioPopper Now Booking PX Orders
January 23, 2009 by Syl Arena · Comments Off
The guys at RadioPopper are now officially selling the new PX series. If you’re a PixSylarian, you’ve already read about how great I think ‘Poppers are. [Read: Smashing Pumpkins, I Shot Ben Wilmore, Simple Truths About High-Speed Sync, and Future of Wireless TTL Flash]. These second-generation radio triggers for Canon and Nikon TTL flash are a huge improvement over the original models.
Based on the action I saw at the RadioPopper booth at Imaging USA two weeks ago, I’d say you should order pronto. The response to the new ‘Poppers has been huge — and rightly so in my opinion.
You can go directly to the RadioPopper store and get your order in. If you need to know more about why the PXs are so much better than the (sometimes-tough-to-use) P1s, click here and scroll down for press releases, videos, product shots, etc.
As promised, RadioPopper has a generous trade-in allowance for those who bought the first-generation P1s. For each P1 purchased prior to Oct. 12, 2008, you’ll get $125 towards the purchase of a PX. For each P1 purcahsed after Oct. 12, 2008, you’ll get $180 (the price you paid for it). You’ll need to download this form and send it in with your P1s. More details on the trade-in policy can be found here.
Searching For The Future of Photography At The 2009 Consumer Electronics Show
January 22, 2009 by Syl Arena · Comments Off
I headed to Las Vegas recently to search for the future of photography at the Consumer Electronics Show. Every January, the world converges in Vegas and sets up an electronic city within the city. The fact that there were more people attending the CES inside the three giant halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center than there are living in my hometown was not lost on me.
The CES confirmed what seems all too obvious today… that age-old industry titans will crumble if they don’t continue to evolve. The CES also demonstrated that the future of photography will likely be defined by the visionaries in the TV and computer industries rather than by guys who have been grinding glass for a century.
3D Guitar Hero and the Future Of Photography
For 30,000 years or so, mankind has been making flat images on flat surfaces. First, it was cave walls, then on animal skins, then on paper and cloth. More recently we’ve grown fond of images on screens: movie, TV, computer and, most recently, cell phone screens. Visually speaking, there’s not a lot of difference between the pre-historic Cauvet Cave paintings and the image on the latest iPhone. Both are two-dimensional representations of our three-dimensional world.
Interestingly, it was an exhibit of 3D Guitar Hero at the CES that caused me to realize that the basics are now in place for a new revolution in photography. Nvidia unveiled their GeForce 3D technology at the CES. Yes, we’ve had stereographs since the Victorian era and 3D movies for decades. What we haven’t had, and this makes all the difference, is high-def televisions. All Guitar Hero jokes aside, the potential for an explosion in 3D imaging is at hand. Nvidia had a 30-seat movie theater right behind the Guitar Hero demo. While I thought that the 3D games were novel, seeing still photos and movies in high-def 3D was amazing.
There’s no doubt that Hi-Def 3D TV is coming. Sony also had a demo of 3D TV at the CES. I wasn’t impressed or inspired by Sony’s effort. The Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision system made all the difference. The secret is in the high-tech wireless glasses (yes, they are battery operated and stylish). Nvidia describes them as “custom engineered active LCD shutter glasses with built-in electronics.” While GeForce 3D Vision is marketed towards PC-gamers (with a matching - think “affordable” - price point), I’ve no doubt that innovative photographers (still and motion) will begin to swarm over high-def 3D imaging like ants on sugar.
So, PixSylarians, you read it here first. “The future of photography is not bright. It’s high-def 3D.”
Other Surprises and Insights From CES
Canon had a huge display. Nikon did not exhibit… The enormity of Canon as an electronics company is often lost on still shooters. Canon had their full line of EOS DSLRs and lenses, SureShot point-and-shoots, Vixia camcorders, along with the ProGraf and Pixma printers in very hands-on displays. As the “C” in CES is “consumer”, Canon did not roll out their broadcast video, medical imaging or office electronics. The Nikon sales rep that I bumped into said that “they were there just to attend a sales meeting.” [Nikonians: No insights or inferences should be made.]
Panasonic clearly understands the merger of photography and television. They literally had a live broadcast set going full time to demonstrate their high-def televisions. Panasonic also understands that there is a huge and largely untapped market of women who want a DSLR that works for them. I predict that the Lumix G1 will become a favorite of lady shooters. It’s small and comes in several colors other than black.
Given that nearly every consumer good has some sort of electronics in it, I should not have been surprised when I came upon the Swiss Army Knife company Victorinox. Yet I was surprised. “What’s electronic about a Swiss Army Knife?” I asked naively. Turns out the Swiss Army guys are now selling cool high-performance flash drives. I walked away with the 8gb SwissFlash and put it to good use that afternoon. (You’ll find good prices on them here.)
As a child of the Apollo-era, I had to find out if the photo giants of my childhood had anything new to offer. I came away with the impression that Kodak is trying to stay in the game and that Polaroid is dying a long, slow death. Kodak is making a big push on their OLED (organic light emitting diode) digital picture frames. OLED may be one of those ripples that becomes the wave of the future. In contrast to current LED frames and monitors that have a power-hungry backlight, OLED technology consumes very little power because there is no backlight. OLED displays are extremely thin for the same reason. Of course, early adopters will find that OLED gadgets are still very expensive. But then… weren’t high-def TVs outrageously priced just a few years ago? Learn more about OLED here.
The most interesting part of Polaroid’s booth was the historic display of Dr. Edwin Land’s inventions and a collection of Polaroid cameras. Cool factoid: Dr. Land is second only to Thomas Edison in the number of patents issued to a single individual. The big news in their booth is that Polaroid has teamed up with Zink (as in “zero ink’) to produce POGO cameras and printers that spit out prints instantly. Problem is… the Zink paper is small and expensive… just like the shots from my SX-70 twenty-fives years ago.
Next on PixSylated’s winter show tour is the PPA Imaging USA expo in Phoenix. A full report soon.
Caponigro R/Evolution DVDs * Preorder Pricing
January 8, 2009 by Syl Arena · Comments Off
John Paul Caponigro will release three new training DVDs through Acme Educational next week. Orders placed before the release date will save $10.00 off the $59.95 list price. Having spent a week with JP in the Fine Art of Digital Printing workshop that he teaches with Mac Holbert, I can personally recommend the tools and techniques that you’ll find on these three disks. JP’s earlier disks, ‘Drawing With Light: 21st Century Dodging & Burning‘, ‘Color Management in Six Simple Steps‘ and ‘The Art of Proofing‘ are also favorites in my studio.
Details on each disk are listed below. To get the pre-order pricing at Acme Educational, click here. To see the many other great resources on JP’s site, click here.
Black & White Mastery
Black & White Mastery will unlock the amazing power of digital color for you and your images.
You’ll discover what’s unique about black and white images, identifying a number of unique black and white palettes that will give you a wide range of options for crafting a black and white style that’s best for you and your images.
You’ll learn how to convert color to black and white with ultimate precision and flexibility. You’ll know which methods give you the best result and when to choose a simple or a complex solution. You’ll find out how to adjust the resulting tonal relationships with unprecedented precision. You’ll understand how to adjust your images selectively to further enhance your images. You be able to add color back into your black and white images (subtly or dramatically, uniformly or selectively) to add unique expressive dimensions.
In addition to processing Raw digital files, you’ll also learn how to scan analog originals (film and print). Finally, you’ll learn easy ways to make prints of your black and white digital files either with the latest inkjet technologies or by making digital contact negatives for printing with historic processes.
Most importantly, you’ll learn to see and think about black and white images in new ways which will open up a vast world of visual possibilities for you. Put this new perspective to work for you and your images today.
introduction:
- b&w is unique
- how gray is gray
- b&w expanding definition
- unlimited palette
- b&w signature style
- b&w seeing in
- color is b&w - trichromatic separation
- b&w strategic overview
- b&w scanning
- b&w prep for conversion
- b&w many ways
- raw
- b&w adjustment layer
- dual adjustment layer
- triple adjustment layer
- channels as layers
- simulated infrared
- b&w global contrast
- b&w local contrast
- b&w adding color - multi-tone
- b&w adding color - curves and overlays
- b&w adding color - restoring original color
- b&w adding color - handcoloring
- b&w inkjet printing - 2 ways
- b&w film
Photoshop Color Strategies
Photoshop Color Strategies will help you take your color skills to the next level. True mastery of color requires not only knowing how to use the various color tools available to you, but also knowing how to choose between them, when to apply them, and why to apply them to achieve specific color effects. You’ll learn to isolate the three essential components of color (luminosity, hue, and saturation) and control them with unprecedented precision. You’ll learn about important optical effects that affect the way you and your viewers see color and learn to put them to work for you. You’ll learn new ways of thinking about color that will help you see and produce a wide variety of color effects. You’ll discover strategies for identifying and creating successful color palettes. You can combine all of this new knowledge to craft your own unique artistic signature style. Put the unprecedented power and precision of digital color to work for you and your images now.
introduction:
- color r/evolution
- color is black and white
- memory
- optical effects
- color types
- successful palettes
- association
- side-by-side
- infinite variations
- color tool survey
- editing strategy
- blend modes
- selectivity
- light filled
- increase and decrease luminosity
- reduce hue contrast
- increase hue contrast
- reduce saturation
- increase saturation
- neutrals
- atmospheric perspective
- night
- inversion
- transpose color natural match color
- transpose color synthetic gradient map
Photoshop Color Tools
Learn how to use the color adjustment tools in Adobe Photoshop CS4 to achieve unprecedented control of your images.
Find out which tools are the go to tools (the ones you¹ll use everyday), which are exotic (the ones for exceptional images), and which are redundant and/or too limited (the ones you can forget about).
Make every adjustment tool more precisely target specific components of color (hue, saturation, and luminosity) using blend modes and easy to use selections / masks that allow you to target specific hues or luminosity values.
introduction:
- hsl
- color management - 6 simple steps
- monitor histograms
- editing strategy
- color tool survey
- blend modes
- raw conversion
- shadows / highlights
- channel blending
- levels- b&w points
- curves
- high pass contrast
- selective color
- saturation & vibrance
- photofilter & overlays
- match color
- b & w adjustment layer
- select by color range