Adobe Releases Online Version of Photoshop

Recently Adobe has officially released its online photo editor offering called Photoshop Express. It is free and powerful. It doesn't have all the features of Photoshop, or even Photoshop Elements. It does offer a great deal of functionality if you need the convenience of being able to edit your photos from any computer with internet access.

Demonstration of Photoshop Elements 6 on 3/20/08

Photoshop Elements 6 screen, Pictures by Charles Burkett

The March meeting of the Digital Photography Special Interest Group will feature a discussion of Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. We'll pay special attention to the new features that were added in the upgrade from version 5. Charles Burkett will do the presentation.

WHEN: Thursday, March 20th at 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Cuyahoga County Library, Maple Heights Branch
5225 Library Lane
Maple Heights, Ohio 44137-1291
Map: http://www.cuyahogalibrary.org/Branch.aspx?id=616

3/12: Photographer Chris Jordan to Give Oberlin Gallery Talk

Plastic Bottles, 2007
Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles,
the number used in the US every five minutes

Detail at Actual Size
(photos courtesy of chrisjordan.com)

Running the Numbers: Photographs by Chris Jordan

Chris Jordan's photographs are often massive in size and impressive in detail. In the past he has gained access to industrial waste facilities and photographed material and juxtaposed images in a way that gives new insight on our consumption of resources. He will be in Oberlin to talk about the work being exhibited at the Allen Memorial Art Museum. Here's what the museum said about the photographer and his work:

Chris Jordan's photographs investigate contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. The themes of environmental stewardship, mass consumption, waste, public health and social justice are explored through haunting, large-scale images, which cause the viewer to directly confront numbers through a visual medium. Each work portrays a specific quantity of a particular item: 15 million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use), 426,000 cell phones (the number retired every day), 106,000 aluminum cans (30 second of consumption). As Jordan plays with size and scale in these vast photographs, assembled from thousands of smaller ones, he also causes us to examine our role, responses, opinions and actions as members of a consumer society and as inhabitants of both a man-made and natural world. Images representing the quantities involved have a different and more powerful lasting effect than the raw numbers alone, which can often be mind-numbing and feel remote from daily life. As Jordan has stated, "Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing...this project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society. My underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible and overwhelming."Chris Jordan will discuss his career and works on display in his show at the Allen Memorial Art Museum of Oberlin College. A reception will follow his talk.

Date: Wednesday, Mar. 12, 2008, 5:00 pm
The work will be on display from March 11 - June 8, 2008

Location: Allen Memorial Art Museum,
Oberlin College

87 N Main St, Oberlin, OH

(440) 775-8665
Google Map

Cost: Free

For more information on the exhibit, visit http://www.oberlin.edu/amam/chrisjordan.htm
See more of his work here: http://chrisjordan.com/

Picnik, the Free Online Photo Editor

Need a way to resize photos, adjust contrast/brightness in a computer lab, library or other environment where you can't install your own software? Modifying your pictures is a picnic with Picnik, the free, online photo editing site.

No membership is needed to use the site. You can read and save photos in a variety of formats: jpg, png, and tiff, just name a few. Recently Picnik has recently entered into a partnership with Flickr.com which allows users to edit their Flickr photos just by clicking a button on the same page with their pictures.

Currently the site is free. There are some premium features, such as levels and using histograms, that become accessible if you pay a membership fee. Most of what you want to do you can get done for free.

Is this site the same as having Photoshop or Photoshop Elements? No, but it does give you tremendous functionality for free, from any computer that has an internet connection. The Wall Street Journal's Personal Technology columnist Walter Mossberg likes it. Picnik.com has also been written up in a number of other publications:

PC World: Picnik.com-Outstanding online photo editing for casual photographers who live online.

Benedict Herold's Tech Corner Blog: Picnik, the Best Online Photo Editor

CNET's Webware site: Flickr gets Picnik's online photo editing

Accroding to CNET News, Adobe is currently working on an online photo editing program called Photoshop Express that is slated to launch later this year. For a reviews of other free online photo editors (such as of Fauxto, Picnik, Picture2Life, Pixenate, and Snipshot) visit this link.

Editing your photos online no matter where they are stored is the trend of the future as photography moves from editing, sharing and storage being done on the computer desktop to more of those functions being done on the Internet.

Focus the Camera After You've Taken the Picture?

According to CNet, a start-up company called Refocus Imaging has technology that will allow camera users to focus their images after taking the picture. The technology uses a special lens and software to capture information that is adjusted after the picture is taken. According to founder Ren Ng, "One way to think of it is just a raw image, except to the nth degree." The company is formed from Ng's research at Stanford University and has received funding from Greylock Partners. The company intends to license this technology to camera companies.

Visit the company's website and photo gallery to see photographs that allow the viewer to adjust the focus by dragging a slider on the right side of the image.

100 Photography Tips in 100 days-Part One

Adorama Camera did a blog posting where they compiled 100 Photography Tips in 100 Days . They shared these topics over the course of 100 days in their blog. Featured topics include How to Read a Histogram and Coping With Shutter Lag.

Thanks to Diane of the Cleveland Photographic Society for bringing this to my attention.

2/28: CDPUG Presents Google Applications

Want to know more about the wide world of Google applications? Attend the next meeting of the CDPUG (Cleveland Digital Publishing Users Group) on Thursday, February 28th. The title of the presentation is "Rockin’ in the “G” World? What’s It Really Like in the Googleverse?" Topics include Picasa, Google spreadsheets, maps, calendar, alerts, Youtube and Google analytics. You will pick up a googol of useful insights from this presentation.

When: Thursday, February 28, 2008
Reception starts at 6:00 p.m.,
Meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.

Speakers: The Cleveland G-7. Spike Radway, Howard Kass, Erin O'Brien, Henry Lee, Anita Orenick, Al Wasco, Penny Stetz

Where: Dodd Camera & Video (Downtown)Map & Driving Directions

Cost: Free for members, $10 for non-members.

Win a Trip to Cancun, Mexico in Plain Dealer Travel Contest

Want a trip to Cancun, Mexico? Enter the Plain Dealer Travel Photo Contest.

Photos must be received by Friday, March 14. Photos must have been taken after Jan. 1, 2006.

Four winners will be announced in the Travel section on Sunday, April 13. Three Ohioans with a background in the visual arts will serve as judges.

The grand-prize winner will receive a four-day, three-night stay at an all-inclusive resort for two in Cancun, Mexico, airfare included, courtesy of Encompass the World Travel. Second prize is a four-day, three-night Carnival Cruise for two from Miami (airfare not included), courtesy of Carlson Wagonlit Travel. Third prize is an Olympus Stylus 770 SW digital camera from Dodd Camera and Imaging.

For more information, visit: http://www.cleveland.com/travel/

Photo Credit: j.lee43

Rocky Mountain School of Photography In Cleveland April 12-13

The Rock Mountain School of Photography will be offering a weekend course in Cleveland on two days this spring: April 12th and 13th at the Sheraton Cleveland Airport hotel.

The course content is extremely flexible. There are three courses offered each day and there is a a choice of three topics within each session. Topics include:

• Photography Basics
• Photography Basics II
• Understanding Your Digital Camera
• Image Management and Organization using Adobe Lightroom™
• Processing Your Images: The First Steps
• Processing Your Images: Fine Tuning with Layers and Masks
• Understanding Exposure – Zone System for Color
• Low Light and Night Photography
• Macro Photography
• Understanding Light
• Composition
• Photographing People
• Sunrises, Sunsets and Flowing Water
• Sports and Motion
• Photographic Techniques in Photoshop
• Critique

For a description of the topics, visit their courses section of the website.

When:
Saturday and Sunday, April 12-13, 2008
8 a.m. -4 p.m. each day
see schedule here

Cost:
Two days $169
One day $109
Save $5 when you register online.
Save $5 for Early Bird registration (30 days in advance).
Groups of 5 or more, save $20 per person for two days or $10 per person for one day. This may not be combined with online registration or early registration savings.
Add $10 if you are registering the day of the event.

For more information:
Visit the Weekend Course section of the RMSP website:
http://www.rmsp.com/Weekends/Default.aspx
800-394-7677

March 6th: Photography Lecture at the Akron Art Museum

Lecture:Photobiography with Martin Parr
March 6, 2008, 6:30 pm

British documentary photographer and photojournalist Martin Parr will lecture about his distinguished work and career. Parr’s photographic projects take a critical look at modern society, specifically consumerism, foreign travel and tourism, motoring, family and relationships and food. This lecture is sponsored by The University of Akron Myers School of Art, Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Lecture Series.

Location: Charles and Jane Lehner Auditorium, Akron Art Museum Admission: This program is free and open to the public.

Thanks to the Friends of Photography of the Cleveland Museum of Art for making me aware of this event. Additional information about Martin Parr and the Bidwell's support of the Lecture series was referenced in Brewed Fresh Daily.