Are you meta-smart?

Are you meta-smart? | Photometadata.org

Are you meta-smart?

If you create, distribute or use digital photos, you’d better be!

To protect your copyrights. To make money licensing photography. To smooth your workflow. To track image use. To find images you need. To find them again. You need to understand and use photo metadata. We can help.

Things Your Mother Should Have Told You

These two articles from the Adobe Experience Design team give some nice tips you may not know about Photoshop and Lightroom.

10 Things Your Mother Should Have Told You about Photoshop

Several years ago, we ran a longitudinal study of home users and Photoshop. We gave them a box of the product and then visited them every few weeks to see how they were progressing. Based on that study and our continued visits with home users, here are the top ten things that can help you get more of the power, flexibility and efficiency out of Photoshop for your personal photography. (BTW, this advice has been updated to Photoshop CS4, so if you don’t know what we are referring to, it may be a feature not found in your current version!).

8 Things Your Mother Should Have Told You about Lightroom

Last year, we ran a study on 75 new home users of Lightroom and listened in as they tried to work with their photos. From that, we’ve distilled the top eight things that can help you get more quickly set up and working with your images with Lightroom.

Simple Lightroom Image Fixing Workflow

Simple Lightroom Image Fixing Workflow

Whether it’s a photograph of mom that you’re sending to her or an image that you’re preparing to print, most photos can use some fixing before they’re ready to be shared or used.

Here’s a quick and easy Lightroom workflow that I apply to most every day images before sending them to family and friends, posting them to Flickr or my blog or printing them for a paper based photography project.

If you’re new to photo editing or to Lightroom, this step by step process should get you on the way to fixing your images.

Connecting the Dots – DPI Tips that Matter

+Connecting the Dots – DPI Tips that Matter | x=blog+stay+informed

Output resolution is one of the most misunderstood topics in digital photography.

What is the correct DPI or PPI to export an image to produce beautiful prints or display on a screen just right?

Unfortunately there is no simple answer; resolution, DPI and PPI are all different terms, and although inter-related are each distinct concepts in the photographic world. So let’s dig deeper into a basic primer on output resolution and DPI.

How to Use Textures to Enhance Your Photographs

How to Use Textures to Enhance Your Photographs

If you’ve spent anytime at all exploring sites like Flickr, I’m sure you’ve notice a good many photographs that have a certain “vintage” look to them, a patina if you will. There are many variations to this theme, ranging from simple toning to full blown distressing of the photograph complete with film like grain or scratches and surface variation resembling an old or imperfect photo. Up till now you might have thought that achieving this look was difficult and time consuming, but in fact it is remarkably easy, and it is done using textures.

3 Critical Criteria Of Any Image Selection Workflow

3 Critical Criteria Of Any Image Selection Workflow » JMG-Galleries – Jim M. Goldstein Photography

An often unspoken component of photography is image selection. How and why are certain photos chosen over others when reviewing results of a photo shoot? I’ve received questions on this in the past and D. Travis North (Self-Editing to Concentrate Your Workflow – Part 1) has asked me to share my insight to this topic with Kevin Oki (Editing and Workflow – Part 2) as part of a multiple-blogger series.

There are three primary areas of evaluation that factor into my image selection process: Creative Execution, Sharpness and Comparison & Selection. Below are examples and detailed thought surrounding each:

Fixing Perspective in Photoshop – It’s Easy

+Fixing Perspective in Photoshop – It’s Easy! | x=blog+stay+informed

This workflow is by far the shortest and easiest path to fixing the Leaning Tower of Pisa effect that often happens when shooting architectural photos without fancy equipment like a View Camera or a Tilt Shift Lens.

The Truth About Saving JPEGs in Lightroom

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips » The Truth About Saving JPEGs in Lightroom

As I’m out on the road teaching I always pick up on areas in Lightroom that people are having a hard time with. One area I realized was saving JPEGs. Why, when, how, and what settings to used are some common questions.