Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

Voice-Driven Photo Editing from Adobe

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2KeluYrHJk&w=640&h=360]

Check out the above video for a sneak peak on some of the work being done by Adobe Research and the University of Michigan. PixelTone is an experimental interface for image editing.

Photo editing can be a challenging task, and it becomes even more difficult on the small, portable screens of mobile devices that are now frequently used to capture and edit images. To address this problem we present PIXELTONE, a multimodal photo editing interface that combines speech and direct manipulation. We observe existing image editing practices and derive a set of principles that guide our design. In particular, we use natural language for expressing desired changes to an image, and sketching to localize these changes to specific regions.

You can read more on PixelTone in a 9-page research paper that documents the development of this multimodel interface.

 

Alien Skin Eye Candy 7 Review

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Eye Candy 7 Examples

Eye Candy 7 is a very interesting software package. It renders realistic effects that are not easy to create in Photoshop. Have you ever wanted to add lightning or fire to your images?

This software is meant for graphic designers, but as a photographer, I’ve been known to dable in the design of my own promotional materials.

Using Eye Candy 7 to add effect to graphics is easy. Just select the layer in Photoshop you want to add an effect to, launch Eye Candy, select the effect and tweak. Most of the effects need a shape layer to be applied. [Read more…]

Final Day to Enter the Swag Bag Giveaway

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Photography Bay Swag Bag

This will be the last reminder to enter the Swag Bag Giveaway before we announce a winner to this bag packed with photo gear.

Your opportunity to enter will end tonight at midnight. Check out the giveaway rules here.

What’s in the Swag Bag? Check out the list below: [Read more…]

Model Cameron Russell on the Power of Image

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Cameron Russell

We hear so much noise in the media about fashion photography and the use (overuse?) of Photoshop. However, as model Cameron Russell notes in her TED talk below, there’s so much more than Photoshop that goes into the construction of fashion photography.

Beyond that though, Russell digs into the power of image and how it has affected her life and the lives others who don’t necessarily look like the typical runway model.

Check out the video below. [Read more…]

The Book of GIMP: A Complete Guide to Nearly Everything – New Book

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The Book of GIMP

The Book of GIMP: A Complete Guide to Nearly Everything is a new book from Olivier Lecarme and Karine Delvare that guides users through the free Photoshop-alternative, GIMP.

“The Book of GIMP begins with step-by-step tutorials that cover the most useful features of GIMP, like retouching photographs, creating illustrations, and website design. The second part of the book offers a comprehensive reference to nearly every aspect of the software, so that users can find what they need without hours of trial and error.”

The Book of GIMP retails for $49.95; however, it is currently available for $26.34 on Amazon.com.

It is also available in a Kindle version for $25.02.

Photoshop 13.0.4 and 13.1.2 Update Fixes “Trial Screen” Error

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Earlier this week, I tried to open Photoshop CS6 and received a message that I could continue with a free trial or put in my serial number. Even though I had been using Premiere Pro CS6 all day and they are both part of the same Creative Cloud subscription, Photoshop just wouldn’t open for me. After two hours of troubleshooting and a call to Adobe customer support, I was finally able to use Photoshop again.

As it turns out, this was a bug and an update is available to fix this problem for both Creative Cloud users and boxed-copy users with serial numbers. Details from Adobe on the update below. [Read more…]

Adobe Lightroom 4.3 and Camera Raw 7.3 Now Available

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Adobe has released final versions of Lightroom 4.3 and Camera Raw 7.3, which are now available on Adobe.com.  The update adds HiDPI support within the Lightroom Library and Develop modules for the MacBook Pro w/ Retina Display and includes additional raw file format support for 20 new cameras.

Lightroom 4.3 and Camera Raw 7.3 offer RAW support for the following cameras: [Read more…]

Photoshop CS6 Exclusive Updates for Creative Cloud Users & Expands Creative Cloud Subscriptions for Teams

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While all users received the Photoshop CS6 update adding Retina Display support, Adobe has added several new features to Photoshop CS6 for Creative Cloud users.

Several Photoshop users who bought CS6 at retail rather than the Creative Cloud subscription are rather upset about missing out on the new features. While I can understand the frustration, one of the big bullet points from Adobe when Creative Cloud launched was that it would be able to roll out new features faster to Creative Cloud users rather than way for full version releases as it previously has done.

Adobe Creative Cloud members will have access to application upgrades, including new CS point-product features, before they are launched as part of major CS updates, as well as inventive new products and services as they emerge. –Creative Cloud Announcement

Given what appears to be an initial success with Creative Cloud subscriptions, it looks like we’re in for more software subscriptions until retail boxes of Photoshop are a thing of the past. I’m not sure yet if this is a good or a bad thing. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a Creative Cloud subscriber and really have no bad things to say about the experience thus far. What are your thoughts on Creative Cloud and the differences between updates with the boxed version?

In addition to the new features in Photoshop, Adobe announced that Creative Cloud for teams is now available for entities needing to license multiple seats. The price is $70/mo per user and includes several upgrades over individual subscriptions, including a bump from 20GB to 100GB of cloud storage per user.

Check out the video below from Julieanne Kost showing off some of the new key features from Photoshop CS6 13.1: [Read more…]