Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

 

iLovePhotos – Free Software and Free T-Shirt

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iLovePhotos Intro Video from iLovePhotos on Vimeo.

iLovePhotos is free software for your Mac that helps you organize, share, and enjoy your photos based on the people who are in them.

Photography Bay covered iLovePhotos a while back when it was still in private beta. Now, iLove Photos is open to the public with several new features, including the following:

  • Progress bar while exporting a slideshow movie.
  • Performance gains while syncing with iPhoto.
  • Performance gains while auto-saving
  • Fixes for library saving and dequeuing face detection.
  • Getting started overlay the first time you launch ILP.
  • New log-in screen in the iLovePhotos.com preferences.
  • Fade transitions for entering and existing fullscreen and slideshow views.
  • You can now import photos by dragging them from a finder window to iLovePhotos
  • After importing new photos into iPhoto, iLovePhotos will automatically import them.
  • Export all of your tags to iPhoto.

Check out the introductory video above, download a free copy of iLovePhotos and share your thoughts in the comments below.

Two lucky readers that take the time to comment on their experience with iLovePhotos will get an iLovePhotos t-shirt.

You can choose from:

Pink: M, L, XL

Gray: M, L, XL, XXL

You’ve got until midnight on Saturday, January 17, 2009, then I’ll pick two thoughtful posts and genuine posts regarding your honest impressions or thoughts (good or bad) on this software.

You can get the iLovePhotos software for free – here.

Free Copy of Portrait Professional 8

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DIYPhotography.net is hosting a contest with copies of Portrait Professional 8 as the prize. It’s almost three separate contests in one: to enter, you just have to do one of the following.

  • Submit a black and white portrait of someone meaningful to you through Flickr. You’ll have to write a brief explanation of why that person means so much to you.
  • Submit a color portrait with the same guidelines.
  • Send a portrait tip to DIYPhotography.net.

The contest closes to submission on September 4th. You can check out the submissions so far in the competition’s Flickr pool. There are already some impressive pieces up, though submissions seem heavily weighted to the black and white so far.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

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Lightroom 2 is out and it looks to be quite the follow-up to its ground-breaking predecessor.  I would give you a rundown of all the great features and why it’s everything Aperture 2.1 is and more; however, John Nack has already done that and given you several links to follow-up on your LR 2 fetish.  Check out the press release below and then head over to John Nack’s rundown. [Read more…]

Nik Silver Efex Pro Review at PhotographyBLOG

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PhotographyBLOG has posted a review of Nik Silver Efex Pro, which is a black and white plug-in designed for use with Adobe Photoshop or Apple Aperture 2.1. It uses Nik’s patented U-Point technology to assist you in making local changes to your images.

PhotographyBLOG dealt Silver Efex Pro a favorable review, giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars, and stating that it “is the most powerful and intuitive plug-in I’ve ever worked with for black and white imaging. The Grain Engine does an excellent job of providing a natural look to the image, and the selection of film types is good.”

GoodSync: A Good Option

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GoodSyncI work on photographs on two different computers. I find myself constantly wishing that I had a file that’s on the other machine, having to hunt down a thumb drive and move it over. Network folders have helped, but what I’ve really been looking for is a solution that requires no help from me. I’m lazy — I want my files to always be in the right place, but I shouldn’t have to move them myself.

That’s where GoodSync comes in. It takes a few clicks to select folders that you want the software to keep synchronized, and then you’re done. GoodSync does all that hard work I’ve been complaining about: if you drop a file in a synced folder, it’s available on that other machine.

Installation and set up was pretty simple. GoodSync runs on Windows 2000 through Vista. I downloaded the executable file, agreed to the terms and had GoodSync up and running in under a minute (mileage may vary, depending on the speed of your internet connection). The interface is easy to use, especially considering some of the file management systems floating around out there. I especially like the automated features. You can set synchronization for any number of times, such as before you log off. It’s flexible enough to fit into anyone’s work schedule.

Furthermore, you don’t have to limit your synchronization to your photos. Anything, up to and including those many gigs of MP3s you’ve downloaded, can be synced between your computers. It’s pretty much an automatic backup made better by the fact that GoodSync protects against data loss without filling up your hard drive with duplicate files.

My only question for GoodSync is when they’re going to release a version that will let me sync with files on my Mac. It may be wishful thinking, but it would be nice.

You can download a free trial version on the GoodSync website, or purchase a license for $29.95.

Nik Software Viveza Review at PhotographyBLOG

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PhotograhyBLOG has posted a review of the Nik Viveza image editing software.

Viveza only does one thing, but it does it better than any tool I’ve ever used. If you spend a lot of time in Photoshop or Aperture editing your images, you’ll find Viveza will quickly become an integral part of your workflow, and it will repay the cost of purchase in no time at all.