I've released a new tutorial over at the TipSquirrel.com website. Learn all bout how to crop your photos. Before you think you know all about cropping, consider these points.

• Cropping to a specific size
• Cropping for print and web
• Using Smart Objects for scaling
• Non-destructive cropping
• Perspective cropping

Here's a link to the tutorial.

I was recently interviewwd about a new book – From Still to Motion: A Photographer's Guide to Creating Video with your DSLR

Here's the Podcast – DIGITAL CONVERGENCE EPISODE 6
Episode 6 features Richard Harrington and Robbie Carman, who are two of four of the co-authors of the new book from Peachpit: From Still to Motion.

In this episode, Rich Harrington and Robbie Carman talk about what to expect from their new book. Taking a platform agnostic approach and covering a wide range of budgets, they discuss a broad range of topics including unexpected lessons learned, do-it-yourself lighting, camera support and motion, post-production and color grading, sound, stop-motion and time-lapse and a wealth of other topics. I hated to cut short this conversation - it's our longest episode yet. But it's well worth hearing.

Learn how to convert your DSLR footage for use in a video editing program. From the new book and DVD – From Still to Motion (Peachpit Press).

If you're a media pro... here are a few iPhone/iPod Touch apps to check out. I've not played with all of these yet, but they've all been recommended to me (or I've used 'em).

• Movie Slate
• Storyboard Composer (formerly Hitchcock)
• Blue FiRe
• Moviola Pro Video Guide
• Final Cut Pro Field Guide
• DVD Bit Budget Assistant
• Helios Sun Position Calculator
• AJA DataCalc
• PhotoAssist

I'll be teaching two classes in the Washington, DC area for DC_SIGGRAPH and DC ACM. The workshops are part of their Spring 2010 Professional Development Seminars. These are hands-on workshops that include a textbook.


Understanding Adobe Photoshop
Thursday, March 18 (AM session)

Motion Graphics Toolbox with Adobe Creative Suite
Thursday, March 18 (PM session)


You can register early for a 10% discount (by February 28, 2010). Reference Code (please use when registering): 101


“DC ACM is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing opportunities for meaningful connections between the area’s academics, professionals, and policymakers in the computer science and information technology fields. The proceeds from the seminars support DC ACM activities such as computer science lectures for the general public and awards for junior and senior high school students at regional science fairs.”

I'll be teaching two workshops on social media for Future Media Concepts. These are targeted at business folks of all types who want to learn social media in a practical way.

Description: When used correctly, social media tools can help you reach potential customers and keep your current clients engaged and interested. In this informative session you'll learn practical advice that can be implemented immediately, such as:

• Using Twitter to share your latest news & keep in touch with your best customers
• How to set up a corporate page on Facebook to share video, photos, & info
• Keeping your business leads up to date with LinkedIn
• Creating enjoyable blog posts and content for your readers

The workshops are March 9th in DC and March 10th in New York

Doors open at 5:30pm and the class starts runs 6-9pm
The cost is $199

The fine folks over at the National Association of Photoshop Professionals offer up two great things to celebrate Photoshop's 20th anniversary.

First, take their (tough) quiz on Photoshop history.

"The quiz is just for fun, of course, but it’s harder than you might think."
If you’ve got a couple of minutes, click this link to take the quiz and see how you do.
Second, You can virtually attend the Live Webcast of the big party/presentation/Photoshop love-fest happening this Thursday night (the 18th) in San Francisco celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Photoshop.

(1) You sign up here (it’s free): http://www.photoshopuser.com/photoshop20th
(2) The Live Webcast starts at 7:30 pm Pacific Time (10:30 EST).
(3) There are some VERY special guests making an appearance that night.

Photoshop is about to turn 20 years old... yet it seems like yesterday when I had to run it off a floppy disc. The fine folks over at Webdesigner Depot offer 20 Years of Adobe Photoshop with some great tidbits and history.

"The first version of the Photoshop splash screen features just four Photoshop programmers. In subsequent versions, more and more names are added to the list. In more recent versions, a limited number of Adobe VIP’s appear in the splash screen."

You should also check out this great interview with John Knoll, one of the two inventors of the application.

So... like many I've been pretty frustrated with Flash video lately. When you visit a site (like this blog) with several Flash players, you can see a huge performance hot. Turns out that Flash can' t hand over that H.264 processing to the graphics card, so it becomes a HUGE processor suck (and RAM.. and battery). You've probably heard about Steve Jobs railing on it being a hog and not allowed on the iPhone.

Well... here's a cool plugin thats free for Mac users... it's called ClicktoFlash and its a plugin that keeps Flash files from auto-loading on Safari.

"Ever wanted to get rid of the scourge of the web that is Adobe Flash, but still retain the ability to view Flash whenever you want? With ClickToFlash, you can! Using ClickToFlash, all of those icky Flash bits that have infected most webpages on the internets are replaced with a nice, smooth gradient and the word "Flash" set in a nice, pleasing font. When you want to view the Flash, just click on it!
The advantages of ClickToFlash are numerous. Since Flash isn't loaded until you specifically ask for it, your CPU usage will stay at normal levels when browsing the web. This has tons of benefits: web browsing stays speedy, your Mac laptop won't get as hot, and your Mac's fan won't come on as often. In fact, we guarantee* that ClickToFlash will quintuple your battery life and that it will protect those precious parts of your body on which you rest your laptop! (*note: not actually guaranteed)"

Be sure to read the rest of the instructions and download here – http://rentzsch.github.com/clicktoflash/

You can even use the plugin to force YouTube videos to use the QuickTIme player for H.264 playback. Just click the Gear icon and tweak the preferences.

It's almost time for NAB – The National Association of Broadcasters Conference. If you want a free NAB pass for show floor or to save $100 on any conference — then here's a great offer. Thanks to Creative Cow, visit http://tinyurl.com/nab10cow and enter code CC01 and save — good thru February 19.

Are you looking for an easy way to share presentations online? Then check out SlideShare.net. With it you can embed slideshows into your own blog or website. You can also sync audio to your slides and make shows public or private.

Here's how:

1. Uploading Your Presentation – It can be a PowerPoint, OpenOffice, Keynote, or PDF file. Your presentation file should not be password protected and be sure to remove any macros. Not all fonts supported (but you can convert to PDF). Be sure the file is less than 100MB.
2. Converting Your Presentation – The second step is converting the file to SlideShare’s sharing format. Once uploaded, the file is placed in the conversion queue (this might take a while). You can leave the page and come back later... If there was an error you will need to go to the
   “My Slidespace/Edit All” to find the files that were not successfully converted.
3. Creating a Slidecast– Slidecasting is a multimedia format from SlideShare. Any slide deck can be synced with an audio file.
4. Put it all Together – Use the synchronization tools to mix audio and slides.
5. Publish the presentation.

You gotta love free fonts... I found a great article over at designm.ag offering 50 free fonts. These are cleared to use on commercial projects.

"Designers love to have a lot of quality fonts available to them, and fortunately there are some very good free fonts out there. In this post we’ll feature some of the best free fonts that can be used in your commercial designs."
Here are the fonts.
If you’re looking for more, check out these other sites:

• Font Squirrel
• DincType
• Fontalicious
• Chank

One misperception we hear time and time again is about resolution. For the record, video graphics are not 72 dpi. First off, dpi stands for dots per inch (as in printing). Photoshop measures graphics using pixels per inch (ppi).



The resolution of this photo has been reassigned from 300 ppi to 72 ppi. The Document Size (in inches) has changed for printed output. The pixel dimensions and file size remain unchanged at 1920 x 1080 pixels (for a 1080 HD video project).

When dealing with video graphics, resolution doesn't matter. The same HD video file can play back on a laptop, a television, or on a digital projector, and the total number of pixels won't change. To see this clearly, stand really close to a big-screen HD TV; the picture looks soft. Now find a smaller display with an HD signal; the picture looks clearer. This is because HD is HD; the bigger the screen the larger each pixel is displayed, but again resolution doesn't change.



Figure 9.2 The enlarged area shows the individual pixels that make up the butterfly image.

Setting Photoshop to Measure in Pixels
Out of the box, Photoshop is set up for a print workflow (biased isn't it?). This is easy to fix with a simple preference change. You can set rulers and other tools to measure using pixels by default (which will make designing for the video screen easy).

1. Launch Adobe Photoshop.
2. Press Command+K to call up your Photoshop preferences.
3. Click the Units & Rulers preference tab.
4. Click the Rulers menu and set it to pixels.

A fascinating documentary on Ray Harryhausen who is a prolific stop motion animator. Some of his work you may have seen includes The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, and Clash of the Titans.



Read More to see parts 2–6

Read More...

Our friends at the Peachpit User Group Program are making a special offer for all Mac User Groups who are interested delivering both great information on video production and a great price on a Peachpit book to their members.

Peachpit would like to give your group a unique opportunity to provide your members with high-quality articles and video instruction from Richard Harrington and Robbie Carman’s critically acclaimed Peachpit book, Video Made on a Mac: Production and Postproduction using Apple Final Cut Studio and Adobe Creative Suite absolutely free.
Get more information – here

Do you ever need to size video for web or multimedia? Instead of wasting time processing those clips with your video compression software – use After Effects. You can get cleaner scaling and much faster processing times using AE.

To make things easier... I have made a template project to save you several steps. You can download it here.

Download it here (it's my Birthday gift to you)

These templates are designed to convert an HD source to a variety of output formats.

1. Select either the 1080 or 720 source folder.
   2 Locate the correct target format and open the template.
   3 Import a QuickTime movie of your HD source.
   4 Highlight the layer called Replace Me.
   5 Hold down the Option/Alt key and drag your replacement footage onto the solid layer to swap.
   6 Change the comps duration to match your footage layer’s length by choosing Sequence > Settings.
   7 Add to the Render Queue and render to taste.

Feel free to share this post and the link – tinyurl.com/aeresizer

This short film was shown to me yesterday by Alex Lindsay and Frederick Johnson when I was visiting for This Week in Photography. It's a beautiful documentary about a man who loses his dog to cancer. The whole piece was produced with a Canon 7D. What I like about it is that the filmmaker truly shows an intimate moment (and one I can relate to as a dog lover). The smaller cameras these days (that can shoot in lower light) are letting us tell stories we never good before.
I present Last Minutes with ODEN

Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.

Thank You Jason Wood for allowing us this moment.

Oden's struggle with cancer finally came to an end.

May he rest in peace and his memory be eternal.

Comments please....

Always nice to find a free resources. Here are a thousand+ free fonts – The folks at Brands of the World have a ton of great fonts up for download (all totally free).

You can search alphabetically:
http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/fonts/catalogue/

Or you can search by style
http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/fonts/categories/

Here's a game to test your typographic knowledge – It's Cheese or Font? http://cheeseorfont.mogrify.org

AJA Video Systems, a leading manufacturer of professional video interface and conversion solutions, announced today the release of AJA DataCalc. AJA DataCalc is a free storage requirement calculator designed for video professionals and is available now as a free download from the Apple iTunes Store here.

Just in time for the holidays, here's an eggnog-induced new font for your seasonal enjoyment. The nog makes the whole font a bit fuzzy, but if you bump it up to sizes of 100 points or more, people should be able to read it okay. HO HO HO! Enjoy this new font and use it often. And use it BIG, okay?

https://www.chank.com/shop/detail/4/fonts/63/nogged/

We've been playing with the new Drobo Elite at our offices at absolutely love it. It's a great 8 bay unit (for desktop or rack-mount). It's fast enough for HD video editing, it can expand as you grow, and it works fantastically well.

Join me for an educational seminar on Thursday, December 10, 2009 where we review how it (and the rest of the Drobo line) can benefit video editors, motion graphics artists, and videographers.

The event starts at 8:30 AM Pacific / 11:30 AM Eastern. Its a 30 minute seminar and you can ask any questions you want.

We've been putting it into play with our tapeless workflow and have been very pleased.

Sign up for your spot here – http://bit.ly/7vhDJr

As a part of our new book "From Still to Motion – A photographer's guide to creating video with your DSLR" we've created a new Facebook page.

Over at Facebook you can connect with other users... exchange ideas... share resources!

Here's a sampling of recent stories.

• Zacuto custom rig for Panavision + Canon 7D setup
• Photoshop World adds a new DSLR video workshop
• HDMI capture of live stream for Canon 7D
• Almost everything you need to know about aliasing in DSLR video
• Canon 7D Test - Greenscreen

Join us and share your ideas for the book and footage tests.

Layers Magazine is running a great contest:

“How would you like a chance to win a 1.5-TB Guardian MAXimus quad interface hard drive and $200 dollars in Fotolia credits, both courtesy of Fotolia? We thought so. Just show us your killer design skills, and before you know it, it could be you downloading a ton of awesome images from Fotolia to your brand-new hard drive. And as an added perk, we'll publish the winning entry in the January/February 2010 issue of Layers magazine. So how do you win these great prizes? All you have to do is enter the Layers Back Page Design Contest.”

Here’s the official rules

The extraordinary trainer, Terry White has released an iPhone app called "Learn Adobe Creative with Terry White" which gives you access to nearly 300 Video Tutorials. Terry is a great podcaster and trainer with a lot of passion for Adobe software.

You also get access to bonus content that won't be posted anywhere else. The app also lets you download the videos to your iTunes library so you can watch when you are not online.

The "Learn the Creative Suite with Terry White" app is available for both the iPhone and the iPod touch. You can get it from the App Store for $1.99.

I just found a great shareware tool called Daisy Disk that graphically shows the contents of your hard drive. It gives you a great visual map of what's on your drive and makes it easy to drill down and clean up files. The best news? It's currently free as part of the MacHeist promotion. Visit their site and solve the puzle (look at the top banner for a clue). Then tweet your results and you get the software for free.

For example... I saved over 1.5 GB of space in just a few minutes.

1. I used it to identify some HUGE template files for Apple Motion on my internal drive.
2. I then opened up the files with QuickTime Pro. They were Photo-JPEG and Animation codec files (both beefy).
3. I converted the Photo JPEG to Apple ProRes 422 and the Animtion to Apple ProRes 444.
4. Voila.. space saved.

I am currently on a seek and destroy mission to locate large downloads and forgotten files. If you are a little weary, back up your drive before you start the purge in case you trash a needed file.

This is awesome... a colleague of mine Jason Cranford Teague, has posted some great resources about web typography. My favorite is this useful desktop pattern of web safe fonts.



There is also an incredible directory of fonts installed on Mac and Windows computers.

I need to use textures all the time when creating graphics. From backgrounds to text treatments... a good realistic texture adds weight and impact.

I recently found a great website with a bunch of free, high-resolution textures. Be sure to check out TextureArchive.com.

“TextureArchive.com is devoted to providing a site which is useful for all types artists.”

Free is good... "good" free is even better.

If you've ever fought back the urge to pull out a red sharpie to mark up a sign or poster, then you'll like these stickers. There's a new website called Design Police that offers handy labels for identifying designer gaffes. While the labels are good for a laugh... I am sorely tempted to actually print these out on adhesive sheets. Be sure to click through all five pages... or download the set as a PDF.

I saw this mentioned over at Scott Kelby's blog. If you need hi-res textures, for free, then be sure to check out the Texture King website. There's more than 250 images to choose from including glass, fabric, rust, metal, and wood. The images are totally free to use in any project and its a great site to check out.

Many of you will notice that I am far better at posting to my Facebook fan page and to Twitter than I am to my blogs. This is due in large part to the fact that I can’t blog via my iPhone (but can easily post to Twitter and Facebook). So if you can’t beat em... join em.

>

Nikon announced two new cameras and a few new lenses. Scott Kelby has a great update at his site.

Be sure to check out the full article by Scott as well as the official Nikon release.

ympus has released a re-imagined Pen Camera. The original was released 50 years ago, and cost about a a third less than conventional cameras. The camera was known for trying new technologies and innovative ideas throughout its history.The new camera allows for several lenses as well as HD video.

To celebrate the new launch, the company commissioned a very cool stop motion commercial.
- Shot 60.000 pictures
- Developed 9.600 prints
- Shot over 1.800 pictures again.

Oh… and no post production!

Check out this cool tutorial on lighting for photographers from Robert Louis Vanelli. In this video tutorial you will learn how to light a subject using multiple lights and what each of those lights do for the overall lighting scheme.

Peachpit is offering a cool deal. Try out Safari Books Online and get a free book. Of course, you’ll have questions.

Q: What’s Safari Books Online?
A: It’s a ton of books you can read online from publishers like Peachpit, O’Reilly, and others.

Q: Is it really free?
A: Sign up for the trial... order a book. If you don’t like, cancel within the 10-day trial period. Otherwise they bill you for first month (which is about the cost of a book).

Q: Which Books are Free?
A: There are 10 to choose from.

• Mastering CSS with Dreamweaver CS4 – Stephanie Sullivan, Greg Rewis
• Building Findable Websites: Web Standards, SEO, and Beyond – Aarron Walter
• A Project Guide to UX Design – Russ Unger, Carolyn Chandler
• Online Communities Handbook – Anna Buss, Nancy Strauss
• Mac OS X Leopard Killer Tips – Scott Kelby
• The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes –Joe McNally
• The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers – Martin Evening
• The Photoshop Elements 7 Book for Digital Photographers – Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski
• Facebook Me! A Guide to Having Fun with Your Friends and Promoting Your Projects on Facebook –Dave Awl
• SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate – Joel Postman

In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial from CreativeCOW.net, learn how to use smart objects in CS4 to enhance your workflow. This tutorial is part of a series available at www.creativecow.net.

There are lots of shopping deals this weekend.... Here are a few that I’ve already taken advantage of.

Delkin Devices – 25% off and free shipping. This includes a Blu-ray burner, multiple types of card readers (I ordered a 4 card reader to load from 4 Compact Flash cards at once)! Use the code HOLIDAY during checkout.

equinox – Makers of useful software utilities like Coverscout (to get iTunes artwork) and several templates for OSX mail. I ordered the tube stick bundle for $99 that lets you record over-the-air digital TV signals to your Mac, then transcode them for use on iPod or iPhone. Several bundles that are 50% off.

Mophie – Get the JuicePack for iPhone and iPod Touch. Doubles your battery life and makes for a long day of web work on the device. Take 25% off this weekend. Use the code gobblegobble3G.

Hop you enjoy... I get nothing from links... this is just what I spent money on and thought the deals were good.

Noted author Scott Kelby has released his annual gift guide. What’s great about the list is that there are some really cool tools on there for photogs and even hobbyists. It’s nothing but the coolest photography and Photoshop gear.

“Since many of you are new to the gear guide, I wanted to let you know how I make my picks each year, and why I think it’s different than most other guides you’ll find out there these days. Put simply, every item in here is stuff I actually use, it’s stuff I’m crazy about, and now it’s become stuff I can’t live without (which is sad, in a way), and it’s the same stuff I recommend to my friends (well, my friends with room on their Visa cards).”

I agree with several of his picks, already using things like the Hoodman Loupe and Boda Bag myself. Be sure to check it out.

Richard Harrington shows you how to use the color range command and how CS4 makes it even easier to make a localized selection.

Want the videos in HD?  Then check out our iTunes version.

We’ve mentioned them before... but the website Photoshop Disasters has a wealth of great new posts. You just gotta check them out...

Richard Harrington shows you the small but important updates and features new to Photoshop CS4 .

Want the videos in HD?  Then check out our iTunes version.

Richard Harrington shows you how to size pictures for video and work with video files in Photoshop CS4 .

Want the videos in HD?  Then check out our iTunes version.

Richard Harrington shows you new printing features in Photoshop CS4 , including the ability to do 16-bit printing.

Want the videos in HD?  Then check out our iTunes version.

Richard Harrington shares tips on the new, subtly refined tools in Photoshop CS4 to help get the results you want with your images.

Richard Harrington shows you the improvements that Photoshop CS4 brings to the dodge, burn and sponge tools.

Want the videos in HD?  Then check out our iTunes version.

Richard Harrington shows you how to use 3D layers and 3D models in Photoshop CS4 .

Want the videos in HD?  Then check out our iTunes version.

Richard Harrington shows you how to use smart objects and how they have been improved in Photoshop CS4 .

Here is the action mentioned in the video.

Want the videos in HD?  Then check out our iTunes version.

Author Richard Harrington shares tips on how to do some basic adjustments to images in Aperture.

Looking for some more, free Photoshop training? Here are a few more tutorials I’ve done... these are from Peachpit.com. Enjoy!


Refining Edges in Photoshop CS4
Cropping in Photoshop CS4
Dodge, Blur, Burn, and Sharpen in Photoshop CS4

Aligning Images in Photoshop CS

Want to find out everything new in Adobe Creative Suite 4? Trust me... there’s some really cool things coming. Adobe has an invitation out to view their Web broadcast on September 23rd. But you do need to go to the sign-up page at www.adobe.com/go/somethingbrilliant.

By the way... we are going to be releasing something very special on the 23rd as well as a “thank you” to all our viewers. Be sure to stick around and keep an eye out.

To make things easier, we’ve put together a new website for RHED Pixel Productions. Here you can find out information about all our podcasts, books, DVDs, and websites.

Feel free to take a quick browse and try out some of our new resources. I hope you enjoy!

A short video about photography and composition

Here’s are two new slideshows I put together to show off four things.

1. Some new photos from Red Rock National Park on Las Vegas.
2. The new graphics plug-in Sliver Efex from Nik Software.
3. Animoto Music Videos.



4. Photoshop Express Slideshows.

Enjoy and be sure to check out #2 - #4... if you are in Vegas... set aside half a day and visit Red Rock as well.

I showed this technique at Photoshop World in my portfolios class.

“Author Richard Harrington shows you how to make a photography portfolio using keynote.”

• Julieanne Kost from Adobe has posted a great resource for converting color images to grayscale using Photoshop.

PSCS3 Black and White Options via Smart Objects (20MB PSD file)

• To use this template, first open and crop your desired image to 540 x 366 pixels at 72 ppi. Note: you can crop the entire image, or focus in on a smaller, more important part of it.
• Flatten your cropped file and select "Save As" to save the cropped file as "FileNameFlatLowRes.psd"
• Then open the template, click on any one of the smart object layers in the layers palette. Select Layer > Smart Object > Replace Contents, and navigate to select your cropped, low resolution, flattened file.
• After the images are replaced, choose the best looking conversion, open your original high resolution file, and drag and drop the adjustment layer from the template to the high res file. Voila!

Be sure to check out her great site for more resources.

I often preach extensively about project management at design and creative conferences around the globe. The one piece of paperwork that I always emphasize is completing a scoping document for a project then getting the client to sign off and accept it. This one piece of papaerwork can solve all sorts of problems and is really worth the 2-5 hours it takes to write. The outline is as follows.

Project Scoping Document

( 2 - 1 0 p a g e s )

• Project Name
• Executive Summary
• Background
• Project Scope (High Level)

• Project Objectives
• Deliverables
• Organizations
• Interfaces Required
• Assumptions
• Constraints
• Evaluation Criteria
• Risks
• Rewards
• Budgets
• Schedules (Due Dates)
• Project Team Readiness

• Key Roles

• Executive Sponsor
• Project Manager
• Business Experts
• Technical Experts

• Signature Lines - Sign Off “Charter”

SubEthaEdit - $35 [Mac] http://www.codingmonkeys.de
Having creative sessions and want to keep notes? This application is the perfect note taker. It allows you to collaborate on one open document across your network. It’s also rendezvous enabled so it’s easy for other Mac users to join in. Nice features such as color-coding for each user as well as time stamping make this a flexible tool.

If you need some groupthink without the use of a projector... then this is a perfect tool.

I don’t live in the world of website creation every day... but I’ve been putting up sites since the launch of Mosaic back with PageMill 1.0. I may be a little slow.. but here’s fourteen questions I recommend getting answers to before you build a site (feel free to comment and I’ll expand the list).

Project Planning Sheet – Website

Objectives

1) What main points do you wish to make with your website? (No more than five)
2) Who is the audience? (Please be specific)
3) What is the market’s current attitude toward your company?
4) What objections to potential customers have to your company?
5) What do you want the consumer to think after they see your website?
6) What do you want the consumer to feel after they see your website?
7) What do you want want the consumer to do after they see your website?
8) What Five adjectives describe the look and feel of your future website?
9) Are there any special features or design ideas you have about your website?

Administrative

10) Who will be involved with creating the content of the website?
11) Who has final website approval?
12) What are your deadlines?
13) Is your domain registered? If so, what is the URL and where is it registered?
14) Have you selected a web hosting company?

NOTE: Please send any relevant documents or promotional material that will affect the content of your website

I've got a new book that's going to press this week. It's a short one, but is designed to help teacher's use Apple's iLife and iWork in the classroom. I come from a family of teachers (having 5 elementary teachers and 2 college instructors in my immediate clan). I really hope this book inspires teachers to fully integrate digital media into their lessons.



Apple Training Series:
A Teacher's Guide to Digital Media in the Classroom
by Richard Harrington with Ted Lai
Price: $19.99
Release Date: August 8, 2008



Product Description
In this Apple-certified guide, Richard Harrington shows teachers how to integrate digital media arts into their existing curriculum using iLife ’08, iWork ’08, and practical, step-by-step projects. Developed in collaboration with the Pearson Education Foundation in accordance with the National Educational Technology Standards council, the book includes class-room tested guidelines from the Foundation's Digital Media Arts program, as well as inspirational profiles of successful digital media classroom projects around the world. Designed to be used with Apple Training Series: iLife ’08 and Apple Training Series: iWork 08, this guide covers everything from designing a photo essay to creating polished video projects, and will have teachers and students producing websites, podcasts, video blogs, and DVDs in no time. Students learn to:

• Express a Feeling: Create a photo-essay slideshow, add sound, and publish it on the web
• Make a Factual Case: Track data in a spreadsheet, organize it into charts, then deliver it as a Keynote presentation
• Make a Persuasive Case: Research an issue, develop an argument, and create a PSA in iMovie and burn it to DVD
• Solve a Problem: Reconcile income and expenses in a household budget and chart financial scenarios
• Tell a Story: Document the personal history of a community leader in a short, sophisticated movie

To order the book, click here.

I was interviewed by MacEditionRadio.com about Photoshop and creating a portfolio. Here it is.. enjoy.

“At the 2007 Photoshop World in Las Vegas, I sat down with Peachpit Press and Focal Press author Richard Harrington, and we discussed the issues involved in creating DVDs that make your photographs look their best. If you have ever been confused about the proper resolution to prepare files for DVD, television, or video projection, then Richard’s Tips and Tricks will fill in the blanks! Rich is the author of “Photoshop for Video”, and “Understanding Adobe Photoshop: Digital Image Concepts and Techniques.” and if you are working with digital photography, Photoshop, or Lightroom, and need to show others your photos then listen in to this interview! Recorded at the National Association of Photoshop Professionals Photoshop World Conference, in Las Vegas, in September 2007 by Harris Fogel. Posted 6/28/08 (24:09)”

Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to batch process a whole folder of images by using actions & droplets.

Instructor Richard Harrington shares some techniques on how to age a photograph in Photoshop.

Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to use a patterned image to degrade the edges of your text for a unique text effect in Photoshop.

Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to use a patterned image to degrade the edges of your text for a unique text effect in Photoshop.

Author and video podcaster Richard Harrington explains how you can take your wireless broadband card and share that internet connection with others on location.

Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to make great selections using channels in Photoshop.

Steve Holmes has a great tutorial over at Layers Magazine on using the Vanishing Point features in Adobe Photoshop and After Effects. The tutorial is totally free and Steve does a great job.

“Without a doubt, the best new feature in After Effects CS3 is the Vanishing Point Exchange with Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended. Creating very believable 3D movements from quite simple 2D digital photographs has to be seen to be believed, and the best thing is it’s a pretty easy process. However, there are a few caveats to keep an eye out for, so let’s take a trip into the world of two-dee three-dee!”

Check the whole thing out here.

Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to make great selections using channels in Photoshop.

Apple iTunes just promoted my company to network status. You can find all of our "in-house" technical training podcasts on a single page now.

I encourage you to take a look at our several shows.

Understanding Adobe Photoshop – iPod and HD – A general interest show about Photoshop for beginners and intermediates
Photoshop for Video – iPod and HD – A show about creating graphics for video pros and motion graphic designers
Producing Video Podcasts – iPod and HD – A show that offers both production and post tips for making video for the web
Final Cut Help – iPod – Weekly tips about using Final Cut Studio

Remember, the podcasts are totally free, all we ask is you post a review to the iTunes store and tell a friend.

Looking for something different? I discovered Animoto at this year's SXSW conference... Load up your photos, pick a song, and within a few minutes you have a rocking music video. You can use their cleared music or load up your own. Thirty-second movies are free, full-length videos cost $3. You can get a full year's access for $30.

The whole process is a piece of cake. Be sure to check them out – here. You can post the videos to a website, download them for an iPod, or even use YouTube to share. The videos you download

Here are a two more of mine that you can check out.

I need to use textures all the time when creating graphics. I recently found a great website with a bunch of free, high-resolution textures. Be sure to check out TextureArchive.com. “TextureArchive.com is devoted to providing a site which is useful for all types artists.”

Free is good... "good" free is even better.

I've taken part in MacUpdate's bundle deals for a while now... here's their latest and greatest. This deal runs out soon.

“MacUpdate has partnered with 11 Mac developers to bring you a great software bundle. You can buy this bundle for $49.99 instead of $666.74, a savings of $616.75 This amazing offer is time limited so buy today.”

Here are my favorites from the bundle

• ForkLift – A useful FTP application
• RapidWeaver – A great website and blogging tool, how this website is made.
• Xslimmer –Trim an applications by removing universal versions (going to just PPC or Intel) as well as Internationalization files.
• Yep – A really cool cataloging tool for PDF files
• SRS iWOW – Makes iTunes sound great on a laptop.
• XMIND 2008 Pro – A mind-mapping application that helps creative types get their ideas down.
• iStabilize – A REALLY good image stabilization program for shaky footage.
• PulpMotion – A surprisingly useful motion graphics tool with some cool templates

Seems many folks are confused by the wealth of Photoshop choices on the market... (Do I need Elements or Extended?) With five different products baring the Photoshop name, a little bit of sorting is in order.
Fortunately Adobe has all five products compared on one single page to make your shopping process a little easier. What's nice is that they clearly break down the features as well as the target industries and activities for each program.
While you're there, you can read a quick blurb on Photoshop’s 20 year history.

I suspect that many of you may be viewers of the Understanding Adobe Photoshop podcast... I really need your help.

The show is starting to get some major attention (all of it good that will let me do MORE episodes and give away more stuff on the site). But I really need to get its iTunes review score and its ranking up.

So... please click here, to go to iTunes and post a review (the negative reviews are pretty much from when we first launched and had episodes go down for a few days).

Some recent facts:

1. ALL the back episodes are now live on the page thanks to the folks at Podango. So even if you are a subscriber, visit the iTunes page and download any missing shows.

2. The show was named to iTunes Photoshop Masters page (really... I had no idea there was such a page). Congrats to Scott Kelby, Terry White, Russell Brown, Matt Klowskowski and Jan Kabili (all peers).

3. We re-branded the show with cool graphics (heck, replace your old shows with new ones).

4. ALL shows are now 640 X 480 (so again replace those old episodes with higher res versions).

Go.... PLEASE.... Really!

Thanks!

If you'll be at the Podcast and New Media Expo show this weekend, consider checking out these free classes on the show floor. Podango is offering an “Unconference,” a featured program of the Podcast and New Media Expo (PNME) taking place September 28-30, at the Ontario Convention Center.

Podango, the online video and audio network that enables publishers and advertisers to “get heard” by today’s hard-to-reach, niche audiences, is heralding a wide range of topics and speakers. They include: new media pioneer Scott Bourne, host of The Apple Phone Show; Paige Heninger and Gretchen Vogelzang, hosts of MommyCast; as well as Jason Van Orden, David Lawrence and others. Speakers will share ideas for building and monetizing audiences in today’s niche-oriented, interest-driven new media marketplace. Read More...

If you'll be at the Podcast and New Media Expo show this weekend, consider checking out these free classes on the show floor. Podango is offering an “Unconference,” a featured program of the Podcast and New Media Expo (PNME) taking place September 28-30, at the Ontario Convention Center.

Podango, the online video and audio network that enables publishers and advertisers to “get heard” by today’s hard-to-reach, niche audiences, is heralding a wide range of topics and speakers. They include: new media pioneer Scott Bourne, host of The Apple Phone Show; Paige Heninger and Gretchen Vogelzang, hosts of MommyCast; as well as Jason Van Orden, David Lawrence and others. Speakers will share ideas for building and monetizing audiences in today’s niche-oriented, interest-driven new media marketplace. Read More...

I've been meaning to post on this for a while (I am knee-deep in 4 books right now). Came across some incredible Photoshop actions from the talented PanosFX.com. The new Analysis action set contains 23 different looks that can make your photos into books, filmstrips, and photo spreads. What's nice is that these actions add realistic lighting and edges for a very believable effect. Another bonus is that things remain layered which means you can perform some level of animation in After Effects (or even the Photoshop CS3 timeline). The set cost $10, but is quite nice and a strong entry into my toolbox. If you'd like to see the quality of PanosFX, check out their generous Freebies. Quite a lot of cool things in there.

We've added a brand new page to our Resources section. Come search for “free” images at various government agency sites. Several websites offer images that are either public domain or have very generous usage rights. Be sure to read usage terms at each site.

We call them “free” as they were paid for with U.S. tax dollars (which means they are now free to use). Start to explore now and find images for your next project (many of these are high-resolution as well!) Please share this page with your friends or students.