The following entries were made in the “Imagery & Graphics” category.
Archive for “Imagery & Graphics”
iStockphoto Exclusivity
It took almost a year, but I got the required number of downloads (250), and exceeded the minimum 50% acceptance rate — I am at about 74% — to become an “Exclusive Photographer” at iStockphoto.com — w00t! I can’t say it was easy all the time. There was a lot of learning going on, and I have to admit it was a bit frustrating at times, but the ride was still enjoyable. 250 downloads isn’t a lot, and I didn’t have a rich year, not monetarily speaking, but it’s a beginning. The important thing is this a fit for me and I’m enjoying the journey. I feel very positive about the destination.
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On Becoming a Photographer
I’ve been at a little while now. I’ve got some calluses. I’ve been a member of iStockphoto since February of 2008, but I didn’t start contributing until April. You do the math. During these months I’ve been hard at work basically re-learning the craft. Photography has been a hobby since I was a kid — I grew up with an SLR camera given to me by my dad — but this whole stock photo thing and using a digital SLR (DSLR) have been a new and exciting adventure. This is my progress report.
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Making Bad Images Look a Little Better
This is a technique I use to make less than great images look a little better. Bear in mind this isn’t a good technique for print-quality images, nor is it terribly helpful for really large images where down-to-the-pixel perfection is required, but for web-use images under 800×600, this can be a real time saver — a down and dirty technique — with no heavy tools required, meaning most mid-range image editing software can handle this. Here’s how it’s done… In six, or so, easy steps. A poor man’s technique. (Dial-up users: This post contains ~130kb of images.)
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Making Fireworks with Fireworks
If you found this post because you’re a pyromaniac, sorry. This is a simple image-making tutorial using the Abode Fireworks image editing software. I will specifically be making fireworks with Fireworks, as the post title implies. You could, however, use the program of your choice. I’m won’t be using tools you can’t get with most mid-level image editors. This tutorial assumes you know the basic tools that will be mentioned. If you don’t, ask in a comment. Okay, let’s get started.
Note to Dial-up Users: This post contains just over 175 kilobytes of images.
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Getting Clever with WordPress Smilies
The simplest markup is difficult for some people. It’s not that it’s hard (really, it’s not hard at all), but they are intimidated by the unknown. They suffer from FUD: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. They may be worried about making a mistake and having their web site blow up and end up as some radioactive mushroom cloud, floating over the internet for all to witness. Of course we know these fears are unfounded, and we can even try to explain and simplify processes to the best of our ability, but often fear is deafening; a loud roar that blocks out reason. We are powerless to change this, but there are little things we can do if desperation and imagination are all that’s left.
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Abusing Fonts for Graphical Gain
Turning to fonts can sometimes be a convenient time-saving addition to a graphics project.
This is a quick tip to remind us that graphics don’t have to be difficult or time-consuming to make. They really are nothing more than sized shapes, colors, lines, and fills — nothing but than a bunch pixels if you think or want to get picky about it. With this in mind, nothing is out of reach. What with the various image editing (manipulating) software programs out there, an imaginative creator can have a ball. But graphics can be time consuming. It’d be nice if there was some time- and labor-saving shortcut. Well, there is. Fonts.
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Adding your own WordPress Smilies
On a site I’m making I added a table of available smilies on one of the pages in the help section (similar to the smiley list my daughter has on her blog). It’s part of the site’s help section. The audience will be a mix of somewhat savvy surfers and complete novices. Many I’d say won’t know what a blog is. Thus I’m offering a lot of passive site support. While making this table of smilies I decided to add three of my own. It’s really quite easy. Here’s how I did it:
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How to Make a Wooden Picture Frame
On a recent site I made I created wooden frames around most of the embedded and stand-alone images. Doing this, while somewhat time-consuming, added a nice “finished” touch that may be worth doing in some cases. Bear in mind these are wooden frames, but the technique described herein can be used for all sorts of materials: metal, marble, plastic, etc. In this tutorial I will be using Adobe’s (Macromedia) Fireworks. Even though I have a variety of image-editing software, like PhotoShop, Fireworks is my absolute favorite.
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Design is Shades of Green and Other Colors
It’s not a meme — or maybe it is — but either way I decided to jump on the bandwagon and give it a go myself. Just for the fun of it. Click here to view or download my contribution or click on the inset thumbnail. Want to see what others have done? In addition to Veerle Pieters’ and the lastest one from Roger Johansson, check out this extensive collection on flikr to view the 143 of them loaded there so far. Fun stuff. Enjoy my green desktop! 
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