In every work or passion you want to pursue, there is a chance you need external influences to get better. In photography, books are a great resource. Most of the time they are written by professional photographers, then you learn from their experience. Here are five photography books for you to discover.
Lowepro Pro Messenger 160AW
Price: $159.95 US
Company: Lowepro
The Lowepro Pro Messenger AW series are camera shoulder bags. They are suitable for traveling light or for small photography assignments. They store a minimum of equipment, but just enough for this kind of photo shoot. Like many photographers, I am a bag freak and I am glad I had the chance to review the 160AW model.
ReSyncCable – Retractable USB to 30 pin cable
Price: $19.99 US
DualSync – Retractable USB to Micro USB/30 Pin for iPod, iPhone, iPad and most smartphones
Price: $24.99 US
Company: Macally
If you own an iPod, an iPhone, or another smartphone, eventually you’re going to hit the end of its battery and will need to recharge. If you’re at home or at the office or at school, a long cable on the desk may not be a bad thing. But on the road, in your laptop or iPad bag, bringing those long cables may not be the best choice. Welcome to the world of retractable cables.
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Garry Fong Puffer – Pop-Up Flash Diffuser
Company: Gary Fong
Price: $24.99 US
Everyone buying an entry to mid range DSLR with an integrated pop-up flash rapidly learns they are not so great. Like many flashes on compact cameras, they point directly to your subject and are not adjustable. They also tend to blast the subject directly, making it look overexposed.
The Photographer’s Eye – Interactive edition for iPad
Company: The Ilex Press Ltd.
Author: Michael Freeman
Price: $9.99 US
When Amazon announced the Kindle with its electronic store, then Apple introduce the iBooks Store a few years later, I was feeling happy about the fact that bricks of books would become digital. But I was fast disappointed when I saw that most digital books were simply a copy of the physical books. When something goes digital, I expect a bit of interactivity.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.5
Company: Adobe
Price: $299 U.S.
Introduction
I am an amateur photographer, a passion I’ve had since 2000. In 2002 iPhoto became my photo management software, and I used Photoshop Elements for further editing my pictures. I switched to Aperture version 2.0 around 2009, keeping Photoshop Elements as my external editor. Last year, I upgraded to Photoshop CS5, and since then I always wanted to compare Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to Aperture, mainly because Aperture and Photoshop integration is poor.
This review/article about Lightroom 3.5 is the result of that investigation. To compare both applications in depth would take much more than a few pages, as you will read below. But at the end, my hope is that you will find some help when considering jumping to professional image management software.
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Alphabet – Learn and Play
Company: Aquafadas
Platform: This app is designed for both iPhone and iPad
Price: $1.99 U.S.
Alphabet – Learn and Play is a learning program for children on iOS devices. The premise of the game is to help young kids learn their alphabet. The application is designed to work in both English and French languages from the application itself. To switch language, simply use the French or British flag buttons on the main screen of the application.
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Fat Gecko Mount and Accessory for iPad 2
Company: Delkin
Price: $36.74 U.S. for the mount and $20.99 U.S. for the iPad accessory
Delkin Fat Gecko Mount is a suction cup arm that can be used to attach a small camera to a smooth surface. With the iPad Accessory mount (available for either iPad 1 or iPad 2), you can attach your iPad anywhere.
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Jabra Halo
Company: Jabra
Price: $99.00 MSRP
Last January, a friend of mine who had been searching for a Bluetooth headset talked to me about the Jabra Halo . He fell so in love with it that I decided to jump in and buy one.
The Jabra Halo is a Bluetooth headset that has many interesting features to make it worth checking out. First, it supports A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) that makes it an excellent wireless stereo headset for listening to music or podcasts from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (or other device that support this Bluetooth profile). It’s also a Bluetooth headset for phone calls, so if you’re listening to your favorite music and your iPhone rings, you can answer from it directly by pressing the only button it has.
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Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One
Author: Deke McClelland
Company: O’reilly
ISBN: 978-0-596-80797-9, 460 pages
Price: $49.99
Abobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One is a great book for Photoshop CS5 users. As with many tutorial books, it takes you from the basic chapters on cropping and resizing an image, to layers and more advanced features. The first chapter is dedicated to opening and organizing pictures with Bridge CS5, while the last one is on traditional printing and export to web functions of the software.
Many aspects of the tools in Photoshop CS5 are presented in the book. Making selections, an important part of the Photoshop workflow, takes an entire chapter. Almost at the end, a tutorial shows how to make a complex selection using the Channels from the picture. The author will teach you many fundamentals of Photoshop, namely retouching, healing and enhancing a picture as well as adjusting color and removing color cast. As you read and follow the book, the author also reaches some more advanced features of Photoshop CS5, such as Smart Objects and Smart Filters. It also covers features such as Free Transform, Adobe Camera Raw and masks. Some parts of the book teach you compositing and how to work with text layers.
The book is specifically named with the CS5 version of the software. But most of the chapters will be doable only with CS4 or even earlier versions of Photoshop. When a new feature of CS5 is mentioned, it is clearly stated and users of previous versions can skip this section easily if they want. There is no specific section on Photoshop CS5 new features only. But it is well integrated in the flow of the book. The book does not come with a CD-ROM, but online contents can be found from the provided link in the book. The content includes both the material used in the tutorials, as well as small video clips at the beginning of each chapter. According to the book cover, there are five hours of video.
The book Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One is nice reading. It does not have a specific goal in mind, but can be seen as a typical introduction to Photoshop book. The book is written for both Mac and PC, telling you specific shortcuts for each platform. It is very comprehensive and includes lots of material for beginner to intermediate users.
MyMac Review Rating: 9 out of 10
Drobo FS
Company: Drobo
Price: $699.00 MSRP (without any hard drive)
The Drobo FS is one of the latest hardware in the popular line of products from Drobo. It is a standalone NAS (Network-Attached Storage) that connects directly to the LAN network. This is the third Drobo I have bought and it fits well in the family of products. The particular interest in the Drobo FS is that it can operate almost as a standalone device once configured. In other words, it is a file server without a server. This device may be an ideal choice for home users or small businesses that need to share files within a group. In this review, we will explore the device together and see if that can meet some of your needs.
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Understanding Adobe Photoshop CS5
By Richard Harrington
Peachpit Press
ISBN: 978-0-321-71426-8, 312 pages plus DVD
Price: $49.49
The book Understanding Adobe Photoshop CS5 is described by the author as a book for people who are beginner Photoshop CS5 users, and need a global understanding of the software. As written in the introduction, many Photoshop books are geared towards really basic Photoshop introduction, specific features (such as layers or working with image modes), or new features only. This book is billed as a learning tool for beginners, but it will get you to almost every aspect you need to understand for using Photoshop CS5.
Portraiture Plug-in Version 2.3 for Apple Aperture
Company: Imagenomic
Price: $199.95
http://www.imagenomic.com/pt.aspx
Almost every picture of people you see in magazines or on the web has been retouched. If you are a portrait photographer, you may be tempted to retouch your photo so that the people look at their best. You can use software such as Photoshop or Aperture, with a brush and a few masks, to enhance the portrait. But that is a tedious and long task. A plug-in like Portraiture may come in handy to help you with the major portrait retouch. We have tested for you the Aperture version of the plug-in.
Portraiture is a plug-in that will retouch the face of your subject on a global scale. If what you want to do is to remove a few stains or wrinkles, you better do them in Aperture with the Retouch tool before you launch Portraiture. It is also preferable to do the general picture enhancement within Aperture, such as white balance or color correction, before you go to Portraiture. Then, when you’re ready to enhance your subject’s face, you can launch the plug-in by going to Photos/Edit with Plug-in/Portraiture Plug-In. Aperture will automatically create a new version of your file, and preserve your master as it is.
The huge dialog box will open with your picture in the center of it. On the left, you have all the adjustment sliders and presets, and on the right the Navigator and Mask Preview. On top of the picture frame, you can choose to see only the preview, or the before and after view. I personally prefer the latter with the pictures side by side. There is a zoom slider at the bottom of the window to let you zoom in. You can use the Navigator or the hand tool on the picture to change your view.
Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Quick Release Cradle for iPhone & iPod touch
Company: Kensington
Price: $29.95 MSRP
http://us.kensington.com/html/17595.html
The Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Quick Release Cradle for iPhone & iPod touch is a mount kit for your iPhone or iPod touch for your car. The design is very simple and it works pretty well. It comes with three parts: a windshield mount, a car vent mount, and the iPhone/iPod cradle that can be attached to either one of the two mounts. It is very straightforward to set up just by looking at the pieces. The cradle pivots 180 degrees so you can have your device either on left, right, or vertical orientation. It may be useful if you use your iPhone as a turn by turn GPS device.
Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Quick Release Cradle for iPhone & iPod touch
Company: Kensington
Price: $29.95 MSRP
http://us.kensington.com/html/17595.html
The Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Quick Release Cradle for iPhone & iPod touch is a mount kit for your iPhone or iPod touch for your car. The design is very simple and it works pretty well. It comes with three parts: a windshield mount, a car vent mount, and the iPhone/iPod cradle that can be attached to either one of the two mounts. It is very straightforward to set up just by looking at the pieces. The cradle pivots 180 degrees so you can have your device either on left, right, or vertical orientation. It may be useful if you use your iPhone as a turn by turn GPS device.
The windshield mount is very easy to attach to your car window. You put it where you want, and push the suction stick to affix it to the windshield. Once installed, you don’t have to worry about your device, because the suction is strong and there is no risk of it falling by itself. The arm is very steady while you still can position it to your best liking. Be aware that when driving on a bumpy road, the arm tends to swing a bit, so if you have set up your device with the option of shake to shuffle, it may change songs without your consent.
The vent mount is another story. In my Pontiac Vibe, with a rounded vent mount style, I have not been able to install it correctly. It just won’t stay in place. The mount is more suited to be used with vents that are square in shape. The vent mount does not have a long arm with it, so keep in mind if that is your plan, it may interfere with normal vent flow in your car.
The cradle holds the device very nicely. Just strong enough to keep it in place, and not too much to scratch it. The cradle also has rubber bumpers on each side to prevent scratches. To put the device in the cradle, just place one side of it in the cradle arm, and push on the other side to keep it in place. To remove the device, simply hold it, push one arm of the cradle gently and you’re done. The cradle can also hold the charging cable, if you have one, when no device is on it. But I found that it may depend on the type of cable you have in your car. There is no included charging cable or FM transmitter.
I’ve been using the Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Quick Release Cradle for iPhone & iPod touch in my car for the last three weeks, and I find it adequate for the selling price. The windshield part is very strong and nice to use. But I won’t count too much on the vent module.
MyMac Review Rating: 7 out of 10
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INTUOS4 – WIRELESS PEN TABLET Model PTK540WL
Company: Wacom
Price: $399
http://www.wacom.com/intuos/wireless.php
Wacom, the company well known for its pen tablets, introduced recently the Intuos 4 Wireless. This is basically the same as the Intuos 4 Medium size tablet with Bluetooth connectivity. We had the pleasure of testing it for you.
Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac: The Missing Manual
Author: Barbara Brundage
Company: O’Reilly/Pogue Press
ISBN: 978-0-596-80496-1, 568 pages
Price: $44.99
Photoshop Elements 8: one-on-one
Authors: Deke McClelland, Colleen Wheeler
Company: O’Reilly/Deke Press
ISBN: 978-0-596-80239-4, 370 pages
Price: $39.99
Adobe released Photoshop Elements version 8.0 for the Mac in November, 2009. For the price, especially if you compare it to its grand brothers Photoshop CS4 and CS5, you get a lot of good tools in Elements that are very powerful. But power come at a price: the learning curve. That’s why you may need a book to get you started. We have a review for you here, two books on Photoshop Elements 8.
Barbara’s book is, like its name implies, aimed at Mac users, while Deke’s book is specifically designed around the Windows version of the software. That is mostly irrelevant considering that the Windows version and the Mac version of Elements are virtually identical. But the Windows version comes with a mode that is called the Organizer while the Mac version is bundled with Bridge CS4. Both applications are used to manage and rate your files on the hard drive, but I think that Bridge is more powerful. Anyway, if you’re on a Mac, chances are that you are using iPhoto to manage your picture library.
As a Mac user who reads Deke’s book, you want to skip all references to the Organizer, and you must translate the Control Key to the Command one, and the ALT key is Option on the Mac. Other than that, you can read the book and do the exercises without having too many problems. Photoshop Elements 8: one-on-one is more oriented to intermediate-advanced audience than to newcomers to Elements. When you log in on O’Reilly’s site, you can download all the exercise files for the book and a video for each chapter. If you’re a visual person like me, that four hours of video is really great. The book also comes with a one week free trial of the Lynda.com tutorial videos lessons, where you can watch any training you want in that week.
Barbara’s book is build for the Mac version of Elements, so no key translations are required. This book also chooses the ecological way of letting you download the exercise files instead of bundling a CD or DVD with the book, but there are no video lessons of any kind. It exists to replace the manual that you did not get in the box with Elements. Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac: The Missing Manual covers most of the functions of Elements, one at a time, and grows from simple functions to some of the more complex ones. The audience for this book is more typically from beginners to intermediate users. It does not cover every single feature, but get you enough to understand the principles of each tool in your hands.
If Photoshop Elements 8 is the first version of the software you ever saw, I would say that Barbara’s book is the better one for you. If you’re already using Elements and need to explore more of the functions it offers, Deke’s book illustrates some great way to explore creativity with Photoshop Elements. For example, that kid’s picture in lesson 7 he transforms into a StarTrek like alien is astonishing. Both books are very well illustrated to help you follow the pace of the lessons.
One thing I really appreciated in the Missing Manual is the list of new features in Elements in the introduction chapter. I haven’t found any reference to that in Deke’s book. Even if you are an experimented user of Elements, but want to learn more specifically about the new features, this list is very helpful. It describes the new functions briefly and lets you know on which page you can find more informations about it. Deke’s book is written in a slightly larger font that is easier to my aging eyes, but with a smaller font size and more pages, Barbara’s book certainly has more content in it.
While I preferred the Missing Manual, I was a bit disappointed that it offered no real workflow integration with other Mac software, such as iPhoto. It talks a bit about Bridge and iPhoto, but not to a level that will help you discern what is the best way to have an integrated workflow between them. For example, as a photo organizer, iPhoto is great. But its management of RAW files is really poor, and the round tripping to an external editor is far from the refinement of Aperture. But there is a way to manage your iPhoto library so that Elements can also benefit from it too. Deke has a full lesson on the Organizer, which is totally useless for Mac users, but is great for people using the Windows version of Photoshop Elements 8.
Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac: The Missing Manual
MyMac Review Rating: 8 out of 10
Photoshop Elements 8: one-on-one
MyMac Review Rating: 7 out of 10
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Aperture 2: Professionally Manage Digital Photographs
Authors: Ben Long, Richard Harrington, Orlando Luna
Company: Peachpit Press (Apple Pro Training Series)
ISBN: 978-0-321-53993-9, 486 pages plus DVD
Price: $54.99
Aperture 2 is the top of the line photo management and editing software from Apple. When Apple released Aperture 1.0 in 2005, it was a revolution, to say the least. We were used to having a photo classification method, be iPhoto, Adobe Bridge, or a directory structure, and a separate photo editor such as Photoshop. Aperture appeared to replace all of that, by combining both a photo management tool and a photo editor in the same application.
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Get backup 2.2.5
Company: Belight software
Price: $39,95 MSRP, with online discounts available
http://www.belightsoft.com
As its name imply, Get Backup is a backup program. But it also serves a dual role as a sync application. Basically, the interface is devised in two for those two purposes. There is an icon at the top right that looks like a two way arrow that can be used to go from one mode to the other. The window then “waves” throughout a 3D animation to reveal the second mode. Each options can also be reached via the application menu bar in the “Backup” menu or the “Synchronize” one. I will examine each one separately as they are very unalike in terms of options and usage.
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