New Logo - Third Time's a Charm?

I would make a terrible interior designer - first painting the walls white, then dark gray, then bright yellow. But it's so much fun changing the colors of my website!

I have experimented with different looks and color combinations, but I know this one is going to be it for a while. I love yellow and I love warm colors; they make me happy, happy, happy.

I'm in the process of completely redesigning the website. It will not be an all-Flash site. I have grumbled before about my ambivalence towards Flash sites. They are beautiful with everything glowing and blinking and sliding around, but I find them difficult to navigate. You can't use your back or forward buttons, you can't bookmark anything, and sometimes they're agonizingly slow.

I will still have Flash slideshows, but they will be embedded in an HTML site. And this site is going to be simple, which I think better suits my aesthetic. Look for the new site later this month.

Lightroom-licious

I finally broke down and bought Lightroom. I decided to give it a try because the workflow I had with Aperture was not working. I only used Aperture to organize images, so I'll be the first to admit that I was not using Apeture to it's full potential.

With Aperture, I was importing my images, exporting them to another folder on my computer, opening them in Photoshop's version of Camera Raw, saving them as PSD files, then re-importing them back into Aperture. And while Aperture has the ability to send files directly over to Photoshop, I couldn't figure out how to open them in ACR, which resulted in my import/export dance.

With Lightroom this is greatly simplified. I can use ACR to edit the photos directly in Lightroom, and when I need to open anything in Photoshop I can open it as a Smart Object. Smart Objects have become my preferred way of working in Photoshop, because at any time I can double click on the photo and it will open in ACR.

Lightroom also has some wonderful slideshow and web gallery options, which reminded me that one of these days I'm going to redesign my website. I'll probably plunk down the money for SlideShow Pro, but for personal projects and photos for friends, the options in Lightroom will be all that I need.

I feel like an Apple traitor. And who knows - maybe Aperture will woo me back. But for now, Lightroom is my new BFF.

Lightroom vs. Aperture: The Saga Continues

A few months ago, I waxed philosophical over whether to stick with Aperture or switch to Lightroom. At the time, Apple had just released Aperture 2.0. I read really wonderful things about it. And I was not up to the task of trying to convert my Aperture library into one that would be accessible to Lightroom. So I purchased the new Aperture.

And now . . . Lightroom 2.0 is out! The debate continues. Converting my library might be worth the trouble after all.

Aperture Plug-Ins

I only have two plug-ins for Aperture 2.0: one that exports images directly to SmugMug, and one that exports images directly to Flickr. Man, have they made things easier. Since Aperture collapses everything into one library that cannot be accessed by other programs (at least I haven't figured it out), I used to have to export files as JPEGs to another folder on my hard drive, then use a different program to upload them to my website of choice. Now I can do everything from within Aperture, which is just easy, easy, easy.

I haven't explored other options for Aperture plug-ins because, frankly, I am addicted to Photoshop. I mostly use Aperture for as an organizational tool, and Camera Raw and Photoshop for editing. But I might play around with Aperture's editing options and see what they have to offer.

The Murky World of Web Design

When I first came up with the idea of a mixed race portrait project, I had no idea that in a couple month's time I would be puzzling my way through CSS, XHTML, XML, and Flash. I thought that I would go around taking pictures, dump them on my current website, and maybe design a postcard using Illustrator or Photoshop.

But the idea of a website just for this project seems like such a good idea. I could have the portraits. Then I could add essays. A section of resources. A blog that deals exclusively with mixed-race issues.

And a movie section - which I admit seems kind of random. But the idea of writing critical essays about the ways in which mixed racialness is portrayed in cinema has been bouncing around my head since I was film school student at UCLA.

So I'll put up with the headaches in order to get the site just how I want it. And I'll pray that the Flash fairy visits me and helps me build a slideshow based on an XML file that allows for visitor interactivity so that they can click on a photo and be whisked away to the relevant photo gallery.

Ugh. I get sick just writing that.

Yet Another Logo

On to Project Blended logo number three . . . .

First is was the flower, then the rings. Now it's these circle people. I made this illustration to use as the banner for my website, and I have to say, I'm really digging it. It looks exactly how I envisioned it. I might toy with the colors, make the rays a little wider, but overall I'm happy with the look.

I'm starting to get the hang of this Illustrator thing. It's still a struggle, and things like this take me a long time. But all I can say is that layers and clipping masks are wonderful things.

One banner down, a whole website left to go!

Ixnay on the Owerflay

I've decided to nix the flower in my Project Blended logo. It's pretty, and it will always hold a special place in my heart as the first decent thing I was able to make in Illustrator. But it doesn't really say anything about the project - if anything, I look at it and think "Hawaii."

So I'm experimenting with different ideas for the logo. Right now I'm keen on circles. I was thinking of doing three circles coming together to make different colors - like when you see explanations of the RGB color model, and the three red, green, and blue circles overlap to make cyan, yellow, magenta, and white.

But it doesn't look so hot when you substitute various shades of brown, since I've decided to use a skin-toned color palette. So I came up with these five rings, which I like. For now.

Little Flowers

I've spent the better part of the weekend playing around with Adobe Illustrator, and this is what I was able to come up with. A flower and some text. And it took uh-looong time.

I've been using The Adobe Illustrator CS3 Wow! Book, and just making it through the first couple chapters has made me look at illustration in a whole new way. Rather than seeing things in terms of complicated lines and patterns, I am learning to see things as a combination of shapes. (Don't laugh at me, all you art majors!)

For example, the flower in my Project Blended logo is made of only two shapes that are copied and combined to form a flower. After some gradient fill and different layering styles - voilà! A nice, geometric flower.

I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with the flower, but for now it's good enough to go on the promotional postcard I want to make for this project.

I've also started reading my 1000 page Dreamweaver book so that I can at least get a basic web page up. I see things like XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, FTP, PHP, ASP, XML, ActionScript, Spry . . . and I feel my stomach turning. Maybe I'm too old to learn how to design websites.

But I trust in the good people who published this book and I'm determined to plow through it. And after Dreamweaver, it's on to Flash!

Illustrator and the Mighty Pen (Tool)

When I bought Adobe's Design Premium Suite, I was mostly interested in Photoshop. Of course the products are packaged so that it's cheaper to buy a whole slew of software rather than just two or three program. So I'm finally getting around to learning the other programs.

I want to learn Illustrator so that I can design promotional materials. I managed to design my business card by just playing around with the program and looking stuff up on Google. And this simple design - a symbol and some text - took forever.

So I finally bought a book on Illustrator, and after just a few pages I've had this huge "a-ha" moment: Bézier Curves. I had no idea how the pen tool worked. When I played around with it I just got these random curvy lines that seemed to go all over the place.

But now . . . now I think that with practice, I can become more creative with my designs. My immediate goal with Illustrator and Dreamweaver is to design a website for my mixed race photography project. If I can pull that off, then eventually I would like to move away from the template that I have now for my main photography website.

I purchased my site from BluDomain. And while you can find plenty of people on the internet who curse BluDomain up and down, my experience with them has been good. It just irks me that so many other people out there have the same website that I do. So I really would like to have something unique and that is a better expression of my personality and style.

First I gotta hit those books!

To Kubota or Not to Kubota?

I recently received some promotional materials from AsukaBook, and included was some information about Kubota Image Tools. Of course the images look beautiful, and the website has many more examples - with before and after pictures - of various actions.

But all these action packs get me to thinking - how many do I need? I really do love Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Alien Skin Exposure 2.0. They allow me to make quick adjustments to a photo, I can edit each individual filter for more control, and I can combine various filters on one image to get very cool, unique effects. So how different could I make my images look with yet another set of actions/filters? And should I just spend time with Photoshop creating my own actions rather than money on more and more software?

The professor who taught my Photoshop class used his own laptop with the overhead projector, and he had a million plug-ins. He said that we could play around with Photoshop and try to figure out the effects ourselves, but he would much rather pay the money for a "quick fix" and spend more time and energy shooting.

Of course, either route requires "playing around" - even armed with tons of filters and actions, it takes time to figure out which combinations look good with which images. And in the end, most people don't want cookie-cutter images that look like everyone else's. So as I toy with the idea of Kubota, I'm still dedicated to learning a little something new about Photoshop every day.

Master of Disaster

As in Photoshop Disasters. A must read!

Filter Frenzy

I remember when I thought Photoshop was the be all, end all. I was ecstatic when I finally wrangled and finagled the money to buy it. At last! The promised land!

And then I discovered plug-ins.

A lot of plug-ins. Apparently Photoshop was not the be all, end all. It was just the beginning, the first step in a long journey of third-party software that promises to make images better, faster.

The two that I plan to purchase are Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Exposure 2.0. Both programs have massive amounts of filters and presets to play with. I know that someone with real chops can get the same effects using Photoshop alone, without purchasing additional software.

But not everyone has those chops. And even if you do have the chops, it takes a lot of time. Time that could be better spent in other ways. Time, money . . . you get the idea.

Color Efex Pro offers a free 15 day trial, and Exposure offers a 30 day trial. Both demos are fully functional. I find the software to be a little bit on the pricey side, but if you (or someone you know) is a student or educator, both programs can be purchased through the Academic Superstore at a considerable discount. The value of education!

To Lightroom or Not to Lightroom

I use Aperture to organize my photos. I bought the program when it first came out, so Lightroom was not on the scene. Now it is. And I'm debating whether to switch to Adobe's photo management software or plunk down the money for Aperture 2.0.

I know that more people use Lightroom, but the idea of trying to migrate my entire Aperture library into Lightroom is less than appealing. Not to mention having to learn another program. From what I can gather, people who prefer Lightroom like the better integration that Lightroom has with Photoshop. Aperture can connect to Photoshop or any external editor you like. My only problem with the version I have (Aperture 1.5) is that when I send RAW files over to Photoshop, they don't open in Camera Raw. I don't know if Aperture 2.0 fixes this, but if it does then I'm sold.

Back That Thang Up

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who . . . wait, scratch that.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who back up and those who will. I am sad to say that I had to learn the hard way. Several years ago my new laptop, only a few months old, had to have it's hard drive reformatted. I think it was some goofy program that I downloaded from the internet. Luckily I had not had the computer very long and still had a lot of files on my old computer. But boy, did I learn.

I know that you can purchase software for backing up your files; for a long time I used Backup, software that comes when you purchase a .Mac account. But now Apple's OS 10.5 comes with Time Machine, and this thing is amazing. It makes backups of my computer every hour to an external hard drive.

Of course, just as internal hard drives will fail (not if - when), so do external hard drives. Chances are they will not fail at the same time, but . . . I also want to put my files on DVDs. Two sets of DVDs: master and disaster, as my brother would call it. One set stored at my home, the other set stored someplace else and hopefully safe from any disasters that may strike my place of residence.

Backing up of computer files is important for everyone, and especially important for people with photos and other irreplaceable files. Don't learn the hard way!