“The object of a question is to obtain information that matters to us, and no one else.”
- Sean Connery as William Forrester in "Finding Forrester"

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Sunday, September 16, 2007

We're Moving!

After a number of issues with Blogger, and having heard good things from others who have made the switch, I have decided to make the move over to a Wordpress-based blog that will live on my webhost as part of my domain.

Also as part of the transition, I have decided to drop the "Soup Questions" part of the name - though it will still be part of my Blogger site, which will remain live indefinitely as a backup and archive - and going with simply Jason D. Moore Photography.

Content will remain as it has been with the Photoshop & Photography Blogroll and its associated series as well as the Geographic Composition project and new posts will be published on the new blog starting with this week's P&P Weekly.

So please, update your links and feeds to reflect the new blog at www.jasondmoore.com/blog.

Thanks for you patience in the move as I work out all of the bugs and I hope to see you at our new home!

-Jason

Friday, September 14, 2007

Geographic Composition #8: Circles

Welcome to week eight of Geographic Composition! Each week a number of my fellow photobloggers and I will submit an image based on a common theme from our scattered locations around the world. Even though the theme is the same, our own vision and view of the world when coupled with the geographic and cultural environment in which we live will shape the images we create and offer a varied interpretation on the topic of the week.

For this week, our theme is "circles." For one photographer it was about spead monitoring cameras. For another it was about a country's staple food. Two photographers looked towards nature for inspiration. One found circles at an amusement park and another in the momentary experience of a firework blast. And for another, it was about how a special circle formed something totally different when illuminated.

Please take a moment to view the participants' blogs and also, if you have any suggestions for future themes, please leave a comment below.

Thanks, and Enjoy!

"Circle of Strife"
Mike Holley - Worcestershire, England
"Tortillas"
Jon Erikson - San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
"Orb"
Jenny Arnez - Rancho Cardova, CA
"Cropped Circles"
Andrew Smith - Hanover, PA
"Gone In Six Seconds"
Erik Persson - Seattle, WA
"Dogwood"
Amy Archer - Sweden
"Heart In A Wedding Ring"
Jason D. Moore - North Syracuse, NY

Thursday, September 13, 2007

P&P Blogger Profile: Derrick Story

Derrick Story of The Digital Story
(Photo Credit: George Jardine)

Derrick Story runs the popular photography blog titled, “The Digital Story” and writes for O’Reilly as their Digital Media Evangelist. He’s also a contributing writer for Macworld Magazine and author of several books on digital photography. His photography business, Story Photography, is based in Santa Rosa, CA.

Why do you blog?
Blogging is the most efficient way for me to share information on a daily basis. On TDS for example, I can write and publish a helpful tip in about 20 minutes (that thousands of people can read almost immediately). That’s fairly efficient. I like the blogging platform because it lets me focus on the message and not get too bogged down in the tools.

If you only had time to read three blogs a day, which ones would they be?
Aside from the blogs I oversee (TDS, Inside Aperture, Inside Lightroom, etc.), I enjoy scanning Engadget, PhotographyBLOG, and I must admit, I like The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs.

How long have you been using Photoshop/been a photographer?
I’ve been a photographer since my teenage years working for the local newspaper. I got hooked on Photoshop 2.5, and have been using the application ever since.

What type of camera(s) do you shoot with?
My assignment camera is a Canon 5D DSLR, and my favorite lenses are the 16-35 f/2.8 L II and the 70-200 f/4 L. But I like compact cameras too, especially ones that shoot good video also. My current pocket camera is the Canon PowerShot SD700. It takes great pictures, has image stabilization, and records clean video.

Mac or PC?
Intel Mac - MacBook Pro 17”

What is your favorite piece of photo or computer equipment (other than your camera)?
I think the iPhone is a great tool for photographers/bloggers on the go. I find that I’m doing a much better job of keeping up with email, monitoring my web sites, and communicating with clients and coworkers. Plus, it’s absolutely great for showing off photos, uploading images directly to Flickr, watching videos, and oh yeah, it’s a good music player too.

What piece of equipment would you most like to get but don’t have?
I would absolutely love to have the new Canon 1Ds Mark III, but I don’t see one in my near future. Anyone out there have a spare body they can lend me?

What advice do you have for a novice creative professional/photographer?
Get a photo buddy and/or become part of a photography community. If you have someone to go shooting with, and who will look critically at your photos, you will shoot more and improve faster. As for community, the nickname for The Digital Story is “your virtual camera club.” It’s a place for photographers to come together, learn new techniques, show off their pictures, and get feedback on their work. Being part of a community helps us improve as artists and craftsmen.

What inspires you to create?
I like to have things to show for my efforts. When I was working my way through college, I couldn’t generate enough income as a photographer only, so I mowed lawns too. Believe it or not, I found that work very satisfying because I could stand back and admire my work after I finished working on a yard.

Today, I can support myself making pictures and writing, and I find it very satisfying to create new things out of thin air.

What would be your most important piece of advice about life?
Don’t take yourself too seriously. It inhibits growth and gets in the way of learning new things. Much better to have an open mind and be humble.

Where would you most like to live (other than where you live now)?
I live in a great place now (Sonoma County, CA), but I wouldn’t mind having an apartment in Vancouver BC too. I love the combination of Canadian-Pan Pacific culture with great outdoor activities.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I’m a walker. It’s a great form of exercise and allows me to clear the cobwebs out of my head.

What talent would you most like to have?
Wish I could sing...

From Inside the Actors Studio:
What is your favorite word? Fabulous
What is your least favorite word? Arrogant
What turns you on? Curves
What turns you off? Moody
What sound or noise do you love? Love to hear the sound of coffee brewing (the smell is not too bad too)
What sound or noise do you hate? Smacking lips and loud eating sounds.
What is your favorite curse word? Asshole
What occupation other than your own would you like to attempt? Always wanted to be a tour guide in exotic locations.
What occupation would you not want to participate in? Politician
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? Whew, you just made it under the wire!

*Note: If you there is someone you would like to see as a part of the P&P Blogger Profile series, please email Jason with their blog's URL. Also, be sure to check out the P&P Weekly every Monday for news about this site and a roundup of what other Photoshop & Photography Blogroll members are posting.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

PDF Sharing and Security

We just upgraded to Adobe Actobat 8 Professional for an upcoming project where we will be compiling a number of documents into an electronic (primarilly CD-based) journal and directory. Along with my registration of Acrobat, I received 30 days of free training via Lynda.com to help me get up to speed with the new features of this version of Acrobat.

Before gearing up to put together last year's edition of this same project, I was not very familiar with all of the capabilities of Acrobat. I'd, of course, used the free Adobe Reader and have printed to PDF with the distiller function that came with version 5.0 but hadn't done much else until working with 7.0 Pro.

Even with working on last year's project, I only dealt with the sections of the program that I needed to complete the tasks. There was a lot of trial and error and trubleshooting to make the final product function to the client's specifications. It wasn't extremely difficult, but we had our share of challenges to work through along the way.

Upon upgrading to Acrobat 8 Pro and viewing the training videos, I was not only surprised and delighted by the new features that will make this year's project go even smoother and allow the user experience to be all the more seamless (namely the ability to create PDF Packages!), but I was reminded of some security features that will be quite useful for other applications as well.

(To see what I'm working with, click here to download a PDF containing a number of images I've had as part of my NAPP Portfolio. - 6MB)

First of all, the security settings. If you are going to make a PDF available for download from your website or you will be sending it to someone to view samples of your work, you will want to make sure that your images are secure and someone won't be able to simply copy your photos to their computer or print them without permission.

Go to the "Secure" button in Acrobat and select "Password Encrypt" and click "Ok." You can look through the other options in the dialog box but the one we're concerned with is the "Permissions" section. Here, check the box that says, "Restrict the editing and printing of the document..." and enter a password - and remember it! Select your desired print and changes settings (I picked "none" for both) and leave the box marked "Enable copying of text, images, and other content" unchecked. This way, viewers can't download your images. When you click "Ok" you will be prompted to re-enter your password and told to save your document before the settings will take effect.

(Note: In the "Manage Security Policies" dialog you can create a preset if you plan to use the same security scheme a lot.)

If you allow users to print, or if you're worried about someone swiping your images using the "Print Screen" function, you can add a watermark within Acrobat to add one more layer of protection.

Go to "Document>Watermark>Add" and in the dialog box, insert your text, setup the appearance options, and click "Ok."

To combine these two security techniques, apply your watermark before you apply the security profile, otherwise you won't be able to change the settings without removing the security settings and re-saving the file.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Brent Singley

When reviewing my blog stats the other day, I noticed a link from the blog of photographer Brent Singley. It appears to be a relatively new blog without a great number of photos posted yet, but the ones that are look great. Have a look!
Photo copyright Brent Singley.

Monday, September 10, 2007

P&P Weekly: #47






Here’s what’s been happening this week in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Geographic Composition #7: Danger


Welcome to week seven of Geographic Composition! Each week a number of my fellow photobloggers and I will submit an image based on a common theme from our scattered locations around the world. Even though the theme is the same, our own vision and view of the world when coupled with the geographic and cultural environment in which we live will shape the images we create and offer a varied interpretation on the topic of the week.

For this week, our theme is "danger."

Please take a moment to view the participants' blogs and also, if you have any suggestions for future themes, please leave a comment below.

Thanks, and Enjoy!

"Cardone Espinas Macro with Lens Baby"
Jon Erikson - San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
"Violent Nature"
Amy Archer - Sweden
"Hot"
Jason D. Moore - North Syracuse, NY
"Terminal Thought"
Andrew Smith - Hanover, PA
"Down & Out"
Erik Persson - Seattle, WA
"Heat of the Moment"
Mike Holley - Worcestershire, England

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Kelby Training

Just announced during the Photoshop World keynote, Friend-of-the-Blog Scott Kelby just launched his new site Kelby Training - "the most comprehensive educational resource for photographers, graphic designers, and creative professionals using the Adobe Creative Suite."

From the release on the NAPP site Scott tells us:
“We share our student’s passion for creativity, and as the leading resource for Photoshop educational DVDs, live training seminars, online classes, and award-winning books, it’s our job to not only boost their Photoshop skill level and give them a competitive advantage, but to make the whole process just like our training – easy, fun, and straight-to-the-point.”
Check it out!

Lighting A Background

Last week when we were shooting interviews for a capital campaign video we were faced with the situation that we had many individuals on the schedule back-to-back without the time to setup in multiple locations to provide for a variety of backgrounds.


Anticipating this would be the case, we brought our entire light kit and a blue mottled background. We lit the subjects as normal - a Lowel Rifa-lite soft box as a key light and a Lowel ViP Pro-light for a backlight - and we added one of our Lowel Omni-lights for the background.

In order to provide variation using this single background, I draped the background cloth over a pair of stands with a crossbar and gathered the cloth in various configurations, securing it with a number of clips. We rarely properly fold this background because the wrinkles and creases actually add to the texture of the cloth, adding more interest.

Using the Omni with different colored gels set to either the lower left or right, only slightly forward of the background, I was able to create lots of shadow and more options than using the cloth alone.

Also, it is important to place your subject far enough in front of the background so that while you are focused on the subject the background will blur. Remember to use your depth of field to allow the viewer to focus their attention on the subject. If we had a larger space to work in, we would have actually placed the background farther back in order to make it even more abstract.

Below, you can see a layout of our setup from both an overhead and front view.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Too Hot!

I was doing some shooting around the apartment tonight (don't worry, Kim's fine - bad joke) for this week's Geographic Composition entry. I have a variation on the same scene that I'll actually be posting for the project but thought I'd pop this one up as a teaser for Friday's "danger."

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

P&P Weekly: #46







Hope everyone in the US had a restful Labor Day Weekend!


Here’s what’s been happening this week in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.