...It wants you to retire it.
I know that some of you might use Photoshop almost exclusively for your photo development, but if you're interested in spending less time behind the computer and more time shooting, I recommend Lightroom. I have version 2.7, but I hear that 3.0 is fantastic.
But don't take my word for it. Read it here from someone else
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
MSI u110 netbook fail
When looking for a netbook last year, I really wanted something that had a TON of battery life. My dad had success with the Acer One netbook that last 3 hours or so, but I really wanted something that lasted longer. I picked up the MSI u110 netbook on newegg when it was on sale (about 25% off).
Right away, I noticed the battery life was about 12 hours. That's amazing! I was very impressed.
It wasn't until newegg's return policy was up that I finally connected it to a network with the RJ45 cable.... NOTHING. Windows7, nor Ubuntu 10.04 recognized that the jack even existed. (lspci showed nothing). (As a side note: the GMA500 graphics chip is God-awful in linux and I couldn't recommend it less.) I was upset, but MSI said that they would take a look at it. Unfortunately, I use the netbook constantly, and being out of a computer for God-knows-how-long wasn't really an option.
Now, tonight, I'm having another issue: The built-in display of the netbook is messed up. Not missing pixels or random lines of goop. It's completely different than that: the screen resolution is wrong. The display should be 1024x600 (since it's a 16:9 widescreen) but it comes up is 4:3 formats, like 1024x768. What does that mean? It means that when Windows loads, you can't see the task bar. Really! You can't move the mouse to click on something that doesn't exist. The computer is essentially useless.
Allow me to demonstrate:
Argh... It started working again. I HATE computers that changed their minds. When I booted it up just now to take a picture, my camera phone wasn't ready yet, so I turned the netbook back off. When I finally had the camera ready, it displayed the correct resolution. Seriously: Very frustrating.
I did notice that the "detected display" that came up in windows this time was different than when it was acting up. When it came up wrong, it said "flat panel display" and wouldn't let me change the drivers for it. When it came up correctly just now, it says "mobile PC display" and won't let me change the drivers either.
I don't doubt that MSI is a good company, since they have plenty of good ones, but the intel GMA 500 graphics chip is a complete dud. I hate it, and I wish I'd never bought this netbook. I wish I could have done more research and found something that worked better.
End rant.
Right away, I noticed the battery life was about 12 hours. That's amazing! I was very impressed.
It wasn't until newegg's return policy was up that I finally connected it to a network with the RJ45 cable.... NOTHING. Windows7, nor Ubuntu 10.04 recognized that the jack even existed. (lspci showed nothing). (As a side note: the GMA500 graphics chip is God-awful in linux and I couldn't recommend it less.) I was upset, but MSI said that they would take a look at it. Unfortunately, I use the netbook constantly, and being out of a computer for God-knows-how-long wasn't really an option.
Now, tonight, I'm having another issue: The built-in display of the netbook is messed up. Not missing pixels or random lines of goop. It's completely different than that: the screen resolution is wrong. The display should be 1024x600 (since it's a 16:9 widescreen) but it comes up is 4:3 formats, like 1024x768. What does that mean? It means that when Windows loads, you can't see the task bar. Really! You can't move the mouse to click on something that doesn't exist. The computer is essentially useless.
Allow me to demonstrate:
Argh... It started working again. I HATE computers that changed their minds. When I booted it up just now to take a picture, my camera phone wasn't ready yet, so I turned the netbook back off. When I finally had the camera ready, it displayed the correct resolution. Seriously: Very frustrating.
I did notice that the "detected display" that came up in windows this time was different than when it was acting up. When it came up wrong, it said "flat panel display" and wouldn't let me change the drivers for it. When it came up correctly just now, it says "mobile PC display" and won't let me change the drivers either.
I don't doubt that MSI is a good company, since they have plenty of good ones, but the intel GMA 500 graphics chip is a complete dud. I hate it, and I wish I'd never bought this netbook. I wish I could have done more research and found something that worked better.
End rant.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
I just can't
I'm sitting at my desk on a Saturday night. My lovely wife is asleep in bed only feet from me. 2 of 3 children are asleep in the rooms down the hall. Last.fm is playing "Thursday Radio" which for some God-forsaken reason includes The Blood Brothers. All is quiet, and all is well.
Or is it?
I'm awake, and I'm thinking about how much I want the future to come sooner than it's ready to. I want my photography to be huge... HUGE... I want the honor and prestige it can bring, and I want it now. It's like I want to fast-forward through the waiting to get to the good stuff. It doesn't help that I'm looking through all the photos on facebook that have "Zack Arias" tagged in them.
The man is a legend. He is everything that a man with a good heart aspires to be. I envy him. Not in the WTF way, but really, the life that he has is amazing. I truly wish that I had that life too, but I'm damned sure that he has struggles that he didn't even mention during his Chase Jarvis Live Interview this past summer. I didn't know about many of his struggles until his wife, Meghan, began to tell the Zack and Meghan Love Saga on her blog (my title, not hers).
I just started to think about how all of these details of life can slip through the cracks within seconds of them being made. Then I realized: What business do I have trying to capture moments with my camera if I keep letting go of all the moments around me? I just wanted to slap myself across the face as hard as I could.
In the Onelight DVD at the beginning, Zack is talking about the idea of "fixing it later in Photoshop" is a sign that you're being lazy and mediocre and if you catch yourself doing that you need to slap yourself as hard as you can. I realized that wanting to fast-forward through all of this waiting that I'm being lazy and I'm being mediocre. I need to slap myself. Although Zack was talking about photography, I applied the lesson to myself.
I began to think about how when Brooklynn, my youngest daughter, was born... All I wanted was for her to get just a little bigger so I could talk to her; have a conversation with her. Now she's 5 and she can talk my ear off. She's getting big. Too big. I want her to slow down and stop growing so she can stay 5 forever, but she can't. No matter how hard I try and wish and plead... I can't make her stop growing. In the same way, I can't make time speed up to pass all of the worry...
I know that in my heart I want this adventure of mine to take off and grow, but in order to do that, I'm going to have to let it be what it's going to be. I can shape it, but ultimately all I can do is try to guide it. But I also know in my heart I'm incredibly sad. This is what I should have been doing 15 years ago and I'm just now getting started, but without all of this time passing exactly the way it has I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be sitting as my desk on a Saturday night. My lovely wife wouldn't be sleeping only feet from me. My 2 of 3 children wouldn't be asleep in the rooms just down the hall. Last.fm might be playing Hopesfall on "Thursday Radio" but it just wouldn't be the same.
Or is it?
I'm awake, and I'm thinking about how much I want the future to come sooner than it's ready to. I want my photography to be huge... HUGE... I want the honor and prestige it can bring, and I want it now. It's like I want to fast-forward through the waiting to get to the good stuff. It doesn't help that I'm looking through all the photos on facebook that have "Zack Arias" tagged in them.
The man is a legend. He is everything that a man with a good heart aspires to be. I envy him. Not in the WTF way, but really, the life that he has is amazing. I truly wish that I had that life too, but I'm damned sure that he has struggles that he didn't even mention during his Chase Jarvis Live Interview this past summer. I didn't know about many of his struggles until his wife, Meghan, began to tell the Zack and Meghan Love Saga on her blog (my title, not hers).
I just started to think about how all of these details of life can slip through the cracks within seconds of them being made. Then I realized: What business do I have trying to capture moments with my camera if I keep letting go of all the moments around me? I just wanted to slap myself across the face as hard as I could.
In the Onelight DVD at the beginning, Zack is talking about the idea of "fixing it later in Photoshop" is a sign that you're being lazy and mediocre and if you catch yourself doing that you need to slap yourself as hard as you can. I realized that wanting to fast-forward through all of this waiting that I'm being lazy and I'm being mediocre. I need to slap myself. Although Zack was talking about photography, I applied the lesson to myself.
I began to think about how when Brooklynn, my youngest daughter, was born... All I wanted was for her to get just a little bigger so I could talk to her; have a conversation with her. Now she's 5 and she can talk my ear off. She's getting big. Too big. I want her to slow down and stop growing so she can stay 5 forever, but she can't. No matter how hard I try and wish and plead... I can't make her stop growing. In the same way, I can't make time speed up to pass all of the worry...
I know that in my heart I want this adventure of mine to take off and grow, but in order to do that, I'm going to have to let it be what it's going to be. I can shape it, but ultimately all I can do is try to guide it. But I also know in my heart I'm incredibly sad. This is what I should have been doing 15 years ago and I'm just now getting started, but without all of this time passing exactly the way it has I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be sitting as my desk on a Saturday night. My lovely wife wouldn't be sleeping only feet from me. My 2 of 3 children wouldn't be asleep in the rooms just down the hall. Last.fm might be playing Hopesfall on "Thursday Radio" but it just wouldn't be the same.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Your mom hates this
I came across an awesome marketing tool today:
Do you remember when you would just love a movie or video game and your mom thought it was gross, disgusting, inappropriate, etc? The idea that your mom hated it made you want it more, love it more, experience it more... Well, apparently someone is capitalizing on that.
Love you, ma.....
Enjoy.
Do you remember when you would just love a movie or video game and your mom thought it was gross, disgusting, inappropriate, etc? The idea that your mom hated it made you want it more, love it more, experience it more... Well, apparently someone is capitalizing on that.
Love you, ma.....
Enjoy.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Vivian Maier
It's amazing to me that photographers leave so many unanswered questions behind.
I hope to God that I don't have to die to become famous.
I hope to God that I don't have to die to become famous.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Making Prints
Hey Everyone (or all 3 of you... whatever. I still like you.)
I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and New Year.
Sometimes when I'm surfing the net or reading my twitter feed I come across and article, that leads me to another one or five and I get caught up reading. I always forget who sent me the original message that sent me down the proverbial rabbit hole, but this particular article caught my eye and really hit home.
I've only done what the this article tells us not to do once, but I regretted it right after I did it. I still have issues with it because it's always in high demand, but now that I know that I'm hurting my client more than helping them, I won't do it anymore. My client is the most important thing I have going for me: If I don't have clients I keep happy, than I won't be getting any more of them.
Anyway, read the article. Give me your feedback, but this thing hit home.
http://tiffinbox.org/please-dont-just-give-your-clients-the-cd-or-dvd/
I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and New Year.
Sometimes when I'm surfing the net or reading my twitter feed I come across and article, that leads me to another one or five and I get caught up reading. I always forget who sent me the original message that sent me down the proverbial rabbit hole, but this particular article caught my eye and really hit home.
I've only done what the this article tells us not to do once, but I regretted it right after I did it. I still have issues with it because it's always in high demand, but now that I know that I'm hurting my client more than helping them, I won't do it anymore. My client is the most important thing I have going for me: If I don't have clients I keep happy, than I won't be getting any more of them.
Anyway, read the article. Give me your feedback, but this thing hit home.
http://tiffinbox.org/please-dont-just-give-your-clients-the-cd-or-dvd/
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