I've been playing around with Photoshop CS3 and I'm very impressed with the speed that I'm getting on my Intel based Macintosh computers compared to CS2 .... but other than the speed I have not been blown away by any new features.

... Until today.

Today I started playing around with a new feature called "Zoomify", it's located on the File menu under the Export item.

Zoomify is a handy feature to use if you want to show someone a very large image online but you do not want them to have to wait forever for it to download. Zoomify creates small thumbnail versions of areas of an image that you can use to view and navigate around the image ... then when you zoom in it loads the segment of the image you are looking at in high resolution. Pretty cool. It works a little like Google Maps, where you see low res images till you zoom in and then things sharpen up.

Click here to try out viewing a Zoomified image

Technorati Tags: Digital Photography, Photoshop, Allen Rockwell, CS3,

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you have a Canon 1.4x Tele Extender and you find that the autofocus on your lens does not work anymore, here's a trick to fix it.

It is simple. Just place a small transparent piece of tape (or just about any tape... I used blue masking tape) on the last 3 pins of the converter. The tape should be placed on the left hand side of the converter when looking at it from the lens connection side. With these three left pins covered, the converter continues to operate with the AF activated. It works great with the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS.

Keep in mind that your lens will not focus as quickly as you are used to, but it will autofocus. Also when you download your images to your computer you will notice that the metadata for the image will only report the max focal length of the lens, not the focal length x 1.4

Technorati Tags: Digital Photography, Allen Rockwell,

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 01:08 PM | Permalink

Attention Mac Owners. If you need memory for your computer I urge you to check out MCE Technologies at www.mcetech.com

When I ordered my MacPro I ordered it with 2GB of RAM thinking I'd give it a try that way and then buy more RAM later if I needed more. As it turns out I usually have LOTS of programs running at once, including Parallels runing Windows XP or Vista and 2 GB of RAM was just not cutting it for me.

So I did some shopping and found that Apple would sell me 2GB (2 x 1GB) for $700.00. MCE technologies has the same memory kit for $349.00.

I have to mention here that Apple does not reccomend using memory other than "Apple memory" in the MacPro becasue of the special heat sinks on the chips. Of course you might expect them to take that position since they sell $700.00 RAM. The MCE Technologies DOES have the heat sinks and should work perfectly and is "Guaranteed 100% Compatible" and covered by a "Lifetime Warranty" by MCE Technologies.

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 11:52 AM | Permalink

Here are the links to the various sites I mentioned tonight:

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals
www.photoshopuser.com

The Photographer's Rights PDF File
www.krages.com/phoright.htm

And please don't forget to write me and let me know you listen to the podcast
[email protected]

By the way, if you like the podcast how about going to the iTunes store and writing a review?

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'll start getting into the program tonight and explore new features. But so far I can say it's a lot faster on my Intel based Mac Pro and MacBook Pro.

You can download the beta at http://labs.adobe.com/

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 12:44 PM | Permalink

It really looks like CS3 beta will drop tomorrow... Here is text from Macrumors.com

True to rumors, Adobe has announced a Photoshop CS3 Beta program available to customers with a serial number from either Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe Creative Suite® 2, Adobe Creative Suite Production Studio, Adobe Design Bundle, Adobe Web Bundle or Adobe Video Bundle.

Packed with new features, Photoshop CS3 beta also includes a pre-release version of a major upgrade to Adobe Bridge, as well as a preview release of the all-new Adobe Device Central. Photoshop customers can use Adobe Device Central to design, preview, and test compelling mobile content, created specifically for smaller screens. This new tool, integrated in the Photoshop CS3 beta, simplifies and accelerates the creation of mobile content through a preview environment and built-in device profiles.

"This is an exciting time for the Mac, and Adobe wanted to ease the move to new Intel-based systems with a preview release of Photoshop CS3," said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe.
The beta version will be available Friday morning from the Adobe Labs website. The Mac version is a Universal Binary, and system requirements call for a 1+ GHz G4 or G5 or any Intel-based Mac with 512MB of RAM. A Windows version is also available.

Adobe says the beta will expire soon after the formal release of Photoshop in Spring 2007. Final pricing is yet to be determined, however Photoshop CS2 currently is offered at $649 (full version, $169 upgrade).

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 10:49 PM | Permalink

I know this has nothing at all to do with digital photography ... but I've been waiting for an iPhone, so I'm very excited.

Gizmodo claims that the iPhone will be announced on Monday.

Gizmodo Knows: iPhone Will Be Announced On Monday
I guarantee it. It isn't what I expected at all. And I've already said too much. –Brian Lam
No further information is provided, but there is a clear implication that the iPhone is coming this Monday (December 18th).

- $599 for 4GB
- $649 for 8GB
- Wider than the iPod nano
- Thinner than the iPod Video
- Made of Metal
- Multiple colors, but at least including black, white, and silver
- Cingular Wireless is likely carrier in the U.S.
- Update: Clarification: Runkle actually claimed: "full screen LCD; 3.5 inch (28x21)" and approximately 4/10ths of an inch thick. Also incorporates a Virtual Click wheel.

The proposed prices of the iPhone are much higher than the only previous rumor which pointed to $249 and $449 4GB and 8GB models. No details whether these simply represent retail prices that may drop considerably with a service plan commitment.

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 08:53 PM | Permalink

Aperture users can download version 1.5.2 (a whopping 129MBs) via Software Update. According to the accompanying notes, this update addresses issues related to overall reliability and performance in a number of areas, including:

* Contact sheet printing
* Smart Albums
* Watermarks ( I hope they fixed the watermark size issue)
* Lift and stamp
* Image export (strange lines showing up on exported images)
* Versions created using an external editor

Technorati Tags: Digital Photography, Allen Rockwell, Apple, Aperture,

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 10:27 PM | Permalink

The Apple MacPro

Photomatix Pro HDR Software

Trey Ratcliff's "Stuck In Customs" (Many HDR Examples)

My Flickr Site

My HDR Images on Flickr

The O'Reilly Aperture Blog

Email me: [email protected]

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 08:31 PM | Permalink

I just got a 30" Cinema Display ... What can I say?, this thing is awesome. If you can afford one you have to get one of these. In two days my new MacPro arrives and I'll be able to plug in the 30" and the 23" ... that will be sweet!

Technorati Tags: Digital Photography, Allen Rockwell, Apple

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 07:32 PM | Permalink