A Letter to my Photoshop 150 Friends

I found this letter, and thought you might enjoy reading it:

the-invitation

 

Resolving WordPress Audio Files

Are you struggling with WordPress audio files? So was I.

It seemed so easy: to post an audio clip to your blog, choose the little musical note icon when choosing to upload a file, and voilà! Well . . . not so fast . . . Ten days later, I finally resolved it.

So I wrote a “How-to” not only for myself, but also for others, just in case this topic kept tripping someone else as well . There’s also a link at the bottom of this post where I answer a request for help on Audio files And for an up-to-the-minute overview of WP Media, go here: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/media-uploader-overview/

-A. How to properly upload Audio files in WordPress

-B. How to properly encode the WordPress Audio Player; and

[-C. The WP Help file contained an error and has been fixed already...]

(IMPORTANT NOTE: specific Audio formats only become available for upload once you

 

Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts

As I keep creating images of all kinds with Photoshop CS (now CS3), relying on drop-down menus can slow me down quite a bit. Therefore, memorizing the Photoshop CS-CS3 shortcuts is the ideal way of simplifying my workflow and gain confidence. So, during one of my web-surfing session, I found a nifty keyboard layout created by a designer working with Windows. 

So I modified and corrected it to read it better for Mac OSX users (with credit to the original designer). It’s very cool: after printing it on brochure paper, I place the 8-1/2×11 page in front of me when I work, and when I am tempted to use, yet again, a drop-down menu, I immediately look at the printed sheet and use the keyboard shortcut instead. After 2 weeks of this, I’ve pretty much figured out all the tools shortcuts.

If you’re interested, you can download the PDF here: ps_keyb_shortcuts

 

Combining Painting and Taking Photographs . . .

I find the High Dynamic Range work fascinating: after a short period of hesitation, experimenting with hide-all or reveal-all layer masks and the paint brush tool to either conceal and reveal details of each layer is exhilarating.

I love the fact that the Photoshop paint brush tool is so perfectly suited to . . . a painter! With several layers displaying the same image taken at different

 

An interesting block

My anticipated moment of puzzlement is here: last week, we were asked to do a exercise to familiarize ourselves with the select tool, etc. Well, I found myself wading through carefully-written instructions with increasing difficulty, until I realized

 

My iMac is baaack . . .

Nearly two weeks without a working computer in the middle of a semester… Thankfully, the iMac is repaired. Everything went great: after checking in the store with a borrowed power cord that the iMac G5 was indeed powering well, I got back home with it . . . while my own power cord had been left in the shop. Drats. Thankfully, this earlier model can accomodate a nice, solid, special three-prong computer cord, and I’m back in business. Driving another 100 miles from Napa to Corte Madera (round-trip) would not have been fun, what with time, expense, gas etc.

I notice how better the keyboard and the GUI feel: silky, fast, remarkably different from before the power-supply was going out. It’s even better with my Wacom tablet.

Onward and upward! I have some a lot of catching up to do!

 

Zap! Dark! Gone!

Three weeks ago, I knew I was in trouble when my 2004 iMac G5 started shutting itself off 2-3 times per hour.  Working on it made me feel I was playing