Herons – The big blue ones, for starters
November 23, 2009 by admin

GBH-3 Herons are a big subject, and today we’ll start with the biggest heron of all – the Great Blue Heron. Largest of the North American herons, and seemingly the most plentiful, these graceful giants can be found almost anywhere there is a shore, pond, lake, or marsh. They seem to be as comfortable near cities and people as they are in the most remote wilderness, and that opens up a host of possibilities – for the watchful photographer!

I’ve found that Great Blue Herons that live in close contact with people tend to be less skittish, and you can get a lot closer. You can observe them in their natural behaviors of feeding, courting, nesting and preening – with far less frustration if you only choose city birds over country birds!

Now, you might say, “that’s cheating!” But, I’d respond that a majority of the best photographs I have of Great Blues were taken in areas close to civilization. And conversely, the photos I’ve taken of these birds in the wilderness tend to be from farther away, with less candid and spontaneous poses.

So, without further ado, let’s explore the world of the Great Blue Heron…

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Clone stamp weirdness? This may help.
November 19, 2009 by admin

In Photoshop CS4, Adobe introduced some new features to the Clone Stamp Tool, and in the process have managed to confuse more than a few people. The Clone Stamp Tool paints over the image using pixels that it draws from a “source,” and starting with CS4, this source is displayed live under your brush (this is a feature that migrated over from the Vanishing Point filter). The result is a colored blob that seems to undulate and flow as you move the Clone Stamp Tool brush over your image, and this colored blob is the source of confusion for many people. See the image below as an example:

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The colored blob is actually a preview of what you will paint, if you click the Clone Stamp Tool in that spot. It is useful for lining up the clone source with the target, but if you don’t like it, you can easily return to the old behavior. Start by opening the Clone Source Panel (Window > Clone Source).

 

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See the check box for “Show Overlay?” Just un-check that, and your preview disappears – your Clone Stamp Tool is now reset to behave exactly like it did in Photoshop CS3 and earlier.

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Weekly Security Roundup – Wheels in motion
November 18, 2009 by admin

This week, as I’ve compiled my list of updates to popular software packages – in the interest of keeping everyone informed and current to prevent security problems – we have quite a list of changes. Microsoft released their monthly “patch Tuesday” fixes last week, and on top of that we’ve seen browser security patches in Safari and Google Chrome; and we’ve seen WordPress get another security patch as well.

The moral of the story here is that you just can’t rest – as a computer owner with connections to the internet, you must keep active with your software updates – there are a seemingly endless stream of exploits being developed, and they almost always go after users with down-revision software. So, let’s see what’s been updated in the past week or so, and please do take a few minutes to check and ensure you are current with the latest versions.

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Creating complex selections from paths in Photoshop CS4
November 17, 2009 by admin

BrSwissArmyKnife3 One thing I really love about Photoshop is that it offers many different ways to solve a problem. There is generally no right or wrong way, just another way! And in coming up to speed with Photoshop, one of the key skills you’ll need to develop is creating selections and masks.

As with most other areas of the program, there are many ways to create a selection: ranging from the selection tools themselves (lasso, marquee, quick select, etc), to brushing on a layer mask or quick selection using any of the brush tools (brush, pencil, eraser, stamp, smudge, gradient, dodge, burn, etc) to even alt-clicking on a layer’s or channel’s thumbnail to load it as a selection (opt-click for you Mac users). However, I’m going to set all that aside today, and focus on another way to create complex selections – using paths and the paths panel.

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Gallinules – “More hens” than ducks
November 16, 2009 by admin

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In today’s exploration of the avian world, we’ll plunge into the boggy wetlands, and encounter some species of birds we haven’t yet discussed. Gallinules are a colorful and interesting type of bird most often found in swamps, along overgrown lakeshores, and in marshes, although they may be spotted outside that range if you’re looking closely. Members of the family of birds known as Rails, the Gallinules are relatively large, the size of small chickens, and distinctly colored. And, they are definitely not ducks! Let’s take a look.

We’ll be focusing on the two species of Gallinule commonly found in the US: the Purple Gallinule, found primarily in the southeast near the gulf states, and the Common Gallinule, now often referred to as the Common Moorhen, found throughout most of the eastern US and into parts of the southwestern US as well.

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Adobe Bridge Thumbnails – Accuracy vs. Efficiency
November 13, 2009 by admin

BrSwissArmyKnife3 We’ve seen that Adobe Bridge is a very powerful tool for managing many types of files, but with Creative Suite documents, and Camera Raw files, the Bridge is outstanding. This power comes at a cost in terms of system loading, though, and Adobe’s developers realized that not all systems are state of the art, blazing fast systems with unlimited memory. For that reason, they have added some ability to control Bridge’s on-the-fly performance and throttle back some of the processing power demanded, for those occasions when your system (or your patience) just isn’t up to it. One of the ways this is done is by controlling the display of thumbnails in the Content window.

Unfortunately, these settings frequently confuse new Bridge users. I’ll look at this problem and offer some solutions and pointers for taking control of Bridge’s display of thumbnails, and making it work for you.

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Software updates – the march of progress?
November 12, 2009 by admin

Security_thumb1 Once a week or so, depending on my schedule and the state of current events, I try to summarize the ongoing state of software updates, focusing primarily on OS, Browsers, and Adobe-related software. I missed last week, and a lot of things have piled up since the last update!

Keeping your software up to date is really important these days. There is big money in organized crime, seeking to compromise computers and gain access to your personal information – especially banking information. These malicious entities seek to gain a foothold in your computer by exploiting known vulnerabilities in popular software. As a result, something as benign as visiting a web site, opening an image, or playing a music file can lead to a compromised system, if your software has un-patched vulnerabilities.

So, keep that software up to date!

We’ll start this week with a bit of good news on the OS front, for those Apple customers who have migrated to the latest version of their OS.

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Great Crested Flycatcher – heard but not seen?
November 9, 2009 by admin

Great Crested Flycatcher 038 As I make my way somewhat alphabetically through my catalogue of bird photographs, I find myself at ‘F,’ and you might think “finches.” But, today, I want to talk about a bird that is often heard but less often seen – the Great Crested Flycatcher. This songbird is relatively common in the eastern US and well into the Midwest, but is not commonly spotted by the casual observer. They tend to stay in the treetops, out of sight to all but the avid birder with neck strain.

It is more likely that you’ve heard this musical wonder, though. If you wonder, I suggest a visit to Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology online, where you can play a snippet of the GCF’s song. If you’ve spent any time in the forest, or even the golf course – anywhere with tall trees – you’ll likely recognize the “weep, weep, weep” song.

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Egrets (Three Different Ones)
November 2, 2009 by admin

GreatEgret-4 As a teenager in the Boy Scouts, I had several opportunities to attend summer camp at Central Florida’s McGregor Smith Scout Reservation, one of Florida’s hidden gems (since acquired and operated by the SW Florida Water Management District). It was during a wilderness survival camping trip along the Withlacoochee River that I first learned how to distinguish the three white Florida egrets, and I can trace my passion for ornithology to that one afternoon in a rowboat on the river, as we set trotlines for catfish and just enjoyed the afternoon.

The stretch of the Withlacoochee bordering the reservation is beautiful, and was absolutely pristine in the seventies. The river was full of fish and turtles, and there were more birds than you could count. I mentioned this to our counselor, who promptly pointed out several species that I had never heard of, including Limpkin and Anhinga. I responded by indicating a cluster of large white birds near the shore. “Egrets!” I proudly announced.

“Yes, but can you tell me what kind of egret?” he asked.

I was stumped. “There are more than one kind?”

It turned out that there are three types of white egrets in Florida (and in most of the US) and they are relatively easy to distinguish, once you know what you’re looking for. The telltale features are the legs, and the beak. Here, for your enjoyment, I’ll spell out for you the differences that started me so long ago on the path to being an avid birder. (more…)

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