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February 1, 2012 by Mike Hoffman

Nothing says "welcome" less than bars over the windows – except, perhaps also adding a plywood barrier inside. With a small peephole, of course, for surveillance purposes.

Of course, in this window, there seems to be a small can for donations available – just in case you're so inclined!

This image is part of the excellent +#Window Wednesday series on G+.

mh++

In album Windows (6 photos)

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Easy Image Borders with Smart Filters
January 31, 2012 by Mike Hoffman

In today's tutorial on TipSquirrel, I show a way to create reusable, customizable image borders using the tools found within Photoshop – Plug-ins are not required!

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Easy Image Borders with Photoshop Smart Filters | TipSquirrel
It seems that nearly every third party plug-in these days has some ability to provide a variety of image borders, but so far that capability isn’t in Pho…

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An Adobe Lightroom catalog is like a real library's card catalog
January 30, 2012 by Mike Hoffman

Understanding Lightroom's treatment of photos is always a challenge for people new to the program. The concept that a photo is "IN" Lightroom, or needs to be gotten "OUT" of Lightroom, is quite common. And the relationship between the thumbnails in the catalog and the actual, real images (be they JPG, TIFF or Raw) is equally confusing. Here's how I like to look at it:

Think of your images as books in a library. Each book is on a shelf somewhere (folders of your hard drive). The books and shelves may be organized in some fashion that may or may not make it easy to locate an individual book.

The catalog is the little cabinet in the front of the library that is full of cards describing each book – who is the author, where is it located in the library, what keywords it has, and so forth. When you look at a card in the catalog, you see a thumbnail of the image, and have a pointer to exactly where in the library that image is located.

A collection is a list of some of the cards in the catalog that meet certain criteria. In a regular collection, you pick and choose which cards to include in a new list (for example, my favorite images). In a smart collection, you pick the criteria to match, and the computer does the work of searching through the catalog for cards that match (all images with keyword "vacation" that were taken in 2011). With Smart Collections, the list is generated automatically.

Catalogs and collections do NOT contain images. They contain the cards that tell about the image – its location, information about the image, even a thumbnail of what the image looks like.

This is why moving images around outside of Lightroom is bad. You move the image on you hard drive, and the catalog of cards is still indicating that the image is located where it used to be. Try to find it there, and you get a big question mark.

When you move an image within Lightroom, the catalog of cards is updated with the new location if the image. And, since catalogs are just groups of copies of the cards, they are all updated too.

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Package Lost In Transit
December 28, 2011 by Mike Hoffman

On a recent visit to Nelson, NV I had a chance to photograph lots of the wonderful old stuff they keep lying around. In particular, this old delivery truck caught my eye, and it seems to be appropriate to post it for this season, in which 99.9% of us received our packages on time, and a few did not. Perhaps this was one of the deliveries that didn't make it through!

In album Windows (5 photos)

An old delivery truck in Nelson, Nevada.

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Season's Greetings!
December 24, 2011 by Mike Hoffman

Merry Christmas, and best wishes to all for a joyous and prosperous new year.

In album Eccentricity (3 photos)

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Breakfast Window
December 21, 2011 by Mike Hoffman

On a morning stroll near the beach, I encountered this curious sidewalk-access window at The Hurricane beachfront restaurant. I knew this would be an appropriate subject for this week's +Window Wednesday . Happy Christmas and joyous wishes to all, and best wishes for a prosperous new year.

In album Windows (4 photos)

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Christmas Cookies with Photoshop 3D
December 20, 2011 by Mike Hoffman

In today's tutorial on the Photoshop Tips site of +Greyson TipSquirrel , I create a tasty plate of Christmas cookies using the 3D capabilities of Photoshop CS5 Extended. CS5 makes it easy to create very interesting and realistic 3D models and environments, and with Photoshop, you have the ability to mix 2D and 3D together for a very nice composition.

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Christmas Cookies in Photoshop 3D | TipSquirrel
The gifts are wrapped, the tree is decorated, and you’re ready for your long winter’s nap. But wait – you’ve forgotten something: the cookies! …

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Windows in Boston
December 8, 2011 by Mike Hoffman

Here is my contribution to this week's #WindowWednesday effort! Boston is home to so many amazing old buildings, but sometimes you have to look at them just a little differently…

Reshared post from +Jules Hunter

Window Wednesday December 7 2011

In album Window Wednesday December 7 2011

Windows in Boston
by Michael Hoffman

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Window Washer's Nightmare
December 1, 2011 by Mike Hoffman

An odd but colorful juxtaposition of various windows and building parts as seen in Las Vegas. My contribution to #WindowWednesday this week!

Reshared post from +Jules Hunter

Window Wednesday November 30 2011

In album Window Wednesday November 30 2011

Reflections in windows in Vegas
by
Michael Hoffman

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Copenhagen Windows
November 23, 2011 by Mike Hoffman

In my strolls through Copenhagen, I was repeatedly taken in by the architecture (we don't have a high concentration of older buildings in Florida!). I liked this one, with the gutter running through the pattern of open windows, and it seems appropriate to post for #WindowWednesday on G+. This photo has rule of thirds all over it.

In album Travel (20 photos)

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