I hate them!    Really, what’s your opinion? If I am to sell stock photos and I publish them on high resolution, they will be watermarked for a reason, but why people keep damaging their photographs on blogs, portfolio pages etc since the images are resized for the web anyway? And come on, who’s going to steal your beach photo and print a billdboard out of it? I didn’t see watermarks on the famous and talented photographer’s pages, they pop out mostly out of the sites that noone seems to visit and still I find it so annoying.

Do you watermark your photographs and why ?

That’s me by the way, I thought it is finally time to post my photo

Welcome to Watermarks. 

With this blog I’m hoping to discuss the passions that have ruled my life for many years, books and music. I have worked in academic or museum bookstores for a long time and, like most booksellers, I have strong opinions on many things. After prolonged, painful prodding from friends and family I have finally decided to make a stab at a site. I’ll be talking here about what I’m reading or listening to and what I hope to read or listen to in the future. I’ll also be recommending new books and music that are soon to be released. There may even be occasional digressions into film and food when I feel a detour is warranted. I have yet to meet a bookseller or musician who isn’t as interested in movies and food as they are in Cormac McCarthy or John Coltrane.

So…thanks in advance for reading. I hope some of this information proves entertaining and I expect to hear from interested and critical readers as I put up further posts. To get a small taste of what’s to come check out the “Currently in Rotation” tab at the top of the site.

So you have your images in Adobe Lightroom and you want a quick proofbook with blurb Booksmart so the bride can find her images. The Lightroom print module has some easy options for creating a 2×2 grid with file number underneath but

• My original file names aren’t numbered simple serially
• adding file names decreases the space available for proof images, making them smaller
• the print quality of small file names is poor as we have to go through several tiff>jpg>Booksmart conversions.

I have a simple solution to create a proofboox using a 12″ x 12″ hardcover format offered by blurb that ends up with final image sizes being 95% of a traditional 4″ x6″ proof print. The secret is watermarking the images using Watermark Factory 2.0 ($50).

A note on color management: I use sRGB exclusively as converting from one to another inevitably ends up in color shifts unless you are a color management guru – and let’s admit it, you aren’t. True, ProPhoto or Adobe RGB colorspaces are wider but the color gamut of Blurb’s press is closer to Srgb than any other. If you just want it to work without hassle or surprises, stick to sRGB.

Export images from Lightroom

Once you have custom sorted the images to the desired order, select all images in LR by hitting CTRL-A in library module, then fo File>Export and export all images as 8bit TIFF files numbered serially (1,2,3…) with dimensions of 1200×1800 – which is a 4″x6″ print at 300ppi, close enough for what we are doing. Watermark factory will accept 16Bit TIFF files but it doesn’t render them properly with my version. I export to a separate folder on the Desktop named “project “x” files for watermark”

Q: Why are we resizing all the images to a specific number of pixels?

A: Because if the files have been cropped to different pixel sizes the watermarks will end up being different sizes when rendered to the final proof page.

my lightroom export setting to prep images for watermarking

Import images into Watermark Factory

Now open up Watermark Factory (alternatively Photo Mechanic $)  and import the whole “files for watermark” folder.  Setup a text watermark that uses the file name (minus the file name extension- some other programs do not have this option and who wants .jpg?) of each image. I use Arial, 48point, -20X and -15Y offset and an opacity of about 50-60%. I don’t mind if a few of the watermarks aren’t legible because they are in order so it is easy to figure out from the surrounding photos. Save this as a profile in case something happens and you need to re render a portion of the images as WMFactory doesn’t have a value for the opacity, just a slider and guessing a new value will end up with an inconsistent effect.

Export watermarked images from Watermark Factory

Make sure the image processing options are all unmarked and select JPG file output format (LR doesn’t import any of the other better options such as PNG, and WMFactory doesnt output TIFF) and make sure the JPG settings (the “…” button) it is at 100% image quality with no blurring and not progressive. Press the play button and export all the files to a new folder called “projectx watermarked files for LR”

Sample image with watermark:

Re-import watermarked images into Lightroom and export for Booksmart

Now open up Lightroom and create a new catalog, import the images with no auto processing. Sort them by file name. Now we are ready for the print module where we will be printing to a PDF file. As the printer determines the dimensions of the page you will have to go to printer preferences and create a new profile using the Blurb page dimensions. These are found NOT on the Blurb website (endless confusion will result as there is conflicting information. According to the Booksmart engineers, always use the dimensions Booksmart gives you) but by opening up booksmart, creating a blank book of the size you want and mousing over the internal pages in “edit” view. A brief pop-up will say the full bleed sizes which for a 12×12 book is 3563px wide x 3609px high. Note that it also pops up 11.88″ x 12.03″ @300dpi but a quick calculation reveals that those dimensions are a pixel off – close enough I guess because the page will be trimmed. So we create a new PDF page with 11.88w x 12.03h dimensions.

UPDATE: Lightroom version 2.x and up allow you to print directly to a JPG file, saving an intermediate step! Just go with the dimensions from blurb booksmart, 300ppi, quality 100 and you are ready to go!

In LR print module setup a 2×2 grid with all margins set to .375in (.125in bleed +.25in safe area). I am tempted to get closer to the safe area but if the trim off the top and bottom are not proportional one print edge will be closer to the edge of the paper than the other and it will look unprofessional. a .25in space from the trim line puts it far enough away so a small difference wont be noticeable. As a compromise, I use .30in margins.

Set the cell spacing to zero – this will cause the images to butt up against each other which is a compromise for maximum image size. To help mediate this issue as well as define the border of each image create a black or dark grey stroke of .5 point or more. Note that using the .2point minimum stroke weight WILL cause problems as it is so small when blurb resamples the line it will end up with an inconsistent dotted effect – not good. Even .5 point stroke doesn’t render in the booksmart lo resolution previews so I use .6 point stroke so avoid worry. Set the “print jobs” settings in LR to 300ppi resolution with no or low print sharpening, JPEG quality at 100 and color management to sRGB and intent as perceptual.

An example of the full bleed page output from lightroom, ready for importing into Booksmart:

Note this is a full bleed page and will be trimmed near (~.15in) to the edge of the top and bottom image

 

Old proofbooks style with filenames(see arrow) under each image. The text was >tiny< and along with a .2pt stroke didn't render very well (aliasing/compression/resizing issues?) in the final book.

Import full-bleed pages into Booksmart

Now you have a folder with serial numbering “projectx -1.jpg,…”, just import them into booksmart (or drag and drop), highlight them all and select “autoflow” while in edit mode. Viola! That is about it – design the covers and you are done! Note you will have to go in and delete the books default words “books title” and “author” from the cover as well as delete the index page, etc. Also the last page has a blurb logo you can pay extra to have removed.

Warning: Text on the spine with imagewrap is risky. I first got back a book with the spine text far, far off from center. A $150 error as I was at a deadline and had to give the bride something. The re-ordered book just had a white spine.

Blurb Coupon Code

Coupon code for 20% off and free shipping through 11/24/2009: BLURBTREAT – saved me $60 off my last order of two books. Yay!

Here is a discussion I found useful in figuring this workflow out:

Flickr: Discussing Creating a Proofbook in Lightroom in Adobe Lightroom

Next: Actual pictures of the finished Blurb book

Zeynep Yücel & Professor A. Bülent Özgüler, both of the Bilkent University Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, have published Watermarking via Zero Assigned Filter Banks, forthcoming in 90 Signal Processing 467 (Feb. 2010). Here is the abstract:

“In order to identify the owner and distributor of digital data, a watermarking scheme in frequency domain for multimedia files is proposed. The scheme satisfies the imperceptibility and persistence requirements and it is robust against additive noise. It consists of a few stages of wavelet decomposition of several subblocks of the original signal using special zero assigned filter banks. By assigning zeros to filters on the high frequency portion of the spectrum, filter banks with frequency selective response are obtained. The information is then inserted in the wavelet-decomposed and compressed signal. Several robustness tests are performed on male voice, female voice, and music files, color and gray level images. The algorithm is tested under white Gaussian noise and against JPEG compression and it is observed to be robust even when exposed to high levels of corruption.”

While I am on a roll making recommendations for educational resources that introduce students to the “Wide World of Jews,” allow me to indulge in a shout out to another excellent and innovative initiative.  You’ll have to excuse the TV sports reference in that last sentence. I guess I have sports on the brain, what with the 18th Maccabiah having taken place in Israel this summer and the JCC Maccabi Games for international Jewish youth having been held here in San Francisco last month. And on top of that, I have been working on something for Centropa related to the legendary Hakoah Vienna sports club (a lesson plan based on the wonderful documentary film called Watermarks). But I suppose there is no excuse for my having Jews on the brain – because when do I ever not? (ha!ha!)

As I wrote in my last post, young American Jews seem to live with a bipolar Jewish world view.  ”Bipolar” refers not to their mental state, but rather to the two states that young people automatically think of when asked where Jews live:  The US and Israel. American kids even leave my native Canada, their peaceful next door neighbor, out of the picture.  While it is true that today the vast majority of Jews do live in Israel and North America (with the once huge [by Jewish demographic standards] European Jewish population now severely diminished as a result of the Holocaust), there are and always have been diverse Jewish communities spread throughout the Diaspora.

I explained in my last post that Centropa does a great job of introducing American Jewish students to the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe – not only those who returned or settled there after WWII and who are now elderly, but also the young Jews who make up the Jewish communities there today.

Photographer Zion Ozeri, founder of The Jewish Lens

In a broadening of the geographic scope even further, The Jewish Lens, a project of Zion Ozeri (the renowned photographer of Jewish communities around the world), shows students the rich diversity of Jewish life and practice in countries such as Argentina, Peru, Yemen, Latvia, Tunisia and India, to name just a few.  The project features a wide selection of Ozeri’s accomplished photographs, and offers a rich, student-centered curriculum that highlights the concept of Jewish unity. Through it’s emphasis on and utilization of traditional Jewish values and texts, The Jewish Lens shows how all Jews are bound together despite differences in appearance, local culture or socio-economic circumstance.

Students fortunate enough to attend a school that has adopted this program will come to realize, through reflecting on the photographs they themselves take of their own community, as well as Ozeri’s body of work, that “We Are One” is not merely a marketing slogan, but an eternal truth passed down to us by CHaZaL through the maxim “kol yisrael arevim zeh lazeh.”  (You gotta hand it to those Rabbis – they really knew how to pitch an idea in five words or less!)

This Yiddishe Mamme said she would always tell the truth, so to be totally on the up and up, I should mention that I am on The Jewish Lens’ advisory board and was involved in the project’s pilot phase a number of years ago.

© 2009 Renee Ghert-Zand. All rights reserved.

]]> http://fitchinator.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/100000-blog-readers/ Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:36:52 +0000 Matthew http://fitchinator.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/100000-blog-readers/

Yesterday I hit a big milestone concerning the views on this blog, 100,000, which as exciting as it gets, didn’t excite me whatsoever.

Anyhow, I has me a list of the top viewed posts and their views… so here’s the rundown of say the top FIVE.

5.  How To Cheat On Cubefield On Facebook – 7,737 views

4. Samsung J700 mobile phone review – 8,632 views

3. Donate – 15,313

2. Tutorial: Removing watermarks from image – 15,354

1. How to cheat on Crazy Taxi on Facebook – 20,873

Woohoo. Not.

MWFF

MakeUseOf has a post on WaterMark.ws which lets you Add Watermarks To Photos Online.

Well, I officially kind of love Mondays.  It seems by Monday of each week I really hit my stride.  My directives become natural & easy to accomplish.  Today, I even had plenty of time to read & have a nap!

But first things first.  The World Police & Fire Games ended on Sunday.  Obviously, I did not have time to 1. attend five events earlier in the week.  Also, my car is now uninsured & most of the events were held in cities outside Vancouver.

So, on my day off, I got a coffee (thanks, Salinger!) & trudged a mile through the rain to the Vancouver Convention Centre, which was listed as the day’s venue on the WPAG website.  There I was told that I would have to walk 30 minutes in the opposite direction to the Plaza of Nations, where there was only one event left.  They were doing something called Muster.  

This was the first assignment I seriously contemplated not completing.  But I thought that would set an unhealthy precedent, knew I should put in the effort, & went anyway.  Turns out that Muster is a test of muster.  Oh.

Teams of firemen competed to see who could set up a ladder, climb it, & hand up buckets of water to fill a big barrel on top of a platform the fastest.

I watched at least five competitions between ten countries.  I hold that these were discrete events & consider my mission accomplished!

After relaxing with a smoothie (unfortunately verboten during the working week) with Braden, I headed to Jess & Braden’s place & helped Jess set up her website.  No rest for the wicked!  Then we got some delicious Thai food & watched Bedazzled (the original version).  I think it parallels this project very closely.  But who am I?  Dudley Moore?  Or Peter Cook?  Rent it & tell me!

Also came up with many ingenious ideas for the project.  I am positively brimming with ingenuity these days.

Upon arriving home, I’d received Adam’s video clips!  I cobbled them together & they are very informative & funny, despite the unfortunate but apparently inevitable watermark.

He demonstrates the core exercises he’s assigned to me & then, as a lovely bonus, takes us on a tour of his high school bedroom & shows you what I wrote in his yearbook!  It was hilarious, if only to me.

Those of you interested in getting in shape should watch the core exercises in particular!  I’ve found them extremely beneficial & not so easy as they look.  Those of you merely interested in stalking me should skip the core exercises & watch the bedroom tour.  You’ll get an intimate glance of me at fifteen.

I am officially somebody who works even on my days off.  I’ve got to cut that out.

Anyway, this morning I was really on top of my game. I 2. woke up early & 3. did core & warm-up. Then Braden kindly let me into his building so I could 4. run 1.5 miles on their treadmill.  I did it in 15 minutes!  When I began, it took me over 11 minutes to run a mile.  This time, (I admit I walked one “lap”), a mile only took me 10!  I love seeing fast results.  Now, I feel like my muscles want to be active.  This is particularly difficult, as I’m exercising under the shadow of Week 6.  When I post the schedule, you’ll see what I mean!

Also, I 5. stretched.

The escorts across the street are making fun of me again.  They make fun of me because I’m always up late writing.  They probably think I’m playing some sort of internet game.  I suppose I am, but it’s a very exciting one.  Anyway, my reward is in heaven.

I went home for a shower then met Braden for lunch (so I could 6. eat a meal within an hour of my workout).  I had some potato leek soup & a 7. kale salad.

Goodness & fun are still mutually exclusive.

When I arrived home, I checked my mail.  To my delight, Ptolemy had sent me a book!  It’s his most famous one, Paradise Fever.  & he included a lovely autograph!  You should all buy it & read.  Then maybe you’ll understand why he’s so smart & interesting.

He's tied with Simon Armitage

I’m getting quite a collection of interesting autographed books.  I got Amy Hempel to autograph one for Bella, & Simon Armitage gave me a lovely & very decorative autograph after a night of heavy drinking at Old Town.  Boy is my life exciting.

Once upstairs, with the help of a friend’s mother, I tracked down the number of one of my favorite high school teachers.  I called her, but she wasn’t in.  I 8. left a voicemail with my number.

Then I crawled into bed with my new book & the Chancellor.  Very compelling read!  Made it halfway thru then dozed.

Afterwards, got a wrap & went to Jess’s, where I helped her transcribe an interview for a documentary.  I love repetitive mindless labor, & this was no exception!  I’m now considering applying for a job as a transcriber (transcriptionist?), so I can transcribe things on my day off & make money for a new computer.  That should show you the abundance of energy I have these days!

Then we went bowling.  In a cool little place where the balls are little balls that don’t have holes in them, & there’s no computer for scoring (must admit, in Michigan I became a habitual bowler, if a very bad one).  We had some trouble figuring out the scoring, but once we managed, wow!  In our first game we both bowled under 100.  In the next two, Jess bowled 150 & 163 respectively!  She’s a natural.  I told her to join a bowling league.  I, on the other hand, remained in the much less impressive 60-80 range.

The bowling shark.

Now I’m home.  All I have left to do is 9. play a sport (or do a fun physical activity I can imagine myself doing consistently). Well, when I was at the store today, I picked up a jump rope.  I’m going to skip some rope before bed.  Don’t tell me that’s not a sport.  Bike riding & hiking were suggested options & my third grade self begs to differ.

I’ve also instituted a new fun idea!  I’m giving a gold star to my favorite comment each day.  Whoever gets the most gold stars by the end of the year will get a present from me!  I’m really good at giving presents, & I love doing it.  The first two have gone to Jacqueline & Ptolemy.  But who knows who will get one next!

There are other fun, participatory ideas that will soon be revealed.

Adam gave me some very useful tips on posture a few posts back.  So now I’m making sure to switch my purse carrying shoulder off each day.  & consciously lowering my right shoulder whenever possible.

Planning for my busy day & dinner party tomorrow!  & so am off to bed.  Keep up the good work everyone.

I really enjoyed working on my mom’s memory album.  I can’t wait to show you a couple more of my favorite pages from her book.

Carshow 2 pg Layout

My folks like to go to carshows, so this layout showcases some of their favorite cars they’ve een at different shows they’ve attended.  I used the retired Bold Bright buttons and some stickers that are non-SU.  The background is Creamy Caramel, the photo mats are basic black.

Here’s a close up of each page. . . ..

Car Show Left side page

I really like the car turned sideways with the flames shooting out the tailpipe, almost like it’s going to drive off the page.

Car Show Right Side Page

This page shows the time we lived in Austin, TX.  We were only there for a year,  but it was memorable.

The Austin Page

I used the set Organic Grace (a retired hostess set) for the images which I stamped in Perfect Plum.  I used Certainly Celery Ribbon from Sale-A-Bration.  The title is chip board sponged with Certainly Celery Ink.

I hope you enjoyed these scrapbooking pages.  Looking at them makes me want to scrap something right now. . . . .

my tattoo

Several years ago, I got a tattoo on my forearm, and a lot of people ask me about it. It shows an iconic castle, a fish, and the letters “HR.” The fish represents Jesus Christ, and the letters stand for “Holy Rood,” the medieval term for the cross. The castle represents the Grail Castle, the resting place of the mythical Holy Grail.

I initially came across the image when I was doing research for my novel Zen, Mississippi, begun around 1992 and finished just recently (still unpublished, unfortunately).

The metaphor of the grail quest, borrowed from the legends of King Arthur, plays a major role in that story. The book where I found the image (The Holy Grail by Norma Lorre Goodrich” only said that it was a “medieval water-mark on paper” and that it represented the Grail Castle.

For years, that was basically all I knew about the image. I got it tattooed on my arm for all kinds of reasons, none of them particularly religious in nature. The image struck a chord with me mainly because of my identification and fascination with the knights-errant who search for the grail. It just so happens that the symbolism of Arthurian legend is intricately tied in with the symbolism of Christianity. Also, I liked having a tattoo that tied in with the novel I’d then been working on for several years (and would continue to work on for several years after that), and I just liked the way it looked—castles are cool; most people I think would agree.

Just this week, I happened upon some more information. It turns out that the image originated with one of the most infamous heresies of the Middle Ages, the Cathars who lived in the South of France in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Cathars were a Gnostic sect who believed the Catholic church had corrupted the original message of Christianity. They were also vegetarians and possibly sodomites. Many of them were massacred by the Church in the early 13th century.

Enthusiasts of the DaVinci Code and its “nonfiction” predecessor Holy Grail, Holy Blood may be familiar with the Cathars as the Gnostic sect that evolves into the Priory of Sion, the group at the heart of the grail conspiracy, according to those books.

Conspiracy or not, the Cathars did use a lot of Arthurian imagery in their symbols, and they put these symbols in all kinds of places—tapestries, pottery, etc—trying to spread the word about their beliefs. Many of the Cathars were also some of the earliest manufacturers of paper, and that’s why Cathari symbols were often used as watermarks during that time. The Cathar watermarks were also precursors to the images associated with the Tarot.

In full disclosure, I have not read the DaVinci Code (or seen the film), and I don’t particularly care to. And I’m not a believer in that particular conspiracy. I also can’t say I share many of the Cathars’ specific beliefs—or even understand the. But I do like the fact that I can now identify my tattoo with an interesting and esoteric historical event, and like the search for the grail, my search for information about this image continues.

More will be revealed.

Welcome to stop #14  on Stampin’ Addicts Parade of Papers Blog Hop, showcasing the beautiful Designer Series Papers from Stampin’ Up! You may have just arrived  from Comeka’s blog  or this may be your first stop.  Either way, the links will take you in a circle and you’ll end up back where you began.  But remember, these links will disappear at midnight on Sunday night!  Be sure to bookmark or subscribe to the blogs you love!  You’ll find the link to the next blog at the end of this post.

I’m excited to be featuring the beautiful Rainbow Sherbert Designer Series Paper.  It coordinates with Apricot Appeal, Green Galore, Gable Green, and Tempting Turquoise.   Here’s a quick peek of the paper!

Rainbow Sherbert DSP

Since May is National Scrapbooking Month, it’s only right that the first project I share is a 2 pg 12×12 scrapbook layout.  The pictures are of Christin and Wyatt playing at Nana’s house – hence the title  “Sunday Drivin’ at Nana’s”

Left side 12x12 layout

Right side 12x12 layout

These pages were so much fun to make.   I have a sneaky suspicion that there may be some discussion at NaNa’s house about who gets to keep these pages!

Recipe:  Paper:  Rainbow Sherbert DSP, Pacific Point Textured cardstock, Gable Green, Green Galore , Apricot Appeal and Tempting Turquoise cardstock.   Ink:  Versamark, Green Galore.  Accessories:  Very Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware, White Embossing powder, scallop circle punch,  3/16″ corner rounder, Aqua glitter from Fine Supernova Stampin’ Glitter.  Big Shot:  Birds & Blooms, Swirly, Billboard.  Stamps:  Warm Words, Best Wishes & More,  Petal Pizzazz, Darling Dots.

Next up is a wonderful CD photo album inspired by Maureen Henry.  This would make a great gift!  You can attach a few favorite pictures and include a DVD of the event they were taken at or a music CD .

Front view of CD Photo Album

inside of CD photo album

I love how this turned out.  It really makes me think of summer!

Recipe:  Paper:  Rainbow Sherbert DSP, Pacific Point Textured cardstock,  Green Galore, Apricot Appeal, Gable Green, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White cardstock.  Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Versamark.   Accessories:  Eyelet Border Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, 1/2″ circle punch,  lg oval punch, scallop oval punch, Whisper White Organza Ribbon, White Embossing Powder, Very Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware, Velcro Circles (non SU).  Big Shot:  Birds & Blooms,  Beautiful Butterflies. Stamps:  Warm Words.

One of my fellow demonstrators, Lyssa (who’s also participating in this blog hop), inspired me to try something I haven’t done before:  A modified picture frame.  I picked up a plain, boring chipboard frame at my local craft store, and I ended up with this lovely picture frame, sporting a picture of the beautiful Christin.

Picture frame

Recipe:  Paper:  Rainbow Sherbert DSP, Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise and Apricot Appeal cardstock.  Ink:  Green Galore, Versamark.  Accessories: White Embossing Powder, 3/16″ corner rounder.  Big Shot:  Birds & Blooms. Stamps:  Warm Words.

Finally, what set of projects would be complete without a card?  To be more precise, a set of thank you cards using Rainbow Sherbert DSP!  These cards are really very easy and quick to make!

Thank You Card Set

Recipe:  Paper:  Rainbow Sherbert DSP, Gable Green, Tempting Turquoise, Appricot Appeal, and Green Galore cardstock.  Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Gable Green, Green Galore and Apricot Appeal.  Accessories:  Apricot Appeal Brads from Soft Subtles Brads.  Big Shot:  Birds &  Blooms.  Stamps:  Flight of the Butterfly, Petal Pizzazz, Fundamental Phrases.

Well, I hope you fell in love with the Rainbow Sherbert Designer Series Paper as much I have – there’s no better time than right now to stock up on Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper and Textured Card stock with their Buy 3, Get 1 Free Sale – be sure to check with your Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator for details.

To see another of the beautiful Designer Series Papers on this Parade of Paper Blog Hop, now go to Twila’s blog. Enjoy the rest of your blog hopping and don’t forget that all the Parade of Paper links will be broken at midnight on Sunday, May 10!  I hope you will be inspired by all the creative projects and beautiful scrap pages and cards. Also, be sure to check out the Stampin’ Addicts website – Positively Creative!

Birthday card for my fil

It’s always a challenge to make a masculine birthday card.  But I think this one worked well.  It’s using the retired set Organic Grace, but it would work well with Lovely as a Tree or Le Jardin Botanique (both of which are available in the current catalog).  The silver frame around the sentiment is from the silver Hodgepodge Hardware.  I think the Hodgepodge Hardware is great for adding masculine touches to a card.   The sentiment is from On Your Birthday, which is my favorite birthday set.  There are 12 different birthday sentiments in this set.  It’s awesome!   I used the Sahara Sand,  Old Olive and Very Vanilla Card Stock, Versamark and Old Olive Ink and the 3/16″ corner rounder punch.

I made this card early in February for my father-in-law’s birthday.  I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Stamping!

Sympathy Card

“Thoughts & Prayers” is fast becoming one of my go to sets.  I just love how versatile it is.   This was such a quick and easy card.  You could easily make this a Thank you card or any other occasion just by changing the sentiment.  I used Versamark ink to create the tree watermark on the front of the card as well as adding it to the inside. Additionally, I  layered the inside sentiment.  I think it gives it a little more formal feel.

Inside of Card

Recipe:  Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke  and Whisper White card stock, Versamark , Chocolate Chip, and Always Artichoke ink.  Stamp Set:  Thoughts and Prayers.

A few days ago I painted this corner of the Loire in oil.  Unfortunately I fiddled with it afterwards while it was standing on the easel in the atelier to dry, resulting in losing some great first strokes and giving the water this almost “swimming pool” colour. Knowing well I have this addiction, I normally hang a painting immediately on the wall when done and then I don’t touch it…on the easel however, I always see something that needs fixing!

…ombre et lumiére..

oil on canvas, 30×30 cm (11.8×11.8 in)

I am leaving for Coin Perdu in Correze for about three weeks, which will be sort of a solitary retreat. And since I’m leaning towards oil painting for now, I’ve decided to pack all my oil stuff for some plein air painting for which the opportunities and subjects there are boundless. So I had a stack of boards, in different sizes, cut at my hardware store, and prepared them at home with  first  a coat of acrylic primer, then a coat of mixed gesso and modeling paste and lastly a coat of gesso. (after the method by David Curtis).

Some years ago I played around with modeling paste on canvases and several other surfaces, as can be seen in the next two paintings. Given a coat of gesso or acrylic primer, it provides a nice textured surface for some expressive work in oil  and other mixed media.

…urn 1, mixed media on canvas…

…detail of texture(with modeling paste)..

…urn 2, mixed media on paper…

…detail of texture(with modeling paste)

…pineapples…

oil on canvas, 30×30 cm.

…detail of texture(with modeling paste)…

Ecco qui le tanto richieste foto annunciate nell’episodio 10 che trovate QUI! Con un po’ di ritardo ma sono arrivate! Aspetto numerosi commenti! Lo so che non sono molte ma ora ho imparato a mettere velocemente i watermark, ad usare vari modi per incorporare slideshows scoprendo che con Picasa non si riesce su WordPress, a fare gli slideshow da Slide che invece e’ super amico di WordPress…insomma…Prossimamente ne arriveranno altre!

Spero che funzioni tutto…e’ stata una lunga serata ma ora ho imparato molte cose! Qui sotto c’e’ il link all’album di picasa e di seguito uno slideshow…cosi’ accontento tutti i gusti..e intanto provo…ditemi cosa preferite per le foto o se avete un metodo per incorporare Picasa su wordpress..

Vi consiglio se dovete ridimensionare e mettere watermarks a tante foto insieme MULTIPLE IMAGE RESIZER.NET che trovate gratuitamente QUI!

L'Irlanda negli occhi

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Most people would agree that flood cleanup is a task lacking in appeal. It can be quite unpleasant especially considering that flood water is rarely clean. However, the good news for homeowners is that the process does not have to be even more laborious than it should be.

The principle behind flood cleanup should be backed up with practical expectations. Homeowners should know that while the goal is to save as many items as possible, there will be some that will not make it. Items which are porous, like paper products and fabric, are more likely to be damaged beyond repair.

Get in touch with your insurance company before fixing anything to know if your coverage includes the cost of flood cleanup. If it does, make a record of the effects of the flooding in your home. Jot down the items that were destroyed or damaged by the excess water. A camera may also be used to take pictures or video of the situation to make it easier. Taking note of what happened will make the process of filing a claim much easier.

After assessing the damage, the brunt of the work is up next. In some cases, mud and soil can be brought in by flood water so it may be necessary to shovel them out. Hose off the area to remove any remaining dirt. Watermarks on the wall should also be scrubbed clean. After all the visible signs of the flood have been removed, disinfect the area by using a solution of soap and hot water. Even if the floodwater looks clean, it could still harbor a host of germs and bacteria. Even items that did not come in contact with the water should still be washed to ensure the safety of the residents of the house by cleaning all the affected area.

Depending on the amount of water, flood cleanup can be quite a big chore. However, it is a responsibility that every homeowner should be ready to deal with. It is suggested that the tasks are broken into smaller goals to make it more manageable. This will help the homeowner feel less stressed about the magnitude of work to be done. Take note that if the condition of the affected area is complete, specialists can be called in to conduct the restoration in a professional manner. They can be quite useful in helping with the aftermath of flooding.

House damage and other home problems can affect a person. BPS helps Longmont, Colorado residents deal with stress with options for Longmont, Colorado counselling and Longmont, Colorado Therapists.

There’s been a lot of discussions over the year about how to protect your pictures’ copyright (e.g.). The number one method appears to be watermarking, which makes sense, though it really won’t prevent anyone from still sticking that picture on a random site. I, personally, haven’t thought much about copyright, but of course, I am not making money from photography.

As I am buying my first SLR camera (a Canon Rebel XSI) pretty soon, I thought a little what I want and don’t want out of photography. I like to make good pictures of course. I like to become a master of the medium. I like to express myself. And, I’d like to be able to take pictures whenever I want to. But one thing I noticed, from taking over 5000 pictures with a Canon Ixus, with less than 5% with me in it, is that I also like to be a part of the picture-experience.

What inspired my idea was my recent upgrade to an Intel Mac with my very first webcam—that’s right, I never saw the attraction until now. It rules! To anyone used to video-Skyping, you’re familiar with the huge video of your friend, and the tiny video of yourself at the bottom.

So, I’m thinking, why not have the same thing for pictures? Taking a picture would then look like this:

Instead of having a pesky and rather ugly watermark, you can see who actually made that picture. You could of course have a little mini-cam in your camera, pointed at you and taking an up-to-date shot of what you look like — that one was taken while I had the flu, some months ago — but a static picture will do the trick most of the time.

What do you think? Should photo-pubishers like Picasa, iPhoto, Flickr, etc. integrate such a feature? Would it have any useful function to you, as a photographer or as a viewer? Share your thoughts!

Vincent

I’ve been a bit obsessed with Facebook lately, from a personal aspect and a business perspective too. From the personal aspect, I’m just learning about all the newer applications available throughout the site and things you can get to interconnect with FB. From a business perspective I’m amazed at the advertising possibilities available through the site. Everything from paid advertising to the possibilities of creating group and fan pages for you business.

As a business owner I find it important to stay on top of media trends. Knowing what potential clients do and look at is helpful to any business and I think it’s fair to say that FB is really taking off. Mostly because of the baby boomer generation. Any average user has probably noticed a spike in older people adding him or her as their ‘friend’ and laughed about it. Let’s face it, I couldn’t help laugh when my wife’s grandma said she had been using Facebook. After thinking about it though, I realized this is a significant turn of events. No longer are social networking sites a place for high school and college-aged students to post ridiculous (and most the time inappropriate) photos of themselves on the internet. It’s actually become a tool for people of all ages to reconnect with old friends, classmates and coworkers.

What this means is that as more and more people find their way to FB, it increases the potential to reach customers on another plane. Customers with money. Before, FB was primarily known as a sophomoric social networking tool allowing students to share photos and update their relationship status while giving their friends a ‘poke’ every once in awhile. And let’s face it, they were all broke for the most part. Most high schoolers and college students are. It no longer fits this demographic though. It’s evolved into a beast of its own, showing potential for entrepreneurs of any kind, but photographers especially.

Not only can someone be friends with me by searching my name, they can also now be in a group called ‘Lifeworks Imaging’, they can become a ‘Fan’ of the page and I can mass email these groups to let them know about specials, events or updates. I can also upload a series of photos and with a few clicks of a button, search for a few names and tag anyone in my friends list that might be in that photo. Something that comes in very helpful for sports photography. All I have to do is add my own watermark before uploading and I’ve created a relatively safe way to share photos with players and fans without actually giving them away. Sure, some people will still nab the photo and save it to their computer. **cough, cough** Shane…. but that’s okay.

A link that Stephen Haas shared on FB the other day, “Why Your Blog Sucks,” made a great point. When you’re using the internet, most of the people using it with you aren’t working by ‘your rules.’ In other words, they’re going to take your photos, tag themselves, change them, possibly even print them. If someone really wants to print off one of those photos with my company name watermarked across it, let them. Why, because it’s some of the best advertising you can get. Feel honored someone likes your photo so much. That just means when it comes time for senior portraits, one of the first names they might think of is you.

I certainly don’t try to hide the fact that I’m advertising to clients by doing this. I’m also not insincere toward my customers either though. I think the fans and players appreciate showing off these photos to their friends and family. With FB, they no longer have to print them off and then show the photo to grandma, grandpa, Uncle Louie and Aunt Sally. Instead, next time Uncle Louie wants to look at his FB account, there’s a little wall update that says “Timmy Thompson was tagged in 5 photo from the album Baseball Game 5.”

And when Louie pulls up that picture, there in the corner will by my company name. Just a little reminder that we’re still in town and still do quality work. Plus, if they really want the photo with no watermark, it tells them right where to go and what password to enter to buy it.

For those of you that may not have a FB account, I suggest getting one. It’s really not as painful as you might think, just don’t blame me if you waste an entire day on it. It’s a lot easier to do than one might think.

Chris Bodle’s watermark installations in the UK are aimed at creating awareness of Global Warming.  obviously the most devastating effect of Global Warming is the rise in sea levels.  from Creative Review:

By displaying these levels in real space, the project aims to help us to imagine the depth and extent of this potential future flooding – allowing us to measure them against ourselves in familiar environments.

Behold!! My new watermark lols

lols interesting isn’t it =D