32 Free Software Solutions For Photographers | DIYPhotography.net

Posted on May 13, 2010 by ahmphotos

Alastair Montgomery’s PhotographyMain Page,My Shop at Zazzle Follow me at @alastair_hm

Easy flickr uploads with Postr

Posted on May 13, 2010 by ahmphotos

A must for every Flickr Linux user.

Easy flickr uploads with Postr

via gHacks technology news by Jack Wallen on 5/12/10

For those that use Flckr, it’s always easiest when you have a simple tool that allows quick and painless file uploading. Although logging onto the web site and using the built-in Flickr uploader isn’t difficult, when you have a number of images, or when you upload frequently, this can be a real hassle. So having a stand-alone tool for this purpose is always nice. There are plenty of these tools for the Windows desktop. But what about Linux? You bet there are. There are Flickr uploaders for KDE for GNOME and everything in between.

In this article I am going to introduce you to the GNOME Flickr uploader Postr. It’s simple to install and simple to use.

Features

Postr offers some fairly straight-forward features such as:

Simple user interface.
Common attributes for photos.
Nautilus integration.
Session management.

Installation

Installation is simple, thanks to the fact that Postr is located in your standard repositories. Just follow these directions:

Open up your Add/Remove Software tool (such as Synaptic, Ubuntu Software Center, Packagekit, etc).
Search for “postr” (no quotes).
Mark Postr for installation.
Click Apply to install.

That’s it! You are ready to set up Postr.

Linking to your account

This of course assumes you already have a Flickr account. To open Postr click on Applications > Graphics > Flickr Uploader and Postr will open. When you first run Postr a small window will appear with a link asking you to Login to Flickr. Click that link and your web browser will open to the Flickr login page. You have to walk through a couple of steps on that page. If you do not finish the authorization steps on the Flickr site Postr will not gain access and will return an error 108. Once you have done that click the Continue button on the Postr window. You will know you have successfully linked to your Flickr account when the Upload button on Postr is no longer grayed out.

Adding and uploading photos

Figure 1

This is very simple. To add and upload photos follow these steps:

Click the “+” symbol (see Figure 1).
Navigate to the directory housing your photos.
Select the photo(s) you want to upload (use the <Ctrl> button to add multiple photos).
Click Open.
Click the Upload button.

Your photos will then upload to your Flickr account.

There are, of course, other methods of uploading to Flickr. Thanks to Postr’s Nautilus integration you can also upload like this:

Open up Nautilus.
Navigate to the location of your photos.
Right click a photo you want to upload.
Select Upload to Flickr.
When Postr opens click the Upload button.

That’s it!

You can of course add information to your photos before you upload them. You can also add photos to sets, send them to groups, and set privacy settings from within Postr. NOTE: You can not create sets from within Postr. You will have to create those on your Flickr page. Once you have sets created, you can then add photos to the sets before you upload them.

Final thoughts

If you are a frequent Flickr user, you should do yourself a favor and start using Postr. It’s simple to use and will save you time.

© Jack Wallen for gHacks technology news, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
Post tags: flickr, GNOME, Linux, photos, postr

LG Renoir Group

Posted on November 4, 2009 by ahmphotos

Alastair Montgomery’s Photography
Main Page,
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Get Better Black and White Conversions from Your Shots [Photoshop Tip]

Posted on August 26, 2009 by ahmphotos

Get Better Black and White Conversions from Your Shots [Photoshop Tip]

via Lifehacker by Kevin Purdy on 8/25/09

Converting to black and white can be a saving grace for concert shots and other photos, but you can get better, crisper results by veering off the default options. Photoshop tinkerer Helen Bradley explains which sliders to pull on.

Bradley points out that when simply converting to black and white in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you get a very thumbnailed view of your picture, one that doesn’t grant you a good look at how sharp it will turn out, or how the newly limited hue will look in certain corners of the image. By setting up a bottom layer of the image and tweaking its saturation, shadows and highlights, and other elements, you’ll get a lot more control over how good your finished product turns out.

Photo gurus, what steps do you always take when you’re converting a shot to black and white? Share the knowledge in the comments.

An Adjustable Black and White Conversion [Helen Bradley via Lifehacker AU]

40 Incredibly Inspirational Retro & Vintage Photoshop Tutorials

Posted on August 19, 2009 by ahmphotos

Worth a look

40 Incredibly Inspirational Retro & Vintage Photoshop Tutorials

via hongkiat.com by hongkiat on 8/17/09

retro vintage photoshop tutorials

The memories of yesteryears invoke in us a sense of nostalgia as we long for the days gone by when life seems so much simpler. Technology was not as advanced as it is today, and things were changing at a slower pace. Retro and vintage years usually refer to the decades before our present day, up to the last century. Images of the early 1900s to the 1980s comes into mind as we think about the designs of this era. Even though retro and vintage designs, as the names suggest, are technically outdated, many of us still turn to them for inspiration. These designs are still very much appreciated today due to its nostalgic value.

For this very reason, we have combed the web for a number of Photoshop tutorials on retro and vintage designs. Enjoy the list and be inspired!

Old Fantasy Map
via Vile Works

Abstract Retro-Pop Wallpaper
via Tutorial 9

Realistic Burnt Parchment

3D Retro Strip
via Photoshop Tutor

Creating the New Retro
via Computer Arts

Awesome Retro Collage
via 10 Steps

Retro Pop Art

Retro Photo with Background
via Denis Designs

Retro Grunge Poster
via Photoshop Tutorials

Wicked-Worn Vintage Pop Art Design
via Psdtuts+

Stunning Old-World Look

Space-Helmeted Future Retro Illustration

Old-Collage Effect Poster

Stylish Retro Text Effect

Mix Cool Retro Curves Into Photographs

Retro Boxing Poster

60’s Psychedelic Style Concert Poster

Rockin’ 80’s Party Poster

Vintage Car Poster
via PSD Vault

Old-Style Safari Map
via PSD Fan

Retro Comic Book Effect
via Photoshop Roadmap

Gigposter Design
via GoMediaZine

Old School Type – Line Gradients

Retro Cosmic Design
via Fudge Graphics

Planet Terror Style Poster
via Outlaw Design Blog

Vintage Magazine Ad

Vintage Effect for Photos
via Alfoart

Photo Transfer Edge Effect
via PShero

Old World Wax Seal

Old Paper

Old Envelope

WWII Airplane

Retro Logo with Soft Grunge Background
via PV.M Garage

Retro Lighting – Ford Mustang
via Adobe Tutorialz

Dreamy Vintage
via Blueprint Media Design

1950s-Style Movie Poster
via Spoonfed Design

Sweet Old School Album Cover
via Fortyseven Media

Turn A New Photo Into An Old Photo
via Photoshop Essentials

Curvy Cross Processing
via Layers Magazine

Vintage Polaroid Effect
via MyInkBlog

50 Free Photoshop Brush Sets You Should Bookmark

Posted on February 5, 2009 by ahmphotos

50 Free Photoshop Brush Sets You Should Bookmark

via hongkiat.com by Kay on 05/02/09

free photoshop brushes

If you’ve got an idea (or concept) but find it hard to present on your artwork because the drawings just don’t add up, try Photoshop Brushes. Brushes are designers best friend, particularly web designers who don’t illustrate graphics much.

Adobe Photoshop does comes with a basic package of brushes but it has not been updated by folks at Adobe for quite some time. Thanks to the great community of designers out there who constantly distributing and sharing their brushes, you can almost find brushes of any patterns these days. Whether you are working on a nature-related artwork looking for floral and wood graphics, or merely adding some torn, burned and cracked effects to your artwork – there’s a free brush pack out there and all you need to do is Google.

In today’s post, we attempt to present you some of the high quality and good ones, those we thought would be generally useful in many occasion and definitely worth checking out and bookmark. Here’s our hand-picked of 50 Free and High Quality Photoshop Brush Sets You Should Bookmark. Full list after jump.

Some useful Photoshop related entries we’ve previously written:

Metal Brushes

9 metal texture brush set.
2Bit-Twilight Brushes

A set of 12 abstract pixel brushes for Photoshop. Compatible with Photoshop 8+ / Photoshop Elements 3+.
8 fantasy butterfly brushes

8 really beautiful and fantasy butterfly brushes to spice up your painting.
A3D Pieces of Tape Brushes

Thirty-seven brushes from various torn, wrinkled, pieces of tape brushes made in Photoshop 7.0
Abstract Brushset XIII

13 awesome abstract brushes.
Astral Flora

Pack contains 8 brushes, including 2 different sized leaves, 1 astral rose, 1 astral flowerbud, 1 astral butterfly, an assortment of whispy, starspangled curves.
Barbed wire brush

Two barbed wire brushes.
Brush Stroke Brushes

Made with thick black poster colours. Just great for those pieces needing brush strokes with hard bristles.
Butterflies with Flowers
Zelink’s Cataclysm Brushset

Can be used for grunge, stars abstract and smoke/forg effects. This set was based upon the stars of the heavens. This set, cataclysm, was designed to bring violent destruction upon the use of other sets. It has many uses and works very well for sigs.
Cracks and cuts brushes

This pack includes around 80 brushes, all cracks, chips and cuts.
Demolished.Cracks

Demolished.Cracks pack contains 12 brushes compatible with PS 7 and up!
Fractal Brushes

There are ten of fractal brushes in total.

$lightseer_fractals$
CS4 Brushes

New style of CS4 brushes.
Glow Part I

There are 11 big brushes made with Photoshop 7.0
Floral Frame Brushes

Now with these wonderful brushes all you need is Photoshop and the brush tool selected, you’ll create floral frame brushes so awesome that you will love.
Drop Brushes

A set of brushes for photoshop (created in CS3) with sizes range from about 700px to 1600px.
5 Checkered PS Brushes
Label Brushes

The pack contains the the letters of the alphabet, numbers and some extras. Theres a piece of tape and some marks which could be used in white and added to the labels once they’re done to make them look authentic and cool.
TI Graphic Pack 152 Ps Brushes

152 Photoshop brushes made on Ps CS4.
Metal Mesh Brush

Metal Mesh Brush by =SocioBunneh.
Hyper Brushes – PS7
10 Very Big Brushes No.30
MOON BRUSHES for PS7 v.2

45 moon brushes for ps7, ps8, ps9, ps10.
25 Tiny Text Brushes 02

It includes 25 tiny text brushes for icons. The .zip contains an .abr file compatible with Photoshop 7.0 and up.
20 high-res-stamp brushes

20 high-resolution stamp brushes.
122 Brushes
Camera-Stuff

8 brushes for lens, film and camera.
Architectual ornaments
Crack Brushes I
Echolalie-stock 32

The package contains 15 different brushes made of different wall pictures. You will find cracks, scratches and dirty brushes.
Floral brushes

8 large floral brushes, for use on headers and wallpapers.
7 100×100 floral brushes, for use on icons.
Holes, Holes, Holes

These hole brushes are higher res so would be good for higher res projects as well.
Girl Brushes
Andantonius’ Pencil Brush

With this pencil brush and sketch paper action, you can quickly and easily create natural-looking pencil sketches, without the pencil! The brush takes advantage of both pen pressure and tilt to create a very natural feel and look.
Old brushes 8

Oldies set (8 brushes) for photoshop cs-cs2
Barcodes
Line Brushes

A pack of solid and dotted lines.
My Sweet Diary Brushes

The pack contains 70 cute brushes for lines, random scribbles and drawings, animals and a lot of hearts!
Photography Brushes for PSP

A set of high quality (200dpi scans) 42 photoshop brushes about photography. They are more like illustrations and blueprints of various cameras and photography related processes.
Rainy
Scribbles 4: Musical Notes

20 handdrawn musical note scribble brushes.
Rock Star Brushes
Smoke Brushes Vol II

There are just 3 smokes per vol. All of them are more than 1300 px.
The Krako “Tags brushes”
Smudge Brushes
Syringe

Several different variations and sizes of syringes.
Ischarm Pen Brushes

A set of 7 pen brushes.
Spider Webs
Industrial Brushes

Things I’ve liked recently, 23rd Jan 2009

Posted on January 23, 2009 by ahmphotos

I’ve liked these pictures I’ve recently stumbled across on the web.
Check out their other works on the links below each picture.

Untitled by Andrew Lee, see it on Flickr

After the Rain by Ignacia Grace, see it on DeviantArt

Natalie – Model Folio by ~mad-dame on deviantART

Spotted Kitty by =JacquiJax on deviantART

Steel Bridge by =gazelka on deviantART

Aoraki / Mt Cook on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

Frozen by =DiTommi on deviantART

Alastair Montgomery’s Photography
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Create tilt-shifted photos with Tiltshiftmaker

Posted on January 7, 2009 by ahmphotos

Looks like this will be useful, easier than doing it in PS yourself 🙂

Create tilt-shifted photos with Tiltshiftmaker

via Download Squad by Jay Hathaway on 1/7/09

Filed under: Fun, Photo, Web

Tilt-shifting, that spiffy photo effect that makes real people and objects look like part of a tiny toy set, has become really popular lately.

Tilt-shift time lapse videos by Keith Loutit were recently featured all over the Internet, inspiring others to figure out how to achieve the effect in their own photos. You could Google a step-by-step tutorial, or you could save yourself the trouble and use Tiltshiftmaker.

Pop a photo into Tiltshiftmaker, move the sliders around to choose the area you want to focus on, and that’s all there is to it. It seems to work best with photos that are shot from above and from a distance. If you need some inspiration, there’s also Tiltshiftmaker’s gallery you can check out and add your own photos to.

Create tilt-shifted photos with Tiltshiftmaker originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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