The other day Chris was telling me about an image preview tool that he uses called FastStone Image Viewer. It is free software that can either be installed or run as a standalone executable. You can use the software to view, resize, and touch up photos, as well as do things like make a slide show.
The software is by FastStone Soft. Their web site is very simple, and says the following:
We are developing graphics and photo programs to share our ideas with people, hoping that these tools will be useful to people worldwide.
Along with FastStone Image Viewer, there is also a screen capture program, a smaller image viewer, and a photo resizer tool.
I finally broke down last week and ordered Call Display for my phone. I love it and can’t believe I lived without it for so long. I’ve received a few calls lately that came from UNKNOWN NAME but had a phone number. As I tried to find out who owned the number, I came across WhoCalled.Us. Basically this is a site that lets people submit telephone numbers and report on them. Then others can see whether the numbers are good or not. You can then choose to screen that number if you want. If you have call display, this is definitely a good resource to bookmark.
When I was younger, still in high school, I spent a lot of time learning photography, not unlike today. I read all the books I could, I talked to the guys in the local camera shops and most importantly, I shot a lot. However, back then my choices were all film based which was expensive. I also learned how to bulk load my own film (in rolls of 39 or 40!), develop and print in my own darkroom. Doing this enabled me to shoot much more than I otherwise would have been able to as the do it yourself approach was more cost efficient. One of the things I did as a printer to enhance my final work was to burn my edges in order to draw the viewer into the photo.
Burning the edges of your image refers to the process of given more exposure to edges of the print during the printing process to darken them. Even though I am all digital now, I still do this on my competition, presentation and many other prints.
There are many ways to burn your edges. One simple one that is non destructive and adjustable is to create a levels adjustment layer and move the grey slider to the right. You will see your image darken as you do this. Don’t worry too much about the amount of darkening, you can adjust it later. Next, select black as your colour and with the paint bucket, fill your adjustment layer with black. Switch to white and choose a large brush with a very soft edge. On a 6 MP image I use a brush about 200 pixels. Now, paint the edges of your frame using only half the brush. This will give you a nice, soft transition in the darkening of your edges. This process works in all recent versions of both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements.
If the edges are too dark, you can either double click on the adjustment layer and move your grey slider back toward the left a bit, or you can lower the opacity of the adjustment layer. It may take a little bit of fine tuning, but you are looking for a subtle burning, not a drastic one.
Until next time, happy shooting.
I heard about this on Download Squad. I haven’t tried it myself, but it sounds interesting.
While it can’t bring back the quality to a heavily compressed JPEG image, JPEG Enhancer can smooth out the artifacts and make a much nicer-looking image as a result. It’s so easy to use, it’s ridiculous; simply open a JPEG image that you would like to fix, set the filter slider at the bottom, and press the Process button to see the results. Once you have it set to your satisfaction, save your new image and you’re done.
JPEG Enhancer recently became a free download, so what’s to lose?
You can learn more about the software and download it by visiting the VicMan Software web site.
From TechRepublic’s IT News Digest:
U.S. researchers printed, yes, printed a battery and they’re looking to scale up the process to run devices from pacemakers to pickup trucks with batteries printed on a printing press. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s team published a description in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of how they’ve printed a foldable, rollable, cuttable paper battery a little bigger than a postage stamp that stores enough power to run an LED light.
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