Reviews | DigitalAppleJuice

Review: Crossbrowsertesting.com

February 1, 2010 By madbadcat 1 Comment

Since I have already sang their praises, this is more of an introduction to Crossbrowsertesting.com than a review. Best described as a Browser Compatibility Lab, this online service offers a place to test a website on just about every browser- operating system combination. It offers two types of testing: interactive (to test ajax, javascript, and flash) and screenshots (which verifies layouts across all browsers). The site offers three (3) pricing plans which all include access to their … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Reviews, Wordpress, Workflow Tagged With: apple, browser check, Screenshot, Web browser, Web design, Web Design and Development

Build A Better Photograph: A Disciplined Approach To Creativity by Michael E. Stern

January 25, 2010 By Dr. Michael N. Roach 5 Comments

Build A Better Photograph: A Disciplined Approach To Creativity - Rocky Nook

Rocky Nook Press recently sent me a review copy of Michael E. Stern's new book Build A Better Photograph: A Disciplined Approach To Creativity, and since I am always interested in the creative process (especially when it involves disciplined thought), I was happy to sit down with it for some quality time. I gravitate towards that word "disciplined" because I am an analytical and systematic individual. My trusty Mac computer dictionary provided the following: With that in mind, I have … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Featured, Photography, Reviews Tagged With: composition, creativity, digital photography, michael stern, Photography, Rocky Nook

Four Companies with Great Customer Service You Should Know About.

January 14, 2010 By madbadcat 5 Comments

The new year introduced me to new vendors and reinforced my belief in 2 old ones: crossbrowsertesting.com, browsershots.org, polurnet.com, and arthemis premium wordpress theme. This is a story of great customer service. Arthemis Premium Wordpress Theme Some time last fall, i decided that i wanted to change the DigitalAppleJuice theme to Arthemis Premium wp theme by Colorlabs Project. I am still a huge fan of the Revolution- Studiopress themes- all my client themes are based on them … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digital Lifestyles, Reviews, Wordpress Tagged With: browser check, web hosting suggestions, wordpress magazine theme

Mastering Photographic Composition, Creativity, and Personal Style by Alain Briot

October 21, 2009 By Dr. Michael N. Roach 1 Comment

For those of you who follow The Luminous Landscape web site, Alain Briot's name will be a familiar one from his informative and insightful writings for the photographer. If you are new to his writings you will be in for a treat in his second book published by Rocky Nook (his first was Mastering Landscape Photography). Rocky Nook produces beautiful volumes printed on acid-free paper that reproduce the dynamic tonalities of the fine-art prints that they showcase, and the long-term … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Photography, Reviews Tagged With: composition, decisive moment, Photography, Rocky Nook

Mac Pro: Falling in Love with Apple all over again.

July 14, 2009 By madbadcat 2 Comments

I have a brand spanking new MacPro- -2.66 Quad Core with 600 GB Hd & 6 GB 1066 RAM and a 24 in. Cinema Display with an Wacom Intous3 4 x 6 in. Pen Tablet. I was weak in the knees, and silly-giddy as I liberated this monster from its cardboard confines. It is truly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Made more beautiful because its mine. In the last couple of years, I have cooled to Apple's hip reputation for quality and innovation. My Intel iMac's motherboard needed replacement … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Hardware, Reviews Tagged With: apple, innovation, loud keyboard, love my mac, mac, mac pro

Topaz Labs DeNoise: Another Winning Photoshop Plugin

June 1, 2009 By Dr. Michael N. Roach 3 Comments

UPDATE: Dr. Roach reviews the latest release of DeNoise here A few weeks back I wrote about TopazLabs application TopazAdjust3, and I liked it so well that it obviously influenced me to take a look at its sister (brother?) application DeNoise. Topaz Labs makes applications for both still and video imaging, and it is the digital still imaging area that have my interest because Photoshop from Adobe is the center of my workflow and I like things that plug-in to Photoshop. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Photography, Photoshop, Reviews, Tutorials Tagged With: apple, art, image enhancement, mac, photoshop, plugin, Topaz Labs

PHOTOGRAPHIC MULTISHOT TECHNIQUES by Juergen Gulbins & Rainer Gulbins

April 27, 2009 By Dr. Michael N. Roach Leave a Comment

I've been neglecting a new book that's been on my desk for a month. When I first glanced at Juergen Gulbins and Rainer Gulbins new book PHOTOGRAPHIC MULTISHOT TECHNIQUES I realized that several of the techniques discussed involved the new Adobe Photoshop CS4, and at the time I hadn't upgraded yet. I put PHOTOGRAPHIC MULTISHOT TECHNIQUES aside until I had upgraded to Photoshop CS4 and become comfortable with the new interface and some of the new tools. Now I've … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Featured, Photography, Reviews Tagged With: Juergen Gulbins, Photography, Rainer Gulbins, Rocky Nook

Lensbaby Composer: A Selective Focus SLR Camera Lens (pt 3)

March 18, 2009 By Britt Stokes 6 Comments

A Three Part Series Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Pt. 3 of 3: Be My Lens, Baby...always Another improvement over my Lensbaby 2.0 is the lens cap - the 2.0 shipped with a nice, heavy solid metal lens cap that screwed in place... unfortunately, it was kind of slippery and difficult to get off sometimes. The Composer ships with a new squeeze-type lens cap (the style that lets your fingers get inside a lens hood, hmm, what a handy accessory that would be?). Easy on and easy off, but not so … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Gadgets, Hardware, Photography, Reviews Tagged With: apple, camera, camera lens, lens adapter, lens elements, lensbaby, mac, nikon 60mm micro lens, Photography, review, wide angle lens

Lensbaby Composer: Selective Focus SLR Camera Lens (pt 2)

March 17, 2009 By Britt Stokes 6 Comments

A Three Part Series Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Pt. 2 of 3: Be My Lens, Baby...again Remember our fun with the Sima? The Lensbaby Composer (and all the Lensbaby line, since they use interchangeable elements) is 50mm in focal length compared with the Sima's 100mm. That gets into the usable range for many landscape opportunities, and makes a decent average focal length for portraits and details. Need wider? They can do that... it's that system concept I love so much. Offered as … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Gadgets, Hardware, Photography, Reviews Tagged With: Aperture, apple, camera, camera lens, lens adapter, lens elements, lensbaby, mac, review, wide angle lens

Lensbaby Composer: A Selective Focus SLR Camera Lens (pt 1)

March 16, 2009 By Britt Stokes 8 Comments

A Three Part Series Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Pt. 1 of 3: Be My Lens, Baby! Soon after receiving my first 35mm camera, I found that photography was a little more difficult than it had first looked. Ok, it was a lot more difficult. After mastering the learning curve on how make a sharp, well-exposed photo, I saw some photography by David Hamilton and Robert Farber. I was back to square one. Suddenly, I wanted to shoot soft focus images. But, how to do it? Shortly after graduating … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Hardware, Photography, Reviews Tagged With: Aperture, apple, camera, camera lens, Composer, lensbaby, mac, Photography, review, Robert Farber, SLR, soft focus lens

The Nikon Creative Lighting System: Using the SB-600, SB 800, SB 900 & RiCi Flashes

March 3, 2009 By Dr. Michael N. Roach 2 Comments

As a landscape, architectural, and product photographer I seldom actually photograph people, and most of my artificial lighting is done with "hot light", that is, continuous lighting done with Lowell or similar tungsten-balanced equipment. Therefore, flash units for me are usually confined to snapshots and general family pictures. My experience with on-camera flash has been limited to the level of advanced amateur if I'm being completely honest with myself. However, a couple … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Featured, Photography, Reviews Tagged With: CREATIVE LIGHTING, nikon, Photography, RICI FLASHES, Rocky Nook, SB-600, SB-800, SB-900

The Pixelmator Challenge: Dr. Roach

January 7, 2009 By Dr. Michael N. Roach 1 Comment

While teaching a recent Photoshop workshop, a local Community College recruited me to conduct a sort of 'finishing up' workshop for students at the end of their second year of Photoshop classes in a strictly Macintosh lab. I was charged with showing them that while they had two semesters of Photoshop behind them, that there were a lot of subtle things yet to be done and which hadn't been covered in their coursework. Sure enough, at the end of the session a question arose, just as I had … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Graphics, Reviews, Software, Workflow Tagged With: apple, mac, Pixelmator