04.22.08
Web Design
I have been experimenting with CS3 (Adobe Creative Suite 3) to see if I can develop some income streams. The package has some powerful design tools: PhotoShop, Illustrator, Fireworks (for quick web page mock-ups that can be imported into DreamWeaver), DreamWeaver (web design), and Flash (animation design). the packages all interconnect, so you can click on something created in one while working in another and it will take you where you need to go for editing. I like that.
Web page mock up
When creating a web page for approval, an artist can alter design elements much more quickly in FireWorks than in DreamWeaver. FireWorks mock-ups lack functionality although fields are reserved for conversion later. DreamWeaver is an industry standard for web page design. I used Flash to create the animation and speech-agents for my web site. I am experimenting now with using DreamWeaver to create eMail stationary. I read a tutorial on how to go into the ‘Mail’ program, open one of the stationary templates, then change it with code created in DreamWeaver. Nice way to add little slide shows and picture links.
Photography
I have learned that my Sony 8MP camera shoots dark. When I tried turning up the exposure values in PS, the process created “noise” that the stock galleries reject because they want to sell photos that can be blown up very large. And I’ve received yet photo another rejection— from one of the better stock galleries: iStock. This time however, 2 of the photos that I heavily post-processed were accepted and only one rejected for a minor technical problem. What excites me is that the photos were all previous rejects for too much noise, over-filtering, etc. I took them apart. I created layers: one layer I blurred to make absolutely noise free (background colors, skies— anything that would show noise); in another layer I cut out and sharpened elements that need to be sharp where noise can’t be differentiated from texture. Then I blended the layers in various percentages until they looked great. It was these super-retouched, super-filtered images that were accepted by iStock!
