Jan 06 2010

Organizing RSS Feeds for Photographic Success

Category: Technology Insights, Viewpoint — Ethan G. Salwen @ 4:10 pm
ACB_100106_RSS-Feeds_1

Find a great site.

Over the past couple weeks I’ve been committed to bringing in 2010 with my RSS feeds in order. That is to say, I want my Google Reader experience to be a great experience, efficiently delivering me a world of smartly filtered (but not too filtered) information I can quickly scan for facts, ideas and inspiration about photographic learning, the industry and all of the things that indirectly feed into my photographic thinking. (That would be everything.)

One thing that has really helped is that I realized that I want my RSS reading experience to relate to my business and learning goals for 2010, so I started by creating folders that relate to these goals. For example, I labeled one of my Google Reader folders “Photography 101″ to suck in content from learning sites. I labeled another one “Journalism 101,” which is for improving my journalism skills, which is different than my “News” folder, which is where I find the daily journalism that matters to me most.

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Click the RSS feed link.

As I started to get organized, I turned to a few creative professionals to ask their advice for best practices using RSS feeds. I’ve gotten some insights, but it seems that figuring out good RSS feed reading habits is a bit like figuring out how some people, in the Old Days, were able to digest scores of newspapers and magazines: It is personalized experience that takes time to develop and that can be difficult to share.

Think of RSS Feeds Analogously

Given this, if your RSS feeds are out of control (or — gasp! — you don’t even have any) I think the most valuable suggestion I can share is an analogy:

• Think of your RSS feed reader like your pre-digital mailbox. Each feed is like a newspaper or magazines that you have subscribed to. Each post within each feed is like print article. Prioritize and skim accordingly.

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Click "Subscribe" in your reader.

Using this analogy, Web surfing is like browsing a bookstore without a clear goal: fun, sometimes insightful, not the best use of fact-gathering time.

Using this analogy, having scores or hundreds of unorganized RSS feeds is like Continue reading “Organizing RSS Feeds for Photographic Success”

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Jan 04 2010

Smooth Photoshop Compositing Requires Clear Pre-Vision

Category: Creative Process, Photoshop & Lightroom, Workflow & DAM — Ethan G. Salwen @ 1:08 pm

ACB_100104_Compositing_1“There’s really not that much magic to it,” Aaron Goodman recently told me regarding compositing in Photoshop. “If you shoot everything properly in camera adhering to your original sketch, the digital can go extremely smoothly.”

Goodman’s comment makes perfect sense. As a New York-based photo illustrator working on tight deadlines, he always works from a concept sketch that has been approved by his client. There is no time to sway from his original vision and so he stays focused, and so his compositing goes smoothly.

Although Goodman’s comment about there not being much magic to his compositing might make sense, it still came as a surprise to me. For one thing, my compositing skills are basically nil and so Goodman’s techniques do seem like magic. For another thing, I have talked to a number of skilled compositors who often don’t know exactly what they are going to get until they delve into postproduction.

Andrew Matusik is photographer who is a postproduction über wizard, and whose aesthetic depends on the composting magic he works. Like Goodman, Matusik often needs to get in and out of post fast — sticking to a plan. But he’s  shared with me how much he relishes the opportunity to explore his vision while compositing, discovering unique possibilities for a specific image in an organic, unplanned manner.

Clearly there are two polar extremes to how one can approach a compositing workflow in Photoshop. One is to have a crystal clear vision going in, stick to it, and then get out as fast and smooth as possible. No digressions allowed. The other extreme is to have an open-ended vision going in, and to have the time to make discoveries while compositing. Digressions expected.

Photoshop compositing of this image was easy fro Aaron Goodman because. . .

Photoshop compositing of this image was easy fro Aaron Goodman because. . .

Clearly there is a whole spectrum of composting workflow options between these two extremes. What seems most important is that we know exactly where we are on this spectrum of compositing approaches for each project we are working on.

This might seem like a obvious statement. But I think Continue reading “Smooth Photoshop Compositing Requires Clear Pre-Vision”

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