Articles

Read my review of Blurb Book Creator in InDesign Magazine

InDesign Magazine, Issue 70: Inspired Designs

The Blurb book publishing service provides several tools for you to design your own self-published book, but you may feel that those tools are limited. If you’d rather create a Blurb book using the full range of professional design and production capabilities in Adobe InDesign, the Blurb Book Creator plug-in may be for you. I reviewed Blurb Book Creator for InDesign Magazine (February 2015). I think it’s a great tool that simplifies Blurb book creation, and can help spot and resolve problems before they turn into costly printing mistakes.

Click the link below to read the article at InDesign Magazine:
InDesign Magazine, Issue 70: Inspired Designs

It’s a pretty strong issue overall, with lots of well-researched and informative content like Justin Seeley’s article on using Adobe Muse, Sandee Cohen’s article on the many ways to place graphics in InDesign layout, and David Blatner’s article on using RGB images for prepress.

The article is part of an issue of InDesign Magazine that you can buy as a single issue or as part of a subscription. InDesign Magazine is a bimonthly periodical devoted entirely to Adobe InDesign and to the thriving community of InDesign professionals. With editorial direction by page-layout guru and author David Blatner and CreativePro.com editor in chief Mike Rankin, InDesign Magazine brings you the in-depth features, reviews, and tutorials you need to master Adobe InDesign. You can download a free trial issue.

Rethinking the Pixel: It’s All Relative Now — CreativePro.com article

How big is a pixel? It’s widely thought that a pixel is the smallest dot that screen hardware can physically display: One pixel is one pixel. That was safe to assume for over a quarter century because the pixel density of most of our screens was stuck between 72 and 120 pixels per inch (ppi) during that era, even while everything else about our computers got exponentially faster and bigger. But screens would finally make their move, and for designers that would change how a pixel is defined.

Want the whole story? Click the link below to read my article at CreativePro.com:
Rethinking the Pixel: It’s All Relative Now

Rethinking the Pixel: It’s All Relative Now

Editing Highlights and Shadows in Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw — CreativePro.com article

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw have two sets of controls for making tone and contrast adjustments: The Basic panel Tone sliders and the Tone Curve. Because the slider names in these two sets of tools are almost the same, some believe that both sets of sliders do the same thing, while others believe the newer Basic Tone sliders are better and there is no longer a need for the Tone Curve. But neither statement is true: A closer look reveals that each set of controls affects your images in subtle but important ways.

Want the whole story? Click the link below to read my article at CreativePro.com:
Editing Highlights and Shadows in Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw

Editing Highlights and Shadows in Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw article on CreativePro.com

How to Blur Backgrounds with a Compact Camera — CreativePro.com article

Blurring the background of a photo is often used to help draw attention to the subject. It’s not hard to do with an SLR camera because of the size of the digital sensor or film frame, but what if all you have is the little digital camera in your pocket? You can still get it done using traditional techniques for depth-of-field control, but with a small camera you’ll have to work a little harder at it. The good news? Some newer digital compact cameras give you more of the depth-of-field control that used to be available only with larger cameras.

Want the whole story? Click the link below to read my article at CreativePro.com:
How to Blur Backgrounds with a Compact Camera

How to Blur Backgrounds with a Compact Camera on CreativePro.com

Choosing a Display for Photography and Design — Peachpit.com article

When you buy a new monitor for photography or design, what features should you look for? Should your next monitor be a 4K or wide gamut display? In an article I wrote for Peachpit, I help you understand the alphabet soup of display terminology so that you understand which features are actually important to a creative professional. I discuss features that affect color reproduction quality, and why some monitors cost a lot more than others.

Click the link below to read the article at Peachpit.com:
Choosing a Display for Photography and Design

Choosing a Display for Photography and Design on Peachpit.com