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Creating Image Vignettes: InDesign Magazine article

An image vignette is a time-honored way to draw attention to the subject of an image by darkening or fading its edges. Because InDesign isn’t an image editor, you might naturally decide to add a vignette to an image in Adobe Photoshop before importing it into Adobe InDesign. But you can actually create image vignettes easily in InDesign. And an image vignette you create in InDesign can be more flexible than a vignette created in Photoshop. Most importantly, saving an InDesign image vignette as an Object Style makes it easy to apply and edit a vignette consistently across a large number of images in the same InDesign document, such as a catalog.

My friends at InDesign Magazine asked me to explore InDesign image vignettes for the May 2017 issue. In my article Creating Image Vignettes I write about several approaches to creating different types of image vignettes.

InDesign Magazine is a bimonthly PDF 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.

Premium members of InDesign Secrets get the latest issue of InDesign Magazine plus access to all back issues. An InDesign Secrets premium membership may interest you if you want to advance your InDesign skills with the help of some of the most knowledgeable InDesign users in the industry.

CreativePro article: Five Faster Ways to Get Images Into Photoshop

Five Faster Ways to Get Images Into Photoshop: CreativePro.com article

The Open command and double-clicking aren’t the only ways to get images into Photoshop. Learn new ways to more efficiently open images in Photoshop, individually or several at once, and directly from other applications such as Adobe Lightroom, Apple Photos, and Adobe Bridge instead of having to export and import through the desktop every time. Add new tricks to your toolbox, become more efficient, and open up new creative possibilities.

Read my article at the following link:

Five Faster Ways to Get Images Into Photoshop

Will changes to Google and Yahoo image search affect your photo business?

Google image search results

Google now makes it easier for search users to view and download the full-resolution version of your Web images directly, completely bypassing your web site. And Yahoo image search simplifies finding images licensed for reuse under Creative Commons.

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Protecting your photos online: Realistic strategies for today’s web

The Know Your Rights video below is an insightful panel discussion about how to protect your copyright when you publish photos online today. It’s a balancing act between the need to show your best work online in a way that’s big and beautiful enough to attract photo buyers, and the culture of today’s web which is inclined to copy and reuse anything they see on a web page. Business models are evolving beyond the old mentality of “block all copying and add a big watermark,” and successful photographers like Trey Ratcliff and Zack Arias explain why. An important part of the discussion is about whether Creative Commons Noncommercial licensing works as part of a profitable business model.

(The video might play a short ad at the beginning. Mobile users see the note at the end of this article. )

I was impressed that photographer Catherine Hall asked a lot of the same questions I would have. Whether or not you decide to share your photos as openly as some of the panelists do, chances are you’ll gain a new perspective that will help you make decisions about sharing your own images on today’s web.

This video is also a great example of the many Google+ Hangouts now held by the rapidly growing and influential photography community on Google+. You can connect with me on Google+, of course!

Recorded in August 2011 by Keith Barrett for Vidcast Network, which hosts a number of photography-related Internet video shows and Google+ hangouts.

Note: Apologies to those viewing on devices without Flash; their video is hosted at justin.tv which does not seem to supply a non-Flash alternative outside of their mobile app. To view this video on iPhone/iPad, download the Justin.tv app from the App Store and search for “Catherine Hall hangout” .

Facebook: Image sizes are changing

If the number 604 is stuck in your head as the maximum size of an image that Facebook will display, it’s time to reprogram your brain (and maybe your Photoshop actions/Lightroom presets for Facebook, too). The Inside Facebook blog reports that the maximum photo dimension on Facebook is going up to 720 pixels on a side, but the maximum size of profile pictures is going down to 180 x 540 pixels.

This feature is being rolled out gradually, so you might not see it right away.

If you already uploaded photos and want them bigger, those probably won’t change. Since Facebook has no way that I know of to replace photos, the only way to make photos in an existing gallery bigger is probably to trash all the existing photos and upload them again, losing existing comments, Likes, and (probably) links in the process.

Update, 2011: Facebook has increased the displayed image size once again; images can now be displayed up to 960 pixels on a side. Note that if you upload an image larger than this, visitors can click a Facebook page’s Download link to retrieve the image at the full original size you uploaded. Images you upload should always be no bigger than the size at which you’re comfortable having visitors download them. For example, if you don’t want your images to be out in the world at a size bigger than 800 pixels on a side, make sure you limit the image size of the pictures to 800px on a side or smaller before you upload them to Facebook.