Two Free Software Sites

I have always been a fan of free software. I recently have come across two excellent sites for free or almost free software. The first site is Shareware On Sale This site offers a new piece of free software almost everyday. A good many of the titles are of interest to photographers. I have downloaded resizers, pdf editors, image editors, and other interesting software. Usually, you have to download and complete the installation in the 24 hrs that the software is available. You get a valid license. Most does not come with support or upgrades. You can pay a little more to get that if you want. All that is required is that you create an account.

The second site is Bits du Jour. Again, there are many free giveaways, almost everyday. This site seems to have a broader range of titles of interest to a bigger audience. However, there are still many titles available of interest to the photographer. All that is required is that you create an account and like Bits du Jour and the software maker on Facebook. You can always change that later.

I frequently get useful software from both of these sites without issues.

Shuffle images in folder using Faststone Image Viewer

This past weekend, I was creating slideshows from some of my images. I was using Lightroom 4. The slideshow module in LR4 does a pretty decent job, but is limited in transition and pan and zoom effects. So I searched for some other solutions. Of all the solutions I downloaded and tried, on LR4 had the "image shuffle" feature. I think this should be a very common feature but it isn't, at least not in the software I tried.

How to shuffle image files? Use Faststone Image Viewer. I have talked about this versatile program before. Here's how I did it.

1) Export jpg's of my images from LR4 to a folder on the desktop.
2) Right click on the folder and select "Browse with Faststone"
3) In Fastsone Image Viewer, select all images

4) Press "F7" to shuffle images

5) Select all images. Select "Tool" then "Batch Rename All Images" (F4)

6) Select "Rename"

7) Now the folder will have the shuffled images.

Showing Photos on 7" Android Device

There are numerous sub $100 7" screen Android device out there. Even though I have a Kindle Fire, I wanted  a real Android device so I bought a AGPtek (Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) MID 7" TouchScreen Wi-Fi G-sensor Tablet 4GB Built-In Storage With Expandable Micro SD Card Slot) device which I am quite happy with. I bought it mainly for email, videos, photos, and surfing the web. I wanted an app that would display my images as a slide show and after testing a few I settled on Fish Bowl Photo . You can display the images on your device in a grid fashion. Selecting an image will zoom the image to it max size for the device. They also have a slide show function. What I like about Fish Bowl is that it doesn't rotate the images during the slide show as some other apps do. Therefore you are not rotating the device for portrait or landscape. Sure - you give up some on the size of the displayed image, but it's a lot let arm movement. You can adjust the delay between images. There are no transitional effects, no fluff. Just a simple app that does a good job with your images. 

Update 12 July 2012: There was an app on my 'droid device that I hadn't paid attention to called 2160P which is a photo app which does a good job of displaying photos, slide shows and editing. I think I may like it better than Fish Bowl Photo. However, I could not find it at the Google Play store or on the internet. If you are familiar with it - leave a comment.

Photobook Reviews

Quite a few visits to this blog for my photobook reviews. Here is another excellent source: photobookgirl . She often has the best deals on photobooks and links on this sight. Many of the suppliers I have never heard of. A good resource if you are looking for the best quality at the best price.

Shoot Often?

I have read and heard advice from many photographers and photography teachers: The best way to learn is to practice. Take a lot of photos. Take photos every day. I think this is good advice for a budding photographer, just learning his or her camera and learning the fundamentals of picture taking. But after awhile, it may not be helpful, and in my case I find it detrimental to my growth as a photographer. 

For the last three years I have gone out at lunch to take photos. I have found many interesting things within a 15 mile area of my work. I have visited and revisited many sites and still find interesting photos to take. However, now I feel like I must go out and shoot. I often come back with photos that weren't worth taking. But taken, nonetheless, to have something. I would say that now I am at the point where "Get out and take photos" is of less use. I believe now is the time to be more selective, more contemplative. Perhaps I should go a week or two without taking any photos?

Here are the number of photos in my DAM system for the last few years:

2008    10500

2009      9500

2010      7500 (as of 1 Oct 2010)

You can see that the number of photos taken is less. I should say the number saved. I am more rigorous in weeding out the chaff now than I was in previous years.

My goal is to still take pictures at lunch, but be more selective and involved, and if I have 1 or 2 photos for my time, that will be ok.

Helicon Filter 5

I downloaded Helicon Filter 5 today. After I have used it awhile, I'll write a review. It can be found here.