background preloader

Bigbadimp

Facebook Twitter

Mind Tools - Management Training, Leadership Training and Career Training. What Makes A Good Camera Lens Good? Copyright Scott Bourne 2009 - All Rights Reserved Chances are that more people have strong opinions about what constitutes a good lens than actually know what separates good from bad. It almost always boils down to aberration and distortion. I’m going to discuss some of the more common lens problems here in the hope that you can make more informed choices when picking your next lens. Here are four common lens problems: CHROMATIC ABERRATION This is one of the most commonly-understood lens flaws. CA is most noticeable in super wide and zoom lenses. SPHERICAL ABERRATION This is caused by refraction. DISTORTION This is caused by changes in image magnification. FALLOFF This is caused by cosine effects. There’s no such thing as a perfect lens. The next time you hear a discussion of lens quality, ask the people talking about it what sort of chromatic aberration, spherical aberration, distortion and falloff the lens is exhibiting.

Like this: Like Loading... Related In "Technique & Tutorials" WordPress for Photographers Themes Plugins and tutorials | Photo creative 365. This is our WordPress for photographers resource page. You’ll find links to free WordPress themes that are great for photographers and some recommended premium ones too. We also have a selection of tutorial videos to help you get started if you’re new to WordPress You will also find updated links to our articles on WordPress plugins.

Keep an eye out for our regular feature – Blogging tips for Photographers Most of these tips are WordPress based and there’s loads of ideas for all levels. If you have any blogging quick tips or ideas that are great for photography websites then please CONTACT US. Free WordPress Themes For Photographers If you’re looking for a free WordPress theme that is perfect for a photography website then this is the best place to start.

To get the most out of your site I would however recommend using a premium (paid) theme. Theme Forest themes aimed at Photographers Theme Forest is a great resource for affordable WordPress perfect for photographers. Photo Gallery Plugins.

Current Issues

Health Policies. Politics. Help. Pearltrees videos. Cool Stuff. Camera-related stuffs. What Camera Should I Buy? – The Ultimate Answer. PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This post is an updated compilation of several shorter posts I wrote in the past trying to answer the question, “What camera should I buy?” It’s still the most popular question I am asked. “What camera should I buy?” Lately there’s a new twist to the question…”Is this brand camera better than that brand camera?” No matter how hard I try to tell people that there’s no perfect answer, they keep asking.

So since I can’t convince anyone otherwise, at least know the answers to THESE questions before you ask me YOUR question. 1 ) What subject(s) will you photograph most often? If you have thought carefully about these questions and have the answers – you should then be closer to knowing what the perfect camera for you might be. Hopefully, your interest in photography is strong enough that you’ll read this entire article. For those who stuck with me: I know that beginners especially want this question answered. Let’s start with goals. This post continues below…. *Motor drive. Why Nikon as Video Cam Doesn’t Stand Up to Canon as Video Cam « I love Nikon camera bodies and lenses. This is not a post that is intended to imply Nikon is a bad company, their cameras suck or that the Nikon user base is full of losers. It’s not – really. This is a post describing why Canon DSLRs have the lead in the fusion space. Comparing the video from a D3s to a Canon 1DMKIV, serious video/filmmaker types (and those who aspire to be serious like me) prefer the Canon.

I’ve spoken with several filmmakers about this as well as some software engineers and other tech types. 1) Short HD clip duration (5 minutes) – the Canons shoot 12 minutes. If you’re shooting video for your kids, or for your high school film project, or something casual, the Nikon footage will work. At the recent ImagingUSA trade show and conference in Nashville, both Canon and Nikon had large booths. Hopefully, the Nikon user base will resist the urge to rise up in faux fanboy outrage to this post and accept and acknowledge these problems. Like this: Like Loading... Related In "News"

PC / IT stuff

Test your webmaster know-how! The Ten Biggest Advertising Publishers On The Web. Last year, Yahoo still dominated display advertising on the Web in terms of sheer number of ad impressions on its properties, but social networking sites MySpace and Facebook came on strong. Some new data from comScore in its just-released 2009 U.S.

Digital Year in Review ranks the top Web properties by the number of display ad impressions. Yahoo served up an estimated 521 billion impressions last year, according to the report, followed by Fox Interactive Media (i.e. MySpace) with 368 billion, and Facebook with 330 billion. Microsoft sites (No.4) only served up 218 billion display ads, whereas Google (No. 6) served up only 70 billion. (These numbers do not include paid search text ads) Here’s the full ranking: Top Ten Publishers Of Display Ads in billions of impressions (comScore) Yahoo! Obviously, the biggest sites with the most visitors serve up the most display ads.

Facebook has more advertising inventory than it knows what to do with, although not all of it is desirable.

Apple

History of the Apple Tablet [IMAGE] Apparently, the Apple Tablet doesn't need to actually exist to have a history. Well, that's not entirely true. We all know it exists, but it hasn't officially been announced yet by the company that is supposed to be selling it. Don't be confused, when it comes to Apple product rumors, oxymorons are a common occurrence. This, however, is not another Apple Tablet rumor, it's merely an attempt to put everything we know about the Apple Tablet (admittedly, it's not much) into one handy infographic.

Check out the (huge) image after the break (an even bigger version is here). [Image courtesy of Lalawag] DOGHOUSE. Apple Tablet: Top 10 Reasons Not to Buy One.

Google

PC blogs. Games. Video Game Sales Slide in January - Midmarket from eWeek. Sales of video game hardware and software remained sluggish in the United States, as overall sales fell 13 percent in January to $1.17 billion, compared with the same period last year, reported the NPD Group. Hardware sales took the largest hit, dropping 21 percent to $353.7 million, down from $446.8 million in January 2009.

Software sales slipped 12 percent, to $597.3 million. The lone bright spot in the report was a 2 percent increase in video game accessories, bringing in a total of $217 million. The motion-sensitive Nintendo Wii console continued to be a top seller, leading the hardware competition with 465,800 units sold. Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. 15 reasons a business' security gets compromised. 15 Major Reasons Businesses' Security Gets Compromised - IT Secu.

15 Major Reasons Businesses' Security Gets Compromised 15 major reasons that many businesses' security gets compromised today -- and they're all preventable. IT Security Editors In a world of ever-advancing technology and development, many company heads often get lost in the bustle and get swept up in the sea of buzzwords that happen to be popular at any given moment. They forget about the simple, fundamental information security risks present in everyday business; the security holes that constantly lead to breaches, that invariably lead to loss.

These are 15 major reasons that many businesses' security gets compromised today -- and they're all preventable. Out of Date Software Image Source Often the employees will actually try to keep their software updated, but are thwarted by overactive security protocols that don't allow them to do so. Refusal to Upgrade to Newer Software Image Source Poor to Non-Existent Spam Filtering Image Source Users Opening Unsafe Email Attachments Image Source.

Social Media and Networking

Everything You Want To Know About The Most Secretive Startup In. In the annals of stealth startups, Next Jump deserves its own chapter. It’s not often that a company can build a large and successful business for 15 years, raise $45 million in venture capital, hire 225 people, and sign up 60 percent of the Fortune 500 as customers without anybody ever hearing about it. Yet that is exactly what Next Jump did until the first story ever written about the company appeared in the New York Times last month. The $45 million came over the course of 8 rounds and all from angel investors, including early Google investor Ram Shriram and Deutsche Bank asset management chief Kevin Parker (who are both board members). The company is now coming out of its shell, partly because it is so big that it can no longer hide. “Our thought was to stay quiet until it feels like we had an elephant under a hay stack,” CEO and founder Charlie Kim tells me during a recent visit to Next Jump’s Manhattan headquarters, which take up two floors of a downtown office building.

Foursquare Who? Gowalla What? MyTown Has 500,000 Users And 31 Mi. The race to become the hot location-based gaming service is red hot right now. Foursquare and Gowalla dominate the headlines, but another iPhone app, MyTown, has managed to rocket past them in usage in a little over a month with little fanfare. Today, the service has some 500,000 users, co-founder Keith Lee tells us. That puts it far ahead of either of the two more well-covered apps. So how did MyTown manage to do that? There are a few reasons, but the main one may be the background of the creators. MyTown began really as more of an experiment for Booyah, Lee tells us. The idea is similar to both Foursquare and Gowalla, in that it’s a location-based game you play to accumulate both virtual properties and goods.

But none of that really answers how MyTown gained so much usage in such a short amount of time. Booyah was finance by Kleiner Perkins’ iFund, which was set up to fund iPhone apps. Social Media Identity Startup KnowEm Acquires FriendsCall.Me. Startup KnowEm, which helps both large companies and small businesses stake their brand claim in social media landscape and manage their presence on these sites, has recently acquired FriendsCall.Me, a similar service, for an undisclosed amount. FriendsCall.Me launched in April 2009, and like KnoweEm, helped both individuals and companies mange and secure their identity in the social web. FriendsCall.Me was the brainchild of Darius Monsef IV, the creator of the design community, COLOURlovers.com, and community organizer for Microsoft’s Photosynth.com.

Existing FriendsCall.Me customers will automatically be transferred to KnowEm’s service. On KnowEm’s site, brand owners can instantly check the availability of their branded usernames and keywords on more than 330 social media networks (for free). As social media becomes a more necessary playground where companies and brands need play, KnowEm’s services become necessary. World Map Of Social Networks Shows Rise Of Facebook. Social Media Adoption by Industries Not As Prolific as Believed.

New Media

Social Media All-Stars - ClickZ. Erik Qualman | January 13, 2010 | 55 Comments inShare13 Twenty social media marketing gurus who deserve your attention. Questions I'm often asked are: Who do I read? Who do I look to for new ideas? Who are the true leaders of the social media space? It's such a great question that I've taken my first pass at a "social media all-star team. " This list is comprised of people who are the luminaries and pioneers of the social media frontier. Social Media All-Stars Gary Vaynerchuk: Social media sommelier. Honorable Mention Corey Perlman, Dan Zarrella, Louis Gray, Richard Binhammer, Frank Eliason, Robert Scoble, Eric Bradlow, Sally Falkow, Don Steele, Julien Smith, Michael Lazerow, Sarah Hofstetter, Mike Barbeau, Tom Gerace, Elizabeth Pigg, Jon Gibs, Chris Cunningham, Paul Beck, Matt Goddard, C.C. 25 Mind Blowing Social Media Infographics. Posted by Michael Duvall in Social Media on Jan 7th, 2010 | 93 responses Inforgraphics, “extensively [used] as tools by computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians” , have exploded onto the internet in the last few years.

What’s so great about these aesthetic pieces of ‘data reinforced gems’, is their ability to paint a larger picture of what it is the creator is trying to express. With the complexity and explosive growth of social media over the last few years, it’s not hard to see why so many have looked to express this information in a visually appealing manner – not to mention the benefits they provide when putting on a group presentation. The following 25 social media infographics have been reduced in size to allow you to quickly scroll down the page. Each one has been linked to the original and it is highly encouraged that you visit the links to see them in their full size. 1.

Profiles of a Twitter User 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Jobs-related

Economics and stuffs. Marketing. Finance-related stuffs. Personal Development. Leadership Dialogues: Extraordinary insights from thought leader. Motorsports.