I recently started using a WordPress theme for one of my sites called (Modern Business 3 Dark for WordPress) that has built in code for a jQuery based lightbox clone called prettyPhoto. This is a beautiful theme, and a very nice implementation of a lightbox. In fact prettyPhoto is very similar to Lightview, which is the lightbox clone I normally use.

Unfortunately prettyPhoto requires some different code to indicate that images or video should be opened in the lightbox than most of the other clones I’ve used. Typically each image must be tagged with something like rel=”lightbox[ID]“, but for prettyPhoto the required tag is rel=”prettyPhoto[ID]“.

I use lightbox clones all the time, and of course there is no tagging standard between each clone, so for a long time I’ve been using a WordPress plugin called Add Lightbox that automatically adds this code. I modified that plugin to work with prettyPhoto, and I thought I would share my mod here. This really was a very simple mod, but I’m sure that there are thousands of other people using the same theme that I am that have the same problem that I did.

Note that this plugin does not add the the files required for prettyPhoto (it only adds the rel=prettyPhoto[ID] tag)! You have to insert the required files for prettyPhoto into your theme yourself, or use a theme such as Modern Business 3 Dark for WordPress that already includes the code.

Installation

1. Download the Free OD Add rel=prettyPhoto WordPress Plugin
2. Unzip the file
3. Upload it in /wp-content/plugins/ of your WordPress installation
4. Activate the Plugin
5. That’s All

Changelog

0.2
Minor update to change the name and update the documentation.
0.1
Initial release. Adapted from the Add Lightbox Plugin for WordPress.

Please let me know if you find any issues, bugs, or have ideas for improvements.

For a long time I have had a theory that Nikon photographers are more likely to be Mac OS and Apple Aperture users while Canon shooters tend to use MS Windows and Adobe Lightroom.

Please tell us what you are most likely to use as the primary set of tools in your photography workflow:

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Polls Archive

I previously posted a review of the i-GotU GT-200 GPS Data Logger and that article is by far the most popular post I have on this site. I’ve never really been happy with this device and I had planned to sell it, but I never actually got around to it. I recently started using it again because I went on a couple of photography outings for which I really wanted to be able to record my track and to geotag my photos. Since then I have been using it regularly again and so I thought I should post an updated review. Here are a few comments that I have after a few more weeks of use:

The things that I dislike the most about this gadget haven’t changed:

• The indication lights on it are hard to see and difficult to interpret.
• The on/off button is not a tactile switch, and it is easily pressed unintentionally.
• There is no battery indicator so it’s really a guess as to its charge status.
• The device can’t be mounted directly as a drive on the computer.
• It uses a proprietary USB cable instead of a standard cable.

Honestly, most of the things I like about it haven’t changed either:

• It is very small and lightweight.
• It is accurate enough for my needs.
• The battery life is good.

There has been one major improvement that I have to mention; there is an updated version of the @trip PC Suite management software for the device (that is used both to setup the device options and also to download the data) that actually installs correctly. When I first got the gadget, installation of the included version of the software repeatedly failed, miserably, and I had to jump through hoops to get it to work. The new version installed easily. Note that if you have the 64-bit version of Windows 7 you need to download a beta version of the @trip PC software. I can’t see how it’s any different from the full version, and it also installed perfectly on my laptop.

So that’s about it. I’m going to continue to use the device for now, but I am looking at other devices that will mount directly as a drive in Windows. This would speed up my workflow enough that I would be more likely to use it all the time. I’ve read some pretty good reviews of the Amod AGL3080 and that will likely be the next GPS Datalogger that I pick up.

A few interesting links about Photography, Technology, Social Media, and Gadgets that I’ve come across recently. Some are smart, some are funny, and some are just plain dumb, but they are all interesting for one reason or another. Have a look and let me know what you think:

• Aerial video with a Canon 7D on Vimeo
  This is must see video of a really cool camera rig… Canon 7D in a model helicopter!
• Use Google to Track the Popularity of Your Images | LIGHTING ESSENTIALS For Photographers
  Improvements to your Google Analytics tracking code to help show what keywords at Google image search lead viewers to your site.
• Wildlife Photography FUNdamentals | Beyond Megapixels
  Some really great tips on how to become a better wildlife photographer.
• Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either) – Boing Boing
  Relying on incumbents to produce your revolutions is not a good strategy. They're apt to take all the stuff that makes their products great and try to use technology to charge you extra for it, or prohibit it altogether.
• How to clean your lenses on Flickr – Photo Sharing!
  A short video tutorial on how [NOT] to clean camera lenses.
• Selling your prints and photographs
  Some tips for selling photographic prints.
• 5 Reasons I’m not buying an iPad
  5 reasons why someone might not need a new Apple iPad
• Which side of inkjet paper to print on?
  Here's a quick test to figure out which side of the paper to use in your inkjet printer.
• How to Turn Twitter Into a Dashboard-Style Web App
  Make the web version of Twitter a little more useful.

It occurred to me that in recent posts I’ve talked about what kind of rechargeable batteries to use, how to charge them, and how to store them, but I haven’t actually talked very much about WHY you should use them. I’ll do that now!

This might be obvious to some of you, but for others it’s a pretty hard sell when they see price tags of $10-20 for a set of 4 AA or AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries (I prefer Sanyo Eneloop batteries) when you can buy a huge box of alkaline batteries for less (here’s a box of 48 AA’s for only 6).

Here are 3 reasons why you should use rechargeable batteries in all your electronic gadgets and camera equipment, especially in your Speedlite flashes:

1. Better for the Environment: Millions and millions of batteries get disposed of every year and most of them go into landfills. They all contain heavy metals and they really aren’t very good for the environment. Even when recycled they take lots of additional energy to reprocess, which is simply wasteful when their are excellent rechargeable alternatives available.
2. Cheaper in the Long Run: although alkaline batteries are relatively cheap to purchase, you can reuse your rechargeable batteries hundreds of times and they quickly pay for themselves. For the full time pro or the advanced amateur this is probably a no-brainer. But it’s still true even for a beginning photographer. If you use a Speedlight Flash that takes 4 AA batteries, I’m willing to bet that you have to replace your alkaline batteries at least once a month, and maybe even more often if you use it a lot (even spectators at a wedding often can’t make it through an entire event on one set of batteries). So even if you only replace your batteries 12 times per year, a set of 4 Eneloops for $13 is already cheaper than that big box of alkalines for $16, and you can save even more by buying the rechargeables in bulk packs. If you are using 2 or 3 flashes plus a few other electronic gadgets that use AA batteries these savings multiply (and you can share your spare batteries amongst all the devices!).
3. Better Performance: I find that NiMH batteries recycle my flashes faster and last longer than alkaline batteries. This is counter-intuitive since rechargeables are typically only 1.2v vs. 1.5v for alkalines, but they are different technology and it really is true. You may find that alkaline batteries work better than NiMH’s when they are both fresh, but that alkalines drop off very quickly. I find that NiMH’s continue to perform very well until they simply stop working; alkalines work well initially but then performance quickly drops off to the point where it might take 10 seconds to recycle a flash (compared to 3-4 initially). This was honestly the main reason that I switched in the first place, but in retrospect the other reasons are just as important.

Note – if you haven’t read it yet, you really owe it to yourself to read my earlier article about Better Rechargeable Batteries before you actually buy any NiMH batteries. They are not all created equally…