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:

• Fliers Still Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why – NYTimes.com
  Does anyone *really* turn off their devices when they get on the plane? Don't most of you just put them into airplane mode?
• LensRentals.com – Roger’s Under $50 Photographer’s Christmas List
  I like the list of things NOT to buy for a photographer better than the ones that you should buy. Skip to the end!
• How to Switch Your Parents’ Web Browser Without Them Knowing
  I wish there was a kill command to completed eradicate the world off the scourge that is Internet Explorer. But this is a good start.
• Fix Gmail’s Newest Annoyances with These Userstyles and Userscripts
  Although I love the new features they added, I really don't like the changes that Google recently made to the layout and style of Gmail. I was very happy with the look and feel of the old version. Some of fixes proposed in this Lifehacker article go a long way to making Gmail easier to use…
• The EZ-Steady Is One Smooth Camera Stabilizer
  This looks like a great stabilizer for DSLR video, but it's still $225. Amazing.

I sell digital images on DVD to many of my portrait photography clients and all of my commercial photography clients. I always provide those images on a printable DVD [ Amazon: Taiyo Yuden/JVC WaterShield DVD's ] that I print directly to with my Epson Artisan printer [ Amazon: Epson Artisan 835 Color Inkjet All-In-One ]. I am incredibly happy with the results and they look very professional.

The problem is that the CD / DVD printing software that comes with Epson printers is hokey (at best), and I’ve never been able to figure out how to print directly to the DVD from within Adobe Photoshop. It always ended up off center, too big, too small, or even completely off the disc. I finally took the time to figure it out. Yay!

It turns out that the Epson printer driver requires that you use an A4 (US Letter) size print template that has the disc image positioned in just the right place. And to further complicate it Epson uses “Type 1″ and “Type 2″ disc trays that require very different placement of the template on the page. I created Photoshop templates for both Tray types and have provided them here for free for you to use.

Please use the following link to download a zip file that contains templates for Epson Type 1 and Epson Type 2 CD/DVD printer trays in TIF format. I don’t guarantee that they are perfect for all Epson printers, but they work great for me.

Download the Free Photoshop Template

• OD Epson CD/DVD Print Templates for Adobe Photoshop (Photoshop Template)

For reference here is a link to a file that contains a list of Epson Printers and indicates what tray type they use.

In general older printers are Type 1 and newer printers are Type 2.

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:

• File Sync & Online Backup – Access and File Sharing from Any Device – SugarSync
  Looking for a file syncing tool that allows you to sync any folder on your computer? Yeah, Dropbox doesn't do that but Sugarsync does…
• Adobe’s Creative Cloud Announcement and Upgrade Pricing | The Lightroom Queen
  This is the best writeup I've seen yet discussing the relative merits of the recently announced "Adobe Creative Cloud" subscription model and how it might impact photographers.
• Selling Stock Photography | PhotoShelter
  These free guides from Photoshelter are always packed with great information. Here's a new one with information for anyone trying to license their images to their clients.
• Camera Cookie Cutters – The Most Delicious Cameras You’ve Tasted » DIYPhotography Store
  Who doesn't want to eat a camera? Now you can bake your own!
• Rob Galbraith DPI: Tip: Alternate mounting options for the Vagabond Mini Lithium
  The supplied mounting hardware for the VML's works just fine on small diameter light stands, but if you use big beefy stands like I do it barely fits at all. I've been using a ball bungee to secure it and that works just fine, but I know many photographers use superclamps and other home-made brackets. Here are a few more ideas of how to mount the packs to your stands.

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:

• Cloudy weather – John Beardsworth
  Adobe is moving very quickly to a subscription model. And not everyone is thrilled. For a working pro that uses multiple Adobe products it looks like this will be a cheaper solution in the short and long term. For amateurs and occasional users who normally don't upgrade every cycle, it's could end up being a lot more expensive. I would imaging that many of these customers will end up using Adobe Elements instead of the full versions of Premiere and Photoshop. That's for those that pay for the software instead of just pirating it anyway…
• Five Basic Lighting Techniques for Studio Portraiture
  Portrait lighting techniques are hard to master, but easy to learn the basics. Check out this video for some great techniques.
• Printing Sticky Notes on a PDF « Acrobat for Legal Professionals
  You would think that with something so common as sticky notes on Adobe PDF documents that it would be easy to figure out how to print the document with the notes displayed. But it's not. And even these instructions miss the fact that you have to choose to print "Document and Markups" in the printer dialogue or it still doesn't work…
• What Goes Around Comes Around at Strictly Business
  It's very important in any business for our clients to know us as humans. I generally sell myself, not so much the photography that I provide. While you still have to have a good product, getting clients to know, like, and trust you is just as important.
• Photoshop Mastery: 25 Techniques Every Designer Must Know
  These are great tips for photographers too. Life is easier when it's faster and in photography there is already so much to do so if we can do things with shortcut keys it's just better. Of course photographers really should do many of these things in Lightroom instead of photoshop…
• Best Costume Ever – A Fully Functional Nikon Camera
  This is the most ridiculous camera I've ever seen, but it's lots of fun too!