Between the Tech and the Aesthetic
With my day job I have one foot in the more technical web side of things while the other foot sits firmly in the graphic design side. It can be a challenging balance sometimes as I struggle to make sure that what I produce is both functional and visually pleasing, if not compelling.
On the one hand, a particular creative element has to be usable and fit within the technical parameters of a website or email (proper HTML, SEO-friendly, etc.) so it can perform well and contribute to the sales generated from its use. On the other, the creative element needs to be appealing and “cool” to enhance the experience of the user so that it will perform well and contribute to the sales generated from its use. It has to do both to be successful.
Taking a step back from the real world case of my job and looking more conceptually, knowing that the perfect mix of the tech and the aesthetic is ideal, which is more important? There is certainly value to each and each contributes in their own way towards the overall success of the site/email/advertisement/what-have-you.
I don’t have a definitive solution to this, but I think your average person is looking more for something that is aesthetically pleasing and works and, further, if it works but isn’t visually stimulating it will be dismissed – unless, of course, it works so well that the visual can be excused.
Maybe it’s just because I’m more graphic by nature but it seems to me that people are more likely to respond to a creative that draws them in rather than something that is more utilitarian. Areas of plain text on a plain background are often necessary and can be a critical part of communicating the message and there are situations where “less is more” and a simplistic design lends itself better than a flashy one. But just as often, I would argue, it is beneficial to integrate the information into the graphic elements to give the viewer/consumer a more complete experience.
Obviously, the most important thing is to communicate information in a meaningful way to your audience. How that information is shared is critical to how the recipient responds. But what is the best way to do that? IS there a “best” way to do that? I’m sure there isn’t. It has to be case-by-case and it has to be done with the audience in mind. And the balance between the tech and the aesthetic has to shift accordingly.
What are your thoughts? How have you dealt with finding that balance?
Software Review: Topaz Adjust
I will be honest, I’ve never been a huge fan of plug-ins. Maybe I’ve just never used the right ones, maybe I’ve never played around with them enough, maybe I just haven’t been too impressed with the results. So, I’m going into this one a little skeptical from the start.
With all of that said, I must say that when I sat down to try out Topaz Adjust, from Topaz Labs, I found myself actually enjoying the process. Now, I’m not a purist at all; I think if you have the tools at hand and the ability to utilize them to achieve your vision, by all means. But I feel, and I’ve said this before, that sometimes people can go overboard and turn a potentially good photo into something kind of “alien”, surreal, and even cartoonish which distracts from more than enhances the viewing experience. Not that it isn’t ok to do that sometimes, but it should be done sparingly, in my opinion.
When I opened up my source image from a photowalk I did in Boston over the summer, I was presented with a dark, flat, and uninteresting photo – isn’t that how most of them start out?
Sometimes, when presented with a shot like this I may even just pass right by it without giving it another thought thinking that it was a nice idea but the light wasn’t right or I didn’t take enough time to do this or that the way I wanted to. Then I thought, what better way to really put this Photoshop plug-in to the test than with an image I’m not excited about in the first place? And so the fun began.
When I first opened the plug-in dialog I felt that the interface was very intuitive with a diverse set of presets and their respective previews running down the left, a decent-sized window for your full-sized image (complete with the option to zoom in and out of your photo), and a collection of sliders along the bottom for any fine-tuning you may want to do.
I started off by clicking through each of the presets to see how they would each affect my shot, thinking as I went that a number of them just didn’t give me what I was looking for. At the same time, though, I found myself thinking how I could see where those effects might come in handy with other types of images. I finally landed on the “Dramatic” preset which really caught my attention. I felt as though it really balanced out the tones in the image by lightening up the shadow areas without blowing out the highlights. It also brought out a great deal of details and made the sky, well, dramatic. All adding interest and depth to the photo.
In a way it created an HDR-like effect without the downsides I mentioned above. I then hit the sliders to refine the image even further and really get the results I was hoping for. I brought back a little detail in the highlights and shadows, supressed the noise a tad, and made sure that I wasn’t getting that awful halo effect that a lot of HDR photos employ. In the end, I was pretty pleased with the final image. And considering I was about to dismiss the photo altogether, I’d say that using Topaz Adjust saved it from the recycle bin. Here’s my final image (only process with Topaz Adjust):
Pros:
- Simple, straightforward, and intuitive interface.
- Variety of presets available, with previews
- Large preview window with zoom
- Ability to adjust each setting to fine-tune the image
- Hovering over a slider does more than show you the tool’s name, it pops up a description of what that tool is actually doing
- Works well Smart Objects so you can always go back – gotta love that it’s non-destructive!
- Priced at only $49.99 puts it within reach of everyone.
Cons:
- I could tell that the presets were on the left, but I think the section could’ve been set apart or labeled a little more clearly to make it more self-evident.
- I think some of the names for the sliders could be improved to help the user have a better idea of what’s going on (ie – “Highlights” should be called something more like “Highlight Protection”).
- I think the interface could be rearranged a little bit for a cleaner look – but I might just be nitpicking at this point.
In the end, I would say that I am very glad to have been introduced to this plug-in and it has helped change the way I feel about plugins as a whole. I would definitely recommend adding Topaz Adjust to your Photoshop toolkit!
How Do You Learn?
Before I get into today’s post, Kim and I would like to send out a word of thanks to everyone who has commented either here, on Facebook, or Twitter congratulating us on the news of our pregnancy. It is such an amazing time and your words have really enriched an already exciting time. Thank you!
Now, on with the post…
I’ve always found it fascinating how everyone seems to learn different things in different ways. What can click almost immediately for one person could never get through to another simply because the information wasn’t communicated in a meaningful way. Some people are visual learners. Others are aural. Some have to read or memorize, while others have to be more hands-on before something really sticks.
In college, I would sit in a lecture and just watching the slides and listening would give me so much more than reading the book ever could. Sometimes the physical act of taking notes – whether I reviewed them later or not – would help solidify how it all fit together.
With photography and design, it’s a similar story. Reading about it doesn’t help all that much. Listening to others is good, but it doesn’t quite get me all the way there. I find that I have to engage the subject matter in a visual way before I will truly understand the concepts. Also, it helps to get my hands dirty and do a lot of trial and error to figure it out for myself before it all comes together.
When it comes to learning Photoshop I find that it is, once again, a combination of watching a demonstration while listening to the instructor’s explanation, and then trying it for myself works best. At the same time, turning around and trying to teach it to someone else becomes another layer of hands-on learning as I work it out in my mind how to explain it so someone else can understand.
Particularly with Photoshop in mind, how do you learn best? How do you need information presented in order for it to stick? What resources out there work best for you? Videos? Books? Seminars? What is it about them that does it for you? What doesn’t work?
7 Years & Counting!
That’s right. I am now into my 8th year of writing online. Last Saturday marked my 7th anniversary of what started out as a simple way of sharing an amazing semester abroad with my family and friends and has since become the Photoshop & Photography Blog Community that we have today!
It’s been a labor of love, especially over the past 3 years or so that I’ve been focusing almost solely on digital imagery, and I’ve been blessed to develop some great friendships along the way. One such friendship, which I mentioned a few weeks back, has been with Rob Jones of Towner Jones Photography. Rob and I share a similar philosophy for our work and I am always inspired and encouraged when I meet other like-minded Photoshop & Photography enthusiasts. In case you missed that post, the guiding principle for me is something along the lines of “pay it forward.” When I learn new things about Photoshop, I love to pass it along. If I see something and wonder how it was done, I am driven to figure it out both for the challenge of it and so I can then show others what I’ve learned.
I’ve been fortunate enough to develop relationships with some notable figures in the larger digital imaging community and have been blessed to receive some notariety myself. It is all a bit surreal for me because I see myself more as a just a guy who loves photography and needs an outlet for it. If my only readers were my mom and a couple of friends – like it was back in the day – I’d be happy, so I keep having to pinch myself that I get to do this everyday and share my thoughts and work with so many of you. (If only I were able to do it full-time!)
Because I never want to let any attention because of the blog go to my head, I do my best to share the spotlight (for lack of a better term) with my readers through projects and contests and other regular series so that others have some opportunities to reach a wider audience just as I’ve had over the last few years. Again, always trying to pay it forward and build community rather than toot my own horn.
There have been a lot of changes since I first began this endeavor, especially in the last year, and there will be more to come. Some of my series have fizzled out – due to lack of traction, time/development constraints, or they were just bad ideas – and others have risen higher than I had ever thought they would. Instead of taking a more nostalgic tack, which would be very tempting and easy to do, I thought that this milestone would serve as an excellent opportunity to look forward so we might do some brainstorming together to see where we might go from here.
First off, I want to lay out a few goals that I’d like to work towards with the blog, in no particular order:
- I’d like to continue to build this site as a place where creative people can share their work, inspire each other, and find unique opportunities to participate in creative projects.
- I’d like this site to be a resource where others can come for help and feedback so they can grow as image makers.
- I’d like this site to be an outlet for my own work with an openness for comments and critiques so I, too, can continue to develop my craft.
- I’d like to have an ongoing dialogue with my readers (through the comments or otherwise) not only so I can have a clearer sense of who they are, what they do, and why they come back, but more so we can all learn from each other and push each other to be better.
- And, if I’m being totally open and honest here, I’d like to see the blog grow in terms of being a source of income so that I can move closer to my dream of doing photography and Photoshop training full-time so that my passion might become my profession.
Next comes the more tricky part: How? Here is where I would like to solicit your input and ideas for how to turn the goals into realities. Maybe there’s something you’d like to see by way of a project/series/contest or other program here on the site. Maybe you have ideas about how to improve on what’s been started already. Here’s a few things to get the ball rolling (again, in no particular order):
- The Points of View Photo Project has been quite successful, in my opinion, and those who participate are constantly telling me how much they enjoy the new challenge each time around. I will certainly be continuing the project as long as I have original source images to share. I’m always open to reader-submitted source images, so if you’d like to see how others might interpret one of your shots please send it in to pov@jasondmoore.com.
- Workflow Fridays has fallen off somewhat, mainly due to how tough it’s been this summer to coordinate it. I’d like to see it continue because I think it’s a great way to get a glimpse into the process of someone else so we can pick up tips and tricks we might be able to incorporate into our own work. If you’d like to contribute, please send me an email and I’d be glad to review it for posting.
- Photo Reviews have been a fun way for me to flex my creative muscles and share my thoughts and opinions so others might improve in their work. I’d like to see this continue as well but I just need people to send me their shots. If you’d like your photo reviewed, email me at reviews@jasondmoore.com.
- Ask Jason is along the same lines and is off to a good start with yesterday’s post. If you have questions, send ‘em along to askjason@jasondmoore.com.
- Photoshop Tutorial Videos have been really fun for me to do in the past and it’s been such a crazy year that I haven’t been able to get back to it. There’s a new contest over at NAPP that I’m going to talk about more down the line that will hopefully get me back into it.
- Contests have been going quite well lately, especially with the BIG Photo Contest last month, and they are a great way to highlight some excellent photography. I’ve been approached by a few people with some really unique prizes that you will hopefully be seeing in the coming months.
- Sponsors have been a great support for both the contests and this blog as a whole. I’ve been blessed to receive donations of prizes for the contests as well as monetary donations to help keep this blog going in one form or another. And I am so thankful for those of you who have done that! I’d like to invite all of you to consider either donating via the PayPal button in the sidebar or sponsoring the site or one of the ongoing projects. Find out more by visiting the Become a Sponsor page or by emailing me at sponsors@jasondmoore.com.
- Jason D. Moore Prints are available for purchase through my Zenfolio Store – powered by Mpix. I am adding new shots as often as I can so you can have a fine art print and support the site at the same time. Check out the store for Jason D. Moore Prints.
- The Jason D. Moore Photography Apparel Store has recently opened as well. You can pick up your very own shirts, mugs, stickers, tote bags and more to show your support of the blog as well as the larger community it represents. And I’m adding new items all the time. If you do buy something from the store, be sure to send me a picture of you wearing it so I can post it here.
- Photowalks have been a tremendous source of inspiration for me as well as a great way to meet my fellow photographers. I’m planning on holding more in the future, for sure.
- Photoshop & Photography Workshops have been something I’ve done in the past on a smaller scale and something I’ve been toying with doing again.
- Supporting Causes is a good way to increase your visibility, yes, but more importantly it’s just the right thing to do. There are a couple of things in progress that will be announced in the coming weeks that I think you would all be able to join me in supporting.
- Others? What are your thoughts on all of this? What else can you think of? No matter how far-fetched, off-the-wall, outlandish, mundane, basic, ambitious, or just plain good your ideas might be, I want to hear them! So please leave a comment below and let me know what you think.
I really want to make this site more than just another photoblog and I want to make sure that everyone from the hobbyist to the professional feels welcome and able to be a part of it. So please, give me your input and help this community grow!
Home Stretch for Photo Contests
We’re coming up on the home stretch for two Photo Contests ending this month. First, the July Photo Contest is well under way with a pretty awesome prize in the form of a 16″x24″ gallery wrap, generously donated by our friends over at Mpix – a $100 value! Thanks guys!
Next, and even more exciting, is the BIG Photo Contest, now in its final weeks. Celebrating my upcoming 1,000th post you are invited to submit a collection of 5 photos, each fitting into one of five categories, to be judged as a series for a chance at over $1,000 in prizes from our sponsors.
Both of these photography contests are timed quite nicely to end after you have a chance to participate in the Worldwide Photowalk on the 18th. That way you will be able to really get out there and shoot before submitting your images for either or both of the contests. Full details can be found on our photo contest page.
And, while I’m at it, speaking of the photowalk there is still room in the Cazenovia Photowalk that I will be leading. So, if you are in Upstate NY and have yet to sign up, please join us for a fun afternoon of photography.
Good Luck!
March 17, 2005
Last minute I decided to head out to Coleraine and put off going to the other sites until tomorrow. After some help from the tourist info people – with whom, for some reason, I unconsciously used a bit of an accent – I came to the relatively large cemetary on the north side of the town. Thinking it wasn’t going to be the one – I was under the presumption that it was a smaller, church one that I was looking for – my hopes weren’t that high but I thought I’d give it a shot. I had an idea of what the monument looked like so, as I wandered, I stopped and checked each candidate. Thinking I had come to the wrong place and beginning to make my way back towards the gate, I turn a corner, passing a few more headstones on the way. As the map came out of my pocket and I began to unfold it, a gust of wind blew the map closed again causing me to look up to regain my barings and my eyes fell upon it… I stopped dead in my tracks. There it was. There HE was. My trip was fulfilled by this singular moment. [I had found the finaly resting place of my dad's uncle Tommy who had died in Portrush, NI when he was 9 years old while visting family.] I took some pictures, I made a rubbing, I put back a part of the wall that had fallen down, and for about 45 minutes I just sat there taking in the moment.
I have been all over the world and have seen and walked in amazing places, some famous, some rare, but never in all my travels have I ever had such a moving experience just by being in such a simple place as an ordinary graveyard.
Over the next few days, while I hope to visit a few cool places, it doesn’t matter all that much because the important thing, what’s really truly important, is complete. It was all worth it.
March 14, 2005
I am about to take a step I have never taken before. I have been in foreign countries before and I have even spent some time alone in some of them. I’ve flown cross-country by myself and I’ve lived on my own quite successfully for some time now. But today, while similar, is quite different.
Once again, two and a half years later, I am in the Syracuse airport waiting for a flight that will lead me to a far away place, a place to which I have never been. Semester at Sea took me around the world to twelve different countries, and it was awesome. In many ways, that trip defined my life. While I feel the excitement and anticipation of travel abroad, there’s something else there today, something significant.
I am on my way to London and Northern Ireland for a week of vacation, history, and escape from my day-to-day life. In the 4-5 months that I’ve been planning this trip I’ve felt quite excited and anxious to go. Now, I’m glad to be here and on my way but there is a touch of anxiety that I’m traveling with. I’m alone. It’s not related, directly, with my singleness but I’m somewhat nervous to travel by myself. There’s freedom and flexibility with it but there is no one to lean on, no one to share this adventure with.
For the next week, I am totally independant and on my own in a way I’ve never been before now. It’s exciting, it really is. As uneasy as I may feel because of the newness of the experience, I am filled with this deeper sense of meaning and purpose. And I’m not sure what it is. I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday and she shared with me that she had the same feeling about this, that it is going to be a very special time for me and filled with amazing things.
Visiting the place where my family comes from as well as spending time in a world-class city are going to be a part of the wide range of experiences I’ll have and will bring a depth to my time that I cannot yet perceive. Something wonderful is about to happen…
January 28, 2003
It takes me a long time to be willing to share of myself with others. Even longer to share some of the goings on of my heart and mind. You see, I’m very introverted and tend to be shy and keep to myself until I feel comfortable around people. Even then, it isn’t that much. I tend to sit back and watch. I’d wait and see what the environment is like and then decide whether or not I’d like to interact with it, and then, how much. Trust is a big thing with me. It always has been.
Growing up I moved around a lot. Looking back, the average that I’ve lived in one place is three years.Most, if not all, of the moves required the transfer of schools. I was always the new kid; hopping from school to school every few years into systems of friends who had been together for years and I was never quite sure where I fit in. If I was lucky enough to find a group of friends to hang out with and goof around with – and I usually did without too much trouble, though it would take awhile – they weren’t the kinds of friends I wanted or felt I needed. Most were guys that liked to cut up and act silly and test out new jokes – both good and bad – in a group where their eccentricities weren’t ridiculed by the “cooler” crowd. Instead of trying to fit in with what was “in” at the time, we tended to stick together and not care about all of that. We didn’t have to worry about fitting in with each other because we accepted each other for who we were. So, in a sense, we fit in because we didn’t fit in.
Though these types of friends were a lot of fun they would be lacking in a serious side. Their level of maturity left much to be desired. You see, while I was, and am, able to make jokes with the best of them – and at the risk of sounding immodest, I was one of the best of them – I always felt that I needed to be more ME. While I am that fun-loving jokester that loves to come up with puns and other funny turns of phrase, it is a mask that I wear. I get that way on two types of occasions: (1) when I feel like I need to do something to get people to like me – after all, laughing brings people together; and (2) when I’m finally comfortable letting loose with people. The former tended to be the more true during much of my pre-college years. Kids can be so cruel, and I was well aware of just how real that statement can be. Shy redheads who wear glasses, are liked by teachers for being good students, and sing in the school chorus aren’t among the most accepted of kids in school, let alone popular. Wherever I turned, that fact was made all the more clear to me. So, in attempts to befriend my schoolmates, I would joke around and try to show people that I was worth noticing too – and not in a way that attracted the put-downs and names that are prevalent in the schoolyard. For the most part it worked. Though I still got called the occassional name I quickly learned that it was more important to just blow it off and go on my way, paying more attention to the laughs of my friends that joined mine rather than were directed at me by those who were “cooler.”
But, while the joking around yielded some great friends, I wanted more. I wanted friends I could be myself with, both good and bad and everything in between. I couldn’t seem to find that at school – friendships there are so superficial sometimes anyway. I discovered the fellowship groups at the various churches I attended and saw how they would accept me despite my flaws. I was quickly put at ease and could be myself and the real ME would emerge. When I would move I sought out these groups, knowing full well that I would be able to quickly find refuge in them. From there, I made friends that last until today, and I am forever grateful for that.
It finally came time to go on to college. I said goodbyes to all of my friends and headed off on the next great adventure of my life. Because many of the friends I had in high school were of the first type – those that were often just as strange as I – it was pretty easy to let go and move on. Upon my arrival on campus I quickly joined in with the campus ministries group and soon found myself smack dab in the middle of a group of people that loved me and accepted me just because. And I must say, they are all treasured friends to this day. It was in one of these groups that I learned the joys of being able to share myself with others. The main focus of this one particular group is to sit down and talk about everything that is going on in your life. We’d read from our journals and keep track of the various struggles we were dealing with. It was a confidential group where there was never fear of being laughed at or being embarrassed. We were all there because we needed each other and wanted to be there for each other. We were more family than anything else. I learned how to trust there.
And so, despite the struggles of growing up, ever the new kid in town, I was able to learn how to be ME and to be open about who I am as a person without fear and without reservation. It was the strength and confidence learned from these friends that allow me to write these words today. And I don’t know where I would be without them.
