May 20, 2013
May 19, 2013
PhotoshopHibiscus
We trimmed back the Hibiscus bushes out front of Noded South a while ago. It appears that the plants are ok with that and have started to bloom. When I say we trimmed it is more Mrs Noded trimmed and I offered moral support.
May 18, 2013
May 17, 2013
Tech OverloadAfter A Month
I've had the T-Moble 4G Mobil Hotspot for a month now, one billing cycle. I the first month I used just over 500mb of my allotted 1.5 gig. I re-upped for another month right away. The one interesting thing about the pay as you go method is that you can't add funds until you have used up previous funds. So I had to wait until 8:59pm on May 11th to add an additional $25 dollars for the next 1.5 gig of data.
So far the unit has worked pretty well for me only having issues when I was in the basement of buildings or otherwise unradio way friendly places.
May 16, 2013
PhotographyRebirth
I thought the Gazinia's I bought earlier this year had failed but a bit of pruning and care by Mrs. Noded has brought them back
May 15, 2013
Tech OverloadBranching Out
I've downloaded the trial version of Nikon's CaptuerNX2. CaptureNX2 is imaging processing software some what like Adobe's Lightroom. Beginning to learn my way a round the interface. It does some stuff differently than I'm used to but nothing that I can't get used to. It uses a lot of smart selections to make things easy.
I'm not sure in the long run if I will switch over to it on a more permanent basis but the nice thing about the trial version is that it is good for 60 days. Gives me plenty of time to evaluate it. I've downloaded the User Manual and have loaded it on to the iPad for instructional reading.
Not as many CaptureNX2 resource but it is a good product and it does know all about Nikon's raw format. I will do things automatically that Lightroom doesn't.
May 14, 2013
May 13, 2013
PhotographyHook's Croc
The crocodile that has a taste for Captain Hook. Part of the topiary for the just completed Epcot Flower and Garden Festival. I'm trying using Nikon's CaptureNX2's image processing software. Different than Adobe products but it has potential plus since it's from Nikon it know about all the information from the raw file it originated from. I'm came out pretty good little blown out in the teeth. Got to watch out for those teeth.
May 12, 2013
DisneyMonorail At Epcot
Waited for a few minutes for the monorail to come into the picture. I started in just as I had lost concentration and was looking at the settings on the camera.
May 11, 2013
Common SenseIt's Not Just About The Money
It has been almost a week now since Adobe announced that they were going to be taking the Creative Suite and rebranding it as Creative Cloud and changing their business model to one exclusively subscription based. Prices have been give of $50 per month to be able to download and use any of the applications of the Creative Cloud. A $20 per month Photoshop only subscription was also advanced as an option. The real catch to the announcement is that once you drop your subscription the program from Adobe that are downloaded to you computer will cease to work. This is a big change from the buying a perpetual license for software where there was no further payment made to Adobe unless you wanted to purchase an upgrade to the next version. It has also kept me up nights.
It took me several days to actually get to the bottom of why I felt betrayed, bamboozled, and basically had the rug pulled out from under me. It is not about the price, I was pretty much resigned willing to paying about that much every year for the continued upgrades to the one part of the Creative Suite I use, Photoshop. And I can see some really good reasons for subscribing to the Creative Cloud if I were a business with employees who would be using the software most of their work day. If I had graphic designer who I was paying $60k or $80k a year to produce art (using the term loosely) an investment of $600 per year for the latest software would be cheap. Less than 1% of the employee costs per year. If I no longer need the employee for some reason, lack of work, employee changes jobs, etc. I just cancel the subscription and I have no further issues.
As far as subscriptions go Photoshop for $240 a year probably is a good deal, I pay more than that to Kelby Training each year for my NAPP membership and my Kebly Training subscription. And that is where the rub is. I like my Kelby Training subscription, it gives me access to some wonderful training by some of the best instructors in the business including the likes of Jay Maisel and Joe McNally. I really want to continue with those subscriptions, especially the Kelby Training one because it is about a lot more than how to move pixels in Photoshop. But I am not giving Kelby Training $279.00 a year for instructions I can only use at Kelby Training.
My issue is that while I've spent probably $1500 dollars for Photoshop from Version 7 (I think) through the CS series, I probably have invested twice four or six times that amount in books and instruction on Photoshop and now Lightroom. I've spent $3K just on going to PhotoshopWord three times. Then there is the large number of hours of my time spent reading and practicing the instructions from the books and videos. I don't begrudge any of those hours or any of the dollars because I loved to learn and I love to apply what I've learned. Problem is that now I don't feel it would be worth my while to learn anymore about Photoshop if what I learn can't continue to be applied down the road if time and travel prevents me from keeping up on my payments to Adobe.
I really don't want to write a check each month for $20.00 to Adobe (forget about the first year discount). And all I have for all that check writing is, well nothing. On the same note I'm sure that Adobe's Board of Directors and shareholders would like to make a profit. I've tried my best to come up with a solution that is fair to Adobe as well as me. Personally I wouldn't mind paying out a yearly upgrade subscription if I was assured that at the end I would still have a perpetual license for Photoshop that I could still use after I no longer desire upgrades. And I would give even a bit more, say a one time upgrade fee from CS6 to CC. So in my mind a one time fee of $200 for a perpetual upgrade to Photoshop CC plus maybe a once a year $199 subscription would be something I could accept and manage. This gives me the next version of Photoshop plus it gives me 1 year to see if Adobe is really ready and willing to give us continuous improvements to the program. After that year I can make a decision if the subscription for updates is of further worth.
