Random thoughts on art, technology, stuff, and occasionally Real Estate: July 2007

Recently, I shot some photos of a property.  The property owner also hired a professional photographer to shot a series of photos.

Here are a couple samples.  The comparison is interesting:

Exterior shot by me:

Exterior shot by pro:

Interior shot by me:

Interior shot by pro:

OK:  He shot the interior with a focal length of 12mm.  (I checked the EXIF data for his shots.)  I shot at 18mm.  (For some reason, I had decided I didn't like my 12-15mm lens.  I guess I need to revisit that. <s>)

But what struck me was the amount of "color correction" he applied to all of his shots.  It's particularly noticeable in the exterior shots. 

I'm not sure whether or not I like the colors punched up quite that high. 

Anyone want to volunteer an opinion?  It's OK.  I won't be hurt if you like the pro's style better than mine.  <s>

Let's say you have a TypePad blog, but you want it to act more like a website.  It my previous post, I convered the steps to tell TypePad to display a "Page" as the front page of a website, rather than a list of blog posts.

Here's a Lazy Blogger Trick for creating the content for the page.

Sign up for a free Vflyer account.  Create a General Services "marketing" VFlyer for yourself, In Vflyer, click the "Post Flyer" tab, place your curser inside the text box showing the HTML, and click "Copy to Clipboard".

Now, log into Typepad.

Click the "Weblogs" tab, choose the blog you want to work on, and click "Begin a new Post"

Click "New Page", then click the "Edit HTML" tab

Hit Edit -> Paste (or CRTL V) to paste the HTML copied from Vflyer into the Compose New Page box

Hit "Save", then View PAGE to see the final results.

To set the new "Page" as the front page of the blof, follow the instructions here:  TypePad: Using The "Pages" Feature

Let's say you have a TypePad blog, but you want it to act more like a website.  No problem.  Here's how.

Go in http://www.typepad.com/, Click "Members Sign In", and log in

Click the "weblogs" tab

Choose the blog you will be working on, and click "Configure"

Click preferences

Select "Display a Page on the front page", and choose a page that you have previously created from the drop down list.

Click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the screen.

Oh wait!  You haven't created a any pages yet?   Stand by!

Here's how to add images to your TypePad blog post.

Prep work:  Resize your image(s) for faster upload and faster display.  If you are not sure how to resize, here are some articles by Active Rain contributors:  http://activerain.com/action/search/search_results?searchfields=blogs&search=resize+images&commit=Search

Then type (or copy and paste) your article in the "Compose New Post" box.

Place your cursor at the beginning of the line where you want the image to appear.  Click the Image icon.   

A dialogue box will open. 

At "Choose an Image", click "Browse", and locate the image file on your computer.  If your computer is not displaying thumbnails, and you would like to see them in order to select the image, click the "View Options" icon and choose "Thumbnails"

Click on the image you want to use, then click "Open".

Under "Set Image Options", click "Custom Settings" to activate wrapping, or to create a thumbnail with a link to the larger image.   Click "Insert Image" to finish.

Your "Compose New Post" box will now look like this:

Click "Save" to publish your post.

Active Rain members:  I have posted this and two other basic Typepad tutorials here, for the use of new guest contributors to my blog, http://www.nelalive.net/

If you use TypePad, and have guest authors, feel free to point them here.

Other Guest Author tutorials:

TypePad Guest Author: How To Link

TypePad Guest Author: How To Post  

As you might remember, a few months ago, I played around with using AlaMode's ListingXpress as a "listing-content managment system" on our web site:  http://www.bob-taylor.com/index-listingexpress.htm

It wasn't bad, but I didn't like the load time, and I didn't like the large toolbar at the top, and I couldn't figure out a way to hide it.

So I tried Vflyer instead.  Take a look at http://www.bob-taylor.com/ now, and compare.  Yep, that's what I wanted.

The tool used:  An Inline Frame ("IFrame")  http://activerain.com/blogsview/114881/I-Frame-You-Frame  Aaron of Vflyer very graciously removed the pagination feature for me, so all the listings display in one continous list.

Five stars, and thumbs up for Vflyer!

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Tuesday morning.  Wow.  The book lives up to all the excitement and anticipation.   It is an excellent story.

Harry is on a Heroic Quest to destroy some objects of Dark Magic before Voldemort can recover them.

There are glimpses of Arthurian legend and archetypal symbols.  There are great battles and great sacrifices.  And some characters do die, more than 2, in fact.

The Potter series can stand with the classics.  Good job, Ms. Rowling.

ARDELL asked about this a few days ago and got some excellent responses in the comments. 

Although, my favorite tool for Drawing on Photos is Snag-It (yes, it does more than screen captures), here is how to do it in Photoshop Elements 5:

Open your image.

Click on the Elliptical Marquee tool.  If the Ellipitcal tool isn't visible, right click on the Rectangular Marquee, and you'll see it in the "fly-out" list.

Click and drag to draw a circle (or oval) somewhere on the image.  Not quite the right place?  Hit Escape and do it again.

Hit Select -> Modify -> Border

 In the Border Selection dialogue box, type in a pixel width for the circle.  I usually use 2 or 3.  Click OK.

Now Hit Edit -> Fill Selection

The Fill Layer dialogue box will pop up and allow you to select a color for your circle.  Click color.

In the Color Picker, move the sliders up and down, then click in the large, left side box to select a color.  Be sure your selected color shows in the top half of the smaller, right side box, then click OK.

To remove the "marching ants" selection border, hit Select -> Deselect

Done!   

Here's how to create a link in a TypePad blog post.

Type in your text.

Drag your mouse over the word or phrase that you want to turn into a link, then click on the link icon

A dialogue box will pop up, type in the web address for your link, and click OK

One forum friend nicknamed this process "LINK-IFY", and I always found that term helped me remember what to do:  Select some text, and "link-ify" it.

Active Rain members, if you have a blog on TypePad, and you need to help new contributors get started, please feel free to point them to this post.

New guest authors on my NELALive blog always ask the same question.  "How do I post?"  It's simple, but not immediately obvious.

Here's how:

After you've responded to the invitation email, and set up your Member Name and Password, go to http://www.typepad.com.  Click on "Members Sign In" in the upper right hand corner

Fill in your new Member Name and Password at the log-in screen, click the Log In button

After you click Log In, you will be directed to the Quick Start page.  If you own or contribute to multiple blogs, they will all be listed here.  Click "Begin a new post".

"Begin a new post" will take you to the "Compose New Post" screen.  Type in a title.  Type in your blog post.  (Or copy and paste.)  When finished, click "Save"  and your article will be posted.

Active Rain members, if you have a blog on TypePad, and you need to help new contributors get started, please feel free to point them to this post.

Wait, oh yes wait a minute mister postman
Wait, wait mister postman

Mister postman look and see
If there's a letter in your bag for me
I been waiting such a long time...................