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Craft brewery partners with Kodak to create a beer that doubles as film developer

21 Mar

Delaware craft brewery Dogfish Head has teamed up with Kodak to create SuperEIGHT, an analog-inspired Super Gose beer designed specifically to develop film.

Sam Calagione, founder and CEO of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, was recording an episode of The Kodakery, a podcast created by Kodak, when he learned that with the right levels of acidity and vitamin C, it would be possible to create a beer capable of developing film. Coincidentally enough, the research and development team at Dogfish was already working on a beer with properties that would align perfectly with those needed for developing film, and so SuperEIGHT was born.

After further developing the ‘super-refreshing, sessionable Super Gose,’ the Dogfish Head team sent a few batches over to Kodak for testing and sure enough, it worked. The resulting footage, seen in sample footage above, isn’t nearly as impressive as dedicated developers, but for a beer we’d say it’s pretty darn impressive. Kodak and Dogfish Head even shared a recipe for the development, which can be downloaded and printed off.

As for the beer itself, SuperEIGHT has an alcohol content of 5.3% and ‘is made with eight heroic ingredients including prickly pear, mango, boysenberry, blackberry, raspberry, elderberry, kiwi juices and a touch of quinoa, along with an ample addition of Hawaiian sea salt.’

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery will start shipping six packs of 355ml (12 fl oz) cans in April 2019.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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How to Use Textures to Create Compelling Photographs

19 Mar

The post How to Use Textures to Create Compelling Photographs appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Glenn Harper.

Adding textures to photos is a fun way of creating new pictures. In some respects, it’s not very different to printing your photos onto textured paper or choosing frames for them (or both), except the images needn’t leave your computer. You can do this with photos you’ve already taken, though often it’s best to create them with this treatment in mind.

Cracked earth photo in the background.

Choosing your photos

You can add textures to almost any type of picture, but this method works well with simple photos where there isn’t a lot of fussy detail. Ideally, you need a sizeable single-tone area that allows the background to come through. Otherwise, you can use a simple texture with a complex photo – the important thing is that the two photos do not fight.

A harmless subject, despite appearances.

You can apply this treatment to portraits, landscapes, still lifes, or just about any genre. With still life, you’re at a particular advantage because you can take very simple pictures of subjects against plain backgrounds and then attempt to create something interesting later with a textured background.

Adding textured backgrounds to photos

Melding photos together is not a purist’s approach to photography, but you need only ask yourself one question: do you like the result? Adding a texture to a background is like putting two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. Do the two parts suit each other? A beneficial side effect of creating these pictures is that you’ll start noticing and shooting all kinds of textures to use with your photos.

Splodges of paint in the background.

Finding and photographing textures

You can create your own backgrounds quite easily by photographing textures around the home. For instance, try capturing textured paper, sandpaper, fences, walls, wood grain, baking trays, tiles, canvas, painted surfaces, rusting surfaces or concrete. Mid-tone textures with contrasting colors or details tend to work better than monotonous dark or bright surfaces.

Silhouetted trees against a blue painted background.

Try screwing up pieces of paper and then flattening them out for backgrounds. You can even use a scanner for paper backgrounds, which has the advantage of holding them flat while still recording the folds and creases.

The same silhouetted trees against brown paper. I wanted to avoid distracting contrast in the paper, so the processing holds off on highlights.

If you want to try this technique and don’t have any texture photographs in your library, you can always grab some to practice with from free photo websites (e.g. https://www.freeimages.com).

A French WW1 Croix de Guerre medal, originally shot against a white card background.

Another possibility is to use the in-built textures offered within image editing programs. Photoshop CC has this to a limited extent. There’s also a good textures section in ON1 Effects (standalone or filter plugin) that offers a lot of choice.

In Photoshop CC you can reveal the “Texture” filter under preferences. It only works on 8-bit images. This is the Canvas texture.

Photoshop Technique (or similar)

To blend textures into backgrounds, you need an editing program that has layers and blending modes. The second usually comes with the first. In brief, you just need to drag one photo on top of the other and adjust the blending mode between the layers to suit. Sometimes you might need to tweak opacity.

Here’s a more precise workflow:

Open the two images you intend to merge (i.e. subject and textured background).
Ensure that the texture image is the same size as the main photo or slightly larger. If it is much larger (e.g. a full-sized file layered onto a web image), it will appear less sharp.
Using the move tool in Photoshop, drag the texture image onto the main photo. This automatically creates a second layer (“Layer 1”).
Try the various layer blending modes in your layers palette until you find one that suits the image. “Overlay” is one that often works well.
Adjust opacity to taste. If you want to strengthen the effect rather than fade it, you can duplicate Layer 1.
Merge the layers (Ctrl + E) or Flatten Image.

You can do this the other way round and drag the main image onto the texture, but then the opacity slider becomes less useful. You ideally want to be able to fade the texture effect rather than the main photo. Also, if the texture file is larger, having that one on top avoids the need to crop the image afterwards.

Adding textured backgrounds to photos

Using the Brush Tool

Another thing you can do with your textures is to selectively paint parts of the effect out of or into the picture. You might do this if, for instance, you want to create the illusion that an object within the photo is resting on a textured background without being part of it.

Using a ON1 Effects texture I’ve created henna-type markings on the hand and used the brush tool to remove the same pattern from the watch.

To do this, you need to create a layer mask on “Layer 1” (your texture photo). Then, making sure the brush foreground color is black – visible in the tools palette – you use the brush tool at 100% opacity to selectively paint the texture out. Hitting “X” lets you paint detail back in again if you get clumsy.

Alternatively, you can do the opposite and create a black layer mask, painting texture into the picture with a white brush.

Harmony

I mentioned earlier choosing textures and photos that suit each other. So, what might that mean? Ultimately, you get to decide what goes well with what, but some textures intrinsically suit some subjects. For instance, old books generally go better with leather, paper or card textures than they do with a brick wall. Metallic objects might go well with rust or oxidation.

Another ON1 Effects texture (rice paper).

With human subjects, you might want to infer something else altogether, like cracks for old age or the passing of time. Be careful who you use that on! The bolder the texture is, generally the more limited it is in its potential. You can use paper and canvas textures on almost anything because of their photographic and artistic connection and their unobtrusiveness.

Express yourself

Any picture you produce on a computer rather than in camera will likely attract a degree of cynicism. That’s just the way photography is. But it’s not always healthy to be confined by your chosen craft and feel like you’re not doing anything new. Blending photos in Photoshop is creative, fun and even a little beneficial, since an eye for juxtaposition is a valid photographic skill.

Antique Vaseline pots against an old baking tray surface.

Get ready for the strange looks you’ll receive when you begin photographing plain walls and fences. Use a tripod for extra eccentricity ….

Feel free to share your creations in the comments section below.

The post How to Use Textures to Create Compelling Photographs appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Glenn Harper.

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This music video is a lesson in why you pay the people who create your content

06 Feb

Editorial note: The music video contains strong language that may be NSFW.

Video company Ridge Production recently released a video it shot for American rapper Sheck Wes, who is accused of failing to pay the company for its work. The video’s publication resulted in a cease and desist letter from Universal Music; though Ridge Productions owns the footage, it doesn’t own the music. That has resulted in a second video release, this one with spoofed audio over the video.

In an interview with Highsnobiety, the company claimed it was informed Wes didn’t like the music video they had shot. Soon after, both Sheck and Universal Music reportedly stopped responding to Ridge Production’s messages. After weeks allegedly without payment, the company decided to publish the video regardless.

According to the interview, the original video resulted in a cease and desist letter from the label, prompting Ridge Production to take the video down. However, company owner Pat Ridge decided to replace it with an edited version that features amusing sounds and lyrics applied to the same video.

When asked what he hoped the outcome of publishing the video would be, Ridge said:

Last night I got some real traction by being authentic, doing what I believe, not succumbing to the fear of Universal [and] these corporations. There was a lot of fear in what I did, it was kind of scary […] I have a lot of artists on my team, and we’re having fun, but we should be getting paid for our work.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Go With The Flow – Using Slow Shutter Speed to Create Motion Blur

22 Jan

The post Go With The Flow – Using Slow Shutter Speed to Create Motion Blur appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Starting out as a photography assistant in a daily newspaper, I had one thing drummed into me. Make sure it’s sharp. This was the cardinal rule. It was appropriate for the situation.

Any kind of unintentional fuzziness, especially when it renders the subject indistinct, looks awful when printed on newsprint.

Adding motion blur, or any other form of blur, in a photograph can work extremely well when circumstances are right.

Merlion Park, Singapore Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

Two main techniques for creating motion blur in a photo are subject movement and camera movement.

Times when adding motion blur is the right choice

Deciding to add motion blur is best when:

Some parts of the composition remain sharp
The light is favorable
You find the shutter speed sweet spot
You have a means of stabilizing your camera

Poi Sang Long Festival Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

Adding some flash can at times truly enhance a photo made with a slow shutter speed. I find this works best when you sync your flash with the rear shutter closing.

Keeping some of it sharp

Using a slow shutter speed to create motion blur, I find it’s best to ensure that some parts of your composition remain sharp. Whether you are moving your camera or your subject is in motion, your results will be stronger when not all the composition is blurred.

Using a slow shutter speed and moving your camera in relation to a moving subject, is known as panning. This will keep your subject sharp and the background will blur. Getting a perfectly sharp subject while panning is challenging because it requires the camera to be moving in sync with how fast the subject is.

Tuktuk Panning Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

Having your camera locked down while your subject or the background move you will have a better chance to render your subject sharp.

Getting the exposure when the light is right

Bright sunny days make it challenging to capture motion blur in a photograph. You need to use a slow shutter speed for the effect to happen. Setting your aperture to the smallest opening and your ISO as low is it can go will not always allow you to use a slow enough shutter speed.

Using a neutral density filter in bright sunshine will make a slower shutter speed possible. At times I have coupled a neutral density filter with a polarizing filter to cut the light entering the lens even more.

Market Scene Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

In this photo I had my friend stand very still to achieve motion blur in the people walking behind her. Being such a bright sunny day meant that even with my aperture set to the minimum opening of f/11. My ISO was set at one hundred and still did not allow me to use a slow enough shutter speed. I attached a four-stop neutral density filter and a polarizing filter so I could set my shutter speed to 1/4th of a second to capture the motion blur.

At night and in other low light situations achieving a slow enough shutter speed is simple.

Finding the sweet spot for optimal blur

Choosing a shutter speed setting appropriate to the pace of movement in your composition is important. Having too much or not enough motion blur will give you a poor result. This varies greatly depending on your subject and the style of photograph you are creating.

Photographing waterfalls, people walking or traffic at night, all require different shutter speeds for best results. Generally, slower moving elements in your composition need slower shutter speeds. Things moving more quickly need faster shutter speed or there will be too much motion blur. It also depends on how much definition you want to retain in whatever is moving.

Twently Second Waterfall Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

Flowing water, like in this waterfall, can be completely blurred. In fact, waterfall photos usually look best when a shutter speed of more than two seconds is used. I used a twenty-second exposure for this photo and there’s absolutely no definition in the water. It is still obvious what it is though.

On The Sidewalk Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

Keeping the motion blur balanced is more important with some subjects. For this photo of people on a sidewalk in Bangkok, I chose a shutter speed of 1/10th of a second. A slower shutter speed would mean more blur and less definition. A fast speed would show less blur and may just look like it was a mistake. I was happy to capture an image where the people walking are blurred yet their feet are reasonably sharp. The young woman modeling for me was very patient as it took quite a while to make a composition with the right number of pedestrians in my frame.

Experimentation is key to finding the sweet spot with your shutter speed. You need to decide how clear or how blurred you want your subject and other elements in your composition.

Camera stability is important

You can use a slow shutter speed even if you do not have a tripod. Learn to hold your camera well and be in control of it. I do not often carry a tripod so am forced to use alternative means of preventing unwanted camera movement. Unintentional camera movement creates ghosting which introduces extra fuzziness to photos.

Flames Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

Hand holding a camera while panning can be preferable for some more than using a tripod. Keeping a steady movement along with your subject is what’s most important. If you are panning with a passing vehicle you do not want to be jiggling your camera up and down as you track your subject.

Finding a firm surface to place your camera can be a good substitute when you don’t have a tripod. You may need to place something under the lens so your angle of view is level. I find my mobile phone or wallet often come in handy for this.

Using a tripod does make things more straightforward when using a slow shutter speed. With a tripod, you have more stability and often more control of your angle of view.

Coffee Roasting Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

Introducing rear curtain synchronized flash

Many cameras give you an option to synchronize the flash so it fires just before the shutter closes. Doing this combined with a slow shutter speed and movement produces interesting effects.

As the flash is triggered near the end of the exposure it looks like the movement is partially frozen. Using a very slow shutter speed when there’s fast movement your subject may appear semi-transparent.

Tricycle Taxi Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

I used a four-second exposure for this photo of a tricycle taxi in Chiang Mai. You can see the ghosted image of two people just above the handlebars of the cycle. They were riding past on a motorbike just at the end of the exposure as my flash fired.

Conclusion

Photographing movement using long exposures it pays to give yourself plenty of time to experiment and take lots of photos. Varying your shutter speed. Choose a faster or slower speed with the same subject. This can create vastly different looking photos.

Iron Bridge Using a Slow Shutter Speed to a Create Sense of Motion

If you’ve never often used a slow shutter speed, begin to explore the possibilities. If you’ve had some experience, try some new angle or subject. Please share your photos and comments below.

The post Go With The Flow – Using Slow Shutter Speed to Create Motion Blur appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

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Easy to Create Fake Underwater Photography Hack [video]

18 Jan

The post Easy to Create Fake Underwater Photography Hack appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this handy tutorial by Raj K Photo, you’ll learn to take impressive underwater-style photos without the need to get underwater! And, even better, this DIY hack costs less than 50pounds.

What you will need:

Clear Acrylic Sheet
Wood
Woodscrews
Duct Tape
Multi-Purpose Sealant

You can make it to whatever size you want.

What to do:

Cut wood to size.
Screw in the ends but be sure to drill some holes first to stop the wood splitting.
Draw an outline of the frame onto the acrylic.
Place the acrylic onto the top of the wood frame, lining the outline you just drew up with the frame. It acts as a guide so you know where to put the screws.
Use a drill bit to make pilot holes in the acrylic along each side. Use around 6 screws, evenly placed apart. Screw the screws in but be sure not to screw too quickly or hard so as to not split your acrylic.
Flip the frame over and peel off the protective film.
Take your sealant and seal all the gaps between your wood and the acrylic surface.
Leave to dry for 24hrs.
As a further layer of protection, add duct tape around the sealed areas.
Remove any remaining protective film and clean surface.

Photographing your model using your new underwater hack

Find a place to prop it up so that you can lay it face down with water inside. Ensure that it is secure.
Lay your model underneath.
Set an LED light above so that it is shining through the water onto your model. That way you can get an idea of how the shot will look.
Place the flash units (one with a blue gel to look like water) in position above the model.
use a reflector to bounce some light back to your model.
Wet your model’s hair and have the model keep their head slightly off the background to make it look like it is floating.
Take your photos!

You may also find the following articles useful:

5 Tips for Underwater Photography Without Spending a Fortune

5 Tips for Underwater Photography with a GoPro

Surreal Underwater Shipwreck Photo Shoot

Introduction to Taking Great Underwater Photos

The post Easy to Create Fake Underwater Photography Hack appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

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Create Powerful Black and White Photos with the Photoshop Gradient Map

12 Jan

The post Create Powerful Black and White Photos with the Photoshop Gradient Map appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

In this article, you will learn how to use the Photoshop Gradient Map tool to transform your “meh” color images into incredible black and whites that go “WOW.”

When you think about it, a black and white photograph doesn’t make sense. No, really. At it’s most basic level, black and white photography presents us with a version of our world that we know is not accurate. The colors we normally see get shown to us in values of white, black and gray. We know a black and white photo isn’t true-to-life and yet a strong black and white photograph can transcend the sum of its parts. It can transport us to visual spaces which provoke emotions that even the brightest color photograph cannot achieve.

Even though a black and white picture is called “black and white” seldom are they merely tones of gray. A strong black and white image often present subtle color tones in the shadows, highlights, mid-tones or sometimes all three. Moreover, when it comes to concocting a black and white photo from a digital color image file, the way in which you approach your conversions can make or break the entire photograph.

However, not all methods are created equal. I’m about to show you one of the best ways I know to effectively convert and tone a photo to black and white. We’ll do this using a quiet little tool in Photoshop called the Gradient Map. When it comes to taking a digital black and white photograph from “meh” to “WOW” the Photoshop Gradient Map will be your best friend.

What is the Gradient Map?

The Photoshop Gradient Map is essentially just what it sounds like; a way for you to map out and control the color tones of different luminance values within your photo.

Toning with the gradient map can be shockingly simple (as with this lesson) or as delightfully complex as you choose to make your adjustments. Ok, enough talk, let’s get started. Let’s take a RAW color photo and begin the process of converting it to black and white, followed by toning it with the gradient map in Photoshop.

Begin with basics

To begin, I highly recommend you use a RAW image file. Doing so offers you the greatest amount of wiggle room to adjust the values within the photo after you convert it to black and white.

I’ve started with a photo opened in Lightroom to complete some basic edits. However, you can complete the entire process right inside of Photoshop. Preferably, converting the image to black and white and toning with the gradient map should be one of the last steps in the process. Of course, editing can take on a life of its own, so don’t hesitate to dynamically adjust your photo at any stage. Here we have the RAW file after some core edits in Lightroom.

You may be asking “why not just convert to black and white right now?” I don’t recommend converting the photograph to black and white before opening it in Photoshop. The reason for this is because it completely robs you of the vital color information that allows adjustments of the individual color luminance values.

Next, I’ll kick the image over to Photoshop….

Now the real fun begins! Come on…it really is fun.

Conversion and Toning with the Gradient Map

After you open your image in Photoshop, convert it to black and white. To achieve this, add a black and white adjustment layer.

Although it’s not necessary to do so, feel free to name this layer something specific. At this point, you can adjust the individual color luminance values to your liking. See, I told you there was a reason to hold off on converting until this step.

Now that you have a nicely converted black and white photograph you can jump into the toning process by adding a Gradient Map adjustment layer. Click on the Gradient Map icon just as we did with the black and white adjustment layer.

Doesn’t that look magical!

Kidding.

There are a couple of things we need to do after we select the Gradient Map. Depending on your default Photoshop settings, your view could appear slightly different than mine. Don’t worry, though, the steps are the same.

To select your gradient, click on the gradient drop down:

Then click the Settings Wheel to open up your toning options and make sure that Photographic Toning is selected.

You’ll be prompted to confirm you want to change to a new gradient. Click OK because you absolutely do.

Each of those little boxes represents a color gradient scheme you can select to tone your image. Think of these as gradient presets. For this photo, I’m going with an old favorite of mine, Platinum.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and find the flavor that you like for your photo. Remember, everything here is non-destructive so simply click the “undo” button at the bottom of the gradient map window to start over.

At this point, we are nearly finished with the bulk of our toning using the gradient map! Yes, it is that easy. However, before we go, I want to show you how to customize the gradient should you choose to do so. A gradient map adds color across the tonal values of your image. You can control just how it applies this by clicking the gradient (and even create new ones). Doing so opens up the gradient adjustment panel.

From this panel, we can adjust the individual values of the gradient to change color density and contrast. There are limitless combinations and color schemes available. So again, allow yourself to tinker, tweak, test and otherwise go completely wild with your gradients to see how they affect your photo. I’m not joking; the possibilities are endless. Didn’t I tell you this was fun?

Last but not least, you can also adjust the layer blend mode and opacity of the gradient layer in the Layers Panel. Play with the percentage levels until you get the effect right.

Now you can further adjust your photo right here in Photoshop, or back in Lightroom. Or, if you are finished, you can save and export.

Final thoughts on Gradient Maps and Black and White

With just a few simple layers in Photoshop, we went from this…

to this…

to finally this…

Black and white photos are more than…well, just black and white. Think of some of your favorite black and white images. Are they merely two colors or are they something more? Whether it be film or digital, most “black and white” images that move us possess color tones that create a sense of mode or aesthetic comfort that touches us on a creative and emotional level. Using the Photoshop Gradient Map to tone your black and white photos is one of the easiest and most effective ways to create advanced black and white’s that stand out. Once you begin making use of the Photoshop Gradient Map, you may wonder how you ever managed without it in the first place!

Do you use the Photoshop Gradient Map? Share with us some of your images below.

The post Create Powerful Black and White Photos with the Photoshop Gradient Map appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

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How to Use 5 Different Lighting Scenarios to Create Expert Studio Portraits [video]

12 Jan

The post How to Use 5 Different Lighting Scenarios to Create Expert Studio Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this week’s video from COOPH Master Chrissie White, you’ll learn how to use five lighting scenarios to create expert studio portraits.

Here are the 5 tips:

1. Natural Light and Reflector

Place your model next to window and place reflector on the opposite side of the face to create balanced light. For even light, shoot when the light isn’t coming directly through the window.

2. Side lighting

Side lighting creates a moody atmosphere for your image.

Place one light on to one side of the model and black card on the opposite side. This casts a shadow on one side of your models face so the light is split down the middle. if you don’t want it too moody, place a white card on the opposite side instead. That way the models face won’t be in complete shadow.

3. Butterfly lighting

Butterfly Lighting is commonly used for beauty lighting. It is an even light on the model. Place the light in front of the model and above them. You can also use a reflector underneath their face to even out the light.

4. Split lighting

This lighting is dramatic and flashy. Great for shooting athletes and fashion models. Place 2 lights approx 45 degrees behind the model. To soften and make less dramatic, add a butterfly light to the front of the model.

5. Backlighting

Place your light source behind the model to create a hair or rim light. Place another light in front of model or a white card to add some fill to remove the shadow from the face.

Add colored gels to the light to add color and drama. Use cellophane or gels. Be careful of hot lights though.

TIP: Look in the eyes of models for ‘catch-lights’ to see what type of lighting a photographer used.

You may also find these articles helpful:

One Speedlight Portrait Lighting Tutorial

6 Portrait Lighting Patterns Evey Photographer Should Know

10 Ways to take Stunning Portraits

How to Pose and Angle the Body for Better Portraits

Create Beautiful Indoor Portraits Without Flash

How to Create Awesome Portrait Lighting with a Paper Bag an Elastic Band and a Chocolate Donut

The post How to Use 5 Different Lighting Scenarios to Create Expert Studio Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

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10 Online Tools to Create a Free Logo

11 Jan

If you want to create a logo for your company and you do not have any design knowledge, I have good news to give you since there are a large number of online tools with which you can make your logo for free. The vast majority of these tools are going to ask you to register to download the new Continue Reading

The post 10 Online Tools to Create a Free Logo appeared first on Photodoto.

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So You Want to Make a Website? Part 2: How to Create a Website

06 Jan

The post So You Want to Make a Website? Part 2: How to Create a Website appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

In Part 1 of the So You Want to Make a Website? Series, we looked at which platform was best for your needs. In Part 2, we delve into the setup process. There may be small differences with WordPress (depending on who you choose for your hosting), however, things will be very similar whoever you choose.

1. Squarespace

A homepage for a Squarespace website in editor view

Choose a template and off you go. Whilst not as expansive in choice as WordPress. Squarespace offer some very stylish templates.

With Squarespace, setting up your website is as easy as going to squarespace.com, choosing a design and clicking ‘start with this theme.’ Squarespace is a great platform that allows you to try before you buy. You get a 14-day free trial of the platform without the need for a credit card, allowing you to take the platform for a test drive.

When you go on the site, start with the template section and look for one you like. Squarespace has a search option to help you choose a theme that’s relevant to what you want your website to do. Once you find a theme you like the look of, you can preview it across multiple platforms at the click of a button. There are also links to real life websites that have been built using the theme you are previewing. That way you can test its functionality.

Once you have chosen your theme, click ‘start with this design’ and Squarespace creates your website. After a simple login and hello, you can get down to business.

Starting your build

In Squarespace, you work with seven tabs. Each is clearly labeled and easy enough to get your site design started intuitively. By default, all pages get set as demos. To create your unique pages, click on it and Squarespace creates a working page for your site.

From here, you can add text and photos. You can also style the page as you desire. It is an intuitive platform, but if you get stuck, there are some great tutorials to help you. Squarespace also has a dedicated support team you can contact.

The Styles Editor is the main menu where you can tweak several options of your site. These include options such as fonts, color, and text size. These options enable you to personalize your site and make it match your style or brand. Switching templates is easy if you find you aren’t happy with the one you started with. Again, this is a simple, hassle-free process.

A screenshot showing Squarespace styles menus

Within the styles menu you can change your site styles, complete with realtime previews.

Domain names and Email

Finally, in the settings page, you can register your free domain and access a free year of Google’s G-Suite email. You can set up your domain name and personal email address (yourname@yoursite.com) quickly and with minimum hassle. As a paying customer, domain registration (your web address) is free and becomes automatically linked to your account. I recommend this option when you start because it keeps things simple from a setup point of view.

Extending your trial

Once your Squarespace trial is up, you can extend it for a further two weeks if you need to. However, if you like the platform, pay for your chosen plan, and your site can be live within minutes. If, after your trial, you think the platform is too restrictive (some do), you have lost nothing. You won’t even have the annoyance of canceling your credit card.

Finally, there are several vouchers out there for 10% off your first purchase. Make sure you take advantage of one when you purchase your site.

2. WordPress

A screenshot showing the options available on CPanel

This looks daunting, but it is simpler than you think.

While this may seem a like a more complicated option – it isn’t. WordPress installation is quite simple, as most hosting companies have a one-click install option.

In regards to hosting companies, there are many, and they vary in price, speed and customer support. Some are better than others, so do your research. A quick Google search will help you out immensely here. The main three things to look out for are security, support, and speed. Site loading time is a factor Google takes into account when ranking sites, so speedy hosting helps. Having security is essential so that your site doesn’t get hacked. Support comes in handy when you get stuck with any issues in regards to your site being offline. Similar to Squarespace, you can register your domain name with your hosting company (usually for a small fee). Doing this makes the setup process more straightforward.

Creating an Email address

Creating an email is incredibly easy using your hosting CPanel. Just click on the email button, choose your email address and password and click ‘OK’. It really is that simple.

A screenshot of email settings in Cpanel

Fill in this field and you will have a personalized email. It really is that simple.

Installing WordPress

With your hosting purchased, you now need to access your control panel (CPanel) to install WordPress. CPanel is daunting on first look, but you soon get used to it. This area is where good support from your hosting company can be useful. I can’t give specifics as this varies by company, but all good hosting companies will have guides to help you. Once you have WordPress installed. It is time to start creating your website.

Building your site

Once you are set up, you need to login to your admin area (AKA backend). In the Admin area, you’ll find the tools you need to create your site. Once you are logged in, you have access to all the tools to control your website.

The three main options you will use day to day are posts, pages, and media. When setting up your site, you may also need to use a couple of other options — appearance (where you choose your theme of the website) and Plugins, where you can add plugins for specific things such as SEO. There are a lot of different options with WordPress, but like everything, using it becomes more comfortable over time.

It may look a little daunting, but it isn’t as scary as you think.

Installing a theme

Once you have installed WordPress, it is time to choose your theme/template. There are thousands of fully-customizable WordPress themes that range from free to $ $ $ . Check out the free themes first, but these often have less functionality and features than the paid ones. Free themes can be prone to things such as poor coding (meaning your site will not load as fast) or may be outdated. Lastly, free templates generally will not offer great support. I am not saying there aren’t some great free ones available, but it takes more to find a good one. However, you do get what you pay for.

On the other hand, paid themes tend to be more feature-rich. They also tend to have better support, which can be invaluable if you run into a problem. Updates also tend to occur more frequently and are less prone to bugs and errors (this does not mean they do not suffer from these problems though). I can guarantee there is a WordPress theme you will love. The hardest part may be choosing.

Installing a theme is just as simple. Go to the Appearance tab and upload the theme you have purchased. Alternatively, choose directly from the themes offered. Depending on the template, things vary from here. Work with the support team on your particular theme to get the best from it.

Now that you have your theme installed, it is time to start to create your content. You’ll learn how in Part 3 of the series.

You may also find the articles helpful:

So You Want to Make a Website? Part 1: Squarespace versus WordPress

How to Find the Right Website Platform that Works For You

Free Versus Paid Photography Portfolio Websites – Which is Best for You?

The post So You Want to Make a Website? Part 2: How to Create a Website appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Carl Spring.

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NVIDIA researchers create AI that generates photo-realistic portraits

19 Dec

NVIDIA researchers have published a new paper detailing their latest artificial intelligence work, which involves generating photo-realistic portraits of humans that are indistinguishable from images of real people. The technology revolves around an alternative generator architecture for generative adversarial networks (GANs) that utilizes style transfer for producing the final result.

Though GANs have improved substantially in only a few years, the researchers say in their paper that the generators ‘continue to operate as black boxes, and despite recent efforts, the understanding of various aspects of the image synthesis process, e.g., the origin of stochastic features, is still lacking.’ That’s where the newly developed alternative architecture comes in.

The team’s style-based architecture enables GANs to generate new images based on photos of real subjects, but with a twist: their generator learns to distinguish between separate elements in the images on its own. In the video above, NVIDIA’s researchers demonstrate this technology by generating portraits based on separate elements from images of real people.

“Our generator thinks of an image as a collection of ‘styles,’ where each style controls the effects at a particular scale,” the team explains.

Image elements are split into three style categories: “Coarse,” “Middle,” and “Fine.” In terms of portraits, these categories include elements like facial features, hair, colors, eyes, the subject’s face shape, and more. The system is also able to target inconsequential variations, including elements like texture and hair curls/direction.

The video above demonstrates changes involving inconsequential variation on non-portrait images, which includes generating different patterns on a blanket, altering the hair on a cat, and subtly changing the background behind a car. The style-transfer GANs offer superior results to traditional GAN generator architecture, the researchers conclude, with the photo-realistic results underscoring their assessment.

The latest work further refines a technology that has been growing rapidly over only a few years. Though GANs have been used in the past to generate portraits, the results were far from photo-realistic. It’s possible that technology like this could one day be offered as a consumer or enterprise product for generating on-demand life-like images.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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