TGIF

Thank God Its Freeware. Thank you once again to all the authors that contribute to Freeware, you guys help us all in the computer community. So, my freeware of the week is "GIMPshop". I highly recommend this software if you are unable to fork over the dollars for Photoshop, I use GIMPshop at our Church. I create an image in Photoshop, send it over to the Media Team any changes necesarry is made in GIMPshop. The GUI and functionality is so close to Photoshop. I am able to use many Photoshop tutorials without missing a beat. Tons of support out there for GIMPshop and its predecessor GIMP. Get over there and take a look, you never know! www.gimpshop.com

4 Down 1 To Go Design Software

Friday Eve - When it comes to design, the top software being used today is Photoshop. I use Photoshop and I'm a big supporter of Adobe products. For many the price is a bit steep for Photoshop. Guess what? Adobe has released a free version of Photoshop - Photoshop Express (beta). While it is limited in comparison to the full version, it's worth a try. At the very least if you are in a pinch and need to do some Image adjustments logon and there you go. A plus, you can store your photos online, up to 2 GB of storage space. Swing over and take a look www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html What are you waiting for? Get to Designing.

Media 101

Nothing says team like a uniform, be it a sports team, girl scouts, a repair shop or a shopping store. Way back when, I discussed our Media Team getting shirts with a logo and name on it. The attitude was absolutely bananas, this positive attitude resulted in our going from breaking even to creating a positive cash flow... Uniform said to each member- we are responsible for the business being successful. I have a personal stake in this... No budget for shirts, start with a nice creative name tag, trust me the response will be tremendous. What are you waiting for!

TGIF

Thank God Its Freeware available. Thank you once again to all the authors that contribute to Freeware, you guys help us all in the computer community. So my freeware of the week is Free Fonts. I know there are tons of font websites out there, but I like the font search feature as well as the other Friendly Font Links. Enjoy www.free-fonts.com

FREE (Friday Eve)

The other day I had company over (family), as usual my sister heads straight to the laptop. So, I was working on a project and I wanted some input on the colors, fonts etc. My sister is a former model so she believes she has good fashion sense to her creadit she does. Well, she looked it over and ripped it apart, the colors were good but the font was unreadable. I was disappointed because I labored on this for some time, yet it is the average person that will give your project 5 – 10 seconds to become relevant. If it’s unreadable –Forget it about it! Design Principle one in my book – Readability is key.

HUMP DAY - Inspired Creativity

My inspiration of the day goes to the team over at AIGA. The team is composing a design archive for the year 2008, for the‘AIGA Annual Design Competitions’. It consists of company brands and logos, package design, motion graphics, book design etc. You can be there for awhile, the archive is increasing to 365 designs. Not to worry it’s broken up in categories. Guess what? If you are interested, you can submit your design, deadline is March 5th, 2009. Get over there and take a look www.aiga.org/content.cfm/about-365. What are you waiting for? "Dare to be Inspired"!

Media101 Getting Started

As we continue on the series of creating a Media Dept./Team - Last week we discuss picking out video cameras. This week - video switcher/mixer, this requires a bit of research. The purchase a video mixer can easily reach $5,000 - $10,000 for a mid-range mixer. You have to take in consideration audio, special effects, if you will travel or in studio, traveling you want a carrying case specialized for video mixers, monitors - to save money we use two portable DVD players. For a newbie I would suggest a mixer with at least 3 input sources, maybe preview capabilities. The choices are endless; I am in the mist of upgrading our 2 channel mixer to at least a 4 channel, for the moment I have no recommendations. We shall educate one another. If you just want experience or maybe an option is video mixer software. I prefer the video mixer.

TGIF -

Thank God Its Freeware available. Thank you once again to all the authors that contribute to Freeware, you guys help us all in the computer community. So my freeware of the week is YouTube Downloader, it not only downloads, it capable of convertering video as well. Some of YouTube Downloader features, many supported video file formats - Google Video, Yahoo Video, and others, converts to - IPod, Iphone, PSP, Cell Phone, Windows Media, XVid and MP3. Available at www.download.com

FREE(Friday EVE) Inspired Creativity

My inspiration of the day goes to Godiva and The Bryant Park Hotel in New York teaming up to create a chocolate hotel room, available only to one (very lucky) couple for an Ultimate Chocolate Fantasy weekend. It's the Grand Prize of this year's Godiva Valentine's Day Promotion, check link for details. Very creative, what are you waiting for? "Dare to be Inspired"!

Media 101

As I was considering this post, I thought about our DVD Ministry and how far we have come. Each step has been a growing process but when I see my son working the camera a smile comes to me. His shots are awesome and I think his youth works for him, the way he sees' the next shot. I think young people- always being in a rush- works well in this situation. Anyway, the next step is to research a video camera http://www.videomaker.com has great reviews but I suggest you look locally just to get experience. Ask around you may have a friend that has knowledge in videography. We will continue next week with selecting a videomixer.

TGIF

Thank God Its Freeware available. Thank you once again to all the authors that contribute to Freeware, you guys help us all in the computer community. So my contributor(s) of the week is Irfanview, a graphic viewer software. Some of IrfranView features, many supported file formats - including Photoshop, email options, multimedia player, slideshow and dvd burn capabilities, etc... A nice small, fast portable viewer...

FREE(Friday Eve) Color with Black and White

When to use black and white for an image? Being in the media business, videography, photography, design, etc… The question arises at some point and time? Is color too much for an image?
Does it capture the essence of the moment? For example - a wedding picture, the bride is in a white and the groom is in black. Black and white tone gives it that natural-classical look, a vintage look. The black and white tone gives it the seal of approval.

Hump Day Inspired Creativity

My inspiration of the day goes to the team over at Mindsmack. The team is doing some awesome award winning web design, programming and flash animation. You can easily spend 15 minutes or so browsing around their website. I love the creativity and the experimenting with character illustration. Get over there and take a look www.mindsmack.com What are you waiting for? "Dare to be Inspired"!

medianiche: Media 101

medianiche: Multimedia Mania - Media 101

Media 101

Part III of creating a Media Department/Ministry. Recap - Part I; identify volunteers and implementing CDs for sale. Part II, labels and covers and the importance of branding. For more information see links. Implementing DVD production; this can be pretty complicated but I will break it down into of three vital pieces; Pre-Production (Planning), Production (Video) and Post Production (Editing). The one website that has a wealth of information and I highly recommend is www.videomaker.com/. This website has tons of tutorials, reviews, forums etc...
So let's get started, what I consider the most important is the lighting of the “Shoot” which is probably the least considered when putting together a DVD production. You can have the best video cameras on the market, video mixer and all the latest but poor lighting will cancel all your - once in a lifetime shots. Next week we will get more into the specifics.