What's New And Notable In
Photography And Computing
PRO
PEN TABLETS Process your images efficiently
with Wacom’s Intuos3 professional pen tablets.
Designed to reduce your need for the keyboard, the three
tablets feature ExpressKeys for customizable shortcuts
for common software operations. Touch Strips let you scroll,
zoom, change brush size, and more with a stroke of your
finger. Estimated Street Price: $199.99 (4x5 inches) to
$449.99 (9x12 inches). Contact:
Wacom, (800) 922-9348, www.wacom.com.
SPECIAL-EFFECTS
LENS Have fun and give your pictures
a new look using Lensbabies. These deliberately
low-tech optics use a flexible mount to let you move the
lens element in unconventional ways. By tilting the lens
after you’ve focused, you can keep selected parts
of your subject sharp while blurring others. List Price:
$96. Contact: Lensbabies,
(503) 453-4451, www.lensbabies.com.
GENERAL-PURPOSE
CLEANING KIT Clean your camera and lenses,
LCD monitors, CDs and DVDs, and your computer, too, with
the Giottos CL 1011 Cleaning Kit. The compact kit
includes a bottle of multi-optical cleaning solution,
a lens- and monitor-safe microfiber cleaning cloth, a
retractable goat-hair brush and cotton swabs so you can
take care of all your gear easily. List Price: $8.95.
Contact: HP Marketing
Corp., (800) 735-4373, www.hpmarketingcorp.com.
SIMPLE IMAGE-MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE Find and organize the photos
you’ve stored on your computer easily with free PhotoShow
Express software. The program performs basic color
and brightness adjustments with a single mouse-click and
takes care of red-eye, too. You also can create musical
slideshows with your images, and order calendars, mugs
and custom DVDs online. Price: Free. Download
at:www.simplestar.com.
IMPROVE
YOUR PORTRAITS Help your portrait subjects
look their best with FaceFilter Studio software from Reallusion.
The program smoothes skin, eliminates red-eye and reduces
the oily shine on your subject’s face. FaceFilter
also gives you control over your subject’s expression,
letting you enhance the smile, raise an eyebrow or widen
the eyes easily. Suggested Retail Price: $59.95. Contact:
Reallusion, (888) 668-7953, www.facefilter.com.
ORGANIZE AND OPTIMIZE YOUR
IMAGES Catalog your images easily
with StudioLine Photo 2. The software creates a
searchable database with thumbnails of your images, including
those you store offline on CDs and DVDs. The program’s
inventive method for adjusting your images gets the job
done fast, without affecting your original data. Suggested
Retail Price: $44 (download); $49 (boxed). Contact:
H&M Systems Software, (201) 934-3414, www.studioline.net.
CREDIT
CARD-SIZED 2.2 GB DRIVE Transfer hundreds of your images
and other files to an ultra-portable Zipper 2.2 GB hard
drive from Kanguru Solutions. Little larger than
a credit card, the Zipper features a swiveling USB 2.0
connection that moves your data fast. The 4,200 rpm drive
works without drivers on current Windows and Mac systems,
and resists shock to 1,500 Gs. Suggested Retail Price:
$219.95. Contact: Kanguru
Solutions , (888) KANGURU, www.kanguru.com.
PENTAX
MACRO LENSES Shoot ultra-close-up images
on your Pentax D-SLR with the smc Pentax-D FA Macro 50mm
ƒ/2.8 and smc Pentax-D FA Macro 100mm ƒ/2.8.
Both lenses are optimized for digital imaging while still
covering the full 35mm frame. The lenses focus down to
life-size for a field of view about an inch wide at closest
focus. List Price: $499 (50mm); $799 (100mm). Contact:
Pentax, (800) 877-0155, www.pentaxdigital.com.
Hard Copy
A Beginner’s
Guide to Digital Video by Peter Wells (AVA Publishing
SA, 2004, ISBN: 2-88479-037-3). This portable handbook starts
with an overview of digital video equipment, formats and basic
digital processes, then focuses on three key areas of digital
video: shooting, editing and sharing.
The Photographic Guide to Exposure
by Chris Weston (Photographers’ Institute Press,
2004, ISBN: 1-86108-387-4). Easy-to-understand sections teach
you how to control camera functions for correct exposure,
cope with challenging lighting conditions, manipulate exposure
to create mood, and much more.
Classic Portrait Photography
by William S. McIntosh (Amherst Media, 2004, ISBN: 1-58428-132-4).
Lighting, posing and exposure strategies from a seasoned professional
will help you produce superior portraits in the studio, on
location, in black-and-white and with various subjects.
Beginner’s Guide to Adobe
Photoshop Elements by Michelle Perkins (Amherst
Media, 2004, ISBN: 1-58428-138-3). Learn the basics of working
with digital images quickly and easily in Elements, a powerful
and affordable software.
