Old Dog, New Trick

The photo businesses (DWP and Lightsmith Imaging) are both going gangbusters. In fact, it's getting harder and harder to find the time to work on my ever-increasing crush of unfinished customer projects. I have been trying to streamline my workflow wherever possible. Sometimes small changes can make a big difference.

Post-processing of images represents probably my biggest time black-hole, so I am always looking for new and better software to help me out. Lightroom has really sped up my processing compared to having to pop every picture into Photoshop. In fact, I probably process 90% of my photos entirely in Lightroom now, only going into Photoshop for the big edits. I can process 800 photos from a wedding in an hour or so now, something that used to take a day. Upgrading my storage system to a single Drobo capable of 16TB also helped as I don't have to constantly move files around in an ever-expanding galaxy of hard drives.

One particular challenge has eluded me until now. Designing wedding albums and other large projects with complicated layouts. I have tried all kinds of different ways to speed up these jobs up but I always went back to Photoshop, which does a fantastic job but requires boatloads of time to create each page.

But recently I have switched over to using a publishing program called Adobe InDesign, the same software used to create magazine and book layouts all over the world. Funny that I never considered trying that software before, looking at the similarities between wedding albums and magazine layouts. But I tried it this week after watching a video online that showed a photographer creating an album with it. And I'm so glad I did because it works fantastically. I only had to use the demo for one project before I was hooked. I bought it the same day. Creating album layouts with InDesign is a fast, accurate, creative process. And the whole wedding album can be in one file. Photos are linked back to Photoshop so you can go back for changes, which auto-update back into InDesign. It just...works.

This approach already easily cuts album design in half for me, and that's counting the learning curve, it will be even faster when I master the program. It's like a light went on. Huge, huge difference in efficiency. Worth every penny.

Here's an example...a fragment of a tutorial for applying rounded corners to a photo in Photoshop. It really illustrates the difference in these two programs when doing page layouts:

"Ever want to make your photos or drawings more elegant-looking by having rounded corners? Here's how to do it in 12 easy steps..."

Twelve steps! It's a one-step process in InDesign and you can apply it to the whole project all at once if you like.

So I learned something this week. And yet, the search goes on for better and faster ways of doing things...I'm thinking of trying out a track ball as a replacement for my mouse because I can't find a mouse that really works well for me.

Back In The Day

Here are some vintage pics of MCS (MCD) to contrast with the post-apocalyptic pics from the other day.

Sponges In Dresses

The odd grouchy Santa aside, the girls really love their new daycare. It's a really great place, and the owner, "Miss Dee Dee"*, seen here, is wonderful. She's as easy-going and pleasant as the previous daycare's owner was rude and crabby.

In Brooke's room they have all the scooters, toys, balls, and play sets any toddler could want. And Brooke's teachers are really good too.

Madison's room is amazing, complete with a two-story library-loft, enclosed in Plexiglas, where the kids can read or dress up in one of the many little gowns and pretend to be princesses and princes.

And this place is very big on teaching. They follow the model of the schools of India, where kids are taught pretty complicated things very early on. Kids are sponges at this age and this place takes advantage of that fact by cramming all kinds of fun stuff into their little noggins, and making it all look like play. The kids have to really think. New words and concepts are spoken in multiple languages. They have to keep a calendar of events that they consult every day, and they learn lots and lots of new words. They read books and talk about what they mean. Maddie has shown a marked advancement in the short time she has spent at this new daycare.

Of course, even with all this new stuff going on, there is always time left over to dress up in a gown and learn how to get along with the other princesses and princes.

* That's her stage name. :)

The Mug Club

Yesterday was the Winter Solstice party Black Lotus throws every year for the "Mug Club" members. This is when "The Gift" arrives, their Belgian Ale that is so yummy.

The New Glass

David Wild Photography is now the proud owner of a new lens. This one is the excellent and razor-sharp 24-70L f/2.8, which will be the "middle lens" in my arsenal. I've already got the awesome 70-200L f/2.8, which pretty much covers me for telephoto. This 24-70 will be playing in the mid range to wide territory. And my next one will be the 16-35L f/2.8 to cover the ultra-wide zone.

Ahh yes, it's all coming together.

Lookin' Old

The New Man

We had Lisa and her brand-spanking-new boyfriend over for a Mexican feast last night. Turns out he's a really nice guy, and he loved playing with the kids. Zach gave him quite a going-over too, just to test his mettle. He hit the poor guy with wrestling, tug of war, and a few iPod Touch games all in rapid-fire succession. Maddie got into the fray too.

He liked my cooking and my pictures, beyond the new-boyfriend politeness I think. He didn't waste any time helping me out in the kitchen, he made some of the corn tortillas and he brought really good tequila so I think he's a keeper!

But I guess that's really up to Lisa. :)

Unfortunately we don't have much in the way of photographic evidence that this guy really exists.

Le Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé!

A belated Beaujolais Nouveau day to you! We were still in the hospital yesterday and didn't get to pour one down, but we will fix that so very soon.

...And He Doesn't Do Windows

One more cool thing: Bam's a Mac user!

Rocking The House

My brother Mark and sister-in-law Mary have a very cool coffee table in their house. I loved it the first time I saw it, it's so interesting and unique.

It's a hundred year old trolley, used in the furniture factories of Grand Rapids in days long-past. Mary has a friend who restores and sells them. I had to ask her how much it was, because I really wanted one.

Eighty-Five bucks!!!

Well, anyone with any sense can see that these are worth WAY more than $85. It's the real deal - made of hardwood, and the wheels are solid cast iron. But this kind woman only charges for her materials, not her time - which is considerable.

My brother Mark was in an antique shop in Traverse City and saw one exactly like this going for around $3,000! What's more, he knows of someone who has dozens of un-restored carts lying around in a barn. I think he smells and opportunity brewing. I wouldn't doubt if he went and bought the lot of them for Mary to restore :)

Anyhow, we got ours this weekend, and it's really "grand", with a serious helping of presence. Mary says it's the kind of unique conversation piece that makes a house "Rock". And it does, this 100 year old cart looks great in our one-month-old living room. It bestows instant authenticity. And you don't have to worry about the kids ruining it, it's built like a tank and it's seen worse, probably much worse, than anything we could throw at it.

Sorry, but don't bother asking me for this woman's phone number. She's on to the game now. We got the last of the bargain-carts. I think she'll be raising her price a bit for her next one.

Like, by a few grand.

100 Percent

Our new house is completely done. Everything.

Now we just need to make it a home.

New Stuff

Jake has a rigid three-step process for dealing with new things that show up in our yard:

1) Sniff it.

2) Pee on it.

3) Ignore it.

Here he is deep into step 1 with our spring flowers.

Eye(s) Right

I have added a panel to the right that lists the latest post of each my friend's blogs. It's also sorted most recent post first. So now you can keep up to date on all the crazy stuff going on off-site.

Sorry if I outed anyone. If you'd rather remain secret, please let me know and I'll remove you from this short and very exclusive list.

Cool Stuff. Soon.

Twice a year Apple has big events and unleashes cool new stuff to an aching, tech-needy world. Today is one such event, the World-Wide Developers Conference. Steve goes live at 1PM EST. Cool stuff coming soon. Very soon.

We Have A Winner...

I have just been handed a news release that confirms that Brandy has guessed Heather's "condition". Congratulations Brandy, you're the first one. All my other readers are wallowing in a deep fog and have been half-wondering why I keep posting pictures of blueberries and kidney beans and quarters.

Geometric Multiplication

Getting bigger, every day!

She Came, She Cleaned

Well, Ala was everything we were promised. And more. She stayed for 12 hours and our house looks brand new. Heather thinks she even drained the dogs' anal sacs :)

Seeds

If you are in the know, you know what this means. If not, just wait...