How to view TIFF images on Windows XP

When nitpicking and culling images from my shoots, I tend to immediately categorize all the groups to stay organized and make it easy to reference each client. One convenient way to view images on a Windows system is using the "Filmstrip" feature when in Windows Explorer (Finder on a Mac). The problem is that sometimes XP will not recognize a folder as a file that contains images. If XP does not think that images are present, it will not give you the option to view as a filmstrip [View>Filmstrip].
If this is the case, you can simply right-click on the folder and select Properties. Then navigate to the Customize tab and select the "pictures" template from the dropdown box. Hit ENTER and proceed to the folder. Now when you select [View] you will notice that the Filmstrip option is now available.

Working with TIFF images?
Another plus about the Filmstrip view is that it allows you to view your TIFF images without the need for opening Bridge.

VEVO is the FLU shot

This is the VEVO logo ==> VEVO

Many have noticed that "VEVO" seems to be taking over the music video scene on YouTube. Many users are upset at this as it is a distracting change in normal browsing experience, forces you to view advertisements and many have been banned for copyright cases.

But this is actually good for 3 reasons,
1) It takes away from the tendency of labels to nag about their videos on users channels
2) It gets the power-ego-trippers at Viacom off their back
3) Normal users don't care about the change, advanced users care enough to research the reasoning, and hackers that only upload a bunch of other people's videos are removed! Oh and labels make money. Everyone wins.

How?
If you remember in 2008, Viacom filed a lawsuit against YouTube for copyright infringement of some 100,000 videos. It became so unconscionable that during the case, Viacom requested the viewing habits of the users as well as YouTube's source code. What? The movements were denied. I am sure that VEVO was a result of an agreement made to the case, and honestly, it's quite brilliant. I am also sure that the banning of copyright infringing users was a result.

VEVO is actually a partnership between YouTube and three of the "Big Four" record companies (perhaps the ones that chimed in on the case in favor of Viacom?). Now, anytime an artist's video is released, it is on the respective VEVO channel. It also added some functionality recently added to Myspace, the ability to purchase songs through Amazon and iTunes.

So you see, VEVO is kind of like the FLU shot; it sucks to get it, it hurts, but once it's over you reap the benefit (though the pain has already came and gone). VEVO = good.

Interesting fact: In 2009, VEVO officially launched it's own site of industry-related performances, hosted on YouTube. It currently ranks among the top 1000 most visited websites in the US.

A Jordyn Photoshoot

This morning I had the pleasure of working with A Jordyn of Brooklyn, NY. She loves to model and has an undeniable passion for art. For the past two years she has been a tattoo artist, and is currently attending school seeking her Masters. One great thing about working with Jordyn is that she enjoys the beauty of nature, and interacts with the environment [just keep the squirrels away]! She is the type of person that when she is out, she gets noticed. She has her own look, and if you are in the same room with her, you are probably going to have some type of conversation and you are guaranteed to share a smile. She was featured in the Duroseau Couture Fashion Show in 2008.

Youtube Beta-Testing Charging for Videos

I was cruising the web today and ended up on the site I end up on at least once a week, YouTube. I always go here to watch others music videos, also to watch my previous videos and note any progression. I think of it as studying. Recently, I started browsing the "Top Videos" section on the homepage, and today that landed me on hotforwords' channel. In the description, [and after realizing how hot this girl is] I noticed in bold letters "USD $0.99.

At first, I thought "huh, is she charging you to participate in the contest?" I clicked on the description and that revealed a link in which to download an .mp4 of the video. Then it clicked, YouTube is now charging people to download their videos. And wait, they probably give the partners a cut and it allows everyone to generate more revenue. Brilliant! Well, not really, it's just basic marketing. Their are obvious benefits to doing this, the main probably being to help control illegal downloads by offering a legal solution *cough* to make more $$$ *cough*

Apparently the option is only available to a limited group of publishers, just as they have run their beta tests in the past. The publisher may choose the cost and license type upon initiating the service. Google Checkout is used for making payments.

I suspect the system will officially roll out this Summer (I do not have any information to support this).

This is the video I originally saw with the option:

Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch

I was updating my twitter and ran across this awesome tweet by @petapixel. Absolutely stunning footage from the 1969 launch of Apollo 11. The footage was originally shot on 16mm film. 500 frames of history captured every in every second! More at spacecraftfilms.com

Apples Next iPhone

image courtesy Gizmodo

The internet is once again in a [technology] worldwind. The latest a tech-story: being the "discovery" of Apples new iPhone. Chatters began about the mystical device with it's front-mounted, video chat enabled camera not long after the release of the popular 3Gs. According to Gizmodo, the device was found recently, initially appearing to be an iPhone 3Gs, but upon further inspection, it was determined this is something far different. Some possible changes to the device include front/rear mounted cameras, higher resolution screen and larger battery pack. Head over to Gizmodo.com to read the full article.

Why I Will Always Use an External Hard Drive for Editing [Stills and Motion]

The days have seen plenty of options for storage medium, such as the release of floppy disks, to compact discs, to digital video discs to flash drives.  You get the picture.  Currently dominating the scene are massive storage flash drives on the compact side, and external hard drives on the larger scale.  And truth is, these two are becoming more and more similar every day, especially with the explosion of Solid State Media.
 
Historically, it has always been best to edit anything that will constantly require access to data internally.  This would prove beneficial for many reasons, including:
1)      Fast access to information
2)      Faster speed drive ie. 7200rpm+
3)      Convenience [location]
 
Originally, the external hard drive was limited to the 12Mbit/s of USB 1.0.  Things got much sweeter in 2000 with the release of USB 2.0, in which the data rate jumped to a massive 480Mbit/s.  This now makes it possible to edit off of an external drive with some sort of efficiency, but lets remember USB is still uni-directional at this point.
 
As always Intel got the jump on Apple, releasing the USB standard in 1996, after only 2 years of research.  According to [1394 TA] documentation, FireWire was initiated by Apple in 1986, though development wasn’t complete until 1995, still a year before USB.  Early versions of FireWire offered a 400Mbit/s transfer rate, which was actually slower than USB, but you must also consider that few USB devices actually saturate the entire 480Mbit/s.  As of 2008, the latest version of FireWire [IEEE Std. 1394-2008] can transfer up to 3200Mbit/s.  The fact is that FireWire is more efficient and requires less CPU.
/end history lesson
 
So why would you want to use an external drive vs. internal?  Well, if you are like me, it’s not always convenient to edit in the lab. With more powerful laptops being released [thanks to Apple for getting the ball rolling on this], it is becoming more common for Editors to work from their hotel rooms, on a flight, in the kitchen, etc… With your work on an external drive, you can easily unmount from home-base, and then hook up to your laptop and you’re good to go.  Workflow is one of the most important factors of a well-run business.  The faster your turn-around, the more productive you can be, the more options for work become available.  Anyhow, enough hyphenated text (moves to Shorter Oxford English Dictionary).
 
Another benefit of external drives is you can now keep your C: clean without having multiple internal drives.  All of your programs can run on your C: and not have a bunch of files to deal with, which also increases performance.  And holy cow, now we have external drives with eSata connections!  That means at home, you have a direct connection to your motherboard, which is visually a 0% loss in performance.  Some of these drives also have a FireWire and/or USB option in addition.  The latest versions of eSata operate at up to 6.0Gbit/s…that’s 6000Mbit/s folks.
 
The most important thing of all, backup, backup, backup!  One nice thing for those of us that shoot to tape, you have an immediate archive. At the very least, be sure to have your project files in more than one location at all times.  Same goes with stills, or any data of importance for that matter.

Any imagery used in this article is courtesy of LaCie. This is not an endorsement of their products.