Photo Asset Mgmt./Workflow Features

The Best App for Managing Digital Assets

Most designers and photographers rely on Photoshop. But to save ourselves from drowning in an ocean of digital assets, we also need an app dedicated to managing those assets. If you want to stay in an Adobe workflow, that means either Lightroom or Bridge. Which one is right for you?

Best of the Blogs: April 21, 2011

Here's what you may have missed in the blogosphere over the past few weeks. Get tips for caring for you camera, fending off pushy designers, and taming that pesky Illustrator. Peer into the InDesign dreams (or nightmares) of designers and see the first digital camera ever. Get up close and personal with Roger Black, Matthew Carter, and Jonathan Ive. And watch video clips of print jobs gone awry. Just think "Pink!"

Free For All: Spring into Photoshop Freebies

This installment of your favorite freebies feature is all about Photoshop. I'll point you toward resources that optimize the app and add a grid tool. Then I'll give you a huge assortment of textures and some useful image-editing actions.

Apps for the Mobile Creative: Part 2

Creatives on the go need to stay creative. You can do that with apps that let you view and create color palettes; designing and identifying fonts; plan and control photo shoots; and keep mobile devices safe and secure.

Free For All: No Payment Necessary

Discover an online service that lets you create smoke and flame images; browse thousands of fonts; import and export Photoshop workspaces; and set up conference calls for as many as 95 users that can last for up to 6 hours. And as always, it's all free.

Free For All: Great Resources On the House

Enjoy free snowy Photoshop brushes, colorful Twitter themes, InDesign data merge help, outdoor photo shoot help, design critiques, and an icon converter.

Free For All: Photoshop Brushes, Fonts, and Image Tools

One free online tool lets you easily extract colors from images and share them. Another resizes, renames, and convert folders full of images. I also have lots of free Photoshop brushes and fonts -- everyone's favorites!

Free For All: This Stuff's Worth Paying For, But You Don't Have To!

There's something for everyone this month: designers of iPhone Web sites or iApps; type lovers; business owners; and people who just want to compress the heck out of online images.

iPhone Apps for Designers

Yes, iPhones are good for phone calls, text messages, email, and of course, games. But many iApps are truly useful additions to a designer's toolbox. Here are a few of the better apps, which range in price from free to $9.99.

Photo Murals Make You Think Big. Really Big.

For this children's museum in California, one intrepid creative pro produced an 18-gigabyte HDR Photoshop file, a 19-foot-long printout, and a 9-foot-high neon sign.

HerGeekness Says: Convert a File, Any File

When clients hand you files so ancient or obscure that they're unreadable, don't despair. Part 1 of my file conversion survival kit will have you repurposing those files lickety split -- without asking the client to lift a finger, and without forcing you to buy every application under the sun just to open the occasional weirdo document.

Learn Wedding Photography from the Pros

What gear do you need? What settings are best? What shots are must-takes? And how do you protect your media and your business? Three professional wedding photographers spill their secrets.

Photography Secrets from One of the World's Top Shooters

Joe McNally, whose work has graced the pages of Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, and Time (to name a few), shares the stories behind some of his greatest shots as well as the lighting techniques he used to make them great.

Set Them Free!

Find and use the free images and photos hidden in common applications.

Going with the Flow

A Visual Designer Transitions from the Silver Screen to Your Computer Screen

Do You Need Pricey Photo Software?

If you're a digital photographer who shoots regularly, you can benefit from workflow software. But if you already have Bridge (which comes free with Photoshop), do you really need to pay for Aperture or Lightroom? Read this and find out.

Captain, Please Report to the Bridge

In CS3, the Bridge is a better command center.

Shedding Light on Lightroom

The release date of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 is now public. But how much do you really know about the app itself? Read this interview with Mark Hamburg, the founder of the Lightroom project, for the inside scoop.

66 Simple Ways to Be Green

You are just one person. But we, the creative professional community, are a significant force. The choices we make matter. If you follow through with just one of these 66 tips, you'll have improved the environment we all live in.

First Look at Aperture 1.5

Let our expert take you on a in-depth tour of the just-announced Aperture 1.5, Apple's pro-level digital imaging software.