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Sick and tired of the same old boring background on your desktop? Mac Desktops (which also work fine on Windows machines) has plenty of high quality graphics in multiple sizes. Choose your fave, choose your resolution, and grab. From This is True for 4 January 2004 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Ben LongRichard HarringtonOrlando Luna List Price: $54.99 Amazon Price: $34.64 Editorial Review: Fully updated for Aperture 2, this comprehensive book-DVD training combo starts with the basics of image management and takes you step by step all the way through Aperture's powerful photo-editing, image-retouching, proofing, publishing, and archiving features. Aperture 2's new features are completely covered, including a new RAW-image processing engine, a streamlined interface, powerful new adjustment tools, and added integration with Mac OS X and other Apple products for instant web publishing and one-click portfolio syncing. Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 2 delivers comprehensive training - the equivalent of a two-day course - in one project-based book. You'll learn time-saving techniques for sorting, ranking, and organizing images, effective methods for correcting and enhancing images, plus efficient ways to display images for client review, apply metadata, update your online portfolio automatically, and much more. Real-world exercises feature professional photography from a variety of genres, including photo-journalism, sports, wedding, commercial, and portraiture. All the files you need to complete the exercises are included on the DVD.  By: Barbara Brundage List Price: $44.99 Amazon Price: $29.69 Editorial Review: Good news: Adobe's finally released the new Mac version of Elements. Bad news: It still doesn't come with a decent user's manual. But who cares? Author Barbara Brundage has revised her bestselling Elements book just for Apple fans. From gentle introduction to sophisticated tips, this book's your guide to getting the most out of Elements. Author Barbara Brundage's Top 10 Elements Tips 1. Always back up your photos as soon as you get them out of your camera. You can burn a CD or DVD right in the OS X finder (just drag your photos to the disc icon in a Finder window sidebar, then go to File>Burn Disc), or copy to an external hard drive, before you do any editing. Elements 6 also lets you burn discs from Bridge (File>Burn CD/DVD) . For really important photos (wedding and baby pix, for example), it's not a bad idea to burn a disc and keep that someplace else, like your safe deposit box or with a friend or relative. Then, no matter what happens, you won't have to worry about losing your photos. 2. Never, ever work on your original photo. Always make a copy (File>Duplicate) and work on that. If you use a program like iPhoto, Lightroom, or Aperture to organize your photos, those will save your original separately from your edited version for you. 3. Sharing photos. There are all kinds of fun, creative ways to share your photos in Elements 6, and Create Mode makes it super easy to explore them all. Try making a photobook or a fancy collage, or upload your photos to EasyShare or one of the other online services to create mugs, bags, and other cool gift items with your photos on them. 4. Don't scorn the auto buttons. If you've never tried these one-click fixes -- Auto Levels or Auto Color, for example -- give `em a try. Each version of Elements gets a little smarter and you may find that you like the results you get from one of these easy-to-use fixes. 5. Panoramas for everyone. You don't need to feel wistful anymore about the fact that your point and shoot camera's lens doesn't have a true wide-angle setting. Take a series of photos with, ideally, about a 30% overlap and Elements' Photomerge will automatically stitch them together into a panorama wider than you could have captured with the widest lens. (If you've tried Photomerge in previous editions of Elements, the Photomerge in Elements 6 is a whole new thing -- totally automated and it does terrific blending to eliminate visible seams between images.) 6. Batch processing with RAW. If you shoot RAW format photos, now you can apply the same settings to multiple pictures at once. Just open all the RAW files you want to work on, and then click to select each of their thumbnail-sized photos. Elements will then apply any edits you've made to the current photo to all the pictures you've just selected. 7. Crop creatively. Unless you plan to print on standard photo paper, don't feel compelled to crop your photos to standard photo paper sizes and shapes. Use cropping to emphasize the best parts of your photo if you plan to use the image for the Web or to print at home. 8. Take credit, quickly. You can put copyright info on your photos by using the Watermark feature in the Process Multiple Files dialog box (File->Process Multiple Files), or you can create a custom brush: just type what you want (the copyright symbol is Alt+0169 in Windows, Option+G on a Mac), then select your type and go to Edit-Define Brush. Save your brush and from now on you've got a one-click copyright notice. 9. Black and white are beautiful. The Convert to Black and White feature in Elements does a great job, especially if you use the sliders to tweak your adjustments, but you can create even more dramatic black and white photos by using the Dodge and Burn tools to selectively enhance contrast after converting. 10. The very best way to learn Elements is to dive right in. Open a photo and try all sorts of different things. Nobody, even great Photoshop gurus, knows exactly what will happen to any given photo when you combine different filters and effects. Experiment, and you'll quickly see why Elements is so addicting. You can do all sorts of amazing things you never knew you could! After more than two years, Adobe has finally released a new version of Photoshop Elements for the Mac. Version 6 packs a lot more editing firepower than iPhoto, and this Missing Manual puts every feature into a clear, easy-to-understand context -- something that no other book on Elements does! Photoshop Elements 6 is perfect for scrapbooking, making fancy photo collages, and creating Web galleries. It has lots of new features such as Guided Edit for performing basic editing tasks, an improved Photomerge feature, a handy Quick Selection Tool, and much more. But knowing what to do and when is tricky. Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual explains not only how the tools and commands work, but when to use them. With it, you will: Learn to import, organize, and fix photos quickly and easily. Repair and restore old and damaged photos, and retouch any image. Jazz up your pictures with dozens of filters, frames, and special effects. Learn which tools the pros use -- you'll finally understand how layers work! Create collages and photo layout pages for greeting cards and other projects. Get downloadable practice images and try new tricks right away. This full-color guide starts with the simplest functions and progresses to increasingly complex features of Elements. If you're ready for the more sophisticated tools, you can easily jump around to learn specific techniques. As always, author Barbara Brundage lets you know which Elements features work well, which don't, and why -- all with a bit of wit and humor. Don't hesitate: Now that Adobe's outstanding photo editor has been updated for the Mac, dive in with Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual right away.  By: David PogueDerrick Story List Price: $34.99 Amazon Price: $23.09 Editorial Review: Apple has taken iPhoto 08 to a whole new level. Now, in addition to handling upwards of 250,000 images, the program lets you easily categorize and navigate through those photos with a feature called "Events." Plus, new editing tools let you copy and paste adjustments between photos. Books and calendars have been improved, too, as has the program's ability to publish pictures on the Web. Apple makes it all sound easy: drag this, click that, and you're done. But you can still get lost, especially if you're a newcomer. iPhoto '08: The Missing Manual explains how to take advantage of all these powerful tools and new features without confusion or frustration. Bestselling authors David Pogue and Derrick Story give you a witty, objective, and clear-cut explanation of how things work, with plenty of undocumented tips and tricks for mastering the new iPhoto. Four sections help you import, organize, edit, share, and even take your photos: Digital Photography: The Missing Manual offers a course in picture-taking and digital cameras -- how to buy and use your digital camera, how to compose brilliant photos in various situations (sports, portraits, nighttime shots, even kid photography), and how to get the most out of batteries and memory cards. iPhoto Basics covers the fundamentals of getting your photos into iPhoto, organizing and filing them, searching and editing them. Meet Your Public teaches you all about slideshows, making or ordering prints, creating books, calendars and greeting cards, and sharing photos on web sites or by email. iPhoto Stunts explains how to turn photos into screen savers or desktop pictures, using plug-ins, managing Photo Libraries, and even getting photos to and fromcamera phones and Palm organizers. You also learn how to build a personal web site built with iWeb, and much more in this comprehensive guide. It's the top-selling iPhoto book for good reason.  By: Jim Heid List Price: $39.99 Amazon Price: $26.39 Editorial Review: The definitive iLife reference, completely updated and revised! The Macintosh iLife ’08 is a lavishly illustrated handbook packed with easy-to-follow instructions, essential technical background, and tips for iLife users of all levels. Now in its sixth edition, it’s the world’s top-selling iLife book. • Shop ’til you drop at the iTunes Store—and wirelessly with the iPhone and iPod touch • Create a digital media center with Apple TV and your widescreen TV set • Improve your photography and video-shooting techniques • Produce spectacular slide shows, photo books, calendars, and greeting cards • Refine your photos to perfection with iPhoto’s new editing tools • Share photos via email, .Mac Web Gallery, DVD slide shows, and more • Assemble a video library with the all-new iMovie—and share your creations on YouTube • Record and arrange your own music with GarageBand • Create and publish your own Web sites, blogs, and podcasts • Preserve the past: digitize old records, photos, and movies The book: Each two-page spread is a self-contained tutorial or set of tips. Everything you need is at your fingertips, and every page is updated for iLife ’08, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, the iPhone, and latest iPods. The Web site: Get updates, tips, and much more at this book’s companion Web site, www.macilife.com.  By: Diana Weynand List Price: $54.99 Amazon Price: $34.64 Editorial Review: Cut a scene from the USA Network television series Monk, create a promo for Seaworld’s Belief documentary, and master filters and effects as you edit a segment of BBC Motion Gallery's Living Colour documentary. Completely revised for Final Cut Pro 6 and featuring all-new footage, this best-selling, Apple-certified guide provides a strong foundation in all aspects of video editing. Renowned author Diana Weynand starts with basic video editing techniques and takes you all the way through Final Cut Pro’s powerful advanced features. Each chapter presents a complete lesson in an aspect of video editing and finishing, using actual broadcast footage. After marking and editing clips to create a rough cut, you’ll learn how to trim and refine the cut before moving on to complex tasks such as mixing sound, adding titles, creating transitions and motion effects, applying filters, real-time color correcting, and working with multi-format and multi-camera footage. |
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