Category: Reviews

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Mylio – One Catalog to rule it all

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog Post, ReviewsLeave a comment

For a long time now I’ve been trying to find the right program to catalog all my photography ever since my first photo editor with a Catalog (Apple’s Aperture) was no more.

I have finally found the affordable solution that I have been looking for.

Before I get into the program itself, I just wanted to give a few things that I was looking for in a cataloging program.

  1. It must be able to hold all of my photography and videos. All the various file formats that I have from Nikon, Fujifilm, and since I’m an Apple person, the Apple file formats like HEIC.
  2. It must be quick to load when viewing the catalog. I don’t want to open the application and have to wait minutes for the catalog to process and open to view
  3. It must be Mac OS compatible since that is what my computer platform of choice is.
  4. It must do keywords, Albums, and view and edit metadata of the image as I do my best to keyword and organize my images.
  5. Rate, label, and flag images as needed
  6. My images can be accessed by any of the photo editors that I use
  7. It must create a backup of my catalog. You always need a backup
  8. A way to view my photos on a Map. I’m a visual person, so I want a way to look at where my photos where visually
  9. Has to be affordable

I’ve tried other platforms to solve my problem from various photo editing vendors that have a catalog as part of their application, but none fully solved my problem. They all suffered from varying degrees of slowness as I opened the programs it opened my library of nearly 300,000 images. A few programs were not bad on opening and were bearable, but then when I would close the program, there was a long delay while it processed the catalog.

The only programs that said they would do what I was looking for were designed for large business use and cost thousands of $

Mylio Photos

And then I was introduced to Mylio Photos

Mylio has filled all my requests and more.

In my view, Mylio is first a cataloging application, but it does also have editing capabilities. So not only can you use it to catalog your photography, but you can also use it to edit your as well photos (more on that later)

I will say that I will primarily focus on the Cataloging portion of the program since that is my primary interest in this application. I’ll cover the editing and other non-cataloging features in detail in a future post.

Since this will be a long post, let me put a link to their website now so you can refer to it later for more details. Psst, there is a free level too…. See info on that and how you can get a special 25% discount on Mylio Photos at the bottom of this post. (You must use the special link at the bottom of this post to get the 25% and this is a limited-time promotion)

Learn More about Mylio

For those who are visual, check out my Youtube video as I’ll cover most of the same content in this post in that video.

Features of the cataloging function of Mylio Photos

Features that I was looking for in a cataloging application for my photography

  • File Formats – Check. Covers my Raw format camera and my Apple formats (This program reads most if not all image formats along with document formats) Click HERE to see the supported formats
  • Keywords, Album, and metadata – Check. Note that Metadata editing is limited to the most commonly used fields. And you can show more EXIF data about the image. You can also add and edit an IPTC card that has your information and copyright information. There is a toggle to turn on viewing this for an image
  • Rate, label, and flag – Check.
  • Quick to load – Check.
  • Available for Mac OS – Check. (the program is cross-platform and device. Covers the most common devices) Click HERE to see the platforms supported and system requirements
  • My images can be accessed by any of the photo editors that I use – Check
  • Backup catalog- Check. Backs up the catalog and images.
  • Has a Map view – Check.
  • Is affordable – Check

Features that I call bonus features as they go above and beyond what I was originally looking for.

  • Can sync images from my phone. Before I was exporting the images from my phone or Photos on my Mac to import into my catalog. It works for both iOS and Android
  • The ability to see your entire library on all devices. With my other solutions, I could see only what I shared. It was never the entire library and it wasn’t across all my devices at the same time. There has been many a time I wanted to show someone an image, but it wasn’t one of the images I was syncing or had in my iCloud Library.
  • Can create multiple backups of my catalog and full-resolution copies of the images in that catalog via Vaults to multiple locations.
  • Can import from Facebook, Flickr, and Google Photos directly into your catalog
  • Import from Hard Drives or other storage media
  • and of course import from Camera and SD cards.
  • Your source files do not have to all be in one location. Although I am merging mine into one large external drive, you don’t have to, you can have your images wherever and on whatever media the Mylio can see and add those images to my catalog. You will have all the functionality of Mylio even with offline media as long as your vaults are available.
  • You can add documents to your catalog. So Mylio not only covers your photos it can be used for documents as well. Although I do not plan to use this feature
  • OCR. Mylio will index all text in the document and in your photos so you can search for any text shown.

There are many many features in this latest Release of Mylio Photos and I’m new to the program so I’m sure I’m not listing them all.

The overview of Mylio Photo

This is your cataloging application. Use this to catalog your images and then use your favorite Editor or Mylio to edit your photos. Let the apps do what they do best.

Supports almost all modern devices as Mylio devices so you can view, edit and access all your images on all your devices and have those changes quickly show up on your other devices.

Built-in backup of all your images via Vaults. The more Vaults the better the backup

You can edit, search, keyword, and organize how you like, this program is very flexible and you can organize more than just photos.

There is a lot to this program, so I’m going to have follow-up posts to cover smaller chunks at a time. But here are a few highlights.

One important fact, this is NOT a Cloud service. All your photos live on your devices. You do have the option to add a cloud service as a Vault, but it is not required.

And for those who have a slower internet connection, all the syncing is peer to peer, meaning if all your devices are on your home network, the syncing between your devices occurs just on your home network. No uploading via the internet and back down to your devices.

The Mylio Dashboard.

The Dashboard is the entry view to give you an overview of your Mylio environment to see how everything is doing.

The Mylio Photos Dashboard.

Calendar view

At first, you may say, calendar view, ok nothing too special there. But unlike other programs that can show you events based upon searched dates, this one shows it to you on a calendar. Not only does it do that, but if you connect it to your computer’s calendar, it can look up events on your calendar and match it up with the dates of your phots and show that event on your calendar.

  • Example Tile showing and Event
  • Calendar viewed by years

In the example above from Washington DC, I was viewing the calendar view in the year view, and in the year 2016, I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival. My calendar entry for that was labeled “Cherry Blossom Peek in DC”. So Mylio saw the dates of my connected calendar and added the event automatically. Now if I click on that event in the calendar view, it takes me to all the photos that I took at the Cherry Blossom Festival that year.

Other ways to view your images

  • Mylio All Photos View
    All Photos View
  • Album View
  • Folder View
  • Map View
  • People View

Overview of each of the views above

  • All Photos view – This shows you all the photos in your Mylio Library and lets you easily scroll through and view the photos in your library
  • Album View – Let’s you group your photos into any grouping you like. There is also a Category option not shown. Albums are for more specific groupings, Categories are for more general. An example would be The category of Travel and then have albums for each individual trip.
  • Folder View – This shows the folder structure of your Mylio Library. This is the same folder structure you see in your OS if you viewed it via your operating system.
  • Map View – For any Geotagged images you have in your library, you can view them on a Map of the world to see where you have taken your photos. For images that are currently not geotagged, it is very easy in the program to add that information
  • People View – View images that have been tagged with the faces of people. Mylio does an excellent job of finding people in your images and letting you identify them. If you have identified a person in around 4-5 images, that is enough for Mylio to search the rest of your images and find that person in more of your images. You will then be able to confirm that they are the right person.
  • Not Shown, the Search panel. Mylio has a search bar where you can search for images in a variety of ways.

More details on each of these views in a future posting.

Photo details

Image with the Info Panel

Of course, we all like to see some details of each photo. Mylio shows this when you select an image and click on the info panel for that image. You can see the technical details about the image such as the camera and lens used, the filename, the date created, and more metadata. Some of which you can add your own information or modify what exists.

Editing

Mylio has basic editing features as part of the application and here is a sample of the options. I will go into detail on editing in a future post.

Partial view of the Editing option

The Open with Option

This is one feature I’m going to use a lot as I prefer to use photo editors that do a bit more than what Mylio currently can do. Here is an example of some of the applications you can open from within Mylio, and it will send the image that you had selected when you choose the Open with to that application.

Your Open with menu will differ depending on the apps you have. And if an app isn’t in the menu, you can always choose other

Now, what Mylio is not good for in my opinion

Printing

Mylio is not the program I would use for printing as the printing options are limited. For starters, it appears that the max print size is 8 x 10. and it is basic printing options. More advanced printing options such as color profile etc are not included.

For the average home user, this might be enough, but I print much larger prints for my Art Shows, so this is a no go for me and I’ll continue to use my other programs for printing my artwork.

For editing it’s ok, but I’ll still be using other programs as mentioned above.

The program has the basic editing tools that most folks would want to use including presets (you can create your own), an auto adjustment, white balance, Tones, red-eye removal, a basic brush tool, and a details tool. You can also compare your before and after images and see the histogram. It does edit RAW files for those supported cameras and if you take RAW and jpg and have both images, you can select which one you edit. But for more advanced editing you will need an external program.

How to get Mylio and a special discount

Mylio is free to download and use on up to 3 devices and 5000 photos. So you can always download it and try it out for free.

After that, there is an unlimited number of devices and an unlimited number of photos subscription that you can purchase for a monthly or yearly fee.

As part of their Mylio Photos 22 release, they are offering those who requested it on their website a 20% discount on their subscription. But since you are one of my readers, I can offer you a 25% discount on your subscription purchase. I’m assuming this extra discount they are letting affiliates provide is for a limited time, but they have not said one way or the other. So if you are considering it, purchase your subscription at the discounted rate. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Click the button below and you will automatically receive your 25% discount.

Mylio | Account Signup (Special link for 25% discount)

The offer expires on June 22nd, 2022 (has been extended), but you can take advantage of the offer now and change your mind with the 30-day money-back guarantee if needed. But I don’t think you will as this is a great app

Note: you must use the button above to get access to the special 25% off offer. After creating your login, or logging in to your account after using the above link you should see the following button on your account page.

If you do not because you either refresh the page or when to another link, come back to this page and click the link again to see the 25% button on your account.

When you click the button you will be sent to the account signup page to create your Mylio Account if you do not have one, or you can sign in to your existing account. By creating an account you can download the software and try it in the free mode for up to 5000 images and 3 devices. If you decide to use the free version for a while, you can still come back to my page and click the 25% discount button above, and then log in to your account to get the discount when you decide to upgrade.

Or if you just want to learn more, click the button below but don’t forget to use the above button to create your account and get your discount.

Learn More about Mylio

Mylio courses

Mylio has started generating courses for their app. As of this writing, they have an excellent Mylio Photos Fundamentals course that covers everything you need to know to get started with Mylio. Click the button below to go to their course site.

Mylio Courses

My quick thoughts on this program

I’ll admit, I’m a fan of this program and look forward to using it to organize my mixed-up photography storage and get it all organized and easily accessible from all my devices. I like it so much that I’m breaking my usual rule of not purchasing subscription software. I fully believe the price to be worth it to be well organized, easily searchable, viewable, and modifiable on all my devices. I think you will like it too.

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

Look for more specific feature articles and videos to come from me.

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Luminar AI Review Part 2 – Templates

On By Mark DoddIn ReviewsLeave a comment

OK, now that you have your images in LuminarAI via the Catalog, on to the next section.

Templates

Templates in LuminarAI are what use to be called Looks in Luminar. In other programs they may be referred to as presets. But basically they all do the same thing. They are a pre-set set of settings that you can apply to your image to give it a certain look.

Getting started with Templates. Select the image you wish to work in in the Catalog, then click the Templates menu at the top of the window will bring you to the Templates view

Templates in Luminar AI. The menus and sections
The Templates Section Layout

As you can see from the above, this layout has several sections, but the default view you are brought to is the Templates with the recommended AI template collections shown at the top of the Templates menu. Below the AI Template section are other categories of Templates that you may choose to use and those include.

Template All Categories Menu
The Template Categories of Templates that come with Luminar AI

The top right of the window contains the Template Collection that Luminar AI has recommended based upon the photo that you had selected. In my example you will note that it recommended the “Monochrome” Template Collection as one it things I should like to try with this image. I suspect it choose this collection first since this is a Black and White image. There are additional recommended template collections to the right of the Monochrome Collection and to view those, you swipe to see the additional recommended Template collections.

My Collection

The Star below the “Magic Wand“ as I’m calling it is the “My Collection” menu selector. In this section, you will see any templates that you have marked as your favorites, any that you have purchased via Luminar Marketplace, User Templates (Those that you have created yourself, Yes you can do that), and lastly, Legacy Templates. The Legacy templates are where you will find any templates you have from the previous version of Luminar that are compatible with Luminar AI. Most seem to transfer in my case, but any that use depreciated tools that are no longer in LuminarAI will not transfer and would not be shown.

My Collection Templates
My Collections Menu

I’m still deciding on my new favorites, I haven’t purchased any yet, and have yet to create any myself, but you can see I have several Legacy Templates to go through in my “My Collections” menu. I’m not sure yet if LuminarAI will use any of these in the recommended Templates yet, but I suspect not. My thinking there is the newer template collections probably have additional information as part of the collection that is used the AI when determining if it is a good fit. That and I have several templates that are shown in my Legacy Templates section that are good for Black and White images and they were not included in the recommend Template collections section. If I find out otherwise, I’ll update you here.

Template Collection

Once you decide on a template collection to use, you now get to choose the specific template from that collection. Each will have its own settings and a slight variation or adjustment, That’s what makes them their own template. but have the same general theme, thus the collection.

Template Collection Description of Menu/sections
Template Collection

Above is the view of the Monochrome collection that was recommended for my image. In this collection there are 5 templates. To see your image with each template, all you need to do is click on each template and LuminarAI immediately applies the templates settings to your image.

Be sure to slide the adjustment slider to see if your image looks better with a bit less of this template applied. This is one feature of LuminarAI and for that matter, other Skylum programs that I’ve always liked. When you select a template, the effect is shown at 100%. I’ve often found templates that I like but I sometimes do not like the effect at 100% so I just slide the slider to the left to back it off a bit.

And if you don’t like the template applied, you can select another, or just choose the Reset Adjustment to go back to your image without adjustments. You know if a template has been applied as the name of the template will show at the bottom right of the window. If no template is applied, there will be no name listed, just a grayed out “Your Template”

And out goes without saying, you don’t have to just use the template collection that the AI recommends, There is many more template collections included and you can always use on of the templates included with them.

Editing a Template

Now if adjusting the slider still doesn’t get you the look you want, you can still use that template as a base. Choose Edit in the template’s menu in the bottom right to see the adjustments made in this template and to make additional changes to get the look you want.

Editing a Template
Editing a Template’s settings

Now if you have made adjustments and really like the new look you have created and think you can use this on other images, you now have the option to save this base template with your adjustments as your own custom template. Note, the save button will only show up as being available if you have made your own adjustments. The name of the new template will be the name of the Template you used with the word Edit added. But if you go to the My Collection section and go to the User Templates section, you will now see your modified template saved in this section and you can rename it here if you want by choosing the menu on the right of the new User Template.

User Templates

We will get more into the whole editing section in Part 3 of the review.

My Thoughts on Templates

Part of the focus of LuminarAI is to make it easy to do things that use to take multiple steps or were complicated to do.

I think LuminarAI accomplishes this fairly well especially with the new AI template recommendation that is based upon it analyzing the your image and recommending which template to use. I think this recommendation is going to be very helpful to you especially if you start collecting templates. If it didn’t do this for you, you could end up going down a rabbit hole of trying to find which template may work best with your image. You could spend all your time picking a template instead of creating your work of art.. Just let LuminarAI make that selection for you and save some time.

If you are new to Photo editing, this feature will help you get the best out of your images without much work, but you don’t have to stop there. The templates are just a starting point. There is much more that this program can do for you. More on that in the Part 3 – Editing Review.

For me, I use the templates as a starting point. Either to give the overall picture a certain look before I go in and make minor adjustments, or to use as a base for creating my own custom template that I would apply to similar images.

How to update to or purchase LuminarAI

LuminarAI is offered in a couple variations as of this writing. There is a 1 Seat and a 2 Seat version.

What is meant by Seat? In short, each seat is each single installation of LuminarAI by device. So if you want to have LuminarAI on two computers you need to purchase the 2 Seat license.

LuminarAI 1 Seat – Cost is $79 before discount.

LuminarAI 2 Seats Cost is $99 before discount.

Don’t forget to use my LuminarAI Coupon Code of MARKDODD to save an additional amount when you purchase.

Order LuminarAI

There is a 30 day money back guarantee from the time of shipping, which is currently set for December 15th, 2020; so if for some reason you are not happy, you can get your money back.

Please make sure your system is up to the task by checking it against the System requirements listed at the bottom of the product page. And yes, it does work with Mac OS Big Sur. But one note: LuminarAI is not yet been certified as of this writing with the new Apple M1 chip computers. I fully expect to be, but Skylum is still doing its testing on the new M1 chip hardware.

Be sure to check out Part 1 – The Catalog

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Luminar AI Review Part 1 – The Catalog

On By Mark DoddIn ReviewsLeave a comment

This review is based upon a beta version of LuminarAI, Skylum’s latest photo editor. As such some things may be a little different between the version reviewed and the final released version.

I have been a long-time Skylum customer, back even to the MacPhun days, and as such, I have seen their programs evolve over time. Some things I agree with, some I do not. I hope this to be an unbias review of their latest program LuminarAI.

What LuminarAI is and What it is not.

This is NOT an upgrade/update to Luminar 4. Despite having the base name, this is an entirely new program. Instead of just patching things in Luminar 4, Skylum made the decision to start from scratch with this new program. They, I believe, have taken the best of all their previous programs and some they acquired to make this new Photo editor that combines everything into one application.

This is NOT a cataloging program, aka DAM (Digital Asset Manager). Although you can view your images in what they have labeled a Catalog, in my option, this is more of a browser than a catalog. My view of what a catalog is is something that lets you tag, keyword, label, or add other metadata to your image. LuminarAI does not do this. There are many other programs that can serve this function well, those include Adobe Lightroom, On1, Capture One, ACDsee Photo for example.

Some initial comments

LuminarAI is intended to be a program for everyone. It has been designed for the beginner photographer and has options to add that level of user improve their image using AI but it also has the full set of tools a more advanced photographer would want to make more finite adjustments.

As part of this, LuminarAI is taking advantage of AI (Artificial Intelligence) that will analyze your image and make adjustments with little effort on your part. This seems to be a trend in photo editors, the AI bit, and I see this as becoming the norm for all photo editors. More to come on this in the part 3 review post when we get into editing.

In order not to have it be one very long post, I’m breaking it down into several parts. Part 1 will start out with the Catalog, Part 2 will be Templates, Part 3 will be Editing/Exporting

The Catalog

The Catalog in LuminarAI is quite functional for its purposes of letting you view your entire photo library. This is the view you are brought to when you open the program.

For you Luminar 4 users, important note, it does not open/convert your Luminar 4 catalog. When you open LuminarAI for the first time, it will ask you to locate your images so that it can create a fresh catalog of all your images. So, this is a bit of a repeat step but is necessary as they have written the catalog file to improve performance. At first, I thought this would be a bit deal, but after thinking about it what would I rather have done, have a new catalog that is much faster at responding and have to create my Albums from scratch, or have my albums with a slower catalog view. I’d take the faster catalog,

It has default items of All Photos, On this day, Recently added, Recently Searched (although this will only show up after your first search), and Trash (contains items you have trashed in LuminarAI, but they are not yet deleted from your physical photo library). Items are added when you select Move to Luminar Trash on any image.

There is a Folder section that shows what folders you have added to LuminarAI for it to show in your Catalog view. This folders section can contain 1 or many folders, and if you subfolders, you can expand the top-level folder to show those subfolders. The Albums section is where you can create your own Albums to help you organize your images locally or any other way you would like. It doesn’t physically move the image on your computer but lets you group images together in any way you would like.

It has a built-in search function that does let you search but image or folder name, date, or extension to help find your images wither they be in a folder, Album. Once you have found your image, you can see a bit more metadata of the image by clicking the little “i” icon on the bottom left of the Luminar window to show basic metadata information about the image, such as filename and extension, the ISO, Focal length, EV, F stop, and the shutter speed of your image; the date/time, dimensions, and file size of the image; and lastly the device it was taken on including the lens.

The interface

How to update to or purchase LuminarAI

LuminarAI is offered in a couple variations as of this writing. There is a 1 Seat and a 2 Seat version.

What is meant by Seat? In short, each seat is each single installation of LuminarAI by device. So if you want to have LuminarAI on two computers you need to purchase the 2 Seat license.

LuminarAI 1 Seat – Cost is $79 before discount.

LuminarAI 2 Seats Cost is $99 before discount.

Don’t forget to use my LuminarAI Coupon Code of MARKDODD to save an additional amount when you purchase.

Order LuminarAI

There is a 30 day money back guarantee from the time of shipping, which is currently set for December 15th, 2020; so if for some reason you are not happy, you can get your money back.

Please make sure your system is up to the task by checking it against the System requirements listed at the bottom of the product page. And yes, it does work with Mac OS Big Sur. But one note: LuminarAI is not yet been certified as of this writing with the new Apple M1 chip computers. I fully expect to be, but Skylum is still doing its testing on the new M1 chip hardware.

LuminarAI Review Part 2 coming soon

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Review of Mass Watermark

On By Mark DoddIn ReviewsLeave a comment

Have been given the opportunity to review Mass Water Mark for Mac and Windows OS. Disclosures: I have been given access to the software, but other than that I have no affiliation with the software vendor.

I’m not one to usually watermark my images and I will not get into that debate here as to why or why you wouldn’t want to watermark your images. But for those that do and need an application to watermark your images, this may be your solution, especially if you are a Windows user.

Features and notes on each platform version

The features vary between the Mac OS and Windows versions at the moment with the Windows version having the full feature set.

Windows Features

  • Add Text or Image Watermark to a collection of Images
  • Batch Resize Images to meet Web standards
  • Retouch your Images before Watermarking with Image Optimizer
  • Create your own Branding Watermark with Custom Text and Custom Logo
  • Image Optimization – Adjusting Contrast,Brightness etc
  • Direct upload to Picasa or Flicker
  • Add EXIF information
  • Watermark Designer built-in
  • Crop/Rotate/Resize the image and the image for a watermark
  • Create a Zip file.
  • Improve Image Quality by applying effects like Mean Removal,Sharpening Etc
  • Can export the watermarked image as jpeg, png, bmp, gif, or tiff. It does have an option for the original format if you want to keep it the same as the imported image.

The windows version of this app is full-featured app for creating watermarked images as well as a way to mass resize images. It can import jpeg, png, bmp, gif, or tiff images.

Below is the Mass Watermark interface. You have quick access to all the features in this one interface. The top left is where you import the images to be watermarked, the top right shows a preview of the selected image with the watermark. The bottom half is where you enter your text, image logo, and choose your various options

Windows Mass Watermark app interface

Below is the Watermark Designer interface where you can make your custom watermark with text, logo, or both and resize the logo image if needed. It lets you select the font size, type, and color and you can set options such as have the logo appear overtop of text. Once you have created your watermark, you can bring it right into the app or save it to bring into the Mass Watermark interface as a logo.

Watermark Designer Interface

Since my logo is usually a large format image I needed to scale it down and the Watermark Designer handled this very easily.

  • Logo before scaling
  • Logo after scaling

Another option under the top right section is the ability to do a quick optimization of the image. Below shows the basic editing options you can do with this app when you click Optimize.

Now that I’ve created my watermark with the Watermark Designer I have brought it into Mass Watermark and showing a preview of a watermark on which I added text and a logo. It is showing large and not transparent for easier viewing as an example.

Interface showing text and logo watermarks

Watermark Designer to create a custom watermark with a logo and customized text. I did save it for future use, but if you click the use as watermark and you will be sent back to the Mass Watermark interface and see it as a preview of one of your current images. If you choose to save it, to use it in future watermarking, you would choose the save image in the open image logo section to bring it back in. Here is an example of a custom watermark created with the WaterMark Designer.

Now in this is the interface showing the custom watermark that I created above with the Watermark Designer. Once it is in the Mass Watermark app and you want to move its location, you can double-click on the preview and it will present you with another window where you can click and manually move the watermark’s location. You could also use the logo positioning options to autosize the image, make it transparent, and choose a position. Keep in mind that the location applies to all the images you export. So take that into consideration when you position it and when you are creating it. For example, in my sample images, if I had chosen the black text for my solar eclipses images you would not see the text.

Once you have set all your options and positioned your watermark, just click the WaterMark Images button. You will be prompted on where you would like to save the watermarked images via a standard windows dialog box. Selection your location (I recommend creating a new folder) and away the program goes rendering your watermarked images. Below I show one of my images with a custom watermark. Again, I left it large and none transparent for easier viewing as I would make the watermark smaller and transparent as not to take away from the image.

Example Watermarked Image.

One note: as in my example above I have the solar eclipse image as both a jpg and tiff image in the import folder, the program is smart enough too realize that this is the same image and when applying the watermark and saving the resulting images, it only saved one version of this image. This can come in handy if you have a folder of images that you are bringing and you didn’t realize you have multiple formats of the same image

The Windows version of Mass Watermark is a fully featured program that lets you create custom watermarks, position them, and apply them to as many images as you want. If you are looking for an easy way to do this and are Windows users I can recommend this program-

Mac Features

  • Add Text or Image Watermark to a collection of Images
  • Batch Resize Images
  • Create your own Branding Watermark with Custom Text and Custom Logo
  • Can export the watermarked image as jpeg, png, bmp, gif, or tiff. It does have an option for the original format if you want to keep it the same as the imported image.

The Mac version is missing most of the features you find in the windows version. It does function as a mass watermarking and resizing app with some caveats mentioned below.

It can import jpeg, png, tiff formats. It does not import HEIC format which is one of the formats from your iPhone. You will have to convert it to regular jpeg first.

The interface is rather dated and it does have some limitations such as you cannot resize the window to take advantage of your larger screen sizes. This is still version 1.0 and was written in 2015.

I have been testing it under Mac OS 10.14 and it does run. It will open two applications, one is the Mass Watermark app that has the app menus and the other is the interface showing up as MassWatermark. This does make things a little confusing. Shown below are the two dock icons that show for this app and the Mac Interface.

  • Dock Icons
  • Mac Interface

As with the windows version, you can enter your custom watermark text, change the font and size of the text, choose the placement of the text, select a watermark logo image, and place the position of the logo image.

If you are going to use an image for your watermark, you will have to resize the image outside of Mass Watermark before you bring it into the app. If not, depending upon the size of the image, it may fill the image with your watermark depending upon the resolution of your watermark image and the image you are watermarking.

To enter your license key in the Mac version it is not obvious as there is not a menu option, you have to open the app then click the close button on the interface app and you will get prompted with the below dialog where you can enter your license key, buy the app, or quit the application.

On occasion, I have had and issue with some of the menus in the menubar of the application disappearing, but if you quit and reopen the app they come back. This is a 32bit app, so mac OS 10.14 will be the last version that can run this application as with the next version of Mac OS you can only run 64bit applications. I have been informed by the vendor that they have plans to redo of the software and I expect it will get the same features as the Windows version and be compatible with the current Mac OS at that time.

In short, though, I cannot recommend the Mac version as a whole, but if all you want to do is a text or image watermark it may work for you. I would recommend waiting on the new release when it comes out.

Download a free Trial

There support section has a complete video library on how to use all the features for the Windows Version

Price as of this review is $30

Recommended Book for Photographing D.C.

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog Post, Reviews, Tips, Washington DCLeave a comment

Book Recommendation Snap D.C. by Angela B. Pan

I would recommend reading it through as it is a quick and easy read. Once you have read it in its entirety I’m sure you will start planning your D.C. photography trips and use this book as a reference guide for your trip and future trips to D.C.

Angela goes over the locations she recommends in the National Mall area, but also includes some lessor know locations near the National Mall that are great photo opportunities. Even has a few that are just outside of the D.C. area.

She includes transportation information, the best time to shoot at the location, some of her photography from that location, and imparts some local knowledge of the area.

If you are planning a photography trip to Washington D.C. and want to know the best times to go to a location, how to get there, and how to get a different photo that everyone else in D.C. then this book is for you.

 

Currently sold only through Amazon. You can get your Kindle or Paperback

 

Get your copy of SnapDC

 

Image of the Day

Here is an image that I took of the Cherry Trees using one of the tip locations she mentions in the book.

 

 

#SnapDC #amazon #affiliate #book #washingtonDC

 

light tent

Review of the LimoStudio 16″ x 16″ Table Top Photo Photography Studio Lighting Light Tent Kit in a Box

On By Mark DoddIn ReviewsLeave a comment

The LimoStudio 16″ x 16″ Table Top Photo Photography Studio Lighting Light Tent Kit in a Box,  Model AGG349

 

I was looking for a way to photography items that I am posting on eBay and didn’t want to spend a lot of money to get a professional lightbox. This item fits the budget coming in at around $40.

 

The kit comes with everything you need for photographing smaller items.

 

This is what comes with this light tent:

  • Contents: 1 x Mini Stand Tripod / 1 x White Photo-shooting Tent, 16-inch Cubic with Color Backdrops / 2 x Table Top LED Light / 1 x Cellphone Clip Holder
  • Red, black, blue, white backdrop fabrics included
  • LED light stand specifications: 5500 Kelvin / 600 Lumen / 120° Beaming Angle / Maximum Height, 9.5-inch
  • Table Top Mini Camera Stand: Height adjustable with max 8-inch tall / 1/4-inch standard screw tip
  • Cellphone clip holder is compatible with any smartphones

 

The kit folds down flat

It as two pockets the outside in which you can store the lights and the tripod with the clip. The extra backdrops to not fit in the pockets, but you can put them under the straps or just carry them separately.

 

Light Tent Folded

 

Here is the light tent all set up on my table and ready to start.

It is easy to unfold and put together. The top is attached to the side with a velcro strip. Not really shown in this picture, but the side may not lay exactly flat against the surface you place this on but does not hinder taking pictures in any way.

Light Tent Setup

 

The two lights have built-in tripod legs that will folder up into the light base for storage. Each light has its own on/off switch and is easily movable to get the angle that you need

One note not on the description on Amazon, but indicated in the manual that came with the product is that you should not use the lights for more than an hour at a time.

The phone tripod and clip are very basic but work for most phones. You will likely have to tighten the adjustment screw a few times as it not the best at staying tight especially if you angle your phone. You don’t have to use the tripod setup as the scene will be bright enough for you to handhold your phone or camera to take the picture.

 

Here is a sample image

I took this with my iPod and is the item shown above in the light tent. This is straight out of the iPod before any adjustments that need to be made. But for the most part, no adjustments other than cropping and maybe a little shadow boosting.

Light Tent Sample image

 

Stock view of the panels included.

They are what I call fake felt panels that have velcro attached to one end so you can attach them to the back of the Light Tent. Due to the material, the one drawback of these panels is that they like to collect dust. So try to use this product in a dust free environment. If they do get dusty, your standard lint roller will clean the backdrops just fine.

Light tent stock view of panels

 

In summary:

For the price, I couldn’t ask for anything more. The lights are bright and you have a selection of the three colors as backgrounds that look good for most objects.

 

You can get this item from Amazon
 


#amazon #affiliate #lighttent #Review

Getting a website created and online in no time with Bluehost

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog Post, Reviews, TutorialsLeave a comment

So you are thinking of creating a website and not sure where to go and how long it will take, I have a quick and easy solution for you with Bluehost, my hosting provider.

These days I think everyone is in the website hosting business and there are many providers you can choose from, but I know Bluehost can can get your website up and online in no time.

Wither you are a techie and like to do everything yourself or someone who just wants to get online and not worry about the details, Bluehost has solutions for you.

So how do you get started…

Before you even go to Bluehost, I would recommend that you do a little pre planning.

Things to think about:

  1. Your domain name. Come up with a list of domain names that you might want to use. I would come up with at least 3 and order them in preferred order. There is always a chance that the name you want is already taken so you want to have your 2nd and 3rd choices ready to go.
  2. Think about the type of site you want to have. This is anything from a blog to a just a e-commerce store. Bluehost has options for any type of site that you want and I believe WordPress can accommodate most types, but if you need a specialized type of site, they have various options for those as well.
  3. Know you budget. Like every hosting site there are a ton of options from the low-end shared hosting to dedicated servers just for you site. You can always start at the shared hosting option and move up the options list to the dedicated server as needed. Also, you can get more for your money using the introductory pricing if you get multiple years of service up front. This is what I did and it has saved me a lot over my initial sign-up period
  4. Think about your content. This mainly comes in for the Basic and Plus shared hosting options as there is a limit on server space. If you site is going to be heavy on images or videos that are stored on your site you may have to go with the Pro shared site option to start as it has unmetered storage space

Knowing these things will help you deciding which of the multitude of services that Bluehost can offer that you will need to start with.

Now that you have done your pre-planned. Lets go through the steps of getting you online and up in running.

Continue reading “Getting a website created and online in no time with Bluehost” →

Review of Macphun Intensify CK and a Special Deal.

On By Mark DoddIn ReviewsLeave a comment

Review of Intensify CK from Macphun

I’ll get the basic information out of the way first before getting into my comments and review. First, this is a Mac OS only application. Sorry my Windows followers, but if you are looking for something that does run on Windows, I would check out On1’s Photo 10.5

The Intensify CK System and Software requirements

  • Mac OS 10.9 and above
  • iMac/MacBook Pro/ MacBook Air/Mac Pro/Mac Mini late 2009 or later
  • 4GB RAM and more
  • 512 MB Graphic RAM and more
  • Creative Kit is integrated as plugin with Lightroom 4,5,6 and CC; Photoshop Elements 10-14 (App Store version is not supported due to Apple Sandboxing); Apple Aperture 3.2 or later; Adobe Photoshop CS5, CS6 or CC 2014, СС 2015, СС.
  • Photos extensions support – for 10.11 only

 

Intensify CK Pricing

List price is $59.99 for the standalone application. (Look for a special limited time discount at the end of this review) You can also get it as part of the Creative Kit. There is a version of Intensify in the Mac App store, but it is a scaled down version and does not include the Plug-in support as mentioned above. To get the full features of Intensify CK you need to purchase it direct from Macphun.

Intensify CK feature set.

  • Real-Time Image Processing Engine!
  • Standalone software & Plug-in Support
  • Native 16-bit RAW Processing
  • Social integration: Facebook, Flickr, etc.
  • 68 Professional Presets
  • Advanced Structure and Micro Structure controls
  • Layers & Masking
  • Proprietary Technology for Revealing Details
  • Vignette with Custom Center
  • Proprietary Technology for Pro Contrast
  • Powerful Macro Sharpness
  • Built-in Macphun Print Lab

 

Now on to the review and my comments on Intensify CK

Continue reading “Review of Macphun Intensify CK and a Special Deal.” →

Review of Becoming An Artist Season 1

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog Post, ReviewsLeave a comment

Becoming An Artist Season 1 with Trey Ratcliff of StuckinCustoms.com

Preface

First I must say I do my best to be unbiased in all my reviews, but in this case I must disclose that I’ve been following Trey Ratcliff for years and as such I”m am a big fan so this review might be a little unintentionally biased. I’ve followed him for so long that I seen changes in his website, changes in his photography equipment, and the ever evolving changes and improvements in his photography. I’ve seen him go from a one person show to a multi artist show, to a worldwide show, and now to Facebook live. I’ve seen his business constantly expanding with new and exciting products and adventures. I also had the pleasure of meeting him in person on a photo walk he and the Stuck in Customs crew did last year in Philadelphia and Washington DC. If you want to see what that was like visit tour.treyratcliff.com

That said, let’s get to the review.

Becoming an Artist Series 1 is comprised of 15 episodes. Each episode is about 30 mins long and divided into two sections. In the first section of each episode you hear Trey tell personal stories such as a bit of his life history, how he became a photographer in his 30’s, and some of the things that inspire him in his photography and art. I believe he does this to give you a sense of where he’s coming from, how he sees the world, and what affects this has on his photography. There is some dialog just about art in general and how other art can help influence or inspire your photography. He will discuss the picture(s) he is taking at that time, why he choose to take that picture, and some tips about the picture including composition, color, light, and inspiration.

In the second section of each episode you get transported to Trey’s Studio in Queenstown New Zealand, where he will show you his editing techniques on some of the photos he took during the previous section using various tools from PhotoMatix, Lightroom,  Photoshop, and other tools like Autopano Giga for his panorama’s. He shows you basic techniques up to some very advanced techniques.

Episodes have interesting titles like

  • Episode 1 – The Accidental Creation of Me
  • Episode 6 – Writing a Failed Novel
  • Episode 10 – A Reccy to Chernobyl
  • Episode 14 – A Street Fight in Morocco

So you can see this is not your typical tutorial series.

This series was created before Aurora HDR came out, so for this season he doesn’t use his new tool, Aurora HDR Pro, which he co-developed with Macphun software.

In addition to the video series Trey has created a Facebook group “Becoming and Artist – Trey Ratcliff’s Funky Lounge” where you can post your own work and interact with fellow artists.

Continue reading “Review of Becoming An Artist Season 1” →

https://www.straighttalkbyop.com/

StraightTalk wireless review, an alternative to a more expensive plan

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog Post, ReviewsLeave a comment

 

I know this isn’t strictly photography related, but nowadays aren’t we are all using our phones to take pictures and upload them to social media or share with friends and family. So I thought I would write about my experience in switching in an effort to save money. I’m all about the discount and saving as much money as I am photography on a very tight budget.

So this is just my commentary of StraightTalk wireless being a possible alternative to a more expensive plan from the other major wireless companies that are out there. I will not refer to carriers by name in this review as coverage will vary for each carrier in your area. Just note that according to StraightTalk their plans/phones work with the major US wireless carriers.

Specifically, I will be referring to the StraightTalk Bring Your Own Device option as I switched to StraightTalk with iPhones that I already had instead of purchasing new iPhones or one of StraightTalk’s Android options.

For years my family was not on a data plan with the carrier we were with as that was what I could afford. I had looked into switching to my carrier’s data plans but it would almost have doubled what was paying at the time and not something I could afford. I’m always looking at was to trim the budget and had been looking for another option for some time. I found myself picking up the StraightTalk, Net10, and other discount carrier brochures ever now and then and was always consider switching but paying the full cost for a phone was just not an option.

Initially I was hesitant to switch as I’m an Apple ecosystem with my personal devices and as such prefer the iPhone over Android for integration reasons. StraightTalk at the time had not yet supported iPhones on their system, so I stopped looking at them for awhile. StraightTalk had started to support iPhones, but I knew the cost of a new phone was out of my reach and that the carrier I would have been placed on I knew didn’t work well in my area. If you buy a new StraightTalk iPhone or one of their Android phones you will be placed on AT&T or T-Mobile as their phones are GSM system phones and these carriers are the GSM carriers in the US.

Toward the end of last year, I started looking at them again as I had gotten a hold of some used iPhones for a reasonable cost when someone I knew upgraded and saw that StraightTalk offered the Bring Your Own Device (byod) option.

I made sure the iPhones that I got ahold of had been on the carrier that my current phones were on and is my preferred carrier of choice.  It was important to me as I wanted to stay on the same carrier I was on. Although StraightTalk says they do not guarantee which carrier you will be on, from my experience, if the phone you switch to StraightTalk was on a certain carrier that is the carrier you will end up on with StraightTalk.

I had obtained and iPhone 4 and and iPhone 5.  The switch with the iPhone 5 went very smoothly and was the first phone I switched to StraightTalk. Being the cautious person I am for this switch I did not initial transfer my existing cell number to the iPhone 5 on StraightTalk but elected to get a new number.  I purchased the StraightTalk byod Activation kit from Wal-Mart which has the network access code, Sim cards for various types of phones, and the initial 1 month of service. You can the byod activation kit direct from StraightTalk at a lower cost as they will only send you the Sim for your particular phone. The price of the kit will vary online and in Wal-Mart, but the plan was the $45/month for unlimited data of which the first 5gb of data is at LTE (high speed), then you are dropped to 2G speeds, but the important note is that it is unlimited data, granted some at slower speeds. This was a major concern to me as I had a daughter on the plan and I had the concern that a limited plan would not be enough and I would be stuck with overage charges on an already expensive plan.

I followed the instructions in the StraightTalk byod kit which had me go to the website, check that my iPhone 5 was compatible and then walked me through a series of steps where I had to enter the network access code and the plan code. And easy as that, I was a StraightTalk customer. First thing I did was go into the phone settings to see which carrier I was placed on and confirmed that it was the carrier I expected and that the phone had previously been on. After trying out the phone for a few weeks with the new phone number it was time to jump all the way and transfer an existing number to the phone.

I logged into my account and followed their instructions on how to transfer my existing StraightTalk and the instructions will vary depending upon which carrier you are coming from.  For mine, they needed my account info, contact info, and for some reason the password to my account. Not sure why they needed this so I created a temp password for them, then changed it as soon as the phone was switch. If you want to switch your phone number when you activate the phone, they will walk you through the steps when you activate your phone.

Now when it came to switching the iPhone 4 I had a bit more trouble and encounter some of the issues which I’ve read in other reviews.

I verified that the phone was compatible on their website and with the chat tech support folks, but since I didn’t have a network access code yet I had to call customer service to buy one (I could have gone and purchased one at Wal-Mart, but I needed to activate the phone that night as my daughter was taking back to school with her the next morning). This is where I had my only issue with StraightTalk so far.

I had already verified that the phone was compatible on their website and with the chat tech support, but when I called customer service, after talking all my phone info and contact info I was promptly told it was not compatible and was hung up on. So I verified it was compatible on the website and again with chat tech support and call customer service back again. I had also done a little research on the StraightTalk website and found a page mentioning you could use an iPhone 4 CDMA phone with there server and that was the type of iPhone 4  I had. I called customer service and give the phone’s IMEI #, my contact info and such and again at the end was told it was not compatible. This is where I remembered the page I had found on their site that had said the iPhone 4 CDMA phone was compatible, but to use the MEID number instead.  So I told the customer service agent to try that number and guess what, it was now compatible.

SO…. if you have an iPhone 4 phone give them the MEID number instead of the IMEI number even if they ask for the IMEI number and save you the hassle. You need to do this on the website as well when registering the phone. It is pretty much the same number except the IMEI number has one extra digit at the end.

I continued to the process to buy a network access code and they took info to set up the account. At this point I had been on the phone with the customer service agent for 40 minutes or so as I found I had to keep repeating information an even resorted to the D as  in Delta method for spelling things and have them repeat it back to me. Since I had called late at night it was getting close to midnight at this time and that is when their customer service hours end. I had just purchased my network access code and was about to activate the phone when customer service agent very quickly said, I’ve been on the phone for xx minutes, I need to transfer you to my supervisor, but he is not available and was promptly hung up on right at midnight.

I was able to login into my account on the website and complete the activation and send the phone along with my daughter.

My recommendations/comments

  • If you are not the type of person who is comfortable with doing all the interaction with a company via their website, this may not be the company for you they are setup for you to use the website for everything.
  • If you need tech support, use the Chat Tech support on the website as I found this staff to be very knowledgeable and helpful. I will never call customer service again unless I absolutely have to. I’m pretty sure the customer service phone folks were not US based and that results in some communication issues.
  • If you can, contact the chat tech support during a week day as they seem to be very short staffed on the weekends and you may be waiting and hour or 2 for someone to respond and then only have a few minutes to notice they have responded and start your query or you will have to start over again. They will disconnect you if you do not respond within 3 minutes of the agent starting their chat.
  • As with all wireless services, the base price is not the total price. But for my experience the $45 plan is just shy of $50 with my states taxes and fees for wireless services, so just keep that in mind when you are comparing pricing.
  • You do have to get the plan renewed each month as it is a month to month plan, but you do have the option for auto renewal of which I’ve done and my card was charged the day before my plan was about to expire and renewed it for the next month.

Now that it is all said and done I now have 2 iPhones with unlimited data (granted some at a lower speed), voice, and text for a less that I was paying for just unlimited voice and text with my previous carrier.  I’ve had no issues with my StraightTalk service as both phones are still on my previous carrier’s system.

You can find out all the details and make the switch on their website

https://www.straighttalkbyop.com/

#Straighttalk #Straighttalkbyod #CellPhone #wireless #Savings