9 New Awesome Mobile Apps From Adobe

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“Bring the power of desktop apps like Photoshop CC and Illustrator CC to your phone or tablet with all-new connected mobile apps. Capture colors and other inspiration, sketch and draw, and edit photos and videos — all on the go. Your Creative Profile lets you bring those assets into companion desktop and mobile apps, so you have everything you need to do your best work anywhere.”
Adobe just released 9 new mobile apps. Six of them are extensions of its major desktop apps. Photoshop Mix and Photoshop Sketch and Lightroom Mobile are for photographers; Illustrator Draw and Illustrator Line are for graphic artists; and Premiere Clip is for videographers. The other three allow you to capture content from the real world and quickly turn it into assets for use within the Creative Cloud; Adobe Brush and Adobe Color (formerly Kuler) and Adobe Shape.
My favorite? Adobe Illustrator Draw (formerly Ideas). I use it all the time!
Find out about these new Adobe Apps here.
Watch the demo for Adobe Photoshop Mix here.
Watch the demo for Adobe Lightroom Mobile here.
Find out about Adobe Photoshop Sketch here.
Watch the demo for Adobe Brush here.
Watch the demo for Adobe Illustrator Draw here.
Watch the demo for Adobe Illustrator Line here.
Watch the demo for Adobe Shape here.
Watch the demo for Adobe Color here.
Watch the demo for Adobe Voice here.
Watch the demo for Adobe Clip here.
Find out about Adobe Ink & Slide drawing tools.



3 Ways To iPhone HDR

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If you’d like to use HDR techniques for your mobile photographs you’ve got choices. Moving from simple and limited to more complex and robust, consider these three: first, the iPhone Camera app’s built in HDR function; second, the app Pro HDR; and third the app TrueHDR. I use all three, moving from one to another as the contrast of the scene increases.
The strength of HDR renderings and the artifacts they tend to produce can be varied to suit individual tastes. Regardless of whether you favor a light touch or a heavy hand, if you photograph, with or without a smart phone, sooner or later you’ll need HDR. It’s an essential technique …
Read more on The Huffington Post.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

2 Ansel Adams Apps

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These two apps give unique windows into the life and work of photographer Ansel Adams.
The app Ansel Adams includes correspondence and a rare piano performance (Adams was trained as a classical concert pianist.)
Find it here.
My favorite thing about the app Looking At Ansel Adams is the Print Explorer where dissolves show the evolution four prints over several decades.
Find it here.
Read 22 quotes by Ansel Adams here.
Watch video on Ansel Adams here.

Render Sophisticated Light FX With Rays


As far as magic moments go, few can compare to those fleeting moments when light streams from the heavens or wraps around objects, as if making visible some some divine presence. Kings and priests would pay dearly for the ability to place such signs at their command. You can have it for the simple price of an app.
Rays identifies highlights within an image and uses them as sources to render rays of light from …
Read more here.
Plus find more app reviews.

7 Great Great Resources For Developing Your Creative Mindfulness Practice


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Want to become more perceptive?
Want to improve your concentration?
Want to optimize your performance?
Want to reduce stress?
Mindfulness can help you do all of these things and more.
Some people think meditation is Buddhist; it’s pan-cultural.
Some people think meditation is religious but many forms are non-denominational.
Some people think meditation is doing nothing; there are many active forms.
Some people think meditation requires a lot of time but a few minutes a day offer many benefits.
It’s likely that there’s a lot more to mindfulness than you think.

Apps

These apps are an easy way to start and sustain your practice.

Check out these apps …

Headspace (breath awareness-based)

Chopra (mantra-based)

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Books

I recommend these books for their approachability and practicality.

David Fontana
Learn to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Self-Discovery and Fulfillment

David Fontana
The Meditation Handbook: The Practical Guide to Eastern and Western Meditation Techniques

Mark Thornton
Meditation in a New York Minute: Super Calm for the Super Busy

Thich Nhat Hanh
The Long Road Turns to Joy: A Guide to Walking Meditation

Shakti Gawain
Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life

 

Find more on Mindfulness here.

The Quantified Self – Gary Wolf


At TED@Cannes, Gary Wolf gives a 5-min intro to an intriguing new pastime: using mobile apps and always-on gadgets to track and analyze your body, mood, diet, spending – just about everything in daily life you can measure – in gloriously geeky detail.

Harry Sandler's New Book – iPhone Antics

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“My personal exploration of the IPhone and it’s relevant applications stated 18 months ago. Since that time, wherever I am in the world, the phone is always with me – a camera and darkroom in my pocket. I really enjoy having the ability to capture, process, and share an image instantly from anywhere in the world – not to mention the applications for sunrise, sunset, position of light and various other pieces of information specific to photographers out on the road. The IPhone is an instant feedback and a visual record that helps us expand how we think about our images. It’s a valuable creative tool for any photographer.”
Find out more about Harry Sandler here.

Chris Alvanas' Book – Apple 3GS

Apple 3GS marks a career passage for me in that I felt the need to quiet all of the gear aspects of image making and get right down to perspective, light and composition – nothing else. It was so helpful that I have felt such an improvement in how I see an image or should I say pre-visualize an image before actually taking it. Adding the tools on top of this advanced my work greatly.
I recently showed a small portion of this body of work at a workshop with John Paul Caponigro in Maine. To my surprise and enjoyment, the work was so well received by all it lead me to go a bit deeper and continue the quest of simplifying the process.”
Find out more about Chris Alvanas here.