Within the last week, it was just announced that Microsoft invested a further $10 billion into OpenAI. (they previously invested 2 billion)

What is AI Generated Art?

Now, OpenAI are the people that make Dal-e and of course, Chat GPT everyone’s talking about. Now, of course, there’s other ai art generators such as Mid Journey and Stable diffusion. And in fact, about a few months ago, maybe six months ago, I did a video on Mid Journey, kind of showing you how it works, how to use it, and then a little discussion at the end. I’ve kind of updated a lot of my thoughts since then. So having six months playing around and digesting this technology, I definitely have developed some different thoughts on it than I had back then.

Back then, I just kind of didn’t know what to think. And for those of you who don’t know about these AI engines or artificial intelligence, give them a text prompt. And based on that text prompt, it can produce art. So you could describe something, or you could describe a scenario, say it’s a cold day in Memphis and it will create art.

You can also direct it to create art in the style of a modern artist or DA Vinci, Giotto, or a pop artist, maybe Andy Warhol, and it will generate art in that style.

And as far as styles, it can do everything from cartoon, hand painted, photorealistic, photographic, it can look like 3D renders. And you can tell the AI all of these things and direct it. In creating art, essentially what it’s doing is you’re becoming an art director and you’re with these text prompts telling it, hey, this is what I want you to create. So we always thought with robots and technology, they’re going to do mundane tasks so we can sit around and create art and take photos. I thought one of the last things that would ever be replaced is the arts.

These are all unretouched images I generated with mid journey (Mid Journey Tutorial here)

But yet here we are today, where this AI on anybody’s computer or anyone’s phone even, is able to create art as good, if not better, than most artists. So it can do visual arts, chat GTP can also do written, where you can tell, hey, write me a story. And it can write a very convincing story. In fact, just recently, I think it was a week ago, they said it just passed the exam at Wharton Business School. And of course, even in the areas of music, AI is in there, and now it’s creating songs.

But let’s focus on photography and digital art because this is kind of what our niche is here.

History of Technology and how it affects jobs

So to kind of figure out where we’re at, why don’t we take a quick stroll through human history? Initially, humans were able to start building tools and things out of stone. And this enabled us to do things that we couldn’t do before. And then of course that went on to the bronze age, the iron age.

We were able to start building different tools and inventing things and eventually this led to the industrial age. And then came the industrial age where we were able to elevate beyond just creating tools into creating machines. And these machines were able to mass produce things. They were able to bring down the cost of living and at the same time raise living standards and provide us with a lot of the things that we enjoy even till today. Now, there is good and bad to all of these, of course.

One of the good things about the industrial age, it actually doubled the life expectancy of the average person. But one of the things about the industrial age of course, is now a machine can work more efficiently than a human and requires less skill. You can kind of see where I’m going with this. So there’s a term that we use for people that are against technology and against progress and that’s a Luddite. And this actually came around the time of the power loom.

Resistance to change – Luddite

There were highly skilled textile workers that made a good living and were very good at what they did. And they had these workshops where they created textiles, which is what cloth and clothing were made out of. Along came these power looms, they started building factories and were able to produce much more textile. And because of this, the prices came down, the workshops couldn’t compete. A lot of them closed down.

The workers went to the factories to try to get work. And of course they couldn’t all get work because number one, they didn’t need as many workers because of the machines. And number two, they didn’t need such highly skilled workers because the skill needed to run these machines was much less than the skill needed to create these things by hand.

And so the legend goes that the luddites were named after a guy called Ned Ludd. Now apparently Ned Ludd never actually existed, but it was a good folklore to kind of get things motivated.

And then the Luddites actually mobilized and went around smashing machines and to the point that the British army was fighting against them. And at one time, believe it or not, there were more British soldiers fighting against the Luddites than were fighting Napoleon at the time. So eventually they were suppressed and everything just kind of moved on.

We go from the industrial age, (through the atomic age, first space age) then we moved into the information age where computers come along. Now remember, computers also replaced a lot of jobs.

So during this time, there was a lot of people that were doing things that were very labor intensive, that were now being automated. Even like today, things are being automated and replaced by machines. Machines are much more efficient they’re cheaper to run. They produce more. They don’t need to be fed, they don’t need sleep. They can’t go on strike. There’s a lot of reasons that it’s more efficient to use machines. Now. As more machines come along, less people have work in those areas.

So let’s go back a little bit, and then we’ll move forward.

Movable type was invented, which is the printing press. And before that, scribes that used to write. That’s how they made their living, by writing these books. All the books were created by hand. Monks and scribes wrote all these books by hand. That was their job. So then the printing press replaced them.

But look at the new opportunities that came out of that. So out of the printing press came people working in printing press. There were printers now. There were newspapers and bookstores. That’s kind of interesting. And so a lot of people were working in the print industry, and that created jobs. Now, of course, a lot of that is starting to diminish now, and it’s being replaced by digital and online. But think about that.

Now we have a whole IT industry. We have whole new jobs. I think about what I do as a digital artist. I wouldn’t have my job if it wasn’t for computers.

One of the interesting things about the industrial age is this brought about these massive cities that started to build, because now people were coming together because it was possible because of this technology, and also they were coming together to work and build things.

Where we are now? We’re in a different place, where now that’s being democratized, and we’ve already seen this happening. This is not new as far as outsourcing. Now everybody in the world competes for the same job. So it’s not necessarily someone next door that’s competing for your position in IT. It could be someone in India, it could be someone in Ireland, it could be somebody in New York. They could be anywhere.

That’s changed things, where literally now, because of the Internet, we can live and we can work anywhere. There’s less jobs in this particular area, but new jobs have opened up, and also new opportunities have opened up. All right, but where does that go for us as artists? Let’s look at photographers for a second. Okay, so I actually started photography when we were using film.

I was predominantly a graphic designer for a living, but I was making part of my living, part of my job was doing photography. And I would go to events, and I would take my camera and I would load my film. And I had a very specific skill set. See, here’s the thing. I couldn’t look on the back of my camera and see, like, all my exposure, everything’s, right? No, I had to learn the craft. I had to know the settings on the camera. I had to understand what was going to work and what wasn’t going to work, where I could hire myself out for a job. Because you can’t go and shoot a major event and then go to develop the pictures and none of the pictures came out. That’s not a good way to make a living.

A lot of photographers will nod and say, yes, wedding photographers will understand that. So there was definitely a skill set required to take photographs. Then along came the digital camera. Has that changed photography?

Absolutely.

We go to every event and someone’s got a digital camera, everyone’s got a digital camera, everyone’s got a phone. Yes, but now that everyone’s taking photographs with phones, is that taking away the art or is it making the artist obsolete? I don’t think so. I think the fine art photographer is still going to have a place, because that level of expertise and that level of skill to create that piece is beyond what the average person has with their phone. Not just that, but a lot of the photographs are throw away photos, like when I go to a hotel, I take photos of my room number so I know what room I’m in. I take photos of the menu at a restaurant so I can just look at it on my phone. It’s much more convenient. So the camera has become a tool, which is more than just art or documentation. But let’s look at this professionally, maybe as a working artist, graphic designer, illustrator.

People that used to do illustration were replaced by a camera. Does that mean illustrators are gone? Let’s go all the way back. Does that mean stone workers are gone? No, there’s still people working with stone (usually the last possession anyone has), there’s still people working with steel, there’s still people creating handcrafted goods.

So as designers, we’ve been using props for a while. For example, stock photography. There was stock photography, which was rights managed, licensed before we got into royalty free. And having licensed stock photography as part of my job, I can tell you there’s many times where it has been more cost effective to have just gone photograph it myself or sent a photographer out than it would have been to use the stock photography. Of course, now with royalty free (and micro stock), it’s become very cheap.

Now, that doesn’t mean that stock photographers don’t have a job anymore. And notice I’m going back there. I’m talking about stone workers, steel workers, photographers. They still work. I’m going somewhere with this.

And this will apply to Photoshop and what we’re doing in a second. While we’re working, we can use stock photography, but then there’s other things. We’ve been using overlay assets, templates. So we’ve been using these things to aid us in our work, and it hasn’t put us out of work. And in fact, the design digital art industry is probably bigger than it’s ever been because of the advent of new technology, because now a lot of things are going from print to digital to online. We’re looking at things like iPads, phones, we’re looking at websites, we’re looking at apps, we’re looking at ads, social media. So now there’s more demand than ever to create these digital assets.

Is the Digital artist doomed?

All right, let’s bring all of this in for a landing and wrap all of this up where it all kind of comes together and makes sense. This is what I think. So if we look at AI art that is able to generate what people need, will it replace the digital artist, the photoshopper, the photographer?

And I say, no, I don’t think it is. When I first started using it, I was like, oh, my gosh, this is ridiculous. This can do this. Why do I even need to learn this craft? Well, there’s some limitations that I’ve kind of noticed. And yes, it’s getting better. Mid journey, couldn’t do eyes before. Now it can do eyes perfectly. Now it can’t count. If you look at hands, teeth, toes, you’ll very often get ten fingers on one hand or 100 teeth in a mouth.

Ai art is Improving, but how fast?

So there’s definitely some areas where it has to improve, and it will get better. Now, here’s the thing. It’s not going to get perfect overnight, because there’s that whole principle of, you know, 80/20, that last 20% is going to take way more time and way more computational power than the initial 80%. If you learn a musical instrument, you’re going to learn some chords and stuff on a guitar.

You can learn some chords very, very quickly, and you can make progress very quickly. But the further you go and the better you get, the more difficult it is to make more noticeable progress. So one of the things I found is that AI is capable of generating some incredible things, but it cannot generate what I see in my mind. If I have a picture or a vision in my mind, maybe I can draw it. Or I can find someone to draw it (a job), and then I can feed it into the AI, and that will actually get a lot closer to what I’m looking for.

Now, if it’s not perfect, you can’t tell mid journey, “hey”, “rotate that person 45 degrees and put a blue hat on them instead of a yellow hat.”

It can’t do that right now. So this is where the Photoshop skills come into play. You can take that AI piece, maybe as a plate or as a starting place, and then you can composite over the top of it. You can move things around. You can change the color. You can change the hand into only five fingers. Now, these things still require skill, so there’s always going to be skill. But  you’re applying your skill in a different place. There will be retouchers in the future who’s job is to retouch AI. Now there’s a position that didn’t exist. There were retouches that did commercial retouches of people cars, shoes, whatever. But now we’re going to be doing retouching on AI. We’re going to be using AI to generate ideas. And we might use those ideas as a basis for doing a photo shoot or for creating another piece of work.

How to secure your future

So AI is going to reduce the amount of digital artists that are needed. That’s a fact. Am I excited about that? No. Can I change it? No. So what do I say to you?

I say to you, get as good as you can. Start learning the AI. Learn how to apply it, use Photoshop with it, use it with photography, use it for backdrops, for photography, use it for different things. Start to understand it, start to learn how to use the prompts. And you’re more likely to be one of the people that’s going to be hired in the future to create and make things.

What about the Hobbyist?

So what about the hobbyist? Well, as a hobbyist, it shouldn’t change anything if you’re doing something because you enjoy doing it. It doesn’t matter if a machine is doing it or if other people are doing it too.

It doesn’t matter how well it pays or it doesn’t. If just for this sheer joy of doing it, you should still do it. If you enjoy photography, do photography. If you enjoy design, compositing, enjoy design and Compositing. Maybe use AI to help you with your compositing, to create some of the elements so you’re not searching for stock photography for hours and hours.

You can generate some of those elements in AI, cut them out, drop them in and put them together inside of Photoshop. And at the other side of things, there’s going to be new opportunities, new positions created.

There’s going to be prompt, artists. People’s job is going to be to work with this AI and feed it with the right prompts to create what we want, to create different iterations. And there’s other jobs I can’t even think of right now, but with each one of these major steps forward in humanity because when I talk about AI, we’re not just talking about art, we’re talking about robots, we’re talking about self driving cars, self driving lawn mowers.

All of these things are real and they’ll be more and more ubiquitous in life as we go forward. The AI age is upon us. It’s going to cause a lot of changes. It might change the way we live. Just like the Bronze Age, the Stone Age, the industrial, the machine, the atomic, all these different ages have changed the way we look at the world, the way we live, where we live, all these things.

It’s the future and it’s coming at us very, very quickly. And so my advice is don’t fight the future. Embrace it. It is coming anyway. So learn how you can use it to improve your lifestyle.

Because one of the things, through each of these ages, the standard of living and the life expectancy of humans has gone up. Rather than look at this from a dystopian point of view where this is it. We’re doomed. This is the end. I prefer to be optimistic about it and look at how this can enhance our lifestyles. The new opportunities, new jobs that we never even thought of are coming. We’re able to live in ways we’re going to enjoy things that we weren’t able to enjoy. We’re going to spend less time doing menial things, more time doing the things we want. And so, okay, here’s my prediction. What is going to be valuable in the future?

The future value of art?

I believe that handcrafted goods are going to be valuable in the future. If we look at the young people right now, digital natives, people born within the last 20 years, they always had digital with them. They always listening to music on ipods, never listening to records, never having cassette tapes. And trust me, if you’ve had cassette tapes, they’re not that good. But yet the kids today are craving them because they want something tactile.

They want to have an experience. So saying, “hey Siri/Alexa/Google, Play this song.” It’ll just play that song, and if I want to hear it again, I’ll play it again. But there’s an experience in putting a cassette tape, be it good or bad. You remember we had hold it half down. I’d be like and you hear the gap up, and you’re like, okay, there’s the beginning of the song, and then you’ll hear the song again. To get to the beginning of the song, you know what I’m talking about.

If you’ve used the cassette tape. And then, of course, it gets in the heads. They get dirty. It gets all chewed up. Then you get the pencil out, and then you turn it on the cassette, and then you put the tape on it, where it gets cut or it gets chewed, and then you’re listening to your favorite song, and then there’s this sound in the middle, because where it got chewed, right? And it sounds warbly or whatever, or the record gets a scratch. So they’re not perfect. But yet people are craving that experience. It’s something real.

Even now with photography, because digital cameras that take perfect photos, so young people are craving things like lomo, holga cameras, things that have floors. Wabasabi. Wabasabi is looking at the beauty in the imperfection. Wabasabi is your favorite pair of old jeans. There’s something special about them.

And so with handcrafted goods. In the future, as we get more 3D printing and doing all the things with technology and everything moving forward, people are going to crave that hand crafted good, that pot, that’s not quite round, that painting, that’s not quite perfect. That photograph, that oh, it’s got a little bit of noise. There’s some shadow over there. These things are going to be what make people fall in love with handcrafted goods when we’re living in a world of artificial perfection.

People are going to be craving for the imperfection, for the imperfect which is us humans, humanity. We are not perfect. We don’t do anything perfectly. Everything is different. Handcrafted, whatever it is, things that are handmade, I believe, are going to have extreme value in the future. So I’m curious to know your thoughts. Let’s open the discussion. And two things I ask. Number one, be civil. And number two, respect other people’s viewpoints and emotions. Because we’re all at different places with this. As we’re changing and growing, it it’s not comfortable. I’m not going to say it’s wonderful and this is so great and so comfortable. No, it’s uncomfortable. It’s a time of change.

It’s a time of transition. Things are changing. Let’s come together and support each other. And together we can forge the new way forward where we can create more beautiful things than I’ve ever been created.

Thanks

Colin

The post Will artists be replaced by AI Art? Mid Journey and Chat GPT. What I think appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.

This is a great wireless microphone solution for people who need 2 transmitters and a single receiver, for interviews and multiple talent on set. This is a very small (world’s smallest wireless mic system). From Australian company, RODE, this system is quality and great value for money. I previously reviewed the original Wireless GO. Check out my review on the new model, which s more than an update.

Highlights are Dual Channel, on board recording and 300 meter range.

The post Rode Wireless GO II, dual microphone wireless microphone system for video appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.

My WFH Gear video, Essential Work From Home tech

Now that the world is in lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic, working from home has taken on a new meaning. While there are many social changes and a lot of sad and crazy stuff going on in the world, my work life hasn’t changed that much. Because of this, I feel I’m in a unique position to help people who have suddenly been thrust into this situation. These are the things I have learned over the years and things that work for me. I’m not saying all of this will work for you, but hopefully there are some good takeaways for you.

In this article, I’ll address the pressing things I am having people ask constantly.

• How to be productive from home.
• Equipment you need to run a successful home office.
• WFH Mindset to not go crazy.

How to Be Productive from Home

Now you are working from home, you are sharing a space. Even if you are living alone, you are still sharing a space. There is the work you and the non-work you and these need to be different.

Separation of Space – Dedicated space

In my case, I have an extra bedroom, which is converted into a home office. The doors have been removed from the closet and its open storage space. Only work equipment is in this room, its my office. When I am in this room I work. I don’t do any non-work-related tasks in here. I never work in my actual bedroom, that’s personal space.

It’s important to have these boundaries, because they help your mindset, when you are in these places, your mind knows its worktime, or its playtime. Not everyone has the luxury of a separate room. When I started out, I was living in a small apartment. I set up a desk on one side of the living room and that became my office. Even if your work area is nothing more than a desk, that’s your workspace and you need to guard it.

Separation of Space – Shared Space

As I just mentioned, you may need to segment your living room, or even your bedroom to create a workspace. There is also shared space. Examples of this might be the kitchen, or the garage. You might use the kitchen during leisure time, and you may need to grab a snack during the day or make lunch. This is an ideal time to take a break, you need to take defined breaks, just like you would at a regular office.

Separation of time.

This is so important to not get burned out. You set a time, when you begin work and when you end. It may not be the same time every day (or maybe it is for you). I like to work in the morning and then finish around 5 or 6. In the past, I worked better at night, so I would start after dinner and work through the small hours. It doesn’t matter the time unless you have call you need to make. Choose the times that work best for you, YOU are making the schedule.

I have breakfast and then start my workday. Eating breakfast, prevents me from crashing in the afternoon. I work, take a lunch break and then sometime before dinner, I finish work for the day. When I am finished, I leave my office and shut the door. When I shut that door, work is over for the day. (Unless I have a pressing deadline, then I will return after dinner and put in a few more hours).

It is so important be at work when you are at work, and off work when off work. If I have personal chores that need to be done during the day, such as my weekly grocery run, Ill schedule this for my least productive time of the day. For me. This is the afternoon, when my energy is at its lowest. For other people this might be a different time of the day.

Eliminating distractions

It’s really important to remove as many distractions as possible while working. I know some people watch TV or movies while working. I almost never have the TV on during the day. I do listen to music a lot while working, it helps me.

One big killer is notifications on your computer. They pop up and before you know it, you are 3 hours into surfing youtube videos, or clearing out your inbox, or some other distraction. Turn those off and put your phone on a stand, so you can see if there is an important call, but not so you feel every vibration whoever someone likes one of your Instagram posts. Same thing, with Apple watch. While it’s great to be reminded to breath or to stand up, it also interrupts you with taps all day long.  The reason I make such a big deal about distractions is because it takes a lot to get momentum going. Once you get momentum and get into a rhythm or into the zone, you are creative productive and clever. This is where creativity and inspiration lives, you need to protect that zone and go with it when its there. You are like a superhero in this time. (I’ve been known to skip lunch because I’m in the flow and I don’t want to waste it). Don’t let anything pull you out. You will notice there are times in the day when you are really productive, and other times when you aren’t. You will recognize a pattern, when you can easily focus and when you can’t. Always schedule your phone calls during these less productive times. Know yourself, learn your “prime time” and do the lion’s share of your work during that time.

Here is a tip. If you find yourself noodling around, basically looking busy, but not doing anything, take a break. This could be the time to make a phone call, run an errand or get some exercise. If you just can’t get motivated to do anything, take the rest of the day off. Make up the time, later if you can. Unless you have someone forcing you to work certain hours, or you have a pressing deadline, its better to just go into full recreation mode, than hover between the 2 worlds, neither getting any work done, not relaxing.

I know having a child at home can really complicate this, but I’m not going to offer advice in that area because I don’t have any children. Rather than try and have clever advice, Ill stick to what I know, because there are brilliant resources out there from experts on that topic. If you have roommates, or a partner, its important from them to realize that its work time. They have to understand that you are at work, and now isn’t the time for other things unless they are an emergency.

Equipment for a home office.

How about the gear I need to work for home? Since I’m in the creative industry, my needs will vary, but there are things everyone needs.

Furniture. You need a comfortable chair and a sturdy desk. It is good for your posture and your productivity. Laing back on a sofa may sound nice, but it will cut your productivity and concentration. Make sure your chair is comfortable, if not, get a comfortable chair, this is essential for your health. Make sure your desk is big enough to accommodate your work gear and it the right height for you to work comfortable without straining your arms.

Computers

My computer system is the most important piece of gear, because I do all my work on it. I use a Mac Pro (see review) and this serves me well for heavy duty Photoshop work and high Def video editing. It doesn’t matter if you are on Mac or Windows, try to get the system that best suits your needs. You don’t need to spend a fortune  and you don’t need a maxed out powerful computer if you are just online and working in Word and Excel. You can also built your own PC if you want a lot of power at a much lower price than the Mac Pro.

I also use the 2020 16″ Mac-book pro (review). This thing is a beast.

Wacom Tablet

My most important input device is my Wacom tablet. (review here) Right now I have an Intuos Pro medium on my desk. I have different sizes and use the small when recording my video and for travel. The medium is a great size for sitting on my desk without taking up too much space.

The Wacom tablet is a drawing tablet. It features a wireless pen with 8192 levels of pen pressure. The pen has no battery so it never runs out of power or needs to be charged. It works on Bluetooth or wired. The tablet has a nice feel like pen on paper and makes it easy for me to do things like retouching because of the pen pressure, you can blend with it. I also use the pen tablet for making notes and signing documents on my screen because a pen is more natural to use than a mouse. When I’m in programs like Photoshop, I don’t really use a mouse, because I can navigate and work with the tablet. (We are giving away 2 Wacom Intuos pro tablets: See the end of this article on how you can win one).

More info on Wacom Intuos Pro here

Monitors

Monitors are a dual setup. I have used dual monitors for many years, it makes me more productive. I can have panels or second applications on the second screen, and also copy between applications. I run my music and email software on the second screen.

My main monitor is a 27” BenQ SW270C. I like this monitor because it has very accurate color and I can switch between different color profiles by tapping a puck. Its easy to adjust the height and tilt of this monitor so that its comfortable to look at. It also comes with a hood that helps reduce glare on the screen. The colors are very consistent across the display and it supports 99% Adobe RGB. This means its pretty spot on when it comes color. Its super important that I am looking at a calibrated display when color grading video or working on photographs and images.

More info and buy it here

For Calibration, I use the X-rite i1 Display Pro. This colorimeter lets me get accurate colors on my monitor.

More info and buy it here

For the secondary monitor I use a 32” 4k Samsung display. This is a cheaper monitor, and I don’t use it for critical color work, more as screen real-estate.

Software

Obviously the software I run and live in, is Adobe Creative Cloud. This is the same software that started off as Individual boxed apps such as Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, After Effects, InDesign and Illustrator. Then Adobe bundled the apps together in what was Creative Suite. Now the apps are in a collection called Creative Cloud. You download each of the apps and then run on your desktop just like before. However, with the full creative Cloud, you get a ton of apps and add ons such as fonts for a monthy subscription. Not everyone loves the subscription, but for someone like me that uses so many of the different apps, its good value for me. Also I can use it on both my windows and Mac machines. You used to have to by different version for each platform.

Check out Adobe Creative Cloud Here

I use a wired keyboard because I don’t like to deal with changing the batteries or charging a wireless keyboard. Also I don’t like the latest apple wireless keyboard, it feel like the same horrible butterfly keys that were on the 2016 Macbook Pro.

I use a Logitech multi-button mouse with scroll wheel. I don’t like the Apple magic mouse either. The ergonomics aren’t comfortable in my hand and also it keeps scrolling to the side and messes me up when in Premiere pro. Not to mention, you need a physical middle button for working in Maya (3D software).

More info on mouse

For doing livestreams I use the Blue USB microphone. I have other, higher quality mics, but this is easy to use and “good enough” for livestreams. I wouldn’t dare record my premium tutorials with it though as I use much higher quality (and pricey) audio hardware. I use OBS which is free software to do the livestreams. I can also use the mic for audio conferencing, and its better quality than built in mics, so I actually sound pretty good on those. I also use a Logitech HD webcam for putting my café on live stream and also zoom and skype conferences.

Info and buy here

Connectivity

I’m very fortunate that ATT recently installed fiber in my neighborhood and I have 1Gb up and 1Gb down speeds and very fast wifi through the house. I also run a secondary wifi mesh system which is dedicated for my smart home devices. This frees up bandwith for other tasks and offers me an added level of security and redundancy. I obviously have a very good security system, but I won’t discuss that here.

I also have Amazon Alexa  throughout, so I can control music, lighting and climate control with my voice.

For storage I have a 32TB OWC Thunderbay raid and back it up onto a daisy chain of other drives. But I do most of my work right off an internal nVME drive.

32 Tb OWC Thunderbay Raid:

NVMe SSD: 

I have a few Samsung X3 drives for taking data with me.

As I mentioned, music is very important to me. For sound I use Sonos wireless speakers. I have a Play 5 which enables me to run a line in cable from the headphone jack of my computer to the speaker. This lets me run my computer audio through the sonos system. I could attach wirelessly, but it gives me attenuation and makes the audio out of sync on youtube videos. I also have 2 play 1 speakers in stereo and sub woofer for the bass. I run the desktop app to pump in Apple Music, Spotify and the such into the speakers. I also have them through the house so I can have the music follow me around and control it from my smartphone as well.

Sonos Play 1:

Sonos 1 (new model): 

Sonos Play 5: 

As far as high quality printing, I use the Epson P600 (and the P800 for larger prints). This creates exceptional, gallery quality prints.

 I have done a review on that here

Epson p 600 printer: 

I use an inexpensive laser printer for office printouts.

Work from Home Mindset

Breaking things up

One of the things people seem to really be struggling with, is all the days blending into one. “Every day feels the same, I don’t know what day of the week it is” I hear a lot of people say. Personally, I don’t have this problem. This is because of routines. First of all. Knowing when I’m at work and when I’m not.

I used to work 7 days a week. Now that I am more established, I only work Monday through Friday, and very rarely on the weekends. Sometimes I have to, but I try not to. But if I do, maybe a few hours on Saturdays, but almost never Sundays.

I have things I do on certain days. I’ll stay up later on Friday and Saturday nights. I like to play my guitar on Saturday mornings. I almost always have steak Sunday night. I like a glass of wine on Friday night.  I eat different food on weekends. In normal times, I never eat at the same place on the weekends that do during the week. I wont even enter my office space during the weekends. I schedule during the week, but guard against this on weekend.  May set aside time for leaning something new and different. Even if its something I do every day, Ill do something different one weekends, such as learning a new song on the guitar. No matter what it is for you, it about changing it up on weekends. (Could be a different day for you). But this stops the days endlessly running into each other. You get a fresh start to each week, and trust me, this makes a big difference.

I hope you found this helpful. Stay safe.

Colin

Win a Wacom Intuos Pro Medium Pen Tablet

The nice people at Wacom have given us 2 Wacom Intuos Pro Medium tablets to give away.

Here is how you can win.

We are giving one away one on our youtube channel and one here.

Prize #1: On youtube

go to this video and add a comment: Why you would like to win the tablet. (Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t) and we will draw a winner at random from the comments on the youtube video on May 14th 2020.

We will announce winners live, on our weekly ”Live from Lockdown” livestream, on May 14th at 1pm Pacific time on youtube at PhotoshopCAFE. 

Prize #2, Follow us on Social media.

[giveaway id=45183]

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I have just received the Pixel 3 and the new Pixel 3a from google (thanks!) I’m not paid to do a review, they sent it with no obligation to do anything except use it and see how I like it.  As an iPhone user from day 1 it will be interesting to see how I adapt and if I like this new phone. I tried an Android device many years ago and found it frustrating, because everything was so fragmented. So far, it seems things have come a long way and its a much smoother experience. First impression, this camera is good! Check out my initial experiences in the short, first impressions video I have made.

And here is my Pixel 3a / Pixel 3 vs pixel 3a comparison.

 

I will be doing a side by side comparison with the iPhone Xs and sharing the results here. Ill also add my thoughts as I experience the Google Pixel 3 as an iPhone user (so it will also be an Android experience for me).

Stay tuned for more

Here are some pix with the Pixel 3 so far.

Portrait mode (It has portrait mode and adjustable Depth of field like the iPhone XS. This is the font facing selfie camera.

Unedited photo in low light

Directly out of the camera no editing. (Click for larger version) (size is reduced so I can upload)

Let me know your thoughts!

Colin

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All the stylish new branding is nice window dressing, but what matters to me is how well does this printer lay down ink to make a print, and how good does that print look?

I put the printer through a series of tests and printed a lot of images on a variety of papers and these are my findings.

Set up

First of all, set up was very easy. I easily connected the printer to wi-fi and was able to start printing wirelessly on my Macbook pro right away. (I have never used this printer connect to a hardwire, the wireless works great). I was also able to set it up on my Mac Pro, so I can print from anywhere in the building. The installer was easy to use and installed all the paper profiles and print drivers on install from a single package.

All the paper trays snapped into place nicely. You can adjust some settings on the front LCD  touchscreen. Its nice and large and easy to use and read the settings.

Printing

As they say, the proof is in the pudding. After a single print, I could immediately see the improved quality of the prints. The quality of the blacks is something you have to see to believe, it adds so much depth and richness to a print. I can honestly say these are the best prints I have seen from a desktop printer. My (current) favorite papers are the Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster and Hot-Press Bright. The prints are very sharp with rich-vibrant colors which are accurate to a calibrated workflow. (If you haven’t calibrated your display, it’s hit and miss if you expect faithful reproduction of your colors since what you are looking at on screen has to be correct). The prints I have tested have all be on the larger side, I like to print Super B (13×19). You can print from the rear sheet feeder or from the front feeder. There is an attachment for roll pager and an option to pop down the front tray to feed extra thick papers.

If you have never printed your own images, you are in for a treat. It’s funny because I looked at some store bought prints and they just look horrible and cheap compared to the quality from the P600. It really is something you have to experience for yourself, it’s a whole new level of quality, especially when you use good quality art papers.

Another thing that I am very interested in is panoramic printing. People that are familiar with my work know that I do a lot of aerial photography with drones. I stitch multiple images (sometimes 20-30) together to create very large panoramic images. If you have never printed any of these panoramas, or seen them printed, you are missing out. I remember the first time I printed one very large, I think it was 6 feet long, I was totally blown away. (the maximum length for a panoramic print on the P600 is ten feet). When you see something with that much detail printed very large it’s a sight to see. I have printed quite a few panos on the P600 on both canvas and luster rolls and they look wonderful. The quality of the prints is better than the R3000 which is what I used to use. You can also print borderless right up to the edges which is nice for gallery wraps and different kinds of mounting rather than matted frames.

When it comes to speed, I really didn’t sit there with an egg timer to see how fast I can bang out a 6 foot panorama. I’m really not expecting it to happen quickly, but I understand it is faster than the R3000. Personally, I hit print and come back later. Maybe I should be supervising it, but I haven’t run into any problems. I do wait until I start to see some printed material coming through the sheet feeder just to see if the colors are correct. Of course, before I commit to a large panorama, I usually print a smaller test print first to make sure the colors are looking right. As you can imagine, you consume a lot of ink doing panos.

Drivers and software:

The new print drivers are much easier to use now. Here is a basic walkthrough using Photoshop. File>Print

Choose Epson P600 as the printer, then press Print Settings (Notice I’m using Printer Manages Color for the Color Handling).

You will see a variet of options, click the media and quality, these are where you will find the option you need. Set your paper size

Change to Printer settings Select the quality you would like

Under Media Type, choose the type of paper that you are using (these are the print profiles)

It’s pretty much that easy to print. Ill be adding a video soon that shown a little more detail as well as instructions for printing a panorama.

Ink

Speaking of ink. The printer comes with 9 separate ink cartridges. Which includes 4 blacks, which explains why there is so much quality in the shadows of the prints.

The cartridge colors are:

• PK: Photo black
• MK: Matt black
• LK: Medium Black
• LLK: Light black
• C: Cyan
• VM: Magenta
• VLM: Light Magenta
• LC: Light Cyan
• Y: Yellow

It’s very nice to have photo and matt black onboard, so that you can change the ink type without pulling and replacing cartridges. (Photo black is for shiny paper where as matt black is for flat printing surfaces).

There have been advances in the P600 for switching from M to P cartages where it happens a lot faster and uses less ink than the past. As you can imagine, when you change the ink type, the nozzles have to be thoroughly cleaned so no traces are left. The printer does this automatically, you don’t have to remove and clean anything yourself.

The ink uses Pigment-based Epson UltraChrome® HD ink technology  and each cartridge holds 25.9 ml.

The Verdict

In summary, I really have to say that I am very impressed with this printer, more so than any printer I have tested. If you are considering an upgrade, then yes, it’s worth it to step up to the P600. If you have never printed before, you will fantastic looking prints on this printer with relative ease of setup and use.

I give the P600 a rare 5/5 and a PhotoshopCAFE Editors pick!

More info on Epson’s website.
Suggested Price $799.99

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