PhotoSoftware

Sarah is typical of most young women today, balancing her marketing career, running a household, and enjoying her 10-month old son, Grayson. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time to complete daily chores, let alone additional projects. However, after Jack, her husband, accidentally erased the memory card with the family’s photos of their recent trip to visit Sarah’s parents in Maine, she decided to take on the task of organizing and protecting the family’s memories.

“It wasn’t as though we had lost our entire collection, but those photos were irreplaceable,” Sarah said. “Luckily, we were able to find a software program that recovered most of the pictures from the card. Otherwise, Jack may still be sleeping on the couch.” Read more

Today’s new high-def camcorders, such as our new AVCHD camcorder, make it possible for almost anyone to shoot really professional looking footage. The problem for most of consumers is that they don’t take the very best of the content and convert it into an interesting movie people want to sit down and view.

For our family we wanted software that would give the technical experts in the family (our son, daughter) a comprehensive end-to-end editing solution and still lets the more video-challenged member of the family (ourselves) produce something people would sit down and view.

Since we have been using and enjoying the features of CyberLink’s PowerDVD player on our computers for years, the company’s new PowerDirector 7 Ultra seemed to be a solution that would meet the whole family’s creative needs. Read more

Over the past few years we’ve bought a lot of specialized software for photo manipulation, video editing, music capture and CD/DVD burning. The boxes sit in our home office library. The software ends up sitting on our hard drive until we upgrade to a new computer. They are probably real good at doing the job but frankly we’re not really interested in making movies for a living or creating music for the world to share. And our kids seem to jump from one project to another so anything that takes time to learn and use just doesn’t seem to interest them.

The idea of having a software suite that fits with our kids fast paced digital lifestyle and a product that would let us meet all of our family’s digital content needs seemed to be exactly what we were looking for.

Introduced by NTI (NewTech Infosystems) the Media Maker 8 package has just about everything you need to capture, edit, burn and enjoy music, photos and videos. We enjoyed using the company’s CD & DVD Maker which has been one of the most reliable, versatile disc burning packages we’ve found, so getting the more robust suite seemed like a sure thing. Read more

Many people settle for mediocrity, while others demand “the best”. We have always tried to help guide our readers toward unique products or services that help them attain the best things in life.

Doubtless, everyone reading this article has a computer monitor or two, and most likely one or two HDTV sets in their homes. It is a well-known fact that neither monitors, nor televisions, leave the factory properly calibrated--- especially televisions. With so many new flat-panel sets on the market (the average Best Buy store alone now displays approximately 140 sets on the floor on any given day) manufacturers try to do whatever they can to make their particular products attract the eyes of buyers. To do this they often crank up the brightness and color way beyond normal, accurate levels--- because in a brilliantly lit showroom situation, the brightest TV usually catches the customer’s eye first.

Many people take these expensive sets home and never realize that they're missing half the potential picture quality. The picture on a well-adjusted big-screen set (or even computer monitor) after calibration, is strikingly better than when it first comes out of the box. Read more

The number one consumer video editing software, Pinnacle Studio has been enhanced with a new range of features and capabilities to meet the needs of first time and advanced videographers. The new Pinnacle Studio 12 includes more than 25 new features and more than a dozen capabilities requested by present users. The new version includes Pinnacle Montage, an innovative tool that puts high-end compositing and animation effects in the hands of consumers. It also includes more titles, DVD menus and templates as well as professional audio/video controls and a complete high definition workflow capabilities with Blu-ray authoring in the advanced versions of Studio 12.

Certified for Windows Vista, the Pinnacle Studio version 12 family consists of three affordably priced versions to meet the needs of consumers ranging from novices to dedicated video enthusiasts. In addition to Pinnacle Studio, the basic version, Pinnacle offers Studio Plus and Studio Ultimate with more advanced audio and video tools, including a complete HD workflow.

“The video editing market isn’t just growing vertically, it’s growing horizontally,” said Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research (JPR), a leading market research firm based in Tiburon, Calif. “New markets have emerged led by casual and younger users who simply want to quickly edit their videos and post them to the Web, women who have become the designated memory keepers in the family, and the growing number of folks over 50 who are becoming video hobbyists. The people in these new markets don’t want to deal with a complicated application; they just want the fun of quickly creating videos that are entertaining. Clearly, Pinnacle Systems’ customer-driven approach has helped it unlock opportunities in these emerging markets.” Read more

Ask Shirley Bard and she’ll describe herself as an average senior who doesn’t have a lot of patience, but does have a strong sense of determination. Ask the AARP or some of the many war Vets she’s interviewed and they’d probably describe Shirley as energetic, enterprising and even a bit … tenacious.

A retired telecommunications manager with little previous camera or computer experience, Shirley found a way to achieve her goal to support our U.S. troops as well as generations of United States war veterans by interviewing them and creating videos of their histories for the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

“I got started in video editing when I became a volunteer in Big Bear, California, in the mid 1990’s,” Shirley recalled. “I wanted to improve the decision making process of public officials whose intimidating demeanor and decisions were adversely impacting the financial well being of the locals (particularly seniors and retired veterans). I wanted to video actual meetings and show them on local TV before decisions were made. If the public could see for themselves how certain officials operated during public meetings there was hope for change. That’s when the whole scene changed for me. It also suddenly became important to be able to document what was being said at Department of Water and Water Reclamation meetings. And it became critical to be able to record older adult’s stories when they complained about being mistreated when 9-1-1 was called.” Read more

Whenever I have a chance, I love to sit and play with the color, quality and dimensions of my favorite photos and share them online with friends and family. Picture taking is much more than just a great way to chronicle special moments, for a lot of people it has also become a satisfying hobby. Adobe has noticed this as a growing trend and in response to the high demand for sophisticated (yet easy to use) editing tools comes Photoshop Elements 6 and Adobe Premiere Elements 4. Available separately or together in a single package, Photoshop Elements & Adobe Premiere Elements software give photo and video enthusiasts more creative ways to organize, edit, create and share digital photos and home movies.

In Photoshop Elements 6, you can finally take a flawless group picture with new Photomerge technology that allows you to select the best facial expressions and poses of each person in your group and combine them into one picture perfect image. It also includes adjustable editing modes which allow you to choose the level of difficulty from beginner to expert. Other new features include a Quick Selection Tool which reduces a (once time-consuming) select-and-adjust task to a single click, a Guided Edit mode walks you through the steps of improving a photo, and the Organizer makes importing, tagging and retrieving photos easier than ever. Read more

At the recent PMA trade show in Las Vegas, Nik Software announced Viveza, a new software tool that allows users of Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements to select and control the light and color in images while working within Photoshop. It is designed for photographers of all skill levels (entry to pro).

With Nik Software’s U Point technology (www.upoint.com), Viveza lets you easily correct and enhance images without creating layer masks or have expert-level knowledge of Adobe Photoshop. To make adjustments to a photo, simply place U Point powered Color Control Points directly on colors or objects in an image (such as sky, skin, grass, etc.), then adjust the sliders for brightness, contrast, color and more. Viveza automatically selects objects and creates masks based on where the user places a Color Control Point. By working directly on the image, enhancements can be made in a fraction of the time needed by using other methods. Read more

Pinnacle Systems wants people to produce and share great movies. That’s why they have introduced VideoSpin, software that within minutes you can quickly and easily create movies and upload them to the web.

This is no wimpy online solution. All the basics, all the tools, all the instructions are there for you to be your own photo/video producer. Simply drop in your videos, pictures and music. Add your transitions and titles. Click on the “Make Movie” button. Share your video on your PC or upload it to the web for friends and family to watch. It’s that easy. Read more

Now through December 31st, people signing up for a Motionbox premium membership or those who purchase a Motionbook (a flip book made from 15 seconds of your personal video) are qualified to win this 30-minute Flip Video device – www.theflip.com/products_flip_video.shtml – which allows consumers to shoot and upload their video to computers quickly and easily. The Flip Video is perfect for those capturing, editing and uploading holiday videos on the fly. Not to mention, these devices are pretty cool and valued at $150!

Motionbox (www.motionbox.com), is a web site that makes it easy for consumers to upload, share, mix and send their favorite video with friends and family. Motionbox does for video what Snapfish and Shutterfly do for photos – by offering a secure place to share, store, edit and order hard goods from your personal video files. One Flip Video device will be given away each day to qualifying participants until the 31st.