Improve WordPress Security with Salt

How to improve security on WordPress and what are Security Keys? If your website has ever been hacked, you probably have changed passwords and access names, but have you ever thought of changing your WP Security keys?

Without going into technicalities, just know, that WP comes with security keys. Defaults are loaded in the database. Additional keys can be edited in the wp-config.php file.

By default the wp-config.php contains:

define('AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');

When installing WP, the so-called Salts are often created automatically. If they are not there, you are invited to create your own unique pass phrases.

To keep it simple, you may use the automated key generator from WordPress, click HERE

When clicking on the above link you may get something like this (don’t use the below keys, get your own and keep them secret!):

define('AUTH_KEY', ',Z9!M|Lccf;Y]]@gD{ G^.CI~koampO,Rc{Uev+E)nOdoB~E<+;J|svK=}/!i4}J');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'V}jovPJ6BXCD0C (.t[wf7-h^MSO.tCTE`|1jVw^J#^%~3@ZuoWHfCy[+zpFogM#');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'JU+Nh5|hAz-J6&}Trgkg`vn-$cjPV3S3<^ZTk{<vD_|P^L>w+[=q5ovK*p450E9`');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'C!w3rs.=K^y2dx,YX]*-$z=hP+=WFa3cl?18VxF0?VD.dtR&R0xK*$&+IJ&QKB)J');
define('AUTH_SALT', '&Ry7_ueekL-DO0s*DBeCw7+NPZ6^AcGbTrre@]^6NjnFtWu$FMK{$UGkTxC<;71J');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', '3bd~/> k1]kjOf|)Q^Mi%-36TOmSt>-Z$1QuF*<Z|1NfY3Yz[W1/;H/yvL~0sz0V');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT', '+&%:*T^5FN5[j6A9?Oq25QoE?sI<6u)(GAa4>8`o#jt3Yd0m}xg@iBA}+;.lb|*U');
define('NONCE_SALT', 'fr28HY1.]Jb3;L{{RmUj{j_}6r]p0[M<d8|+[}$%j#?cGJcC vMX-|;Loph.-bLV');

Replace the above defaults or your existing keys with the new keys from the generator (change a few digits if you really are paranoiac). Just overwrite the existing lines in your wp-config.php and save to server.

Change these keys once in a while, namely after a hack.

If you need further help, please comment below or contact me through support.

Move an existing WP installation into its own folder

To increase security and to better organize files and folders on the server, you may want to move the WP core files into its own folder. Here is how to proceed.

By default many users install their WordPress core in the root directory. The resulting default URL of the site and of WP is http;//myblog.com

You want to move WP while keeping the same URL as before, not just for the home page but also for your posts, pages and other links (media for example).

The name of the new folder, where WP core will be hosted can be anything. For the purpose of this exercise I will call it: ‘myscripts’

Before you start, backup your Database and files.

1. Deactivate all plugins and empty cache if applicable.

2. In your Dashboard go Settings > General and change the WordPress Address (URL) to http://myblog.com/myscripts

You will now get an error or a messed up site, but don’t worry, we will fix this right away.

3. Access your server via FTP or from your cPanel.

4. Create a new directory under the root directory named ‘myscripts’

5. Cut and Paste all WP files and folders into the new folder

6. Make a copy of WP index.php and of  .htaccess file and place them back into the root directory (from where you have moved the WP core files).

7. Edit index.php from the root directory (do not change the files you have moved).

Line 17 reads:

require('./wp-blog-header.php');

Change it to:

require('./myscripts/wp-blog-header.php');

8. Login to your dashboard and reactivate your plugins, you are ready to go.

Your blog is back up and running, but you may have an issue with your image links. By default your media were stored in the uploads directory:

http://myblog.com/wp-content/uploads/

Now they have moved to:

http://myblog.com/myscripts/wp-content/uploads/

1. Download and install the Plugin called: Search and Replace from the Plugins tab in your Dashboard.

2. Go settings and Search for: http://myblog.com/wp-content/uploads/

and Replace with: http://myblog.com/myscripts/wp-content/uploads/

All links are corrected and your media display properly.

If your posts are syndicated to other websites where their content is displayed, all the image links will be broken since you have changed the location of the uploads (image) folder.

Here is how to remedy:

1. Access server via FTP and edit .htaccess in the root folder and in the folder ‘myscripts’

2. Add the line:

RedirectMatch 301 ^/wp-content/uploads/([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{2})/(.*)$ /myscripts/wp-content/uploads/$1/$2/$3

Done, now all links to the old uploads folder will be permanently redirected to your new uploads folder and images will be displayed properly.

I hope this helps.

Adobe messes with users, customers and its shareholders

When Adobe announced the exclusive creative cloud subscription model, yours truly felt like shouting against it during the daily call.

In fact, Adobe’s arrogance will cost a heck of a lot of money: to the company, the shareholders, and to users who will get less for more money.

Amarinthos Greece

While signing the petition against Adobe’s most recent move ( here is the link: http://www.change.org/petitions/adobe-systems-incorporated-eliminate-the-mandatory-creative-cloud-subscription-model?utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition ) may put some pressure on the company, I guess posting about your indignation on your blog, social networks and wherever you have access to will have a solid impact on Adobe’s online reputation.

Finally, we are the consumers and what Adobe and others have not yet understood: we, the consumers decide over life or death of companies, mainly arrogant ones such as Adobe.

Once more, the fascination of the full moon drove me out early taking just my point and shoot camera along to see what is possible with low end tools in a high end scenario.

This first shot is right out of the window shot as follows with the point and shoot
Leica V-Lux 20:

f/4.9
300 mm equivalent on 35 mm
1/80 of a second, handheld
ISO 200

You can vaguely see the neighbors roof top on the lower part of the image, meaning that I needed to get out of bed for a better position.

Also, a few minutes later, the daylight would start to kick in and I just wanted to get a view of the Vouliagmeni Bay under that beautiful light of the moon.

Just to give you an idea about the situation: my neighbor, then the Vouliagmeni Bay and on the other side, Astir Beach and the Astir Hotel complex, then the sea and in the very background the island of Aegina. Note on the horizon the big ferry boat driving in from the left towards Piraeus Port which is at about 35 km north from here.

Same camera shot at  6:04 am:

f/3.6
35 mm equivalent on 35 mm
1/5 of a second, handheld
ISO 800

Now it’s just about waiting and hoping for the right light when the day meets the full moon:

This is about as good as I could get the shot with the help of Photoshop and the Perfectly Clear plugin.

f/4.4
11mm on 35 mm equivalent
1/3 of a second, handheld
ISO 200

Luckily the passenger ship is still in the frame as well as a second, red painted transporter.

Once more we see: even a point and shoot camera can come home with nice shots in difficult light. Note that the last shot was just taken in Automatic mode (!) while the previous ones were taken with manual settings.

Of course one could work the image in Photoshop to make it more attractive by intervening on the foreground, the temperature and more; however, this is where we reach quickly the limits of the files. These pictures are just not good enough for heavy manipulation in Photoshop, the more that we cannot get rich RAW files from that camera.

I like them anyway :-).

How to customize your WordPress Theme

This post discusses three ways of customizing the new XR Theme for WordPress in view of the upcoming Ycademy Online Seminar:

1. Theme Options
2. Custom CSS
3. Child Themes
4. More Options

Before we customize a WordPress theme, we need to clearly define our project and goals we want to achieve in order to decide at which level we need to intervene.

Also, the project will define the workflow and importance of the intervention.

First let’s start by checking out the native theme options; XR theme options allow to implement basic branding options, such as colors, fonts, logo as well as to define layout elements and display of the frontpage.

XR Theme Options

XO comes with quite a lot of built-in ready to use options. With a few clicks, your site changes face and adapts to most any need.

Most users will be satisfied by just using just Theme Options.

These Theme Options are found from the dashboard under ‘Appearance’.

Other Theme related options are built in shortcodes; these add editing features such as buttons, tabs or others as specified on the shortcode page.

XR Shortcodes

If Theme Options are not sufficient to tweak the theme to needs, then the next step to consider is the Style sheet. CSS customizations can easilybe added right from the dashboard, using the Custom CSS tab under ‘Appearance’ or directly from the top menu bar.

The built in CSS editor helps writing clean code; the code added is stored in the data base and injected into the header script.

For minor modifications, the custom style sheet comes in handy. However, the disadvantage consists in the fact that the custom styles are injected into the header of the theme (check it out from the source code as per below):

Custom CSS in source code

This inconvenience can be taken care of by custom optimizing the theme once the design customization is done with.

Alternatively and for more important custom styling, I would rather use a child theme wrapping up the style sheet properly as external style.css file.

Child themes are used for advanced customization, namely when there is a need for tweaks going beyond pure style and design elements.

While most design changes can be handled from Theme Option settings and Custom CSS, functional tweaks and structural changes are done by creating a Child Theme, adding namely elements to functions.php as well as template files.

XR Child

Once you have explored the above 3 levels of intervention, there is still room for more, namely when it comes to add functionality to the site. In many cases this can be achieved by adding plugins.

XR is designed for easy customization. Most users will find the Theme Optimization tools provided in the dashboard sufficient to implement all necessary modifications.

Advanced tweaking is possible, even from the dashboard, whereas I prefer to embed such advanced hacks into a child theme.

XR’s architecture is set to serve most any purpose, making it a truly universal multi-purpose theme. Developers need only one theme as a base for unlimited applications of any purpose, including media and eCommerce.

XR – New Responsive Universal WordPress Theme

Semiomantics is releasing its new flagship theme, the XR for WordPress. The time is right to move on and to take advantage of the most recent WordPress and browser developments.

Influenced by the broad acceptance of HTML5 and CSS3, boilerplate developments and bootstrap as well as easy outsourcing of javascript libraries, fonts and images, I have developed the XR for high performance, smashing loks and unlimited potential for development.

The XR Theme for WordPress will be released in two distinct editions:

1. XR Professional
2. XR Developer

The Professional edition will satisfy most end users right out of the box. The fully responsive XR Theme switches automatically to its mobile versions when the site is viewed from a mobile device, tablet or phone or phablet.

A homepage slider, multiple media publishing features, shortcodes, built in Fontawesome icons, and many more features provide great tools to build exceptional websites. Also, the theme customizer provides unlimited looks with just a few clicks.

Don’t forget, XR is built for high performance and excellent publishing: the sky is the limit, starting with efficient Google indexing and ranking.

The Developer Edition is aiming to satisfy two kind of needs:

1. Advanced Editing
2. Advanced Customization

The XR Developer Edition comes with an advanced built in page and post editor which allows users to created page layouts by just pulling in boxes, graphics, media and to place them at will to create smashing layouts and looks.

Also we have added to the XR Developer Edition some features which require access to the script via FTP or from the dashboard, some knowledge of HTML and CSS as well as some understanding of SEO for best performance and advanced customization.

XR can change face with just a few clicks. That’s true for the Pro Edition. With XR Developer you impact on the sou of your website!

While you may be reading this post, I will convert my Semiomantics XO powered site to XR … with just a few clicks :-).

Yorgo Nestoridis

Back when it was released, the XO was one of the best themes out there to gain Search Engine Visibility with most any content. The combination of a clean coded theme with Semiomantics Optimization lead to astonishing results for all users, irrespective of content and target.

Semiomantics XO Licenses were not the cheapest in the market, but definitely they were the best value for the money. If we are abandoning the good old XO framework and theme, it is because we are convinced that the most recent WordPress developments as well as the more general acceptance of  HTML5 and CSS3 open new possibilities and challenges to develop and optimize websites and their content.

XO was great right out of the box and it provided unlimited possibilities to configure and style the site without messing up the optimization. XO was revolutionary in as much as it promoted first of all the framework with its target keywords and then only the content. This lead to spectacular results and what we called excellent publishing.

Semiomantics XO

While XO development on the present base will stop, we are working on a new generation of XO: the new version will be released later this year and it will not constitute an upgrade of the existing XO but it will be a completely new XO Theme with exceptional features aiming mainly developers and taking into account a minimalist approach to development, leaving developers and designers utmost freedom of expression on a extremely flexible base. A Semiomantics Optimization Pack for that new framework is under development as well and will complete the new XO.

For the record: The existing XO version 3.4.x remains a great theme and I am sure it has still some great times to come, however, I would not anymore sell it as a modern high performance theme, namely if it is set up without the Semiomantics Optimization Pack.

I expect the new XO to be ready for release not before the second half of 2013. Existing license terms will apply, for new Licenses a new Pricing model will be applied.

The new universal theme developed by Semiomantics and virtually replacing the present XO at this stage is the XR, whereas the letter R stands for responsive. XR is a completely different story than XO, it is built on the base of some developments of Boilerplate, Bootstrap, new Semiomantics stuff and more last cry professional scripts.

XR is a truly universal theme as was XO and it adapts to most any purpose users may formulate.

More about XR shortly.

Please notice: this is the last post published on this site on the XO theme – rise the curtain for XR!

In order to take advantage of XR, this site will experience some structural changes and modifications during the next few days. Sorry for any inconvenience this may case and thanks for any comment relating to problems you may encounter.

Ycademy Seminar February 2013

The upcoming Ycademy Online Seminar will focus on Search Engine Optimization and Loading Speed of self-hosted WordPress based websites, and particularly on sites powered by Semiomantics developments.

While WordPress remains one of the most popular platforms for online publishing, the way it needs to be configured for optimized impact has changed over the years. Important changes on the Google algorithm in 2012 and the resulting consequences have been felt by many webmasters.

In order to help customers to get the best out of their websites, it is important to understand the way Google perceives and evaluates websites and their content.

 The Purpose of the WP SEO Seminar

The purpose of the Ycademy WP SEO Seminar is to

• Learn about the most recent modifications of Google’s evaluation criteria.
• Learn how to set-up, structure, organize and optimize a new WordPress website
• Improve SEO on existing websites
• Implement basic SEO features
• Implement advanced SEO features

• Optimizing Titles
• Optimizing Permalinks
• Optimizing Meta-tags
• Optimizing Media
• Sitemap

We are looking specifically at Semiomantics XO for WordPress. As the theme contains basic Optimization elements, we will just look at some optional advanced features which are part of custom optimization at Semiomantics.

• Duplicate content
• Strip unnecessary links, calls and requests
• Optimize the site structure
• Internal linking
• Tag related problems
• Comments and how to optimize them
• Conversion, sign-ups, feed readers

• Social Networks
• Related content sites
• Conversation

Measure your impact and improve where needed as an ongoing process.

We will have a close look at the most efficient combination of plug-ins which can be used on most any WordPress site to considerably improve performance.

Saturday and Sunday 23./24. February 2013, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. London Time

We will build a new website structured for high performance as we go through the curriculum. In fact, the whole seminar will be one big huge workshop. The new site will be not just a sandbox, but also a  model for further custom developments.

On Sunday we will focus on implementing new features on participants’ main websites. Modifying existing sites is more time consuming and depending on the content may pass the time we have available during the week-end. That is why we will offer support for the implementation issues beyond the seminar.

To register, please click on the topmost image and get your ticket. Discounts for Ycademy pros as usual – please mail Bianca at bianca(at)ycademy.com.

I am looking forward to one of the most interesting and important WordPress related seminars we have ever produced. While the above schedule may sound technical, the reality will show you simple to implement improvements with quickly measurable impact.

Test the Load Time of your Website

Website Loading Speed is one of the criteria search engines are looking at when judging our web pages. Optimization of loading times is therefore a must for high performance websites, such as the commercial versions of Semiomantics XO for WordPress.

Here below are some loading time stats for a few of our websites, whereas some of these sites are optimized and others not. For comparison reasons I have added Apple.com at the end.

Of course the load time of the tested home pages depends largely on the server response first and then on the content. By content I don’t mean just the visible content, but also the number of requests and the loading of hidden content such as .js files, style sheets and hidden slides. Stats trackers also impact as well as third party soft built into the site using plugins for example.

At tonight’s call we will have a closer look at these stats and we will go into the details to find out where and how we can improve the overall performance.

I am looking forward to seeing you tonight at YorgoTalk.

Some ideas for a YORGOO Logo

YORGOO is a platform where a multitude of inputs unite to a whole new entity.

Inspired by this idea and in respect of the imposed color scheme I did the following sketch which can work out at very small  size for example as a favicon.

The graphic represents well the above idea, however I am not too happy with the proportions. Also there is another version on the drawing board where the red square becomes a red circle, giving the design a more dynamic look.

The difficulty with round, curved objects is obvious, namely when you want to squeeze them into a 16 px x 16 px canvas.

Here below the 16px x 16 px favicon:

A version with the rounded shape:

Of course there are other options, such as letter based ideas, which present some disadvantages when it comes to very small shapes.

It’s tempting to use the letters representing YORGOO Limited and of course, I had to try it out.

The idea is always the same: join the two letters, simplify the shape and try it out with colors. While the first examples are font based, the second set is based on geometrical shapes, square and triangle and square and rounded.

Playing with geometric elements is interesting and yet, the difficult part will be to find the right proportions to express the desired relations existing between these elements. Joining the elements differently and splitting the middle bar would be another option or moving that bar out of the center … back to the drawing board!

The word YORGOO offers some interesting challenges, namely due to the rounded shapes of the “o”s and the “g”. In the past, YORGOO was branded with condensed Eight Track fonts which worked quite well for the purpose of 2005.

YORGOO Limited’s image is different from the good old membership program. We need to express a modern angle with a touch of elegance and class, a touch of “good taste” and yet an interpretation thereof, pointing to a more speed oriented environment, a more abstract and yet harmonious design for a more dynamic generation.

For the purpose of this post, I have selected some sketches based on the Adobe Garamond Pro Font:

While Garamond is an old font, it remains one of the most elegant and harmonious serif-fonts, namely for the letters needed here. Garamond is timeless, even if it looks a bit oldish, too traditional for my taste. That’s why I applied the brush to clear some parts of the font to get rid of what I feel is an excess of serifs and to bring in some dynamic into the design.

Also, treating each letter individually allows to play with individual letter spacing which is needed for the word YORGOO; due to all the rounded fonts, the word would fall apart with standard metrics.

Note also, the treatment of the first “o” which is designed to form a unity with the “y” making it a nice logo shape.

Of course all the above requires real detail work to get the best effects. Please take these sketches as what they are: sketches for discussion, ideas for inspiration or simply drafts designed for the bin.

I am looking forward to your feedback at tonight’s call.

YORGOO Limited Logo Contest

Last Friday, we announced the contest for the creation of the YORGOO Limited Logo and Name Branding.  The rules and expectations are as follows:

The logo should satisfy the following basic criteria:

The logo should be:

• simple yet understandable
• memorable
• timeless
• Scalable and functional
• Relevant and appropriate

Legally speaking YORGOO is a UK based company, limited by shares.

YORGOO develops and implements scalable media, marketing and publishing resources for individuals and business.

YORGOO provides turn-key as well as highly customized solution for excellent publishing.

YORGOO customers can count on personalized service from a team of passionate professionals from all over the world.

YORGOO’s foundations date back to 2005 when the original YORGOO network was created in form of a membership program; this flagship product has been taken offline and will be replaced by a new publishing platform based on WordPress and which will package complex efficient publishing tools for day to day use by people who want to focus on their content and communication.

The logo and or graphic icon must be efficiently usable in very small as well as large size, i.e. as a 16 px x 16 px favicon to very large street signs.

It must be defined for web and print as well as for 3d reproduction.

A watermark version for video and images is needed as well.

Since 2005 YORGOO’s colors were Gray-scale and Red, whereas red was defined as RGB #B30000 or #F00000. Gray-scale was basic, black, then #222, #666, #eaeaea – other gray tones can be used.

Fonts: use standard fonts which are usable for print as well as online. We don’t want to stick with the original YORGOO fonts as used for the 2005 program. We are open to suggestions.

In order to save time, the logo can be submitted in PSD format (Photoshop) for a pre-selection. The final version needs to be in vector format for scaling purpose.

The contest is open to all YORGOO and Ycademy Pros as well as to seminar participants.

At our live calls, starting on Monday, February 11, 2013.

New Servers and new IP Addresses

During this week-end we have been preparing the migration of our hosting accounts to new servers which are now ready.

There are multiple reasons for the move, above all the goal to provide continued high performance WordPress hosting.

We take the opportunity to move towards new horizons by building a new, future oriented hosting business.

YoClo will replace HSA and HIOD server clusters. This means that as soon as the migration is completed we will have to point all domains to the new name servers.

In as much as domains hosted with yorgodom.com are concerned, we will implement the changes; if you use other domain hosts, you will need to adjust the settings on your respective domain hosting account.

ns1.hostingsouthafrica.net    becomes  ns1.yoclo.net

ns2.hostingsouthafrica.net  becomes  ns2.yoclo.net

Please check on your domain hosting account that these DNS settings are implemented.

In order to solve any problem arising from the move, we will hold a hosting troubleshooting session tonight at 7 pm London time at http://yorgotalk.com.

Mobile Apps

Apps will be the big topic of 2013, mainly because there is a major shift of web traffic towards the mobile web and consequently traffic harvesting will be more efficient through apps than through browser based websites.

The Ycademy January Seminar will focus on Apps Basics and different ways to convert WordPress blogs to hybrid and native apps.

The Seminar will be composed of a variety of Workshops dealing with Mobile Apps and namely on the conversion of a WordPress driven site to mobile apps for different platforms.

You will learn about the differences between hybrid and native apps, HTML 5 apps and the different architecture imposed by platform owners, such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and RIM.

While there are costly and complex developments available, this seminar will focus on basics and the most simple ways of making WP available on mobile; the solutions we will implement will be appreciated by many customers, while for others they will just constitute a starting point for more sophisticated and efficient developments.

More information will follow.

All materials will be provided. Tools needed: Photoshop and FTP Client.

January 26 -27, 2013 as usual starting at 1 pm London Time each day and ending at 9 pm London Time.

Tickets: $85 with the usual special discount of $50 for Ycademy Pros; please get the Ycademy Pro Discount code from Bianca (@) ycademy.com.

Please click HERE.

How to create Gold and Glass effects in Photoshop

The tutorial shows how to create a Glass and Gold effect in Photoshop CS6 in 3 steps.

• Create a background with vignette
• Create a Glass effect
• Create a Gold effect

I have loaded this for those who missed the daily Ycademy call last night and who may be looking for an attractive way to add glossy gold or other color effects to text. If you wish to reproduce the effect demonstrated in the tutorial, just grab the background image from HERE.

Try it with other fonts, namely with italic rounded ones, change color gradients and produce unlimited attractive effects.

Enjoy!

Emerald is Color of the Year 2013

Pantone did it again: they selected Emerald as THE color of the year 2013. After Tangerine Tango and Honeysuckle we are back to colder tints this year, reminding us of the Turquoise from 2010.

Green tones are frequently used in web design as they inspire either an ecological note or, more spiritually, a sense for clarity, renewal and natural dynamic. Pushing it further, we learn that the gemstone Emerald stands for love (associated to Venus), hope and also as a symbol for wisdom and prophecy. Emeralds are supposed to bring tranquility to troubled minds.

Declining the Emerald color in a monochromatic scheme results in quite attractive shades:

Converting the Pantone code to RGB will result in something close to: #05705e which can be declined to:

• #00A287
• #34D0B6
• #5ED0BD
• #006957
• #1E796A

as per above screenshot from color scheme designer. Play with the color and you will see that it has all the qualities to go grungy or to decorate an elegant page.

Application and Applications

For the year end, we have a special idea summing up our work; 2012 has been a busy and intensive year indeed. Having learned to use important Applications, such as Illustrator and InDesign and having evolved in Photography and photo editing for web and print, we will look into some practical application of all the new knowledge. We will not forget Camtasia and WordPress nor our own branding.

Traditionally the December Seminar is a one day event and we will make sure that it will be a useful one, with a dense schedule and loads of solutions for more or less common problems and issues.

We will create a calender for 2013 in print quality using Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and why not Word?

The monthly 12 page calender will require 12 large size images for the basic layout. Please prepare your images before the seminar and make sure you edit them in 300 dpi.

Besides the calender we will look into branding issues: stationary, business cards, logo, other printed matters such as post cards, greeting cards and much more.

A lst issue we have to resolve before year end: an update on Camtasia for easy video editing. The latest version of Camtasia offers more flexibility and features and we will experience how easy it is to edit media with this brilliant tool.

As you can see from the above, the day will be one big workshop. Bianca will send out relevant download links for materials before the seminar.

The Seminar takes place on Saturday, December 15 from 1 pm – 9 pm London time.

Christmas rate for all participants: $15

I am looking forward to an interesting and busy seminar.

How to correct Photoshop Print preview in CS5 and CS6

You may have noticed that the Print Preview in Photoshop does not reflect the real dimensions of the image in inches or centimeters. To test, just measure the image width on the screen with a ruler and compare it to image size under Image>Image Size.

The difference results from the fact that Adobe Photoshop assumes a screen resolution of 72 pixels per inch (ppi) which for most screens is not the case anymore. The second reason lies in the fact that screen resolutions may vary from what manufacturers indicate.

In order to preview the exact print size of your image, you need to calibrate Photoshop and adjust the screen resolution preset to the actual resolution of your monitor.

This is how to do it:

1. Create a new document with 300 dpi print resolution, 9 in x 9 in in dimensions. This will create a blank document 2700×2700 in pixel dimensions. Fill it with white.
2. From the menu choose  View>Print Size.
3. With an accurate ruler and using great care not to damage your screen measure the displayed dimensions in inches. In all likelihood it will be smaller than 9 inches.
4. Divide 9 inches by the actual measurement you obtain from the screen which will provide the correction factor.
5. Go to Edit>Preferences>Units & Rulers and find the screen resolution. By default it is set at 72 pixels/inch.
6. Multiply the current ppi, 72, by the correction factor you calculated above and enter that in the screen resolution field. Click OK.

Now go back to print preview, measure it and you will notice that the values are correct.

By the way: the rulers are now correct as well (in print preview only).

Free Windows 8 Media Center Pack

So, you have just upgraded your windows to Windows 8 Pro taking advantage of the easy upgrade offer. Included in the offer is the free access to the Windows 8 Media Center which retails for about $70.

This post takes you step by step through the Media center Set-up process.

Once your Win 8 Pro is installed, head over to Microsoft and order your free Windows Media Center by just tying your email address into the form on display. Click HERE. The free offer is available till January 31, 2013.

By the way, you are entitled to 5 product keys but you have to order them with separate email addresses.

Microsoft will send you the Product Key by mail “within 24 hours”. In reality you will get the key within 10 minutes or so, however they don’t seem to work on week-ends and their support is useless.

just follow the instructions contained in the mail. For the sake completeness I will just add them here below:

1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search. (If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, and then click Search).
2. Enter add features in the search box, and then tap or click Settings.
3. Tap or click Add features to Windows 8.
4. Then tap or click I already have a product key.
5. Enter the product key, and then click Next.
6. Read the license terms, select the check box to accept the license terms, and then click Add features.

Your PC will restart automatically and Windows Media Center will be available for use. 

You will now find a new Media Center Tile (Icon) on your Start Page:

Click on your new WMC tile and start following the steps.

Right after the opening screen you will be exposed to your first important decision: Express Install or Custom. Most users will be happy with the Express install: it’s quick, efficient and Microsoft will watch you like Big Brother.

In as much as I am concerned, I like to preserve as much privacy as possible and namely, I do not want to send permanently information about my activity to Big Brother; I therefore choose the Custom Install:

Now the set-up goes step by step through the various options:

Just click next and select NO on the following screen:

I have read too many privacy statements to trust any of them. They are worse than pre-election promises.

On the next screen you get optional settings:

Let’s have a look at some of these options, starting with display settings:

On the following screens just select what applies to your hardware:

Note the pop on the bottom right of the above screen!

For the purpose of this exercise I did NOT switch to full screen as once you are on full screen mode you can no longer take screen-shots … My screen is just a bit higher than standard 16:9 display. I just pulled the display window to full width, which gives me full 16:9 new but still keeps the desktop options (like screen shots :-)).

Now again some questions to make sure you are on the right track and just choose what applies:

I select 16:9 display as this corresponds also the HD video formats. 4:3 would be a typical digital photo format.

Now it’s getting more tricky: you may use this option to quickly manage your display, however, you may also opt to calibrate color and other display settings from the menu of your graphics card if available.

Also: while calibrating your monitor for best display of  the Windows Media Center environment and content, you may mess up other display settings you have chosen, namely calibration for Graphic or Photographic work or calibration for print of images.

In most cases to let windows to the choice is fair for normal internet consumers. As an editor of Graphics of any kind, you may want to think twice.

Here you go for color balance; RGB is the color scheme we use on monitors.

Sound Options:

Again similar to the monitor set-up:

Going for Music,Images and Videos now …

This is the most important choice here: decide what you really want in the media library. Some just pull in all media files, also junk stuff. Be selective about it!

Have a look at your libraries:

For Music and Video libraries it works the same way as for images.

Thant’s it.

Ycademy Seminar November 24-25, 2012

The recent release of Windows 8 triggers many questions and also some fears relating to switching from Windows 7 to Windows 8. Having followed the Win 8 developments since its early beta stage, we will be able to guide you through the installation and configuration of the new operating system.

Windows 8 is basically Windows 7, just better. Or, Windows 8 is an upgrade of Windows 7 with an interactive touch interface on top giving direct access to applications, tools and online networks, similar to mobile interfaces.

Win 8 is a necessary upgrade if you want to stay tuned into future developments of the way people use the internet and also if you want to synchronize your desktop or laptop with mobile devices using the windows operating system.

Microsoft is running a promo for Win 8 till January 31, whereas you can upgrade your existing XP, Vista or Win 7 system to Windows 8 Pro for USD 39.99.

In most cases the upgrade will be smooth without requiring a re-install of programs and applications. We will discuss known issues and bugs before the upgrade.

Not really, however the upgrade requires some time in order to make sure all participants have a running system before the Seminar so we will not lose any time with upgrade issues during the sessions.

The following phases of the upgrade will be done before the seminar:

• Run the Upgrade Assistant to find out whether your hardware fulfills the system requirements for Win 8 and which programs or applications are incompatible with Win 8.
  (Usually, the only problem is with Security Essentials which will be replaced by Defender coming along with Win 8. If other programs are affected we will sort them out with you on an individual bases.)
• Download the installer and Win 8 and purchase the upgrade.
• Install Win 8 and make sure your computer is connected to the internet and allows you to communicate.
• A short “where is what” Session.

Having said that, we have of course another Seminar Topic up our sleeves:

Illustrator is used namely to produce vector graphics, in contrast to bitmaps which we edit with Photoshop. Vector graphics  can be scaled without loss of quality. This is namely important for logos, brand signs, images or graphics which you may want to use in different sizes and supports.

The resulting .ai files can be used directly in InDesign or After Effects for example. Vector graphics are of particular interest for those who produce video output files, apps, responsive web design and printed matters as well.

After getting familiar with the interface, we will produce some first vector graphics and pursue the learning beyond the seminar by dedicating some of our daily sessions to get advanced knowledge of the secrets of AI.

In order to efficiently organize the above mentioned pre-seminar tasks, Bianca will send out a mail announcing the special sessions which will be held for this purpose.

• Introduction to Windows 8 (Overview, Apps and Tools, Multi-tasking,
• Customize the Start Screen
• Set up devices (Printers, scanners, cameras etc)
• Connect to networks
• Install Apps and Programs
• How to use the clod
• Mail and contact management
• Run programs made for previous Windows versions.

• Tips and tricks: This is the big How-To session. We will go through 100 Windows features and ways of using Windows: most of them are specific to windows 8. Take advantage of Win 8 to improve your Workflow and do things with your computer you never dreamed of :-).
• Adobe Illustrator: Intro and Overview
• AI: Create your first Vector Graphics

Please announce your intention to participate at the Seminar to Bianca Gubalke at bianca(at)ycademy.com, to enable us to organize the pre-seminar sessions starting Wednesday.

Also, there will be quite some material to download which we will make available as from tomorrow and which we will need at the Seminar: there is namely Windows 8 (3.2 GB) and then there are loads of materials for our Illustrator Workshops, as well as the usual literature.

Usual Discounts for Ycademy Pros – please contact Bianca.

Ycademy Net goes on Maintenance Tomorrow

Subsequent to the Ycademy Seminar which took place this week-end we will perform a major maintenance session on Ycademy Net as from Tonight.

Here are the sheduled tasks:

The reason is, that inactive accounts and sites are not updated and constitute a proven security risk for the other sites on the shared domain. We will therefore delete all inactive accounts, databases, sites and FTP access.

As before,  new Ycademy Pro subscribers will get an ycademy.net account.

Active Ycademy Pros and Seminar participants are not touched by this measure.

The purpose of the ycademy.net site is to provide users the highest standard hosting and testing ground for websites and site development. To make the best use of the site, one WordPress install is sufficient; maintenance will thus be reduced to one install per user and we will include that site into our maintenance schedule.

This concerns all the remaining WordPress or other installs. The purpose is to streamline the remaining sites and reduce them to the strictly necessary files.

You may of course back-up and download your existing installs previous to the maintenance; however we recommend to only scanned and clean files.

We will delete all old back-ups in as much a they are stored on the server.

Please join tonight’s Live call at YorgoTalk.com (7 pm London Time) for more details or eventual special requests you may have. There we will tell you exactly what will be deleted from your account.

WordPress and Blurb

Semiomantics is ready with an XO release candidate for WordPress 3.5. We will therefore look into the latest WP developments and the theme updates. Also Blurb has released the integration software for InDesign, which provides smashing professional editing features for off and on line book publishers.

Here is the Schedule for the October Seminar:

Blurb is expanding fast and adding new features and tools rapidly. New high quality paper, covers and integration tools namely for Word and InDesign provide all we need for prestigious publications. But there is more, such as Facebook book publishing …

We will give an overview over the recent developments of Blurb and Blurb ProLine before integrating Blurb with InDesign.

Creating a book is a bit like developing a Website in as much as planning is required and some important decisions should be taken before starting the editing job.

• Title or Topic of the book
• Content (example Photos, Images and Text, etc)
• Approximate number of pages
• Format of the book
• Paper (type, weight and color)
• Cover
• Layout
• Fonts
• Eventual color scheme

We will go through each of the above with each participant to make sure everyone gets the basics right from the beginning. While doing so we will highlight some generally accepted standards and explain the needed technical terms, such as thick margins, thin equal margins and full bleeds and their significance and perception. Other issues such as the gutter and the cover page, the half title and the full title page, page numbers and plate numbers, index and plate table will be detailed and implemented in the work shop.

Then we will create a grid and help lines and as the case may be customized master spreads.

Particular focus will be on typefaces, their meaning and perception as well as on some guidelines about how to use which font for a particular purpose.

Also, we will work on the cover once we know the exact number of pages. The Cover bears usually some defined information as well as graphic and or photographic work.

By the end of the day each participants book will be at a finishing stage with pending fine-tuning.

IMPORTANT: Have your photos/images prepared for print with 300 dpi. Cropping and adapting to fit the requirements of the layout will be done during the session, however the image editing process should be completed.

The universal theme and framework XO for WordPress is getting ready for WordPress 3.5. We will deliver and test a Release Candidate of Semiomantics XO 3.5 and go through the details on the second day of our Seminar. This will be an important session as we will focus not just on styling, but also on code for advanced customization. These will be the highlights:

• XO 3.5 RC
• A new responsive slider
• A New Child Theme (similar to what you can see on my author site)
• A New Security Plugin
• A new Optimization Plugin
• Introduction to CDN
• Custom templates
• MySQL queries to troubleshoot your database.

All materials are provided.

As you can see from the above, we are looking forward to an extremely interesting and busy week-end. I am determined to go through all of the above sections and the workshops considering that in November and December there are new challenges waiting for us :-).

Schedule: as usual on Saturday and Sunday, October 27/28, 2012 each from 1 pm London time till 9 pm London time; breaks as usual.

Tickets: as usual, please click on the below icon and request Ycademy discount as usual from Bianca.

YQ³ Theme for WordPress

It has been a while since the face of this website has changed. Today we have started with the conversion to a brand new theme, the YQ³, yet another Semiomantics development.

I am sorry for the inconvenience this may cause temporarily, however the change will result in a faster, more user- and mobile-friendly WordPress installation.

For the time being we just use the technical description YQ³ as it refers to the Author, the Series and the multi-dimentional thinking in respect to desktop, tablets and smartphones.

The new theme needed to be ultra-light to load fast, without however neglecting the high SEO standards which made Semiomantics’ reputation since 2007.

Also, the Theme needed to embrace the latest WordPress updates and features as well as implement HTML5 and CSS3.

YQ³ is crafted for developers, who need a clean base to start their own development from.

YQ³ is designed to work without any plugins; however it is compatible with all well designed add-ons.

The theme is designed to grab all reading support from Smartphones and Tablets as well as menu support. The design assures efficient navigation and clear display.

While the script is easy to read by search bots, we would use some SEO plugins for larger sites, namely for site mapping and script compression.

The YQ³ design is focused on Information Architectural criteria. This will require some discipline from editing users but it keeps the content structures transparent. Simple visible menus allow for high accessibility of posts and pages, archives and media.

Contact, Email updates, Links to social media enhance interactivity.

As the site should be equally accessible on tablets and smartphones, we have eliminated all features which don’t work or work slowly on such mobile devices.

We use no texture, color or shapes on the interface. The eye is lead top to bottom, whereas the top menu and the left-side placed sidebar get priority on smartphones. In this first version we do not use lines for direction but focus on Typography instead to separate content.

More details to follow.

Vouliagmeni by Night with Full Moon

Early this morning. The full moon was announced for 6:18 a.m. and the moon set for about an hour later, just before sun rise. What a good reason to get up early and to get into position on the roof terrasse of the house.

The night sky was clear and the moon bright. I did some shots in manual mode forcing low ISO, bracketing +-1. Of course I needed to exploit the full optical zoom range of 300 mm equivalent but the result was surprisingly good for a point and shoot. For better results I shot some 35 mm film with a Leica R4 and a 250 mm f/4 tele lens – but those need to be developed this week.

So, just for the fun some point and shoot images:

Now that shows how small the object is on the 4000 by 3000 frame.

While I was focused on the moon, a cruise ship passed by at the horizon making it’s way to Piraeus port:

The smear in the background represents the movement of the ship during the 8 seconds of exposure; note also the naturally blurred water.

A shot towards the Marina where there is a lot of light:

And another shot featuring our new church:

The closer the moon gets to the horizon the more pink, red and orange tones become visible:

… another one:

… and just before the sun rises and the moon fades out …

The testing and exercising was well worth the while and if it is just for the magic moment spent on an early Sunday morning :-).

Vouliagmeni Limanaki Images

A day at the beach is one thing, a day at Limanaki in Vouliagmeni is another. Far from crowded sandy beaches, Limanaki is just a small bay between Vouliagmeni and Varkiza. There is no beach infrastructure, just a small kiosk to grab a coffee or a beer and have some snacks. There is no internet connection and there is no mobile phone; what a pleasure.

Can you imagine sitting at the beach without all these people around you hooked to the mobile and competing with each other for decibel?

Limanaki is the retro beach par excellence and the good news: 5 million Athenians don’t know the place!

There is always a welcoming smile and no wonder YorgoMan made a friend right at the source:

Best of all, you always meet cool people, friends and the clearest water you can imagine. Far from the city, the noise, the hassle, the feel of an island.

Relaxed people have a relaxed attitude and that shows on the faces.

And as I like to shoot faces, Limanaki is a great playground for snaps:

And more faces:

And another one:

How about a swim?

…or a dive?

No doubt, a day at Limanaki is a day in paradise!

Marketing with WordPress and Adobe CS6 Seminar

The Ycademy September 2012 Seminar will focus on Marketing with WordPress and Adobe CS6. We will also spend some time on the Photobook we started working on at the July Seminar.

Making money with your blog or WordPress based website is function of multiple elements we have explored in the past. This time we will resume some of the criteria which are of paramount importance on the Path to Profitability and add some new ideas, namely the most recent techniques of mixing content from two or more sources into single new original posts. The interest is in the fact that ‘commercial content’ can be mixed into editorials automatically and in a contextually relevant matter.

In fact, if our author blog uses as main categories say, ‘home and gardening’, ‘yoga’, ‘photography’ and  ’my cat’, then contextual commercial content (ads for example) can be prepared for each category to be mixed in to the posts. The ads are set up as custom posts based on commercial feeds or contents originating from affiliate programs (merchants) or from our own shops.

Th suggested technique will make life easier for publishers and produce feeds including commercial content.

Of course, the technique can also be used for non commercial content, such as galleries, portfolio items, videos or any other kind of media.

Adobe CS6 offers some great features, namely when it comes to optimize the Work-flow. While most are familiar with Photoshop and  Lightroom, there are other great Adobe Apps in the CS6 bundle we will focus on, namely on Bridge, Illustrator and most importantly on InDesign.

As per Adobe:”Adobe InDesign CS6 is professional page layout software that lets you design, preflight, and publish a broad range of documents in print, online, and on tablet devices. Precise control over typography, built-in creative tools, and an intuitive design environment let you create stunning page layouts faster and more efficiently. Tight integration with industry-leading Adobe software such as Adobe Photoshop®, Illustrator®, Acrobat®, and Flash® Professional enables highly productive work-flows to flexibly deliver content in print and digital formats. Access Adobe Digital Publishing Suite* from within InDesign to create and publish engaging apps for a broad range of devices, such as iPad, Motorola Xoom, and Android™ tablets.”

InDesign is THE app to produce newsletters, scrap and other books, brochures and of course well edited web pages and online editions of magazines and mobile apps. InDesign assembles text and media elements to deliver attractive  interactive content.

Talking about Publishing, we will come back to our Photo-book Project we started at the July Seminar.

While InDesign provides all we need to build 100% custom publications, an alternative way to publishing is to use ready templates and software available online, namely to edit and publish Photo Books. The project we started during the July Seminar has matured in the mean time and we will check upon the status quo and help where help is needed. Also we will have a closer look at the suggested software and at some of the advanced settings to give the book the most appealing touch and feel. A two hours work-shop is planed for this issue.

An important pre-seminar call will take place on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. London Time. We will use the session to distribute and go through the materials we will use at the seminar. Please watch out from an email from Bianca containing various links and download the materials before the session.

The Seminar will take pace on September 29 and 30, starting on both days at 1 p.m. London Time and closing at 9 p.m.London Time.

Seminar Tickets are available at the usual conditions; discounts for Ycademy Pros as usual.

Tanner Line in Action

Last night Gene Line shared the image of Tanner Line in Action for demo purposes. The image was heavily downsized and the JPEG quality was set to 5% of the original. Also the image had not been pulled through photoshop. Nice shot Gene!

After the session I thought to give it a shot with Photoshop to get more out of the action and to focus the attention more on Tanner Line by taking off some of the importance of the background.

Here some versions after editing in Photoshop.

The most important step was to get that background out of the way and give the image more depth. The rest is playing with the filters and blends.

The first shot here is the original I started out from; the ball just bounced off the ground and Tanner caught it while the guy to the right obviously still has not realized what had happened.

Here are now some edited versions of the action whereas it was important to me to get more focus on Tanner Line:

A bit darker and less saturated:

A split toned and subtle sepia version:

And finally a simulation of a night shot:

While I did not spend more than a few minutes on the editing, I am quite happy with the result which demonstrates just 4 different atmospheres we can express quickly using Photoshop.

Photokina: The Best Compact Camera

So, you want to know, what’s the best Camera Deal resulting from the Photokina 2012 presentation? Here you go! First of all let’s make it clear: there is simply no best camera in absolute terms. The best camera is the one which suits your needs and desires best and there may be a financial component to it as well.

The real question is: what’s the best camera for you?

My criteria are based on the fact that I have a good point and shoot cam and high end SLR equipment which I barely use anymore.

In as much as I am concerned, I give absolute priority to image quality, which translates in quality lenses and sensors. My preferred sensor size would be a APS-C, APS-H or Full Frame sensor.

I need a camera which is easy to carry along when traveling and which is not intrusive when taking street photos or snapping people in their natural environment. This exclused DSLRs as they are too bulky, heavy and not discrete enough, however I am looking at image quality comparable to DSLR output.

My preference is therefore a compact ICL system camera.

I am looking for a camera with high quality fast glass and the possibility to use high quality lenses from the good old 35 mm times.

You may notice, that on my high priority list there are none of the trendy features such as WiFi, GPS, not even video, even if that latter would be a plus. My priorities remain focused just on straight forward photography. I am not interested in onboard editing software nor in publishing immediately to social networks, for that a smartphone will do.

I need a camera which produces high quality data for printing, not just 72 dpi web-size 8 bit pics.

4 smashing concepts have been presented this year to the market, starting with the Fujifilm X -Pro1 in January. I had a serious look at the X -Pro1 namely because of its new sensor, the lens quality and it’s M9 like size. I would have preferred it to be smaller though.

The reviews were smashing in as much as image quality is concerned, however most tests having been done with Firmware 1.0, reveal some problems with the AF and it’s speed. It seems that these problems have been resolved since and Firmware 2.0 will be out in October.

The price tag of $1700 for the body only is on the higher end of tolerance. Nevertheless the cam got a warm welcome from the professionals.

As a surprise came the presentation of Sony’s compact full frame RX! just ahead of the Photokina. This baby came in with a price tag of $2800, however it is not an ILC. It’s a great first shot by Sony which may introduce an era of full frame compacts; up to now only the Leica M9 was available in compact size. The 35mm/2.8 is not fast enough for my taste nor in comparison with the cost.

Even if this camera does not fulfill some of my main criteria, I mention it since it can be expected that a version with interchangeable lenses will hit the market sooner or later.

I have been writing about the Leica M in my previous post. No need to go into technicalities here. The Leica M fulfills about all my criteria, namely also because it allows the use of R lenses using an adapter. However, the highest priced camera is hardly the best deal out there.

The Fujifilm X-E1 was THE surprise to me. You get the image quality of the X-Pro1 at a much lower price. It’s suicidal for Fujifilm or at least I suppose it will kill the X-Pro1. Just for the hybrid viewfinder I would not spend that extra $700. Also the X-E1 is about 30% smaller and almost pocketable, not in a pant however.

The X E1 at $1000 is a real deal as it seems. The X E1 could well become THE blockbuster in its class. Fujifilm has a long history of quality products and the X E1 fits in perfectly. It’s the real thing and I am looking forward to some good reviews in depth. From the specs you can expect to end up with the same image quality, features and advantages of the X-Pro1 in a more compact and lighter format but as solidly built with the same attention to detail.

Easy to guess, my gold medal goes to the Fujifilm X -E1. With an adapter you can shoot Leica M and R lenses, you get through out great images and it’s low light outputs are comparable to top range DSLRs.

The camera will be available as a kit at $1400 equipped with a 18-55 mm f/2.8 – f/4 lens. But my choice would be the 35mm f/1.4, equivalent to 53 mm in 35 mm terms. That’s a fast little beast, just perfect for street and other snaps, namely in low light (unlike the X-Pro1 the little one is equipped with a flash!).

PS: Did I tell you that I looove the design of the X-E1?

Photokina: Leica M for R Lenses

At last Leica made the long expected move to satisfy owners of R-Lenses who have been left out in the rain for years now as no Leica R DSLR body was available. Since Leica stopped the  R SLR development and never moved on to a DSLR R series there were many rumors out there about a new digital Leica solution for the use of R Lenses.

While insiders, observers and other Leica freaks expected a Leica M 10, the new flagship is simply called Leica M and it will be released early in 2013. A cheaper and somewhat simpler version, reminding in many points of the M9 will be launched as well. However only the Leica M is equipped with that new sensor capable of handling M and R lenses whereas a special adapter will be required for the use of R Lenses.

Get all the technicalities directly from Leica and while you are there, have a look at the two promotional videos.

In as much as price is concerned, it’s as usual: the eternal complaint about Leica’s exorbitant prices, at least if you follow the mainstream photo press. I have never heard of an auto magazine complaining about the price of a Rolls Royce or a Ferrari, even if both of them may not be the best cars in their class. In photography it’s different: Leica has that label of selling its products at outrageous prices, way beyond the outrageous prices of its competitors. Yes,have you noticed when looking through online reviews, most quality cameras are perceived as being too expensive by those reviewing them.

It’s either that those reviewers are cheap guys, miss-guided by the common idea prevailing online, that everything has to be free, or the millions of consumers buying a quality product are just fools. Or may be both ?

In any case, my Dads 60 year old Leica still takes great pictures …. how many of the current plastic cams and lenses will still be able to even take a picture in 10 or 20 years?

The $7000 price label is discriminating, sure. But then, a Leica is not a mainstream cam and if Leica has managed to sell at these price levels a product of which the main parts are crafted in Europe or USA, then they must be doing something right. Wonder who envies them more: the reviewers, those who don’t have one or the competitors.

Let me be clear about this: for a Leica freak, there is just no alternative, for his valet there may be one. If you like the image quality, or may be the rangefinder technology or the look and quality or the lenses or the rather minimalist approach to building photo cameras, then you may want to look at some new products which can bring you quite close to the touch and feel of shooting with a Leica.

Read my next post about it.

Rainbow over Vouliagmeni

For the first time in weeks (or months) we have seen some raindrops  in Vouliagmeni yesterday morning. As the sky was partially covered with heavy clouds, a rainbow stretched over the town and the beautifull colors revieled nice contrasts.

Using the widest angle possible on my point and shoot camera I could not fetch the whole scene. I therefore took two shots in panorama mode and stitched them together in Photoshop using the native Photomerge tool (File – Automate – Photomerge) for a quick edit.

Of course I wanted to add some drama and grain to the image which originally was quite low in contrast and vibrance. In fact the intention was to create a scenario for Bianca’s Alien’s Story :-).

After the drama some extraterresral glow needed to be added …

Now we just need to wait and see … ET is on its way.

Hibiscus Images

Today just some Hibiscus images I shot this morning in the garden. Feel free to grab and use them :-).

Greek Figs Business

It’s always a joy to drive through the countryside of southern Attica where good soil produces some of the best fruits and vegetables around Athens. Here small business still means small business!

Farmers offer their production from hand-built stalls along the often dusty roads.

Greeks have their preferred farmer and will drive across Attica just to get the real stuff from the trusted source year after year.

Others would just stop at a place because of an attractive display of fresh veggies, inviting colors of fruit or just to have a chat with locals. Some of these small businesses also sell other home made products from the farm, honey, spices such as origan, sweets, jam and more.

Of course the offer depends on the season and the shopping habits are far from those cripling our minds in super markets.

My friend Costa has been a long term customer of farmers from the Loutsa Area, on the other side of Attica, about a 40 minute drive from Vouliagmeni. That’s where you get the best Figs in Attica, he claims.

So,  a few days ago, we drove across Attica to get some of those delicious products. While I was expecting to end up at a small family owned farm, I  could not hide my surprise when we stopped at that small stall featured on the picture above, off the main road but still on a connection between villages …but still: middle of nowhere.

The stall was as handcrafted as you could imagine and the equipment quite standard: basic. A balance hanging from the roof, the table to display the fresh vegetables and fruits, another table in the back to sort the products as well as a few improvised chairs to have a sip and a chat with friends. Electricity, what’s that?

Interestingly the figs on display are packed and labeled FRESH FIGS is good old English, whilst the farmers often don’t speak a word of that language. Also we are not really on a touristic trail. My silent conclusion is, that imported packaging materials must be cheaper that the local stuff.

Having a closer look at the box, I find the address of an exporter from Athens and in fact, our very modest stall owner, is in fact supplying figs for export by air world-wide! Of course Greek Figs are the best in the world and those from Panagiotis are the best in Greece … what else?

Out in the Greek countryside, supermarkets, e-commerce and such likes are just distant nightmares. There is only one commerce and that is S-Commerce, standing for Social Commerce. Greeks never needed any social networks, facebook and twitter to be social, it’s just in their nature to socialize as an important part of Greek lifestyle.

The same applies to commerce out in the countryside. Buying and selling are social acts and you would disappoint your Greek farmer, if you just got off your car and quickly bought your veggies without a word, chat or as the case may be, without tasting some of the home made foods.

Of course, Costa immediately gets into a heated discussion with the farmer’s wife about this year’s quality of figs, while tasting the various varieties available to create a good climate for s-commerce, that is, aiming at getting the best price for the best fruits.

This back and fourth takes a while and even a good while, but it’s part of the game, part of the transaction, the s-commerce.

Sure, the discussion is not just about figs and irrigation, rain, sunshine and farming; the discussion hits the weather in general, the crises, the difficulties to farm today, the problems of small scale farming, national politics, global warming and God and the world.

Time passes and you spend a great moment selecting your figs and veggies.

During the whole process you are pushed to taste this and try that and if you have not had lunch yet, there is no point planning for it any longer.

Inevitably there comes the moment of the truth; has it been worth the while to spend all this time to get the price down by may be a few cents per kilo? And if all of this was not about the few cents at all?

Costa finally thought the time was right to conclude the deal as the farmer’s wife was in increasingly good mood and put a nice smile on her face carved by hard country life.

Now the highlight of the technical infrastructure, the balance, becomes the center of attention and that’s just yet another good reason for discussion and while the farmer’s wife talks the quality and price up, Costa uses now the general arguments of crises and the resulting hardship for Greek people to limit the damage.

As an observer you become quickly aware of the importance of the issue: we are talking here about the very best figs in this world which are traded in one of the worst economic contexts.

You need to be at least a university professor to sort out such complex issues or a politician to talk them out of the world.

But our two negotiators are by far beyond the primitive arguments of macro-economics and political short-sight.

The issue is a matter of consensus, not just consensus about kilos and Euros; it’s about a global consensus on matters discussed and the trade is just the materialization of that consensus when reached.

You may not be able to negociate the price down but you will find a satisfactory consensus on some important matters where both parties exit the negociation heads up.

The consensus is important, not the material exchange of Euros against figs. The satisfaction to extract from all discussed matters those, where there is agreement, and the ability to build the widest possible consensus is the purpose of the dealing.

The fig deal is just the trigger for readiness to compromise: Costa wants figs and the farmer wants to sell them; as they both want to reach their respective goals, they are prepared to find that bases of consensus which makes this deal for both parties an enriching experience and therefore a great deal.

Modern terminology like “shopping experience” are part of day to day Greek life and modern marketing experts can invent whatever they want, they will never come even close to a real social  shopping experience as described above.

Is time a measure for social commerce at all? In my opinion, it’s pretty irrelevant and in fact, I could not answer that question based on the above experience.

All I know is that we left with different varieties of figs, zucchini, eggplant, peppers and all the wheeling and dealing was interlaced, subject to discussion and finally a happy global consensus.

I also remember that it was happy hour when we finally got back to Vouliagmeni …

What is relevant, is to have met the farmers, spent some good time with them and remembering a great social shopping experience, where something has happened, something beyond figs and Euros.

Full moon in Vouliagmeni – Blue Moon

It was again Full moon time on August 31 – September 1, and as it was the second one in the same month, it was a Blue Moon. Back in 2010 at about the same time of the year I went out to shoot the moon with my at that time new point and shoot camera, the little Leica V-Lux 20. I was just focusing on the moon and on the maximum detail I could capture with that camera.

This year in May, the moon was at it’snearest position to the earth and I went out to try to catch the moon as well as some landscape. In May the constellation was such as that the moon came up way after the sun-set and there was not much daylight left. My images turned out to be underexposed and there was not much material I could use to do an HDR merger.

This time now I was luckier in as much as the sun set at about the same time as the moon rose and heck, it was fun and I would have wished having a better camera with me.

As in May, I thought it was a good idea to drive along the coast, direction Varkiza, to see the moon rising over the Varkiza bay and then to head back and catch the scene from across the Vouliagmeni bay since the hill behind Vouliagmeni retards the rising of the moon by about 40 minutes.

The above image features the landscape with the horizon - the moon was expected to rise on the right slope of that pyramid shaped mountain. On August 31, 2012 the sun set about 30 minutes after the moon was supposed to rise, which was yet another challenge.

 When the moon showed up at last, the last sun beams left the landscape with a warm glow and offered a rather romantic sun-set-moon-rise scenario.

This picture was taken at the cam’s maximum focal length, equivalent to 400 mm and the distance to the town and horizon is about 8 km. I thought this was pretty cool for a small point and shoot cam.

Having taken a bunch of shots from the rising moon at that place, I then drove down to Varkiza town to give it another try. Within the two minutes it took me to get there, the sun had set and the light completely changed.

A fishing boat leaving the port contributed to the interest of the image.

The light had reached about the stage where you see about just gray tones and I thought it was a nice opportunity to produce one of those vintage type of images filtering with a gradient sepia map.

Again a sweet result and best of all, there is still some detail to the moon.

More realistically, the scene presented itself rather like the next image, whereas the moon is over-exposed and the landscape under-exposed, which shows the interest in working this out with an HDR tool.

The daylight was decreasing fast now and if I wanted to catch the rising moon in Vouliagmeni, I had to quickly head back to get ready for a spectacular show.

The spot selected for the images as just across the town center near the entrance to Astir Beach, from where I was expecting the moon to rise just above the town and its hills.

You might wonder how I had planned my timing and selected the locations from where I would get a nice angle for the images. The answer is: The Photographer’s Ephimeris, a tool helpful for landscape and other photography where light, sun (or moon) rise and set are of importance. The tool combines rising and setting times with a worldwide map. It’s a fantastic free tool you can grab from HERE.

Where ever you place the pin on your local map for a given date, the graphic will indicate the angle from where the sun or moon will rise and set as well as the time; you then just need to take into account the elevation and distance to the horizon to approximate the exact time for the given location. Try it, you will adopt it.

I reached my observation location just before the moon and had enough time to mount a tripod, which I did not use for the previous pictures as there was strong wind and still enough daylight.

This is how Vouliagmeni by night presented itself just after 8 pm:

The moon was supposed to show up from behind the hill on the right side of the above image and just a few minutes later the planning proved to be correct:

Now things went quickly; I am always surprised how speedy that moon rises!

The image is heavily under-exposed to catch some detail of the surface of the moon, which leaves the foreground painted in black.

Just a minute later we adore the beauty of our companion:

The town is under exposed but not enough to give the moon some texture. Bracketing helps and allows then to merge pictures using the HDR tool to get a well exposed moon as well as  a town featuring more detail.

Note the airplane crossing the frame on the left side.You can even see a few stars in the sky (click for a larger view).

Now, as the technical part is taken care of, there is no limit to play with artistic modes and test different HDR settings and filters as for example the below version:

The last image was exposed for 8 seconds at f/5.6 and a focal length of 90 mm equivalent, bracketing starting at +2 and ending at -2. ISO 400 and aperture priority.

Animated GIF with Photoshop CS6

Based on an exercise during the August Ycademy Seminar, here is an animated GIF created quickly with Photoshop CS6:

Psychic Readings History

Psychic Readings online is quite a topic! And a keyword! Have you ever checked out Google about Psychic Readings or related terms such as Psychic Readings History?

Let’s have a closer look at the issue from a publishing point of view.

Interestingly, and may be that’s due to ’ recent changes of policy, I get multiple different search returns from Google within just a few minutes. Of course I have cleaned cookies and temp files before each search. To get a more or less accurate and consistent picture  I will just use a random starting point where Google returns 5.260.000 results for Psychic Readings. (When refreshing you may get in excess of 50 million returns …)

Let’s use the Search Tools to limit the time span of publication and check out how much Google picks up on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly base. For the purpose of the exercise we will just do broad search on Google.com.

• Past hour           :            193 results on Psychic Readings
• Past 24 hours   :          9720 results
• Past week          :       53600 results
• Past month       :    120.000 results
• Past year           : 1.090.000 results

Let’s have a look now at Psychic Readings Online, a more commercially oriented term:

The all time results are 4.030.000 returns and here is the break down limited as per above:

• Past hour           :              75 returns
• Past 24 hours    :         5640 returns
• Past week           :       25500 returns
• Past month        :       59500 returns
• Past year            :   260.000 returns

During the past 24 hours 4 different posts have been recorded by Google (narrow search), three of them from Psychic-Delia.com  and one from Bianca Gubalke. Besides, Google hides 25 posts with similar content, resulting from syndication.

While three of the most recent entries are originating from a single website (psychic-delia) other sites are listed containing the syndicated content, such as deliaoriordan.com. Experience shows, that Google on the short term often lists aggregators which are later replaced by the original source. Let’s see what will happen within the next few days: I would expect that the original source will get more of the benefits of Google listing and ranking.

Psychic Readings, Psychic Readings Online and related keywords are popular publishing targets.  Daily new entries of original content cause dynamic search results on Google. In order to bring new content to the top, publishers consider amongst others the volume of new content per day, week and so on. The density of publishing will impact on the results.

In general however, the notoriety and authority of a website, irrespective of the published topic, has more impact for overall long-term performance.

Syndication is a good way to multiply Google entries, however it is recommended to edit posts with the necessary links to guide readers back to the original source, namely when there is a commercial interest linked to the content.

Vintage Photography with Photoshop

So, you want to give your brand new images that vintage look found in your grandmother’s photo album? No problem, just fire up your Photoshop and start playing with textures and blending modes. Here some examples:

WordPress Security (BPS)

The recent update of the BPS Security plugin shows some improvements, namely in as much as the previous security settings are no longer altered when updating the plugin. Also you will find under your security settings some suggested file permission settings:

The right column above represents the generally used default settings, while the right column features more restricted file permissions.

If you have experienced security issues recently, I would suggest to use above recommended settings.

1. New Marketing Concept with Semiomantics XOMS

The Ycademy August Seminar will focus on the new Marketing Concept using WordPress Multi-Site structures developed by Semiomantics. The new developments implement the most recent groundbreaking ideas when it comes to WordPress based semantic website development.

Recent changes of the Google algorithm as well as the developments of WordPress to more flexible taxonomies open new perspectives for developers who aim for high impact on Google search. Semiomantics is specialized in excellent semantic exploitation of WordPress as well as of Google.

While WP custom taxonomies allow for better structured content and CMS like flexibility when building customized site structures, the resulting canonical permalinks do not always satisfy Semiomantics high standards of optimization. For this reason we have been running performance tests since April to measure the impact of various set-ups and alternatives.

Interestingly, the Multi-Site concept offers better overall performance than structures with complex custom taxonomies.

Seminar participants will convert an existing site into a Multi-Site site testing the Semiomantics XOMS Theme and script.

With the release of Adobe’s Photoshop CS6 a bunch of new features have been announced and widely commented such as the Adaptive Wide Angle and new Lens Correction features. There are however some well hidden gems available in the extended version of Photoshop CS6 related to 3D as well as to Photographic toning for example.

Many of the new features improve the efficiency of designers’ workflow namely for artistic image editing as well as for advertising purposes; the 3D Text Extrusion is just an example for a few more interesting features which will serve web editors as well as editors of printed matters.

We will demonstrate the new features and use the PS Workshop to apply some of them to create a few samples and templates for future reference.

Finally we will install and introduce Adobe Edge preview version 6.1.

Start editing animation in HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript the smart way; even a monkey can do it!

According to Adobe (YouTube may not agree lol), Flash is still best for video streaming and gaming while interactive web design and advertising will be HTML5′s strong points. While browsers are adapting to the new reality and websites are busy converting flash to HTML5 also in view of the steep increase of mobile traffic, the final version of HTML5 is planned to be released in 2014 only – thus there is still time to plant the last nail into the Flash coffin.

We will just do an intro to Adobe Edge and time permitting go through a few examples; but this will be just the beginning of a new learning curve on the path to profitability.

I am looking forward to seeing you at the Ycademy August Seminar, yet another smashing edition!

August  25/26, 2012 aarting at 1 pm London Time and ending at 9 pm London time on both days.

Cost $85 with the usual discounts for Ycademy Pros (please contact Bianca at bianca(at)ycademy.com).

Superyacht Sapphire at Astir Beach

It’s summer and it’s big yacht time in Vouliagmeni. Some of the most prestigious Superyachts are seen these days just in front of Astir Beach. For the last two days we had the visit of Sapphire, a German built yacht of 74 m, whichhas been sold in April 2011 for $110 million to its new undisclosed owners.