July 26, 2013

by Gavin Seim:

Day One: I’m going to get brutal with the reality of how the new LEAP Motion handled REAL WORK. If you want to save time here’s my initial impression.

LEAP does NOT leap out of the box and work well – Maybe that will change in time, but this feels like pre-beta and does not make my work easier.

leapI pre-ordered early and my LEAP finally came today after what must have been more than a year. It had been so long it was almost like magic just to hold the box. WOW, I thought. I can now control my computer just by waving my hands. Minority Report, here I come.. I’ve not actually seen that movie. Is it good?

Anyways that a little voice inside said “Gavin! Though shalt not count thy leaps before they hath jumped” But I still rushed to my studio to try it out. “The waiting will pay off” I thought.

Well, LEAP worked. Sort of. It reminds me of many an encounter with voice recognition software. It looks great in the promos. Then you use it.

I could talk like a hot shot and say how amazing it is and how high tech I am. Because the idea really is cool. But the reality seems to be that LEAP is mostly useless for me right now.  The first thing I realized was how they made it look really pretty, but barely indicated what I needed to do actually use it in the real world. Perhaps that was because there was little practical use. The goofy games hold little interest for me. I want to get something done.

On my production studio desk nothing gets real estate that does not do it’s job. From my precision corded laser mouse to my Medium Wacom tablet. A device has to do something well, or it goes in a drawer.

Once I finally got calibration to work (not pretty on my Mac), I Installed Better Touch (an app that allows for custom commands). Sadly I could not even make it “practical” for the simplest of movements.

First Test: I started with a hand gesture for right and left arrow keys, thinking it might be useful for sorting images in Lightroom. Nope. Unless I held my fingers just right it did not even see the gesture. Trying to think about your hand, while also holding it in the air becomes very tiring VERY fast. It’s mentally and physically frustrating. In practice I ended up waving my hand slowly, then furiously over the device just to browse images with poor results. Not a good sign. Back to the keyboard.

Next Test: I wanted to control the mouse in hopes of using Leap’s touted precision to do things I do with my Wacom, or even basic Finder work without my mouse. Since Leap gave no indication during setup that this was even possible, it took a few minutes to realize that I needed a free app called Touchless. I installed that from Airspace (the app store for Leap) ran orientation and it started to look good. Reality soon set in.

Again I started simple, hoping to use Leap to control the mouse for simple but precise painting, burning and dodging in Photoshop. I got little functionality in Basic Mode so I switched to advanced and got a working curser where I could touch and engage the click – Sometimes. That was when it was not doing random zooming, window switching and the like. I even managed some basic painting and burning. But it was totally unreliable. Sometimes the click would engage and the tool would work, sometimes not. Sometimes it would change the window or do something else. Sound like something else? Here’s looking at you Voice Control.

I know it’s new and I will spend more time with it. But the truth is a great device usually works from the start. If they had simply given us solid reliable mouse/touch integration it would have been a GREAT start. But the reality is this is not even comparable to a mouse or a tablet in ANY practical sense. Since it lacks that, it’s little more than a gimmick with a few games and trinkets attached. So far.

After a year of waiting. Leap is essentially useless for me in any practical sense – I hope this changes, but if they could not give us BASIC functionality after all this time, I fear we’re in trouble.

I know I’m being harsh. But it’s the reality of it for today. I’m trying to be a beta tester. I paid for this. The potential seems real. But I waited, hoping they would get it right. They did not. This looks like another piece that will end up in the drawer. That said I will keep trying for awhile and see if it gets better. If I have a new revelation, I will update this article.

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July 11, 2013

Video_ Selling Wall Art – Photos as Fine Furniture-1
It’s road trip season. Check out Gavin’s road trip article for a huge list of resources.

Click To Listen>> Photography Podcast. PPS #93

Direct Podcast FeediTunesPodcast Alley

Today’s Panel… Gavin Seim Bary HowellScott Jarvie

This week Gavin and Barry talk about the latest topics and then dig into some stories of past photography adventures.

This episode brought to you by the Seim Effects and the award winning EXposed Workshop.

PPS #93 Forum Discussion HERE.

Main Time Indexes:

  • 00:00 Introductions.
  • 01:40 Barry Speaks
  • 17:55 A bit of video discussion
  • 24:30 News and LR5 talk
  • 34:30 The Stolen Facebook Photo Fiasco
  • 52:20 It’s Story Time
  • 1:18:47 Picks and Fishing
  • 1:37:25 Scott Jarvie Joins in

LINKS…

EXposed Workshop win’s a hot one award.

Gavin Road Trip Journal

Gavin’s road trip article with a list of gadgets.

VIDEO: Selling Photos as Fine Furniture.

Canon C100

Graphene Camera Sensor.

The Stolen Facebook  Photo Fiasco.

Jarvie’s Faith in America Project.

Picks…

GAVIN –

SLR Pro Dot

Bucket Boss Jumper Cable Bag.

Epic 25ft Jumper Cables

Barry –

Stool with tool storage.

Air Display – iPad

Rapela Scatterrap.

Scott –

Jumper Power  Box
(Here’s a heavier duty version)

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June 4, 2013

Look to Wind theft combo

OK true story here. Many of us have been here, but this one has a few plot twists.

It all started on a dark night in May.

Well lets skip the prologue. Above is an image I shared recently showing how Matt Black Photography took my photo “Look To The Wind”, edited it badly and posted it on his FB Facebook page as his own image. It’s a page littered with other peoples work and even a Windows desktop wallpaper claimed as theirs. So I posted about it and soon many of you went over and called them out. The page admin proceeded to delete my photo only and all comments from people that had called him out on the theft.

The Crazy Part is that a day layer Facebook removed MY post of the image above from my Seim Studios page and told me what you read below. I was BANNED for 12 hours from Facebook for unnamed violations. It seems nothing is happening to the photo thief. I call this a Facebook Spanking. I had one awhile back and I wrote about it here.

To top this off, the next day when I was allowed back into the land of the social, I posted the screenshot you see below explaining how I got banned – I then got banned AGAIN for posting about being banned for posting about the photo. Say that three times fast! At that point I did what I should have done to start with and started writing this post.

What I saw when I logged in later that day.
What I saw when I logged in later that day.

 

But Wait, It Gets Better: So The page owner, someone named Sam, messaged me making excuses. Apparently he is actually concerned about the fact that he is a thief and I have the evidence. He claimed he was being slandered and that it’s NOT his fault because his ex-girlfriend was messing up his page while he was in jail – No joke.

I didn’t believe him, but I was not looking or a fight. I offered to let it go if he corrected it and fessed up on the page with a simple apology. He obliged by calling me names and informing me the photo they stole above was mediocre and that he would report me if I continued to slander him.

I don’t know where the whole truth lies, but I do know this all sounds like the makings of a hit song. Maybe a country western reggae. Something like this.

I went to jail in summer
My girl was one my Facebook page
Never should have made her admin
She stole photos all o’er the place

But back to business. What does all this mean to those of us trying to run legitimate business’s

Solving Our Three Fold Problem:

Problem 1 – People stealing our photos – In truth I think the best way to deal with that is to publicly call them out and hold them accountable. If need be, whether on a website or social page, you can even file your own DMCA take down request and the host of the image has to respond. Just search for how to file a DMCA complaint. I have done it many times for stolen content and it usually gets results as it bypasses the thief and goes direct to where he’s putting the stolen content.

Of course you always want to take screenshots of stolen content as I did here because it will likely get taken by the thief down when things start heating up. Finally, you can of course take a legal route. A stern letter from a lawyer, or even the legal team at Professional Photographers of America (if you’re a member) usually gets fast results. If worst comes to worst you could sue, but unless there are actually serious damages that’s probably more than most want to take on. Less lawsuits are better I always say and I prefer to resolve things without the lawyers and judges.

Problem 2 – Finding when and where your work is being taken – This can he tough. In my case a nice follower sent me a tip, but who knows how many people are using mine or your images that don’t own them. One handy resource is tineye.com which allows you to search for a specific images all over the web. For some images it works great, but it is a giant index and not nearly every photo in the world is in it’s archive.

You might want to check his page for your own images. But along that note is a site to watch and report to called Photo Stealers. It’s a blog that posts about people who steal photography and us it as their own. They names names and show the evidence.

We don’t have any one solution, but we can be proactive. Just keep your eyes open and don’t be worried too much. The truth is that when someone steals my image like this I do need to deal with it, but this goofball did not really make any money off me. Do mark your name on your images so it’s clear you own it, but DO NOT freak out and plaster ugly watermarks on your work, ruining the presentation. It’s not worth it. More on that in this article on branding and signatures.

Problem 3 – Is the sheer incompetence of Facebook – And sometimes other sites for that matter. Vague terms and undefined punishments are the norm in the social world. A page that you spent years building could disappear overnight because someone does not like you and some desk jockey in a far way land opts to punish or even banish you entirely from Facebook. Their draconian practices for policing content are beyond shameful. Even as an advertiser who spends thousands on Facebook ads I have no contact, no approach, no recourse.

I am close to calling it quits with Facebook. It does nothing but cost me money anymore and frankly gives me very little return since pages get almost no interaction unless you pay compared to a couple years ago. In fact, the payout is very small even when you do pay. But that’s something we covered in this article. In the end you have to weight the pro’s and cons. I’m moving gradually away from Facebook. trying other spaces like Google+ and more importantly my own newsletters that I control.

A wallpaper from Windows OS. The page owber messaged me claiming he was in prison untill Januraty and his girlfriend posted my photo. Funny how this was posted in April.
A wallpaper from for Windows. The page owner messaged me claiming he was in prison until January and his girlfriend posted my photo. Funny how this one was posted in April.

The best solution? I don’t have all the answers, but these are a few of my thoughts. But when it comes to Facebook I’m trying to get away. We’ve come to rely on them too much and the lack of care they have for users is quite clear. Even if you’re not vocal and opinionated like me, you could run afoul of Facebook gaining only damage to your business. You may not even know why it happened.

My little secret is this: Many have stopped their newsletters because of sites like Facebook – I’m learning that if you build a solid list and send quality content people enjoy it. In fact, they respond much better they do on social networks where ads and information overload have jaded them to all but the most titillating posts.

You can subscribe to my newsletter here or below – When FB becomes useless, that’s where I plan to be. The content is good there and it comes on our terms. You might considering building such a lit of your own. It takes time and cultivation. But it’s an invaluable connection if you do it well.

Good luck, Gavin

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June 3, 2013

Video_ Selling Wall Art – Photos as Fine Furniture-1
Check out the free business video from Seim Effects

Click To Listen>> Photography Podcast. PPS #92

Direct Podcast FeediTunesPodcast Alley

Today’s Panel… Gavin Seim Jody SmyersMark Tesky Ben Horne

Gavin is home and the crew catches up on the latest and shares some ideas for 2013. This is a long one because we missed an episode last month. Lots of goodies in the after show as well. Enjoy.

This episode brought to you by the Seim Effects. And the PHOTOGRAPHICS the Film.

PPS #92 Forum Discussion HERE.

Main Time Indexes:

  • 00:00 Introductions.
  • 07:15 What in the news.
  • 40:45 A bit of video & Magic Lanterns
  • 51:30 Ideas of 2013 Lightning Round
  • 1:03:40 Social Networks Lightning Round
  • 1:16:45 Being Unique
  • 1:35:40 Picks
  • 1:58:30 The AFTER Show

 

LINKS…

Everyone is getting saddled with Creative Cloud

Canon says ML Firmware will not void warranty.

VIDEO: Selling Photos as Fine Furniture.

Facebook Charging for pages. A few tips.

Samson Airline Micro Mics

Trek Pack.

Journal of Gavin’s 3 month road trip.

Picks…

Mark – Canon C100 and Atmos Ninja Recorder
Ben – Lee Wide Angle Hood
Gavin, Loquat SyrupPlatine Fiber Rag paper

Jody – Vello Gear Free Wave

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May 20, 2013

Back the film on Kickstarter and and save $$ on the download, DVD or Blu-Ray. Once the Kickstarter phase ends, pre-orders will be available on Seim Effects.

Photographics Trailer Final6.mp4So what have we been up to over here at Seim Studios – We just returned from 3 months on the road and a lot of work on a brand new project. A film called PHOTOGRAPHICS that takes on the artistic aspects of photography and what makes a great photograph. A journey through history and art techniques in a way that has never been done before.

We’ve already filmed a lot, but there’s more to come. We got the film accepted to Kickstarter where pre-orders have been coming in and we more than made our funding goal. We’re really excited about where PHOTOGRAPHICS is going and are eager for it’s November release. The Kickstarter pre-order backings have helped pay the bills and we’ll be working hard over the summer as we plan the the wrap up of this completely unique film. I hope you join in. It’s going to be good.

Gavin

 

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