…these are a few of my favorite things.

• "When is Photoshop unethical?," asks Freelance UK.  I’d make it "When is Photoshop use unethical," in the sense that "Guns don’t kill people; people kill people."  The article doesn’t really break any new ground, I think.  For something a little meatier, check out rules and guidelines from Reuters governing the use of Photoshop, posted in the wake of the 2006 image manipulation scandal.  [Via John Dowdell]
• Providing a different take (from an artistic as opposed to journalistic perspective), Scott Kelby shares his Photo Editing "Code of Ethics."
• In any case, whatever you do, please don’t use Photoshop to defame nice old cat ladies.  They’ll send you to the psych ward for that!  [Via]

…these are a few of my favorite things.

• "When is Photoshop unethical?," asks Freelance UK.  I’d make it "When is Photoshop use unethical," in the sense that "Guns don’t kill people; people kill people."  The article doesn’t really break any new ground, I think.  For something a little meatier, check out rules and guidelines from Reuters governing the use of Photoshop, posted in the wake of the 2006 image manipulation scandal.  [Via John Dowdell]
• Providing a different take (from an artistic as opposed to journalistic perspective), Scott Kelby shares his Photo Editing "Code of Ethics."
• In any case, whatever you do, please don’t use Photoshop to defame nice old cat ladies.  They’ll send you to the psych ward for that!  [Via]

Just a brief note, but one of interest to folks printing from Photoshop on the Mac: Epson has posted an FAQ and schedule for compatibility with Mac OS X Leopard.  As always, it’s a great idea to make sure you’re using the latest driver for your hardware/OS combo.

Thanks to Bryan O’Neil Hughes pointing this out.  For reference, see also the details on printing fixes & changes in Photoshop 10.0.1.  Bryan and the team continue to track the issues & user experiences reported here and on other forums, so thanks for the feedback.  We plan to share more details on what we’ve learned here later in the week.  In the meantime, feel free to drop Bryan a line to report issues if you’d like.

[On a related note, if you use HP printers with the Mac, see MacNN’s article HP verifies Leopard printer driver delivery via OS.]

As many of us Americans remain lolling around in a turkey-stuffed haze, I’ll do my part to distract from the inlaws by trotting out a smorgasbord of stuff I’ve been amassing over the last few months–stuff that’s just never quite made it to the table on its own.

To pretend this all has something to do with my job, let’s start with the Photoshop bits:

• Some useful PSD-handling tools have been announced:
  • PixelNovel has announced the useful-sounding ComparePSD tool (haven’t gotten to kick the tires yet myself). More info is in their press release.  These guys also make FlickrShop for uploading directly from Photoshop to Flickr. [Via]
  • If you’re a fan of Layer Comps–a really simple, lightweight way to store multiple design variations within a single PSD file–check out this Layer Comps plug-in for InDesign . [Via]
• In other Photoshop news:
  • Thomas Knoll gets a lifetime innovator award.
  • Fishing and Photoshop don’t mix. [Via Rob Corell]
• Face/Offs
  • FreakingNews.com features rather unsettling partial face transplants, each mashing up the mugs of two well-known individuals. [Via]
  • Oh, and taking it up another notch, Selfkiss features people kissing themselves through the power of Photoshop.  (NB: Not for the terribly squeamish.)
• Typewriter bits
  • Jeremy Mayer creates typewriter-based sculpture. A bit more info is here. [Via]
  • Chris Dimino’s press forms typewriter-shaped waffles.
  • Andrew Macrae makes ASCII art using a typewriter. [Via]
• Japanese curiosities
  • A green roller coaster?  Okayama’s pedal-powered Skycycle seems to be just that. [Via]
  • We’re stuck with Howie Mandell while these guys get a “Human Tetris” game show?  Can we at least bring back American Gladiators?  (Don’t tell me you don’t miss the pugil sticks.)
• Vehicles
  • Something Awful rocks out imaging (and P-shopping) all kinds of alternate Transformers. [Via]
  • An unnamed Brazilian ad agent sculpts choppers from old watches.
  • Business Week readers rag on the world’s ugliest cars. (Featured: Pontiac Az(z)Tek. Oddly absent: Chevy Assalanche.) [Via]
  • Car Design News’s Studio Photos collection seeks to provide the perfect 3/4 shot of any car, nicely isolated on a plain background. [Via]
  • This crazy 1873-vintage monocycle looks amazing. [Via]
  • Automotive sweetness goes VDub in CNET’s Beetlemania gallery.
• Sculptures
  • The hard-core plane geek in me vibes with these MotoArt tables, constructed from reclaimed bits of aviation history (e.g. a bomb + a B-52 turbine = the “Get Bombed” table).  [Via]
  • I love this crazy little creature made from rolled-up newspaper [Via]
  • Art Lebedev’s “Copilcus piggybank” reshapes the traditional slot–because “‘Plus’ savings are far better than ‘minus’ savings.” [Via]  They also make the way-cool Folderix folder-shaped flash drive.
• Crafty ads
  • This ad for the BC Highland Games cleverly meshes 2D & 3D.  You can almost feel the hernia.
  • Worth1000 fine art ads. Dig the Shout & Diet Pepsi entries especially.
  • I’m feeling these simple yet effective ads for Off bug repellant.
  • The World Wildlife Fund uses a balloon to depict your car’s pollution cloud.
  • You want a zoom?  Leica’s got it.
• From the ever-growing world of whack-job printers:
  • Target’ll get you printing on toast. [Via]
  • To keep things smaller, try printing on peanuts.  [Via]
• Finally, here’s an amazing 3D rendering of “The Last Elf.”  CG Arena provides details on the model’s creation. [Via]

Now, if that doesn’t leave you feeling logy, head back to the Remains of the Bird. 😉

As many of us Americans remain lolling around in a turkey-stuffed haze, I’ll do my part to distract from the inlaws by trotting out a smorgasbord of stuff I’ve been amassing over the last few months–stuff that’s just never quite made it to the table on its own.

To pretend this all has something to do with my job, let’s start with the Photoshop bits:

• Some useful PSD-handling tools have been announced:
  • PixelNovel has announced the useful-sounding ComparePSD tool (haven’t gotten to kick the tires yet myself). More info is in their press release.  These guys also make FlickrShop for uploading directly from Photoshop to Flickr. [Via]
  • If you’re a fan of Layer Comps–a really simple, lightweight way to store multiple design variations within a single PSD file–check out this Layer Comps plug-in for InDesign . [Via]
• In other Photoshop news:
  • Thomas Knoll gets a lifetime innovator award.
  • Fishing and Photoshop don’t mix. [Via Rob Corell]
• Face/Offs
  • FreakingNews.com features rather unsettling partial face transplants, each mashing up the mugs of two well-known individuals. [Via]
  • Oh, and taking it up another notch, Selfkiss features people kissing themselves through the power of Photoshop.  (NB: Not for the terribly squeamish.)
• Typewriter bits
  • Jeremy Mayer creates typewriter-based sculpture. A bit more info is here. [Via]
  • Chris Dimino’s press forms typewriter-shaped waffles.
  • Andrew Macrae makes ASCII art using a typewriter. [Via]
• Japanese curiosities
  • A green roller coaster?  Okayama’s pedal-powered Skycycle seems to be just that. [Via]
  • We’re stuck with Howie Mandell while these guys get a “Human Tetris” game show?  Can we at least bring back American Gladiators?  (Don’t tell me you don’t miss the pugil sticks.)
• Vehicles
  • Something Awful rocks out imaging (and P-shopping) all kinds of alternate Transformers. [Via]
  • An unnamed Brazilian ad agent sculpts choppers from old watches.
  • Business Week readers rag on the world’s ugliest cars. (Featured: Pontiac Az(z)Tek. Oddly absent: Chevy Assalanche.) [Via]
  • Car Design News’s Studio Photos collection seeks to provide the perfect 3/4 shot of any car, nicely isolated on a plain background. [Via]
  • This crazy 1873-vintage monocycle looks amazing. [Via]
  • Automotive sweetness goes VDub in CNET’s Beetlemania gallery.
• Sculptures
  • The hard-core plane geek in me vibes with these MotoArt tables, constructed from reclaimed bits of aviation history (e.g. a bomb + a B-52 turbine = the “Get Bombed” table).  [Via]
  • I love this crazy little creature made from rolled-up newspaper [Via]
  • Art Lebedev’s “Copilcus piggybank” reshapes the traditional slot–because “‘Plus’ savings are far better than ‘minus’ savings.” [Via]  They also make the way-cool Folderix folder-shaped flash drive.
• Crafty ads
  • This ad for the BC Highland Games cleverly meshes 2D & 3D.  You can almost feel the hernia.
  • Worth1000 fine art ads. Dig the Shout & Diet Pepsi entries especially.
  • I’m feeling these simple yet effective ads for Off bug repellant.
  • The World Wildlife Fund uses a balloon to depict your car’s pollution cloud.
  • You want a zoom?  Leica’s got it.
• From the ever-growing world of whack-job printers:
  • Target’ll get you printing on toast. [Via]
  • To keep things smaller, try printing on peanuts.  [Via]
• Finally, here’s an amazing 3D rendering of “The Last Elf.”  CG Arena provides details on the model’s creation. [Via]

Now, if that doesn’t leave you feeling logy, head back to the Remains of the Bird. 😉

Inspired by shades of Fall:

• Dustin Spicuzza has created one seriously geeky love note. [Via]
• To ensure a proper coffee:cream ratio, MyCuppa offers a Pantone-like matching system. [Via]
• Speaking of that system, check out Chris Glass’s crafty Pantone leaves. [Via]
• Chris notes that his work was inspired by this Pantone matching photo set.
• I’ll neither confirm nor deny squandering my time with certain furry little dudes; all I’ll say is "Hex LOLcats."

Here’s a little reason to give thanks this year: the forthcoming Firefox 3.0 (now in beta) will enable color-managed browsing.  That is, the browser will read color profile information saved in images, take your monitor’s particular characteristics into account, and adjust the pixels on the fly to give them the proper appearance.

The look of images differs between managed and unmanaged applications (screenshot of the same image in Safari vs. Firefox 2), so FF getting on board with color management is great news for designers & photographers who value consistency.  For more background on why this is an important advance for the Web, see my notes on the color-managed Safari coming to Windows.

Now, if we can get Internet Explorer & the Flash Player on board, it’ll be Snoopy Happy Dance time for everyone. 😉

Happy Turkey Day,
El Tryptophan

• Claasen & Partner make the Berlin Bulb, depicting the city’s skyline on illuminated glass. Paris, Munich, and other cities are due to follow.  In a related vein, see also their Moby Dick Tub Tattoo. [Via]
• Mounir Fatmi has created three variations of Save Manhattan–skylines comprised variously of books, VHS tapes, and speakers.  Two copies of the Koran cast shadows that recall the Twin Towers.  (Click the small black dots beneath the image to see & read more.) [Via]
• I’d love to see The Adventures of Prince Achmed–the oldest surviving feature-length animated film, made in Germany in 1926 using silhouette animation.  Assorted stills are scattered around the Web. [Via Maria Brenny]
• Speaking of German silhouettes, Axel Broetje’s animated Fische und Schiffe won a 2007 Adobe Design Achievement award for student work.

• Claasen & Partner make the Berlin Bulb, depicting the city’s skyline on illuminated glass. Paris, Munich, and other cities are due to follow.  In a related vein, see also their Moby Dick Tub Tattoo. [Via]
• Mounir Fatmi has created three variations of Save Manhattan–skylines comprised variously of books, VHS tapes, and speakers.  Two copies of the Koran cast shadows that recall the Twin Towers.  (Click the small black dots beneath the image to see & read more.) [Via]
• I’d love to see The Adventures of Prince Achmed–the oldest surviving feature-length animated film, made in Germany in 1926 using silhouette animation.  Assorted stills are scattered around the Web. [Via Maria Brenny]
• Speaking of German silhouettes, Axel Broetje’s animated Fische und Schiffe won a 2007 Adobe Design Achievement award for student work.

As I mentioned last month, the Photoshop team has been working to address printing problems reported by customers using Photoshop CS3.  My fellow PM Bryan O’Neil Hughes has been driving this effort, and he and the technical writing team have posted a detailed explanation of the changes made by the update.  Bryan’s introduction is below.

In Photoshop CS3, we made a significant effort to improve the printing experience for our users. This resulted in many changes to the printing code, improvements to the print interface, new color management functionality, and support for new features in the latest printer drivers and operating systems. Throughout the project, we worked closely with printer manufacturers to ensure the best possible integration with their devices.

A number of issues have come to our attention since we shipped CS3, and we are now releasing a maintenance update to address many of those that are without an easy workaround. We have also discovered that some problems can be averted by minor refinements to a user’s workflow and we have done our best to describe some of those here. Please read on in this document for specifics. — Bryan O’Neil Hughes, Photoshop Product Manager

• If you take this whole digital photography thing way, way too seriously, consider making a print from your ashes.  [Via Rob Corell]
• Philips encourages kids to paint on the wall with light.  Engadget has a bit more info. [Via Tom Attix]
• Martin Frey has developed SnOil (Snake + Oil), a physical interactive display that utilizes ferrofluid, a liquid that reacts to magnetism.  See it in action. [Via]
• Speaking of ferrofluid, NatGeo has posted a really striking pic of the juice from Felice Frankel.  Here’s a bit more info about how she made it. And check out Wohba! for some intriguing videos. [Via]

• If you take this whole digital photography thing way, way too seriously, consider making a print from your ashes.  [Via Rob Corell]
• Philips encourages kids to paint on the wall with light.  Engadget has a bit more info. [Via Tom Attix]
• Martin Frey has developed SnOil (Snake + Oil), a physical interactive display that utilizes ferrofluid, a liquid that reacts to magnetism.  See it in action. [Via]
• Speaking of ferrofluid, NatGeo has posted a really striking pic of the juice from Felice Frankel.  Here’s a bit more info about how she made it. And check out Wohba! for some intriguing videos. [Via]

The Adobe Design Achievement Awards, created to honor great new student work, are now accepting entries.

The loot on tap is not too shabby: Individual category winners in each of 12 categories receive $3,000 cash, a winner’s certificate, round-trip airfare to New York City and two nights’ stay; tours of professional studios; and a copy of the Master Collection (BYO forklift on that one ;-)).  Plenty of other prizes are up for grabs, too.  You need to be a full-time student to enter, and the work has to be fresh (done after May 1 this year).  Submissions will be accepted online through May 2, 2008.

See the FAQ for more info, and also check out the 2007 winners. [Via]

"Every once in a while," enthuses my fellow Photoshop PM Bryan O’Neil Hughes, "a piece of hardware comes along that is truly a must-have; within days of using it, you suddenly wonder what you ever did without it.  I can’t imagine not having a TiVo, an iPod or a Web-enabled cell phone…and now I can add my Drobo to that list as well."  I’ve included the rest of Bryan’s review as a guest posting in this post’s extended entry. –J.
Continue reading →

• The always-interesting United Visual Artists have erected the beautiful Triptych light installation in Paris. [Via]  The blazes of orange light make me think of Danny Boyle’s Sunshine.  For lots more UVA bits, see previous.
• Michael Young’s Sticklight is available from design company Innermost.
• Finkbuilt (Finkbuilt? How do I end up on these sites?) has a tutorial on making one’s own lightsaber.   Meanwhile eBay hosts auctions for Graflex flash guns like those used to create the original lightsaber props. [Via]

Do you think gigabytes are the new megabytes?  Do you think 4 gigs of RAM is an appetizer?  Do you covet more RAID than an exterminator?  If so, we’d like to meet you.

We’re always looking for new ways to make Photoshop faster, so we’d like to talk with people who put the application through big workouts.  If you’re interested in helping speed up Photoshop for your needs, please contact my colleague Adam Jerugim, the performance testing lead for Photoshop.  He’ll take things from there.

[Related: If you haven’t already, check out the latest performance tuning guidance from Adam & engineer Scott Byer.]

The good folks at Photoshop User Magazine have announced a call for entries into this year’s Photoshop User Awards.  The grand prize winner gets to go on a five-day photo shoot in Hawaii with the assistant of his or her choice, and the winners in each of 11 categories get their work shown in the magazine while picking up a prize package valued at over $2,500.  So step to it!  [Via]