Two useful photo tutorials

CreativePro.com:

Sharpening is a critical step in digital imaging, yet few of us are satisfied with the results. Using research he conducted for a commercial sharpening product, Bruce Fraser argues for a new approach to sharpening that's based on three imaging phases: capture, creative, and output.

ACDSee Pro Blog:

White balance is the black sheep of the family when it comes to ensuring your digital shoot looks its best in variable light. It’s so easy to focus on subject matter, exposure, and composition and then, almost as an afterthought, realize that “Oh yeah, white balance – well, I guess I’ll just leave it on the ‘auto’ setting.”

I can’t tell you how many times this has happened to me, and, to be honest, there’s a good reason for it. Unlike bad composition, the wrong ISO setting, or depth of field that’s too narrow, white balance is something that I really can fix quite easily in post-processing—especially with the tools ACDSee Pro provides.

Interesting Color Tools

A neat color tool, the Color Scheme Designer, got a makeover recently.

There's also kuler.adobe.com.

Name That Font (with your iPhone)

From Gizmodo.com:

Maybe I'm just a font geek, but I often wonder what typefaces are used for texts I run into in the world. WhatTheFont is a great free app that can solve those typographical mysteries instantly.

The process is really easy-snap a photo, crop it down to the area where text is the clearest, then help the app's text recognition divine which letters are which, and presto, your identification comes back with a list of choices. The app nailed each font I tried with black text on a plain white background, but it has a little trouble when different colored backgrounds enter into play (like when I tried to identify the font for the Gizmodo logo on our page).

I tried it on my handwriting, and it actually found a few fonts that were pretty close. Apparently I write in a font called Giant Sized Spectacular Bold. Sounds about right.

iPhone Apps for Designers

From CreativePro.com:

Yes, iPhones are good for phone calls, text messages, email, and of
course, games. But many iApps are truly useful additions to a
designer's toolbox. Here are a few of the better apps, which range in
price from free to $9.99.

Apple's design studio

From AppleInsider.com:

Documentary filmmaker Gary Hustwit has posted a photograph of Jonathan Ive somewhere inside Apple's design studio, a facility rarely exposed to the general public.

"We did a follow-up interview with Jony Ive at Apple in California last
week, and enjoyed the opportunity of filming inside Apple's design
facilities," Hustwit wrote on a website promoting an upcoming film.