Learning all of the technical tricks is important, but we must not forget that making a beautiful work of art is the goal. I will make a few suggestions to make your images better.

1.Take one step closer.
2.The difference between zooming the lens and walking closer to the subject. Point of View.
3.Use the full dynamic range of the media.
4.The golden mean and how it applies to photography.
5.Is the photo a strong two-dimensional design or “the gestalt of photography”.

RELATED WEBSITE LINKS

http://www.lenswork.com/
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/
www.maxwellmultimedia.com

A lot of home studio audio production has moved from hardware to software over the past decade: those of us who used to have hardware synthesizers and samplers in our basements now do much of the same work on our PCs and Macs instead. But hardware manufacturers haven’t stood still, and many of them are now increasing the appeal of their products by turning them into hybrids that do tasks that used to take two or more devices, and that work with the software on your computer in creative ways.

For instance, Native Instruments (native-instruments.com) have powerful guitar amplifier emulation software called Guitar Rig. One version ($560 USD) is available with a hardware foot controller known as the Rig Kontrol, which has robust footswitches and a rocker pedal that lets guitarists use Guitar Rig for live performance. But the Rig Kontrol does more than that. Since it connects to your computer via USB 2.0, Native Instruments has also made it operate as a high-end USB 2.0 audio interface, using fully professional 24-bit, 192 kHz analog-to-digital converters, and you can plug MIDI devices into it too.

Samson (samsontech.com), a company best known for wireless microphones and instrument gear, makes numerous hybrid devices under both its Samson and Zoom brand names. The Samson G-Track USB microphone ($130 USD) incorporates not only a large studio-style condenser microphone, but also a built-in headphone jack for monitoring, and a CD-quality 16-bit USB interface, so you could, for instance, recording singing and electric guitar at the same time, while hearing yourself in the headphones, without any other connections to your computer. Similarly, the Zoom G2.1u guitar pedal ($170 USD) offers guitar effects and foot controls, plus a USB interface to get those sounds into your digital audio workstation software. Like the Rig Kontrol pedal, both the G-Track and G2.1u run off USB power, and require no additional batteries or wall adapters.

Even more extreme is Samson’s Zoom H4 Handy Recorder ($400 USD), which functions primarily as a hand-held stereo recorder for capturing interviews or live music with the built-in stereo microphones. But you can also use the H4 as a four-track multitrack recorder for creating song demos, a USB audio interface to digitize sound into your computer, a microphone preamp to run traditional dynamic or condenser microphones (even if they need 48 V phantom power), a guitar effects processor, a tuner, a metronome, and even SD flash card reader. Of course, packing all those features into a small package means that the H4 works best for its main task, as a stereo recorder — using it as a four-track or guitar effects unit means a lot of hunting through menus and mashing small buttons, so there are compromises.

Finally, M-Audio (m-audio.com) has created a MIDI keyboard called the Ozonic ($600 USD) that not only lets you play music and twiddle parameters with built in knobs and sliders, but also offers a full-fledged 4-input/4-output audio interface using a professional FireWire (IEEE 1394) connection, as well as MIDI. It includes a professional XLR microphone connector with phantom power, so you can hook up a condenser mic as well as guitars and other analog instruments, and effectively run an entire small recording session — using the keyboard’s play, pause, and record buttons to control your digital audio workstation software — directly from the Ozonic.

All of these hybrid products provide at least basic functionality without additional drivers for both Windows and Mac computers, and some include software that lets you route inputs and outputs in complex ways too. While there are sometimes compromises in these hybrid designs, they do mean that you can carry a portable recording studio (with a single hybrid device, your laptop, and maybe a microphone) in a small bag with a minimum of cables, and only need one wall outlet to plug it into.

• Many audio equipment manufacturers are now making gear that serves more than one main function—sometimes very well, sometimes with some compromises.
• Most common hybrid approach is to offer a main feature (such as a microphone, MIDI keyboard, or guitar effects) as well as a USB or FireWire audio digitizing interface for your computer.
• Some gear, such as the Zoom H4, goes even further, acting as a stereo recorder, four-track recorder, USB audio interface, microphone preamp, guitar effects processor, tuner, metronome, and even SD flash card reader.
• As an example of the compromises, the H4 makes a great stereo recorder, but using it as a four-track or guitar effects unit can be a bit frustrating.

G-Track USB microphone
Samson

G2.1u guitar effects pedal
Zoom

H4 Handy Recorder
Zoom

Rig Kontrol foot controller
Native Instruments

Ozonic MIDI keyboard controller
M-Audio

www.insidehomerecording.com
www.samsontech.com
www.native-instruments.com
www.m-audio.com

The Grafton ArtsFest is a non profit organisation in northern New South Wales, Australia that runs art and creativity workshops twice a year. This year they are expanding their business to allow them to take workshop registrations online, and by reaching an international audience with their Web site. I recommend several changes to the site:

The current home page is actually what is called a “splash” page. Splash pages aren’t used much anymore but were originally intended to make a visual impact on the visitor. Unfortunately, they usually don’t contain much information, so return visitors just get annoyed. Plus, using a splash page really puts you at a disadvantage with search engines, which place so much emphasis on the content of the home page. You lose loads of potential visitors if you don’t a) put search engine readable content on the home page, and b) if you don’t update the home page pretty frequently. I recommend doing away with this splash page in favour of the page at http://www.artsfestgrafton.com/html/au.html, which is the real home page.
The wavy background behind the text on this site really impacts readability, especially with very small text as is used in lots of places on the site. Get rid of it in favour of a solid-colored background, or limit where the wavy background appears to areas where there is no text.
The interior pages of this site need some fine-tuning to really make them usable. I recommend increasing the font size in most spots, using font and link colors that aren’t quite so similar, centering the page or at least putting some margin in between the edge of the text and the left browser edge.

www.artsfestgrafton.com