I’m going back to the standard one just for the sake of accessibility..

I’ll try to fix it ASAP!

UPDATE: I added the lines to recognize Android, iPod Touch and Palm WebOS!

Chris, a reader of this website (and a cool photographer, check his website Intelligent Cloud), asked me how I did to setup an iPhone friendly version of ReallyJapan Photoblog and automatically redirect the users with an iPhone to this website.

As you know, ReallyJapan is using Pixelpost, a free photo blog application. Pixelpost has many great templates, and one of them, Hoo is an iPhone optimized template.

The problem is that in Pixelpost control panel you can select only one template, and there’s no option to specify one template for certain users and a different one for the others.

So, while the Hoo template is a great solution for iPhone users, if you configure Pixelpost to use this template, all your users will see the Hoo template, no matter if they’re using iPhone, Internet Explorer, Firefox or a cyberdeck Ono-Sendai (in that case they’ll probably just look to the code).

So, what do we need to do?
Simple: When someone visits our Pixelpost photoblog, check if they’re using iPhone, and just in that case tell Pixelpost to use Hoo template instead of the one we selected in the control panel.

It requires some changes in a php file, but it’s very simple. Let’s start:

1. Download Hoo template, unzip it and upload the folder in your web host (/template/)
2. Now we need to edit the index.php of your Pixelpost installation (/index.php) to specify the Hoo template just for iPhone users visiting your photoblog.
   Remember: Do a backup or something. It’s better safe than sorry if something goes wrong!
   
   A. First thing to do is to Search and Replace All the text $cfgrow['template'] to $template_dir.
   $cfgrow['template'] is the variable where the name of the selected template (the one you chose on the Pixelpost control panel) is stored.

   B. Now Search the file for this text: // get config
   You’ll find this code:

   // get config
   if($cfgrow = sql_array(“SELECT * FROM “.$pixelpost_db_prefix.”config”))
   {
   $upload_dir = $cfgrow['imagepath'];
   }else{
   $extra_message= “Coming Soon. Not Installed Yet. Cause #1″;
   show_splash($extra_message,”templates”);

   }

   What does it do? Ok, basically it’s reading the configuration of your Pixelpost installation from the database (you know all the stuff you selected in Pixelpost control panel like paths, name of the blog and.. the template).
   The first case of the IF statement means Pixelpost has been installed while the ELSE case means (as you can see in the extra_message) that.. well, it’s not installed yet.

   So, let’s add some code here (blue text):

   // get config
   if($cfgrow = sql_array(“SELECT * FROM “.$pixelpost_db_prefix.”config”))
   {

   if (stristr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], ‘Android’) ||
   stristr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],’webOS’) ||
   stristr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],’iPhone’) ||
   stristr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],’iPod’)
   ) {

   $template_dir=”hoo”;
   }else{
   $template_dir=$cfgrow['template'];
   }

   $upload_dir = $cfgrow['imagepath'];
   }else{
   $extra_message= “Coming Soon. Not Installed Yet. Cause #1″;
   show_splash($extra_message,”templates”);
   }

   Basically: If Pixelpost has been installed (IF case 1), check if the user agent of the visitor is iPhone, iPod, Android or webOS.
   In that case set $template_dir to ‘hoo’ (the hoo template, in the folder /template/hoo on your webhosting).
   Otherwise set $template_dir to $cfgrow['template'] (the default template you selected on Pixelpost control panel).

   C. Save the file and..

That’s it!
From now on the iPhone users will see the Hoo template while all the other users will see the default template.

If you have any question please write a comment!

Introduction

I’ve started Really Japan Photo Blog and uploaded the very first photo about one year ago.
At the beginning I wasn’t very sure to be able to update the photo blog often, it was not the first time I was starting a blog, but all the previous attempts ended up with failure, after few months.

Fortunately that has not been the case of ReallyJapan.

A lot has happened in this year of ReallyJapan. I’ve learnt many things on photography, met many great photographers, looked at some incredible shots on the web.. and I think if I didn’t start photoblogging, I would have lost many opportunities.

So, after 1 year of photoblogging, I thought it would be cool to write some kind of Guide to Photoblogging.
But, I’m going to tell you a secret: I’m not an amazing photographer or a super blogger, my website is not making trillions of visitors neither, so don’t have huge expectations..

Anyway, I hope this Guide will help all of you who are considering to open a photo blog!

What is a photoblog?

A photoblog (a.k.a. photolog or phlog) is a form of photo sharing and publishing in the format of a blog, but differentiated by the predominant use of and focus on photographs rather than text.

Why photoblogging?

There could be many reasons to start your own photoblog. You may want to show your amazing works to people from all around the world, and consequently make a lot of money with advertising & sales of your photography. Honestly, in that case you’re going to have rough times ahead, good luck.

But if your demands are a little more modest, there are many positive points on opening a photo blog.

Top Advantages of starting a Photo Blog

• It’s a great way to keep you constantly motivated.
  I opened Really Japan Photo Blog just few months after buying my first DSLR. The main reason? I wanted to learn how to take photos, and I was inspired by many cool photo bloggers who were sharing their photos on line. As soon as people started visiting my photo blog and writing some comments on the photos I knew I had to post something slightly better the next day.. the day after, and the day after that.
  So.. yes, a photo blog is a great way to keep you constantly motivated to take new photos or process the ones you have.
• Networking
  Some months ago I had dinner with a very nice guy from Spain visiting Tokyo. I’ve never seen him before that day. Well, he’s a photo blogger, Guillermo – Desenfocado, and I’ve met him through photo blogging. I’ve met many other photo bloggers, exchanged emails, ideas, and tips on photography.
  If you start visiting and commenting other photo blogs, they’ll surely do the same and they’ll visit and comment yours.
  At the same time, keep in mind that the majority of people visiting your blog will now write comments, but they’ll surely keep following you. Sometimes they will write you emails, saying you that they like your photos. Then who knows, maybe some of these people will become real friends, or maybe.. you’ll find great job opportunities!
• Learn from other photo bloggers
  There are many amazing talented photo bloggers (well.. photographers) on Internet. Besides writing comments on their photos, look to their photos! Usually, if they use Pixelpost, or Flickr, you can see the EXIF informations for each photo they post. That’s great information if you are a beginner and you want to learn more (as I did starting Really Japan). Having access to the EXIF informations of a photo gives you all the ‘settings’ the photographer used to take that photo (iso, aperture, shutter speed, lens used, and so on).
• It’s like blogging… without words
  Especially if English is not your first language, starting a ‘real’ blog could be troublesome. Instead, a photo blog is easier to manage, your photos are going to speak for you.
• You’re going to receive a lot of comments & critiques
  When you open a photo blog.. ask, implore, for critiques on your works. Maybe you are not going to love comments like ‘U SUX SUX SUX!‘, but other – more constructive – critiques will surely help you.
  And don’t feel upset if someone points out what he doesn’t like about that photo, instead remember, it’s something you should appreciate. It’s very easy to write positive things, but it’s harder to start writing a critique.
• It will become your home, on Internet.
  A photoblog is a blog, and a blog is a website right? Basically when you open a website is like you’re opening a shop, or maybe like opening the door of your home to accept some guests.
  Sure, you can just don’t care about the graphic template you’re going to use, don’t create a rss feed or saving all your images in 10 megabytes TIFF. Sure, you can do it. But come on, you should welcome your guests right?
  When you start a photo blog you should think about the people who’re going to visit it. Try to select a cool name, choose a nice template and modify it to adapt to your style (if you already know some web design stuff you can work on it from scratch too). Learn some basic html, think about the plugins you could use to enhance the experience for your visitors.. it’s like opening your art gallery!
  Also, it’s incredibly important to keep track of how your photo blog is doing, where your visitors are coming from and what keywords they are using to reach you. Maybe it’s not important at the beginning, but it will help you if you plan to increase the traffic to your blog later.
  There are many great services that generate detailed statistics about the visitors to a website, for example Google analytics (probably the best one, and free) or Clicky (great for real time tracking, and you can check the statistics in real time with your iPhone too).. I have them both
• It’s easy!
  If you already have a camera (reflex, compact, anything!) well, you already have the 90% you need to open a photo blog. Technically it’s very easy to setup and upload new photos

So.. the list could go on forever, but for this introduction I’m going to stop here.

What should you expect from the next articles of Guide to Photo Blog? Well, something like this:

• How to install & set up your photo blog using Pixelpost
• How to Customize your photo blog
• The Best Plugins and Templates for Pixelpost to enhance your Photo Blog
• How to promote your photo blog (social media, photo ring, seo, and so on)
• and other stuff!

Anyway, his photoshop skills are great and his creative process pretty interesting.. just pity that his day job is software engineer so you can’t find many pics from him on the net (or twitter accounts, blogs, flickr and so on)

I really like his photo manipulations, and you?

Materials used in this picture:

material used in this picture:

material used in this picture:


fantastic materials used in this picture

Source:
An interview with Joan Charmant by Abduzeedo
Joan Charmant home page

The presets work better on images with many details and textures, also be aware that the effect is very strong, especially around the edges. You should probably adjust the fill light and restore values if you see some artifacts on the image.

Anyway, have fun with this preset!

How to install presets on Lightroom?

Click on Preferences, select Presets tab and click on Show Lightroom Presets Folder… button.Uncompress the ZIP file, move the folder in the Lightroom Presets Folder/Develop Presets and relaunch Lightroom.

Download  Another World Free Preset for Lightroom

Well, this is a list of the most interesting (from PhotoMann.com)

Battery Vending Machine

Drinks & Cigarettes

Mobile Photo Recharger

Toilet Paper

Little toys for kids (and sometimes for me too)

Ice Cream

Flowers…

Photo printing!

Hot snack (french fries and hot dogs too)

The booze!

The egg vending machine!

Fridge locker

Dry ice

Rice!

Fishing baits

Kerosene

Porn magazines

Umbrella

Energy drinks & Condoms!

Noodles

Insects

Newspapers

Xrated dvds

and.. Used Panties!

Check PhotoMann.com for more infos.. that website is great!

VIDEO

Team Entry Video – Master Award ‘EMET’
Bonsaininja Studio ITALY

Artist comments: “Our piece was inspired by the legend of the Golem, telling the story of Rabbi Loew, who created an animated being entirely from inanimate matter to defend the Prague ghetto and we decided to produce a trailer out of it for the CGChallenge.”
Judge’s comments:
Anthony Lucas: Epic. Masterful technical achievement.
Simon Dominic: I feel like I just stepped out of the cinema.
Philip Straub: Outfreakinstanding!
Michael Dashow: The composting and editing were really impressive. Lovely opening shot!

Launch the video : ‘EMET’ VIDEO page

Team Entry Video Excellence Award ‘Atlantis – Inconvenient Truth’

Martin Koehler (arcaneg), Christian Stadach (cmdrpi), Simon Prager (SimonDarmstadt) and Christopher Hempel (Xr4t3d) GERMANY

Artist comments: ‘Working on the project was quite hard, because actually none of us had enough time for it. But we took the time besides our other projects, because this was lots of fun and really worth it. The idea and story changed many times. To get the project ready in time we worked day and night in the last week, and really: “day and night”.’
Judge’s comments
Anthony Lucas: Some great design. Good idea. Where the animation is patchy the concept makes up for it.
Simon Dominic: Wow, this is slick, with a brilliantly conceived theme too.
Philip Straub: Extremely professional on every level. Top marks from me.
Michael Dashow: Beautiful rendering, design, and camerawork.
Launch the video: ‘Atlantis – Inconvenient Truth’ VIDEO

Individual Video Master Award ‘Hemlock’ Tyson Ibele (ivanisavich)
NEW ZEALAND
Artist comments: This year’s contest was a lot of fun, especially since the competition was very close due to the large number of high-quality entries. I felt very inspired the whole way through watching other peoples’ progress, and that’s what kept me driven to finish my entry on time. This challenge theme allowed for a lot of creativity, and since I’ve wanted to do a film set in the steampunk universe for a while now, it was a perfect motivator. Thanks to everyone who offered me encouragement and critique during the production of Hemlock, and congrats to the other winners and entrants!
Judge’s comments
Anthony Lucas: Great execution. Fantastic mood. Is the steampunk robot a victim of the well? Marvellously animated.
Simon Dominic: What a great story with superb delivery.
Michael Dashow: What a great mood set throughout the entire piece. The lighting, camera-work, and sound were wonderfully effective, and the ending was terrific. Easily the most thoroughly-executed story of the bunch. Great work overall!
Grzegorz Jonkajtys: Great storytelling and directing skills, not to mention excellent lighting and animation.

Launch the video: ‘Hemlock’ VIDEO

Individual Video Excellence Award ‘Ulysses’ Dreams’
Marc Mordelet (visionmaster2)
FRANCE
Artists comments: “I had a great fun testing some shots I had in mind, and this challenge gave me the opportunity to question myself about my work process. Especially after I submitted my video, when i saw the works of the other people (especially Tyson Ibele), and after a long discussion with a friend, this evidence came to me : I need to step up to the next level, and make a short movie.”
Judges comments:
Anthony Lucas: Fantastic concept, modeling and lighting. Great design and animation. Great stuff!
Simon Dominic: Completely mental, I LOVE it!
Philip Straub: A unique, bizarre, and creative vision.
Michael Dashow: I loved the clever use of fonts in the robot’s body – very stylish (as was the rest of this film.)

Launch the video: ‘Ulysses’ Dreams’ VIDEO

IMAGES

Image (Individual) Master Award ‘Steamnocchio’
Fabricio Moraes (fabmoraes)
BRAZIL
Artist comments: “WOOOOOOW!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!!! I felt so great and could never imagine I could possibly win this competition, actually I still can’t believe it. I got inspired by so many great artists, and I was very well supported by my wife, family and friends. I am very excited, really!Sorry if words are missing, but is so difficult to describe how great I am feeling now.”
Judge’s comments:
Brajan: I love this one, the expression on Geppettos’s face is priceless Excellent steampunk image!
Leigh: This image just totally nails the steampunk theme. The technical quality is simply fantastic too.

Image Excellence Award ‘BaktoFairy’

‘
Laurent Pierlot (sato)
USA
Artist comments: “It is a great honor for me to get the Excellence prize, especially considering the quality of the works that have been submitted for the contest.When I saw that the subject for the contest was Steampunk, I just couldn’t help myself. I really appreciated the feedbacks I got in the WIP forum.It was really hard for me to finish that picture, I’m working full time so it was only possible with the patience of my family on the weekends and late nights.”
Judge’s comments:
Brajan: this image looks great even as as a thumbnail. Excellent design for a creepy steampunk setting!
Oh, and check out the special category winners too!

[From CGSociety News Archive]

Basically it was quite simple and quick to make, since I’ve not used 3D renderings, it took about 2 hours.

Ok, here it is, let’s start!

(If you are interested, there’s a video version too!)

This is the original picture, I just adjusted the colors in Adobe Lightroom.

Step 1

I searched on Internet for a ‘ship engine’, and I found this steampunkish thing. Actually, at the beginning I wasn’t too sure to create steampunk cyborgs (I was more a cyberpunk man, let’s say..), but as soon as I found this image I decided to go in that direction. One important thing was to find images with the right perspective, since I needed to mix them with the original picture.

Anyway, I dragged the image of the engine in the document and adjusted the colors using Match Color in Photoshop.

Step 2

I moved the engine overlapping the face of the man in the middle and started working on the mask.

It takes some time to mask correctly the object. Just try to follow the lines and the shape of the object you are masking.

Step 3

Ok, another engine here..

Step 4

Now let’s work on the man on the left. The color of the engine doesn’t match the background, so I need again the Match Color.

Now it’s much better.

Step 5

It’s time to mask the object.

Here we go. I also lighten up the engine to show better the mechanical parts.

Step 6

Another engine from Internet and again, Match Color to match the object color to the background image.

Step 7

Let’s move in on the back of the man on the right. Looks like the device used by the Ghostbusters!

Step 8

Now it’s time to work on the mask.

Here we go.

Step 9

Another engine.. match color.. and let’s move it.

Step 10

Some masking..

Step 11

Yeah.. again.. Steampunkish Overkill!

Step 12

Let’s move it and do some masking..

Pretty satisfied with the masking. Now the cyborg on the left has some weird mechanical device on his head and a cool respirator!

Step 13

Let’s add some shadows below the mechanical parts to enhance the 3D volume of the objects. I created a 50% gray overlay mode layer between the background and the robotic parts and painted it with the Burn Tool.

Step 14

This time I used a black brush, very soft, on a layer (Multiply mode) in front of all the other layers and painted some shadows.

Step 15

New Layer and Command + Alt + Shift + E (I think Command is Ctrl on windows but I’m not sure) to create a snapshot flattening all the layers in a single layer. Now I applied some blur..

And masked this layer!

I used a radial gradient to mask the blurred level. I centered the gradient on the table. This help to focus the scene on the three cyborgs slightly blurring the background.

Step 16

Let’s load some dirty textures and apply them to the cyborgs (you know, steampunk cyborgs don’t like to take shower).

You can see the texture on the red jacked, the hand, and on the ghostbuster device.

Step 17

Let’s desaturate a little the image.

Step 18

Oh God photoshop crashed! Ok, just kidding. I created a layer and filled it with this color.. then I set it on Overlay Mode.

Step 19

Let’s add some contrast…

Step 20

Don’t you want some smoke in the image? So, with a brush on a new layer paint some brush (very low opacity!)

Step 20 + the dirty textures

Now let’s add the famous Dirty dusty texture I made! Remember, screen mode this time!

(oh, and another secret texture on the top of the image.. I’ll release it soon anyway)

That’s all!

If you’ve noticed some dust, hair and dirty things on my pictures, like this, this, and this, and yes this one too, well, I can tell you I don’t like so much to clean home and even my computer desktop is a mess. Besides that.. I love grain, dust and those dirty picturessss.

So, anyway, today I’m feeling extremely generous and I’ll give you some dirtness. Three textures I made, to give your photographs a dusty and analogic feeling… to turn this kind of shots:

into this..

Just place one of the texture on a layer in front of you picture using the Screen overlay mode.. adjust the levels and the opacity to adjust the effect!

Download the dirty texture 1

Download the dirty texture 2

Download the dirty texture 3