Posted Friday, May 06, 2005

Flea Commerce! Be the First on Your Block with an "iPoodle" T-Shirt (and More Friday Fun)

In my ongoing quest to do moronic things with photos and have some fun in the process, I've set up a CafePress online store and created my first set of products: a line of T-shirts, sweatshirts, and other garments bearing the beautiful iPoodle logo that I had made by Podapic a while back.

Now who wouldn't want an iPoodle T-shirt? They're stylish. They're sexy. They're utterly befuddling. Put one on, go into the nearest biker bar, and ask to see the daiquiri menu. Go ahead—I'll notify your next of kin.

In all seriousness, part of my reason for this madness is to learn about the process. And it's easy. After setting up your CafePress account, choose the kinds of products you want to sell. (I resisted the urge to create an iPoodle thong; this is, after all, a family-oriented Web site.)

Next, upload some photos, paying careful attention to CafePress's resolution and sizing guidelines. Then specify what you want on the front and back of the garment. Just like that, you're a clothing designer.

Step aside, P. Ditty.

So step into the store and slip into an iPoodle hooded sweatshirt. Or maybe our value-priced T-shirt.

I'll send a signed copy of my book to the first person who emails me a photo of someone wearing one of these babies.

Test the Waters of High-Dynamic Range Photography
Enough of this frivolity. I've been spending most of my waking moments in Photoshop CS2 lately—I'm reviewing it for Macworld. One of CS2's many amazing new features is called Merge to HDR; oversimplified, it lets you combine multiple exposures of a given scene to create an image with a wider range of lights and darks than a single image could capture. It's very cool, if a bit finicky.

In the course of experimenting with HDR photography, I came across Photomatix, a program that specializes in merging multiple exposures. There's a lot to explore here: you can, for example, combine multiple images of a scene in a way that yields a virtually noise-free photo.

So there you have it: the ability to put photos on thongs and software that lets you merge multiple exposures. As I say at the very end of the iPhoto segment of my book's DVD, "Is this a great time to be a photographer, or what"?

Have a good weekend!