It's always welcome and absolutely essential to any decent creative endeavor. Truth be known, not every creative project I've delivered on deadline truly achieved my personal optimum in inspiration - but that's business, and sometimes you just gotta get the job done. Conversely, you may have the greatest idea or inspiration, but it's just not relevant for your current project. True inspiration knows no timeline - it often hits when you least expect it, and sometimes when you most need it, your gas tank is empty. Enter the "Stuff" folder. Whether in a digital folder or weathered paper file, I collect images, ads, articles and just about anything that catches my fancy as great creative work. These treasures are chosen for concept, color, typographical treatment or a great message. Leafing through my collections has often provided the creative energy I needed to kick-start that next big project. Be organized and be inspired! Best regards, Kim Dixon President and CEO Two days of non-stop learning for Windows-based designers and presenters. Six cities beginning in March 45 seats per city Calgary Chicago Dallas New York/New Jersey Phoenix San Jose For more information visit: www.corelworld.com Get the entire Photo-Objects® 50,000 series (Volumes I, II and III) for just $189.97. Save $20! Buy now for Windows® Buy now for Macintosh®   Win a Samsung Napster MP3 player - 20GB strong. Buy any new subscription for one year from AbleStock.com, and you're automatically entered for your chance to win 1 of 3 MP3 players (a $349 value). Includes 10 free songs, and holds over 5,000. Contest closes April 30, 2004. Contest rules.	Murphy's Law affects photography just as it does any other discipline. Examples include: the best photo of you is one in which you are standing right next to the former Mr. Right; everyone in the family photo looks fantastic except you. One of the more common examples (and the one we will show in this article) is the great photo of a subject having a not-so-great background. With the excellent selection tools available on existing photo-editors, the process of extracting someone or something from one photo and putting it into another is relatively simple. (A previous article by Joe Donnelly shows how to turn a subject into a photo-object for placement in another photo.) Here is how you can move a subject from one photo to another. In this case we will use a photo of my nephew Matt posing with a shotgun. I thought the pose was great but the garage makes a lame backdrop. Using a photo editor, it is possible to select Matt and extract him from the photo for placement in a different photograph. Outline the subject with a selection tool, as indicated by the selection marquee around Matt. Copy the selected area to the clipboard. Open the photo into which you want to place the subject - see the photo in Figure 2. If you're using Photoshop Elements, you can paste the image into the existing photo by using CONTROL-V/COMMAND-V (Paste). For Paint Shop Pro, use CONTROL-L (Paste New Layer). The contents of the selection will be floating on top of the original photo, as shown in Figure 3. The subject is now floating in a layer and can be moved anywhere in the photo. When you look at Figure 3, you may notice that Matt is not in scale with the photo in which he has been placed. You can correct problems with comparative size issues in two ways: You can undo the previous paste and resize the background photo before pasting it into your background. Since the subject is now a layer, you can also resize, rotate, flip, and otherwise distort the layer using the Transform (Photoshop Elements) or the Deformation (Paint Shop Pro) tools. The following images show only a few of the variations that are possible when replacing the background of an existing photo with a different one. In Figure 4, the original subject was made large enough to fill a good portion of the frame, and he was also flipped horizontally to improve the overall composition. Even though the original photograph was in portrait orientation, you can resize the layer(s) so that they fit in a landscape photo as well. As shown in Figure 5, Matt was resized, flipped, and rotated a little so that he would stand straighter. Still, I think his attire is too casual for guard duty at Arlington National Cemetery. Sometimes the lighting in the two photographs is completely different. While Matt was illuminated by a flash, the photo of the bear to which he was added (Figure 6) was taken near sunset. You can see how different the lighting is. By applying color correction only to the layer containing the new subject, it is possible to match the color "temperature" for all of the subjects in the photo, as shown in Figure 7, so it isn't so apparent that they are actually two different photos. Here are some general guidelines that, if followed, will result in two different photos appearing as if they were a single original photo: Feather the selection of the object you are extracting from a photo. A hard edge is always a giveaway that the subject was pasted into another photo. Don't go crazy on the feather, or it may begin to look like one of the elves in The Lord of the Rings. Scale the object so its size is correct in relation with others in the new background. Adjust the overall lighting of the new subject (use Gamma or Curves) so it has roughly the same brightness as others in the second photo. Adjust the shading on the subject to match the direction of the light source in the image into which you are placing the subject. Lastly, adjust the color temperature so it matches the background. Don't use the auto color feature of your photo editor. If you have Photoshop CS, use the new Match Color command. For the rest, use the color balance adjustment. This isn't brain surgery but you still need to practice to get good at it. That way, when you come face-to-face with a deadline, you can seamlessly put two photos into a single image and most viewers will never realize they are looking at a composite. Dave Huss has been involved in photography for over 40 years and was an early advocate of digital photography. He has authored more than 15 books on digital photo editing and just finished his newest title How to Do Everything with Digital Photography. Dave has taught workshops in both the US and Europe, been interviewed on both CNN and TechTV and also served as a Photoshop World instructor. Gone are the marketing days with endless budgets and excess resources. Now more than ever, marketing initiatives must provide return on investment. As we look for innovative ways to be more efficient and effective, e-marketing has emerged as a very attractive tool. Let's now zero in on e-newsletters. The increasing popularity of e-newsletters ties into their ability to help strengthen relationships with clients and prospects. But when developing your e-newsletter, it's important to remember there's a lot at stake - including the reputation of your company. To achieve positive mind-share, credibility and brand, your e-newsletter must be eye-catching and informative; it must include professional images and interesting content. So, what can you do to ensure your e-newsletter has traction coupled with best practices, so it has a competitive edge over others in cyberspace? In part 1 of this article, let's look at "phase 1" of the process: First and most importantly, ensure you send your e-newsletter to a permission-based list. Don't assume you have permission - ask for it! There's no point in sending your e-newsletter to someone who is not interested. Tip - once you get permission, don't ever take it for granted. Ipsos-Reid reports that of those who join email lists, 77% eventually unsubscribe because information is not of interest or is sent too frequently. Build your own permission-based house list. Encourage your target audience to sign up for your e-newsletter at every opportunity and remind them to forward your e-newsletter to friends and colleagues. Tip - include the option to "subscribe now" in your e-newsletter, on your Web site, at trade shows, on invoices, in as...everywhere! Have a strict privacy policy with respect to the use of your growing house list. In a recent study conducted by integrated email agency Quris, 74% of those surveyed were suspicious that companies were sharing their personal email contact information. The bottom line is that you should never sell or rent your house list to anyone. Never. Tip - ensure your privacy policy is written clearly and is easy to find in your e-newsletter. Keep your sign-up page simple and remember that you're building a relationship. By requesting too much information on the initial sign-up page, you risk losing potential subscribers before you even get the chance to know them. Tip - only ask for information you really need and never ask for more than five or six bits of personal info. Be cautious of third party lists. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Only buy from reputable list brokers who guarantee that the list is opt-in and that recipients know the list is being used for marketing purposes. Go a step further and include a header at the top of your third-party mailings. Say something like, "You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive news and information from trusted partners and affiliates of ABC Company". Tip - to maximize the rental investment, use it as an opportunity to build your own house list. Consider offering these third party recipients a reason to subscribe to further mailings - maybe it's a free download featuring "20 Valuable e-Newsletter Tips". Set the parameters of your e-newsletter and stay true to them. When you're working to grow your database, let potential subscribers know what to expect and when they can expect it. Share some insight into the content of your e-newsletter by posting it upfront. This will help generate interest and buy-in. Tip - include a link to a "sample e-newsletter" on your sign-up page. Develop a content formula that works for you and your readers. Some tried-and-true ingredients include expertise, tips, case studies, success stories, industry news, Q&A's, industry statistics, industry trends, how-to articles, did-you-knows, short surveys and contributed articles by experts (from either inside or outside your company). You can even include special offers, provided that they do not ring too harshly of a selling nature. Tip - not sure what to include in your e-newsletter? Do a quick survey using your database, and ask for feedback! Invite industry experts to contribute to your e-newsletter. Experts will often provide content in exchange for exposure, making this a very affordable content builder. Tip - if you come across an interesting article you'd like to reference in your e-newsletter, remember to request permission. Be aware that in some cases, you may be asked to pay a fee to avoid copyright violation. Leverage your learning experiences by writing articles that cover a seminar or course you personally attended. By writing an overview, you'll demonstrate leadership and added value to your readers. Tip - take your overview to new levels by going a step further and coordinating an interview with a seminar speaker. Odds are they will be flattered by the opportunity. Determine an appropriate frequency for your e-newsletter. Monthlies are usually a safe bet, but there's always the option to do less (quarterly) or more (weekly). Given today's cluttered inboxes, it's a good idea to keep your e-newsletter short and interesting. Another major complaint, according to Quris, is that permission-based email is sent too frequently. Tip - know your readers and ask them what kind of frequency appeals to them; this might also be a good question to include in your survey. Cardcommunications was featured in a Hemera case study in October 2003. Click here to read the full story (PDF). Carolyn Gardner (cgardner@cardcommunications.com), President of cardcommunications inc. (www.cardcommunications.com), has over 15 years of sales and marketing experience. Prior to founding cardcommunications, she worked in corporate marketing communications roles at GotMarketing, Entrust Technologies and Corel Corporation. Carolyn, a recipient of the Ottawa Business Journal's 2003 "Forty Under 40" Award, holds a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology from Carleton University and a Diploma in Public Relations from Algonquin College. In addition to teaching various courses, she is also a member of the Canadian Marketing Association, the Women's Business Network, CATA Alliance and OCRI. When you give a presentation at the White House, you want to make sure your message is crystal clear and your slides look impressive. Eric Uner knows from experience. He is the chief software architect at Bodacion Technologies, a small and agile company often referred to as "a software security SWAT team." "I do a lot of briefings," he says, "and I regularly get compliments on how great my presentations look. I owe a lot of that to Hemera Photo-Objects® images." Bodacion Technologies is located in Barrington IL, just outside Chicago, right in the US hotbed of embedded development for the communications industry. Eric Uner and his friend and colleague Eric Hauk were working as engineers with Motorola in the mid-1990s, when they decided to start their own software-consulting firm. The two Erics realized that there was a major difference between the embedded network products they were developing at Motorola, and common PCs, workstations and servers. The first group is characterized by a very high level of security and reliability. The second group is not, as anyone who has been infected with a computer virus can tell you. Simply put, the goal of Bodacion Technologies is to make corporate and governmental computer networks as secure and reliable as embedded systems. They often showcase their technology to key people in the software security industry. Like people at the White House. "I can't tell you what we talk about during these meetings. All I can say is that we've done briefings at the White House, the Department of Defense and other three-letter agencies," says Eric Uner and smiles mysteriously. Uner, who has a background in math, chaos theory and electrical engineering, has no formal training in graphic design, but he knows that a presentation can be more - much more - than a dry PowerPoint slide with bullets and text. "You have to capture the audience's interest, and one way to do that is to make your presentation visually appealing. I've seen my share of boring slide shows. I mean, if I see those old, generic, clip art images in a presentation one more time..." he says and shakes his head. Uner certainly knows his way around a Windows PC, but he uses an Apple Macintosh for his presentations these days. "There are a few reasons I switched from PC to Mac - we don't have to spend a lot of time trying to solve various driver conflicts, Macs can easily be integrated into an existing network and the graphics capabilities of OS X are remarkable. I use Apple's [presentation application] Keynote rather than [Microsoft's] PowerPoint, in part because it handles graphics so much better." And he puts those graphics capabilities to good use. Last fall Uner was working on a presentation and he needed to add some images to his slides. He had recently read an article in MacAddict - a computer magazine dedicated to Mac users - about Hemera Image Express™. This new online image portal allows people to quickly and easily download images from a vast online image collection. And best of all, he could use great-looking photographic objects, but was no longer restricted to a square image format. "I decided to try it out for this presentation and signed up for a one-month subscription right away. I often use several smaller images on a slide to illustrate my talking points, and I really like the transparent backgrounds in Hemera Photo-Objects images. It's very easy to drag and drop whatever I need into my presentations. I can choose from hundreds of thousands of images online - and Hemera adds 10,000 new images every month!" Eric Uner has become so fond of Hemera's images that he uses them for the company's Web site as well. "My favorite features of Image Express are the cost, quality and variety of images, and the masks for Photo-Objects images. Using Hemera images not only saves me time and money, but my presentations are a lot more impressive than those that include standard PowerPoint clip art. Hemera is and will be my primary source for images for all presentation and Web design," he says. If you're wondering what the company name - Bodacion - comes from, it appears Eric Uner is a big VW fan: "I was driving to work struggling to come up with the right name for the company and I remembered the term that was applied at classic VW car rallies for a really 'hot' model - bodacious," he says. "To me that is the only term that captures the essence of our solution. From there it was an easy jump to the name 'Bodacion.'" Mats Lindeberg is Communications Manager at Hemera, and the Editor of Hemera News.
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