My visa has arrived

HEHEHE! My visa has arrived from Bangkok. I'm gonna go tomorrow and process the rest of the necessary paperwork and by myself an airplane ticket with a minimum stay of 12 months. It seems i'm not coming back soon. Thank you God. Hope i can return to see my parents every once in a while, but never return to live in Romania. Keep you updated.

Cheers

Aperture 2 vs. Lightroom

As you probably know Apple has launched Aperture version 2. It has improved fairly much compared to 1.5. As you can trial download it from apple.com, i tested the software myself. I'm a Lightroom user, but open to change. So i uploaded a couple of hundred images in aperture and starting playing with it. Indeed it does perform a lot faster than the earlier version, due to its engine redesign. Quickpreview let's you preview photos blazing fast. It does not render each image as you select it, it just shows you the jpeg that's been stored in the raw file during shooting. This makes things move really fast.
Now, i remember when i started using lightroom. Installed it and immediately i could find my way through the various dialogs and settings. It was very easy to get accustomed to.
Not so easy with Aoerture 2. You open the software, see buttons that you recognize but overall workflow is sluggish and hard to get accustomed to. I started editing some RAW files, and it moves fast until you reach the RAW 2.0 dialog and Sharpening dialog. For some reason(bug?) my macbook starts freezing and i must force quit.
Although i'm used to the lightroom keyboar shortcuts, aperture's ones felt rather strange. Luckily you have the capability to edit them. Maybe that's why they came up with this in the first place. Lightroom has the same letter shortcuts depending on the module you're working with.
Ratings work the same way for both applications. I do prefer color labeling my photos(green for editing, yellow for finished, blue for export and so on). Unfortunately Aperture does not have color labeling. Don't get me wrong, Aperture is a great piece of software, it's just that my workflow, at least, when using aperture is slow, and my opinion is it still munches down your RAM. Although i am willing to upgrade my RAM to 4gb, Lightroom is a speed jet on 1gb.
To conclude, it's better that you download both trials, and try for youself, see which matches your workflow and computer configuration. I find Lightroom a little easier, a cleaner interface, while Aperture Raw processor is a little better but lacks some speed and interface tidiness.

Check them out:

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.1.3

Apple Aperture 2

Don't let yourself fooled with the photographer profiles. It's just marketing. Try them!


Have a great day!!!

Leaving to Asia

Hey there. Sorry for the incredible pause. I have been really busy working out and preparing to leave the country. Yup. I’m going to Thaaaaaailand. I’m expecting my visa at the beginning of this week. Takes about 2-3 days to finish paper work here and off I go. I’m heading for Bangkok the kingdom’s capital. I have read a lot about Thailand these days, preparing myself for the big city. Always do that before you leave, especially to a remote place like that(by remote I mean 12-16 hour plane trip). Check out the currency, habits, general city life and of course tourist hot spots. Always be aware of what the airline and country allow you to carry, bring in and out of the place. We don’t want to get into trouble. Luckily, internet is the way to go these days, and looking up for info is just 2 clicks away.
Of course, documenting myself tops my priority list but training shortly follows. I started going on my “abs blast” diet :D. Actually I just run a little more and eat somewhat fewer carbs. I still eat a bout 6-7 meals a day, small ones, but packed with nutrient dense foods so I never go hungry. Complex carbs, high-quality protein and good fats are a must besides working out. Actually food intake is 95% of your look. There is a special saying that says “You are what you eat”. Making sure I never go hungry is really important.
Why us that? Well because going hungry means your brain starts working on “low voltage”. It’s running out of carbs. After running out of carbs, most people think it will just take the fat, “dissolve” it and use it to keep alive. False. It takes an amino-acid called ALANINE to produce energy. It starts eating our muscles. Well that’s not really nice, if you’re working 5 times a week to build muscle and burn fat. You need to keep a constant supply of quality carbs so that the body does not munch up your muscles. Now that doesn’t mean you’re gonna eat 3 breads and 4 cups of pasta before working out. Too much carb intake at once, may lead you with a growing gut. After the body takes its carb needs out of the food, it doesn’t know what to do with the rest so it turns it into fat. That’s why small amounts of carbs distributed evenly across the day is much more efficient, boosting your metabolism and burning much more fat that eating 2-3 large meals a day. As a general note, try eating 3 meals a day and snacking between them either some fruit, or yoghurt or maybe a handful of almonds or nuts. Most people eat when they’re hungry. Here’s the deal…TRY TO NEVER GO HUNGRY. Eating small of course.
I’ll start posting after my arrival, gym workouts for all kind of body types, thin, middle sized and for you big guys. I’m NOT going to tell you what you shouldn’t eat, but what you should. Moderation is the key.
Here are some pics from Bangkok!!!

Cheers!

Great Browser, Fantastic Plugins

How are you readers? Having a great day? Today I decided to write about a recent experience I’ve had using a great piece of software. I’ve been using firefox since its first release. Even then I found it better than Internet explorer (just an opinion, there are lots of reviews on the internet bringing head to head the two browsers). The thing that mozilla has and other browsers don’t is…PLUGINS. Lots of plugins. You can customize your browser any way you want without slowing it down. After testing about 100 pieces of software on my mac, I decided upon some of them and, as a dedicated PC user that I have been till my macbook purchase, I started installing a fresh copy of Leopard (though not necessary, of course). I http-ed firefox’s site and there I saw the Campus Edition. It’s practically the same browser but with preinstalled plugins. AND WHAT PLUGINS my friends. One is called foxytunes. I had this on my PC and it’s extremely useful. It lets you control virtually any media player from the browser’s interface. It integrates a non-disturbing toolbar at the bottom. Cool! Next one. Zotero. This is used to take notes while you browse, it’s really good when you’re researching stuff and want to save some sites, take some notes supporting video and photo attachments too. It’s really useful. And now, the bomb. StumbleUpon. The last of this plug-in trio brings us a toolbar, which is a definite must-have. StumbleUpon is a site that you must register to, select your domains of interest and that’s about it. Now when you hit, the Stumble button on the toolbar, it randomly takes you to a site from your domain of interest. This has helped me find lots of websites that could not be found on Google. You just stumble on them. One click takes me to an art gallery, another one to a photographer’s profile, another click and I’m off reading New York Times. It’s just incredible. You can also stumble videos, photos, and articles from selected sites, facebook members and so on. The power in this little toolbar is just flabbergasting. The reason it has such a large database is that, when a user finds an interesting article or site, it just adds it to stumble’s database through the click of a button. This is very powerful considering the Internet traffic these days.
Well that’s about it for today. Talk to you tomorrow. Have lots of work to do.
Cheers.

Firefox Campus Website

Am nevoie de un fotograf/Photographer needed

This post is exclusively intended for Romanian readers and will be written only in Romanian.(If you're dieing to now, i need a photographer to shoot some photos).

Salutare tuturor. Am nevoie de un fotograf amator, pasionat, care doreste sa-si imbunatateasca portofoliul. Am nevoie de cateva poze noi pentru book, pentru a fi trimise in Asia unor agentii de modeling. Sunt din Bucuresti. Am la dispozitie si un Canon 30d + 28-135mm daca vreti sa testati asa ceva. Voi veni cu haine si laptop pentru a analiza si comenta pozele. Vom incerca diferite locatii din bucuresti, vom cauta locuri cu lumina si umbre bune, poate si un loc unde sa fac cateva poze in blugi si bustu gol. Amandoi avem de castigat, tu iti faci sau iti imbunatatesti portofoliul, castigi experienta(iti voi mai da sfaturi ce faceau si alti fotografi de la shootingurile care le-am facut) iar eu ma aleg cu poze noi. Astept propuneri pe mail: dumalexandru@gmail.com