Tilt-shift photography, if you haven't heard of it, is a technique that results in only one small area of a photo being in focus. This tight area of focus often results in the photo appearing to be made up of miniatures, rather than real people and objects. The effect typically requires a special (and often expensive) tilt-shift optical lens. If you don't have the money for the real thing, or just want to play with the effect, check out Tiltshift Generator.

The Tiltshift Generator website hosts a Flash application that will allow you to open any image that is local on your file system, then apply effects that will approximate the tilt-shift effect. The default settings out of the gate are quite good, but if you're not happy with the results there are a number of tweaks you can make to get just the effect you're looking for. You can also apply the effect to portraits, to really focus in on the subject matter. While not a traditional use of a tilt-shift camera, the effect when using Tiltshift Generator on this type of photo is quite nice.

In addition to being a website, Tiltshift Generator is available as an Adobe AIR free cross-platform application, so you can take your tilt-shifting offline.

The Mac's built-in PDF support is pretty strong, which is nice because if there's one piece of software I have always despised for its unnecessary bloat, it would be Adobe Reader. To be honest, I've always liked the fact that when I come across a PDF online, clicking to open it results in it being downloaded and opened in the built-in Preview application. Opening PDFs in the browser was always slow and clunky using Adobe Reader, and always annoyed me.

But recently a friend convinced me to try Schubert|it PDF Browser Plugin, and I'm glad I did. PDF Browser Plugin does exactly what you'd expect, allowing you to view PDF files in the comfort of your favorite browser (provided your favorite browser is either Firefox or Safari). But what I found surprising was how fast PDF Browser Plugin is. If you happen to be viewing a small PDF, it will open almost instantly, with the only delay being how long it takes to download the actual PDF file. This speed is possible because PDF Browser Plugin is leveraging the Quartz technology built into the Mac that allows it to render PDF files in the same way the Finder or Preview does.

The plugin's other claim to fame is a distinct respect for the Mac's look-and-feel. Schubert|it PDF Browser Plugin is free for personal or educational use, but requires a $69 site license for business users.

What's really cool is you can reverse the process as well - a nice touch especially for your aging grandparents - like a face lift without the surgery. Dodo is a great tool to have in your editing arsenal and since it's web based, you can have it with you anywhere you go.

You can sign up for an Aviary account at http://a.viary.com. Be sure to log in, then log out and log in again to activate the Dodo tool.

Okay, just admit it. You know you want to. We can admit it, so we're sure you can. You want us to do it for you? Alright then, here it is:

You suck at Photoshop.

See, it wasn't so bad, was it?

The truth is, most people suck at Photoshop. But most of us also wish that we sucked a little less at it. Luckily, if your ego can handle it, Donnie Holye has created a hilarious and educational series of Photoshop tutorials titled You Suck at Photoshop.

These videos aren't for the faint of heart. Donnie has been known to use more than the odd bit of profanity, and some of the subject matter might be off-putting to our more sensitive readers. But if you have the fortitude for it, You Suck at Photoshop is an entertaining way to pick up a new Photoshop technique.

We are big fans of free, open-source alternatives to brand-name software, and one of the best examples of this is GIMP, the full-featured Photoshop rival. Like any good forward-thinking software project, GIMP has a plugin architecture which allows for any shortcomings or missing features to be remedied by a helpful developer taking the time to create the necessary add-in. techZilo has compiled a handy list of its top 40+ plugins for GIMP including "Snow" (just in time for winter!), "RedEye," and "Light Filter."

Installing the plugins on Linux will require the use of your trusty terminal, and some plugins even require running install scripts (new Linux users will probably want to consult the GIMP docs for help). If you're running GIMP on Windows, you'll have to look for a precompiled version of the plugins you want since most GIMP plugins are uncompiled code that your Windows machine will not understand.

GIMP is available for Linux and Windows, and also for Mac OS X via Darwinports or Fink (so you would follow the plugin installation instructions for Linux).

[Via Lifehacker]

Anyone who uses Adobe Photoshop regularly has probably learned to both love and loath Adobe's signature product. Despite being the top-contender in the image editing business, Photoshop is still missing some features.

For example, out of the box, Adobe Photoshop has no option to save files as .ICO or icon files. One option is to make a bitmap (.bmp) image first and then rename it to .ico . However that creates a problem with icon backgrounds occasionally. Then there are the more expensive additives or plugins. But now you can make, edit and save icon files with Photoshop without spending a single dime using the Icon Plugin by Sibcode.

If you're an iPhoto user and want an easy way to upload your pictures from iPhoto to Picasa Web Albums (Google Photos), then check out Google's Picasa Web Albums Exporter iPhoto plug-in. The plug-in is available as part of a package from Google's Mac tools site (if you don't use iPhoto, you can use the standalone Web Albums Uploader program to upload your pictures to your Picasa albums). Once installed, open iPhoto and either select an album or specific photos you want to upload. Then click File -> Export and choose the "Picasa Web" tab. The plug-in lets you upload the selected photos to a new album, which it will then create for you with a title and description that you can specify, or to one of your existing albums.

The plug-in makes short work of sharing your iPhoto pictures via your Google account. It even allows you to choose how to scale your photos during the upload (better quality, faster upload, actual size) which is helpful if you're on a slow Internet connection. The plug-in will also add any keywords or descriptions you've added in iPhoto to your Picasa Web Album!

Photology, set for public release today, is a new photo cataloging and organizing software that will help you make sense of all those photos named "DSC00012.jpg" or something equally unremarkable on your hard drive. Who really has the time at this point to go back and "tag", or group into folders, or make sense of the traffic choke of photos, years in the making, on their computers? If you've been waiting for that rainy day (that hasn't happened yet) Photology might be the solution you've been looking for.

One of the creators of Photology, Steven Kim, who works at our sister-blog Engadget gave us an inside preview of the software. Our rundown is after the jump. If you like what you see, and are quick, you might be able to snag a free Photology license (50 reserved for Download Squad readers), valued at $39 each! Details after the jump.

If you've ever spent much time manipulating JPEG images, you know that although the JPEG image compression algorithm is very effective at spitting out relatively tiny file sizes, that effectiveness comes at a cost. JPEG is what is known as a lossy compression algorithm, which means that in order to achieve the compression rates that it does, it basically throws away image information, and attempts to fill in the blanks by "faking it". Granted, this is an over-simplification, but it gives an idea of what's going on. JPEG files can be saved with varying amounts of compression, so you can have better image quality at the expense of a larger file, or worse image quality with a much smaller file.

Once you've saved a file at a high compression rate, you've basically lost the quality from the image. One of the unfortunate things about JPEG compression is that when that quality is missing, it's very obvious. Rather than blurring in a uniform fashion, the JPEG algorithm creates "artifacts", which are blocky areas, typically around parts of an image that have sharp edges or gradual gradients.

While it can't bring back the quality to a heavily compressed JPEG image, JPEG Enhancer can smooth out the artifacts and make a much nicer-looking image as a result. It's so easy to use, it's ridiculous; simply open a JPEG image that you would like to fix, set the filter slider at the bottom, and press the Process button to see the results. Once you have it set to your satisfaction, save your new image and you're done.

JPEG Enhancer recently became a free download, so what's to lose?

LightZone, the RAW photo converter, can cost you hundreds of dollars for the Windows or OS X versions, however, the Linux version is free. LightZone is a powerful photo editing software package based on tonal zones with an easy intuitive interface.

The Windows and OS X versions are available in a Basic edition for $150 and a Full version for $250. The Linux version is functionally equivalent to the Full version, and did we mention, is free? LightZone is copyrighted by Light Crafts of Palo Alto, CA. They do not provide online support for the Linux version however, Anton Kast, Light Crafts' chief architect and Linux devotee maintains a separate page to keep the Linux version updated and to provide technical support.

[via Linux.com]

You've got to love a program with a clever name, and who doesn't like a shot of rum? So right off the bat, I was predisposed to like RumShot. This free little Windows application allows you to apply themes to your screenshots as you take them. The results end up looking pretty remarkable.

There's no installer to fuss with; simply unzip RumShot to a folder and go ahead and run it. Of course you'll probably want to read the readme file, cleverly titled "README OR LOSE YOUR HAIR.txt". It provides a basic description of how RumShot works. To be honest, I found the description a bit confusing, but simply playing with the program for 30 seconds made it clear.

One thing to note; don't be dismayed by the fact that there is only one default theme when you install RumShot; the first thing you're going to want to do is go and download the free Theme Pack, which gives you no less than 68 themes to choose from.

When you watch a Mapwing tour, not only do you see photos, but you also view a side by side map of the scene. Each photo corresponds to a location on the map (provided by you), so the viewer gets a comprehensive spatial tour. To get started, Mapwing recommends the following equipment:

• 1+ megapixel camera with enough memory for at least 60 pictures
• Flash unit
• Tripod
• Clipboard, paper, and pencil
• Map or floor plan of the area (if available)
• Compass (optional)

Mapwing System Requirements:

• A modern operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• An up-to-date Web browser (Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer)
• Adobe Flash Player 7 or higher (Flash Player 9 is required to create virtual tours)

The Basic package provides public hosting of your tour so as a general safety precaution, be sure to keep your personal details, such as names, location and other identifiers, from your posting.

If you've had a digital camera for any length of time, by now you have thousands--maybe even tens of thousands--of digital pictures of anything and everything. And if you're like most people you've cheerfully imported them into photo management software of some sort. Maybe it's something like NikonView that came with your camera or maybe it's the copy of Photoshop Elements that came pre-installed on your hard drive. Perhaps it's Picasa. If you're on a Mac it's almost certainly iPhoto. Or maybe you're a pro, or just really into digital photography, and you hopped on one of the Adobe Lightroom betas or shelled out some cash for something like ACDSee, iView, or Aperture.

Whatever you're doing it's probably time to stop. Photo gallery and management software is a wonderful way to arrange and display pictures you want to use for something. Most of of the time, the "something" is printing, displaying on screen as a slideshow or screensaver, or uploading to a photo sharing service like Flickr. For most people, that describes a very small fraction of the pictures they take. The rest just sit around in the photo library collecting dust and causing trouble, mostly in the form of slowdowns. Your library has to load all those thumbnails every time you open it, whether you ever look at the pictures or not. When you add new photos, the software has to scan the pictures, add the appropriate information to its database, create thumbnails, probably copy the images to its own directory, and sometimes even convert the images to its native format. And again, it has to do that even if you never even look at the image.

That takes time. Often it takes a lot of time, and for nine tenths of digital photos, it's wasted time.

On the other hand, you don't really want to just delete all those other pictures. The sheer quantity is part of the fun of digital photography, right? And you never know when some of those truly horrible shots might come in handy. Maybe that horrible shot of your uncle making that silly face will turn out to be the only picture of him anyone can find for a scrapbook later. Maybe you'll want something in the background of a blurry shot of a friend for reference later. Who knows? But since storage is cheap these days, there's no reason to delete all that stuff, even if you don't want it clogging up your workflow.

I've been tinkering around with the Mac version of that new Photoshop CS3 beta Adobe unleashed, and I have to say that so far it feels like a more significant and worthy upgrade than CS2. Adobe has packed a lot of new goodies in CS3 which we'll be covering in our Imaging Tip series, and today's tip praises the return of true memory management to Photoshop.

As you can see, the Performance tab of PS CS3's updated Preferences display brings back complete control over how much RAM Photoshop gets to play with, and the scratch disk UI has received the steroid treatment as well. These are both great improvements for fine-tuning Photoshop's performance, especially for those either on older, slower systems or those blessed with desktop powerhouses.

I have been using Paint.net for a while now, and it really is a decent editor. Everyone who needs something more powerful than the Microsoft Paint that comes with Windows, but can't figure out Adobe Photoshop needs to take a look at Paint.net. The new alpha release (for testing only of course) has a multiple document interface, which is one of the biggest improvements in the new version. Though it is labeled Alpha, 3.0 is quite stable and usable. It now has common color palette and even a common colors panels too. The formerly slow font-loading problem has been smoothed out, and the fonts show up quickly now. Check it out!