May 2013 – Page 2 – Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

May 8, 2013May 8, 2013

Come Photowalk in the Biggest Photowalk In History with My Pals Trey Ratcliff and Robert Scoble — We’re Giving Away Google Glass!

Next Tuesday evening, May 14th at 5:30pm, my good pals Trey Ratcliff, Robert Scoble and the awesome team at Google+ Photos will be joining me for an historic and truly epic photowalk in San Francisco. We think it will probably be the largest photowalk ever held in the history of photowalking — already almost 600 people have signed up! We will start the walk in Yerba Buena Gardens in downtown San Francisco.

Most exciting, one of our lucky photowalkers will win Google Glass. That’s right, a winner will be selected randomly — you must pre-register for the walk here and must be present at the end of the photowalk in person to win. We will go over the rules and details on how to win the Glass at the photowalk.

This is a free event open to everyone regardless of skill, experience, camera type, etc. Bring your Holga/Diana or your Canon 5D Mark III or your Rebel or your Android phone — or even that other phone that I can’t ever remember the name of 😉

We will be announcing more details between now and the event, but you won’t want to miss this fantastic San Francisco event. We will have a great afterparty too where we can all geek out about photography.

See you there!

May 6, 2013May 6, 2013

Next Version of Adobe Photoshop to Be Branded Photoshop CC, Includes Awesome New Motion Blur Sharpening Tool

Today Adobe announced a new branding of their flagship Photoshop product to be released later this year, Photoshop CC. The new version will only be available via a monthly subscription to Adobe’s Creative Cloud and will not be sold as a traditional boxed application that consumers can purchase.

Probably the most anticipated new feature in the next iteration of Photoshop is a revolutionary new image sharpening tool that focuses on fixing camera shake issues.

The new tool analyzes images that are out of focus due to the slight movement or motion that takes place while a shutter is open. There are lots of reasons why photographers may find camera shake in their images. Many images shot slower than about 125th of a second are susceptible to camera shake unless you’re on a tripod or have a very steady hand. Telephoto shots, especially can be problematic.

With the new version of Photoshop CC, Adobe uses an algorithm to try and detect which direction the camera was moving that produced the shake. They then try to account for the movement back into the direction of a steady image without camera shake. This new sharpening tool won’t help you with other types of focal blur issues, like lens position, but it does address a fairly common issue dealt with by photographers.

Adobe had previously offered a sneak peak of this new technology in a video that they posted to Youtube. Watch the video and you’ll be impressed.

What makes this interesting to me is that there are a lot of old images that I’ve taken in the past that now will suddenly become salvageable.

This new technology advancement should be yet another reminder to photographers why they should save ALL of their images, even the bad ones that they don’t think they can use. With technology advancements in image processing, I’m finding more and more images that I’d previously dismissed due to problems. Whether previous Adobe noise reduction tech or newer tech like this new sharpening tool, it pays to save all of your images no matter what. Storage is cheap and you never know when you may need that image that you never knew you needed at the time. Even years after you are dead, those images may be important to someone, somewhere for some reason.

While the camera shake feature is the sizzle of the new Photoshop upgrade, there are several other enhancements they have made to the program as well including, smart Sharpen (new technology promising more realistic sharpening without halos or noise) and new upsampling tech (this helps make your photos look better when you make them larger than you processed them).

The biggest news though is Adobe’s moving Photoshop 100% into the Cloud and 100% by subscription. You’ll still be able to purchase Photoshop CS for the time being, but it won’t have the new features available in CC.

Pricing varies by type of customer but starts at $49.99 a month per person for individuals. Existing Creative Suite customers, students, and teachers will get a discount to $29.99 a month. Creative Cloud has a lot more applications than just Photoshop and also includes Lightroom and a whole suite of other Adobe Creative applications. It also includes integration with Behance, a portfolio site for creatives that Adobe recently purchased.

May 6, 2013

High Above the Busy Little One Way

May 3, 2013May 6, 2013

Change is Good

If you want to make enemies, try to change something.

— Woodrow Wilson

I’ve been watching with great interest over the past few weeks as the naysayers seem to have gone CRAZY overboard trying to bash Google Glass every chance they can. I’ve seen articles in Wired and on CNN and on blogs, etc., all stating how terrible Google Glass is. Oh NO, geeky white dudes are wearing Google Glass! This will never work! Oh no, someone wore a pair into the shower! Oh no, I will punch someone in the face if they try talk to me with them on — all sorts of gibberish.

There’s nothing like change to bring out the absolute haters.

It seems like every time something comes out that represents change, people freak the fcuk out.

It’s not enough to say, “oh no, this thing is not for me.” People have to go absolutely overboard, talking about how horrible some new thing is for everybody ELSE.

I remember when I waited in line overnight (with my pal Robert Scoble, probably today’s biggest Google Glass cheerleader) for the very first iPhone. Robert’s son Patrick was the very first person to buy an iPhone at the Palo Alto store.

I’m not sure I’d ever been mocked by people so much. “You waited in line overnight to pay HOW MUCH?” for a stupid phone??? People thought the iPhone was the dumbest thing ever. “Why would you ever need a phone to surf the web?” “Why would you pay so much for a phone?” They laughed at me for camping out overnight to get the first generation phone — even though camping out overnight in front of an Apple store has been one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. Getting to hear Apple luminaries like Andy Hertzfeld and Bill Atkinson talk about Apple’s early days was a blast! It’s where I first met the awesome guys from SmugMug. Was it dorky and geeky? Sure, but whatever.

Read some of these early quotes about the iPhone when it first came out. Even though some of us loved it early, so many more were so “doom and gloom” on it. Now, of course, everybody loves the iPhone and the whole generation of Android and other smartphones that followed.

I remember when Twitter first came out. People hated that too. “Twitter is still a fad, and according to a study out today, it looks like it�s popularity may soon fade,” wrote BusinessWeek. People constantly mocked Twitter — “who wants to read a dumb post about what someone had for breakfast,” they’d say. I hopped on Twitter right away while so many of my friends refused to join. Those same friends now complain about how everybody else has more followers than they do.

The same naysayers took umbrage with Google+. Despite being named earlier this week as the second largest social network, the “change is bad” crowd hated Google+ when it came out. How many articles out there were written about Google+ being a ghost town? My good friend Trey Ratcliff passed 5 million followers on Google+ earlier this morning. That sure is an awful lot of ghosts if you ask me.

I’m having the best time on Google+. I’ve met some of the most talented and interesting photographers in the world, I’ve been on tons of great live hangouts and photowalks, and it’s been the best designed social network I’ve ever been a part of. I’m glad I joined it the first day it was available to the public.

When one of my heros, William Eggleston, had the first color photography show at MOMA in New York, a lot of people hated that too. Many people called it the most hated fine art photography show ever. Ansel Adams, the most famous photographer in the world at the time, even wrote a letter to MOMA curator, John Szarkowski, trashing the change that Eggleston represented. Now everybody loves Eggleston and color photography is firmly established as a photographic fine art aesthetic. Just last month the Independent called him the world’s greatest living photographer.

I remember when I first started posting my photos online at Flickr back in 2004, their first year in existence. So many photographers gave me a hard time. They kept going on and on about how my photos would be “stolen.” “Who the hell cares,” I’d answer back. Now everybody posts their photos online, everywhere — well, almost everybody.

So what is it about Google Glass, the iPhone, Twitter, Google+, color photography, photo sharing that scare people so much? What is it that brings out the naysayers and haters?

It’s simple: most people hate change. Most people fear change. Most people hope the world around them never changes and turns into something else. They are afraid that change will take their job, or their income, or somehow hurt them. A lot of these people are also lazy. They groan about having to learn a new thing or technology. They worry they will be left behind. So it’s easier for these people to bash whatever is new and interesting and jump on the anti-change bandwagon.

As far as Google Glass goes, I have no idea if it’s going to be a hit or not. I do think it represents an interesting new tool to use for street photography and I’m excited about trying them out myself at some point. I think it’s dumb though to see article after article by scared people trying to talk the rest of the world out of them — articles that try to paint them as dorky or geeky or creepy. These are just more of the same old complainers/haters who hate on every new thing that comes along.

Change is good. Don’t let the naysayers tell you otherwise. The next time somebody brings up some new idea, check yourself. Instead of immediately starting to bash it, resist that urge and keep an open mind. Every so often you just might be surprised.

Oh, and personally speaking, I think journalists that like to bash change are far, far, dorkier than bloggers who like to take showers with their Google Glass on. 😉

This article also appears on PetaPixel here.

May 1, 2013

Facebook Survey, May 2013

Yesterday I was prompted by Facebook and asked if I wanted to take a survey on my Facebook page. I said yes and took the survey. Here are the questions that Facebook asked me. Maybe this survey gives some insight into what they are thinking about in terms of public perception and product development. I don’t know anything more about the survey. I don’t know who it was targeted towards, how many people were given it, or any other demographic or statistical data.

1. Do you manage the Facebook page or public profile you were just visiting?

Yes, I manage this page by myself
Yes, I manage this page along with 1-4 other people
Yes, I manage this page along with more than 4 people
No, I do not manage this page

2. What is your role in managing this Facebook page or public profile?

I am the public figure this Facebook page or public profile is about
I am an Account Manager — I work for a third-party management firm
I don’t manage the page directly — I make partnership and business decisions
Other

3. Do you manage your Facebook page or public profile using the Facebook website or app, or do you use a tool such as HootSuite, CoTweet, or Seesmic?

I primarily use the Facebook website or app to manage my Facebook page or public profile
I primarly only use another tool such as HootSuite, CoTweet, or Seesmic to manage my page or public profile
I use both the Facebook website or app and another tool equally

4. Approximately how many fans or subscribers does your page have?

5. Approximately how often do you post from your Facebook page or public profile?

Multiple times per day
About once a day
2-6 days a week
About once a week
2-3 times a month
About once a month
Less often than once a month

6. About what percent of the time are the posts composed by the public figure this page is about (rather than another person or agency posting on the figure’s behalf)?

Less than 20%
Between 20% and 40%
More than 40%, but less than 60%
Between 60% and 80%
100%
I don’t know

7. If you were to post something to your page, approximately what percent of your Facebook fans would you expect to have the post show up in their news feed?

Less than 20%
Between 20% and 40%
More than 40%, but less than 60%
Between 60% and 80%
More than 80%, but less than 100%
100%
I don’t know

8. What percentage of Facebook’s engineering resources do you think are dedicated to increasing revenue (versus developing new products and improving on existing products for our users)?

Less than 20%
Between 20% and 40%
More than 40%, but less than 60%
Between 60% and 80%
More than 80%, but less than 100%
100%
I don’t know

9. Relative to other initiatives, how important is your Facebook page or public profile in meeting your business objectives?

Not at all important
Slightly important
Somewhat important
Very important
Extremely important

10. Please indicate how important each of these metrics is to you when you are trying to evaluate the overall success of your Facebook page or public profile.

(Choices offered were: not at all important, somewhat important, very important)

Referral traffic (e.g. website visits)
Content engagement (e.g. video views, likes, comments on posts)
Increased reach (e.g. fanbase growth)

11. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? My Facebook page or public profile helps me to accomplish my business objectives

Strongly disagree
Somewhat disagree
Neither agree or disagree
Somewhat agree
Strongly agree

12. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? I am happy with the level of engagement my fans have with my Facebook page or public profile

Strongly disagree
Somewhat disagree
Neither agree or disagree
Somewhat agree
Strongly agree

13. Overall, how satisfied are you with the rate at which you acquire new Facebook fans?

Completely dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Fairly dissatisfied
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
Fairly satisfied
Very satisfied
Completely satisfied

14. Overall, how satisfied are you with managing a Facebook page or public profile?

Completely dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Fairly dissatisfied
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
Fairly satisfied
Very satisfied
Completely satisfied

15. In your opinion, what amount of improvement, if any, is required to make the page or profile management tools Facebook provides you excellent?

Huge improvement
Much improvement
Some improvement
Slight improvement
No improvement

16. Do you manage a public page or profile on any other social media platforms?

No, I do not manage a public page or profile on any other sites
Yes, I manage a page or public profile on at least one other site

17.On what other social media platforms do you manage a public page or profile?

Instagram
Google+
Twitter
Pinterest
Tumlbr
Other (fill in)

18. On which service do you most often post

Instagram
Google+
Twitter
Pinterest
Tumlbr
Facebook
Other (fill in)

19. Compared to your consumer facing experiences on other platforms, how satisfied are you with your experience managing a Facebook page or public profile?

More satisfied
About the same level of satisfaction
Less satisfied

20. How important is it to you to be able to manage your Facebook page or public profile from a mobile device?

Not at all important
Slightly important
Somewhat important
Very important
Extremely important

21. When you publish content from a mobile phone, what device do you typically use?

Tablet (such as iPad)
Windows phone
iPhone
Android phone
Blackberry
I never publish from a mobile device
Other (fill in)

22. In your opinion, what amount of improvement, if any, is required to make the Facebook page and public profile administration experience excellent?

Huge improvement
Much improvement
Some improvement
Slight improvement
No improvement

23. In what ways would you like to see the Facebook page and public profile administration experience improve? (select the TOP 3 improvements you’d like to see)

I would like to be able to post additional types of content
I would like to be able to post more easily
I would like to know more about my fans
I would like my fans to share more of my posts with their friends
I would like to be able to test which posts perform best
I would like to drive more traffic to my primary website
I would like my posts to reach more fans
I would like to see everything my fans are saying about me/the public figure
I would like to see how the activity of my fan base compares to that of other public figures
I would like to be able to use hashtags
Other (fill in)

24. Please share any additional feedback you may have about your experience as a Facebook page or public profile administrator.

25. We would like to hear more about your experience with Facebook in the future. Would you be interested in receiving additional surveys on this topic?

25. Would you be interested in participating in a brief phone interview on this topic?

Thank you.