Newsletter Archives

• Ayin — the photo editor I was looking for

  Posted on August 26, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  The things you can do with photos these days are nothing short of a modern marvel. What is also a modern marvel is the thick user manual for photo-editing software: a barber could use one to raise up a kid in his chair.

  I just want a small and portable program that I can use to quickly zip through dozens of photos and do quick edits on them. Luckily for me, I found Fares Ahmed, a young student from Egypt who created just what I needed. Ayin (“eye” or “to see” in English) is a free, portable, and open-source photo-editing software package for Windows.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.35.0, 2024-08-26).

  Freeware Spotlight Ayin, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Newsletters, Photo Editing

• Behind the scenes: The newsletter

  Posted on November 28, 2022 at 02:42 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Will Fastie

  When I took this job, I was surprised at the number of moving parts involved in publishing the newsletter.

  My predecessor, editor emeritus Tracey Capen, did an excellent job with general organization and collaboration. Tracey wrote a very comprehensive document in OneNote about how to produce the newsletter, which was extremely helpful in my early days. I was very grateful to have that guide because otherwise, I would have been at sea on day one.

  Publishing an issue of the newsletter involves a lot of steps.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.48.0, 2022-11-28).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Commentary Adobe Photoshop Elements, CSS, Dreamweaver, Editors, Expression Web, HTML, Newsletters, Photo Editing, Publishing

• Comparison: Affinity Photo, GIMP, and PaintShop Pro

  Posted on April 20, 2020 at 01:05 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PHOTO EDITING

  By Nathan Segal

  These days, it’s likely you spend more time managing and editing digital photos than you did taking the shots.

  Getting the most out of your photos can be a complex and time-consuming task. Which means that it’s especially important that you be efficient and comfortable using your imaging application.

  In this comparison, we’ll take a quick look at the steps needed for common photo-manipulation tasks in three popular editors: Affinity Photo, Corel PaintShop Pro 2020, and GIMP. (Note: I reviewed Affinity Photo in the 2020-04-06 AskWoody Plus Newsletter.) The tasks include customizing the workspace, cropping, image straightening, using layers for blending and image effects, image retouching, adding Text, color correction, removing an image from the background, and RAW-image processing. Let’s get started.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.15.0 (2020-04-20).

  Software Affinity Photo, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Corel PaintShop Pro, GIMP, Photo Editing

• Review: Affinity Photo

  Posted on April 6, 2020 at 01:00 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PHOTO EDITING

  By Nathan Segal

  There are dozens of software packages available for fixing and enhancing bit-based photographs — many of them free.

  Paid packages such as ACDSee, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop, and Corel PaintShop Pro typically offer advanced tools such as RAW processing, masking, layers, and other “pro” tools and controls.

  It can be daunting to pick the best image editor for your needs. Always on the hunt for a better photo-manipulation tool, I took Affinity Photo for a spin.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.13.0 (2020-04-06).

  Software AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Photo Editing, Power tools, RAW