- Follow the Below Steps -

STEP 1 - Open Compressor and in the settings window click on the [+] drop down menu, “Create New Settings” button and choose MPEG2

STEP 2 - In the Inspector window Name the new Setting and add a Description. Next change the Extension from m2v to MPEG. In the Video Format tab Change the Video Format to PAL, Aspect Ratio to 16×9 and change the Field Dominance to Progressive. Click on the Quality tab.

STEP 3 – Click on the Quality tab and change the Mode to “Two Pass VBR Best”. Next change the Average Bit Rate to 15.0 and the Maximum Bit Rate to 18.0.

STEP 4 – Click on the Extras tab and tick the box next to Multiplexed MPEG-1/Layer 2 Audio. Next choose Program Stream.

- Follow the Below Steps -

STEP 1 - Open Compressor

STEP 2 - In the settings window Click on the [+] drop down menu, “Create New Settings” button and choose MPEG4

STEP 3 - In the Inspector window name the new settings and click on the “Encoder” button

Next you need to change the “Video Frame Rate” and “Video Bit Rate”

STEP 4 - Change the Frame Rate to 25 fps (PAL)

STEP 5 - Change the Bit Rate to High Variable Bit Rate (High VBR)

STEP 6 - Next click on the “Geometry” tab and here you need to change the frame size

STEP 7 - Change the Frame Size to 1280 x 720 for HD

Note if you want standard definition then choose 720 x 576. You could choose 320 x 240 but the quality will not be so great once uploaded to the internet

STEP 8 - Change the Pixel Aspect to Square

This will stop your 16×9 movie from squashing into 4×3 once its uploaded to Vimeo or Youtube

Its important to drag your shutter during the day if you want to create a smooth motion time lapse. Using a ND filter will allow the shutter to open for 1 second on average or less during the day, depending on your camera settings. This will make any movement blur and when you put the photos together to create the time lapse when each photo is displayed you will not see a jump effect between each photo, yet a smooth motion between movement. All this and more is explained in the video. If you do have any feedback please comment below or use the Submit a Question form on the side of the webpage.

Tilt Shift is a special type of lens you can attatch to your SLR camera. The effect it has on your photos is that it makes objects look like a model.

This is achieved best when photos have been taken from an elevation.

In this Tutorial Im going to show you how to achieve this effect with a standard lens and then using photoshop to simulate what the Tilt Shift lens would do.

- Follow the Below Steps -

STEP 1 - Import your photo into Photoshop

STEP 2 – In the Tool Bar click the bottom button “Edit in Quick Mask Mode”

STEP 3 – Next Click and hold down the Paint Bucket Icon until a list of options appear, choose the Gradient Tool

STEP 4 – On the Photo click and draw a line on the area you wish to protect from the effect/blur

Note – You can mask invert, so the red area will protect the area you don’t want to blur

STEP 5 – Go back to the Tool Bar and deselect the “Edit in Quick Mask Mode”

The red colour from the photo will be replaced with a selection box once you deselect the Quick Mask Mode

STEP 6 – Click Filter, Blur and choose Lens Blur

STEP 7 – In the Window that has popped up choose radius that suits your desired depth, I picked 25.

You will also have to select Invert under Depth Map. Next click Ok.

STEP 8 – To make the photo look more like a model turn the saturation up. This can be done by choosing Image, Adjustments and click on Vibrance

STEP 9 - Save it and Share

A cheap and efficient way of turning your photos into a model.

“Dear Stephen,
I went through your website with great interest..! Well done and congratulations with your work!
I’ve got one question. I’ve recently bought an iPad, which I was hoping to use as an presentation-medium for my portfolio. After downloading the Keynote app, I am realizing that there is no way of importing the (ready) portfolio from my Mac into the iPad..!!?? Is this true, or is there a way of importing this document into the iPad through iTunes..!!??

Plasma or LCD?… I’ll get to LED and 3D Tv soon

When Plasma Televisions first came out, the refresh rate was much quicker than LCD Televisions, a higher refresh rate you would aid you to see a smoother image on the screen. For a while Plasma’s were the clear winner.

Technology has changed and LCD’s now have a faster refresh rate so the competition now begins between the two different styles of flat screen Tv’s.

The contrast of blacks and whites on Plasma Televisions seems to much stronger than the LCD Tv. Black colours on the LCD Tv seem to be more of a dark grey, it doesn’t seem to hit the deep blacks.

Plasmas do have a wider viewing angle than the LCD’s so this should be a consideration if you are planning on watching the Tv from the side.

If your into gaming on a console, then I think the LCD would handle the graphics better and the plus side to buying a LCD is that they run on much less power than a Plasma.

New to the market is the LED Televisions, this is different to LCD because each pixel has is own light. It does not need to be back lit with one or multiple tubes of light as the LCD or Plasma does, allowing the LED Tv’s to be very thin. 

In my opinion, If you can afford it then buy an High Definition LED TV. There is nothing better than having an LED television hanging on the wall like a piece of art.

Plasmas still seem to be chunky from whats on the market now days in the way of LED Tv’s so if you can afford to spend the extra money buy an LED Tv or wait until they come down in price.

Does 3D Television have a place in the family home ? Oh wait where are my 3D Glasses…

I think 3D LED High Definition Televisions will have a place in the family home, but not for every day viewing.

I took a trip to China a few months ago and tried out a driving game that was displayed on a 3D commercially available Tv. The experience of playing a game in 3D was amazing, it actually felt like you were there in the game on location. Being in control of the game I think it aided to the realism of 3D. All in all I feel that the world of 3D Television viewing should be left up to the Movie and Gaming industry, not for everyday viewing.

This Tutorial explains how to Jailbreak the Ipad and Iphone

Straight way I loved the look and feel of the Ipad. Its very thin and weights about 0.73 kgs.
The screen which has a pixel ratio of 1024 x 768 makes it a wonderful piece of technology to look at. The Display is very sharp to read text from and has a very responsive multi touch screen, however the 9.7 inch LED has one noticeable draw back for me, and its that its screen ratio is 4×3. Everything now days comes in Widescreen (16×9) – like your desktop computer screens, laptops or televisions. The reason for the more square design was to allow it to fit into handbags and be more portable to carry around.

I love the idea of being able to carry around a truck load of books and information on the Ipad. It certainly will lighten the load for me and will give me easy access for showing clients video’s or photos when I come to there home or office. It saves trying to find an internet connection or sit down and open up a laptop computer while I fumble around waiting for it to load. The ipad is a simple interactive method of sharing photos with family and friends around the dinner table while enjoying a cup of coffee.

While the speakers cannot be compaired to a set of stereo home theare speakers you cannot expect much for the size of them, however I am very surprised at the base and level of volume they put out. With no usb port or many outputs available on Ipad I can say its a good thing they included the headphone jack.

It does come with Bluetooth that can connect to a number bluetooth devices such as the apple wireless keyboard, WiFi for wireless connectivity around the home or public domain, Video output via the Ipad 30 pin dock connector/ charger and the optional 3G data sim card.

It would be nice to see the next generation of Ipad come with a Webcamera for Skype or video phone calls and maybe just one small usb input would be very handy to copy over data or play a movie from. unless you have preloaded your HDD full of documents and videos before going out for the day, there is no real way of getting that data onto the ipad unless you can find it on the internet, or in an email.

The Ipad doesnt do a lot of things that a desktop or Laptop computer can do. I would say it was never meant to replace these items and it never will. What it will do is revolutionise the way we interact with emails, information from the internet and rely more and more on a computer rather than a phonebook or a schedule for the train network when out in the streets. All the information we will ever need will always be a touch of a screen away.