What is VSCO cam?
VSCO cam now known as VSCO is a mobile photography app which can be used by both iOS and Android users as it is available on both platforms. VSCO let you edit your photos within the app. You can create your profile, upload the photos to VSCO, and follow other people and check out their posts and profiles.
VSCO also allows you to share the photos directly to other apps like Instagram and Facebook. VSCO has presets that let you adjust brightness, balance of colors and saturation to give your photo a unique look and feel.
When you upoload a photo to VSCO it also shows which preset is used so you can create more photos with those effects. VSCO cam is a top downloaded app in App store and Google play store since its release in 2013.
Main Features of VSCO
Profile
You can make a profile and you can upload your photos and videos here. You can also repost photos and videos from other users. Here you can display whatever you are doing on VSCO. Photos and videos cannot be liked and VSCO also doesn’t allow comments. By default the VSCO profiles are public, which means your profile would be visible to anyone who visits your profile. The followers are also anonymous and cannot be seen.
Feed
The ‘Feed’ section is like Instagram, you can scroll and see the posts from the people you are following and can favorite and repost those posts to your own profile. To check the captions and preset filters used, you can click on a post and these details will be visible.
Discover
Discover section of VSCO is the interactive section. The posts are organized according to the content in this section. Photos are organized by hashtags and similarities between the photos like seasons and views.
Studio
The studio section in VSCO as the name says is where all the edited, unedited photos can be found. The studio section unlike your profile is private. If you are working on a photo and get busy, you can always come back and find the photo in this section to continue editing on it.
Capture
This is the built-in camera of the app. You can go to capture and directly take photos for VSCO app, which can later be edited and posted within the app or to other apps. The VSCO camera gives you the option like changing ISO and white balance. VSCO camera also allows you to shoot in RAW mode for higher quality of photos.
Is the app free?
Great news, VSCO is a free app for users but it also has paid version ($19.99 yearly) which gives you access to more presets and Discover challenges.
What is TimeMachine for Mac?
We all have gone through some times where we have lost our data one way or the other. Those files or photos that we have lost might be very important or unique and there is no way of getting them back. However, if you are a Mac user then Apple has a solution for these errors or mistakes.
Time Machine for Mac is a built-in backup application for Mac. The amazing thing about Time Machine is that if you need to restore the files, everything that was on your Mac a day (weeks or even months) before could be restored exactly like it was that day. This is extremely useful if you work with photos, files or other important data.
Setting up Time Machine
In order to setup a Time Machine for Mac you need to have an empty hard rive that will work as a backup destination, the larger the hard drive, the longer you can go back in time.
Time Machine can back up to devices like, external hard drives or solid state drives that are connected to Mac through USB, Thunderbolt, FireWire or USB-C.
External hard drives or SSD connected to the USB port of Apple Airport Extreme 802.11 ac or other Wi-Fi routers that are compatible with Time Machine can also be used as backup destinations. Apple AirPort Time Capsule or OS X servers can also work as backup destinations if they and the Mac are on the same network.
Once you have the Time Machine harde drive, you simply need to connect it to your Mac and then select “Use as Backup Disk”.
Initial and daily backups
The initial backup might take some time as it will backup all your files on your computer at that time. After the initial backup is done Time Machine will look for your hourly changes and will backup those changes. Those hourly changes will later on backup as your daily backup.
Once the backup destination device reaches its full storage capacity, Time Machine will start deleting the oldest backup to make up the space for your most recent backup. Time Machine will also backup your Mac when it is in standy by mode.
Restoring files with Time Machine
There will be a time that you need to restore those backups, as that was the whole point of using Time Machine. To restore a file on your Mac you need switch to finder and then choose “Enter Time Machine” from Time Machine menu. Once you enter Time Machine you will be able to see a timeline of backups on the right side.
If you know the date and time when the file was lost, simply choose the backup before that time. If you don’t know when the file was deleted you can search file from Time Machine finder window (from search field on the top right of the Finder window) and then search the backups to find that file by clicking “back in time” or up arrow. In case you don’t know the name of the file you will have to go through all the back-ups until you see the file.
Once you know which backup version you want to restore, simply click on it and then click “Restore” below the Finder Window.
You can also revert the documents to the earlier version if it is supported by the app. To revert the version of a file:
1. Open the file and enter Time Machine from the Time Machine menu
2. Then select file
3. Revert to > Browse all versions.
What is Photoshop?
If you are a photographer, photo editor or designer; Adobe Photoshop is the software you should really know about. Adobe Photoshop is software that is largely used by professionals for photo editing or retouching and can be used on both Windows and Mac. With Photoshop you can create, enhance and edit photos, videos, artworks and illustrations. Adobe Photoshop has various versions like Photoshop CC, Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Lightroom.
History of Photoshop
In 1987 two brothers John and Thomas Knoll developed Photoshop as a simple photo editing tool. Since its first launched many features has been added to the software and now it can almost do anything you want to do with your images. In 1988 Photoshop was purchased by Adobe systems and became Adobe Photoshop.
In 1990 Adobe launched the first version of Adobe Photoshop for MacOS computers which allowed users to display and save files in various formats. The first version allowed users to adjust the balance, hue and color saturation of images. Today multiple versions of Photoshop software are used by millions of professionals around the world for almost all types of image editing.
Uses of Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is one of the most important tools for designers, web developers, graphic artists, photographers and creative professionals. The main use of Photoshop are image editing, retouching, creating image compositions, website mockups, editing product photos, and adding effects to the photos. Website designs and layouts can also be created within Photoshop and can be looked at before coding stage begins. Business logos, touching up pictures, color editing, posters, minor videos and gifs, and 3D shapes are some examples that can be done with Photoshop.
Photoshop CC
Adobe Photoshop CC is available on monthly and yearly subscription and is a creative cloud version of Photoshop. Photoshop CC is the professional-level version among Photoshop versions. Adobe Photoshop CC costs €36,29 per month if paid monthly and 24.19 per month if paid yearly. It includes access the latest features and you will have access to all the new updates when they are available. Creative Cloud also comes with cloud storage of 100 GB. Photoshop CC is a pro image editing software and is mostly used by designers, video editors, web professionals and photographers for the purposes of altering and manipulating images.
Photoshop Elements
Photoshop Elements is an easier version of Photoshop made for entry-level audience. Photoshop Elements has various professional editing capabilities of Adobe Photoshop CC but it is simpler to use as it is designed for consumers. Photoshop Elements is a good choice for amateur photographers to learn photo editing. Changing image color, cropping and adding text to images, fixing red eyes or remove dust that appeared in your photos, drawing on images, removing things from images, publishing images online or sending them via email are some features of Photoshop Elements. Photoshop Elements will cost you €99.99 and Photoshop Elements along with Premiere Elements cost you €149.99. There are also ‘Student & Teacher Edition of Photoshop Elements & Premiere Elements’ this will cost you $79.99.
Photoshop Lightroom
Photoshop Lightroom is another piece of software from the family of Adobe. Photoshop Lightroom is mainly used by photographers for the purpose of batch editing of large amount of photos. Lightroom saves editing presets and those presets can then be applied to large batches of photos altogether, to edit all your photos at once. Lightroom can edit RAW files, just like Photoshop. With RAW files you have more control over light and color in your photos, more than JPG files. With RAW files you can adjust a lot of settings to increase the quality of photo editing within a RAW file.
Photoshop Lightroom doesn’t have most of the features Adobe Photoshop CC or Adobe Photoshop Elements offer, since it’s mainly used for batch photo editing. But it is a good tool for basic level editing to get your photos corrected. Photoshop Lightroom costs €9.99 per month and comes with 1TB of cloud storage that is about 20,000 RAW DSLR photos and 200,0000 JPEGs. However, it is recommended that you choose photography plan of Adobe as it costs you the same €9.99 per month and includes Lightroom for desktop and mobile, Lightroom Classic, Photoshop on desktop, Photoshop and Lightroom for iPad and 20GB cloud storage. That is a great deal!
Learning Photoshop
Photoshop is a skill, if you how to use Photoshop it can help you to improve your own work if you are a photographer or designer.It can also help you in earning money from helping others with their digital images and designing. You can learn Photoshop or Lightroom from people who teach Photoshop online or in-person, like us, The Editing Studio.
There are many Photoshop courses and tutorials available online and they can be really helpful in learning Photoshop.
Learning Photoshop by yourself can be a bit of a challenge as there are a lot of features that Photoshop offers, like a lot! So the best way to learn Photoshop is understanding the basics with someone’s help or tutorials and then you can do your own experiments and improve your Photoshop skills!
As a professional photographer you don’t really need to know how Photoshop works, you can be a great photographer without knowing the basics of Photoshop. But if you get to know Photoshop a little, will help you to enhance your photos and improve in photo quality!
What is Creative Cloud?
Adobe Creative Cloud or Adobe CC is a set of applications and services created by Adobe Systems, mostly used for the purposes of graphic designing, video editing, web development and photo editing. Adobe Creative Cloud is available for both Mac and Windows and some of its services can also be used on iOS and Android phones or tablets. Services of Adobe CC are available individually or as a bundle.
Uses of Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe CC can help you with almost anything related to graphic designing, video or photo editing, web development and web designing. Applications provided by Adobe Creative Cloud are used by professionals in the designing and editing field. Applications like Adobe Premiere Pro are being used by feature films and TV shows for video editing since its release in 2003. A few examples of the films that used Adobe Premiere for editing are, Deadpool, Avatar and Gone Girl. Applications offered by Adobe Creative Cloud like InDesign are being used by newspapers such as New York times and Adobe Photoshop is almost used by every newspaper.
Adobe Creative Cloud can be used for almost anything that is required to build a website without the knowledge of coding. Adobe CC applications let you work on things like video editing, mobile design and desktop publishing. It also offers cloud storage to store the Creative Cloud documents which can be shared with others and can be accessed through other devices.
Cost of Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe CC offers different type of applications that can be subscribed individually or in a package. The cost of Adobe Creative Cloud packages varies from $4.99 per month to $52.99 per month.
For $20.99 you can have access to a single app like Photoshop along with 100GB cloud storage.
For $52.99 per month you can have access to almost all the Creative Cloud desktop and mobile apps along with 100GB cloud storage. However, if you are a teacher or a student you can get this package for only $19.99 per month.
As a Photographer you would mostly need access to Lightroom Classic, Lightroom and Photoshop and you can get them and 20GB cloud storage for $9.99 per month.
Applications offered by Adobe Creative Cloud
At last let’s, have a look at the applications Adobe Creative Cloud offers. Below is the list of all the applications offered by Adobe Creative Cloud.
Photoshop: Create graphics, photos and art.
Illustrator: Create vector art and illustrations.
InDesign: Design and publish layouts for print and digital.
Adobe XD: Design, prototype, and share engaging user experiences for web, mobile, and more.
Lightroom: Capture amazing photos, anywhere you are.
Acrobat Pro: The complete PDF solution for a mobile, connected world.
Animate: A new age for animation. Any platform, device and style.
Dreamweaver: Visually design and develop modern, responsive websites.
Premiere Pro: Industry-standard pro video and film editing.
Premiere Rush: Create and share online videos anywhere.
After Effects: Cinematic visual effects and motion graphics.
Dimension: Design in 3D for branding, product shots, packaging design, and creative work.
Audition: Bring stories to life with audio.
InCopy: Collaborate with copywriters and editors
Lightroom Classic: Photo editing optimized for desktop.
Media Encoder: Quickly output video files for virtually any screen.
Character Animator: Animate your 2D characters in real time.
Prelude: Logging tool for tagging media with metadata for searching
Fuse: Rapidly create, rig and animate unique characters for design projects.
Bridge: Centralize your creative assets.
Spark: Create graphics, web pages, and video stories in no time.
Capture: Turn any image on your phone into a color theme, graphic, brush, pattern, or texture.
Comp: Create design comps using your real assets and fonts.
Photoshop Fix: Retouch, restore, and share your photos on the go
Aero: Design and share immersive augmented reality experiences, no coding required.
Substance: The industry standard for 3D painting and texturing.
Fresco: Rediscover the joy of drawing and painting anywhere.
Spark: Create graphics, web pages, and video stories in no time.