David B. Brooks

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David B. Brooks  |  May 10, 2012  |  First Published: Apr 01, 2012  |  19 comments

I usually do not write reports on new computers, but the new 2011 Apple Mac mini (www.apple.com) is an exception. It is not because it has the fastest CPU, as that is not a major advantage for working with digital photographs. In fact, doing digital photographic editing does not involve much computation (“compute” is to calculate or reckon a figure or amount) and no calculation is needed to edit an image with Photoshop. When an image editor opens a digital photographic file, the entire image, every pixel, is put into RAM memory.

David B. Brooks  |  Jun 02, 2011  |  20 comments

First of all, what does a computer do? In our world today the word compute |kəmˈpyoōt| means to make a calculation, especially using a computer: modern circuitry can compute faster than any chess player. So is a photographic image made by a calculation of number values? Yes, to some extent with a digital camera. But graphics, an image on-screen was a side effect of computing, a part of the in and out communication with a computer. It was not what the computer did but how it communicated its answers after the question were typed into a computer with a keyboard. A monitor was just a convenient way to make a computer respond so its output could be read by human eyes.

David B. Brooks  |  May 01, 2005  |  0 comments

Photos © 2004, David B. Brooks, All Rights Reserved

From the earliest days of the digital darkroom it became progressively clear that the color ink jet would become the dominant printer for photographers. Dye sublimation printers still persist, but mostly as either snapshot or event photographer printers. The one digital printer that is familiar to office workers, but...

David B. Brooks  |  Oct 01, 2008  |  0 comments

I began as a photographer back in 1952 while in the US Air Force during the Korean conflict. After being assigned to duty in Anchorage, Alaska, I found myself in an environment of great natural beauty, so taking pictures was both logical and a much better option than drinking beer and playing cards in the canteen. The first happy accident in my life as a photographer came as a...

David B. Brooks  |  Feb 01, 2008  |  1 comments

I had just about given up on ideal black and white inkjet printing and settled for the printer company compromised solution, which first appeared with the Epson R2400. Like other photographers who do both color and black and white, I'd tried and failed using a converted, dedicated black and white printer using "independent" inks. That solution proved too...

David B. Brooks  |  Jan 01, 2002  |  0 comments

Acer is not a familiar brand within the digital photography realm, but it is an internationally established maker of personal computers and computer peripherals, including an extensive line of scanners. This newest model Acer...

David B. Brooks  |  Mar 01, 2004  |  0 comments

Instead of the usual numerical version increase for Photoshop, this latest edition is named Adobe Photoshop CS (Creative Suite). This identifies this version as part of a larger upgrade of most of Adobe's graphics applications, including--in...

David B. Brooks  |  Feb 01, 2001  |  0 comments

Probably the one computer product most closely associated with photography is Adobe's Photoshop. Adobe releases a major upgrade of Photoshop every so often that incorporates improvements the company's programmers have developed since...

David B. Brooks  |  Aug 01, 2003  |  0 comments

Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw Plug-In

Just a few years ago, when the digital camera was just beginning to catch on, image media storage capacity was very limited and expensive. To conserve this small capacity cameras were designed to...

David B. Brooks  |  Dec 01, 2002  |  0 comments

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0

When Adobe Photoshop Elements was first released I was very favorable to what it would do for the digital darkroom user, and found very few weaknesses. Considering that the price of Elements Version...

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