September 8th, 2010 → 5:12 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
Copyright © 2010 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/south-africa/post-editing-digital-photos/.When Post Editing Digital Photos in Lightroom, I start by developing a clean image first, for which we created a preset. While the color intensity still shocks me a little… although I have found how to level that down, I am always amazed at the amount of detail that it brings forward if compared with the initial picture. That definitely is a great plus!
However, I have identified a problem that I haven’t solved yet; here it is… and it applies – in different degrees – to all pictures I export from Lightroom into Photoshop CS4 (in my case): a remarkable color difference!
How can this be? What am I missing here?
Above you see the screenshot of a picture – in Sepia – in Lightroom.
As I need to resize the picture for a specific purpose, I export the Digital Photo directly from Lightroom for some Post Editing in Photoshop.
What a surprise: see the difference in color! The golden touch has completely faded, some grey has sneaked in that was non-existent on my Sepoa picture above, and even the sharpness has taken a blow.
What has happened in this process… on this passage?
Being conscious of the Influence of Backgrounds – black, white, grey or any other -, I was wondering whether my eyes are being fooled? Or my mind? Or both?
In Lightroom the background is of a dark grey, in Photoshop it is light grey – could it make such a difference in the perception of a color?
Not believing this could be the case, I still had to investigate this issue; after all, I had spent precious time in Lightroom, I was happy with the result… and I did not want to start all over!
So here is the exported picture in Photoshop on the same fond – a darkish grey – as in Lightroom! And have we found an answer to the problem? Unfortunately not yet… but I am determined to solve this mystery. . .
If anyone out there knows the answer, please comment! It’s only in persisting on finding solutions to problems that we evolve… I would love to have this one answered!
Images are so important in Website Publishing – and that’s what we are focusing on right here and right now; Printed matter comes at a later stage as I am concerned. For the time being, I focus on getting the quality of digital photography right – be it Landscape Photography or Architecture Photography as in this example in a magnificent private garden in Noordhoek, South Africa – in order to supply good Stock Photography for our new website: Photo Media Stock.
Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.
Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing.
September 7th, 2010 → 6:24 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
Today was mostly spent with Digital Photography in one way or another – and it was crowned with a magnificent sunset reflecting off the tip of Chapman’s Peak! I was lucky to catch it right when I came back from another photography session in a friend’s garden … and it only lasted a few moments! In digital Photography one has to always be ready!
Here is my original untouched picture that I just ran quickly through my basic preset in Lightroom and I added a bit of vignette – that’s all:
We will see the real sunsets again once the sun emerges again from behind Chapman’s Peak and sinks into the Atlantic Ocean right here in Noordhoek, South Africa – as of November… for about 3-4 months. I have posted a number of sunset pictures – especially of Noordhoek Beach and from my garden… and there will be more especially in view of the fact that many people adore them and may look for our stock photography production on Photo Media Stock.
Here is an almost black & white version of the above original – the sky becomes almost liquid… :
Good quality pictures that talk are crucial for today’s Website Publishing.
Therefore, at tonight’s call we will look further into our new website: Photo Media Stock! Exciting times ahead for our members who have a passion for Digital Photography and the willingness to learn and improve.
 Copyright © 2010 Destinations Expo Sunset at Chapman’s Peak is a post from: Destinations Expo |
September 7th, 2010 → 6:24 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
Today was mostly spent with Digital Photography in one way or another – and it was crowned with a magnificent sunset reflecting off the tip of Chapman’s Peak! I was lucky to catch it right when I came back from another photography session in a friend’s garden … and it only lasted a few moments! In digital Photography one has to always be ready!
Here is my original untouched picture that I just ran quickly through my basic preset in Lightroom and I added a bit of vignette – that’s all:
We will see the real sunsets again once the sun emerges again from behind Chapman’s Peak and sinks into the Atlantic Ocean right here in Noordhoek, South Africa – as of November… for about 3-4 months. I have posted a number of sunset pictures – especially of Noordhoek Beach and from my garden… and there will be more especially in view of the fact that many people adore them and may look for our stock photography production on Photo Media Stock.
Here is an almost black & white version of the above original – the sky becomes almost liquid… :
Good quality pictures that talk are crucial for today’s Website Publishing.
Therefore, at tonight’s call we will look further into our new website: Photo Media Stock! Exciting times ahead for our members who have a passion for Digital Photography and the willingness to learn and improve.
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Copyright © 2010 Destinations Expo Sunset at Chapman’s Peak is a post from: Destinations Expo |
September 7th, 2010 → 6:12 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
Copyright © 2010 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/south-africa/sunset-at-chapmans-peak/.Today was mostly spent with Digital Photography in one way or another – and it was crowned with a magnificent sunset reflecting off the tip of Chapman’s Peak! I was lucky to catch it right when I came back from another photography session in a friend’s garden … and it only lasted a few moments! In digital Photography one has to always be ready!
Here is my original untouched picture that I just ran quickly through my basic preset in Lightroom and I added a bit of vignette – that’s all:
We will see the real sunsets again once the sun emerges again from behind Chapman’s Peak and sinks into the Atlantic Ocean right here in Noordhoek, South Africa – as of November… for about 3-4 months. I have posted a number of sunset pictures – especially of Noordhoek Beach and from my garden… and there will be more especially in view of the fact that many people adore them and may look for our stock photography production on Photo Media Stock.
Here is an almost black & white version of the above original – the sky becomes almost liquid… :
At tonight’s call we will look further into our new websote: Photo Media Stock! Exciting times ahead for our members who have a passion for Digital Photography and the willingness to learn and improve.
Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.
Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing.
September 6th, 2010 → 6:50 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
Copyright © 2010 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/south-africa/post-editing-of-digital-photography/.Before… we spent hours on measuring and adapting to shoot the best picture with our photo cameras, using different lenses and filters and seeing the actual results only once the pictures came back from the photo developer – unless we got into the darkroom ourselves… which I thoroughly enjoyed for my black & white pictures at the time.
Today, it’s the Post Editing of Digital Photography that takes up our time – and that makes all the difference … as you can see below as this is not what I saw after downloading the photo from my digital camera!
The photo below is what I saw!
A bit disappointing as it did not reflect the luminosity of the evening light reflecting on the majestic mountains above a lush, darkening garden… with a white pillar – a couple of meters high – on a perfect lawn… to measure the unmeasurable… and white clouds drifting past a blue sky…
Clearly, the past Ycademy Seminar on Post Editing for Photo Media Stock in Lightroom 3 taught me many valuable lessons… and I invested the past weekend taking pictures in the garden here in Noordhoek, South Africa, and then applying my presets and filters painstakingly…yes, running through them again and again, making notes – and finding that there are certain items I always come back to – almost blindly.
The same picture – the same blue… but different lighting! One could call it a different stage (theater) alltogether! Amazing difference and definitely we touch the stuff movies are being made of!
I always imagine and associate sound and music with an image… and while these two rather monochromatic pictures seem to be the same, they are worlds apart in terms of emotional triggering and impact.
In Post Editing of Digital Photography the basic picture has to be optimized first. Once that’s achieved, we can let our imagination fly. It’s not done overnight but a continuous process… but well worth the journey in order to come to a point where one can develop one’s style.
It was actually interesting to see how this surreal white pillar ‘behaved’ in the changing light and tinting. It was – and still is – a very challenging item in itself: how not to appear ridiculous within such grandeur?
All I can say is that one has to study, experiment, compare and “do” in order to see and understand… and that it’s pretty addictive!
Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.
Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing.
September 5th, 2010 → 11:26 am @ Bianca Gubalke
Copyright © 2010 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/south-africa/stock-photography-protea-pink-ice/.Stock Photography Protea Pink Ice… once Photo Media Stock is opening its doors, I will have a contribution with this spectacular flower I shot yesterday in a friend’s garden in Noordhoek, South Africa. Here’s a detail:
Spending the cold and rainy part of the weekend almost entirely on studying Lightroom 3, I ran it through the calibration setting Yorgo prepared for me, adjusted it in the Lightroom Develop section, then eliminated a bright and interfering little branch in Photoshop, gave it a tiny tick of sharpening – and saved it.
The colour is spectacular – there is no other word! I have the Pink Ice Protea in my garden as well, but it’s really pink – not this flaming magenta.
The Protea Pink Ice - Protea neriifolia x susannae - is said to be the hardiest of the Proteacea family and is a low maintenance plant.
On the other hand, it provides us with beautiful flowers we can adore in Nature – or of course also as a cut and dried flower… which I keep to a minimum. I just love them to radiate and glow outside… but getting a good digital photo – whether for private usage or stock photography – makes us feel even the tiniest of fluffy hairs and lets them come alive in a virtual way for all to admire.
Enjoy the excerpt above!
Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.
Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing.
September 5th, 2010 → 9:11 am @ Bianca Gubalke
Although it was an overcast and stormy day, I spent most of it in the magnificent garden of a friend and neighbour, here in the “Cpae Floral Kingdom” , taking pictures of his masterspiece of a home and garden.
Here I captured the stunning Protea “Pink Ice” that set an incredible accent in the ocean of greens that surrounded me in his garden.
Spring is a magnificent time to visit the Cape Floral Kingdom!
The above photo of the Protea Pink Ice just went through my minimum presets in Lightroom and I added a bit of a vignette – that’s all. This is the real colour – it’s breath-takingly beautiful!
In fact, the Proteacea family already attracted the attention of botanists visiting the Cape of Good Hope as far back as the 1600′s… and its ‘ancestors’ can be tracked back to Gondwanaland just 300 million years ago!
In fact, the Cape of Good Hope area is regarded as “…the richest floral Kingdom in the world”.
When I close my eyes and visualize the spectacular piece of Nature that enveloped me for many hours today, and this under dark and oppressive clouds rolling over the mountains, the explosive “Pink Ice” Protea appears immediately – a lasting impression!
What will it look in bright sunshine?
I will know soon . . . as I’ll be back there for ‘more’!
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Copyright © 2010 Destinations Expo Cape Floral Kingdom is a post from: Destinations Expo |
September 4th, 2010 → 9:45 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
Copyright © 2010 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/south-africa/protea-pink-ice/.Although it was an overcast and stormy day, I spent most of it in the magnificent garden of a friend and neighbour, here in Noordhoek, South Africa – who has invited me to take pictures of his masterspiece of a home.
Here I captured the stunning Protea “Pink Ice” that set an incredible accent in the ocean of greens that surrounded me in his garden.
The above photo of the Protea Pink Ice just went through my minimum presets in Lightroom and I added a bit of a vignette – that’s all. This is the real colour – it’s breath-takingly beautiful!
In fact, the Proteacea family already attracted the attention of botanists visiting the Cape of Good Hope as far back as the 1600′s… and its ‘ancestors’ can be tracked back to Gondwanaland just 300 million years ago!
In fact, the Cape of Good Hope area is regarded as “…the richest floral Kingdom in the world”.
When I close my eyes and visualize the spectacular piece of Nature that enveloped me for many hours today, and this under dark and oppressive clouds rolling over the mountains, the explosive “Pink Ice” Protea appears immediately – a lasting impression!
What will it look in bright sunshine?
I will know soon . . . as I’ll be back there for ‘more’!
Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.
Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing.
September 3rd, 2010 → 9:55 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
Copyright © 2010 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/south-africa/spring-in-cape-town/.Our Digital Photography Experiments in view of our new website ‘Photo Media Stock’ has inspired me to capture this picture of a huge bumble bee on a cloud of pink keurboom blossoms in my garden in Noordhoek:
Spring is in Cape Town, South Africa – finally
The above picture is right from my camera with a little correction in toning and vibrance – and of course some serious downsizing! The original is 3000 x 4000 and of good, sharp quality.
Here I added variations using filters in Lightroom and adjusting to my taste.
And of course… the black & white version:
Filters are a never-ending story… but using them is the only way to get to know them… in order to know when to apply them.
As the weather gets warmer and the colors and fragrances continue to explode, these little buzzers will soon be dressed in furry black and yellow pollen coats as future photos will show.
Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.
Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing.
September 2nd, 2010 → 5:37 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
“Crowned Eagle” at Monkey Valley Resort, Noordhoek, South Africa, is certainly the most spectacular amongst the Best Accommodation Cape Town South Africa when it comes to visitors who are looking for that special, warm “Out of Africa” ambience one hardly finds anymore… as so much has become sort of the same high international ‘standard’.
To promote “Crowned Eagle” as one of the Best Accommodation Cape Town South Africa has to offer in the UK and US, Monkey Valley Resort will market this gem of a villa – which is situated high up on the slopes of Chapman’s Peak and overlooking 8 km of pristine beach along the Atlantic Ocean – via a precious downloadable and printable brochure to their tour operators and contacts overseas – leading them to direct bookings or to their new website on Semiomantics Evolution.
As the German Tourism Industry is up, the German version of the brochure will be marketed in Germany, to reach out for some market share in the flourishing German Holiday and Travel Industry.
As many Germans and Swiss love Noordhoek and spend at least the German winter in their holiday homes down here, there may be some really positive response.
When looking at the search term ” Best Accommodation Cape Town South Africa on Google” we currently get 12,8 million returns. It’s certainly a highly competitive arena, especially when domain names contain these exact terms. However, when working on Semiomantics XO it’s never a question of getting there – it’s just a matter of how long it takes… a few minutes, a few hours or a few days? Which depends on how much we apply ourselves to the task… which depends how much we really want to focus on it.
Let’s see where we can get with a first shot – Lights Out! Action! Go!
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Copyright © 2010 Destinations Expo Best Accommodation Cape Town South Africa is a post from: Destinations Expo |
September 2nd, 2010 → 5:20 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
Copyright © 2010 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/south-africa/best-accommodation-cape-town-south-africa/.“Crowned Eagle” at Monkey Valley Resort, Noordhoek, South Africa, is certainly the most spectacular amongst the Best Accommodation Cape Town South Africa when it comes to visitors who are looking for that special, warm “Out of Africa” ambience one hardly finds anymore… as so much has become sort of the same high international ‘standard’.
To promote “Crowned Eagle” as one of the Best Accommodation Cape Town South Africa has to offer in the UK and US, Monkey Valley Resort will market this gem of a villa – which is situated high up on the slopes of Chapman’s Peak and overlooking 8 km of pristine beach along the Atlantic Ocean – via a precious downloadable and printable brochure to their tour operators and contacts overseas – leading them to direct bookings or to their new website on Semiomantics Evolution.
As the German Tourism Industry is up, the German version of the brochure will be marketed in Germany, to reach out for some market share in the flourishing German Holiday and Travel Industry.
As many Germans and Swiss love Noordhoek and spend at least the German winter in their holiday homes down here, there may be some really positive response.
When looking at the search term ” Best Accommodation Cape Town South Africa on Google” we currently get 12,8 million returns. It’s certainly a highly competitive arena, especially when domain names contain these exact terms. However, when working on Semiomantics XO it’s never a question of getting there – it’s just a matter of how long it takes… a few minutes, a few hours or a few days? Which depends on how much we apply ourselves to the task… which depends how much we really want to focus on it.
Let’s see where we can get with a first shot – Lights Out! Action! Go!
Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.
Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing.
August 31st, 2010 → 6:08 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
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Cape Town, South Africa, is getting ready for spring… and naturally we asked Dumi Sakuinje what’s planned at Monkey Valley Resort for the new season, starting 1 September 2010?
Check out the brief projection below, recorded on a sunny but pretty windy afternoon – with nothing but the last few feet left on a NIKON Coolpix P90 digital camera – high up at Monkey Valley Resort’s gem, the “Crowned Eagle”, on what’s to be expected in terms of September Entertainment at the beautiful beach resort.
This little movie was edited in Camtasia Studio Pro with no really efficient tool to eliminate the background noise the amazingly sensitive microphone of the digital camera had captured. It is only 1 minute 35 seconds long and was produced in High Definition for YouTube. . . where it’s currently loading. It will take a couple of hours with our slow Internet connections… but here come some interesting details for those interested in movie productions for online presentations and YouTube.
As we are still testing the best conversion and production formats, my experience with “Monkey Valley Resort in September” was the following:
My NIKON Coolpix P90 is normally set to produce digital photos in 3000 x 4000 size. I did not change these settings to 16:9 for instance. I kept all 3×4.
When starting a new project in Camtasia Studio Pro we are asked to select our format preferences.
As I plan to load the movie in HD to YouTube, I selected 1280 x 720 – which immediately reduced the original images on my Camtasia editing screen, leaving me with a large black frame around the picture.
Once the clip was edited, I published it with my personal settings – which again are YouTube/HD, meaning 1280 x 720.
The result was the display you see in the top picture here. Length: 1:35 min, 30frames per second, 214 MB.
Hmmm… I found this pretty heavy for a tiny clip like this… but I remembered that in a previous discussion it was mentioned that the whole black frame counts in terms of ‘weight’ – at least, that’s what I had understood.
Accordingly, I decided to experiment and try another version:
I did not touch the edited movie, but changed the initial settings in Camtasia to the original size I filmed it, 640 x 360 (4×3). . . but then chose the same format for YouTube/HD, meaning 1280 x 720. Being aware that I changed the 4×3 to a 16:9 … I just wanted to see the result. One never knows unless one tries… and this is not the end of the story yet :)
However, now I got double the weight: 452 MB, same time 1:35 min and 30 frames per second.
What I like here is that the picture will be seen at maximal height as demonstrated on the second screenshot above, the way Camtasia plays the movie straight after publishing.
Of course, I’d prefer to have it lighter … without losing any quality. Maybe I will get there in the next shot. . .
27% loaded… 242 minutes remaining on YouTube – duhh… what would I do with 10 minutes???
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Copyright © 2010 Destinations Expo Monkey Valley Resort in September is a post from: Destinations Expo |
August 30th, 2010 → 5:59 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
Ever thought of Destination Arctic Ice?
Visiting the North Pole or the South Pole?
My sister just returned from an extraordinary journey she’s always been dreaming of… a trip into a white world of silence and of serenity…
Still filled with her stories and waiting for the pictures, I wish to draw your attention to what I call “Destination Arctic Ice” – a world that seems to me is still relatively ‘untouched’, unspoilt, unaffected by human intervention, by human greed and destruction. It’s not far away on the moon or any other distant planet – it’s right here, right under our feet almost… and it’s still unexplored, virgin, complete. In my eyes – sacred.
And it should remain sacred.
Have a look at what no human eye has ever seen before – as I’m being told by photographer Gavin Newman who has built the ‘toys’ that enable him to go further than anyone else ever went underneath the Melting Artic Ice, filming “stunning life”… a habitat noone even expected, a habitat of grandiose beauty…
However, it already shows the scars of human greed by those desastrous trawlers… motivated by the overeating part of the world population. They have to be stopped – NOW!
It’s your and my Awareness that can do so, our determination to protect what we were given to care for – not to own, not to ‘possess’ nor to dominate. ‘Taking care of our house’ is part of our sacred contract with the Divine… whatever way you perceive it.
After all, we are all part of ‘it’… if we destroy what in a world of duality is perceived as ‘outside’ we destroy… ourselves.
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Copyright © 2010 Destinations Expo Destination Arctic Ice is a post from: Destinations Expo |
August 29th, 2010 → 8:51 am @ Bianca Gubalke
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While the Destinations Expo 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa, had opened its doors to the Holiday and Travel Industry, passionate yoga practitioners and yoga teachers from all over the country united for a Yoga Workshop at the Chapman’s Peak Hotel, Hout Bay, lead by Shimon Ben Avi, highly respected and wonderfully inspiring yoga master from Israel and teacher of my cherished yoga teacher and dear friend Leora Leibovitz.
This Yoga Workshop Destination Cape Town was not ‘only’ about the physical positions necessary to reach into our stillness inside and release the social imprints, mind conditioning, emotions and pain we all accumulate over time – but a magic journey into the understanding and experiencing of the true essence of Yoga.
Shimon Ben Avi is a powerful yet very graceful teacher with 26 years of experience and extensive skills especially in teacher training. Just back from the Himalayas, he abounds with wisdom and stories of Eastern Philosophy – in which he holds a PhD… as well as in Mathematics. Going far back to the roots of Upanishad, Mahabarata and Hindu Philosophy – reading and teaching from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali… a Hindu scripture and foundational text of Yoga – he first stimulates and challenges the mental and spiritual process before taking things to the physical level on “the mat”. While Yoga is in no way a form of competition, very much to the contrary – Shimon Ben Avi has a unique gift of knowing what’s needed in a student to reach certain initially daunting goals – starting with the mental attitude, self belief, the focus directed to the right spot and … action!
An Advanced 14-days Yoga Teacher Workshop will be running until Friday, 3rd September 2010.
The essence of our learning? To cleanse, heal, energize and flow on our continued path towards… unconditional Love.
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Copyright © 2010 Destinations Expo Yoga Workshop Destination Cape Town is a post from: Destinations Expo |
August 28th, 2010 → 9:29 am @ Bianca Gubalke
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When Florence Gotil (Cheng Cheng) from Mindanao in the Philippines and I met on the Internet highway a couple of years ago, we wouldn’t have thought to be meeting at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, one day.
Yet, exactly this happened on Sunday 8th August 2010 as her mom’s dream had been: Destination South Africa! And the dream came true. . .
After a week of blissful sunshine, this was the day it rained… the only day she and her family from the Philippines and other parts of the world – a group of 17 touring the whole of South Africa – would be here. And we had prayed for this rain as Nature really needed it; never have we seen our dam that empty at this time of the year.
And then, while dark, errie clouds pulled over the rest of the Cape – the sun broke through the sky to bless our spontaneous meeting at Cape Point – not the most Southern tip of South Africa, but also known as the “Cape of Storms” or the “Cape of Good Hope”. And stormy and cold it was… and after that… it’s just Antarctica. . .
While we knew each other quite well in the virtual world, it was just wonderful to meet ‘live’, to hear about her flourishing truck and heavy equipment business, her future plans, her intention to market on a global scale using the Internet – for which of course Semiomantics Website Publishing is the answer to achieve the essential high Google rankings to start with.
Two women from different continents discussing real business at the end of the world over a plate of calamari fritti and hake… while baboons that were as cheeky as they were acrobatic snatched bits from the plates the moment one didn’t keep an eye on them! Too funny. . . and certainly a lasting memory for Cheng Cheng and her family!
While her tour continued, we communicated via the iPhone.
Meanwhile, she’s happily back home with many memories of her trip from Mindanao to Cape Town… when the Philippines and South Africa met.
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Copyright © 2010 Destinations Expo Destination South Africa is a post from: Destinations Expo |
August 27th, 2010 → 5:18 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
Creating a modern Web Design for a client or a specific destination in today’s media-oriented virtual world means: Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!
Always carry a digital camera with you as – besides improving your photographic skills as a non-professional photographer – you just never know when your photographic Artwork is required. With good Digital Cameras within anyone’s reach we see many perhaps not excellent photos but certainly a quality we have never seen so widely spread.
Celebrating a special time at the relatively new Bistro Sixteen82 in Cape Town, South Africa, last week was just one of those occasions… The architecture, the style… everything is just totally captivating and deserves some Website Publishing… although the website of Steenberg Vineyards itself needs to catch up big time! Please click on the (compressed) image for better viewing!
Bistro Sixteen82 in Black & White or in Color… that’s the question, especially if you like the fine lines, volumes and light & shadow plays revealed without color interference. In fact… this gives me an idea for a black & white header for the DestinationsExpo Blog here!
As you see, there’s an incredible Artwork on this picture that needs color – especially the red and the green… representing white grapes and red grapes. . . the essence of a vineyard… and the story behind all of this will betold soon :)
Yes, I did posterize the colors a bit; I plan something specific with the exquisite originals; patience!
More on Steenberg Vineyards soon . . .
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Copyright © 2010 Destinations Expo Bistro Sixteen82 Cape Town is a post from: Destinations Expo |
August 26th, 2010 → 5:16 pm @ Bianca Gubalke
Copyright © 2010 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/media-marketing/photo-media-stock-preparation/.Preparation is key to results and success; in this sense I have prepared for tonight’s important Ycademy Seminar Precall as laid out HERE.
If you click on the picture here – or on GALLERY HERE – you will see a slideshow consisting of a few pictures I selected under different testing aspects.
As requested for calibration purposes of our Lightroom Pro we have to determine the weaknesses of our individual cameras… be it in the color, tone, contrast, sharpness for example …
I added a couple of pictures as follows:
~ Daylight inside, no flash
~ Daylight outside
~ Daylight outside in the shadow
~ Low light – before sunrise, at sunset, after sunset
~ Stills where I used a Flash inside.
I am looking forward to finding those little common denominators that would improve the quality of each picture automatically as we pull them into Lightroom.
For Photo Media Stock we need sharp, well focused and attractive photos that buyers then turn into works of art or integrate parts of them according to their priorities, for instance in Advertising. That’s what they pay for.
It’s really important to differentiate clearly between these two caps: am I the seller or the buyer?
I am aware that as creative people and web designers we have to switch between both. This, however, is only possible if we understand and master the basic techniques – and that’s why tonight’s Training Call and the upcoming Ycademy Seminar are so critically important for all those with a passion for Digital Photography and a willingness to enter the competitive field of Stock Photography – even without being professional photographers.
Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.
Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing.
August 26th, 2010 → 7:05 am @ Bianca Gubalke
Silvermine Nature Reserve – along Ou Kaapse Weg when coming from Cape Town, South Africa, and driving over the stunning Cape Peninsular mountain ranges towards Noordhoek – has just exploded with gold!
It’s spring!
Sweeping vistas from Silvermine Nature Reserve with a gentle mist dissolving in the early morning sunlight.
Although I experimented with filters in a couple of monochrome versions, I love the above untouched original digital picture from my simple Nikon Coolpix P90 as it’s so authentic and documenting a very special day.
Imagine with this a very soft breeze rustling through the leaves of the typical fynbos… the already withering ericas overgrown by strikingly energetic leucadendrons… and the occasional twitter of those beautiful little long-tailed sunbirds circling up into the crystalline air….
Magic!
Website Publishing is our main concern when firstly trying to reach Google Top 10 positions – and then holding them. This automatically means visibility and traffic – and from here it’s about attracting and keeping visitors, readers and potential buyers through captivating images, graphics and other forms of media – meaning a great Web Design – a Web Design like Semiomantics that is customized and optimized for each customer individually and prooves its efficiency every single day.
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Copyright © 2010 Destinations Expo Silvermine Nature Reserve is a post from: Destinations Expo |
August 26th, 2010 → 4:41 am @ Bianca Gubalke
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As the Destinations Expo 2010 in Cape Town has closed its doors on Sunday, 22nd August 2010, and as a response to various requests and comments from interested players in the Tourism Industry all across South Africa, we did an Interview with Dumi Sakuinje who attended this relatively new Travel & Holiday Expo in his capacity as the General Manager of Monkey Valley Resort, Noordhoek, South Africa – and who kindly and spontaneously agreed to give us some valuable feedback.
In our brief yet informative Interview on the value, the results and merits of the “Destinations Expo 2010 Cape Town” , Dumi Sakuinje – who has a wealth of knowledge and experience in African Tourism all across the African continent -, comes to some conclusions that are of interest to anyone who wants to expand their South African Travel and Tourism Business, especially in view of the third Destinations Expo 2011 planned for next year.
Dumi Sakuinje is very positive and enthusiastic about the massive potential for Travel & Tourism in South Africa – and Africa a s a whole – however, given the fact that most bookings are being made online today, this can only happen with a strong presence and a good reputation on the Internet… meaning high visibility on search engines, like Google, as well as Social Networks, genre Facebook. Accordingly, this is where a major marketing effort and the relating investment has to be concentrated until the goal is reached. It’s the exact route Monkey Valley Resort follows – of course, on Semiomantics Evolution.
See a sneak-preview CLICK HERE.
Faster Internet lines would help; this 5 minutes 33 seconds Interview took over 6 hours to load – but it’s worth watching – enjoy!
The original video on You Tube is HERE.
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Copyright © 2010 Destinations Expo Destinations Expo 2010 Cape Town Interview is a post from: Destinations Expo |
August 26th, 2010 → 4:28 am @ Bianca Gubalke
Copyright © 2010 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/media-marketing/destinations-expo-2010-cape-town-interview/.As the Destinations Expo 2010 in Cape Town has closed its doors on Sunday, 22nd August 2010, and as a response to various requests and comments from interested players in the Tourism Industry all across South Africa, we did an Interview with Dumi Sakuinje who attended this relatively new Travel & Holiday Expo in his capacity as the General Manager of Monkey Valley Resort, Noordhoek, South Africa – and who kindly and spontaneously agreed to give us some valuable feedback.
In our brief yet informative Interview on the value, the results and merits of the “Destinations Expo 2010 Cape Town” , Dumi Sakuinje – who has a wealth of knowledge and experience in African Tourism all across the African continent -, comes to some conclusions that are of interest to anyone who wants to expand their South African Travel and Tourism Business, especially in view of the third Destinations Expo 2011 planned for next year.
Dumi Sakuinje is very positive and enthusiastic about the massive potential for Travel & Tourism in South Africa – and Africa a s a whole – however, given the fact that most bookings are being made online today, this can only happen with a strong presence and a good reputation on the Internet… meaning high visibility on search engines, like Google, as well as Social Networks, genre Facebook. Accordingly, this is where a major marketing effort and the relating investment has to be concentrated until the goal is reached. It’s the exact route Monkey Valley Resort follows – of course, on Semiomantics Evolution.
See a sneak-preview CLICK HERE.
Faster Internet lines would help; this 5 minutes 33 seconds Interview took over 6 hours to load – but it’s worth watching – enjoy!
The original video on You Tube is HERE.
Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing.
