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Charles Maurer

Charles Maurer

Charles Maurer 79 comments

Unless You Are a Masochist, Do Not Buy QuarkXPress

If you’re entering into a book layout project and considering QuarkXPress, don’t. Author Charles Maurer shares just a few of the horror stories from his experience using QuarkXPress to lay out his most recent book.

Charles Maurer 36 comments

Better than the Printed Page: Reading on an iPad

The iPad is a great tool for reading electronic books, but its default settings and apps are unlikely to be ideal for your eyes. Charles Maurer draws from research into vision and perception to suggest how to tweak your iPad’s display to be more legible.

Charles Maurer 7 comments

Fujifilm XQ1: A Professional Point-and-Shoot?

The XQ1 is a pocket-sized point-and-shoot from Fujifilm that can pinch-hit for pros when teamed up with the application Photo Ninja. Charles Maurer looks at both products and shows how they work together.

Charles Maurer 5 comments

The Lazy Man’s New Camera: the Fujifilm X-E2

Former commercial photographer Charles Maurer shares the details about a new small camera that competes with the heavyweights and wins.

Charles Maurer 42 comments

What’s Wrong with Digital Cameras

Charles Maurer describes a fundamental problem with today's digital cameras, provides some insight into a professional's approach to photography, and reviews two small cameras that he recently bought.

Charles Maurer 23 comments

How Not to Buy a Digital Camera

Many publications review digital cameras but they don't tell you as much as they seem to. Charles Maurer explains the problems with these reviews and suggests a different approach to buying cameras.

Digital Ain’t Film: Modern Photo Editing Charles Maurer No comments

Digital Ain’t Film: Modern Photo Editing

We've been living with digital cameras for years now, but when editing digital photos, we're still largely imitating the effects and manipulations that were developed in the days of film. That's no longer necessary. In this article, Charles Maurer explains an intrinsically digital approach to photography that doesn't mimic film processes or require pixel-by-pixel manipulations.

Charles Maurer No comments

Fiwi Improves Finder Window Management

For moving files around in the Finder, it can be handy to open two windows side-by-side or stacked vertically. A tiny application makes that task fast and easy.

Charles Maurer No comments

Wine with Bento

After checking out some dedicated programs, Charles Maurer settles on FileMaker's new list manager Bento for managing his wine cellar.

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Cataloging Photos and Storing Them on the Computer

Digital photography lets us shoot thousands of images, but keeping track of them is a growing concern. Charles Maurer looks at programs that enable you to apply keywords and other metadata to your photos so you can find them easily later.

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Horsepower & Image Sensors

Camera manufacturers make a big deal about how many megapixels their cameras have, but does it really matter? Or ought we be looking at other aspects of the camera's image sensor?

Charles Maurer No comments

Asiva Plug-In Demos Now Available

After a hiatus, Asiva's critically acclaimed Photoshop plug-ins are back, with new names, lower prices, and demo versions.

Charles Maurer No comments

Asiva Is Resurrected

In "Reality and Digital Pictures," (2005-12-12) and "Editing Photographs for the Perfectionist," (2004-9-27), I recommended some plug-ins by Asiva, particularly Shift+Gain

Charles Maurer No comments

Camels and Horses: Alternatives to Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop reminds me of a camel: a horse designed by a committee. It is ungainly and awkward to control. It is remarkably useful - no other photo editor will do so much - but it is not an easy beast to ride. I personally find Photoshop indispensable, not so much because of what it can do itself as because it is necessary to run some plug-ins by Asiva, particularly Shift+Gain

Charles Maurer No comments

Photomatix: A Virtual Magic Wand

Imagine you are staring at a magnificent mountain scene - blue sky, dramatic clouds, glaciered peaks, rocks of varied hue. You take a picture but when it's processed you are disappointed