How To Stay In Shape When Working From Home

Having a job that requires you to commute every day is a pain, however, it forces you to leave the house and many times, that is half the battle when it comes to adding a fitness element to your daily routine. It’s simple enough to go to the gym either on the way to or from the office.

Staying in shape is a bit more challenging for the stay at home worker. It’s counter-intuitive but it is indeed true. If you put in long hours at your desk and you need to take care of chores and kids as well, you have to find ways to stay in shape at home.

Here are some tips to help you stay lean and healthy so you can continue being a productive home worker: [read]

Hack Your Camera’s Presets

One of the more amazingly powerful and least understood features of modern DSLRs are the camera image style presets. I’m speaking specifically about image presets, also called picture styles, not preset shooting modes like aperture priority or shutter priority.

This topic can get a little confusing because of the sometimes fluid nature of photography terms and because some manufactures implement presets that change both the shooting modes and picture style under one setting heading and they all use different terms to describe the same basic processes. That’s why owner’s manuals are your friend. I’ve never been to a professional photography studio where a dog-eared camera manual wasn’t either on the desk or a convenient shelf. [read]

::: 3 Penguins Photography

Music from iTunes to Pro Tools help guide

Back in April 2009 I posted about this and promised to produce a detailed guide…

When making music documentaries iTunes has become such a convenient way to buy music but because of the consumer fair usage limits to get a track from iTunes into your Pro Tools session has involved burning an audio CD in iTunes and then ripping the CD into Pro Tools which takes time and wastes CDRs.

However one of the upsides of the iTunes Plus format and Apple removing the DRM, is that it is possible to convert a purchased track in iTunes to a WAV file, export it, and import that into Pro Tools.

Recently Matt posted on comment asking when there might be an update on this, so for Matt, c-money and others, here it is…. [read]

How to Market to Baby Boomers Online

If you think that the Internet is a young person’s phenomenon, consider this: Both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, titans of the personal computer era, were both born in 1955, smack in the middle of the Baby Boom.

And Al Gore? Born in 1948. ‘Nuff said.

Of course, social media phenomena like Facebook and Twitter do tend to skew young. A 2010 report by eMarketer, for instance, found that 77% of Millennials maintained a social media profile compared to 36% of “Matures” (people between 63 and 75 years old, which pits many of them squarely in Boomer territory). But younger Boomers aren’t far behind: 46% had a social media profile at the time. [read]

Three Techniques For Mixing Background Vocals

Background vocals aren’t just “more singing”; they have a job in the arrangement.

Specifically, background vocals are usually either:

a) A layer of the lead vocal track intended to provide strength through tonal complexity, or

b) An additional instrumental idea intended to provide harmonic context for the melody.

Whether you’re planning overdubs or you’re in the middle of a mix, it’s never too late to be sure the background vocals are fulfilling their musical ‘special purpose’.

Here are a few simple techniques that help. [read]

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Jephtha Studios - Recording, Mixing, Mastering

The story of Fender’s Precision and Jazz basses

When Leo Fender first drew up the plans for the Precision Bass, he would have been astounded to think that his designs would become the accepted standard of bass guitar and that it would still be in production over 60 years later.

Naturally there have been some changes along the way, the most significant in 1957 when the slab body features inherited from the Telecaster were transformed into the sleek, curvaceous form that we know and love today. This was also the time when the split-coil pickup was introduced and the bass found its distinctive sound and feel.

In comparison, every other change over the years has felt like minor tweaking. Of course, the active electronics of the ’80s models helped to improve the tonal spectrum, but these days the trend is to acknowledge the undeniable benefits of those early passive circuits. [read]

Why Your Non-Profit Needs to Stop Ignoring LinkedIn

A non-profit on LinkedIn is a bit of an oxymoron. As the world’s most popular business networking site, it wasn’t long ago that LinkedIn was no place for a charity. But recently, LinkedIn has seen the value in causes. Users can now add causes they support to their profile. This charitable online identity is something that employers and peers are starting to use as an indicator of personal integrity.

It’s logical that you’d want to get your non-profit listed as one of these profile options, and now is the best time yet to put your non-profit on LinkedIn. Here’s why. [read]

Generation Y Is Born To Startup

There’s a fundamental difference between the rebels of the past and today: Generation Y are born entrepreneurs.

Every generation rebels against their parents. When parents approve, their offspring disapproves. Parent says black, adolescent teen says white. Psychologists who are expert in these matters explain that rebellion is a factor in establishing identity. It’s part of the journey of growing up — personalities are taking shape and a sense of self is being nurtured. Even if you haven’t quite worked out what you want, it helps to know what you don’t want. [read]

10 Things Sociology Has Taught Me About Street Photography

I studied Sociology during my undergrad at UCLA. I loved learning all of the ways that people interacted, communicated, and collected in groups. It really opened up my eyes to the world around me. However little did I know that all these things I have learned in Sociology (and trained myself to see) would apply so much to street photography.

Below are some things that I have learned about human nature and interaction – which has helped me along my street photography journey in terms of building my courage and candidly taking photos of strangers. Hope these are as helpful to you as they were helpful to me! [read]

The Surfer’s Guide to Personal Development

A few years ago I wrote an article here about navigating the waters of life.

Surfers have a different relationship with the ocean than most people do. Rather than admire its beauty from the sidelines, we feed off its energy because for most of us it’s a second home. We’re more comfortable in water than on land. It’s much more than a sport, but our calling in life. Every session leaves us with powerful life lessons and today I just wanted to share a few of my most important ones with you.

Live in the moment, but keep your eyes on the horizon [read]