Book Description (1996)

Still Images in Multimedia is a necessity for designers, multimedia producers, webmasters, photographers, and anyone who wishes to communicate clearly and effectively in new media.

Learn where to find images, what to pay, and what, if any. legal considerations need to be investigated.

Follow simple procedures for using digital cameras and imaging software.

Discover how to combine text and sound, or add interactivity to your web site.

Optimize your images for speedy downloading and display by mastering the art of image processing, compression, and palette creation.

Includes interviews with some of the most talented and successful multimedia and web producers.  The accompanying CD-ROM contains hundreds of images and sounds, some are royalty free!, demo versions of software, and working examples of some of the most innovative uses of still images in new media.

With the explosion of interest in the web and the rush to put images on the electronic canvas this book and accompanying CD-ROM are indispensable.

Personal Note

In the 90s, before the WWW, there was multimedia which consisted mostly of CD ROMs, laser discs, and Bill Atkinson's Hypercard.  It was the first time we could easily combine words and images and there were a lot of questions from producers about how to acquire, process, and incorporate still images into a multimedia project.  I wrote Still Images in Multimedia with that in mind.

At the time I was working with Newsweek's Michael Rogers and Tor Productions--a R&D company Michael and I founded-- to experiment with different approaches to using still images in multimedia productions.  We had an office in San Francisco, on Townsend Street, in the heart of what became known as Multimedia Gulch. Down the street from us was Macromedia, the makers of Director, a popular multimedia authoring tool for the Mac. In 1995, a few months before I finished writing Still Images in Multimedia, Netscape Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer browsers became widely available and the WWW took off as a distribution medium.  I had to quickly add a chapter on the WWW knowing that much of what I had written about CD- ROM, now "old media", would soon become irrelevant. I really enjoyed working on the book, but my timing was off.  Sean Parker and Maria Yap from Option X were technical advisors on the book, along with may others who helped who are listed in the book.)

Why Still Images? by Michael Rogers

(Michael's text first appeared as the foreword to my book, Still Images in Multimedia (1996). At the time he wrote this Michael was currently the Vice-President for Editorial Research and Development for Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive.  Today he blogs and lectures as the Practical Futurist.)

I’ve spent twenty years in print media, telling stories on paper with words and photographs, so sometimes my colleagues look askance at my immersion in projects such as Newsweek’s CD-ROM and online ventures. Is this yet another challenge to the dominance that the word and still image once held on the imagination of the world? I assure my coworkers that our efforts aren’t likely to make anyone of my generation obsolete: with luck, maybe someday new media will help pay our pensions.

But the real reason for my interest in the new technology is much deeper: I believe that multimedia, far from undercutting text and the still image, is the best thing to come along for both since the advent of television. Multimedia, in fact, can do much to restore the value of the word and still image in a world temporarily overwhelmed by passive video.

I say “temporarily,” because television as it exists today is an unfinished medium. Indeed, a few generations from now, kids will wonder why we put up with our broken boxes for so many decades before we thought to repair them. Now, with the dawn of interactive multimedia, the television repair job has begun–-text and the still image can achieve parity with video–-and books like Still Images in Multimedia are both the inspiration and instructions for the work that needs to be done.

The simple flaw in conventional “passive” television is that it allows the user no control over timing, which renders it inherently hostile to print and still images. Both are forms that require individual time to regard. No person reads, comprehends or enjoys text and images at the precisely same rate as any other.

That’s why, on television, when one wants to present text, scrolling is unsatisfactory (since reading rates differ) and directors are left with what I call the “PBS method,” where the star astronomer or philosopher walks across an open field and recites her lines while an elaborate tracking shot tries to keep it all looking lively. These days, whenever I see an awkwardly strolling narrator reciting a lengthy paragraph, I long for a “text” button on my television remote control.

Similar constraints exist for still images in passive video. Every once in a great while, someone lets a Ken Burns do a video documentary primarily composed of stills, but it’s a risky gamble for television, where lingering over an image a moment too long can result in wholesale zapping by an impatient audience. In a cruel irony, however, even as television’s lockstep timing provided no new venue for classic photojournalism, the sudden proliferation of video imagery in the Fifties hastened the death or downsizing of many existing media outlets for the still image.

And so, in the early 90s, when video first became widely available for CD-ROM-based multimedia, developers raised on television imagery were at first disappointed that for storage reasons they could use only relatively short pieces of video in their early productions. Some turned to multiple still images as “surrogate video” –and now we’re coming to understand that sequenced stills, far from a video substitute, are a powerful story-telling technique on their own. In addition, for the new multimedia audience, 15 seconds of passive video often feels like the rest of their life. As information consumers newly in control of our electronic media, we don’t want to be forced to watch anything we haven’t chosen to watch–-and if we’re interested, we want it to stay on the screen until we’re done.

Curiously, passive television is itself trying to overcome its fundamental flaw with stylistic devices. Consider MTV-style video editing, which is now so quick-cut that it often becomes, de facto, rapidly sequenced stills. But those “surrogate stills” aren’t under viewer control-–and there’s a fundamental difference between composing a sequence of stills grabbed from video and building one of true still images. One might think of a video clip, composed for motion, as a single word-–take one frame out of it and it’s often only as powerful as a single letter. On the other hand, a stream of still images is more like a sentence-a single frame maintains the meaning and resonance of a complete word.

In short, new media–CD-ROM, the Internet, interactive television, or however we finally learn to deliver our bits, offers the opportunity for a remarkable renaissance in the art and appreciation of the still image. We mustn’t let the moment slip away. It will grow ever easier to incorporate full-motion video into interactive communications, and as that happens, the still image needs to have firmly established its place and importance in the grammar of the medium.

That’s a tall task in an electronic medium that–by virtue of engineering–seems so suited to video and so removed from paper . But I’ve worked with few people more capable of the challenge than Mikkel Aaland. Mikkel combines a firm understanding of what can be done today with a keen vision of what will be done tomorrow, informed by a deep regard, both artistic and technical, for the roots of the still image. Still Images in Multimedia clearly sets forth both the techniques and the opportunities; the future of the medium is up to us.

Book Description (1999, 2nd edition)

In this second edition, author Mikkel Aaland updates Photoshop for the Web to include important new techniques and workarounds for the latest release of Photoshop--version 5.5. The first edition was loaded with step-by-step examples and real-world solutions from some of the world's hottest Web sites. The second edition adds coverage of Photoshop 5.5's newest features, including a compression tool that ultimately leads to faster download times and higher quality Web graphics. This edition also details features new to version 5.0, including the changeable type tool, color profiling, and the history palette.If that's not enough, Photoshop for the Web, 2nd Edition also covers Adobe's ImageReady 2.0 Web graphics production software, now part of the Photoshop 5.5 package, and includes 64 pages of color inserts. You'll find information on ImageReady 2.0's image slicing, animation, and JavaScript rollover capabilities.

Topics include:

Using 5.5's powerful Save For Web feature

Automatically creating an interactive web photo gallery with 5.5

Image manipulation and processing with 5's history brush

Working with browser-safe colors to create stunning images regardless of platform or hardware

Using Photoshop 5's contact sheet feature to organize digital photographs

Quickly building Web backgrounds, buttons, and graphical type

Creating JavaScript rollovers with ImageReady 2.0

Streamlining Web production with Photoshop 5's changeable type tool

Using Photoshop 5.5's new color decontamination features

Using Photoshop as a Web layout tool

Customizing Photoshop for Web production, including 5's color profiling

Improving photos taken with a digital camera

Controlling anti-aliasing with custom brushes

Getting rid of the dreaded halo syndrome

Optimizing images for JPEG compression

Coding layout information in a Photoshop layer

Changing Photoshop's matte color to match your Web page color

Importing vector graphics into Photoshop

Straightening scans with Photoshop 5's ruler tool

Working with browser-safe colors to create stunning images regardless of platform or hardware

Integrating PS and ImageReady to create the most efficient web production environment

In its first edition, "Photoshop for the Web" (1998) has received praise from press and readers alike: * The Canada Computer Paper picked it as one of the 10 best computer books of 1998. * Hewlett Packard's E-Business Web site called it "one of the most useful Photoshop books I've ever picked up." * And My Mac magazine said, "Aaland knows Photoshop inside out and how to maximize it for Web creation."Readers were even more effusive: * "This is the first book that gives me both ready-to-use recipes and enough information to experiment with and learn my own solutions. Highly recommended!" * "Aaland has provided an excellent and detailed analysis of using Photoshop to produce web pages ... a must-read book!" * "Within minutes of perusing Aaland's book, I found exactly 4 new tricks that I immediately applied to improve my web site." * "This book now rests on my most hallowed piece of real estate - on my desk next to my mouse."Photoshop for the Web, Second Edition shows you how to use the latest version of Photoshop to create Web graphics that look great and download blazingly fast.

Personal Note

It started back in 1997 at Stars, Jeremiah Tower’s hip downtown San Francisco restaurant. The dot com boom was ramping up.  I was seated with my agent, David Rogelberg of Studio B, and Richard Koman, an editor at O'Reilly Media. At some point in our meal Richard said two words:  Photoshop and  Web. That's all it took for the lights to go off on in my head and within a few minutes David had drawn up a deal and I had a book contract.  Those were heady times and the book did very well and soon enough O'Reilly's Mark Brokering contracted me for a second edition. I loved working with O'Reilly! What a great group of people. They also published my Lightroom Adventure books.

Contributors include: Bill Atkinson, Casey Caston, Ctein, Brian Frick, Bea Garcia, Chuck Green, Gregg Hartling, John Hersey, Corey Hitchcock, Stephen Jablonsky, Brad Johnson, Julie Beeler, Luke Knowland, Steve Kruschwitz, Anna McMillan, Tom Mogensen, Sean Parker, Bruce Quackenbush, Valerie Robbins, Erika Sears, Bobby Stevens, Dave Taylor, Terbo Ted, Johan Thorngren, Judd Vetronne, Tom Walker, and James Yang.

Book Description ( 2008, 2nd edition)

Because RAW files remain virtually untouched by in-camera processing, working with them has given digital photographers greater flexibility and control during the editing process -- for those who are familiar enough with the format. Camera RAW, the plug in for Adobe Photoshop CS3, has emerged as one of the best and most familiar tools for editing RAW images, and the best way to master this workflow is with Photoshop CS3 RAW.

Award-winning author Mikkel Aaland explores the entire RAW process, from the practical reasons to shoot RAW, to managing the images with the new features of Bridge 2.0 navigation software, to processing your images with the new power of Adobe Camera RAW 4 and Photoshop CS3. The book's unique four-color, photograph-rich design helps you grasp the subject through visual instruction and clear explanation.Photoshop CS3 RAW focuses on Photoshop editing techniques, such as:

Automating RAW workflow

Correcting exposures

Extending exposure range

Manipulating grayscale

Working with the DNG open standard

Aaland helps you establish the best tool for each phase of your workflow, from managing shoots to perfecting photos. A digital photography pioneer and author of eight books, including O'Reilly's groundbreaking tutorial Photoshop Lightroom Adventure, Aaland's trademark ability to teach complicated topics on digital imaging with straightforward, easy-to-follow text makes this book a valuable learning tool for anyone serious about digital photography.

Personal Note

When I first heard the word "raw" to describe the data generated by a digital camera I was elated. Up to that point all we had to work with were JPEG files, and it was clear that we were not getting the whole picture.  A JPEG is like a print while a raw file is more like a negative and contains so much more data to work with and interpret. In 2002 Adobe's Thomas Knoll released Camera Raw 1.0 , an optional plug in for Photoshop 7.1 that gave us the ability to work on the raw files generated by digital cameras.  I knew I had to do a book on the subject and I went to work immediately.  Unfortunately, my father died soon after I started so the book took a lot longer to write than I expected. (While I was working on my book, Bruce Fraser came out with his best selling book, Real World Camera Raw. Even though my book was potential competition Bruce was very generous and gave me great advice.  That is the kind of guy he was. R.I.P. Bruce and thanks. I ended up writing two editions of the RAW book, working with the awesome Colleen Wheeler, and witnessed yet another leap in digital photograph. Michael Reichmann, the founder of the Luminous Landscape, wrote the foreword to both editions.  Thanks Michael, and you too R.I.P..

Photographers I feature in the books include: Peter Burian, John Carnett, Luis Delgado Qualtrough, Maggie Hallahan, Peter Krogh, John McDermott, Richard Morgenstein, Mark Richards, Derrick Story, Martin Sundberg, and Michael Reichmann.

Book Description (2002, second edition)

"No longer will you look at an image simply for what it is. From now on you will see it for what it can become." --Mikkel Aaland

Photoshop Elements is Adobe's newest image-editing software. Based on the immensely popular, and much more expensive Photoshop, Elements provides low-cost ($99 or less), powerful, easy-to-use tools for creating professional-quality digital images. Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions gives any Elements user solutions for frequently encountered problems. Its stunning full-color imagery will teach and inspire. Topics include: making the most of new Photoshop Elements 2 features; improving portraits, landscapes, real estate, and product shots; creating panoramas; working with type; and creating the best prints.

Personal Note

In 1999 a friend of mine at Adobe let me on to a secret.  Adobe was working on a new version of Photoshop, one targeted to consumers.  When I called Adobe's Kevin Connor he was guarded but when I pressed him he admitted that such a version was in the works. I told Kevin I would like to help and I came on board as as unpaid advisor.  I am not sure how much I helped--the Adobe people are really smart--but it gave me an inside track to produce a book in time for the software release. Bonnie Bills, a brilliant editor at Sybex, saw the potential and acquired the book. The first edition of Photoshop Elements Solutions came out in 2001.  It was briefly held up at the printer because of the 9/11 terrorist attack, and subsequently it was not the first book to appear in bookstores on PSE.  An other book, whose title escapes me, came out a few weeks before mine. That didn't stop Sybex, my publisher, from promoting it as the "first book conceived for Photoshop Elements". Nice!  Photoshop Elements the program went on to be a smash hit and my book sold very well.  Kevin wrote the foreword for the first two editions (thank you Kevin!), and Richard Coencas and Chad Rolfs wrote the foreword for the third edition. Mark Dahm wrote the foreword for the fourth edition. Laura M. Levy assisted me on the first edition. Lori Barra beautifully designed all the editions. After the first edition came out I got an email from Ed Schwartz, a reader who found several technical errors.  Subsequently Ed became my trusty wingman and helped me bring out the next three editions. PSE Solutions has also been translated into several languages including Spanish, Polish, and Japanese.  I stopped updating the book after PSE 4, focusing instead on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. PSE is now up to version 15.  Talk about a successful run!

Photographers and artists I feature in the books include: Michelle Vignes, Monica Suder, Mark Ulriksen, Marica Briggs, Sean Parker, Valerie Robbins, Willian Rurledge, Michael Angelo, Laura Laverdiere, David Mlodzik, Bretton Newsom, Maurices Martell, Sally Rogers, Luis Delgado, Sebastian DeWitt, Tracy and Chris Cantello, and Michael Taggart.

Here is a video of me and one of my heroes, Steve Wozniak, talking about working with video and Photoshop Elements on the TV show Screen Saves.

Book Description (2006)

This beautifully illustrated and eminently practical book is the first to offer a complete tour of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.2, the integrated digital photography workflow application that allows serious photographers to import, select, develop and showcase large volumes of digital images. Augmented by photos and case studies from a demanding road test in Iceland, award-winning photographer Mikkel Aaland explains how Lightroom 1.2 can improve the way you work.

After watching -- and often helping -- Adobe create Lightroom entirely from the ground up, Aaland (author of Photoshop CS2 RAW) was ready to see how well it would do in the field. He organized a group of 12 top-notch photographers for a trek to "Nature's Light Room", the pristine Icelandic landscape where each summer day is bathed in 22 hours of horizontal light -- and where the only studio was Lightroom on a laptop. In Photoshop Lightroom Adventure, Aaland uses hands-on knowledge from the trip to demonstrate how Lightroom 1.2 can help you create the best possible image under any conditions.

Mikkel Aaland's trademark ability to teach complicated topics on digital imaging with straightforward, easy-to-follow text makes this book a valuable learning tool for anyone serious about digital photography. This is not an update of previous Lightroom versions, but the first book that's completely up-to-date for Lightroom 1.2. Foreword by Adobe's George Jardine.

Podcast

Mikkel discusses the Adobe Lightroom Iceland Adventure project with George Jardine, from the Radisson hotel in Raykjavik on the final morning of the trip.

The podcast was recorded Saturday, August 5th 2006, in Raykjavik, Iceland. Now that the Adventure is drawing to a close, Mikkel reflects back on the genesis of the project and the fantastic events of the week. We touch on our great luck with the weather, the fantastic landscape of Iceland, and the working conditions with a beta software product. Mikkel looks forward to incorporating the photographs that were taken by 9 great professional photographers this week into a new book about Lightroom that will be published by O’Reilly.

Duration: 21:38

Personal Note

The books that came out of the Iceland and Tasmania Adventures are two of my favorite technical books.  They combine everything I love, adventure, community, technical exploration, and end up being books that are practical as well as beautiful to look at. Most technical books have a limited shelf life but I like to think these books are evergreen, if not for the technical material, but for the beautiful photographs.

Neither book/adventure could ever have been done without the support of Adobe and O'Reilly Media, my publisher, the photographers who went on the adventures, and several other incredibly supportive people and sponsors. At Adobe there was George Jardine, Jennifer Stern, Frderick V. Johnson, Kevin Connor and Addy Roff, among others.

At O'Reilly there was Steve Weiss, Mark Brokering, Dan Brodnitz, Colleen Wheeler, Derrick Story, and many others. Helping with the Iceland adventure was Brian Sheffield and many others from Iceland. For the Tasmania adventure there was Daryl Hudson and Felicia Mariani and many others from Tasmania. Peter Krogh, a photographer, and the world's expert on digital asset management, was a blessing on both adventures.  (My complete thank you list fills an entire page in the books.)

George Jardine wrote the foreword for the Iceland adventure and Leo Laporte wrote the foreword to the Tasmania adventure. The people who helped on these adventures have made my life a lot richer and I am filled with gratitude.

List of all the photographers:

Book Description (2008)

What happens when you unleash 17 of the world’s best photographers onto an unsuspecting Tasmanian wilderness? One thing’s for sure – once the shooting dies down, you’re left with a whole lot of dramatic imagery.

In April 2008, to herald the arrival of the new Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 editing suite, a group of photographers, bloggers and techno-nerds landed in Tasmania to test-drive their beta software and shoot everything in sight. With each release of the software package, a destination is selected in which to showcase its capabilities. Last time it was Iceland. This time Norwegian digital photography pioneer and author Mikkel Aaland choreographed the 17-strong trek into the Tasmanian wilderness, drawing from a pool of top guns from around the world. We’ve published only a select few of the thousands of images taken, including shots by Marcus Bell, Peter Eastaway, Philip Andrews, Bruce Dale, Catherine Hall, Ian Wallace, Peter Krogh, Mikkel Aaland himself and US gadget and IT guru Leo Laporte. Each day the team of crack photographers would fan out into regions centering mainly around Bicheno, Hobart and Cradle Mountain – where even the simplest 20-minute walk would take four hours, and two-hour drives would stretch into the night as the photo stops just kept on coming. Then, at the end of each day, the photographers uploaded their literally hundreds of images. The best of the best detailed here certainly do our island state justice, capturing the spirit of people and place that is a living, breathing photographer’s dream: dramatic cliff faces, eerie rainforests and larger-than-life local characters. For more info, check out Aaland’s book of the trek, Photoshop Lightroom 2 Adventure --Australian Traveler Magazine 2008

Tasmania video by Leo Lapporte

http://www.metatube.com/no/videos/12098/Lightroom-Adventure-Tasmania/

Personal Note

The books that came out of the Iceland and Tasmania Adventures are two of my favorite technical books.  They combine everything I love, adventure, community, technical exploration, and end up being books that are practical as well as beautiful to look at. Most technical books have a limited shelf life but I like to think these books are evergreen, if not for the technical material, but for the beautiful photographs.

Neither book/adventure could ever have been done without the support of Adobe and O'Reilly Media, my publisher, the photographers who went on the adventures, and several other incredibly supportive people and sponsors. At Adobe there was George Jardine, Jennifer Stern, Frderick V. Johnson, Kevin Connor and Addy Roff, among others.

At O'Reilly there was Steve Weiss, Mark Brokering, Dan Brodnitz, Colleen Wheeler, Derrick Story, and many others. Helping with the Iceland adventure was Brian Sheffield and many others from Iceland. For the Tasmania adventure there was Daryl Hudson and Felicia Mariani and many others from Tasmania. Peter Krogh, a photographer, and the world's expert on digital asset management, was a blessing on both adventures.  (My complete thank you list fills an entire page in the books.)

George Jardine wrote the foreword for the Iceland adventure and Leo Laporte wrote the foreword to the Tasmania adventure. The people who helped on these adventures have made my life a lot richer and I am filled with gratitude.

List of all the photographers:

Book Description (1992)

This simple, straightforward introduction to digital photography leads readers step by step through the dazzling effects possible with this breakthrough technology. Through lucid explanations and savvy tips, Digital Photography shows photographers and graphic artists how to make the most of the combined processing power of camera and computer. Photos and diagrams throughout.

Personal Note

I wrote this book in the late 80s, early 90s, in collaboration with my dear friend Rudy Burger, who at the time, was one of the only people in the world with a Ph.D. in electronic imaging (University of Cambridge) and who provided invaluable technical guidance. Sean Callahan and Henry Hornstein of Pond Press were the packagers and sold the book to Random House. Kate Kelly was my assistant. The original title was "Electronic Photography" but just before publication in 1992 Kodak came out with the Photo CD process and marketed it as "digital photography". Random House, my publisher, decided to change the name of our book to be in line with Kodak's marketing, even though from a technical point of view, electronic photography is a more accurate term. Aside from a book by John J. Larish, called Understanding Electronic Photography published by TAB books in 1990, my book was the first digital photography book published by a major publishing house for the general market. The book was dedicated to Ansel Adams, who first exposed me to electronic photography in 1981, and Polaroid's Edwin Land, Rudy's hero. In the introduction I wrote about digital photography, "The future is now."  Little did I know that it would take at least ten years before professional digital cameras with enough resolution and speed would become available at an affordable price.

Photographers I feature in the book include, Graham Nash, Peter Voci, Lawrence Gartel, Paul Solomon, David Brunn, Terry Gips, Larry Keenan, Paul Berger, Eva Sutton, Suzanne Bloom, Ed Hill, Ron Scott, Howard Sochurek, Barry Blackman, Eric Meola, David A. Wagner, Penny d'Hammer, Michael Kienitz, Rob Outwater, and John M. Lund.

These were some of the earliest digital pioneers!