Welcome to my technology blog!
It was 25 Years ago today that I joined Adobe. I prepared a visual look back at my journey here:
Join me for a live interview and celebration Monday, July 26 at 2PM ET:
Continue reading “It was 25 years ago today that I joined Adobe”Woot! That’s me on The List Show TV (not the Wookie LOL):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8LT9FhrQ6o
Every now and then I get a request to do an interview. Usually it’s for blogs, podcasts and printed publications. Every now and then I get one that turns out to be a little bigger than I expected. ABC Network’s “The List Show TV” contacted me to do a quick interview and get my thoughts on mobile Live Streaming. In particular they noticed my use of Facebook Live. I did the interview via Skype and kinda forgot about it. Last night one of my cousins posted a congratulations on Facebook and I was like “what are you talking about?” I went looking for the show online as I don’t think it airs here locally in Atlanta. Low and behold, there it was on their YouTube channel! It’s always an honor when publications and media outlets reach out to me for my opinions. This one had the added cool factor that it was actually on TV too! Continue reading “Hey! That’s Me Featured On ABC’s The List Show TV”
When I read my buddy Scott Kelby’s post yesterday on “7 Reasons Why Photographers Need to Be on Instagram” I was reminded why I like this platform so much. I’ve been active on Instagram since January 2012. At first I looked at it as “oh boy, one more thing to have to post to.” That was before I realized that I could use Instagram as my starting point any time I want to share a photo. Unlike most other sites, Instagram allows me to simultaneously share to my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare (check-ins), Email and Flickr. If for no other reason I’d use Instagram for this feature alone. However, Instagram actually became the social media site that I visit the most. For some reason (maybe it’s because I’m a visual person), I’m way more likely to scroll my Instagram feed to see all the posts from the people that I follow than I am on Facebook and Twitter. Even when I don’t post, I will still scroll through my Instagram feed checking out posts of others all the way down until I get to the post I saw last. To make the sharing experience even better to Twitter and my Facebook Fan Page, I created an IFTTT script that if I tag my Instagram post with #f it will post it directly to my Facebook Fan Page (as opposed to my personal Facebook page) and #t to post it as a NATIVE Twitter pic instead of just a link to the Instagram post.
Instagram is no longer just for squares. Probably one of the biggest reasons for photographers to rejoice and start using Instagram more is that Instagram now supports landscape and portrait images/videos directly in the Instagram app. I no longer have to use the Squaready Pro app to get the full image into a square format.
They each have a unique style and often post pics that make me pause when I’m scrolling my feed:
Here’s the recap of the people to follow above with links: @dr_brown, @felix_ireland, @glyndewis, @gregsimages, @michielbuijse, @rich_hart_photography, @scottkelby, @squidgallery @victoriapavlov @whyiloveatl
And since you’re in such a good mood to follow people, be sure to follow me too @TerryLeeWhite on Instagram! Thanks in advance.
See more of my photography on my photography site: terrywhitephotography.com
You didn’t think Facebook would sit idly by while Twitter did LIVE streaming via its Periscope App did you? Early yesterday evening I got an App update to the Facebook Mentions App announcing that it now has a feature called “Live from Facebook Mentions.”
Facebook Mentions is Facebook’s dedicated App for those of us who are Public Figures and have a “verified” Page on Facebook.
While I was certainly honored that Facebook verified my page without any action on my part and the fact that they even created this separate celebrity app, I really didn’t find that it was all that useful compared to the regular Facebook Pages Manager App. Well that all changed yesterday. Now I can bring up the Facebook Mentions App on my iPhone and start a live broadcast at any time. People that have previously “Liked” my Page will get a notification and they can watch the broadcast and make comments via text in the broadcast itself. The best part compared is that after the broadcast is over it appears as a regular video post on my Page for anyone to view after the fact. I also like that this post can be edited so that I can add links, additional information to the items or sites that I mentioned in the broadcast.
Periscope is Twitter’s Live broadcasting service. Like Twitter it’s free to use. You can download the iOS or Android version and start broadcasting immediately. When you start a new broadcast the app sends a tweet to your Twitter followers as well as a push notification to any of your Periscope followers. People can watch the broadcast either in the Periscope App or on the web in a browser. People can also make comments via text in the App that you can respond to verbally and they can also tap the screen to give you “hearts” (their version of Likes). The idea behind Periscope is to be able to show the world what you’re seeing in realtime. After the broadcast is over it will be available for replay by anyone that follows you in the App or has the link for up to 24 hours. After that it automatically self destructs forever.
Obviously Facebook Mentions Live (FML <- LOL) is the new kid on the block and will come at a disadvantage to Periscope that has now been out for 5 months. Periscope has had several App updates to address user feedback and finally released their Android version. FML is only iOS at this point and currently limited to only those with a Verified Public Figure Facebook Page.
Video format
Periscope’s video format is portrait. This pisses off most people not viewing the video in the app and while Periscope has promised to deliver landscape video it hasn’t made it on the scene as of this post. FML on the other hand is a square aspect ratio. This makes it less frustrating to view, but means that they may never deliver landscape video. As you might expect the quality of the video/audio to your viewers will depend on the strength and speed of your data connection. When I’m on WiFi at home both Periscope and FML look awesome. On slower cellular data connections Periscope can be sketchy.
Your potential viewing audience
Here’s where it gets interesting. While your Periscope broadcasts automatically announce to your Twitter followers that you’re LIVE, it can be missed if someone is viewing your tweets in the moment. Unless your followers are diligent about scrolling their timelines and viewing your tweets, your broadcasts will only be seen by a fraction of your followers. Periscope does have the advantage that people can follow you on Periscope separately from Twitter, but from what I see the average number of Periscope followers to Twitter followers is usually a small fraction. For example, I have over 43,000 followers on Twitter, but only 3,227 followers on Periscope. My buddy Scott Kelby has over 288,000 followers on Twitter and only 10,830 followers on Periscope. I think that the lower number of Periscope followers is largely due to the fact that people can only follow you on Periscope from the iOS App or recently released Android App. There’s also no way currently to give someone a link to follow you. You can only give them your user name (ie. @TerryLWhite <- yes follow me please).
On the FML side you already have an audience on your Facebook Page. I have 39,736 Likes on my Page. That’s my potential audience each time I do a broadcast. Facebook does play games though when it comes to showing your post to your followers. Look at the graphic above and you’ll see that last night the post had only reached 1,725 of my audience. The more popular your post is the more people that Liked your page will see it. So with that being said not all 39,736 people were notified when I did my 1st broadcast. There’s no way to control who gets notified and who doesn’t.
If you want more people to see your post/broadcast you can click the Boost Post button and PAY to have to promoted to more people. It’s a shame that people ask to follow you by clicking the Like button on your Page, but unless they manually visit your page regularly they may not see many or any of your posts via notifications or in their timeline unless you pay for them to see it. Let’s face it that while social media is free, Facebook and Twitter make their money from advertising.
Comments and adorations
Both Periscope and FML allow people to make comments during the broadcast. in the case of Periscope the comments appear superimposed over the video and some find that distracting. FML on the other hand displays the comments at the bottom of the screen below the square video. With Periscope if your viewers like what they are seeing they can tap anywhere on the screen to give you hearts (adorations). I haven’t seen anything like that yet in FML. However, I did see at the end of the broadcast that I had “Likes” not sure how I got them at this point?
Replays
Both Periscope and FML offer the ability for people that missed your live broadcast to see it after the fact. With Periscope your broadcast remains active for up to 24 hours in the feed of everyone that follows you. Anyone that got the tweet when you went live can still click it to watch after the fact. Recently Periscope was updated to allow you share a link to anyone. The obvious downside is that if you send the link to someone and they don’t watch it within 24 hours, the link won’t work afterwards. Periscope also offers the option to save the raw video to your device after the broadcast. This means that you can post the video anywhere you want afterwards but note that it will be a vertical video. FML on the other hand puts the raw video of your broadcast on your Facebook Page immediately after the broadcast ends. That’s VERY COOL because there’s not expiration date. It also means that I can edit the post after the fact and add more info and links to the things I was talking about during the broadcast. Also since it’s a regular Facebook Post you can share it with others on Facebook that aren’t on your page. If you right click the video on your page you can copy the URL and share it anywhere like here.
I came up with an idea to broadcast to both Periscope and Life from Facebook Mentions at the same time. It became a product from Arkon called the TW Broadcaster Pro. Check out my video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbslnsl41_I
Periscope is cool and I use it regularly. However, I’ve always felt that many of my fans were missing out if they’re not on Twitter or don’t follow me on Periscope. I’ve posted links to the Periscope replay on Facebook afterwards but again the replay is only available for 24 hours. If Facebook opens up Live streaming to the regular Facebook app, Facebook Pages app and Facebook Groups App I think they would ultimately win as there are more people on Facebook than there are on Twitter. Twitter should open up Periscope a little more by offering direct links to follow people even on the web and they should give the option of allowing replays to last longer than 24 hours. If Facebook wanted to “own” the Live Streaming social media world they certainly have the base to do it. Live from Facebook Mentions Live may be just the beginning of their strategy!
Follow me on Periscope @TerryLWhite
Like my Facebook Page here.
Follow me on Twitter here.
Get the Periscope App here for iOS
Get the Periscope App here for Android
Get the Facebook Mentions App for iOS here (if you have a verified public figure page)
I’ve been shooting seriously/professionally since late 2006. Throughout the years people have occasionally asked me if they could buy particular images that I have captured. I never really had an answer to that question because I was never really set up to make it happen. Although I’ve owned Epson photo printers in the past, I’ve always found that the maintenance and upkeep of the printer was not worth it. It seemed that every time I wanted to make a print it would take more time than it was worth to get the printer “going again”. This meant unclogging the heads or discovering that I had run out of a particular color right at that crucial moment. Because of this and simply not having the time to deal with it, I have avoided making my work available for sale. Well, that was until recently. The question came up again and during Photoshop World, I was inspired by the various works being displayed by many of my fellow instructors. That fueled my passion once again and I decided that it was time to figure out a way to do this. I settled on smugmug.com for now to be the back end for my print sales. As a pro member they allowed me to easily set up a gallery and make my prints available in the sizes that I wanted to sell them at as well as the prices I wanted to sell them for. The beauty of it is that they do the printing and shipping.
You can check out the gallery here.
See more of my photography here.
As we bring the curtain down on 2013 and as I look back on this year, one of the highlights for me was simply getting better at my photography hobby. One of the things that makes me really proud is to see my work in print with major lighting manufacturers. After all these are the folks actually selling gear to photographers and they are probably going to be pickiest about how their products are represented. I’ve had a good relationship with F.J. Westcott and I was thrilled to see my work represented once again in the Westcott Catalog. Check out their Late 2013 Edition here in PDF. Not only is my work in it, but it’s one heck of a catalog covering all of their gear. See more of my photography here. Also check out my Westcott Terry White Travel Portrait Lighting Kit Here.
Also check out year end deals on their gear here.
When I started my YouTube channel back in May 2009, I looked at it as just a way to get the videos from my podcast out to a broader audience. I figured since I was already recording the videos that the few extra minutes to post them in another place wouldn’t hurt. I had no idea that YouTube would become my largest number of followers with over 100,000 strong and now surpassing over 15 million views of my videos. Wow! Thanks everyone for subscribing, viewing and supporting my work. There isn’t a public appearance that I make now anywhere in the world where someone doesn’t come up to me and tell me how much they enjoy my videos. Your kind words inspire me and keep me motivated to make more…
I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for subscribing to my YouTube Channel. I just blew past the 75,000 mark and I’m thrilled that so many of you like my content. Having over 75,000 subscribers and over 13 Million Views is no small accomplishment and again thanks.
Hey if you’re in the subscribing/following kinda mood, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter (approaching 25,000 followers) and Like my Facebook Page (over 15,000 likes). Also add me to your Google+ Circles (over 25,000 have me in their circles) and follow me on Behance.
My Learn the Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White App has now been rebranded to “Learn the Adobe Creative Cloud with Terry White” as well as some bug fixes. Be sure to download the update. (note – I did have one person tell me that he’s having issues with it on iPad 1. So if you have an iPad 1 you might want to hold off till I confirm).
Grab the app here:
You might remember that I recently reviewed the NEW Westcott Rapid Box 26″ Octa softbox. In that review I actually put together the items that I would travel with to do a portrait shoot. Well it seems that Westcott and B&H liked it so much that they honored me by naming it after me. Introducing the Westcott Terry White Travel Portrait Lighting Kit! How cool is that? I remember when B&H did this for Scott Kelby back when he was touring with his Light It, Shoot it, Retouch it Kit. I know what some of you are thinking so let me address your question now. Nope I’m not getting a single dime from Westcott. Nada! Zip! Zilch! I recommend products here because I use them, not because I get paid to promote them (with the exception of Adobe of course since that is my employer/day job). The point of this kit is that I now have a single URL to refer people to when they want to know/buy my setup rather than having to send them 4-5 different links. From what I heard, some of my readers even printed out my review and took it the WPPI show and shopped with it at the show.
The only thing that the kit doesn’t include is the speedlight. The reason for that is that B&H would have to create several separate SKUs for each manufacturers speedlight and it’s just easier to tell people to use whichever speedlight they want or in most cases already have.
1 Westcott Rapid Octa 26″ Box
1 Westcott X-Drop kit “white” background
1 lightstand to hold the Rapid Oct and your speedlight
2 Pocket Wizard PlusX Transceivers
I’m also happy to announce that B&H has marked it down as an introductory offer taking $25.95 off the price. You can check the kit out here.
It’s quite an honor as a photographer to recognized by both Westcott and B&H and I thank everyone for your support and being a fan of my work. See more of my gear here.
Hey Everyone! I just wanted to take a moment and share some exciting news (well exciting for me anyway), my Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast has just hit another major milestone! I just passed the 20 Million Download mark. That's right! My videos have been downloaded over 20 Million Times! Woohoo! I want to thank everyone who has subscribed, watched, downloaded, tweeted about and come up and thanked me for my podcast episodes in the past!
While reaching the 20 Million Mark is great, I'm even happier that my podcast is and has been in the Top 10 of ALL Software How-To Podcasts on the iTunes Store for 4 years straight.
Back on April 14th 2011 I announced the long awaited "Learn The Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White" App had been updated to be a Universal iOS App, which means that you now get to see the videos in all the iPad 10" glory without having to screen double them. The App is now available on the App Store and is of course a FREE update to anyone who already had it.
If you're new to the App, the advantage here my regular podcast is that many of the episodes have Exclusive Bonus Clips. These clips can only be seen in the App and aren't published anywhere else. Often the Bonus Content includes additional tips and techniques or expands in an area where the regular episode left off. On the iPad these Bonus Clips are highlighted right below the regular episode so you'll more easily be able to identify the episodes that have Bonus Content.
There are literally hundreds of videos available on the various Creative Suite Apps all the way back to CS2. Thankfully the App has a built-in Search feature as well as the ability to Star your favorite episodes and download the ones you want to be able to watch offline.
I want to personally thank you for your support in my podcast as well as my App!
See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and get the App here for $1.99:
