Photography

Former Flickr Staffer Blasts Yahoo/Flickr Over Yesterday’s Layoffs

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:59 GMT

Twitter was a buzz yesterday with tweets from current and former Flickr staffers regarding a round of layoffs that took place at the popular photo sharing site yesterday. One of the most upset seemed to be former Flickr engineer Nolan Caudill who wrote a scathing post calling Yahoo/Flickr out over the firings.

“Flickr lost several good people today. If you had me name the top 10 Flickr employees that loved the site the most, half of them got handed pink slips today,” wrote Caudill. “Yahoo made a major mistake today and there's no other way to interpret it. I'm mad and this is my soapbox.”

Equally troubling, Caudill seems to indicate that the layoffs were merely a symptom of a larger problem of Yahoo suits being out of touch with what is one of their most beloved properties by users. “Flickr-the-site will be fine but Flickr-the-culture took a huge hit today and those suits in Sunnyvale balancing some column or doing their thousandth “re-org” are completely to blame. I bet they don't even know what they've done and that's probably the worst part of the whole thing,” Caudill continued.

It's interesting that layoffs at Flickr would be one of the first moves made by Yahoo's new CEO Scott Thompson. I wrote an open letter to Thompson shortly after his appointment as CEO suggesting that Flickr represented one of Yahoo's best chances for success with social. Flickr has been losing unique visitors (according to compete.com) over the past 6 months as competitors like Google+, Smugmug, Instagram, 500px and even Facebook continue to pull some of the best users away from the site — by the way, facebook is currently in the process of redesigning their photos page (it looks an awful lot like they are copying Google Photos here) and employees have been reaching out to popular photographers, promoting them on their new suggested user list, etc.

After flubbing a new product release (some sort of unusual chat with other users while you doodle on photos thing) that Flickr killed four months after launch, you have to wonder if laying off what are perceived as some of their best Flickr employees really makes the most sense as Flickr Chief Markus Spiering tries to push forward with the promised innovation that he blogged about earlier this month. On the other hand, sometimes in order to effect significant change you need to clear house. Sometimes a culture needs to be broken before it can be rebuilt and maybe this is partly what this is about as well. Perhaps this is more of a rebuilding to allow Flickr to clear the deck so to speak to build something better and stronger.

Still, if Flickr is planning on coming up with something better, it had better move quickly. It seems like post after post on Google+ these days are about how much users LOVE Google+ for photos/community and how many photographers are not renewing their paid Flickr Pro subscriptions due to a superior community culture at Google.

It is telling to me that newly appointed CEO Scott Thompson still does not appear to have even bothered to set up a Flickr account. By not having a Flickr account Thompson is publicly showing how little regard he has for the popular Yahoo property. It takes 2 minutes to tell an administrative assistant to set up a PR oriented public account and post a few old vacation photos on it.

That Thompson can not even be bothered to do that much makes me wonder not only what sort of message this sends to the day to day employees working on Flickr, but if Caudill might just in fact be right about the suits down in Sunnyvale having no possible clue about what they even have with Flickr. Former Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz never could be bothered to set up a Flickr account either.

By contrast, Google cofounder Sergey Brin is not only sharing his photos on Google+, he even showed up for a hangout that I was on with popular photographer Trey Ratcliff last week to personally talk live about some of his photos and his favorite photos by others. I'm surprised that a billionaire founder of one of the most successful tech companies of all time seems to have to the time to publicly support the photo sharing aspects of his product while the new CEO of Yahoo can't be bothered.

Update: More comments here.

Ex-Yahoo Jaisen Mathai writes an open letter to flickrenos laid off asking them to consider working on his Open Photo project.

Update #2: BetaBeat's coverage. Thread on Flickr Central. Graphic made by Flickr employee identifying some of those laid off. Andy Baio suggests Flickr management was blindsided by these layoffs.

Photo Talk Plus, Episode 7, With Professional Photographer Nicole S. Young

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:35 GMT

Thanks to our show sponsors SmugMug and Drobo!

Flickr Raises and Lowers the Cost of a Pro Account

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:56 GMT

Flickr mucked around with the pricing on their Pro accounts today. The one year option stays the same price at $24.95. They reduced the 2 year option by $1.50 per year from $47.95 to $44.95 and they raised the price of a year of Pro $2.85 per year for those wanting to pay quarterly to $6.95 per quarter ($27.80 per year).

They also announced said that going forward your account would be set up on auto-renewal.

I did think the blog post on the pricing change was a little misleading where it says “We’re also dropping the price of a 2 year subscription to $44.95 (a savings of $10.95 off the 3 months at a time price).” This makes it sound like Flickr reduced their 2 year account by $11 when in fact they really reduced it by $3 from their previous pricing but now compare it with the more expensive quarterly payment option — but I guess that's marketingspeak for you.

As far as the cost of a Pro account, it is still a screaming good deal for a photographer like me. Where else could I store 67,000+ full high res photos online for $22.48/year (I do the 2 year option)? Plus I'm participating in the Flickr/Getty stock photography deal that paid me over $500 last month so really it's like Flickr is paying me, not like I'm paying them.

For many photographers though I think Flickr Pro is looking like a worse and worse deal. Google+ will host an unlimited number of photos for you for free now. Flickr's free account only will let you access your 200 most recent photos and even worse if you don't reup for a Pro account they hold the rest of your photos hostage on their site until you do renew.

I don't think today's pricing really is much of an announcement at all — and I think you'll continue to see causal photographers letting their Pro accounts at Flickr lapse while they move to other cheaper alternatives like Google+. I also think that the higher end of the photography market is also increasingly moving away to sites like Smugmug (disclosure, they are a sponsor for our Photo Talk Plus show) which are more geared as high end galleries to actually sell your photos. Flickr doesn't allow you to sell your photos on the site yourself.

Are you on Flickr? And if so will you renew your Pro account when it comes due? And if you do what option would you choose as far as paying for it?

The Incomplete List of the Top 20 +1ers Who Share the Love on Google+

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:51 GMT

Yesterday Louis Gray shared an interesting post based on a discussion kicked off by Thomas Morrfew and Thomas Tenkely. The post showed how to find out how many +1s you've handed out on Google+. I reshared the post here. So did my good Pal Robert Scoble here.

I thought it would be interesting to go around to the various posts and put together a list of the top 20 people who +1 on Google+. This list is wildly inaccurate in that it only includes the people who responded to these posts, but I thought it would be an interesting list of folks nonetheless.

I love +1ing on G+. It's like handing out little pieces of candy for everything that I like. Some people have asked for a list of their +1s. Personally I hope that if Google gives us this list that they give us the option of making it public or private. I don't like my favorites on flickr being stalked by people and would prefer to keep my +1s private.

Anyways, that's neither here nor there, but here are the top 20 +1ers that I was able to sort of sort together based on these posts. Thanks to everyone who +1′s on Google+ and shares the love!

1. Kev Isabeth, 112,161

2. Dirk Talamasca, 98,240

3. Mark Esguerra, 61,072

4. Kerry Murphy, 56215

5. Billy Wilson, 51,602

6. Lotus Carroll, 46,196

7. Chelsea Leland, 44,823

8. Sandra Parlow, 40,541

9. Daniel Chen, 36,000

10. Louis Gray, 33,000

11. Rachel Blum, 33,000

12. Jaana Nyström, 32,239

13. Kol Tregaskes, 30,592

14. Jenn Kirkland, 25439

15. Lars Clausen, 25,251

16. Turtle Qiu, 24,270

17. Cameron Siguenza, 24,198

18. Celine Chamberlin, 23,184

19. Brian Kemper, 20,650

20. Mihailo Radičević, 20.000

You can find out how many +1′s you've handed out by going and checking here. Lots of other interesting Google analytical information here too. I've done 45,802! Whew!

I Love New York

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:34 GMT

I thought today would be a good day to post a photo of New York City. I took this photo in the dead of winter while it was raining/snowing in Central Park.

Tonight's Episode of Photo Talk Plus with my cohost Lotus Carroll will include five New Yorkers talking about photography — our special guest, New York Professional Photographer Daniel Krieger, along with our New Yorker panelists Alan Shapiro Leanne Staples Vivienne Gucwa (this is her first public hangout) and Google's Titus Winters.

The New York G+ Photo Crew have hosted many photowalks there in NYC now and promise to give us some great tips about shooting in one of the most urban environments in the United States. Don't miss this great episode tonight at 8PM PST right here in my G+ stream and on Keith Barrett's Vidcast Network at http://vidcastnetwork.com at 8PM PST.

Thomas Hawk Original Prints Now Available Through SmugMug

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:32 GMT

Over the years I've had many people ask me about purchasing prints of my work. With the rare exception I've turned down all of these requests. I'm not sure why. It's probably mostly been that I've been too busy shooting and processing to get around to figuring out a good way to handle fulfillment.

Today I've begun offering prints of my work for sale for the first time ever. This is a work in progress and it may take me some time to get it right, but SmugMug (disclosure: who sponsor our Photo Talk Plus show on Wed nights) makes it super easy for me to sell my prints and they give the photographer a very generous payout of 85% of the photo markup. It seems like a lot of the photographers that I admire most like Trey Ratcliff and Scott Jarvie and Colby Brown are all using SmugMug to sell their prints. Its something that I should have done a long time ago and I'm glad that I've taken the time this past week to finally get this done.

To start with I'm offering about 5,000 of my images for sale for people interested in buying them. We'll see how this goes and I'd be interested in any input from people about selling prints online. If you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them.

You can find the prints that I'm selling here at:

http://thomashawk.smugmug.com

Thanks to Markham Bennett and Katherine Cheng and their excellent team at +SmugMug for helping me get set up with this.

Top 10 Places Where I Find Great Photographers On Google+

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:43 GMT

Earlier today I shared 1,500 kick ass photographers that I follow on G+ and that post got a lot of response. Ken Zuk posted a comment asking how I find the photographers to follow on Google Plus and what my criteria is for following other photographers. I started writing out a long comment as a response, but it felt more like a blog post so I thought I'd write one up here and then share it as a link response to Ken's question.

The Google+ Photography Community is absolutely the most active, engaged, positive group of photographers I've ever seen anywhere on the web. It is rich and vibrant and active and full of amazing art. Over the past 7 months or so I've added tons of great photographers who I get to enjoy work by every single day.

So… where do I find these people?

1.) Probably the number one place I find photographers from on Google+ is reshares. Usually when someone reshares a photo it's a pretty high quality photo. When I see these (if i like the work) I'll click through to the photographer who was shared and explore more of their work. If I like it and they meet my criteria (see below) I'll start following them.

2.) Comments — and not just comments on my photos. I'm frequently reading the comments on Google+ — on my photos, but even more on other people's photos. If I see two active photographers who seem interesting and engaging and who are chatting with each other, I just might check them out. I like following active, engaged photographers and so if I like their stuff I'll usually add them. Go Wolfpack.

3.) Outside resources. Jarek Klimek's Photo Extract is AWESOME! Each day he puts up some of the best photographs on Google+ in huge full sized glory. Definitely check out his site and you will be blown away by some of the quality of photos showing up on Google+. GROUP/AS is another fantastic resource to find tons and tons of photographers currently posting to Google+.

4.) Contact diving. I love diving into other people's contacts. Both who they are circling as well as who are circling them. It's nice because if you click on that window it already shows you all the people you are already following. So if you are not following someone you can cmd-click on a link to their posting page and check them out to see if you like what they are doing.

5.) #hashtags. There are a lot of special hashtags that people use on Google+. There are different themed photography projects that are curated — #TuesDecay, #MacroMonday, #WeAreParents, #GrassTuesday, the list goes on and on. Frequently I'll click on these hashtags that Google+ hyperlinks and explore the work of other photographers there. If I like them, then I'll add them.

6.) Real life contacts. I've hosted hundreds of photowalks over the past decade. I've also participated in a number of group photography trips. Alot of times through photowalks and trips you end up getting to know people super well.

Some of my best friends today have come through real life photography meetups. I met my good Pal Robert Scoble almost 10 years ago at a meetup that he hosted at Barney's Burgers in Noe Valley in San Francisco. Other times though the photowalks are short and big and hard to get to know everyone — but I always do try to go back after these walks and trips and check out people's work (again through hashtags). #Yosemite2011, #DV2011, #FordNAIAS, #SJPhoto2011, etc.

I find alot of the people that I end up following through these walks/trips/walk tags/etc.

7.) Hangouts. I'm pretty active with hangouts — both mine and other people. Hangouts are a great way to meet people and how I've gotten to know alot of people better. So many of my great photographer contacts have come from hanging out.

8.) Popular Posts on Google+. It's harder to find new talent here, but I'll frequently check out the most popular posts on Google+ in the past hour over at SocialStatistics. Inevitably alot of the most popular posts are great photographs. I'm already following a lot of the people posted there, but every now and again I find someone new who I am not following yet.

9.) Other people's shared circles. I'm constantly checking out other people's shared circles. Here is how I manage that process and do it most efficiently. Usually if I trust someone's opinion I'll add the entire circle that they shared — but… I *WON'T* mix it in with my other contacts — instead I just keep it labeled as “their” circle.

After I've added their circle, I'll browse through that stream and cherry pick people out of to integrate into *my* other circles that I like. I might do this for an hour. I might just let the circle set there for a week and get to it over time. After I feel like I've adequately examined the circle, I'll just delete it. The best photographers I found in it I've integrated into my own and the rest of those who I'm not as crazy about from there get dropped.

10.) Other social networks. I like to spread the good word about G+ so I'll frequently post about it on other sites — on Flickr, on Twitter, on Facebook. The other day I posted on Flickr asking which of my flickr contacts were on Google+. Alot of people responded with links to their G+ page. When they did I went and checked them out on G+. If I liked their stuff I added them there too.

So… as you can see I find people to follow on Google+ from a lot of different places.

Now… as far the criteria for what I'm looking for when I follow someone on Google+

1) Non-watermarker/signature photographers. I hate watermarks and signatures. They drive me bonkers. Nothing personal, it's just a pet peeve of mine. My eye is drawn to the watermark almost every time. I can't enjoy the photo. I get agitated. They usually look big and ugly and like something a low rent cheap hack wedding photographer would use. The bigger the signature/watermark the worse. Some people hide them so well that I don't see them. I'm ok with that — but… if I see them…. GAWD! AWK!

Unless I know you really well and am willing to overlook it because I'm in love with you, then I'm probably not going to follow someone that is using watermarks.

2) Photographers who mostly post their own photographs. I want photographers in my circle who mostly post photos. It's ok if they post other things sparingly — a post here or there about a photographic subject, a shared photo of someone else's, a circle, a rant about whatever they had for breakfast (sparingly is the key here) — but… if a photographer is mostly posting what I consider noise (bad gifs, too much resharing of texty sort of articles, too much stupid stuff, etc.) then it's hard for me to want to follow them — at least in my photographers circle. I may follow them in a different circle (like the stupid gif circle) that I never check, but I don't really want super noisy people in my photographers circle.

Again, there are exceptions to all of these rules if I love you enough.

3) Photographers who are active. If the last time you posted a photograph on Google+ was last November, I probably am not following you. I want to see work by current, active photographers who post every week.

4) Good photography. It sort of goes without saying, but I want to see work that is aesthetically pleasing to me — interesting, creative, inspiring work.

5) Someone who is positive and not a hater/stalker/harasser/etc. Nothing turns me off more than seeing someone who tears apart others. I'm not just talking about my own work here. If I see someone say something awful to someone else, especially someone else that I respect, I'll probably drop them. If it's bad enough I might even block them. The online photosharing world unfortunately has a very small minority who are petty, jealous haters — fortunately for us on Google+ there is a very robust block tool which can keep them away from us most of the time.

You can follow me on Google+ here.

1,500 Kick Ass Photographers on Google+

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:36 GMT

Over the last three days I've posted three circles of 500 each of all of the photographers that I'm currently following on Google+. For the most part these are active, engaged photographes on Google+ and represent some of the people that you may want to get to know if you want to participate more in the Photo Community that has emerged on Google+.

The Google+ Photography Community is the most active, engaged, positive group of photographers I've ever seen anywhere on the web. I'm constantly blown away and humbled by the quality of the work that people post there day in and day out. More than just the work, the photographers that I've met on there, that I've hung out with on there, that I've hung out in real life with on there (HIRL), are such amazing people that I've been so fortunate to have gotten to know.

Alot of people ask me how they might get more involved with Google+. I'd say that you can start with checking out these folks and I think you'll find most of them are pretty easy to get along with and interact with. You can check out these circles here:

1,500 Kick Ass Photographers on Google+ (A-G, Part 1 of 3)
1,500 Kick Ass Photographers on Google+ (G-O, Part 2 of 3)
1,500 Kick Ass Photographers on Google+ (P-Z, Part 3 of 3)

Thanks to each and every photographer that I've gotten to know at Google+!

Don’t Look Down

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:55 GMT

Flickr Kills “Photo Session” Four Months After Launch

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:22 GMT

Back at the end of September I wrote a post critical of Flickr's latest new feature “Photo Session.” The new feature seemed laughable to me and indicative of a more general trend of flickr just not really getting it when it came to innovation.

The feature allowed you to chat (old skool AOL style) with other users while looking at a photo together. You could also draw little doodles on the photos one at a time. Well apparently nobody is using the thing and as such they are taking it out back behind the barn (with the donkey in it) and putting it down.

Flickr Chief Markus Spiering blogs from the Flickr Blog: “Photo Session is a feature that offered a real-time way to share photos with other people in a browser, with no additional apps to install. The feature had been developed as a technology showcase, but has not seen the user adoption we were hoping for. The feature will be turned-off by March 20…”

In today's world where we can get on Google+ live with audio and video and use screen share, Photo Session seemed like such an archaic outdated thing to even be launching. I could see a possible application with flickr porn, but because flickr didn't allow you to share adult oriented content this way it didn't even have an application there.

Flickr also announced today that they will be ending Picnik as well (which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone now that Google — a Yahoo competitor — acquired the Picnik company).

They are also cleaning house in a few other areas, discontinuing support for old browser versions, etc.

Now, on the plus side Spiering blogs that Flickr is starting out 2012 with a “renewed focus,” and promises that this year is going to be “big” and that we will see “significant updates to Flickr’s user experience, new features and offerings across devices.” This is the first time in years that I remember anyone actually talking about improving flickr's game, let alone the guy in charge of flickr.

Of course, as they say, talk is cheap, so we'll see how quickly Flickr begins rolling out these new features for us. For what it's worth, I absolutely agree with their decision to kill Photo Session. Nobody was using it and it was embarrassingly bad. It's good to see Flickr recognizing this and cutting that loss early.

So how could Flickr impress me in 2012?

Well, there are lots of things they could do. These are some of the top ways that I think they could improve Flickr for users.

1. More robust blocking and filtering tools. When I block somebody on Flickr they should totally be wiped off the planet of my flickr experience. Why let horrible people continue to harass me when I want nothing to do with them. Make them completely invisible. Do it like Google+ does. When I block someone anything they type anywhere on Flickr should disappear for me. Any comment on any photo. Any comment in any group thread. Anywhere. Nuke them entirely as far as I'm concerned. Make the bad crazy psycho people go away.

Also let me filter out things I don't want to see. This is especially true with group threads. Let me choose to hide a group thread and never have to see it again. Also let me be able to choose to hide all photos by a certain user. Make these photos now disappear from search and everywhere on the site for me. I hate it when I do a search for “Austin” and have to see the same photographer come up over and over and over again with photos of Utah simply because he's tagged his photos with Austin.

2. Create a basic group thread reader for mobile. Group threads are the lifeblood of social on Flickr. Make it as easy as possible for people to track their group threads. A simple text reader for group threads should be easy enough to implement.

3. Give me circles for my contacts. Right now Flickr only has two ways I can categorize my contacts friends/family and contacts. I need more buckets. Let me create circles of San Francisco photographers and neon photographers and Super close friends, and people I've photowalked with, and all kinds of other ways of organizing these contacts.

4. Let me browse a version of Explore by circle. Why force me to have to look at all of those crappy watermarked photos in Explore today by strangers. I don't want to see those. Instead what I want to see is the most interesting photos from the past hour/day/week/month by whatever circle I want to browse. I want to interact with photos from my friends more than I want to interact with photos by strangers. Sure, give me an option to browse the section by “everyone,” but also give me the ability to filter it by whatever circle I want.

5. Get rid of the secret Explore blacklist. I was on it for over 2 years before they took me off it. It's unfair. it makes Flickr feel hostile. I was talking with a user the other day who said that he thought he'd been blacklisted because his stuff was too Christian. Whether that's true or not, knowing that users can be secretly blacklisted is harmful for community. Not knowing why you were blacklisted or even if you are blacklisted raises all kinds of suspicious worrying and concern.

6. Integrate SuprSetr into Flickr. Building albums by hand is so last decade. Let me build albums by keywords. Have them automatically update. Flickr says they are looking to hire engineers. Hire Jeremy Brooks, the creator of SuprSetr and have him build this tech out for you.

7. Refresh the most recent photos by my contacts page. Flickr's former designer Timoni West last year called this the most important page on Flickr and it's in desperate need of an overhaul. Let me customize this page way more. Right now I can view photos 4 ways in this section: the last single photo by my friends and family, the last single photo by my contacts, the last 5 photos by my friends and family or the last 5 photos by my contacts.

This is wayyyy too limiting. Why such arbitrary numbers? Let me decide how many I want to see, the last 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 100, unlimted, whatever. Let me set any number I want here. Also let me filter it not just by my friends/family/contacts. Let me filter it by any flickr circle I want to. “Super Close Friends” “San Francisco Photogs” “Great Google+ Friends Also on Flickr” “Flickr Employees” “Bad ass HDR Shooters” “People Going on my Death Valley Trip” whatever. You get the idea. Let me filter this section by the most recent photos of whatever group of people I want.

Markus, I admire your resolve on making Flickr a better place in 2012. It's refreshing hearing something like that from the top dog on Flickr. Now let's see if team flickr can deliver.

TUTORIAL: How to create a vintage t-shirt using DTG

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:11 GMT

Follow this step-by-step tutorial to turn your latest design into an authentic looking vintage print.

The final design will be printed on a Brother GT-451 DTG (Direct To Garment) printer. Our artwork was created in Adobe Illustrator and sized to the largest dimensions possible for the DTG printer (350mm x 400mm). We used a Gildan Ultra Cotton Ice Grey t-shirt for this print as the muted colour helps to create an authentic vintage look.

Open artwork in Adobe Photoshop and ensure it is sized correctly. The DTG printer is capable of reproducing photographic quality work onto a garment, so ensure your artwork is created at 300dpi or higher for the best possible print.

Create a new layer and fill this white, Edit > Fill > White. Drop this below your artwork layer.

Make your own or get your hands on a few quality free grunge textures. For this tutorial I used 11 Free Hi-Res Light Grunge Textures from Fudgegraphics.com.

Open your grunge textures in Adobe Photoshop.

Image > Adjustments > Desaturate will turn each image b/w. Use Image > Adjustments > Curves to set a strong contrast in each texture.

Go to Select > Colour Range. Using the eyedropper cursor, click on an area of white in your texture. Play around with the Fuzziness slider until you are happy with your selection. Click OK.

Invert the selection you have just made. Select > Inverse.

Create a new layer above your artwork. Fill the selection with white, Edit > Fill > White.

Repeat the process with all of your grunge textures.

Play with the positioning of each grunge layer until you are happy with the distress. Layer > Flatten Image and save your graphic as a high quality jpeg.

With the artwork ready to print, we can move through to production. The printer I am using is calibrated for use with Adobe Illustrator and I already have a number of Illustrator templates set-up for various print locations and garment sizes.

Open the artwork and chosen template file in Adobe Illustrator. Copy the artwork into the template and position accordingly.

Send your design to print. We configured the DTG printer to use a low ink consumption to ensure we get the desired level of distress.

Pre-dry the garment on a heat press. Press for 10 seconds, allow to cool and check for moisture. Press for another 10 seconds if required.

Stretch your garment over the printing platen ensuring the garment is aligned correctly and all creases have been flattened out.

Hit the big green print button!

And finally, dry your print on the heat press, 180 degrees for 30 seconds!

Ensure you wash your garment inside out and on a cool wash to maintain the life of your print.

Indigo Clothing has a Google+ Page

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:50 GMT

You can now find Indigo Clothing on Google+. Google+ launched its new ‘pages' feature today which allows businesses and brands to have their own page on the new social network. This is very similar to the Facebook page system but it will be interesting to see how Google build this into the search engine.

Indigo Clothing

on Google+

TUTORIAL: How to make a realistic t-shirt template in Photoshop

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:48 GMT

Follow this step-by-step tutorial to create a quick t-shirt template in Adobe Photoshop.

A t-shirt template is great way to show off your latest designs. Use your template to experiment with different coloured garments and styles before going to print.

Photograph your chosen white t-shirt against a dark background. It is important that the garment is white so that we can make the image transparent later on.

Open your image in Adobe Photoshop. Desaturate your image to ensure it is black and white, Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.

Ensure that you have a good contrast between the dark and light areas, Image > Adjustments > Curves. Create a ‘S’ shaped curve. Play with these settings until you are happy.

Duplicate your photograph and delete the ‘Background’ copy. Name the new layer ‘T-Shirt Creases’.

Select the Pen Tool and ensure you have ‘Paths’ selected. Begin tracing along the edge of your t-shirt. Take your time, the more accurate you are, the better the final result. It is possible to use the Lasso Tool to make your selection, but this comes down to personal preference.

When you are done, right click and choose Make Selection…

Create a new layer above your photo and Edit > Fill your selection with a colour of your choice. Name this layer T-Shirt Colour.

Next we need to remove your t-shirt from its background. With the selection you made still visible choose Select > Inverse.

Then Select > Modify > Expand. Depending on the quality of your photograph choose between 1-5 pixels. For this image I expanded 2 pixels. Click Ok.

Then Select > Modify > Feather. Again, depending on your photograph feather between 1-5 pixels. For this image I feathered 1 pixel. Click Ok. With your photograph layer selected choose Edit > Cut.

Create a new layer below your t-shirt and Edit > Fill White. Name this layer Background.

Arrange your layers as above so that the T-Shirt Creases layer sits on top. With this layer selected, choose Multiply from the layers drop-down menu.

Double click your T-Shirt Colour layer and check the Colour Overlay box. Select the coloured box and choose your garment colour. Click Ok.

Open your latest t-shirt design, and drop this into your template. Place your design beneath the T-Shirt Creases layer and re-size accordingly. Go to File > Save As and name your template accordingly.

Group all layers and duplicate the group a number of times. You can now play around with various coloured garments on one art board. The same process works for pretty much any garment!

You can buy this Die Monster Die t-shirt at our sister site Indigo2Go!

Halloween doesn't have to be scary!

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:16 GMT

The week of Halloween spells the transformation of Frank into Frankenstein’s monster, Derek becoming Dracula, Vera, a Vampire, and Percy going Pumpkin. For one night only everyone tries their best to look as frightening as possible. As I’m not a fan of the seriously scary…even the thought of sitting through The Silence of the Lambs makes me want to reach for my Daddy’s hand and a hide behind a cushion, this Halloween, armed with a bag of cotton wool and some over-the-ear hooks, I will be attending a party in the guise of a giant beard. Scared? You would be.

Especially if you saw that I’ll be accessorising with a bubble-blowing pipe…magical. It is going to be a lot of effort creating this masterpiece of a costume, and it will be the pioneer of it’s kind (no beard before it has even been so large.) But if this Halloween you just can’t be bothered dressing up, or you don’t feel like scaring people too much (I like you) then get your hands on a t-shirt from choiceshirts.com. Put on your sweetest pout and prove that you’re simply “too cute for costumes”. Let’s make this Halloween about friendliness, not fiendishness, sorry Percy that Pumpkin’ll just have to wait till next year.

Maybe this shirt could be scary. Depends on who's wearing it

Own a colour and help save a child’s life

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 02:41 GMT

Indigo Clothing are proud to have brought and named our very own shade of purple in aid of Unicef's Own a Colour campaign to raise money to help transform children’s lives. You can choose, buy and name your very own shade from 16.7 million colours!!!

As someone who studies the solid coated pantone book just in case BBC Mastermind call, it’s no surprise I love this idea! I browsed a few already purchased colours, some of the individual descriptions included:

a vivid aqua blue (not dissimilar to pantone 3125c!) which was matched to someone’s ‘favourite calm place in Cornwall’
a garish blue, labelled as someone’s childhood bedroom colour
a claret red, named after West Ham and red wine.

Yes, the last one was mine.

The website also has information on what colours are trending right now and a living scrapbook of images and ideas about different key season colours. You can also link your chosen colour directly to different social media outlets to help spread the word. So why not think of what a particular colour means to you and at the same time help a very worthy charitable cause.

EASTfield: The death of Stratford Centre?!

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 06:17 GMT

So the countdown is over, the major stampede for first day shoppers wanting to grab opening day bargains is done! When Westfield’s Stratford opened its doors earlier this month, I was part of the group of people hugely excited about never having to trek across central London to Oxford Street again!

Whilst it is everything you would expect, an Americanised mall (sorry, I know its Australian!!), large space, big brands and huge stores, it contains names you would never have placed with ‘Stratford’. I grew up being dragged to the Stratford Centre for shopping trips with my mum. A damp run down old indoor market that smelt not dissimilar to a fish mongers! The biggest names in there included a Boots, but generally were the likes of Mark One fashion (think polyester dresses for a £5!), and the notorious ‘in shops’ consisting of indoor market stalls.

Although that’s a very old picture, and it has since been re developed, to see the opening of brands such as Jamie Oliver, Searcy’s champagne bar, Armani jeans and Hugo boss is big news for the East end!

It’s exciting to be part of such a major change in the local area but also quite sad to think this could be the end of the Stratford centre.

Holiday Inn Running Vest and T-Shirt

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:25 GMT

Indigo printed these Fruit of the Loom super premium t-shirts and athletic vests in just 2 days for the Holiday Inn Running Club, hosted by Mo Farah, the recent 5000m gold medalist in the 2011 World Championships.

Keen runners got up early in London yesterday to join Mo for a run in London's Regents Park. The first 250 runners back also got a free breaskfast at Holdiay Inn, the official hotel provider for the 2012 Olympics and Paralymics.

Golden ERA

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:03 GMT

Hip hop's “golden age” (or “golden era”) is a name given to a period in mainstream hip hop – usually cited as being a period varying in time frames during the 1980s and 1990s said to be characterised by its diversity, quality, innovation and influence.

Indigo's client Mark, from Madina, has translated his passion for old school music with an amazing t-shirt, titled: “Celebration of the ‘Golden ERA' 1980s – 1990s“. Rio Ferdinand has also got behind the project:

The stamp design is printed on high quality premium t-shirts available in both organic and heather grey. They are available to buy in Small, Medium, Large and X-Large via Madina Shop

Click the tee pics to enlarge:

Barcamp T-Shirts

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:59 GMT

Indigo has been a fan of the tech community for many years and this shows in our client list, having worked with WordPress, MySpace, Microsoft and, more recently, with Spotify. So it is only natural we have decided to take more of an active role in the UK internet scene and we have decided to sponsor a number of BarCamps this year.

If you are not sure what a BarCamp is, according to Wikipedia:

BarCamp is an international network of user-generated conferences (or unconferences). They are open, participatory workshop-events, the content of which is provided by participants. The first BarCamps focused on early-stage web applications, and were related to open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats.

Specifically, Indigo Clothing is proud to be supplying t-shirts to:

BarCamp Apache Oxford (@barcampoxford)
BarCamp Media City(@barcampmcuk)
Tweetcamp II (@tweetcamp)
BarCamp Blackpool (@bcblackpool)
BarCamp London 9 (@barcamplondon)

Happy camping!

Gearing up for London 2012 t-shirts, hoodies and the like

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 04:49 GMT

With one year to go till the London 2012 Olympics there is certainly an increasing buzz surrounding the games, whether it is the anticipation for the first dive by Tom Daley or a new world record by Usain Bolt, there is certainly a sense that something landmark is around the corner.

The atmosphere at Indigo is no different and was recently helped by a printing job we did for the International Olympic Committee and their Youth Olympic Games. The design received was the logo of the games with the tagline ‘Spirit of Youth Olympic Games', which highlights how YOG DNA stands for an idea rather than any of the specific games.

For an order this size we do production in house and in so doing embody a little of that spirit by printing 60 t-shirts using a painstaking technique. This was done via the vinyl printing process which initially involved our ‘weeding' workhorse Adam etching out each of the logos individually after they had been printed out (see below).

Once weeded the logos were then passed onto Steph to heat press them onto the garments, and after 60 he had broken enough sweat to warrant it as an entry into the games!

We thought the garments looked great and were pleased we could do our bit for the Youth Olympic Games. It also gave us a taster as to what to expect from London 2012, hopefully this is only the start of Olympic t-shirts, hoodies and other merchandise that Indigo can do. Lord Coe said today in reference to the athletes that “the greatest tool you have is a well-stocked shop window”, and although we may not have a shop window we're certainly going to be well stocked and ready for the Olympic season.

LOVEtennis Children's Charity Day

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:46 GMT

With the summer having arrived and Andy Murray having completed a valiant effort at Wimbledon it is undoubtedly another year to sit down and reflect about the state of British tennis.

However if, like me, you fancy your own chances come 2012 (or 2020 more likely) then the guys over at LOVEtennis definitely have the right idea with their recent Rays of Sunshine Children's Charity Day initiative.

At the end of June a joint initiative between LOVEtennis and Chiswick Tennis Club, organised by Christian Gallan, resulted in an afternoon out for many lucky children along with respective family and friends. Indigo was of course happy to provide the printed t-shirts, and wishes Christian and his team the best of luck with their future endeavours!

Cambridge University Alumni Merchandise Summer Sale

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:10 GMT

Graduation may be done and dusted but that doesn't mean it was your last chance to buy merchandise. In fact CARO and Indigo Clothing are offering you the chance to purchase selected items at 50% off their original price. These items include:

- A Cambridge University Umbrella: a black telescopic umbrella with a cream edge and logo printed in dark grey.

- A Cambridge University Netbook Pouch: made from black neoprene for 7-10″ laptops with logo printed in dark grey.

- A Cambridge University Gym Bag: black with a U-shaped zipper and a large central compartment. Logo in dark grey.

Cambridge University Gym Bag

All items will only be on offer for a limited time only till August 31st.

Go to the Camalumni website for further details and make sure you take advantage of this great quality merchandise at half price!

Breaking into the fashion industry

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 02:54 GMT

Guest post by Hannah Lawrence at Inspiring Interns

Getting a job in the fashion industry is not just about your love of shopping (though that doesn’t hurt). To break into such a competitive industry is tricky business. Living for the style pages, having a monthly subscription to Wonderland and being able to spot a Vivienne Westwood design from a mile off is a good start but to really stand-out in an oversubscribed industry you need that little bit extra on your CV.

Passion for the industry is key

Each year 4,000 graduates from fashion-related courses compete for around 500 jobs. The sector is very competitive and challenging to break into without knowing someone on the inside or having some relevant work experience. An internship is a great way to gain valuable experience, make some important contacts and ultimately secure your dream graduate job.

The concept central to every meaningful graduate internship is that the experience should be primarily about learning so that, on completion of the internship, you will be a valued and informed employee. A fashion intern should be indoctrinated into the fashion world, and leave the experience with working knowledge of technical aspects of the subject and a clearer view of the industry.

The fashion industry involves many different departments, businesses and processes with a vast amount of exciting possibilities available. With such a large range of roles from fashion journalism, event planning and buying to designing, styling and photography, your choices are endless. If you are unsure of which direction to take then an internship can be the best way to test the waters without having to commit to a job.

Once you have got an internship it is important to make the most of the opportunity. To prepare you should familiarise yourself with the company and the industry. Make sure you volunteer for projects that interest you and show lots of enthusiasm. Make sure you keep a diary of all your newly required skills so you can update your CV. Doing an internship is a great chance to develop connections in your chosen industry so ask questions, network and build a list of contacts.

I asked fashion intern Amy Sillince about her internship experiences, she had this to say;

“My internship experiences have varied greatly from working in PR agencies, to covering the shows at London Fashion Week, to merchandising brand’s websites and writing blog posts for them. I think it is the skills, knowledge and contacts that I’ve obtained during my work experience that makes it worthwhile.”

“I know I’ve spent every spare minute of my time doing something productive, and I can finally see it starting to pay off. I’ve had the most fun I probably ever will; I’ve met some amazing people who have not only become useful contacts but also great friends.”

Inspiring Interns actively match graduates and employers, eager to create opportunities where there is potential for interns to earn permanent employment. We have placed over 900 interns at companies since we were established in January 09 with most of our vacancies based in London. We have a success rate of 65% of the interns we place being taken on permanently by the company they interned for and 93% of interns securing a full-time job within a month of doing an internship.

Bicycle Rider

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 05:27 GMT

(Photo: A Linus Bike)

This morning I'm going for a bike ride. To the post office. To post a postcard with Prince William, Kate Middleton and a Union Jack on it to my friend in Germany. I'll be dragging my pride and joy, with its squeaky front wheel, broken bell (ssssh, I don't think that's allowed), twice repaired brakes, replaced pedal, and wonky handlebars (this would be a good time to wish me a safe journey) out of the garage for my first ride of the summer. But before this momentous event happens, I had a chance to find some dreamy cyclewear that's best shared with friends. Let's become bike nerds together!

First up, it had to be a tee. This organic t-shirt available from CICLE details all the benefits of riding a bike. They don't make these for buses. My favourite benefits have to be that it ‘feels like flying', and ‘gives you legs of steel' – however, ‘quiet as a mouse' in the case of my permasqueek bike, might be up for debate.

The next one is lady specific. How cute are these pants? They're stretchy, tear proof, dirt just brushes off them, there's no need to roll up the old right leg, and best of all they're stylish – so there's no need to bring a pant change to your destination. Three cheers for Outlier.

London's famous vintage cyclists Bobbins Bicycles have developed a helmet that is not only functional but super fun. The Mr. Ben bowler hat helmet will protect your little head from dangerous falls, but proves that safety can be stylish. There's no excuses for not wearing a helmet now. Messing up your hair absolutely doesn't count.

Happy Riding!

Magnums & Swimming

Fri, 20 May 2011 04:47 GMT

We're just days away from June, just days, and the second J-beginning month of the year means one thing to me: it's officially summer. To jump straight into summer without pausing to see if the sun will shine, let's think about swimwear. This summer I will be tanning my mozzerella skin in the tropics of Manchester and Dublin, with a possible scorching weekend visit to a friend in Luxembourg with it's many famous beaches, that's right isn't is? The pretty coastal country? So what better way to get in the mood than by drooling over lucious bikinis and all-in-one swimming costumes that I can neither use nor afford? Maybe eating some ice-cream? On the list for afterwards. One of my favourite summer smells is the lycra, sea-salty scent of the bikini, drip drying in the bath and you can tell that these summer-licious swimwear pieces from Anthropologie will not only look a million euros, but they will smell oh. so. summery.

Anthropologie's 2011 summer collection reminds me of a Haagen Daaz advert, or that luxorious *crack* noise when a model goddess bites into a Magnum. You know what I'm talking about. I'm sure you'll agree that this swimwear range would look great accessorized with a double-choc magnum, and maybe a glass of Sangria, go on, it's summer – treat yourself!

This 1950s style swim suit would be perfect for those who aren't fond of itsy-bitsy. With a halter-tie and polka dots its classy, stylish and with a splash of red-lipstick and a pair of cut off denim shorts – there's not even any real need to go swimming.

Next up (again for the swimsuit lovers) is this modern and utterly sophisticated creation. The colour palette is clean and timeless. Wear with a floppy straw hat, factor 20 sunscreen & a classic summer read.

For those of us who are bikini ready, this combo from Anthropolgie's vast mix-and-match range is stunning. The black top is beautifully tailored (can you say I bikini is tailored? really?) with a curving shape and ruffle details, and the bottoms add a summery splash of colour and print. I'd wear this with classic brown gladiator sandals and this pair of Ray-Bans.

But until that day I will sit here with my ice-cream and watch workout videos from the 90s. Happy swimming!

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