Bernskiold Media » Tips

Thursday Newsmix

Erik Bernskiold — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:30:47 +0000

With the recent change of blog format here on the site (as you may have noticed) it’s gotten more focus on articles and informative things during the week but I definitely wanted to preserve the newsposts which have been moved to once a week, on Thursdays. Here are the newsmix for this week:

Freelance Folder has posted a really great article about how you should position yourself as an expert in your field. It is certainly something important and doing it will definitely help you business. Check it out!
When using AJAX to develop websites you can do some cool effects. Antonio Lupetti over at the woork blog has listed a couple of different ways to do auto-complete fields, all really nice.
ProBlogger has an article on a topic that we can all use help on at a very fitting time for myself. It’s some tips on writing articles, papers, documents and the likes. It’s a really important topic that we’re constantly faced doing and these tips do remind you to get down and dirty with your text!
Canon released a bunch of new cameras today and I’ll try to cover them a bit before Monday. There is a Swedish photo trade-show coming here in my city this weekend that I’m going to be attending and blogging partly from as I get my hands on some cool things, hopefully these new Canons.

Weekend Website Tip: ProBlogger

Erik Bernskiold — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:48:47 +0000

As a blogger you are constantly trying to improve the way you target your audience and come up with new ideas. ProBlogger is a site that has got many different articles on the different aspects of blogging that is written by Darren Rowse, a full time blogger that’s really become famous, for among things, ProBlogger.

If you are on the lookout for tips on how to be a better blogger and some tips in general that you can use to help your blogging audience. ProBlogger is really an amazing resource for that. Darren is doing a great job with the site so take some time and visit it and read some now over the weekend to get you ready for another blogging week!

Integrating Twitter with your WordPress Blog

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:00:30 +0000

If you are a Twitter addict like myself, you’ll probably want to make sure all of your followers get notified when you have a new blog post but want to save the hassle from tweeting it yourself every time. You may also want to gain some new followers by putting the recent tweets in your blog sidebar.

Automatically notifying Twitter when you publish a post

This is really simple thanks to a neat little plugin available. Using Twitter Tools you can set it up to automatically post a tweet saying that you have a new blog post. It’s really that simple and it works with scheduled posts as well, notifying Twitter and posting the tweet only when it is getting published. Twitter Tools can also post a full digest post, based on all of your tweets, at specific intervals that you set up.

Displaying tweets in your sidebar

This is a functionality that you also get with Twitter Tools. When you install and activate the plugin, you can go and activate a Twitter Tools widget that displays your latest tweets in the sidebar and comes with an array of different options.

Tweetbacks – Trackbacks but from Twitter

If there is an integration invention that I consider super cool, this would be it. When you promote your blog over at Twitter, a lot of the conversation about the post happens there. With the help of the Tweetbacks plugin for WordPress you can either display those Twitter comments in the regular comments list or in a separate tweetbacks area. Talk about exciting integration. I’ve got this enabled here on the blog since a couple of days ago and it is really good!

Twitter is a great platform for both promoting yourself and having great conversations. Being able to bring it to your blog and your blog to it, you can get much more out of the platform and make new connections.

Weekend Website Tip: Freelance Switch

Erik Bernskiold — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:33:26 +0000

This weeks website tip is a really great site if you are a freelancer like I am. The Freelance Switch website is jam-packed with amazing content that will leave you reading for a long time and probably also change the way you are working quite a bit. The site has articles posted regularily as well as a great forum for discussion in regards to freelancing.

On the site is also a great podcast that has grown to be perhaps my favorite one right now: Freelance Radio. It is a bi-weekly podcast where they talk about different freelance related ares of business etc. and gives really good advice. It’s really changed the way I’m working quite a bit the past time.

I’d suggest adding Freelance Switch to your feedreader and enjoy it every bit! It is really a great site!

Graphic Design Friday

Erik Bernskiold — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:00:03 +0000

I’ve got some late tidbits for you this Friday:

The Design Cubicle has a wonderful post listing twelve common Photoshop mistakes that are actually really true and really good. Some of these are some pretty good gotchas that you can most definitely learn from or be reminded of. Go over there and read the article. I’m sure you’ll learn something good!
Here’s a cool font site that is all about professional free fonts that you can use for commercial projects. The site is called Font Squirrel and has quite a few fonts that you can download and use for any of your projects.
If you have a hard time figuring out what you should charge then check out the FreelanceSwitch Hourly Rate Converter. You’ll be asked to fill out a form that will then income you need for different scenarios.

I’m at work with some pretty cool articles and projects right now and that’s a lot why it has been slow this week. Keep looking and you shall get even more goodies.

My Favourite Podcasts I’m subscribed to!

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:11:57 +0000

Surprisingly enough, I get this question a whole lot and thought I should answer it today. People do want to know which podcasts I subscribe to. I am right off going to say that the interest is mutual. I’d love to hear about new great podcasts to watch/listen to within my interest fields. Leave your favourites in the comments if you want to suggest some!

Photoshop User TV

I started watching this a couple of years back and I’ve been hooked since. It’s as crazy as it is good. It’s made by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and hosted by Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski and Dave Cross. They each have tutorials each week, have other professionals as guests and generally goof around!

Layers TV

Produced by the Layers Magazine (and the folks at NAPP), Layers TV is hosted by Corey Barker and Rafael "RC" Concepcion. They bring great tutorials every week on everything about the Creative Suite and is a lot more serious than PSU TV mentioned above. Really good stuff and they also bring brilliant guests on a lot as well.

This Week In Photography

A great photography audio podcast talking about a diversity of subjects every week. Great topics and great hosts make for a great listening time. Discussions are about anything in the photography industry and filled with a good rate of humour as well.

Nikonians Image Doctors

I’ve been listening to this one for over a year now and for a Nikon shooter this is a superb podcast. They discuss photography techniques based at the Nikon shooter so a lot of Nikon gear constantly pops up. Still for any digital photographer, this is a good podcast to subscribe to.

How to Shoot Fireworks

Erik Bernskiold — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:21:27 +0000

Fireworks is a lovely thing to photograph but it may seem hard at first. I’ve been doing it for the past three years now and really feel that I’m getting the grip around it! I hope it helps to clear up some stuff if you are unsure since I’ve gotten a lot of questions about it this year, and that you go out and try it tonight, it is really cool and fun.

How To?
First off dial in Manual mode and set the aperture to f/11 or f/13 or something in the likes then set the shutter speed to Bulb, usually indicated by a B. Now when the firework explode, press the shutter and then when the burst has exploded and is wearing off, you let go of it and you should have a working picture of a firework. If you wish to capture many in one frame, just keep it pressed and make sure the frame is pitch black until the next firework goes up. Adjust the aperture as fits between the shots.

Equipment?
It’s best to have a camera that you have full manual mode on but special firework modes can work, although best result is given with a full manual mode. It’s really necessary to have a tripod because you’ll be working with second long exposures that you simply can’t hand-hold. Also learning from own mistakes, never extend the center column on the tripod, even if it feels like you need to, I did it last year only with a good sacrifice in quality in the images.
It also helps if you have a remote release to minimize camera shake further as well. I think also a lens in the zoom range of 18-55 or similar works really well because it allows you to get close enough in the sky (if you are close) and also to get some foreground in there as well if you want to, without changing lenses, changing lenses is a no-no, you just won’t have the time.

Position and Preparations
Get to the fireworks display in time and make sure that you know where they are going to be shooting from and set up in a good place where you can see the display and if you want also include some foreground such as the water or something alike. Also make sure you have clean memory cards that are formatted and that they work, also make sure to have your batteries charged and working! Don’t forget to take something warm to wear if it is cold outside either, and good gloves!

I hope this little article can benefit you and it is really fun to photograph fireworks! Questions; post them! I’m going to be here most of the evening apart from the time when I’m going to be out photographing the city fireworks.

Monday Video: Making a quick PostIt note in Photoshop

Erik Bernskiold — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:54:33 +0000

Tuesday Tidbits

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:05:15 +0000

Check out the site of one of a great friend of mine, Design by Firgs. There’s a lot of great downloadable content over there for free and great thoughts and articles as well. It may be a new site but don’t let it fool you, it’s a super site!
If you are having troubles picking a domain name for your website then maybe you could use the help of a domain name generator. It’ll help you find a great available domain name. I came across this little top five list of domain name generators made by Linda Chardbourne. Check it out!
Pixelmator have released an update bringing the app to 1.3.1. It’s basically a bug fix and general improvement version but it has a few really good improvements like better colour management.

5 Tips to make you a better presenter!

Erik Bernskiold — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:35:33 +0000

I do quite a lot of presentations, being at school and teaching software, talking to clients etc. The chances are pretty high that you as well have had to present something to a person or a group of people. If you don’t do this very often it can be a nerve-wracking task. Don’t be alarmed if you have to do it, rather embrace it and think of it as a good thing instead, even though you are at the point of a mental breakdown. Everything you do when giving a presentation isn’t the most important thing, regardless of how that might seem.

1 – Don’t over prepare yourself!

All the time you are thinking and hearing that you should be prepared for everything. That is however not the same as preparing for everything. I like to look at it this way: When I’m about to give a presentation, my mind is set on the fact that anything could happen while I’m giving it. I’m not at all preparing for what to do if certain events happen that is out of my control.
Also, don’t write everything you want to say down. It’ll just make it very boring to listen to. It is better to have some things be cut off than trying to remember exactly what you wanted to say.

2 – Memorize and use key phrases.

Despite what I just said above about not trying to remember exactly what to say, you should still have some key phrases that you know and use. This way you will have something for your listeners to instantly remember clearly. You can draw a parallel to the speeches of for example Winston Churchill who in his speech “We shall fight on the beaches”, repeatedly used the phrase “We shall fight” over and over again, giving all listeners something to focus on and remember. Use it wisely!

3 – Use your body language to your advantage.

I know a lot of people who when they give presentations, stand very still, don’t move and hold their arms very still as well, clinching to their sheets of notes. Not only does this give the impression to the audience that you aren’t confident but it also hurts you as well. Moving your arms a bit and walking around the “stage” will not only make you seem more comfortable but it will also increase the blood circulation in your body and make your voice hold up and don’t go stiff.

4 – Use small sheets of notes!

You need notes in one form or another. If you are giving a power point/keynote presentation you might take advantage of the built in notes field to have your hands free of any paper, allowing you to move around better. If you aren’t, then just keep small handy sheets of notes (preferably written on the computer) in large writing that’s easy to see from a distance. Make sure these note sheets are indeed small and that you’ll be able to change them nicely with your hands when you move onto new subjects. Watch a TV show where they are using these little papers to see how they use it.

5 – The pauses are part of the show.

Just about the worst thing I know in presentations are when people go on and on and on all the time without giving the listener or the audience any time to think about what they hear. The pauses are as important as the words you are saying as it gives the audience a little time to relax their ears and ponder what you just said. It also keeps the presentation from becoming boring.

I know I said it was going to be five tips, but I have one extra which is a pretty useful one after reading these five. Practise these at home in front of family or friends in a serious, yet not as serious environment. Forget them when you are actually giving the presentation. If you’ve been working on it, some will already be in your body and don’t worry, it’ll all come to you with practise, so don’t chicken out of any opportunity you have to present, it’s really fun!