With the recent arrival of the Apple iPad, there’s been a lot of discussion about the future of book publishing and the role of the e-book. An article in the New Yorker recently described the intense competition between Apple and Amazon in this market, as each company has built its own e-reading device (iPad vs. Kindle) and distribution system (iTunes vs. Amazon.com), but are still trying to figure out their relationships with publishers and authors.

Honestly, I’m not sure why you even need a separate e-reader. I don’t have a problem with the format of the news and magazines available online, and it’s been possible to download the Kindle app on your iPhone (and most smartphones) for free since last year. It looks great, it’s easy to use, and they have a huge library behind them, so there are thousands of free and cheap $.99 books available (current bestsellers usually cost $9.99).

The downside is that you can only read your book on the Kindle app or the Kindle device… which is bullshit (what am I going to do with all my books when Kindle goes the way of the cassette or beta video??). Download the Stanza app as well. It’s also free and easy to use, although it has a much smaller library. But it allows for many different e-book formats (although not DRM protected content like Kindle books), bestsellers seem a little cheaper, and you can find self-published authors and indie publishers.

But I’m going off on a tangent… my point is that the future of all these media devices is consolidation, right? I can’t be bothered to carry around a iPod and a phone anymore, so why would I want to add a big ass Kindle or iPad? I’m sure this just shows my ignorance, but I’m not buying this argument. I don’t want any more junk in my house. I want fewer electronics, not more! Really, I’m just waiting for the day when I can implant my computer into my head, Borg-style. This guy is already working on it.

I have no idea how my laptop screen gets so smudgy. For years I have been battling the dirty screen, going through boxes of those LCD cleaner wipes that you can get at office supply stores. Until last week, when I discovered I had run out. And I had a meeting. A meeting that I had to bring my laptop to. And I don’t live anywhere near an office supply store. Google to the rescue! I not only was able to find out how to make my own cleaner, I have now figured out how to save myself trips to the dreaded Office Max and some precious dough.

What you’ll need:

• Distilled Water: available at any drugstore, distilled water doesn’t have the minerals that can cause streaking like tap water
• Rubbing Alcohol: it’s most likely in your medicine cabinet anyway
• Spray Bottle: most drugstores sell these in the travel section, this is what you’ll store your solution in
• Measuring Cup: you’ll want a 50/50 combination of distilled water and rubbing alcohol, depending on the size of your spray bottle, measure your equal ounces in the measuring cup then transfer to the spray bottle

To use:

• in order to avoid scratching your screen, dust first to remove any larger particles
• spray your cleaning solution onto a non-abrasive cloth rag (like an old t-shirt), rather than directly onto the screen
• use a circular motion to clean screen

And there you have it! Easy and cheap and your laptop and TVs will thank you!

Qik Video: I just discovered this beauty, which allows 3G users like myself to take video with their iPhone, and I couldn’t be more excited. Now I don’t have to have 3GS envy! Suck it, Apple! Haven’t had a chance to use it much yet, but I’m sure the beau will be getting plenty of videos of the kitties taking adorable naps or batting a piece of string very soon.

Shake It Photo, Camera Bag, Photo Filters, Hipstamatic, Fantasy Lens, Polarize, and Camera Flash: My myriad of photo filter apps have accumulated over the year plus I’ve had my iPhone. The ones I find myself using most often are Shake It Photo and Hipstamatic, but they each have unique enough features that I can’t seem to pick one to get rid of. Fantasy Lens is a little different in that instead of taking your photo and turning it into a Polaroid or whatever, it takes photos of faces and puts them in great works of art, holiday or season-appropriate scenes, and the like. Silly, but fun. Especially after a few cocktails.

I Am T-Pain: I read about this one here! You sing into it and it auto-tunes your pitchy mess into a hit made for Cher. A party favorite.

A Free Level: As its name suggests, it’s a free level. Just select the app and hold your iPhone horizontally to ensure your paintings are hanging straight. I’ve actually used this app more times than I expected to.

Google Earth: Thought it would be cool to access Google Earth from anywhere. Still haven’t used it once, but at least I know it’s on there…

FS5 Hockey, Labyrinth LE, Morocco, and Hangman: Time-waster games I downloaded, the beau played on subway trips a few times until he got bored of them, and I’ve never opened since. I am on the look-out for games that are actually entertaining that I’ll want to play more than once, so let me know if you have an suggestions.

Pandora: Since I rarely use my iPhone for music, and when I do, I’m often on the subway with no signal, Pandora has not yet been used. Seemed like a good idea at the time…

Qlock Two: Saw this on a design blog and just had to have it. It’s a very cool clock display. Except that you have to open the app to see the time, which is already at the top of your screen. Makes no sense.

Voice Memo: How cool is the idea of leaving yourself voice memos? “Tomatoes, tempeh, toilet paper, and toothpaste.” Except that you don’t and you won’t.

Remote: This is supposed to turn your iPhone into a remote for your computer. I wouldn’t know if it works because when I’ve wanted to use it it hadn’t been properly set up and I gave up and haven’t had the need for it since.

Drinks Free: A free library of cocktails… Why not? I’ve used it once or twice to come to the aid of a bartender, but have books at home that I would generally trust more. Might come in handy if I ever feel like ordering sweet shots with names that sound vaguely sexual, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

FourSquare: I’ll try any new techno-fad for a bit, especially if it might help my clients, so I recently signed up for FourSquare. I’ve only remembered to check in somewhere once, but maybe I’ll get better at it. Or maybe I won’t.

Color Snap (Sherwin Williams), Color Capture (Benjamin Moore): You’re supposed to be able to take a photo of something with your iPhone and then these apps will give you the corresponding paint color. Love the idea of this actually working, haven’t yet found anything to analyze and have no desire to take up any painting projects anytime soon. Oh, but when I do…

Shazam: Ever hear a song and you want to know what it’s called or who it’s by? Turn on this app and point it at your speaker and it’ll tell you… Or not. It’s never actually worked for me when I’ve wanted to know, only when I already knew and was testing it. Oh well.

The Weather Channel: The weather app that comes standard with the iPhone is crap. This gives you much more detail, as well as forecasts. I find myself using it often.

Urban Spoon: A pretty good app for finding restaurants in the area. Have mostly used it when out-of-town and generally decided on going somewhere we passed that afternoon.

That’s What She Said, iHandgun, Zippo Lighter: Total useless time wasters. But if you ever need a button that says “that’s what she said” in different voices and intonations, you know where to find it.

Wifi Track: Finds wifi signals and tells you which are password protected and which are the strongest. Helpful if you’re in a non-3G area.

Yum Yum: Vegan recipes with amazing photos. Still have never cooked anything out of this app, but I could if I wanted to…

Crosswords Light: I love my crossword puzzles and was so excited at the idea of not having to carry my books on the train with me anymore… Until I actually tried to complete a puzzle. It’s no fun on the teeny tiny screen—way too much scrolling. I’m going to upgrade to a paid crossword app, maybe something from the New York Times, and hopefully I’ll have better luck.

Bump: Other people with this app and an iPhone should be able to “bump” iPhones with you to exchange contact information. Haven’t bumped yet.

Yelp, Fandango, Mint.com, The Weather Channel, eBay, Facebook: Because it’s easier to access an app than to go to the webpage.

Kick Light: A totally non-interactive New York City subway map. Actually very useful for figuring out alternative routes when the conductor announces that there’s a police investigation at the next station. It’s just a map, but every New Yorker needs to have a subway map on them.

WordPress: I can write OMFGstyle articles on-the-go! And I have.

Kindle: If you have an iPhone, there’s no need to buy a Kindle—just download the (free) app and *viola* your iPhone’s a kindle (and back-lit at that)! Love the idea, just have never actually used it. I think I’ll probably stock up on Kindle books next time I travel so I don’t have to pack books to weigh me down. Although I’ll still need magazines for the beach!

Veggie Passport: As a frequently traveling vegan, having an app that literally spells out my diet restrictions in 33 different languages is a great idea! Again, I haven’t had the opportunity to use it (yet), but I have the feeling I will!

Okay, so now that I’ve showed you my apps, you show me yours: What’s on your iPhone? What life-changing app am I missing? What will keep me occupied and entertained on long cab rides home? I look forward to adding to the mess that is my iPhone. And maybe, just maybe, I’ve helped you add to yours.

After the holiday season, you undoubtedly have some great party pics you want to show off!  In this tutorial I will show you how to use basic Photoshop tools—including Brightness & Contrast, Hue & Saturation, and The Burn Tool—to give your pics a little kick!

Find an image file you wish to use, and open Photoshop.  The best type of picture to follow this tutorial is one that is a portrait of a couple people, with a dark background setting.

I will be using a picture of myself with my boyfriend, who was awesome enough to grant me permission to use this photo! (Thanks!)

Prep! Get all set up before we start:

Open Photoshop, then go to Window and make sure that at least Options, Tools, & Navigator are all checked off.

Now go to File > Open to open your image file.

The following tools are all basic and simple to use, and can be used in many ways.  Try these steps to start, but continue experimenting with them in other scenarios!  Let’s continue…

Hue & Saturation:

Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation (or hit command-U).

This will open the Hue/Saturation setting window:

Often pictures only need a minor boost.  Feel free to drag the different levels from -100 to 100 and back again to get a feel for what they do, but most of the time only moving these a slight amount can create enough visual impact.

For my image, I notice that our skin tones look a bit washed out, so Im going to boost the Saturation UP.  Move your Saturation level to +3 or higher until you get a little more intensity!

Once I adjust my saturation I feel the skin tones look a bit too red, so Im going to select Reds from the drop-down box, and Im going to shift the Hue of my red tones to +3 so they turn more golden.

You can use this setting to reduce or adjust any overwhelming hues, or maybe you want to punch-up some colors!  I almost always boost the saturation to bring out the color.  Wearing a bright pink dress?  Select Magentas and push the Saturation up a few notches!

Here is the new view of my image after adjusting Hue & Saturation:

Brightness & Contrast:

Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast, and again you’ll get a settings window.

Brightness will lighten all of your light tones, while Contrast will do both lighten your lighs, and darken your darks.  I use Brightness restrictively until I see what level of Contrast I will be using.  You don’t want to adjust your Brightness, then go to Contrast and find that you completely blow out all of your bright areas.  For my image I acutally shifted the Contrast UP to +42 and my brightness only up slightly.

The Burn Tool:

The Burn Tool is used to darken areas.  You use the mouse and click over areas of your image just like using a paint brush tool, though it exposes or darkens the hues that are already present in the image, instead of laying down new color.

The Burn Tool is located on the Tools palette, and looks like a hand in a drawing position, as shown. (If you dont see this shape in this location, click once and hold down your mouse button here.  That area of the tool palette will reveal other tools, and the Burn Tool should be one of them.)

In the Options palette (Usually at the top of your screen) you can select if you want the Burn tool to affect Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights.  You can also select how intensely you want these things darkened.  For my image, I want to darken the dark areas of the background and create a nice face into my image, so I select Shadows, and set my exposure to 60%.

You can also now right-click (command-click) and set your brush size.

Now I gently paint in my background and stroke by stroke come in closer to my main image.  I really love when it leaves subtle glaring lights in the background, showing that this is a party scenario.  Here is a Before & After view of the background I am darkening:

I can also now lower my exposure down to 15 and use the burn tool on my face to warm up the skin tone.  I right-click and make the brush size large enough to cover my face, and click once over the whole thing.  I also then make the brush size very small, and go over my eyelashes to make them pop as well.  Before & After views:

Last, I notice that the position of my shoulder looks a little strange, did you notice that?  Ew, stop looking at it!

So, Im going to increase the exposure back up to 50, and Im going to slowly trace in from the background, making the back part of my shoulder face into the background.

You can also use this feature to blacken out anything in the background you dont want to see – something on the wall, a sleeve, a random drunkard who strolled into your shot – as long as the hues are already dark, just black them out!

The Crop Tool

Lastly, im going to use my crop tool, to crop my image to what I feel is an appropriate size.  I would prefer my image to be a square, so that’s what I’ll do.  Select the Crop tool from the Tools palette.

Now, click and drag the tool to the desired cropping.  Release the mouse button, adjust the size of your crop lines as you see fit, and hit Enter.

Now you can see my final image compared to how it started. Here are my Before & After:

A few quick easy steps, and it looks more punched-up, and is ready to add to my online photo album!

Remember when I wrote about the best iPhone case ever? And how it was discontinued? Well, they didn’t bring it back, but they did improve on it and they released something even better than the matte gold case—a glossy “chrome” gold (and black and silver and bronze) case! Sweet. Get it at InCase for $35.

Oh—and know someone with an iPhone? Maybe you can get them one of these shiny little babies for the holidays. Just a thought…

Ever wondered why some of your friends have mix CD cases that look much better than yours? A lot of it has to do with their fancy fonts.

Dafont.com is my personal favorite free font website. There are a lot of options and some of them are just silly, but among the plethora of over-embellished graffiti letters there are some real gems. Take an hour while enjoying some VH1 Celebreality to browse all the options and download your favorites and you’ll be whipping out snazzy invites in no time.

How to install your new font on your Mac:
Inside your Library folder is a folder called fonts. After you have downloaded the font you want, drag and drop the .TTF file into the font folder. The next time you open Word, Photoshop, or the like your new font(s) will appear as an option in your font menu.

How to install your new font on your PC:
Open the start menu, go to settings, then control panel, then the fonts directory; in the fonts directory go to the file menu and click “install new font.” Choose the font(s) you downloaded. The next time you open Word, Photoshop, or the like your new font(s) will appear as an option in your font menu.

Photoshop like a Pro: How to “Powder Puff” a shiny face!
Using the clone tool to get rid of shine, sweat, scars, zits, and more!

If you are like some of my friends, you are artistic, tasteful, and have access to Photoshop, but just don’t know exactly what to do with it.  This tutorial uses slightly more advanced Photoshop tools, and relies on the user’s artistic sensibilities.  This isn’t your typical “how to crop a photo” tutorial that any monkey can do.  This is something useful in a dozen ways that you can develop some serious skills with!

In the same way that powder makeup diffuses the light on your face to eliminate shine, we are going to “powder puff” a photo using the Photoshop Clone tool.  This tool, with certain adjustments, can be used to cover scars, zits, and so much more!

Dancing-machine and fellow OMFGstyle contributor, Laura Miller, has so graciously allowed me to use a picture of her from a night we went dancing in London.  After a night of barhopping in the rain, and hours of dancing, the only thing this super-cute picture needed was a little shine relief!

First things first:
Open Photoshop, then go to File > Open to open your image file.

Now go to Window and make sure that Options, Tools, Navigator, & History are checked off.

Step 1: A Crash Course in Cloning
The clone tool lets you take a sample of pixels that are in one location on an image, and reproduce them in another place. Select the CLONE tool.

The Clone tool works in two parts:
First, hold down ALT (option) and click on the area you want to reproduce.

Second, move your mouse somewhere else and just start clicking!

You will start to see the area you ALT (option)-clicked on is being reproduced where you are now clicking. As you move your mouse around, the area you sampled from moves as well.

It’s that simple. Play with it and get a feel for how it works.

Note: If you click without first ALT (option)-clicking on your source, you will get an alert telling you so.

Step 2: Hey! This is important!
In a photograph, often the ‘shine’ is pixels that are blown-out to white or near-white color because light reflected straight back at the camera lens.  Using the clone tool, we’re going to sample normal skin-colored areas that are right next to the shine, and plop them down where the shine is, covering it like makeup.

But first, we’re going to adjust some features of the Clone tool:

Opacity
First of all, your Clone Tool should be selected.
Near the top of your screen, in the Options bar, set the Opacity to about 30-35%.  This makes our sample sheer, hence more natural and blending.

Brush Diameter
Right-click (command-click) on your image and adjust the brush diameter to the right size for where you want to take your sample from. You’ll need a smaller size to get in corners of eyes, lips, and the tip of the nose. Too big and you might get a piece of eyebrow in there, and I don’t think you want to make more eyebrow.

Hardness
It’s best for the edges of the Clone brush to be soft so as to avoid hard lines and circular shapes when you are cloning skin.  Right-click and adjust the hardness setting to 15-20%. As you perform cloning on different kinds of images, you may need to adjust these features, but for now this is a good starting point.

Step 3: Let’s DO this.
Now that the settings are correct, ALT (option) – click and take a sample of natural-colored skin just next to the shiny area.

Move the cursor over to the shiny area and click, click, click, ‘powder-puffing’ shine and delicate lines away. Try to stay aware of where your sample area has moved so as to avoid copying unwanted areas.

Try another area where you have to right (command) -click and adjust the diameter of your brush such as the Lips, tip of nose, etc.

Step 4: Undo-ing Mistakes
Now that you’re clicking and cloning away, you might get a little click happy and go too far!  To see all your past moves, and un-do them easily, go to Window and make sure that History is checked off.

In the History window you can click back several steps, to undo (and re-do) any moves you’ve made. If only real life were this easy!

Save your finished file, File > Save As.

Open both your original and your retouched photos and compare your handy-work!

ORIGINAL IMAGE:

FINAL IMAGE:

Step 5: TIPS and TRICKS
Is a mark or zit not covering completely?
Adjust the diameter size to just cover the zit.  Turn up the opacity, but keep the hardness level lower.  You’ll be putting down more color just atop the zit, but keeping a soft blend to the edges of your brush. (its like placing a dot of heavy concealer blended around the edges)

Is your re-touched face looking too fake?
Try lowering the opacity more, and using smaller sample areas so the differences you’re creating are more subtle.

Is the face being retouched starting to not look like that person anymore?
The pattern of light and shadow on each person’s face is created by the natural contours of the face. Change too much and they may start to not look like themselves anymore!  Again, working with smaller areas and delicate levels of change can help keep things looking good!

When searching Photoshop tools that affect lightness and darkness, I found that the BURN tool can darken areas that are too bright?  Why not use this?
There are two other tools in Photoshop that deal with lightness and darkness. The Dodge tool lightens areas, while the Burn tool darkens them.  While the Burn tool may then seem like the logical tool to use for a bright shiny face, don’t be misled.  The Burn tool will darken white pixels, toning them down into darker shades.  This may only result in leaving dark splotches on the face being retouched.  The Clone is the way to go, by softly reproducing skin’s natural tones.

Instead, use the Burn tool to darken background shadows and create contours along the sides of people’s arms and legs to make them look thinner…Perhaps a tutorial for another day!!!

Polaroids, with their saturated colors and blow-out flashes, have always been a favorite of mine. So when, a year and a half ago, it was announced that Polaroid film would no longer be produced, I shed a metaphorical tear and reflected on the fact that technological progress can sometimes be a very, very bad thing. Sure, we’ve all moved to a digital photo world where every ball game or vacation consists of hundreds of snapshots, most of which will never be looked at again, much less printed and framed. Digital cameras with their LCD screens that immediately show you the photo you’ve taken have replaced that Polaroid draw and maybe in some ways became the new Polaroid. But, for lack of a better or less whiny rebuttal, it’s just not the same as having that plastic photo developing in your hands. It’s just not the same.

Well, thanks to some thoughtful Aussies who have acquired a Polaroid film factory in the Netherlands, the fantastic film may once again be on drug store shelves. Hey, ya!

In the meantime, enjoy virtual Polaroid with iPhone apps Polarize and ShakeItPhoto, both which, in agreement with my personal taste for the Polaroid aesthetic, make your digital iPhone snapshots look a whole lot better.

Next year a jetpack should be available for sale to consumers. A jetpack! Finally all my dreams are coming true.

So here I am ready to write a post to the stylish readers of OMFGstyle.com about my iPhone case that I get a million compliments on a day.  It’s functional, it’s lasted, and it’s GOLD.  So I go to the manufacturer’s website to get the link so you can check it out or maybe even get one for yourself and lo and behold–it’s been discontinued!  You can still get the same style, but the gold version is no longer listed.  Don’t they know how rad it is to have a gold iPhone case?  Don’t they know gold is my signature and how many strangers have stopped me to comment on the radness of said gold iPhone case?  Man, I wish I’d bought a couple more; I just never imagined it wouldn’t be there next time I looked…  I scoured eBay and no luck finding the same one.  There are gold iPhone cases available on Amazon, but they look cheap and the reviews are not positive.  What’s a girl to do?

Well, anyway, the gold isn’t available, but the case itself is still pretty great, and like I said, it has held up well and protected my iPhone along the way.  So in the hope that we send them enough business that they realize their mistake and rerelease the gold case, GO TO INCASE AND GET YOURSELF AN IPHONE SLIDER CASE (but you might want to tell them you would have preferred the gold one if they still had it).