Bill Selak » workflow

(ed)tech (bill)tech 005

billselak — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:11:59 +0000

In this edition of (ed)tech (bill)tech, I talk about workflow and connections. This episode took 30 minutes to create, from start to finish. The previous episode took 6 hours. I’ll explain how I just saved 5 1/2 hours. It’s all about the workflow!

Photo Workflow

billselak — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:29:48 +0000

I haven’t really talked about my photo workflow since I got my new MacBook pro. So, here you go.

Using Image Capture, I import the photos into a folder on my desktop named New Pictures. Image Capture allows you to run an Automator Workflow, so it also opens up HoudahGeo, Photoshop, and iPhoto. Finally the workflow asks for photos to view, then opens them up in Preview. I delete the rejects in Preview.

Next, I drag my new photos into HoudahGeo. It lets me easily and efficiently add geotagging info to my photos. I save those, and now my photos know where they were taken (in iPhoto, in Flickr, etc).

Typically, I revisit my photos, and delete ones that don’t impress me again.

Next, I edit photos one at a time in Photoshop. Recently, I’ve been using LAB mode. It preserves the histogram, and therefore the integrity, of the photos. I typically bump up the contrast (using a variety of ways) too.

I use 1001 to upload my photos to Flickr. It’s free, and easily lets me send new pics to my photo-a-day set and several groups.

The final step (on my local hard drive) is to drag the keeper photos into iPhoto. I like editing and geotagging the photos before iPhoto. If you edit in iPhoto, it creates an original file and a modified file. I think that’s lame. Also, I like having the geocoding info written into the exif data of the photo itself. The new iPhoto doesn’t do a great job of that.

Once online, I add every photo-a-day picture to its Flickr set, and then add it to my photo-a-day blog. To get it to blogger, I manually create a post. I use TextExpander to paste in all the info so you can see the picture, when I created it, leave a description, and the formatting is all set.

And this goes at the end of every post: Year 3, Day 106

Inbox Zero

billselak — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 06:07:31 +0000

I’ve heard vague mention of “Inbox Zero” in the last few years, but haven’t given much thought to it… until now.

At 43folders.com, Merlin gives you a handful of tips that help you get (and keep) your inbox down to zero. Here’s a few things that I am going to do starting now:

create way more filters so that unimportant emails (like subscriptions) skip my inbox
delete what I don’t care about (this is way harder than it sounds)
spend a few minutes each day maintaining my email account

If you want to join the club, read his first post on how to get to Inbox Zero, or , check out this 59 minute video: