For those of you who were wondering why Apple chose PNG’s as the screen capture format, you’re not alone. I’ve thought about it quite a bit, and I think the reasoning is a quality/size issue. I suspect that Apple decided on PNG format for their screen captures because:

A) The format employs a lossless compression algorithm meaning your images will not have compression artifacts
B) Due to the compression algorithm employed, the filesize is quite small for images and graphics
C) The DEFLATE image compression scheme employed is non-patented, thus creating a good, cheap solution that is better than the patented LZW data compression scheme, and
D) PNG supports alpha transparency, and is thus used for many of the OS’s key transparency features for AQUA, Apple’s GUI

“Ok, but how do I change the default PNG format to JPEG in Screen Capture” you ask? Well, look no further. Here is how you do it, step by step. (It’s really simple).

First of all, fire up Terminal, Apple’s Built-in Command Line interface application. You can find this in: /Applications/Utilities/Terminal. Once it is started up, copy and paste ONE OF THE LINES BELOW.

As you can see, you can choose between multiple formats, including PDF, PNG, JPG, and TIF. If you prefer, you can use JPEG instead of JPG, and likewise TIFF instead of TIF. Feel free to tinker with it. I have Leopard installed, and this worked perfectly the minute I pasted this into Terminal. I have read that you may need to restart for the changes to take effect, specifically in Apple’s Tiger OS. However, this was not necessary in my case.

***ANOTHER QUICK NOTE: If you are having issues getting this to stick, AND you are getting a prompt in Terminal saying “PERMISSION DENIED”, then you may need to use SU (SuperUser), or SUDO if you have not created a Root Password and enabled Root Access. Here is the code you will need to use if you encounter a problem related to permissions:

Good luck!

Posted in Photography | No Comments »

Thanks to Brett & Ashley for the fun times. We had a blast downtown Salt Lake City, and then we went out to Antelope Island to finish up the day-long shoot. I love how much variety there is for photography in this state, one of the main reasons I love being a Utah Wedding Photographer. Be sure to check back soon for the wedding day images that we’ll be posting as well.

My name is Ron Adair and I’m a professional photographer based in Utah. I love photographing high energy weddings worldwide. If you are looking for a Utah Wedding Photographer, or a professional to photograph your day elsewhere in the world, be sure to visit our contact us page.

Posted in Couples - Engagement, Extreme Session, Photography | No Comments »

Check out these fun times up in Park City, down at The Malt Shoppe in Provo, and out on the west side of the world. Craig and Emily were a blast to work with, and I think I can safely say we are all pleased with the final images.

***CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO SEE IT LARGER

Check out my website, or look around on my blog for more posts on Utah Wedding Photography or Utah Children’s Photography.

Posted in Couples - Engagement, Extreme Session, Photography | No Comments »

At ADAIR Creative, we love what we do. We love most the opportunity to stand out and be different, and we search for these opportunities each and every day. Recently we had the incredible opportunity of working with Michael Brooks over at Settebello Pizzeria in Salt Lake City, UT. We had a tremendous time, and really came out with some sweet images of his place. Being there all day, we certainly worked hard. But we weren’t the only ones. His team put nearly 500 pizzas (probably more by the time the night was over) through their custom made wood burning oven which they imported straight from Italy.

We photographed pizza after pizza being dressed, cooked, and served - and somehow, even after seeing it hundreds of times, the process didn’t get old. So how did they do all that in one day? Well, as I’m sure Michael will tell you, it’s many many factors, but to name just a few…It doesn’t hurt that they cook the pizzas at a whopping 930 degrees Fahrenheit, or that they have a native Italian gentleman by the name of Matteo rolling the dough by hand. Their menu is simple, uncluttered by the typically infinite number of dishes, allowing them to really focus on what they do best: making pizza. But maybe most interesting to me was the fact that the pizzas they serve don’t take fifteen minutes, or even five to cook. No, the special Settebello Pizza comes out of this stone oven ready to eat a mere 45 seconds after it’s initial entry of the wood fired furnace. WOW! Fourty-Five seconds! Keep it in for much longer than that, and you’ve got nothing more than burnt Italian toast.

So, here it is. My interpretation of their process, their people, their culture, their clients, and their passion for one thing: Making True Italian Pizza. I present a few of the many images from a Day in the Life of Settebello Pizzeria:

Curious to see more images of Settebello Pizzeria? Click Here, or here for the motherload.

***CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO SEE IT LARGER

Curious to see more images of Settebello Pizzeria? Click Here, or here for the motherload.

Posted in Business, Day In The Life, Photography | No Comments »

I haven’t told you this before, but I’m a sucker for good quotes. I love em, and can’t get enough. I happened across one of my most cherished belongings years ago as a twenty year old - an old leather bound book published in 1910 called Old Friends Are Best, which contains hundreds of some of the finest quotes I have ever encountered. These come from some of the greatest poets and writers we’ve known, such as Longfellow, Emerson, Dickens, and Twain, with plenty of wonderful additions from less known intellects as well.

I’ll share a few quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson tonight, but before I do, I want to tell you that if you ever want to make my year decade, or if you’d like to extract from me ten times your actual costs, then present this book to me in good condition and the leather bound edition. You won’t bring me more humility or gratitude with any other earthly gift, I think.

And on to the words:

And probably my favorite of the evening is the following:

Posted in Education, Great Quotes, Personal | No Comments »

I thought I’d share these images of Roman we just finished. His parents wanted some shots while he was still an infant, and they were wise enough to want something unique. Then again, they’ve always had good taste. Though we specialize in multiple facets of photography, we really love photographing real people in real life most. This is just one example of our work creating unique Utah Childrens Photography.

If you like baby photography, then check out our previous blog post on our recent labor & delivery photography session. It was a scream!

***CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO SEE IT LARGER

Posted in Kids - Infants, Photography | No Comments »

Yesterday my wife told me about a news report she heard on the radio which indicated that an ad had been placed on Salt Lake City’s KUTV.com with the intent to sell a young 6 month old baby girl. I was curious, so I Googled the story, and pulled up a few of the reports. I became even more curious when I saw the cached version of the ad on Google, so I did some more digging. I did some reverse lookups on the number listed, searched for the name, and used some other tricky Google techniques I’ve learned along the way to dig up this ad containing THE VERY SAME IMAGE OF THE CHILD, though this ad is placed on a classified site in Indianapolis. Interestingly enough, the ads are placed only one day apart from each other, though the name Pauline Burgman, or "REV Pauline" isn’t used in the second ad.

I eventually found numerous ads that listed the same contact phone number, and different ads using the same phrasing. What does it all mean? Well, it looks like the same people that want you to help them smuggle Michael Nkomo, only son of Kenneth Nkomo out of Zimbabwe for an exchange of 20% of the $18.6Million that has been secretly stowed in two metal boxes are at it again, only this time they are trying to scam you out of your money in exchange for a child, or maybe a yorkshire terrier.

In addition to the 419 connection, I’ve found two other cases of babies being posted for adoption, though the details seem sketchy at best, and the fact that there are other ads with the exact same photos or names but differing details casts a shadow of doubt on the entire thing. See the first example here and here, and the second one here, here and here. Yikes!

Of course, nobody wants to take such a gross incident lightly, and hopefully this is not the case of a real attempt to sell a real child. However, given the evidence, it appears that the ad is nothing more than a dubious attempt to dupe some unsuspecting (if not dopey) parents out of some quick cash. I guess only time will tell…

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment »

Wow! What a great experience. I just finished post production on a few of the shots we got at our first labor and delivery shoot that wasn’t the birth of my own kids, and it was truly an exquisite experience. The emotion in the delivery room was beyond words. We at ADAIR are so thankful to Dave and Laurel who graciously hired us to capture this incredibly wonderful (and personal) moment in their married life together. We welcomed Lincoln, their first child, with much joy and even a few tears. Here are the photos we chose to send Dave and Laurel as a teaser. It’s crazy to think that these images represent the first seconds of little Lincoln’s life, moments that otherwise would have forever been forgotten, fleeting moments. Wow.

***CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO SEE IT LARGER

Posted in Labor+Delivery, Photography | 2 Comments »

This is a quote from C.S. Lewis which I found pertinent to our current state of education:

Posted in Education, Personal | No Comments »

Well, it’s official. We’re moving to Utah, and it’s going to happen FAST! We’ve been talking for a while now, and we have decided it’s time to take the plunge and try Salt Lake/Provo on for size. We’ll miss the sunny beaches and friendly ward here in Santa Barbara, and we’ll definitely miss the great weather, especially in the dead of winter or stroke of summer. But alas, there’s too much calling us home to our native state, so we must go.

Keep your eyes tuned here for any updates, progress reports, and summaries as we make the transition, as well as any new opportunities we encounter. You can also check out my commercial advertising photography portfolio to see any updates that I make to my current body of work. If you know someone who you think would benefit from my style of advertising photography or my skills with web design and development, please drop me a line over at my online résumé.

Wish me luck as I venture out to become a prominent Salt Lake City Advertising Photographer.

Posted in Personal, Photography | No Comments »