That’s what this post is for.

So on to the nitty gritty details.

Start with the RESTful Authentication Tutorial:

Follow the README to install, but READ THIS FIRST to fix the ExceptionLogger error Then follow these instructions to fix the OpenID plugin error Make sure you get your recaptcha keys for the config.yml, otherwise failed login attempts will bust your application. Fill out the config & database.yml files accordingly, run your database create & migrate rakes, fire up the server and make sure it looks good. Cool? Let’s move on: Define the objects Let’s begin by pointing out what, exactly, we’ll be building this application around: Galleries of Photos that Customers can order with a private Account provided to them by an Admin who can manage the galleries and review the Orders, which are also available to their respective customers. I will go through how to set up the following models like so:

• Galleries
  • has_many :photos
  • belongs_to :customer
  • title
  • acts_as_urlnameable (pretty URLs)
• Photos
  • belongs_to :gallery
  • paperclip attachment: image
• Customers
  • username, password, full name
• Orders
  • has_many :line_items
  • belongs_to :customer
• Line Items
  • belongs_to rder
  • quantity, size, price

So let’s build the Galleries first:

Then edit the Gallery model:

That’ll be fine for now. Let’s add the Photos model with paperclip image attached:

Now edit the Photo model as such:

You should read all about the paperclip gem if you need more info on this model. Basically, we’re telling it to allow image attachments to the Photo model. Customers can be the RESTful Authentication Tutorial User model, just need to add a couple things here:

Let’s worry about Orders and Line Items later. We’ll have to add a cart, too. I’ll cover it, but it is all derived from Agile Web Development with Ruby on Rails Third Edition

Run your rake db:migrate and confirm all is well. Delete the Galleries layout file so it uses the application layout.

Let’s go see http://localhost:3000/galleries and play around. Add a gallery and then go to edit it. This is where we’ll add SWFUpload. Follow Jim Neath’s advice for this.

You’ll want a photos controller:

The create method I use is:

I had no luck getting Jim Neath’s session fix working, so I put skip_before_filter :verify_authenticity_token in the Photos Controller. Bad? Yea, probably. I haven’t found a better way yet.

Add this code to app/views/galleries/edit.html.erb:

Which leads you to add the following partial: app/views/photos/_image.html.erb

We’ll worry about the destroy link later, let’s integrate swfupload. Download the latest copy of SWFUpload. Copy flash/swfupload.swf to public/flash (make directory first). Copy swfupload.js & upload.js (in Jim Neath’s demo app) to public/javascripts. Copy Jim Neath’s swfupload.css file to public/stylesheets. Copy Jim Neath’s images/icons folder to public/images.

Add this code to app/views/galleries/edit.html.erb:

Yep, a lot is going on there. Reload your galleries/edit page and see if it’s still working

Ok, so this gets you to a functioning online photo gallery. Up next will be adding user accounts, a shopping cart, ordering options, customers & paypal integration. Stay tuned!

For now, please find the source here: http://github.com/joemsak/proofs_package

And for help on your project, visit us at http://www.simplifyadvance.com

1. Fill the frame

When you’re taking photos, get close to your subject. If you have a lot of background and scenery around them, they will look small and you’ll lose the focus of the picture.

Don’t do this:

Do this:

Do this

2. Composition, Composition, Composition

What is composition? It’s the placement of the subject. It’s the story the photo tells. Composition is everything. Even with the best camera in the world, poor composition is going to ruin any photo. And even with the crappiest camera in the world, great composition will enhance any photo. Composition has a few aspects: Rule of Thirds, Simplification, Symmetry. There’s more but we’ll focus on the simple ones.

Rule of thirds means splitting your photo into thirds, vertically and horizontally. Place your subject in one of the cross-hairs of the imaginary lines. This makes the photo a little bit more interesting.

Simplification can mean a few things. It can mean having a solid background with a single object (a balloon with a blue sky), or singling out one subject out of many, like a bird in a flock. The idea is to make sure your subject is obvious. Nothing else in the picture should distract from it. And in the case of simplification, it helps if nothing else is in the picture anyway. Try mixing simplification with Rule of Thirds.

Symmetry is an obvious one. Weight your picture the same across an imaginary dividing line. That line can be horizontal, vertical or even diagonal. It could be 2 lines, too, with a repeating pattern.

3. Don’t add things to your subject’s head

I’ve seen this in a lot of pictures. Poles, trees and other things jotting right out of the subjects’ heads. It’s easy to avoid and makes the picture that much better.

Don’t do this:

Do this:

Do this

Sorry for the lens flare (the rainbow effect). I didn’t see it on my screen when I took the picture. But you get the idea. Don’t let things come out of peoples’ heads.

4. Lighting & Exposure. Not too dark, not too bright.

When you take a picture, make sure the lighting is accurate for the scene. If you’re at a concert, obviously you want it to be dark, but still exposed enough to be interesting. If you’re outdoors, you don’t want your picture all washed out, and you ESPECIALLY don’t want them to be dark. So try to find a well lit area, and don’t use a flash outside. If your subject is wearing a hat, you can use a flash to fill their face with light, but turn down the intensity. Most point & shoot cameras give you this option.

Don’t do this:

Don't do this

This isn’t horribly underexposed, truth be told, but it doesn’t really represent how much sun we were getting.

Do this:

Do this

Move your subject to a better lit area, keeping the sun to the side. If you shoot with the sun in the back, you could end up making your subject dark. If you shoot with the sun out front, you can get people squinting their eyes and possible overexposure. Also, you can see I got closer for this shot and filled the frame. It really turned out great. The dog is a bit overexposed, but I was using an iPhone so there aren’t any options. You should be able to decrease your Exp. Comp. on a digital point & shoot. I also should have had Andrew move forward to cast a shadow on Bandit.

5. Take a lot of photos, showcase only a few

In the digital age, this is an easy but still forgotten technique. Take a lot of photos. Take hundreds of photos. Richard Stromberg at The Chicago Photography Center teaches that if you can get 1 good shot in a roll of 36, you’re doing well. (cit. Matt at 37signals) So get out there and shoot, shoot shoot!

But when you get ready to display your work to others, pick only the very best of the best. If you have 100 photos, choose 5 to 10 of the very best pictures. This is practice in restraint and taste. Pick the 5 photos that best tell the story of the day. It’s hard, at first, to let go of shots that you’ve grown attached to for one reason or another, but after a while you will be able to critique your photos and prune out all the crap. The more you practice shooting and editing, the better you get at both! In fact, the more you practice editing, the better you get at shooting.

That’s all I have on this subject. Good luck and have fun out there!

You can see it here

I noticed lightbox doesn’t load until this flash loads. Bah.

It was a huge success, resulting in 512 pictures. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed making it.
Here’s how I did it

• I prepared my macbook by creating a managed account that could only open Photobooth
• I set my Macbook Pro atop my closet shelf
• I plugged in a USB mouse
• I used a ton of duct tape to put the mouse on the shelf’s hanger rack, and covered up the optical sensor
• I wrote “Press Here” on the left button
• I positioned the cursor on the “Take Picture” button
• I hung up a sheet around the area with tape
• I placed a lamp inside the enclosed area
• I encouraged everyone to use it

And the Results
Here are a couple of my favorites from the night:

Go see the rest of my 512 photobooth pics