Photo Diagrams is a free, easy to use tool that creates professional looking photo and lighting diagrams. Once created, you can either print the diagram or export it as an image.

If you have any questions, feedback or comments about Photo Diagrams, please post them in the comments below. Or, e-mail me at breyman [at] professionalsnapshots dot com.

Photo Diagrams On the Web

Click here to use Photo Diagrams right now.

You’ll need the free Flash Player 9 or above installed to run it correctly, though! You can download it free from Adobe here.

Photo Diagrams Offline

Need to create diagrams but aren’t always connected to the Internet? Download and install the desktop version of Photo Diagrams below.

When you use the Offline version, though, you won’t be able to export images. That piece requires help from your web browser. You’re still able to print them, though! If you install a PDF creator, you’ll be able to print your diagram to that for future use.

Please upgrade your Flash Player at http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer. If that does not work, you can download the application at http://www.professionalsnapshots.com/PhotoDiagram/AIR/PhotoDiagrams.air

*Will work on Windows and Mac.

Feature List

Photo Diagrams allows you to create fast, professional looking diagrams. Some of its features include:

• Quickly drag a dozen different photography items onto the diagram. Position and rotate them to your heart’s desire.
• Add custom notes to the diagram that allow you to update the text.
• Change the color of the background. Add or remove grid lines.
• Print the diagram to any printer installed on your computer. If you have a PDF creator, you’ll be ale to print to that.
• Export the diagram to an image for easy posting on your web site or use in other documents.

I’ve been offline for several days in a row - but with good reason! I’m working on an exciting project that I’ll be posting as a resource on this site very soon. I won’t say much about it yet, but I did post a screenshot above. Click on it for a larger version. It’s nearly done, so I should be back in the swing of things next week.

Now for some quick news items.

• I’ve been reading ProBlogger by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett. If you are a blogger or want to be, I highly recommend this book. It has tons of applicable, rubber meets the road information.
• Ran across one of the best lighting tutorials in a while recently. It goes into depth on how to shoot lots of different situations with just a white seamless paper background. It has tons of thorough explanation and pictures. Check it out here.
• Guessing photos. Jason at CanonBlogger posted a second ‘guess what it is’ recently. Check it out here. Also, another popular photo blogger, Chase Jarvis, posted another in his series, Room Without a View. He posts pictures of places he travels to and invites readers to guess where in the world it is. You can read more here.

That’s it for today - have a great weekend!

Work’s been a little crazy lately, so I haven’t been able to commit the time needed to piece together my thorough review of the G9. I’m getting closer, though, and expect to post it early next week.

In the meantime, here is some Friday news!

• CanonBlogger started an interesting new post feature - What is this? He posts a picture and asks folks to guess what it is. The first image is an interesting one! Check it out here.
• The F-Stop magazine recently posted a great article on a shoot of the Navy Seals. The photos are great - the explanation of the shoot is great - the interview of the photographer is great. You can read the full article here.
• Scott Kelby recently wrote a post that, as of this writing, has 166 comments! He asked for feedback on what folks want to see in the next version of Photoshop. The responses are very interesting! You can stop by and read them here. While you’re there, leave a list of your desired features!
• Does you use Lightroom? Do you like to save time? If so, check out Lightroom Killer Tips presets. Matt posts a new preset about once a week and they’re great. One of the most recent ones is meant to be used on every photo you import, saving lots of time. You can read more about it and download it here.
• John Nack, a source for insider knowledge on Photoshop, just posted his thoughts on the new Photoshop User Interface. He even shows a few screenshots and a movie demo of the new interface. You can read about it here.
  

Ran across this at one of my favorite sites - a really fun way to search on Flickr - a Photo Galaxy. The interface is intuitive, simple and creative. It works great too! Check out the site at www.taggalaxy.de.

Do you have Adobe Photoshop? If you do, there is a chance you purchased it as part of the Creative Suite package, which also includes Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat and depending on which suite, possible a few other programs as well.

Why purchase the suite? Price break. Each product can run around $700 and the suite comes in at a nice $1100 or so. So, if you purchase 2 of the programs, you’ve already paid for the suite. I know a lot of folks that end up getting the suite for that very reason - the value. They tell themselves that they’ll get around to learning the other progams (InDesign and Illustrator). But, in many cases learning another Adobe application becomes too burdensome.

Make the Suite Worth It

That’s where the InDesign user group comes in. I haven’t mentioned it much in the past, but I’m the co-chair for the Adobe sponsored Denver InDesign user group. I’m not an Adobe employee - just a loyal customer. I volunteer my time to plan and often present at these meetings. In fact, I just finished up our most recent chapter meeting. They are an excellent place to network and more importantly, learn InDesign. Topics range from beginner to more advanced features and can really provide insight into InDesign and all its great page layout capabilities.

Don’t let the Suite go to waste - learn InDesign today. There are local chapters all over the world, with many in the U.S. Check out the InDesign User Group web site today for more information!

Adobe is one of the premiere creators of creative applications, creating everything from Flash to Photoshop to Dreamweaver. The good news? Adobe just released the beta versions of several of their products for testing on their web sites. One of the things I found most interesting was to see the slightly updated user interface. They seem to be sticking with the panel idea (which I really like), but have made it shine a little more.

You can download Dreamweaver CS4 (to create web sites), Fireworks CS4 (to create web graphics) or SoundBooth CS4 (editing sound files) from the Adobe web site here. The downloads will work on a trial basis (2 days), or you can input your CS3 licenses to unlock them for a longer period of time.

Also, John Nack posted an inquiry for anyone that would be intersted in trying the new version of Bridge. Check it out here.

And, last but definately not least, if you haven’t already downloaded it, you should check out the beta version of Lightroom 2. Lightroom is a great tool for managing, editing and outputting large numbers of digital photos. You can download a 30 day trial here. Or, if a friend who owns Lightroom 1 sends you an invitation, you can install a trial that runs through August. If you don’t know anyone that has Lightroom 1, drop a comment in and introduce yourself. We can become fast friends via e-mail and I’ll send you an invite!