Project: design and build interior design, home staging website with content management system.

Overview: Design and develop a unique website for Designed to Move that functions similarly on desktops, laptops and mobile devices. The website features full screen dynamic slideshows. The content management system allows for easy updating of all content.

Project: design and build investment firm website with content management system.

Overview: Design and develop a unique website for investment firm that functions similarly on desktops, laptops and mobile devices. The OpenGate Capital website features full screen dynamic slideshows and scrollers.  The content management system allows for easy updating of all content.

Project: design and build the Official Joe Weider Website with content management system.

Overview: Develop an official website for legendary Joe Weider, allow for easy gallery creation and updating, youtube video integration, custom site search functionality. The website also shows the same on mobile devices and has ipad and iphone swipe capabilities.

There is a lot of talk about flash websites, and much of it is just plain wrong.  As with any technology, there are advantages and disadvantages.  Flash is a browser plugin, it offers extended features than the normal browser.  Flash is pre-installed on most laptops and desktop machines and is a free download.  According to Adobe, it is installed on 98% of computers, but I suspect this does not figure into mobile devices and tablets.

Flash is NOT compatible with iPads or iPhones and we do not expect this to change.  Apple’s Steve Jobs has a very strong stance that the flash player is a resource hog on iOS devices and has a tendency to crash. My own experience shows that there can be issues, particularly when developers do not know how to design, animate and program.

Does this mean flash is dead?  No way.  Flash is still utilized by many of the movie studios, as well as many web developers.  Flash can do things that no other tool can do.  For websites, a full flash site gives the user a unique experience with transitions, animations and even sound (which is abused very often).  From the server side, flash can stream video and real-time video chats.  It is incredibly powerful.  There are many other solutions for video, and these methods are being implemented all over the web.  HTML 5 is the solution, but it does not have near the penetration that flash has – YET.  It will soon.

Our flash websites are now built with alternative content for non-flash users (iphone, ipad, etc).  This way the majority of users will get the experience and no users will be shut out of content.  This also allows for ideal search engine optimization.

Visit the home page of our website to see a subtle use of flash website design.

As a designer, I love to find inspiration from the great outdoors.  I’m fortunate to live within a day’s drive of some of the most extraordinary places in America.  I recently spent some time with my family at Yosemite National Park, and my boys had to endure me clicking around every corner.  The photo above was taken in the morning at Vernal Falls.  It is a composite of images, taken vertically and stitched in Photoshop.  I utilized a Canon 5D Mark II with 17 – 40mm lens, at 17mm focal length, no filter and f/8 at 1/160sec.  This image has not been doctored in any other way, the rainbow is natural, the grass is really that green, and the sky that blue.  I love the power of the water.  The hiker trudging up the trail gives us a sense of perspective and the silhouetted trees and cliff face provide a natural frame to the photograph.  To view more of my photography, visit my nature photos website.

There is a great technique called “focus stacking” that allows you to combine multiple photos to achieve a larger depth of field than possible with one shot.  This technique works great with product and landscape photography.  You must shoot on a tripod so that the frames all align, and I have always utilized matching manual exposures (same exposure on each image).  In my case study, I photographed a 1″ piano that is going to auction.  To photograph such a small piece requires a macro lens and with my 100mm macro lens, the depth of focus is really shallow, impossible to get the entire piece in focus with one shot.  The shot above, is the final result of 9 images, all take from a tripod, matching exposures, but slightly different focus points.

In my first image (shown below) I started my focus point at the closest corner of the piano.  Notice the depth of focus across the whole image, only the front corner is in focus.  My subsequent shots, I focused further and further down the piano, until my final photograph had the back leg in focus.  I did not post the other 8 images so as not to clutter up the page.

Then I merged the images in photoshop with the following actions:

Step 1)
File > Automate > Photomerge (browse and select your images)
– Layout > Auto
– Uncheck Blend Images, vignette, geometric

Step 2)
Select All Layers in layers palette

Step 3)
Edit > Auto Blend Layers > Stack Images
– leave seamless tones and colors checked.

That’s it.  You can then leave the layers as masks or flatten the image.  In this case I flatten the layers and then extract the background and add a shadow to give the photo a little extra love.  You can use any number of images in a stack.  I definitely did not create this technique, but picked it up along my photography journey and thought you would benefit from it as well.  Let me know if you have success with this technique.

Visit my architectural and product photography website for more portfolio samples.

EB Performance : Web Design

Project: web re-design with custom e-commerce cart and new content management system.

Overview: Give this protein bar company an exciting new look with interactive features and a simple purchasing mechanism. The site features web 2.0, html 5 slideshows and a content management system. The website also shows the same on mobile devices.

Lauren Weisberger : Web Design

Project: web re-design with new content management system.

Overview: Give this Los Angeles based company a timeless, yet modern feel. We utilized old parchment and postcards and converted some imagery to sepia tone to give it an old style museum feel with integrated modern web design. The site features web 2.0, html 5 slideshows and a content management system. The website also shows the same on mobile devices.

Automobile Driving Museum : Web Design

Project: web re-design with new content management system.

Overview: Give this Los Angeles based company a timeless, yet modern feel. We utilized old parchment and postcards and converted some imagery to sepia tone to give it an old style museum feel with integrated modern web design.  The site features web 2.0, html 5 slideshows and a content management system. The website also shows the same on mobile devices.

There are many factors that influence your position in search engine results. Page content has become perhaps the biggest variable. The term “content is king” is applicable and true. Search engines are looking for valuable content. If your web page has valuable content, it will receive higher position when users search for that relative content. Your content should reflect your keywords.

Page content is just one of the variables that search engines utilize in their algorithms.