After you're done taking pictures, do you ever think that your photos would maybe look better if some of them were foggy, while others were in focus? That type of thing creates what is called depth of field and it basically gives your photos a three-dimensional effect. It conveys distance, directs the viewer to the point the photographer wants to emphasize and it makes your photos look like they were done by a professional.

Now, you can do it too and it's really pretty easy. Without getting into the nitty gritty of aperture values, etc., you can use Photoshop to create your own depth of field in just a few easy steps. Let's go!

1.) Create a New Layer

Close-up landscape shots work best when trying to create a depth of field appearance. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is pick a picture you’ve taken in extreme close-up, where there is more than one subject. With the Photoshop effects, you can emphasize one subject (for example, a flower) and isolate the rest (like other flowers, branches, trees, etc). And here's how you can do it! Click on the Layers icon and a layers palette will open on the right hand side. Next, drag the Background Layer onto the icon at the bottom of the layers palette, titled "Create a new layer." That creates a copy of your original picture.

2.) Apply the Blur

Ensure your Background Copy layer is still highlighted and then click on the Filter menu at the top of the Photoshop window. Navigate down the scroll menu and choose Blur. Then choose Gaussian Blur.

3.) Set the Blur Level

Once you click on Gaussian Blur, you will see a pop up window that asks you to set the blur level. Type in 8.5 and click OK. You are now on your way to creating your very own depth of field!

4.) Set the Areas

To create depth, you now need to choose which areas you want to be blurred and the ones you want to be in focus. That's the main basis of generating depth of field in a photo. Keeping the Background Copy layer highlighted, click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the layers palette (it looks like a circle in a rectangle). A white rectangle will then appear on your Background Copy layer.

5.) Mask It

Masking allows you to reveal more or less of the layer underneath and it’s completely reversible. Go ahead and apply a Layer Mask using the Brush Tool. You should go for a soft brush that gives just enough to create the desired effect. Using a black color will reveal the image underneath, whereas a white color will erase any unwanted applied masking. With the Layer Mask thumbnail selected, use a black brush to paint over the areas you want to be sharp. During this process, if you want to move the image around without using the scroll bars, you can hold down the Spacebar and drag the canvas with your left mouse button.

6.) tablet viagra Reversing Your Mask

Sometimes you may end up applying a lot more layer masking than necessary. But, like I said before, this process is reversible. So, you could paint your mask with a white brush, change the color in your foreground palette to white and then paint over it again.

7.) Subtle Masking

Now, it’s all about blending the blurred and non-blurred areas together to make the viewer feel like your photo is real and not just some Photoshop tweak. To do that, simply apply a gray layer mask. Change your foreground palette to gray and then brush over the elements you think would still be in focus. You can zoom out every now and again to see if the masking has transformed the image the way you want. If you're satisfied, flatten your layers by choosing Layer, Flatten Image. Also, don’t forget to save your work!

In Conclusion

Detail is everything, so be accurate in your rendering of blur. In other words, zoom into the image a little more than necessary to make sure the image doesn’t suffer from unnecessary blurs in some areas and clarity in others. If some are very narrow gaps you need to mask, simply change the size of the brush you're using. All in all, creating depth of field is an easy process and with Photoshop's help, your photos will look as good as ever!

David Meyer ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 11 Apr 2008 12:45 BST

People should not be criminalised for the file-sharing of copyrighted material if they are not profiting from doing so, the European Parliament has recommended.

On Thursday the parliament voted through two reports on the cultural industries. Both contained amendments that were directly related to the ongoing argument between the content industry and internet service provider (ISPs). In this conflict, the ISPs are claiming that they should not have to disconnect those users who are persistent filesharers, but the content industry is calling for a "three strikes and you're out" rule in order to protect intellectual property.

The argument encompasses not only the prospect of users being "banned" from internet use, but also the deep packet inspection techniques that would have to be employed in order to catch them.

One of the reports urged the European Commission and member states to avoid allowing measures that are in conflict with civil liberties, human rights and the principle of proportionality. The other, which passed with a much thinner majority, specifically called for the Commission to "rethink the issue of intellectual property in order to assure solutions that are equitable for both big and small actors and strike a balance between the respect of intellectual property and the access to cultural events and content".

"[The European Parliament] underlines that on the battle against digital piracy, the solution should not be to criminalise consumers who do not intend to make profit out of their actions," a parliamentary statement read.

A spokesperson for the parliament told ZDNet.co.uk on Friday that, while the reports were recommendations and not legally binding, they summed up "what the mood is now" in Europe. "People downloading from sites — often they don't know that it's not legal, so they shouldn't [be criminalised] romania viagra if they're not trying to make a profit out of it," the spokesperson said, adding that people or companies who were trying to make a profit from the filesharing of copyrighted material should be criminalised.

However, another recommendation in the report called on the Commission to "do what is necessary to enforce and protect literary and artistic property rights, especially in the digital environment".

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) was quick to react on Thursday, saying that the European Parliament's recommendations on filesharing were "badly drafted [and] rushed through".

"If the aim of the report is to protect creative content, including in the online environment, we should be looking at all options available in the fight against copyright theft," said IFPI executive vice president Frances Moore. "Instead, this amendment suggested discarding certain options before there is even a proper debate."

However, IFPI has welcomed the news from France that filesharers of copyrighted material there may soon be thrown off the internet. The organisation called the French move "the single most important initiative to help win the war on online piracy that we have seen so far".

A spokesperson for the UK ISP Association was not available for comment at the time of writing.

FAE Systems,

Free Audio Editor

Misplaced passwords can render Windows systems useless. Minus a valid username and password, Windows boxes, and the data they contain, are essentially off limits.

The situation arises frequently. Users leave. Past consultants fail to document deployments. IT professionals quit.

Without documentation, accessing critical Windows systems and data becomes problematic. Despite numerous aspersions from the open source community, Microsoft’s NTFS file system delivers decent performance and security.

However, a free open source program often makes quick work of cracking Windows passwords. The Offline NT Password & Registry Editor presents a potential option for obtaining access to locked-out Windows NT-based systems. Here’s how you prescription viagra without can use it to recover lost passwords on your Windows systems.

The Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor is a free Linux-based utility, which as the name suggests, works offline. The code creates its own boot environment. Once you burn the ISO image to a CD-ROM, you’ll have a tool at your disposal for resetting Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista account passwords. You wont even have to know any of the current account user names or passwords on the system to make it work.

Instead, the utility detects user accounts and enables resetting the password to a value you decide. The application will even reset locked or disabled user accounts.

When you first boot the utility, you’ll see the screen shown in Figure A.

Figure A

The Offline NT Password & Registry Editor presents this menu upon booting.

Recognize The Dangers

As the name suggests, the utility edits the Windows registry. Further, the application edits the registry in a completely unsupported and warranty- and Microsoft-support voiding way.

In other words, the password-cracking software is used at your own risk. The Offline NT Password & Registry Editor could easily render a system unbootable. The unauthorized program could also destroy existing data resident on a Windows system.

This is especially true if the Encrypting File System (EFS) has been used to protect sensitive data. In fact, if you use it to change the password on an account that’s used EFS to protect files, it’s unlikely those files can ever be recovered.

But, left to no other option, you may find the software is just what’s needed to break into a system for which passwords have been lost or misplaced.

Driver Issues

Using the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor requires that you place the CD in the system in question and reboot it. Once the utility starts, its initial boot screen will appear. Users should pay particular attention to the warning that appears stating, “This software comes with absolutely no warranties! The author can not be held responsible for any damage caused by the (mis) use of this software.” Again, the utility should only be used as a last resort.

But faced with using options of last resort is often where computer professionals find themselves. When such situations arise, and all other means of accessing the data (including removing the hard disk from the existing system and attempting to recover its data from another system) prove fruitless, the offline editor may well work.

In my experience, the most common issue I encounter is the lack of driver support for SATA controllers. The Offline NT Password & Registry Editor is frequently updated with bug fixes, and driver support is among the regular improvements the utility receives. That said, you may encounter situations where drivers need to be manually loaded as you can see in Figure B.

Figure B

The Offline NT Password & Registry Editor attempts to auto-load drivers based on information it discovers while booting.

When the program fails to locate active Windows installations, you can attempt to manually load disk drivers by entering m at the provided command prompt. Upon selecting M, you’ll be presented with an extensive menu of potential drivers, as shown in Figure C.

Figure C

You can select the drivers you need.

The password-resetting software doesn’t always recognize installed hard disks, as can be seen here. In this case, the utility doesn’t possess the necessary drivers to connect to a RAID installation. It’s for that reason that the software reports disk partitions don’t contain valid partition tables in this image.

Resetting Passwords

Once driver issues are resolved (in many cases the program’s auto-detection works without any trouble), you can connect to the system’s registry and make the necessary edits. With the proper drivers, the offline editor displays installed disks and resident disk partitions. You need to select the specific Windows installation you wish to edit by entering its partition number at the provided command prompt as shown in Figure D.

Figure D

Select the partition with Windows on it.

The offline editor breaks into several steps the process of resetting Windows passwords. Step One involves specifying the Windows installation and partition.

With the disk and partition selected, the utility then prompts users to specify the registry directory path to edit. The default is WINDOWS\system32\config. In most cases this default entry is correct. You need only press the [Enter] key to specify the default value.

Next users are prompted to enter the task they wish to perform, as shown in Figure E. The offline editor provides three options: Password reset, RecoveryConsole parameters, and Quit. To reset passwords, enter 1 at the command prompt.

Figure E

Administrators should enter 1, for password reset, when prompted.

Upon selecting the password reset option, you’ll then be prompted to specify the action to perform. The options are:

• <!–[if !supportLists]–><!–[endif]–>Edit user data and passwords
• <!–[if !supportLists]–> <!–[endif]–>Syskey status & change
• <!–[if !supportLists]–><!–[endif]–>RecoveryConsole settings
• <!–[if !supportLists]–><!–[endif]–>Registry editor
• <!–[if !supportLists]–>Quit

To reset passwords, select 1 – Edit user data and passwords.

The utility will then display user information and password status. Specify the user account for which you wish to reset the password by typing the user account name and pressing Enter.

Once you specify the user the utility requests that you supply a new password as seen in Figure F. In my experience, supplying a blank password usually works best. The utility’s publisher also recommends blanking the password.To supply a blank password, type an asterisk (*) and press [Enter].

Figure F

The password-cracking utility prompts administrators to specify the user account and provide a new password.

Upon specifying the new password (or blanking it out), the program prompts you to confirm you wish to make the change. Type a [Y] and press [Enter] to confirm you wish to complete the edit.

At this point it’s tempting to reboot the system and attempt to log in to the user account with the new (or blanked out) password. However, one last step remains. You must instruct the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor to actually write the edits to the Windows system registry.

The process becomes less than intuitive here. To complete the process, you must enter the quit command. Typing an exclamation point [!] and pressing [Enter] quits the program. Previously in the process, [Q] is used to quit the process, so make note of the difference here.

After you do so, the utility will present a Main Interactive Menu. Several choices are presented:

• <!–[if !supportLists]–> <!–[endif]–>Edit user data and passwords
• <!–[if !supportLists]–><!–[endif]–>Syskey status & change
• <!–[if !supportLists]–><!–[endif]–>RecoveryConsole settings
• <!–[if !supportLists]–>Registry editor
• <!–[if !supportLists]–><!–[endif]–>Quit

To complete the password reset operation, enter [Q] to quit.

The program then prompts you to complete step four, which involves writing the edits to the Windows registry. To complete the password reset registry edit, type [Y] and press [Enter]. The program will write the change to Windows SAM file and display an Edit Complete confirmation. At this point you can reboot the Windows system and, if the utility worked as designed, log into the user account using the password (or blanked password) you specified as part of step three.

Linux to the rescue

As you can see, if you don’t have an administrator password for your system, all is not lost. The Offline NT Password & Registry Editor possesses the ability to penetrate locked out systems and restore access to user accounts and data. However, the utility can just as easily destroy a Windows system’s data. For that reason, the tool should only be used as a last resort (and only on systems for which you possess complete ownership and/or administrative authority).

Today, I have another great little utility for you called FreeCommander.

FreeCommander is a program you can use to manage your files easily and with only one screen! So, tell me, have you ever used Windows Explorer? It's a nice little tool to use to easily view the files and folders on your system, but it has one major downfall. With Windows Explorer, you only get one screen. So, if you want to drag and drop your files to different locations on your computer, you need to have two Windows Explorer screens open at the same time. Yuck!

Well, that problem is quickly solved by FreeCommander! This utility provides you with two side by side windows where you can navigate and drag and drop your files between the different directories on your system. I love this program. It makes moving the files on my system so much easier and much more pink viagra for women efficient!

Now, I'm guessing the dual window feature is enough to make you want this program, but there's another extra bonus. You can install this program on a flash drive! To do that, just install it on the flash drive and take it to any computer you want. You can then manage the files on any system, without having to install this program ever again. How cool is that?!

You can download FreeCommander for yourself right here. Just click on the fc_setup.zip link to get started. Also, while I'm talking about free downloads, have you had a chance to check out our new free Windows Vista and iGoogle gadgets yet? If not, you can do so right here. Enjoy it all!