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Go Crazy With Photo Booth

June 9th, 2007 by steveblue

Fun with Photo Booth Alternative Uses, Security Camera, iSight

By now almost every Mac user has played around with Photo Booth. It is so easy to get caught up in a photo session with friends making funny faces and cool poses. If we look into Photo Booth a tad further, we can find many more alternative uses for it…

Take Great Snapshots

Here is some helpful advice on posing for the iSight from a professional photographer. Find a light source that is not the monitor and position myself facing the light. Alternatively, turn off all the lights in the room, turn your monitors brightness up, and use it for your light. Using a lamp is helpful, since dramatic shadows look great with some of the effects. Position your body at a slight angle to the iSight, meaning do not look at it straight on. This is particularly useful for people who wear glasses, as demonstrated below. The human body at an angle is also more flattering. Stay still when in low light conditions. The flash provided by the screen is rather soft, so be still when a picture is being taken or it might come out blurry. Also, sit at least 1 ft. away from the screen, but still fill the frame. Don’t leave space above my head. Look below at the differences between a poorly shot photo and a decent one, and that’s not even my good side!

Bad photo: Looking straight on.

Positioning my body at an angle to the iSight

Good photo: Positioned at an angle.

Connect a Better Camera

For those of us with a built-in iSight camera, we have the option of connecting a miniDV camera with Firewire. Just plug in the smaller end of the Firewire cable to camera and the fatter end to the computer. Open Photo Booth and ta da! Photo Booth now uses the Firewire camera instead of the iSight. Now I have more versatility with camera placement and lighting, and should have a better lens and manual control over the picture quality.

Upload Photo Booth to Flickr!

FlickrBooth screenshot

FlickrBooth is a simple plug-in for Photo Booth that will upload snapshots directly to Flickr! FlickrBooth can be downloaded here.

Create a Live Security Camera

Did you know you could be watching your room from the iSight while you are gone via email? Using Automator, I can run a script that makes a new mail message in Mail, takes a photo with Photo Booth, attaches that photo to the email, and sends it to my email. In iCal, I can schedule a recurring timer to run the Automator script however often I want. Take a photo every minute to catch someone tampering with your Mac. Here is a simple script below to automate taking a photo and sending it via email. The only downside to this script is that iPhoto must be open for it to work.

Automator Workflow that uses the iSight as a CCTV security camera

Is anyone out there up to the challenge? Create an Automator / AppleScript workflow that hides Photo Booth during this process or even displays an alternative screen! Be featured on iUseApple.com! Ask Steve Blue for more details.

Change the Photo Booth Effects

I found this awesome article on macosxhints.com that explains how to change the effects in Photo Booth. I must be a little Quartz Composer savvy to make this work. I successfully made this work, but remember to back up the original files so Photo Booth can be returned to it’s original state!

Discover If the Apple Remote is Working

I can point the Apple Remote at the iSight and see the light inside turn on when I press a button. This is handy if I think the Apple Remote is running low on battery or is malfunctioning.

Use Photo Booth to see if the Apple Remote Needs Batteries Works

Automator, Cool Mac Tips, OS X Tiger 10.4, OS X Tips, Quartz Composer, iPhoto 1 Comment

AppleScript 101: Open 3 Applications At Once!

June 7th, 2007 by steveblue

Sometimes I find myself opening the same three Applications when I turn on my Mac. This post shows how to automate this process with AppleScript.

To really know my Mac, I should really get to know AppleScript. According to Apple, “AppleScript is an English-like language used to write script files that automate the actions of the computer and the applications that run on it.” AppleScript is the foundation of Automator.

I chose this example because it will be extremely useful when used with Spaces, a new feature in OS X 10.5 Leopard that allows me to organize Applications into separate desktops. It’s like have four monitors in one! I can even tell my Mac to run it whenever it turns on, giving me touch free access to the Applications I always use.

Below is an AppleScript that tells three applications to open, tells Firefox to visit Gmail, opens Adium, opens and hides another application called Transmission. You can insert your own applications and even substitute Safari for Firefox.

Open Script Editor in User:Applications:Applescript:Script Editor

Type in the following, inserting the names of any Applications you want to open:

Tell AppleScript Get URL Hide Open Applications

In Script Editor, Click Run.

Tada! All the Applications open!

Now, we must save our little Applescript so we can use it in our everyday actions…

Select File: Save As. Name Your Script something like Open Apps.

Save As to User:Library:Scripts.

To be able to click on the AppleScript via the menubar:

Open Applescript Utility found in User:Applications:Applescript:Applescript Utility

Applescript Utility

Check Show Script Menu in Menu Bar. A little black script icon now shows up in the top right of the screen. Click the Script Icon and you will see your Full Screen script, probably at the bottom. Go here whenever you want to view a movie in fullscreen. You’ll notice a bunch of other scripts. If you want to tidy up the Script Menu, go back into the Applescript Utility and uncheck Show Library Scripts.

Advanced OS X, Apple How To, AppleScript 101, Automator, Intermediate OS X, iUseApple 4 Comments

Browse my iPhoto Library Anywhere

September 25th, 2006 by steveblue

Here is a cool Automator trick that displays an iPhoto Browser anywhere in OS X.

Import Photos from iPhoto Anywhere in OS X

Open Automator

Select iPhoto in the library browser.

Drag and drop Ask for Photos into the well on the right.

This action opens an iPhoto Browser. I can also open the pictures I select in the browser window in Preview so I can edit them.

Select Preview in the library browser.

Drag and drop Open Images in Preview into the well, underneath Ask for Photos.

Browse Pics

Select File: Save As Plug-in. Name the plug-in Browse Photos and select Script Menu as the type of plug-in.

Now, if I click the script menu in the menu bar and select Browse Photos my iPhoto Library appears. If I don’t see a script icon in my menu bar, then follow the instructions at the end of this post. I can now drag and drop images to any application. Maybe I want to send a few pictures to a friend. I can just drag and drop the pictures I want into my email in Apple Mail from the browser. If I Hit Choose in the browser, Preview will open the image so I can edit it.

I found this tip on Automator.us: http://www.automator.us/examples-07.html

Apple How To, Automator, Beginner OS X, Intermediate OS X, iPhoto Add a comment

Backup Your Mac for Free! Automator to the Rescue!

August 23rd, 2006 by steveblue

Someone along the way in your computer experience must have told you to Backup your computer or risk losing all your precious pictures, videos and documents. Many programs have been created to help you backup your computer. Most of them cost money. This is where Automator comes to the rescue!

If you haven’t started using Automator yet, this is a good place to begin. I will first need to download a plugin for Automator called BackUp Folder to make this work.

Download Backup Folder from the Automator Actions website.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/backupfolder.html

Unzip Backup Folder.zip

Drag Backup Folder.action to the MacintoshHD:Library:Automator folder.

Open Automator.app in your Applications Folder.

Open Automator

You’ll notice Automator is split into three sections. The Library / Actions Palette is positioned on the left. Your workflow is on the right. A small text box rests on the bottom left that explains what each action does. A run button is on the top right and search bar is on the top left. You can search for actions here, instead of browsing through the Library.

Many different applications can be used with Automator. These applications are called “scriptable”. For our purposes of backing up data, we are concerned with the Finder. So, in the Library listing, Select Finder. You’ll notice the Actions now have changed to Finder specific actions. Each action has a rating bar to the right of it. These rating bars indicate the level of relevance a particular action has in the next position of your workflow. Because we haven’t placed anything into our workflow yet, Automator thinks a lot of these actions are a good place to start. Drag the action called Get Specified Finder Items to the workflow.

Soon we will add the Backup Folder action. But first, we need to understand what the Backup Folder action needs to work. Backup Folder needs two folders input into it. The first folder we specify will be the folder you wish to backup. I wanted to backup my Pictures Folder to my External Hard Drive. Click the Plus Sign in the Get Specified Finder Items Action and Select a Folder you want to backup.

Get Specified Finder Items

Your window should now look like the one above.

Open the Finder

Make a New Folder in the place you want to backup the first folder. Name the new folder something relevant. I recommend backing up data to another hard drive. In my example, I backup the Pictures Folder to my External Hard Drive called Candy.

Return to Automator.

Two Folders

Click the Plus Sign in the Get Specified Finder Items Action and Select the Folder you just created (the folder you wish to backup to).

Search for Backup in the search bar.

Click and drag Backup Folder to your workflow, under the Get Specified Finder Items action.

Backup Folder

Do you see how Automator chained these two actions together? Now you have a workflow! These two actions are all we need to backup a folder.

Now you are ready to save your workflow. If you select File -> Save you will merely just save your project file in Automator. We want to integrate this workflow in how we do things in OS X. Select Save as Plug-in in the menu bar.

Save As Plug-in

I named my plug-in “Backup My Mac” but you can name it whatever you like. Select iCal Alarm from the drop down menu. Click Save.

iCal Alarm

iCal Automatically opens. The greatest part about backing up data is you can set it up and forget about it. Drag the iCal entry to a downtime where you will not be using the computer. On the right, Select Repeat and set it to the interval you wish to conduct your backups.

Return to Automator.

Click Save in the File Menu. Name your Backup Project and save it.

There you go! You just created your first backup using Automator!

Want to backup more than one folder at a time? That’s a piece of cake! Just go back into your Project File in Automator and chain together another set of Get Specified Finder Items and Backup Folder underneath the first set and so on.

Unchain Actions

Notice how Action #3, the Get Specified Finder Items Action is not linked to the first set of actions? Make sure you Click the Files/Folders on the top of each Get Specified Finder Action and Select Ignore Results From Previous Action. If you don’t, an error will pop up when you run the workflow.

Apple How To, Automator, Intermediate OS X 3 Comments

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