Absolute Beginners Guide to Tablet PCs

The photographer works mostly in the studio, where he uses a high-end digital SLR camera and his Tablet PC to take studio pictures primarily for magazines. With his Tablet PC, he can preview and edit images with the ease of a pen interface.

Note

Toolkit

• Slate style Tablet PC This style of Tablet PC offers great mobility.

• Canon EOS-1Ds digital SLR camera This 11.1 megapixel SLR is the professional's dream. It can handle lenses from other Canon SLRs, which makes it perfect for a studio in which the photographer might need to shoot digital one day and film the next.

• Adobe Photoshop The photographer uses this program for image manipulation and perfection.

• Corel Paint 7 This is yet another program that enables the photographer to create interesting effects with his photos.

• Microsoft Office 2003 The photographer uses this suite of products to handle the business end of things.

• LCD Projector This is great for projecting images for client preview.

Value Proposition

The photographer likes his Tablet PC because it is portable and has a pen interface. He can move the Tablet PC with him as he takes shots from various parts of his studio. This lets him preview the pictures he just took, and enables him to access photographic tools to improve the images on the spot.

Day in the Life

The photographer enters his studio, and starts his day by checking email and his calendar. He will be doing a product photo shoot in the morning and a studio portrait for a family in the afternoon. He sets up the studio to prepare for the product shoot, and then sets up his camera, taking a few test pictures before his client arrives. While he waits, he downloads the test pictures to his Tablet PC through a fire wire (IEEE 1394) connection.

After his test shots are downloaded to his Tablet PC, he views them, and then sends one to his printer via the Wi-Fi network in his studio. The client likes what she sees in the sample photograph, but asks to change a couple things. The resulting image of the first product is just what the client wants, thanks to the interaction of digital imaging and the photographer's Tablet PC. The photographer shoots three more products, and then edits them in Photoshop, balancing the lighting and color for perfect photos. The client is pleased and leaves, CD containing the perfected digital pictures in hand.

After lunch, the family arrives for their studio portrait. The photographer has already set up the studio for them, and this time has his Tablet PC connected to the camera and a projector so that the family can see each picture as it is taken. The PC-camera interface allows for a preview of what the camera sees on the Tablet PC, and thus, on the screen so the family can see themselves.

After two hours of shooting, the photographer displays the pictures on the screen for the family to select the ones they want. After choosing ten pictures, the family leaves and the photographer switches to post-production mode, editing the images with his pressure-sensitive pen directly on the Tablet PC using Photoshop. After a couple more hours of editing the images, the photographer prints the photos on his large-format photo printer and is done for the day.

Summary of Benefits