What is PP in Digital Photography?

Of course, we would like to say, that this is PP Group – a leading team in the photography branch, because this is our name! Because we are PP Group. But PP in the Digital Photography means something else.

Our research shows, that most of the people use this abbreviation – PP in digital photography conversations to say the word “Photoshop” shortly. It comes out from the first and the last letters in the word – P. Normally the Photoshop software is in use from the Professional Photography, because it offers a lot of abilities for picture optimization and getting higher images quality.

Another use for PP with the photography stuff is when people are trying to say “Post-Processing” shortly. In this case people are talking about the Post-Processing in Digital Photography or for short: “PP in Digital Photography”.

You can see the PP abbreviation, when it says “Photographic process”. It means the processing, developing photographs. As we understand there is even a book, called this way – “Photographic Processes”, which describes the PP – color-negative / color-reversal processing, shooting and developing photographs. Color and B&W (Black and White) film and print processing, as well.

And talking about print processing we remembered that there is another PP meaning, which is used in digital photography conversations. That’s right! This is the Photo Printer’s stuff or the Photo Paper’s stuff. There are even some printers’ models that are called “(something) PP”. One of them is a Canon’s model. Or photo paper, called “high gloss photo paper PP 101D” or something similar.

May be you will hate us, but we feel the need to share with you, that there is another PP abbreviation and it’s for Pocket Pouch. Believe us – we think that this is not normal too, but it is a fact. The pocket pouches for your digital cameras can be offered in some sites or pamphlets like PP for digital cameras.

Believing or not, but you may see PP like “pages” meaning in Photography as well. There are lots of lessons, courses, lectures and articles that are written on different places – mostly in the internet and they are quotations from some photography books. When it is attended by numbers it is too possible PP to be a page number. Mostly it looks like this way: pp 136-278, and means, as you know – pages 136 to 278.

Well, it is not so difficult to understand what is PP in the Digital Photography now, when you know the rest of the text. You can assess which meaning will be helpful for you and to understand the main text idea.

It is too possible to see another PP meaning as well; another not described here, because people like to use abbreviations. But, don’t forget that in general currency PP means “Photoshop”, when the conversation is for the Photography.

What is Outsourced Payroll?

Payroll is not simply handing out a pay slip once every week or on a monthly basis. Behind the scenes, there is an individual who must take into account all the numbers and do the calculations for additions and deductions to and from gross salary.

These additions and deductions are usually calculated taking into account some or all of the following items:

• Commission


• Bonus


• Loan Repayment


• Personal Tax Allowance


• National Insurance


• Pension Contributions


• Union Contributions


• Charitable Donations


• PAYE.

All or some of the above are taken into account so that an employee can receive an accurate pay slip based on what they have done for the company. They only receive their pay slip after all of the applicable allowances, additions and deductions have been applied. Hence, the reason why an employees pay slip shows the gross income figure and the net income amount which is their actual take home pay after deductions.

Traditionally, Payroll has been managed within the company, but as changes have taken in business process management, Outsourced Payroll as gained in popularity for number of reasons, and is coming under greater scrutiny as smaller to medium sized businesses and organisations look to establish greater efficiencies and reduce running costs.

Any company despite its size can benefit from Outsourced Payroll due to the range and size of providers offering this service.

What is Outsourced Payroll? It is a service that covers all of the aspects of payroll, but managed by an external provider.

It is often more cost efficient for a business to pay a payroll service to take care of their payroll needs. Why is this?

If you own a small to medium sized business, read on.

1. On average, a small company will end up paying HM Revenue & Customs penalties for events that could have been avoided. Typically because they have made a mistake or filed late. Generally, Outsourced Payroll services will take full responsibility for any mistakes made which saves the company money.

2. It saves money to outsource. A bookkeeper in some instances can be more expensive, even if just part time.

3. Elimination of payday stress as your employees will get paid. Most company owners experience such a relief as they let the tensions of pay day fade away.

4. Outsourced Payroll allows you to offer direct deposit to your employees. Employees love this benefit because they are able to skip a trip to the bank each pay day.

5. On many occasions a small business can become overloaded with work and miss preparing payslips and cheques. This can be very frustrating to their employees. An Outsourced Payroll Service removes the additional administrative burden and provides peace of mind for the business owner and ensures employees are paid on time. This takes away the worry of pay day administration worry for both employer and employees.

6. Financial software is constantly changing and can be expensive to support with internal staff that are managing payday administration. Using an Outsourced Payroll Service will remove the requirement to maintain and support internal payroll software systems.

7. Payroll rules and regulations are liable to change and any internal software will require updating. By outsourcing the payroll, any applicable changes in HM Revenue & Customs regulations are managed by your provider.

8. One of the greatest attractions of Outsourced Payroll Services is the removal of depending on a single employee to manage and process the payroll. Issues such holidays and sickness disappear as the responsibility now falls on the service provider to ensure a consistent and efficient service.

Outsourced Payroll is gaining in popularity as it can save money, time and eliminate many of the administrative worries associated with this all important business function.

All About WMV Files

With the increase in CPU power and the availability of high speed Internet connections, watching movies on PCs has become the norm. These videos can come in different formats, but one of the most widely recognized is WMV.

What WMV is

WMV stands for Windows Media Video, and it is the name of the video encoder that was created by software giant Microsoft. A video encoder is the file that makes it possible to watch videos on computers.

WMV is part of Microsoft’s Windows Media, a series of files, formats and encoders aimed at integrating sound and video. These include the Advanced Systems Format (ASP), High Definition Photo (HDP), and Windows Media Audio (WMA), which is used for playing music files (similar to the mp3 format).

WMV uses several technologies, but mainly it serves as Microsoft’s own version of the popular MPEG – 4 encoder.

History and Development

WMV was developed by Microsoft in the 1990s and made its debut in 1999. It has undergone several version upgrades and changes, and today it functions mostly to distribute video on the Internet and also in some CDs and DVDs. This codec (as video encoders are called), while popular, has also faced competition from others, notably DivX, Xvid, MPEG-4 AVC, and Real Video.

How to Play WMV Files

To play WMV files you need to have Windows Media Player version 7 or higher (there are also several other media players on the Internet that you can download that plays this format). Among the more popular alternative WMV players are WinAMP. BSPlayer and MPlayer.

Other third party applications that can view WMV files include Zoom, KMPlayer, and Power DVD. There are also some portable music players that support this file format.

There are also several programs, from full blown to shareware to freeware, that allow for the export of video into the WMV format. They include Windows Movie Maker, Sorenson Squeeze, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Microsoft Expression Encoder.

WMV Specifications and Features

All these files end in the .wmv extension. There are several components in each one, and some of them include ASF files, Sipro ACELP.net audio codes. Most versions of .wmv can also be converted to avi files.

With each new upgrade and release, Windows Media Video increases its features and capabilities. Among them is the ability to process the data with a wide range of network protocols. WMV can also be played locally, and you can also download updates and components from the Internet.

WMV files can also be scaled, and offers support for several languages. It also supports constant bit rate, variable bit rate and average bit rate, frame interpolation, interlaced video high definition video content resolutions, and non square pixels.

Another advantage of WMV files is that it is supported by a large variety of applications and systems. The Xbox 360 and Windows Mobile can run WMV files.

For users of the Macintosh, there are currently several software programs that allow viewing of WMV files, one of the most popular being Flipmac WMV, which is part of the QuickTime application.

Epson Stylus Pro 9800 Printer - Product Review

The Epson Stylus Pro 9800 is a professional wide format printer that prints on various media from 10″ wide up to 48″ wide. For all of that, it is very compact. The printer is 67″ wide and only 20″ deep. I suppose one could set it up on a table, but Epson offers it with a custom stand that provides for a “drop” area for the prints to slide into, along with a ‘catch’ bin made of a soft material and held in place by two simple rods that snap into place on the custom stand.

Set up on the stand with the catch bin it stands 46″ high to the top of the printer, and from the back of the feet of the stand to the front of the catch bin it is 43 ½”.

This printer uses eight separate inks including black, light black, and light-light black. This provides for excellent shading and gradual transitions form shadow to highlight. The other inks are yellow, magenta and cyan. Magenta and cyan also have a light version for a total of eight ink cartridges.

The proprietary Epson inks are what they call Ultrachrome, pigmented inks, and have up to 200+ years colorfast rating on Epson media in archival conditions.

The print heads spray out ink droplets at 3 picoliters, which is extremely small, and produce the smoothest, almost unbelievably sharp prints.

I run a high end portrait studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, and am very particular about the quality of the products I deliver to my clients. So particular in fact that I held out on changing to digital capture and output until I could see with my own eyes, and with my own images that digital could at least match what I was getting with a medium format negative and wet lab process prints. That happened in 2000.

So in 2000 I switched from film to digital capture, but still had most of my work printed by wet lab process. Only canvas prints I would have printed on an Epson pro printer, and those I also had done by an outside printer service. Back then the model was 9600 or 7600, and while the inks were pigmented, they weren’t Ultrachrome. That came later.

My first Epson pro printer was a Stylus Pro 1700, which printed up to 17″ wide. Like it’s big brother the 9700, and now the 9800, the 1700 also printed on a variety of media and would handle sheets or rolls.

It’s easy enough to look up all the technical data for these printers, so let me tell you about the quality, reliability and service.

After less than a year the 1700 developed a problem with the print heads that couldn’t be solved by the Epson technician over the phone directing me in running cleaning and then “power cleaning” cycles. So the solution was to replace the printer.

To facilitate the replacement, Epson Fed Ex’d a new printer to me right away. All I had to do was to pack the faulty printer into the box the new one shipped in, and have Fed Ex pick it up. The replacement didn’t cost me one dime! Epson paid everything including shipping.

The new 1700 ran perfectly for over a year and a half before I decided to buy the new 9800. In fact the 1700 is still going strong now, another two years after I bought the 9800.

I’ve had the 9800 now for two years, and while it is past the warranty period, Epson still provides tech help over the phone any time I need it…weekdays and business hours.

Primarily I print on Epson’s Ultra Premium 260 gm satin finish photo paper, and Epson’s Premier Art Canvas, but the Stylus Pro printers will also print on a wide variety of papers and even vinyl and backlit material.

To say that I am pleased with the printer is a gross understatement! I love the prints I get with it, and so do my clients. It is easy to use and has required no maintenance at all as long as I’ve had it.

The inks are rather costly, but the paper is reasonable when you compare with light sensitive photo papers and chemicals for wet lab process. And when you compare the cost of materials, (ink and paper), to what you have to pay a lab to produce prints, it’s a bargain.

To me, the biggest advantage is that I have complete control over my images and final prints. I no longer have to deal with uppity photo lab personnel and declining quality control. Yes, it takes more of my time, but as an artist the quality of the products I deliver is paramount, so it’s well worth the little extra time I have to put in.

The Epson Stylus Pro 9800 is the best printer I’ve ever seen, and produces the finest quality prints I’ve ever seen. At $5000 to $6000 it is a very good investment. If it’s good enough for the Smithsonian Institute, it’s good enough for me!

Chiropractic Care for the World"s Premier Athletes and Entertainers

When a new life begins, one of the first things to develop is the nerve tissue, which later becomes the brain and spinal cord. This central nervous system controls every function of the body and allows us to move, sense, and do all the wonderful things that we do. If the nerve pathways become somehow blocked, the body will no longer be able to function at its full capacity. These misalignments, called subluxations, occur because a vertebra is shifted out of its normal position and is putting pressure on a nerve, therefore inhibiting the body’s natural communication flow.

The chiropractor is trained to check for these subluxations and adjust the spine’s vertebrae, to remove the interference and restore the body’s ability to heal itself. Some people think that chiropractic is only beneficial for spinal injuries, but in actuality since the nervous system is vital for optimal health, chiropractic adjustments are used in assisting the entire body to work at its best.

Sports and Chiropractic

Athletes frequently seek chiropractic care, as their high impact lifestyles tend to place intense pressure on their bodies, creating a greater risk of subluxations. Most sporting organizations, including every professional National Basketball Association team, have team chiropractors on staff. Progressive coaches, athletes and doctors realize that painkilling drugs only mask symptoms and may actually result in more severe injuries. The practice of chiropractic, meaning literally “done by hand,” restores proper alignment and function to bones and normal nerve transmission without invasive pharmaceuticals or surgeries. This preventative and performance-enhancing care allows athletes to be best prepared for action. Many of the world’s greatest competitors are adjusted before sport to optimize balance and efficiency and then afterwards to enhance the recuperative process.

For high-performance athletes, the slightest imbalance can mean the difference between victory and defeat. The better the nerve energy flows to the muscle tissue, the better the athlete’s strength, power, speed and stamina can be harnessed. For graduates of chiropractic school, the world of professional sports represents exciting opportunities to travel and work with athletic celebrities.

For example, Dr. David Mruz became the chiropractor of the Coors Light Cycling Team organization in Denver after receiving a call to check the team when they were in town for a race in 1991. Since then, he has become the official chiropractor for Tour de France Stage Winner George Hincapie and several other professional cycling teams and individuals visiting his base of Greenville, South Carolina.

Beyond professional athletes, Mruz has advanced his chiropractic career working with other individuals requiring top physical performance: musicians. He has experience working with all types of cases while caring for touring acts including Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, the Eagles, Def Leppard, Josh Groban, Boston and Nickelback. The chiropractic message he shares with his patients is this: “You cannot perform at your highest level without proper function and nerve supply.” These elite level performers and athletes realize that chiropractic is an important part of their ability to function at their best.

Football League & Premier League - 1888 to 2009

The Football League is a league competition featuring professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football. It was the top level football league in England from its foundation in the 19th century until 1992, when the top 22 clubs split away to form the FA Premier League. Since 1992 it has had 72 clubs evenly divided into three divisions, which are currently known as The Championship, League One, and League Two.

After four years of debate, The Football Association finally legalised professionalism on 20 July 1885. Before that date many clubs made illegal payments to “professional” players to boost the competitiveness of their teams, arousing the contempt of those clubs abiding by the laws of the amateur Football Association code. As more and more clubs became professional the ad-hoc fixture list of FA Cup, inter-county, and ‘friendly’ matches was seen by many as an unreliable stream of revenue, and ways were considered of ensuring a consistent income.

A Scottish draper and director of Aston Villa, William McGregor, was the first to set out to bring some order to a chaotic world where clubs arranged their own fixtures. On 2 March 1888, he wrote to the Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End, West Bromwich Albion and to the secretary of Aston Villa about the formation of a football league.

The first meeting was held at Anderson’s Hotel in London on 23 March 1888 on the eve of the FA Cup Final with the name of the Football League being settled at a further meeting on 17 April at Manchester’s Royal Hotel. The first season of the Football League began a few months later on 8 September with 12 member clubs.

Each club played the other twice, once at home and once away, and two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw. This points system was not agreed upon until after the season had started; the alternative proposal was one point for a win only. Preston won the first league title without losing a game, and completed the first league-cup double by also taking the FA Cup.

Every original Football League club has at least one relegation in their history, unlike some European leagues such as Spain, Scotland or Republic of Ireland.

New Portable Recorders Breath Life Into Older HD Video Cameras

Over the past ten years camera technology has moved at a rapid pace, rendering many cameras almost obsolete within a few short years.

Even if you have a good workhorse that is perfectly capable of capturing high quality HD images, there are often limitations with the codec that is being recorded, as well as the type of media that the camera records to.

The good new is that many of these HD cameras have a HD SDI video output, or at the very least a HDMI output, which allows for the output of uncompressed HD video into a new range of high quality and affordable portable recorders.

These recorders such as the Kipro Mini from AJA or the Samurai and Ninja 2 from Atomos, use your camera’s HD/SDI or HDMI port to record uncompressed or compressed video record straight onto a hard drive or compact flash card.

While portable recorders have been with us for a long time, what makes the new models different is that are not bound by the limitations of Firewire (IEEE 1396) and by receiving an uncompressed signal can utilize the current ready to edit formats such as Apple ProRes and Avid DNxHD.

The new generation of recorders are also more affordable and even on the highest data rate of Apple ProRes HQ, give the ability to shoot for long periods. This would be especially beneficial to event recordings and any long form filming such as seminars, weddings and sporting events.

Many professional video cameras can record at least 50Mbps. But with the ability to by-pass the cameras native format to an uncompressed signal, you have access to higher bit rates from 100-220Mbps, very useful for more intensive post-production work.

If you are editing in Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro or Avid, then recording by this method means that you won’t need to spend time transcoding your footage, you can start editing more quickly, and simplify your work-flow.

It’s also a useful work-flow for multiple camera work, giving the ability to use cameras of different formats.

These recorders also have some other handy features, the Atomos Samurai and Ninja Models for instance have a built in LCD monitor for reviewing shots and different clip marking options.

So with the combination of the relatively high data rate of formats like ProRes, combined with 10-Bit capable recording, make a portable recorder a powerful addition to your kit.

They can give your older perfectly capable HD cameras a new lease of life, save you money and simplify your work-flow.