For students in digital photography, below is a list of links for luster photo paper options at various price points
Luster Paper (8.5 x 11, A4, or 13 x 19)
Good: Premier Imaging Luster 8.5 x 11 (50 sheets $12-16 +shipping)
Better: Canon Pro Luster 8.5 x 11 (50 Sheets ~$19-25)
*Recommended – Best: Epson Ultra Premium Luster (50 sheets 8.5 x 11 $30-50)
Alternative: Inkpress Luster 8.5 x 11 ($30-35)
Places to order from:
Blick (Can pick up in-person)
Print settings have changed slightly since the installation of the new computers. The instructions below will walk you through how to turn off double-sided printing and how to change setting to print from the bypass tray.
To turn off double-sided printing go to the Copies box, located at the top of the print screen.
On the right side of the Double-sided option click on the symbol with two arrowheads.
A drop down menu will appear. Select Off.
To print from the bypass tray expand the Printer Options menu item. Go to Paper Feed and click the information icon on the right hand side. A pop up box should appear.
Click on the drop down menu and select Bypass Tray and select OK. Now when you go to print the document the printer will pull paper from the bypass tray.
We’ve all been there—you’re working on a project and need some stock media. You know you can’t use just anything off of the internet because of copyright law. But even when you go to sites that offer stock media, it can be confusing understanding what you can use and how.
Royalty-free does not always equal fee-free.
While we might think that royalty free (rf) media is free to use. This is not always the case. The term simply means that you do not have to pay the creator royalties. Think how authors get paid for every copy of a book sold, or how a musician gets paid for every stream on Spotify. Those payments based on the number of times a work is used are royalties. You can check out this post by Amos Struck for a more comprehensive explanation.
For RF media you pay* once and that’s it. Sometimes the payment is $0. Sometimes it’s crediting the creator. Sometimes you have to pay a one-time fee. Many RF stock sites contain images that fit into multiple categories. Whenever on a stock website, always check that you have set your filters to only show you free content if that is what you are looking for.
I’ve compiled a list of sites that provide royalty-free (RF) images, video, and/or audio below.
I’ve also included some creative commons (CC) sites. Those are special licenses that allow you to use the media for free, but there are sometimes limitations on how you can use the media, and how to credit the author. See more on creative commons and the various types of licenses here. Or you can check out the Comm Labs resources on Creative Commons here.
These sites have images along with video, and sometimes audio
Openverse Creative Commons Search
Adobe Stock (Note: there do not appear to be free audio files, only images and video) Not all stock on the site is free, but there’s a good selection that is. Just make sure to check the ‘free’ box in the filters when searching. If it asks you for payment when you click license, then you know you need to search again.
PixaBay is free to use without attribution in most cases. Check their license for more.
Canva also has plenty of free images you can use, along with some video, animations, and their templates. Items with crowns next to them are only available with paid accounts. Note: you get more stuff for free if you sign up with your Simmons email address, since education accounts get access to many (but not all) premium features.
DepositPhotos focuses on imagery, but also has some free videos and music. Just be aware that not all works on the site are free, much like Adobe stock. So make sure to stick to the free filter. All their free content requires attribution.
BenSound has a section of the site with music that is free with attribution
Purple Planet music is free with attribution in most cases. Check out their license page for more info.
Free Sound is good for sound effects and the like
Zap Sounds free sound effects
Unsplash is my go-to. RF with attribution, so make sure to credit the person who made your media!
Burst from Shopify has good stock images. The collection is geared towards supporting its main business as a platform for independent e-commerce shops, so the stock does tend to reflect that.
Jopwell has a selection of stock photography available focusing on BIPOC in business and education settings. It’s fairly specific, but useful when you need corporate imagery.
WOC in Tech Flickr page similarly focuses on a narrow remit but does it well. Note that not all images on Flickr are RF or CC, but images by/on this particular page are. (If using Flickr, always check the copyright status of the individual image you are interested in using)
Gratisography has funky imagery that is off-beat
KaboomPics is good for lifestyle and interior design shoots
StockSnap.io has images that are licensed as CC0, meaning free of all copyright restrictions.
iStock. Be VERY careful about which images you are selecting. iStock is owned by Getty images—one of the largest and most prestigious photo libraries in the world. They want to funnel you to their paid site, but there is a lot of microstock that is free, if you make sure to search carefully.
Pexels. Note: some photos are free. Others and videos are RF (for a fee)
Watch this video or look at the image to help set up the podcast board!
Make sure to book the space and please note that you must complete a quick training in order to use a Podcast Room.
CLICK HERE to find the RØDEcaster Multitrack Template.
If you use Google Drive to open files directly from your computer, you may have noticed that shared items do not show up. You will need to add a shortcut to the shared folder or file to your own Google Drive before you will be able to open it from your desktop.
First, open Google Drive in your web browser and locate the folder or file you want to open. You can usually find it under Shared with me.
Once you find the shared item, right-click on it to open up the menu and click on Add shortcut to Drive.
The next time you open your Google Drive from your desktop, your shortcut will appear as a normal folder or file. Now you can open or edit it directly from your computer!
The dry mount press in the CommLab is an easy way to neatly mount your artwork on matte board without messy tape, drippy glue, or curling paper. Just follow these steps to create perfectly mounted artwork.
Dry mount press: Before you begin, make sure the press is turned on, as it takes 20 minutes to heat up. The on switch is located on the top next to the indicator lights. The temperature for permanent adhesion is 200F.
Release paper pocket: You will need a release paper pocket to prevent your project from sticking to the inside of the dry mount press. These are located in the drawer underneath the dry mount press.
Dry mount tissue: Ask the Lab Agent for the right size dry mount tissue for your artwork. The CommLab has pre-cut tissue sheets in a number of sizes, but we can cut custom sizes too.
When you open ImageCapture to scan from one of the CommLab Epson scanners, you may get this error message:
It lists V600 as the scanner, but fails to connect.
If you cannot find it, press Command⌘+Shift+G and copy and paste the following path:
Library/Image Capture/Devices/EPSON Scanner.appDouble-click on the EPSON Scanner icon. If Image Capture does not open, reopen the program. The window should look like this:
The device is listed as EPSON Perfection V600 and is now ready to scan.
Google Drive is a useful tool for creating, saving, and transferring files. But did you know you can also use Google Drive directly from your desktop and edit your Drive files in other programs?
Google Drive is already installed on Simmons computers. You can easily find the app via the Spotlight search tool, or in the Applications folder.
When you return to the Google Drive application, you should see a preferences window. If not, you can find it by clicking on the Google Drive icon in the menu bar. Select Stream files.
Open a Finder window and find the folder named Google Drive under Locations. All your Google Drive files will be located here. When you save your changes to a file here, they will be automatically updated to your Google Drive so you don’t have to upload anything!
Once you finish signing in, your computer may ask if you want to scan Google Drive. This is because it treats the drive as an external device. Click No action.
If you want to use Photoshop, InDesign, or any other Creative Cloud apps at Simmons, you’ll first need to log in to Creative Cloud through your Simmons account.
Open the Creative Cloud app and you will see the Sign In prompt. Do not enter your Simmons email address or username yet! All you have to type here is simmons.edu and hit Continue.
When you reach the Simmons sign on screen, you can enter your Simmons username and password. Complete Duo authentication if necessary.
Once you sign in you will be prompted to select a profile. You will want to select NERCOMP.
Once you finishing signing in, you can access all the Creative Cloud apps from the Creative Cloud window!
Open terminal. My preferred way is to use the Spotlight Search. Command + Spacebar brings up spotlight search. Then type in “terminal”.
Open terminal. Then drag the file you wish to know the path of into the terminal.
Your terminal should look something like the screenshot above. the path beings after the user is specified (~User’sNameIsHere$). For example, the path is /Users/User’sNameIsHere/Documents/01\ Drawings/0\ show\ off/cat01.jpg in this case.
The end