Photoshop Tip: Merging Multiple Scans

Perhaps you have and oversized piece of art that you have to scan in two pieces. Or maybe your scanner isn't large enough for your originals.

Either way, you're faced with scanning your image in two pieces and pairing them up digitally.

To be sure, if you're very careful with your initial scans, you can do this manually with a little effort.

However, with Photoshop CS3, you can let the app do the work (and, in some cases, do it better than you could unaided).

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Copyright and trademark defined

From the Legalzoom* newsletter:

Definitions of Copyrights and Trademarks

Copyrights and trademarks protect distinct creations. Generally Copyrights protect creative or intellectual works, and trademarks apply to commercial names, phrases and logos. Copyrights primarily protect the rights of people who create literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works (like history tests, and software code). Trademarks protect the use of a company's name and its product names, its brand identity (like logos) and its slogans.

In fact, the two protections are so legally distinct that they are managed by two different offices within the federal government. Trademarks fall under the auspices of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, while Copyrights are granted by the U.S. Copyright Office.

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May To-Do List

Get out your calendar and start circling dates. It's time to do a little webcomics planning.

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Friday Archive Dive: Take a Picture

Here's some convention advice from Jan. 26, 2009. You might know enough to take photos at a con, but you might not know the psychology behind it or the rules that apply to it.

When you're exhibiting at a comic convention, don't pass up an excellent opportunity for community building: Bring your camera. Photos of your convention appearance make for nice bonus content for your readers, but more importantly, you should be taking photos of people who bought your merchandise standing proudly with their newly gotten gains

This has a powerful psychological influence on your readers.

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Econtalk: Love, Money, Profits and Non-profits

An interesting podcast about economics, recently featured a fascinating discussion that relates directly to the business of webcomics. Listen closely for a thought-provoking anecdote about when the Red Cross started charging for coffee and donuts in WWII.

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