Long Island Guide : Long Island New York http://longislandguides.net Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:02:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 Molloy Bros Moving – Reviews http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/molloy-bros-moving-mayflower-reviews http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/molloy-bros-moving-mayflower-reviews#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:02:56 +0000 admin http://longislandguides.net/?p=2985


Molloy Bros. Mayflower knows what you want when you move: friendly workers, dependable service, a trusted name, and a variety of services that meet your special needs. Our family business has moved over 331,000 households and more than 256 millon miles in our 60+ years of history. Experience a great move with the confidence that you and your precious belongings will be safe and secure.

 Molloy Bros.  History Reviews

 The  Family Business Begins In 1946

Molloy  Bros. Moving & Storage started in 1946 as a family business and  expanded rapidly by providing high quality residential moving services. In  1957, Molloy Bros. became an agent for Allied Van Lines and grew into one of  New York’s largest residential movers. The company then expanded to New Jersey  and to three Florida locations. In 1973, Molloy Bros. changed its affiliation  to North American Van Lines.

In 1976 the Molloy brothers sold the  business to non-family members. At this point in time, the business focus moved  from Molloy Bros. to T. James Molloy exclusively when he joined North American  Van Lines as a sales executive in the New York City corporate sales office.

 Joining  Forces With Mayflower Transit

In 1998 the company joined forces with  Mayflower Transit, one of the largest and most well known name in the moving  business. Mayflower recognizes Molloy Bros. as a leading agent and has  presented the company with several awards including the Admiral’s Club  Household Goods Award, the Million Dollar Club $4,000,000 Plus Award and the  Customer Service Heart of Quality Award.

 Molloy  Mayflower’s Unsurpassed Resources

Today, Molloy Bros. is one of the largest  agents for Mayflower. This relationship gives customers the advantage of  working with an experienced local professional moving company as well as having  access to a vast network of agents across the United States and abroad. This  depth of support is unmatched in the industry, and follows the Molloy  philosophy of managing a customer’s move from day one through completion.

 

]]> http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/molloy-bros-moving-mayflower-reviews/feed 1 Smithtown Nissan RIPOFF Report – Complaint against Smithtown Nissan http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/smithtown-nissan-ripoff-report http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/smithtown-nissan-ripoff-report#comments Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:46:14 +0000 admin http://longislandguides.net/?p=2974


Smithtown Nissan Ray General Manager Deceptive Bait and Switch, Lying, Filthy Comments, Rude & Obnoxious St. James New York

 

We are submitting a formal Complaint against Smithtown Nissan, 535 Middle Country Road, St. James, New York 11780; 631-361-9696 and General Manager, Ray, possible last name Krisa. Mr. Krisa attempted to secure a lease from us for the purchase of a new 2008 Nissan Altima by using deceptive, fraudulent means and later grossly insulting my wife and I when we learned the methods he used were inappropriate.During the months of March/April, my wife and I began shopping for a new vehicle to purchase. We visited several of the local auto dealerships, including Smithtown Nissan in St. James, New York. At the Nissan dealership, we met with a young man by the name of Brian Vasak. Mr. Vasak was courteous and polite and provided us with a test drive of one of the new 2008 Altimas. Mr. Vasak then took our contact information, but we requested that we would only call him when we were ready.In the interim, my wife and I purchased a program on-line from a competent website called leaseguide.com. Leaseguide.com provides the consumer with a comprehensive program for determining the methods auto dealerships use to prepare a lease and how to avoid scams and pitfalls. In essence, leaseguide.com provides the consumer with key essential elements needed to walk into a car dealership prepared so to prevent being scammed into paying higher prices. Certain specific mathematic formulas are used exclusively by car dealerships to determine monthly pay-off and residual value of the vehicle being leased. After studying this information and now armed with this knowledge, my wife and I elected to revisit Smithtown Nissan.On Sunday, May 26, 2008 (Memorial Day weekend), we visited Sales Representative Brian Vasak at the Smithtown Nissan. Mr. Vasak advised that the blue Nissan my wife had driven several weeks earlier had since been sold, but he would attempt to locate a similar one with the same “SL” package. Mr. Vasak asked if we had visited other dealerships and negotiated sales prices for vehicles, but we refused to provide that information. We simply told Mr. Vasak to offer us his best price for a Majestic Blue 2008 Nissan Altima with the SL package and/or the connection package added to the SL package. Mr. Vasak then said he would have to check with his Manager. We advised Mr. Vasak that before leaving his office and checking with the Manager, that he obtain the bottom line negotiable price for the vehicle with everything included, including bank acquisition fee and any other appropriate charges. We also advised Mr. Vasak that we would not pay a security deposit fee, because the vehicle would be under my wife’s name, who has excellent tier one credit. (745-771)

In addition, we asked Mr. Vasak that when he returns, he provide us with the residual percentage number of that particular vehicle and the money factor. The money factor is a decimal number, that when multiplied by 2400 provides you with the interest rate that the dealership intends on charging you for the lease portion of the deal. We also requested that Mr. Vasak configure this lease at 15,000 miles a year and for 36 months, which would cover the manufacturer’s warrantee. This is information we learned from the website.

Mr. Vasak returned and provided us with the following final negotiated price: $22,976.00. We asked Mr. Vasak if this included everything and he said, “Yes.” We repeated to Mr. Vasak if this included the bank acquisition fee. He stumbled a bit and stated, “Let me go back and check.” Mr. Vasak returned and stated, “Yes. My Manager said that everything is included. All fees are included. Everything.” Mr. Vasak asked us if we wanted to put money down on the lease of a new 2008 Altima. We advised Mr. Vasak when located the vehicle we would then put down a down payment. He stated he would need at least a few hours and possibly until tomorrow morning, due to the high volume of customers during the Memorial Day weekend. At this time, we left Smithtown Nissan, without securing a deal and did not hear from Mr. Vasak that day.

The following morning, Monday, May 26, Mr. Vasak contacted us and stated he had located a 2008 Altima, Majestic Blue, with the SL package. In addition, this vehicle they located also had the connection package, which was $1,000.00 more. Mr. Vasak stated that we would have to add $1,000.00 to his quoted price of $22,976.00 for a total capitalized cost price of $23,976.00, everything included. We accepted and advised Mr. Vasak we would return to Smithtown Nissan later in the afternoon.

Returning to Smithtown Nissan, we met with Mr. Vasak, who was busy with many customers. In fact, the place was extremely crowded. Mr. Vasak said he would be at least an hour or so with customers he was working with and we advised him that we would return later in the afternoon. At this point, we left the building and walked to the rear parking lot where our car was parked. While talking, my wife had mentioned aloud that we should go to Syosset Nissan to compare prices first. At this point, a male White, extra large stature, wearing a white Nissan golf shirt and slacks approached us. He had been near an adjacent new Nissan vehicle with another Nissan employee. The male identified himself as Ray, the general sales manager. Ray folded his arms and spoke in a brisk, aggressive manner and asked if we were satisfied with the persons that we were dealing with inside, because, “I’m the number one Nissan dealership in all of Suffolk and Nassau County and I want to make sure that my customers are taken care of. So, were you taken care of?” We replied, “Yes. We’re working with Brian Vasak.” Ray replied, “Brian is my son. He is my son. I’m his father.” I replied, “Oh, you’re his father?” Ray stated, “Yes.” (At this point, I knew this was likely an untruth, because any time we asked for Mr. Vasak, the Secretary or Salesman would ask if we wanted Junior or Senior, realizing that Brian’s father is also named Brian, not Ray and also works at the dealership.

Ray explained that he overheard us talking about visiting Syosset Nissan and wanted us to come in and he was going to give us the best deal we ever had. We explained to Ray that Brian Vasak had already provided us with a number and that we were prepared to conduct a sale and lease a 2008 Altima. Ray replied, “Not only are we going to get a deal done, but I’m going to beat whatever number Brian gave you. So, let’s go inside and see what we can do.”

Once inside, we sat inside Stan Siegerson’s financial office. Ray got on the computer, started to punch in numbers and did not even ask what the price was that Brian offered us. He then came up with a figure, showing that we could pay $259.00 a month, with $2,000.00 down for a 2008 Altima. I explained to Ray that we did not even give him the numbers yet. Ray asked for them, turned the computer around and said, “See. Here’s the exact numbers that you just gave me. I just fixed them and fiddled on the computer a bit.” When we looked at the computer, we saw that the negotiated price was for $24,882.00, $906.00 over the agreed upon price of $23,976.00. When we brought this fact up to Ray, he stated, “No, no, no. It’s that price – $23,976. The extra $906.00 is for fees and things.” “Well what fees are they, Ray?” Ray said, “You know¦fees and things.” I said, “Is the bank acquisition fee not included but has just been added?” He said, “No. See.” He flipped the computer to another screen, showed us a little symbol that says no and says “See, you don’t have the bank acquisition fee.” I said, “Well why don’t you change that negotiated fee on the computer from $24,882.00 to $23,976 and let’s see what the monthly payment looks like, because that monthly payment looks a lot higher than what my figures show.”

Ray replied, “Well, what figures do you have?” We asked Ray to show us where the money factor was .00097 and the residual was 56% of the vehicle. These numbers were inserted but the final negotiated price was incorrect. Ray then told us that, “look, you have only a few minutes to decide what you want to do.” He then banged on the computer, turned the screen away from us to prevent us from looking at it and said, “Make up your minds, because this is the best deal you’re ever going to get. Don’t talk yourself out of a deal. Take the deal because you’ll never get another one like it, and if you walk away or even drive out of the parking lot, I wont be able to ever offer this price again.” We then told Ray that we needed time to think about it.

After exiting the Nissan dealership, we walked over to our vehicle. My wife was excited and stated that she did not mind paying that price. I explained that I did not believe that Ray was truthful and that his figures were all wrong “ that we should have been paying in the low $230′s with 2000 down, the residual percentage, money factor and negotiated price that we had agreed on earlier. My wife wanted to conduct the deal, but we both agreed that since the vehicle was not delivered to the dealership, we would only put money down for a down payment, but not sign a lease contract. We also agreed that we would wait until we examined said vehicle and then examine said Lease Contract to be assured that all the figures were correct and that we were not being scammed out of extra money by additional charges as we both suspected.

At this point, my wife and I returned and Mr. Vasak began to prepare a down payment invoice. Such invoice was prepared under number 12243. The buyer was listed in my wife’s name and just basic information was put down for the type of vehicle and only the lease price, 39 months, 500 money down and 15,000 miles per year. The Vehicle Purchase Agreement was only signed by my wife and not by the seller. Financing still had to be approved. While this document was being prepared, I insisted that Brian bring Ray back in. Ray returned and said, “Look. This is the deal you got. The $24,882.00 is the $23,976.00. Its the same thing. That extra money is for taxes. Taxes and other things.” “Well, what are they Ray? Can you break them down?” He said, “Don’t worry about that. We’ll get to it when we do the Lease Agreement.” At this point, we agreed and put $500.00 down for a down payment to secure the vehicle until it could be delivered to us. (We knew we were going to check the math and figures on the website.)

We also had told Ray that we wanted a 36 month lease, but he insisted you are only allowed to get a 39 month, you are not allowed to get a 36 month lease anywhere. We explained that the manufacturer’s warrantee is only 36 months. Ray replied, “Don’t worry. When you see me in three years, I’ll let you out of it. I promise.” Would you put that in writing?” I said. Ray replied, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can get it in writing. I’ll write it myself.”

At this point, we left the Nissan dealership. We returned home and logged onto leaseguide.com. We then punched in the numbers that Ray provided us and realized that he, indeed, attempted to charge us $906.00 more than what we were quoted. In fact, the monthly payments should have been at $233.00, as opposed to $259.00. (Including taxes and applicable fees) The residual value of the vehicle would be $15,001.00 at the end of 39 months.

At this point, I then faxed over the discrepancy to Smithtown Nissan, attention Ray. I then received an immediate call on my cell phone from Ray, who was loud and attempting to intimidate me. Trying to explain the discrepancy and not biting on Rays loud boring intimidation tactics, he grew frustrated and replied, You know what, “You and your wife wouldn’t know a good deal if a fucking dog walked up and kissed you both on your mouth.” Stunned, I stood there in complete silence, collected myself and realized what this man had just said to my wife and I. Slowly, I asked him, “What did you just say to me?” Ray replied, “Oh, you didn’t hear? I’ll tell you again,” and repeated, “You and your wife wouldn’t know a good deal if a fxxxing dog walked up and kissed you both on your mouth.”

At this point, I was furious inside, but remained calm. I said, “Ray. Do you think that’s a nice way to speak to customers?” He said, “I don’t care.’ He said, “I’m not doing any deal with you. Don’t even bother walking back in the store cause I wont do a deal with you and you’ll be lucky if you get your refund.” At this point he hung up the phone and I attempted to call back and no one would answer. Our conversation was extremely late in the afternoon, towards early evening. I then returned to the Nissan dealership and observed that it was closed.

The following morning, I returned to Smithtown Nissan and explained what had occurred to a woman by the name of Jeanie, who is an employee. Ray was not in and neither was Chris Fina, who is the Owner of Smithtown Nissan. As soon as I explained what Ray had said to me and my wife, she shook her head in disgust and immediately provided me with the refund. She took my business card after requesting that Mr. Fina contacted me immediately. To date, he has not.

I am a retired New York City Police Officer, with 20 years of service. For the past eight years, I have been a licensed New York State Private Investigator, specializing in insurance fraud, general liability, criminal and accident investigation files. My wife has been a Legal Secretary for the past three years. We are residents of Suffolk and have a family of three children, one of whom is serving in the Marines.

General Manager Ray (Krisa) and Smithtown Nissan’s deceptive, fraudulent practices, in addition to the rude, obnoxious and hurtful remarks are criminal and disgraceful. They should be dealt with swiftly, in a prompt, efficient and aggressive legal manner. Indeed, while researching my databases, I located several customers in just the past few months who have written to www.ripoffreport.com regarding Ray (Krisa) as well as other Smithtown Nissan Salesmen and their deceptive, fraudulent practices.

In fact, Smithtown Nissan, after a thorough investigation by Governor Andrew Cuomo and the State Attorney General’s Office, was fined substantially after an investigation revealed a pattern of deceptive and fraudulent practices resulting in settlement claims that were paid in 2004, In addition, The Better Business Bureau shows that Smithtown Nissan has received an enormous amount of complaints within the last 12 months, which is unprecedented compared to other auto dealerships. Imagine all the consumers who thought there was nothing they could do and how it affects their wallet. Frankly, it’s outrageous as they thumb their seemingly untouchable noses to all of us and laugh in our faces.

It is quite clear that Smithtown Nissan has continued their fraudulent patterns and practice of criminal and deceptive means in illegally bilking customers’ money. I would ask that the appropriate team contact me immediately to discuss this case in regards to appropriate action. My wife and I will cooperate fully in this matter as it is reprehensible that a company can indiscriminately defraud so many people and get away with it.

Vincent
Smithtown, New York
U.S.A.

 

This company is amazing they work together to get the best deal for themselves… they do this whatever the cost… on any website you go to there are so many complaints its astounding.  i purchased a car from them back in sept 2008… they added charges to my loan…700 for a tire package… 700 for a replacement key package… 700 for vin etching and about 1800 for an extended warranty… not only did i not want any of these packages they added these without my consent and they forged signatures to do it… they made the mistake of showing this to me on my last visit there. they added an extra letter in my wife’s name the fools… the papers again magically disappeared when i asked for a copy of my own and they put them in an envelope and basically ran to the second floor to try to keep them from me… i made quite a scene because i was fed up with two months of lies and stories.  Instead of calling the Police… because at this point i was yelling at the managers for putting their hands on me, they got the goons to try to intimidate me with their steroid filled muscles… LOL!!  Little did they know i TAPE RECORDED the entire visit. The packages were scams too… vin etching is free from the police which by the way was never put on the windows(i had another nissan dealer check this out)… the key replacement costs about 4 bucks at the hardware store… a new tire is about 70 bucks so why would anyone take these… the extended warranty they supposedly cancelled and i have a signed paper saying they did but that was a no go also… after going back and forth i finally got about 1400 back from the general manager who just didn’t want to hear or see me anymore… they still owe me 2500 but i know that’ll never happen… watch out for Stan Sigerman the biggest crook of them all!!!  He’s the finance manager there who leads the team to ripping off the consumers… don’t believe me just look them up all over the internet!!

 

Be warned Smithtown Nissan are crooks and carry out deceptive and fraudulent practices.

I went to Smithtown of Nissan on 07/12/09. It was one of the most terrible days of my life and the biggest mistake that I could have made. My husband and I walked in just as the dealership was about to close on a Sunday evening. We were approached by a sales rep Charles Murray. He lied to us from the beginning stating that the white Nissan Maxima that I wanted was the only one that they had in stock and if I didn’t get it I wouldn’t be able to find it again. He walked back and forth in and out of the office negotiating with the manager good deal for us. I was not at that point ready to buy a car and I told Charles I needed to think about it. This was the first time that I was going to a dealership so I don’t have the experience of buying a car from a dealership.

Mr. Charles said to me if you want you can take the car home and see if you like if you don’t you can bring it back. I being naive fell for this lie signed all the paper work and left with the car that night. I got home looked at the financial situation and then decided that night I was not going to keep the car. I called Smithtown Nissan as soon as they were opened the very next day and asked to speak to one the managers. I left a message for Ray who was one of the managers as no one wanted to pick up my call as Charles was not in. I kept calling as it was less than 24hrs since I left the dealership. I finally got Joe Gumban at 2:30 who told us that once we walk out we can’t get our money back and we are new car owners. I freaked out as nowhere in our conversation the night before were we told by Charles Murray that we couldn’t return the car. Charles kept saying that he would take care of us don’t worry trust him. He told us we could and that he was helping us out. I was so upset as I felt that I was deceived and lied to and I was honest with them and told them I don’t have any experience with a dealership and I was not ready to get the car that night.
Charles made it seem that we could have the car and see if we liked it while they held our money and paper work. Well they never held our money charged everything through my credit card and the paper work that they said that they were keeping aside they said that they had FedEx it to Nissan already as sold and it was out of their hands when I called them the next day. How could they be so deceptive and carry out such fraudulent practices. I was sick to my stomach I couldn’t sleep that night. I realized that we were misled none of our initial questions were answered about the maintenance agreement. They gave us nothing and brushed of with we’ll take care of everything and in the end gave us nothing and took our money. They are rip offs. Something needs to be done about their business practices. I asked to speak to another manager since Ray never called me back. I spoke to Brain who was so rude and obnoxious and made hurtful remarks are criminal and disgraceful. He said that no one held a gun to my head to sign those papers and I shouldn’t have taken the car if I didn’t want it. I told him that I trusted them and their word to hold everything and they lied to me.

My financial situation is not good and most likely my credit will be ruined. I’m so upset that they did this to me. These people have no conscience as to how they ruined people’s lives. They are unscrupulous and they help each other con people and take their money. I trusted them and though that they were professional and would keep everything on the side until I told them the next day that I was or was not going to take the car. They said I knew exactly what I was doing and they are not looking out for my interest but their own. I hope that no one ever use them as they say whatever they need to say and pressure and force you. Don’t sign anything or give them your credit card. If anyone knows what I could do please let me know my email is (((ROR REDACTED))). I think everyone who had a bad experience and have been cheated at Smithtown Nissan should come together and report them to the authorities. There was a police officer I read who they finally refunded him he said that they are reported to the Attorney General for scamming people.

Again my email is asha_m@email.com.

Sasha201
brentwood, New York

]]> http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/smithtown-nissan-ripoff-report/feed 0 BMW stars along with Tom Cruise in new Mission Impossible flick http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/bmw-stars-tom-cruise-mission-impossible-flick http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/bmw-stars-tom-cruise-mission-impossible-flick#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:37:11 +0000 admin http://longislandguides.net/?p=2951


When the latest Mission Impossible movie debuts in December, it will be impossible not to notice the cars Tom Cruise is driving. BMW will be at the forefront.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol will make as much of the German luxury car brand as it does of superstar Cruise.

Several BMW vehicles — including the futuristic BMW Vision EfficientDynamics, the concept car for the forthcoming BMW i8, the BMW 6 Series Convertible — are driven by Tom Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt. They are prominently featured in several key action sequences.

BMW will make sure audiences won’t miss its participation with an ad campaign built around its participation. Of course, there will be a “self-destructing” sales offer.

BMW is even going to offer special screenings to its customers.

“The film allows us a wonderful opportunity to showcase not only BMW’s vision for future vehicles but to highlight some of the newest and most popular cars in our current fleet,” said Trudy Hardy, manager of Marketing Communications and Consumer Events at BMW of North America. “The synergies between BMW’s high-performance vehicles and one of the most action-packed film franchises on the big screen were perfect.”

]]> http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/bmw-stars-tom-cruise-mission-impossible-flick/feed 0 GoPro. Be a HERO http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/gopro-hero http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/gopro-hero#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:36:03 +0000 admin http://longislandguides.net/?p=2944



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]]> http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/gopro-hero/feed 0 Photography Techniques and Tutorials http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/photography-techniques-tutorials http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/photography-techniques-tutorials#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:27:39 +0000 admin http://longislandguides.net/?p=2940


1. High Speed Photography

Celebration Of High-Speed Photography
This post is supposed to provide you with some inspiration of what can be done with high-speed photography. It also showcases some truly stunning slow-motion videos.

Screenshot

DIY – High Speed Photography at Home
This guide describes how to capture super fast movements using ordinary camera gear and a little home made electronics. It describes the setup used, the common problems and what can be done to solve them.

smoke

Home-Made High Speed Photography (PDF)
Pictures of high-speed events such as popping balloons, breaking glass, and splashing liquids reveal interesting structures not visible to the naked eye. With this guide you can take your own high-speed photos to captures these ephemeral events. A very detailed tutorial.

smoke

Quick guide to Simple High Speed Macro Photography
This is a quick tutorial to get you started with high speed photography. There are tons of other resources on the web, but most of them are advanced and require special equipment. This one is simple and basic.

smoke

 

2. Tilt-Shift Photography

Tilt-shift photography refers to the use of camera movements on small- and medium-format cameras; it usually requires the use of special lenses.

“Tilt-shift” actually encompasses two different types of movements: rotation of the lens relative to the image plane, called tilt, and movement of the lens parallel to the image plane, called shift. Tilt is used to control the orientation of the plane of focus (PoF), and hence the part of an image that appears sharp; it makes use of the Scheimpflug principle. Shift is used to change the line of sight while avoiding the convergence of parallel lines, as when photographing tall buildings.

Another, less cost-intensive technique called “tilt-shift miniature faking” is a process in which a photograph of a life-sized location or object is manipulated so that it looks like a photograph of a miniature-scale model.

50 Beautiful Examples Of Tilt-Shift Photography

Tilt-Shift Photography Photoshop Tutorial
This tutorial was produced using Photoshop CS2 on a PC.

Receding Hairline
With very little effort, you can take existing photographs of everyday scenes and make them look like miniature models.

Free Auto Tilt-Shift Photoshop Action
Plug-and-play solution for preparing your photos.

 

3. Black and White Photography

Beautiful Black and White Photography
One of the most beautiful inspirational posts on Smashing Magazine, featuring over 50 brilliant works from photographers across the globe.

Black and White Photography

5 Black and White Photography Tips
A short, but useful article by by Darren Rowse, featuring shoot in RAW, low ISO and other techniques. You may also consider reading the articles Key Ingredients for Black and White Images

Black and White Photography Guide
Black and white photography starts before the shot is even taken. In this article you’ll find some quick tips on what to look for to ensure the perfect black and white landscape – e.g. camera settings for black and white photography and what filters are good for black and white landscapes.

Digital Black and White
This site features professional photography articles written by Keith Cooper. It covers black/white-photography-techniques, image manipulation techniques, tools, articles and camera reviews.

The Top 5 Black & White Photography Tips
Five handy tips to get you going in the right direction: practice, focus on contrast, focus on texture, use color filters and more. If you want to learn more about the actual black and white conversion process in Photoshop, see the article 12 Ways to Make a Black & White Photo as well.

Black and White Photography

 

4. Motion Blur Photography

45 Beautiful Motion Blur Photos
A showcase of motion blur photos. Motion blur is frequently used to show a sense of speed. You can artificially achieve this effect in a usual scene using cameras with a slow shutter speed. Also Adobe Photoshop can be used for this purpose, though sometimes images may look unnatural and unprofessional.

Motion Blur

How to Capture Motion Blur in Photography
Capturing movement in images is something that many photographers only need to do when photographing sports or other fast-moving events.

Professional-Looking Motion-Blur Effect for Your Images
“In this tutorial we’re going to show you how to create a very popular motion blur effect used in many magazine and various other professionally crafted images.”

Photoshop Tutorials: Create Silky Smooth Waterfalls
“In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we’re going to look at how to give waterfalls a silky smooth appearance, as if the photo were taken with a longer exposure, which would normally require the use of a neutral density filter.”

Long Exposure Photos
Long exposure can be used to create very interesting photographs. It can be used, for example, to create a bright photo in low-light conditions or to create motion blur for moving elements in a photograph

 

5. Infrared Photography

40 Incredible Near-Infrared Photos
A showcase of near-infrared photography. Near-infrared images straight out of the camera do not always look good and are usually not as dramatic and beautiful as normally captured images. Hence, a lot of post-processing is done to enhance these images.

Infrared Photo

Infrared Photography with a Digital Camera
Thanks to digital photography, we can take infrared pictures whenever we please, mix them with “normal” ones and see the results on the spot, tweaking the settings to our heart’s desire.

InfraRed photography
A specialized IR portal, with gallery and forum.

LifePixel
Rich collection of manuals, how-to and do-it-yourself guides.

Beyond Visible
Website about IR, UV and luminescence photography. Here you can found plenty of theory and useful information about IR adaptors for flashlights. Among the resources is a huge collection of links related to invisible light photography.

Infrared (IR)
A gallery with a number of amazing IR photos.

Infrared photography
Huge article with a number of useful links. Nearly complete list of IR filters and digital cameras that can be updated for IR shooting.

 

6. Night Photography

60 Beautiful Examples Of Night Photography
60 amazing examples of night photography, created by some hard-working and dedicated photographers. Take a look at their websites and portfolios.

The Nocturnes
The Nocturnes is an organization dedicated to night photography. Founded by Tim Baskerville in San Francisco in 1991, it has grown to become the premier source of information and education on night photography, as well as an international community for night photographers.

Lost America night photography
Wandering the deserted backroads of the American Southwest, Troy Paiva has explored the abandoned underbelly of America since the 1970s. Since 1989 he’s been taking pictures of it… at night, by the light of the full moon.

Long Exposure Night Photography
This article shows you how to take pictures of night scenes with no moving objects.

Night Photography by David Baldwin
Night photography of landscapes and architecture.

“Strangers in the night”
How-to guide for night photography with point-and-shoot cameras.

MalekTips (removed due to errors)
Some solutions for avoiding typical problems with night photography.

Learn Night Photography
Quick and dirty guide to defining exposure time for typical night subjects.

Night Landscape Photography
Capture stunning landscape images during the black of night.

 

7. Smoke Art Photography

Smoke Photography and Smoke Art
A round-up of some of the best examples of photos and artworks where smoke dominates.

smoke

Smoke Art Photography – An Introduction
This articles features smoke art photography tips from Stoffel De Roover; it describes the typical setup, important techniques and necessary adjustments for a perfect smoke art photo.

Smoke Art: Professional’s Notes
Personal photography notes from Graham Jeffery that are part instruction, and part a description of his own technique, and a few things that he has discovered along the way.

smoke

Photographing Smoke
The interview with Graham Jefferey, of Sensitive Light fame (see the link above), with interesting insights into practice and handy tips and tricks. Learn how to get the smoke right, how to set up the perfect lighting and exposure and how to manipulate images digitally.

How to photograph smoke – Photography podcast
This podcast talks about how to photograph smoke in a professional way. It discusses photographing different types of smoke including incense, outdoor smoke and liquid nitrogen.

smoke

How to: Smoke Photography
This simple guide describes a set up for smoke art photography.

smoke

Smoke photography video tutorial
Video tutorial on smoke photography.

Make: How-To Smoke Photography
Learn how to create and shoot sculptures made with smoke and how to paint with smoke.

smoke

 

8. Macro Photography

25 Beautiful Macro Photography Shots
A round-up of some truly revealing and inspiring macro photographs which are sure to have you marveling at the world around you.

Spider macro

Macro Photography
How to take close-up pictures of small things, by Philip Greenspun

Introduction to Macro Photography
Set-up and camera settings for macro photography (8-minute video).

Reversing Lenses for Macro Photography
A guide to building a lens for extreme macro shooting.

Woven Shadows
Digital photography video tutorial (48 MB).

Macro photography
A round-up of gadgets that will help you move really close to your subject.

Captain’s European Butterfly Guide
Engaging guide for this special kind of hunting (of course, you can use it outside of Europe, too).

Macro Photography Tips for Point and Shoot Digital Cameras
Most of the articles here are geared to DSLR owners. But they are also useful for macro photography with compact cameras, too.

Extreme Macro Photography on a Budget
DIY extreme macro lens with a Pringles container.

Over the recent months we’ve been presenting various showcases of photography – while many readers hated the showcases, most readers found them inspirational and perfect for a lousy workday’s morning. However, what we should have done in the inspirational posts is not just provide you with some inspiration for your work, but also present useful photographic techniques which can help you to achieve optimal pictures for your designs. And as requested by many of you, now it’s time to correct our mistake.

In this post we present useful photographic techniques, tutorials and resources for various kinds of photography. You’ll learn how to set up the perfect environment and what techniques, principles and rules of thumbs you should consider when shooting your next perfect photo. This round-up isn’t supposed to be the ultimate one – please feel free to suggest more useful articles in the comments to this post.

Among other things, we cover high-speed photography, tilt-shift photography, black and white photography, motion blur, infrared, night, smoke photography, macro photography, HDR, panoramic photography, RAW processing and others. Hopefully, you’ll find many of the listed tutorials and how-tos useful for your regular work.

]]> http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/photography-techniques-tutorials/feed 0 Extremities by Eli Stonberg http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/extremities-eli-stonberg http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/extremities-eli-stonberg#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:23:47 +0000 admin http://longislandguides.net/?p=2934


Extremities from Eli Stonberg on Vimeo.

This Video Was Shot By GoPro.

]]> http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/extremities-eli-stonberg/feed 0 Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/earth-time-lapse-view-space-fly-nasa-iss-2 http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/earth-time-lapse-view-space-fly-nasa-iss-2#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:00:48 +0000 admin http://longislandguides.net/?p=2928


Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

]]> http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/earth-time-lapse-view-space-fly-nasa-iss-2/feed 0 The Largest Selection of Longboards in NEW YORK CITY – Longboard Loft NYC http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/largest-selection-longboards-york-city-%e2%80%93-longboard-loft-nyc http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/largest-selection-longboards-york-city-%e2%80%93-longboard-loft-nyc#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:41:38 +0000 admin http://longislandguides.net/?p=2914


At Longboard Loft NYC we pride ourselves in offering the largest, most diverse selection of longboards in New York City (we could probably say the entire Northeast, but some of the big beach spots may have us beat wtih racks of pintails). The point is, your not going to find more options than you will at 132 Allen Street. We stock everything from the most basic campus cruisers to the most advanced and technical downhill race boards. Combine that kind of inventory with an experienced, knowledgeable staff of ‘real skaters’ and you walk away with a board that is fined tuned just for YOU!


 

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]]> http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/largest-selection-longboards-york-city-%e2%80%93-longboard-loft-nyc/feed 0 Long Island Public Relations http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/long-island-public-relations http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/long-island-public-relations#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:46:27 +0000 admin http://longislandguides.net/?p=2901


Long Island Public Relations

Public relations (PR) is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.

An earlier definition of public relations, by The first World Assembly of Public Relations Associations, held in Mexico City, in August 1978, was “the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest.”

Others define it as the practice of managing communication between an organization and its publics.Public relations provides an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that provide a third-party endorsement and do not direct payment. Common activities include speaking at conferences, working with the media, crisis communications, social media engagement,[5] and employee communication.

The European view of public relations notes that besides a relational form of interactivity there is also a reflective paradigm that is concerned with publics and the public sphere; not only with relational, which can in principle be private, but also with public consequences of organizational behaviour  A much broader view of interactive communication using the Internet, as outlined by Phillips and Young in Online Public Relations Second Edition (2009), describes the form and nature of Internet-mediated public relations. It encompasses social media and other channels for communication and many platforms for communication such as personal computers (PCs), mobile phones and video game consoles with Internet access. The increasing use of the mentioned technologies give the media a democratisation power and thus, aid to the demystification of subjects.

Public relations is used to build rapport with employees, customers, investors, voters, or the general public. Almost any organization that has a stake in how it is portrayed in the public arena employs some level of public relations. There are a number of public relations disciplines falling under the banner of corporate communications, such as analyst relations, media relations, investor relations, internal communications and labor relations. Most of them include the aspect of peer review to get liability.

Other public relations disciplines include:
Financial public relations – providing information mainly to business reporters
Consumer/lifestyle public relations – gaining publicity for a particular product or service, rather than using advertising
Crisis public relations – responding to negative accusations or information
Industry relations – providing information to trade bodies
Government relations – engaging government departments to influence policymaking
Public relations and publicity are not synonymous, but many public relations campaigns include provisions for publicity. Publicity is the spreading of information to gain public awareness for a product, person, service, cause or organization, and can be seen as a result of effective public relations planning. More recently in public relations, professionals are using technology as their main tool to get their messages to target audiences. With the creation of social networks, blogs, and even Internet radio public relations professionals are able to send direct messages through these mediums that attract the target audiences. Methods used to find out what is appealing to target audiences include the use of surveys, conducting research or even focus groups. Tactics are the ways to attract target audiences by using the information gathered about that audience and directing a message to them using tools such as social mediums or other technology. Another emerging theme is the application of psychological theories of impression management.[10]

PR Tools

There are various tools that can be used in the practice of public relations. Traditional tools include press releases and media kits which are sent out to generate positive press on behalf of the organization. Other widely used tools include brochures, newsletters and annual reports. Increasingly, companies are utilizing interactive social media outlets, such as

  •  Blogs
  • Social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, foursquare (social network), etc.)as tools in their public relations campaigns. Unlike the traditional tools which allowed for only one-way communication, social media outlets allow the organization to engage in two-way communication, and receive immediate feedback from their various stakeholders and public. Furthermore companies can join discussions with multiple user identities to create a positive image of the company (e.g. quantity of positive statements from different usersOne of the most popular and traditional tools used by public relations professionals is a press kit, also known as a media kit. A press kit is usually a folder that consists of promotional materials that give information about an event, organization, business, or even a person. What are included would be backgrounders or biographies, fact sheets, press releases (or media releases), media alerts, brochures, newsletters, photographs with captions, copies of any media clips, and social mediums. With the way that the industry has changed, many organizations may have a website with a link, “Press Room” which would have online versions of these documents.The art of public relations is more than simply press kits and social media. ‘PR’ is synonymous in many people’s minds with “Press Release”, but the tools of the PR industry are actually many and varied as well as sophisticated and subtle. They include media relations kits containing video and audio news releases, referred to in the industry as VNRs and ANRs, which are often carefully produced to emulate the signature style of a particular network news or current affairs program. These products are then delivered to networks and run as regular program content, with or without source acknowledgment, thereby saving the network tens of thousands of dollars in production costs and delivering for the client of the PR firm an extremely effective and subtle method of managing public opinion. Crisis and issues management campaigns often utilize VNRs and ANRs in their efforts to manage information pertaining to threats to client reputation or profit. Astroturfing, or creating front groups designed to appear as genuine grass roots movements, (hence astroturf or fake grass) has proven to be a very effective method of opinion management because people are less suspicious and critical of “ordinary people voicing their concerns” than they are of representatives of corporations or governments. Buzz generation, or buzz marketing is another powerful and subversive form of PR in which people are paid to create a “buzz” amongst their peers by exposing them to products or opinions in a manner that appears not to be deliberate marketing or opinion management. Most PR campaigns use many or all of these “communication” techniques and a great many more in creative ways that deliver practical results in marketing or public opinion management.Targeting publics

    A fundamental technique used in public relations is to identify the target audience, and to tailor every message to appeal to that audience. It can be a general, nationwide or worldwide audience, but it is more often a segment of a population. A good elevator pitch can help tailor messaging to each target audience. Marketers often refer to socio-economically driven “demographics”, such as “black males 18-49″. However, in public relations an audience is more fluid, being whoever someone wants to reach. Or, in the new paradigm of value based networked social groups, the values based social segment could be a trending audience. For example, recent political audiences seduce such buzzword monikers as “soccer moms” and “NASCAR dads.”

    An alternative and less flexible, more simplistic, approach uses stakeholders theory to identify people who have a stake in a given institution or issue. All audiences are stakeholders (or presumptive stakeholders), but not all stakeholders are audiences. For example, if a charity commissions a public relations agency to create an advertising campaign to raise money to find a cure for a disease, the charity and the people with the disease are stakeholders, but the audience is anyone who is likely to donate money.

    Sometimes the interests of differing audiences and stakeholders common to a public relations effort necessitate the creation of several distinct but complementary messages. This is not always easy to do, and sometimes, especially in politics, a spokesperson or client says something to one audience that creates dissonance with another audience or group of stakeholders.

    Lobby groups

    Lobby groups are established to influence government policy, corporate policy, or public opinion. An example of this is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which influences American foreign policy toward another country. Such groups claim to represent a particular interest and in fact are dedicated to doing so. When a lobby group hides its true purpose and support base, it is known as a front group. Moreover, governments may also lobby public relations firms in order to sway public opinion. A well illustrated example of this is the way civil war in Yugoslavia was portrayed. Governments of the newly seceded republics of Croatia and Bosnia, as well as Serbia invested heavily with UK and American public relations firms, so that they would give them a positive image in the USA.[11]

    Spin

    Main article: Spin (public relations)

    In public relations, spin is sometimes a pejorative term signifying a heavily biased portrayal in specific favor of an event or situation. While traditional public relations may also rely on creative presentation of the facts, spin often, though not always, implies disingenuous, deceptive and/or highly manipulative tactics. Politicians are often accused of spin by commentators and political opponents when they produce a counterargument or position.

    The techniques of spin include selectively presenting facts and quotes that support ideal positions (cherry picking), the so-called “non-denial denial”, phrasing that in a way presumes unproven truths, euphemisms for drawing attention away from items considered distasteful, and ambiguity in public statements. Another spin technique involves careful choice of timing in the release of certain news so it can take advantage of prominent events in the news. A famous reference to this practice occurred when British Government press officer Jo Moore used the phrase “It’s now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury”, (widely paraphrased or misquoted as “It’s a good day to bury bad news”), in an email sent on the day of the September 11 attacks in 2001. The furor caused when this email was reported in the press eventually caused her to resign.

    Skilled practitioners of spin are sometimes called “spin doctors”, despite the negative connotation associated with the term. Perhaps the best-known person in the UK often described as a “spin doctor” is Alastair Campbell, who was involved with Tony Blair’s public relations between 1994 and 2003, and also played a controversial role as press relations officer to the British and Irish Lions rugby union side during their 2005 tour of New Zealand.[citation needed]

    State-run media in many countries also engage in spin by selectively allowing news stories that are favorable to the government while censoring anything that could be considered critical. They may also use propaganda to indoctrinate or actively influence citizens’ opinions. Privately run media may also use the same techniques of “issue” versus “non-issue” to spin its particular political viewpoints

    Negative PR

    Negative public relations, also called dark public relations (DPR), is a process of destroying the target’s reputation and/or corporate identity. In other words, instead of concentrating efforts in the maintenance and the creation of a positive reputation or image of your clients, the objective is to discredit someone else, usually a business rival. Unlike the regular services in public relations, those in DPR rely on the development of industries such as IT security, industrial espionage, social engineering and competitive intelligence. A common technique is finding all of the dirty secrets of their target and turning them against their very own holder.

]]> http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/long-island-public-relations/feed 0 Long Island Roofing Services http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/long-island-roofing-services http://longislandguides.net/long-island-ny/long-island-roofing-services#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:17:02 +0000 admin http://longislandguides.net/?p=2884


Established in 1991, Atlantic Exteriors, Inc. continues to be a family owned and operated business in Nassau, Queens and Suffolk County area. Atlantic Exteriors, Inc. Prides itself on an outstanding record of quality service and attention to detail. Our philosophy is to treat your home as we would our own, and this is complimented by our years of experience in the industry. Our desire to serve is a testament to the level of service and quality of result you’ll get when you choose Atlantic Exteriors Inc, for your roofing projects. Our professional roofers will assure the delivering of the right roof installation. Atlantic Exteriors Roofing is proud to be on top in the roofing industry.

Call  516-520-6687 

For a FREE Roof Installation QUOTE!

 

Roofing Services

Roofing
New Roof
Re-Roof
Roof Replacements
Roof Repairs
Roof Removals
Flat Roofs
Chimney Flashings
Plywood Replacement

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Siding
Vinyl Siding
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Skylights
New Installations
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Windows
Repacements
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Gutters
Installations
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When the time comes to replace, re-shingle or repair your roof, choosing the right contractor is crucial. Your roof is protecting your home and your investments. Atlantic Exteriors is your #1 choice.

 

 

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