Quick Hit Monday: Digital WakeUp Call Back On The Road, Lots Of Lightroom, A Little Photography, And Some Fun

Good Morning Everybody,
Wow! I can't wait - my Digital WakeUp Call tour is back on the road after being off for a week teaching my Master Class. I'm happy to say that the tour has been getting RAVE reviews - Thanks a bunch! We jump on a plane in just a few hours and head to Seattle.

Today is the beginning of our West Coast leg of the tour. Over the next 3 weeks we will travel from Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, Fresno, LA - Burbank, LA - Ontario, LA - Irvine and wrapping up in San Diego. Check out all the tour info right here. Hope to see you out west.

Now let me tell you some very cool news - we get to the drive the entire coast over these next 3 weeks and are looking forward to enjoying that part of the good ol' USA. I'll tell you, the highlight of the tour this time around is going to be a visit and tour of Google - yep, world famous Google. I got an email from one of our attendees who offered a tour and a gourmet lunch at the Googleplex - can't wait for that one!

Anyway, on with Quick Hit Monday...

Lots of Lightroom
I was looking for something on Mellisa Gould's Lightroom site over the weekend - never did find it - but stumbled across my NAPP buddy, Rob Sylvan's, Lightroomers.com site [link]. Rob runs the NAPP Lightroom Help Desk so he knows his stuff. His site is nicely scattered with some very good Lightroom tips - check it out.

Also I caught this very interesting post over at Lightroom Killer Tips by blogging my buddy, Matt Kloskowski. Matt showed a little before/after exercise on this video. It was interesting because I had a class member who loved my photography but was surprised to find that I used Lightroom to get to my final result. Folks, it's always about using the right tools for the job and the job is to get to what you saw in your mind's eye when you were making the image in your final result. A little nudge in Lightroom along the way can be a big help.

I have one rule here - "Get it right in the camera, unless, of course you can get it right in software faster."

Lots Of Photography
Wait, there's more. Also check out Yanik's Photo School. I happened upon Yanik's site months ago and just dropped back in for another visit. Yanik has some nice content on lots of photography things. Take a browse through his page and links right here - lots of good reading for everybody.

While we are on the subject of photography, check out Jan Klier's blog right here. Jan was one of our class members last week coming in from Seattle. He has some nice things going on over at his blog too. His blog is more that a product review site - I'd like to call it a thinking person's site. I mean that in the most flattering way possible. Jan discusses several things that are on many of our minds and explores perspectives on various topics. It's a nice read.

Wait, even more photography. I don't know how many of you have checked out DigitalPhotoPro.com site right here, but very often the trip is worth it. I'm on their email list and every time I get the notice, I check it out. This visit was not an exception. They cover the gamut of Gear and Technology, Business items, photographers' Profiles and the like. The site is targeted to Pros and you really should check it out.

And Now For Some Fun
Late last night I was doing a quick check of my emails before we hit the road today. I had a quick note from by buddy Kent Smith which said only this in the subject line, "Freakin unreal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and then posted this YouTube link right here. Hit the link only if you dare - it's totally unrelated to anything photographic but is an amazing video to watch, especially if you like bikes - 'nough said.

Hey gang, I'm out of here. Our plane leaves is just a few hours and I still have to pack. Don't forget Technique Tuesday tomorrow. See everybody in Seattle tomorrow. -David