Quick Hit Monday: Geek Alert; New Canon 50D Book; Best Of The Web; A Little Common Sense

Good Morning Everybody,
Hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent Saturday at Yosemite National Park - only 90 minutes from Fresno and what a treat. I was there years ago shooting a wedding but didn't get a chance to explore it the way we did this past Saturday. Look for some Ansel Adams "look-a-like" images of the day coming your way this week.

The thing that struck me while working with the images in Lightroom was how much more I enjoyed the images in B&W. I know that may sound weird, but for me it was true. The B&W versions of my favorite shots struck me as the most dramatic and powerful when compared to my color versions.

Check out the image above in my "Image of the Day" post - a beautiful B&W image. Now look at the image below - yes, it still looks good but doesn't grab me the way the B&W version does.

Hey, maybe Ansel had something there. He was never a big fan of color either. He felt he could get a much better range of tonalities using his Zone system with B&W film and compensating with exposure and processing.

I have to say, I have never seen so many pro level cameras in one place than at Yosemite National Park - it was like everybody had them. Given the situation, what was I to do? I thought "shameless self-promotion" was in order here.

Here I am passing out my DigitalProtalk.com cards to a group of photographers from Boston. The gentleman on the right says, "I know you, I've seen you on Kelby Training videos." [link] What can I say - small world, even in Yosemite;~)

Hey gang, let's get on with Quick Hit Monday - here we go...

Geek Alert, Geek Alert...
Well, things started when we sat down for a cold refreshment after my program in San Jose last week. Mike, who had graciously given us the tour of Google earlier in the day, pulled out his laptop and showed us this very cool application from CoolIris. CoolIris is a plug-in that transforms your browser into a lightning fast, cinematic way to enjoy photos and videos from the Web or your desktop. You've got to check it out - here is the Cool Iris link.

Wait, there's more. I made the trip over to Lifehacker.com over the weekend and found this very cool tool for easily trimming your videos very quickly. The app is called FreeVideoCutter and can be found at the website of the same name - here is the link. Well, Lifehacker.com pointed me to TechBlissonline.com who had the link to FreeVideoCutter.com along with a lot of related links at the bottom of the page.

OK, by the time you finish all the Dot Com browsing in the previous two paragraphs, it will be Tuesday morning before you know it - have fun.

Just Published - New Book On Canon 50D
I just found out that fellow blogging buddy, Jeff Revell, has just published a brand new, hoppin' good book on Canon's 50D camera - I just ordered my copy. I first saw the story over at uber blogger, Scott Kelby's site. It seems this is the book to read if you are shooting the Canon 50D - it's not just a manual, it a road map to taking better pictures. Here is the link to Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com where you can pick up your copy too. Hey, don't forget to check out Jeff's PhotoWalkPro.com site too - here is the link. Congratulations Jeff on the new book!

2009 Webby Awards - Schedule Some More Surfing Time
I just caught this over at Cincy blogging buddy, Ryan Dlugosz's blog - rrdphoto.com. It seems the Webby Awards for best web sites of 2009 were just announced and Ryan has found some photo gems in the list. Here is the link to his site which includes the main link to the Webby Awards too. Lots of cruise time needed to check out all the goodies here.

And Now For A Little Common Sense
In part of my DigitalWakeUpCall program I discuss business building as it related to building relationships with your vendor buddies. Bud Bilanich, who runs a very successful blog on success had a great post on just that topic. The post is entitled, "Think WE for Relationship Success." Here is the link to the article. Bud offers some common sense insights that should be common practice to all of us wanting career and life success. His blog is a refreshing and enjoyable read - definitely worth the visit.

Hey gang, that's it for me today. We have about 250 photogs landing in Burbank tonight for the last leg of my DigitalWakeUpCall tour down the west coast. We are off to Ontario, CA; Irvine, CA; and finish in San Diego on Thursday. I hope to see you somewhere down the road, maybe even this evening in Burbank.

Keep your pixels smilin', -David