Quick Hit Monday: Great Web-cast; Checking In With Photokina; Lighting Tutorials; Shooting Wirelessly To Your iPad; Photoshop Goodies; and More

Good Morning Everybody,

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  LaDawn and I got to just hang on our deck and enjoy a cool breeze, an adult beverage or two, and a beautiful sunset - ahhhh!

You know you are really “killing time” when you decide to clean out the kitchen pantry too - like on your first day off in several weeks, you decide to clean out a pantry!!??  Hey, it’s been a while, especially when the Campbell's soup can says “Used before 10/1997” ;~) Let’s just say that once I started checking dates, we just cleared it all out.

Hey gang, I’ve got a few juicy tidbits for you today so let’s get right to it.  Here we go...

KPPA Web-cast Was Great!

When our KPPA web-cast ended yesterday, I was on “Cloud 9”. Four hours  later it turned out the be the best and most diversified seminars I have ever attended. It was jammed packed with tons of great information on lighting, astoundingly beautiful images, and great marketing ideas from all three presenters.

- Matt showed how to take wedding photographs that not only sell, but also drive business to your door.

- Nancy showed how she is exciting her clients with the freshest high school senior photography in Oklahoma City and how she maintains a $1,500 average on all of her orders!

- Drake shared his beautiful and simple lighting techniques and how he booked over 1,000 sittings in one day!!! All the attendees were locked to their seats till the end.  It was just a wonderful educational experience!

We also gave away nearly $2,000 in door prizes! For those who didn’t attend you’re wondering, “Man, sounds like I missed something really special.” The answer would be a resounding, “YES, you did!”

Now the good news – I recorded the entire 4-hour webcast so that we could make it available for all those good folks that couldn’t make it to the presentation.  I just finished encoding the webcast into a WMV file for Windows users and a MP4 file for Mac users.  The MP4 file is sized to play conveniently on your iPad too.

For only $29 you will get both files on a DVD – 4 hours worth and hands down one of the best photography seminars you’ve ever watched!.  Folks, if you are serious about your photography, your lighting, and your business success, this DVD is a must have educational resource.  You can get all the Webcast DVD info and purchase it right here – don’t miss this opportunity!

Here are a few remarks from those attending:

“As a photographer for many years, a 1963 graduate of the Brooks Institute of Photography and a Past President of the Tennessee Professional Photographers Association, I felt this was one of the most innovated seminars that I have ever attended.”  Lee W.

“I just finished listening to the Webinar...it was great!!!! Enjoyed it tremendously and look forward to receiving the DVD of today's programs.  It was great listening to the different topics.” Rebecca S.

“Really enjoyed the 3 presentations, they were tremendous, lots of information and good tips!” Harold B.

“FABULOUS job today!!!!!” Laura R.

“Loved today's webinar.  Lots of great information.” Geneva B.

I’ve mentioned our Kentucky Professional Photographers web-cast [link] here at DPT for the last several weeks. As VP of our state association, I asked a big favor from three of the best photogs in the country - Matt McGraw from Wilmington, North Carolina, Nancy Emmerich from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Drake Busath from Salt Lake City, Utah. 

They all agreed to participate for the 4 hour web-cast and, I believe they hit it out of the park!  We had folks attending from around the country and around the world, even as fall away as Australia truly making it a worldwide web-cast. If you missed it you can pick up the recorded version right here - tons of information for a very small price!

Photokina 2010 Wraps

I was lucky enough to not just attend Photokina [link] several years ago, I was also one of the named presenters for Hasselblad Cameras - what a thrill and what a treat!  I stayed at the Meridien Dom Hotel right next to the historic DOM Cathedral - it was an amazing visit!

The exhibition is held in Cologne, Germany and is the biggest, best super exhibition of all things photographic in the world.  2008’s exhibition saw 1,523 exhibitors and over 169,000 people from over 161 nations attended! They expect 2010 to be even bigger!

Lots of blogs are reporting on the show.  My favorite Photokina news sources are 1001 Noisy Cameras [link], Rob Galbraith [link], and the ImagingInsider [link].  Check out the links here to see what’s new.

A Little On Lighting - 13 Tutorials

I have to say, with the web-cast going on and a little added relaxing happening this weekend, I thought I was going to come up dry for today’s post. But after scurrying around the net for a bit, I turned up a few gems for you.  DIYPhotography.com had a great collection of videos on lighting right here.  It a nice varied collection - worth the peak

Shooting Wireless Into The iPad

Here is another gem of a find from Rob Galbraith’s site.  I’ve heard about ShutterSnitch [link] for a while. It’s the $7.99 iPad app that let’s you shoot directly into to your iPad when using the Eye-Fi cards. 

This app can accept pictures from any camera transmitter that's capable of an FTP transfer, which includes all past and current Canon and Nikon digital SLR transmitter accessories. This article right here finally goes into plenty of detail into exactly how to set up the iPad for the best result. 

It’s the absolute best post I’ve seen on the topic. If you love your iPad and want to have some fun, this is the way to go.

A Few Photoshop Goodies

A “Blow Your Mind” P/S Tutorial

Every now and then I find a Photoshop tutorial that just blows me away with what I see in the final result. 

This is one of those tutorials.  This is something you will never use in your life, unless you are a graphic designer, but it is still fun to see how the finished image comes together.  Here is the link to the tutorial right here.

And Now Something For The Rest Of Us – Gimme Some Action(s)

Photoshop action, that is. Hey, a lot of us are Photoshop action junkies – me included.  Every now and then I stumble upon a site or two that points to some pretty cool FREE actions.

I’m pointing you towards one of those sites right here. Have fun and dig in.  There are approximately 100 actions to check out.  No need to say thank you ;~)

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  It’s the first day back in the studio and you know what that means – it’s catch up day.

How about I see everybody back here tomorrow for a new episode of Technique Tuesday.  I promise, you’re going to like it.

See ya’ then,  David