Quick Hit Monday: Tantalizing Photography; Photoshop Galore; and iPad Nirvana

Good Morning Everybody,

After the Blogger outage last Thursday and Friday which sure made getting the post up last week a bit more difficult – LaDawn and I settled into a fairly easy weekend.

Probably the highlight of the weekend, besides meeting Vivian the new baby daughter of my Ace #1 Assistant Nicolas Viltrakis and wife Terri, was seeing Cirque du Soleil’s show OVO on Sunday evening.  LaDawn and I are both huge Cirque fans having seen just about every show playing in Las Vegas.  It’s nice to have one come to town right in your own back yard.  “O” playing at the Bellagio is still our all time favorite but OVO was very entertaining with fun exciting costumes.

I’m spending this week catching up on a few projects and loose ends and finalizing plans for my Kelby Training DVD shoots next week.  My next training videos will focus (no pun intended) on Engagement Portraits and Composition. I’ve completed both the outlines for the shooting schedule. I’m just wondering how we’re going to get everything edited down to just two 2 hour training sessions ;~)

Hey  gang, I’ve got some pretty tantalizing reads for you on today’s Quick Hit Monday so why don’t we jump right in.  Here we go…

In The Photography Department

1. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but while in Banff last month we attended a wonderful program by two fresh new wedding photographers – David and Quin Cheung.  They were entertaining, funny, and very informative.  Just for the fun of it, head over to their site and check out their exciting wedding photography – you’ll love it!  Here is the link right here.

2. Last week while visiting After Dark in Cincinnati, I ran into Neil Van Neikerk, author of the best selling “On Camera Flash”.  We had previously met at WPPI so it was a nice surprise to get a chance to visit again.  During our quick visit he showed me his latest camera he was shooting with – a Fuji X100.  I’ll tell ya’, it was one interesting camera – a rangefinder camera that look’s like an old Leica rangefinder camera of years ago.

Apparently it was quite a hit at Photokina last year and is in very short supply right now – even B&H has been out of stock.  Anyway, Neil allowed me take a few shots and I was really impressed.  I even took a few at 3200.  The images looked great.  Is this my next wedding camera?  We’ll have to see on that one, but the camera sure looks like it could be a possible addition.  Want to read more on it – here is a link to a recent review right here.

3. Creative Wedding Photography Option for Those on a Budget [link].  This is a very interesting article reflecting the trends in today’s wedding client but I really liked the images accompanying the article.  Give it a peek right here.

4. My buddy and long time friend, Terry Deglau, recently started a blog entitled “A Creative Mind Is A Moving Target” and is brain dumping his vast amounts of knowledge into weekly posts.  One of my recent favorites is “Sometimes Slow is Better” where he has a very thorough discussion on slow shutter exposure photography. You’ll get a kick out of reading Terry’s posts – check it out right here.

5. National Geographic just released a new iPad app that  is receiving “rave” reviews.  It’s called “50 Places Of A Lifetime”.  You can check out some of the amazing images and download the app right here.  Even with all the traveling we do, most of these locations have been off our radar.  Yes, I’m planning to down load the app;~)

6. And a few more inspiring images from nature can be found right here in this post entitled “41 Most Refreshing Pictures: Sweetness Of Nature”.  Hey, we all need a little Monday morning inspiration don’t we – check it out.

7. Danger!  Danger!  Will Robinson! I almost linked you to the article below but upon verifying the link, my Norton Antivirus software immediately notified me of a virus attack. DON’T check out this article “35 Useful Digital Photography Tips And Tutorials” at Tripwire Magazine – sorry, no link provided.

I really work on keeping the links I post here at DPT safe for all our readers and haven’t seen anything like this for quite a while.  This kind of stuff really irks me though – a promise of good content only to have the well meaning visitor be hit with a virus. Please be forewarned of other sites like TripWire out there playing the same game.

But now on to more fun stuff.

Photoshop, Photoshop, and More Photoshop – 7 Hot and Helpful Links For You

This part of Quick Hit Monday is turning into a weekly feature, most because of all the cool content available.  Each week I’ll try to nab the best links for the Portrait/Wedding Photographer.  I’ll also toss in something that goes beyond portraits and wedding just because the links contain such interesting content.  I hope you enjoy them. 

1. 15 Photoshop Cheat Sheets That Will Make Your Task Easier [link]

2. How To Repair Scratched and Damaged Photographs or Scans [link]

3. How to Soften Skin in Photoshop For Portraits [link]

4. Best Photoshop Tutorials [link]

5. 40 Tutorials Poster Design to Improve Your Skill and Creativity [link]

6. 25+ Nature Inspired Unique & Exceptional Photoshop Tutorials [link]

7. Out Of Bounds Attention Grabbing Photo Manipulations [link]

Don’t Stop, There’s More! On The iPad That Is

I almost ran these series of links last week but just ran out of space.  Heck, I’m out of space this week too but I’m running them anyway for all my iPad geek buds out there.  Enjoy the reads.

1. How Much Would the iPad 2 Cost If It Were Made in the U.S.? About $1,140 [link] 

2. The Coolest Thing Anyone’s Done With iPhone Camera+ [link] 

The quality is getting better all the time.  I hear rumors of an 8 MP in the iPhone 5

3.  What Happens When Sixth Sense meets an iPad? [link] 

Way cool video – DAZ

4. Next iPad to Offer 3D Display? [link] 

5. iPad 2 Vs. Asus EEE Pad Transformer (video) [link] 

6. Pro HDR for iPhone and iPod Touch [link] 

7. The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Jailbreaking Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad [iOS 4.3.3] [link] 

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  I’ve got to get back to my real job. How about I see you tomorrow for another episode of Technique Tuesday: You Won’t Believe Your Eyes!  It will be a good one – I promise.

See ya’ then.  -David