Technique Tuesday: Extreme Digital Design With Special Guest Michael Sheasby – CEO LumaPix

Good Morning Everybody,

This is the second day for us at Texas School.  Once again, they have quite a crowd here – with instructors, staff, and vendors – almost 1,100 people from 40 states and 4 countries worldwide! We kicked off the day yesterday with the class starting at 8:30 a.m.  We spent most of the time in class reviewing lighting and composition.  Then we gave the class a crack at trying some of the lighting techniques I discussed earlier in the day – all good stuff.

After we wrapped the class time it was off to the Cowboy Dance Club for a barbeque dinner and a little dancin’ Texas style.  The party went to 11:00 p.m. and most everybody was back at the hotel by midnight.

For the instructors it’s a long day because we’re the ones that have to get up extra bright and early, and get ready for the next day’s class and, for some of us, even get a blog post out :~)  Anyway… it’s all good fun.

Today we are on location all day, then dinner this evening. No that is not the end of the day.  After that, in Texas School tradition, there’s another party that kick’s off at 9:00 and goes to 1:00 a.m. Wednesday morning.  Next year, I want to be a student  at Texas School!  I don’t want to lead you onto believing that we’re having a ton of fun here or anything like that - so I better get on with today’s Technique Tuesday.  Here we go…

Extreme Digital Design With Special Guest Michael Sheasby – CEO LumaPix

Last Thursday I think we had one of our best webcasts featuring Michael Sheasby along with myself and our Chief of Design, LaDawn.  Michael is  Cofounder and CEO of LumaPix, the absolute best design and collage software available anywhere!  Michael was gracious enough to spend a little over 90 minutes with all those tuned in showing us the latest features in the newly released LumaPix V5.

We had photographers attending from nearly all 50 states including Hawaii and from 10 countries around the world including Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Angola, Italy, England, Israel, Mexico, Canada, and Germany! It was truly an international event!  My thanks to all who participated and especially to Michael and LaDawn who made it such a well rounded webcast.

Here are a few comments from the attendees:

A GREAT WEBINAR! … Thanks, I enjoyed the Webinar.  already have 5v and love it. …  It is definitely a BIG time saver!!!!!! … Thanks for a great webinar!  It’s a FABULOUS piece of software that has saved me a TON of time…..Anyway, you get the idea. Why not hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show one more time.

Oh, BTW, we’ve got some special offers on LumaPix for anyone interested – like how you can get LumaPix for only $99 – that’s right, $99.  But you’ll have to call LaDawn at 800.292.2994 or email her at ladawn@ziser.com for details.  If you love what you see, please give her a call.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  It’s a really long day – of course that’s including party #2 this evening. So, I better get moving.  Boy…. do I love my job ;~)

Have a great one, and I might see you tomorrow but probably not too early (depending on how this evening goes.)

-David

Quick Hit Monday: My Shootout In Central Park; Lots Of Photoshop CS6; Loads Of Lightroom 4; and More!

Good Morning Everybody,

We arrived safe and sound in Dallas, TX around noon on Saturday and are looking forward to a great week at Texas School.  Last year we really enjoyed our experience.  This is like the largest week long photography school in the world with nearly 40 instructors and just slightly less than 1,000 students!  It IS the happening place to be for the next 5 days. 

We just wrapped the opening sessions last night at 10:00p.m. – you’re right, if you’ve never been here you soon find out that nobody gets much sleep around here ;~)  Still we’ve got a great class and LaDawn and I are looking forward to our visit and the week.   I'll plan to keep you filled in day-by-day with images and commentary.

Extreme Digital Design Webcast a Hit!

First off, I want to thank Michael Sheasby, Co-founder and CEO of LumaPix software for being my guest last Thursday on our DigitalProTalk - Extreme Digital Design webcast.  Once again we had attendees from around the country and around the world on hand for our lively discussion and Michael's impressive demonstrations. From the audience comments, the crowd was “blown away” by Michael’s demo of LumaPix V5’s new feature set.  If you missed it, no problem.  I'm going to post it tomorrow for Technique Tuesday.  Be sure to check it out – it is not to be missed!

My Shoot-Out at Central Park – Thursday, May 17, 2012. 

That's right gang, I’ll be in Central Park, New York City,  on Thursday, May 17 for a shoot out in the nations most famous park.  My thanks for B&H for getting all the permits and  making all the arrangements - its going to be a great time. 

I'll be there along with 5 other photographers and several models working the park for a good part of the day.  This is a terrific way to get some great images for your portfolio, learn my  lighting techniques, make new friends, and enjoy the fresh air. 

You can get all the info and register right here or by clicking on the Central Park image above.  B&H expects this event to fill up fast - so don't delay.  I hope to see everyone there!

Sarah Petty's New Book; Worth Every Penny – and It Is!

Allow me to tell you about my friend Sarah Petty's new book “Worth Every Penny”.  Here's a quick overview of the book from Sarah.  “Worth Every Penny” contends that here’s a radically different way to run a small business, one in which the owners focus on offering specialized products and over-the-top customer service—not on matching the prices of their competition. Worth Every Penny encourages business owners to use a different business model, one that is designed to maximize their advantages over the big-box stores and other discounting competitors. Here is the link for all the book info right here.

Sarah was one of our speakers at PhotoProExpo earlier this year and rocked the house!  Sarah comes from a marketing background with Coca-Cola but decided, instead to venture into the field of photography a number of years ago and never looked back.

She runs a very successful photography studio in Springfield, Illinois.  She has been helping photographers get their business in high gear.  Her Joy of Marketing website offers some tremendous content, lots of it free, for the new and aspiring pro photographer.

After nearly a year in preparation and writing, her book has just been released!  Here is the link for all the information. Sarah really packs one giant marketing wallop with her Joy of Marketing concept.

Getting Up To Speed With Adobe CS6

If you haven't downloaded and tried Adobe's new CS6, you've got to do it right away.  I've been playing with it for a short while and I’m loving it.  First of, it just feels snappier than any previous version.  The interface is more stylized with a mid to dark gray color scheme that’s really nice to work in.  But most importantly are all the new features that come with this latest release.

I'm particularly amazed at the Content Aware Move Tool, the new cropping tool, the Field Blur Tool, and the fact that Photoshop can now do a basic video edit - pretty cool.  I spent several hours last week checking out many of the new features.  I also spent probably too much time on the new video features.  In fact tomorrow's Technique Tuesday video was put together completely within Photoshop CS6!

As with any new software version, how do you get up to speed quickly?  The Internet, of course.  Already cyberspace is filling up with lots of tutorials on CS 6's new features.  My favorite link is right here at Digital-Photography-School.com showcasing 23 new cool CS6 features. 

The folks at DPS pulled together several links from the top Photoshop gurus around the world.  Each of the five gurus put together 5-6 videos spotlighting their favorite features.  There is some overlap, but that's OK.  Where there was some overlap, each presenter put a new spin on that same feature - adding even more in- depth information, each hi-lighting tips and techniques of that special feature.  I spent nearly an hour watching the numerous short videos and then headed over to CS6 to give them a try - way cool.

All The Latest On Lightroom 4 – The Mother Load!

Adobe just kicked out their latest release candidate - Lightroom 4.1 RC2.  They tweaked many of the features and added a few more.  Fixing Chromatic Aberration is now much easier and more thorough than before, plus LR4 now supports even more cameras. But wait….there’s lots more than just that!

We arrived at Texas School on Saturday just in time to catch Julieanne Kost’s – Adobe resident LR4 guru – showcase the latest greatest features of this great piece of software.  Her blog is chocked full of tutorials showcasing all these new features.  She has a video on how to do just about everything in Lightroom 4 and10 pages of LR keyboard shortcuts! 

Let’s not just stop there.  Let me point you towards my other favorite resources for all things Lightroom:

1. Matt Kloskowski's Lightroom's Killer Tips right here.  Matt has always been my go to guy when ever I need to know anything about Lightroom.

2. Another favorite is Victoria Brampton, the Lightroom Queen - here's her link.  Her blogs and her books are all at the top of my reference list when it comes to Lightroom.

3. And lastly, check out Laura Shoe - she is a wonderful resource for all the latest, greatest features of Lightroom and even does FREE webcasts.  Check out her resources right here.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  Class starts in about an hour so I've got to run.  Be sure to check back tomorrow for our re-broadcast of Extreme Digital Design. On that note, I'm out of here.

See ya' tomorrow everybody,

David

FREE Extreme Digital Design Webcast Today & Door Prizes!

Good Late Morning Everybody,

First of all, just a quick reminder – we've got our Extreme Digital Design webcast at four o'clock this afternoon EST and I sure hope everyone can be there.

REGISTER for FREE Right Here!

Another quick note, I want to thank everybody for other comments on my Tuesdays post – the best lens for wedding photography in my review of Tamron's 28 – 300 mm VC lens. I'm going to keep testing the lens in the next couple of weeks and keep you posted of any newer findings. So far, it's my favorite lens on my 5D Mark III for everyday shooting and I'm having the best time ever shooting this camera/lens combo.

FREE Extreme Digital Design Webcast Today! Here Are The Details

My special guest is Cofounders and CEO of LumaPix, Mr. Mike Sheasby – and also a good friend for many years. Mike and I will be discussing the latest, greatest features of the newest release of LumaPix 5.0 – the absolute best design/collaging software on the planet earth.

We've been using LumaPix V5 here at the studio since it was released a few weeks ago and I have to tell you – it is one powerful update. Mike and I will spend some time discussing some of the most important new features and just how those features can help wedding and portrait photographers advance their business, client communications, and client excitement to a brand new level.

After that, Michael promises to give you an eye-popping, jaw-dropping demo of all those new features and even a few not yet released – I can’t wait! Once again, I promise that you will be amazed! We’ll wrap the webcast taking questions from the audience and discussing more ways LumaPix can help make you money. We’re both looking forward to a very lively discussion.

I watched the development of LumaPix over the last eight years and this is, by far, the most exciting release yet. Remember, registration for the webcast is FREE!!! We have plenty of seats left so you can join all the fun right here. Remember, 4 PM EST – you won't want to miss this program!

LaDawn will be riding “shotgun” monitoring questions from our web audience. I’ll be following questions on Twitter. Just tweet your questions to @digitalprotalk and include #lumapixdesign. Michael and I will answer as many questions as best we can during the webcast time period. Once again, here is the link to register right here. FREE Webcast: Thursday April 26, 2012 at 4:00pm. EST.

YES, Door Prizes Too!

Wait, there’s more!!! ;~) We’ll also be giving away nearly $600 in door prizes during the webcast and winners must be present to win. Prizes will include a full version of LumaPix:FotoFusion Extreme ($299 value) [link], my Captured By The Light 5-DVD seminar ($89 value), Divine Design Collection ($149 value) [link], and a copy of my Captured By The Light book ($54 value) [link].

See You There!  David

FREE Digital Design Webcast: Introducing LumaPix:FotoFusion 5 with CEO, Michael Sheasby

Good Afternoon Everybody,

BIG NEWS TODAY!!  Yesterday I had a very pleasant phone conversation with my good friend, Michael Sheasby; Co-Founder and CEO of LumaPix.  The good news is that Mike has agreed to be my guest and do another webcast in which we will showcase all the latest features, shortcuts, secrets, and business building tools of the new LumaPix V5. 

Mike, myself, and LaDawn are just now designing the presentation and I promise it will be jammed packed with current info and easy solutions to Extreme Digital Design for Photographers that want to showcase their images in the most exciting ways possible! I’ll keep you posted as all our topics develop.

At Michael’s last guest appearance we had nearly 1100 registrations and had viewers from 26 countries around the world tuned in!  From the constant flow of “LIVE” comments, and those that tweeted and emailed it was evident that everyone was blown away by that webcast!

Great Praise For Last Webcast!

“Fantastic webinar!”  Twitter

“This software is incredible!”…Twitter

“Fabulous session”…Twitter

And a few more from the webcast,  “Wow! Amazing!” from Virginia, “Thank You, Wonderful webcast!” from Israel, “Woohoo Thank You” from Ohio, and “Thanks to all at Ziser.com” from Australia.

Michael Is The BEST at DEMOing The Powers Of LumaPix’s Design Abilities!

He has some of the fastest keyboarding fingers I have ever seen demonstrating all the latest, greatest features of LumaPix.  It will be quite a treat seeing him work his magic during the FREE webcast on Thursday April 26, 2012 at 4:00pm. EST.

MARK YOUR Calendars NOW!

April 26, 2012  4:00 P.M. EST

Need to know what time that is in your part of the world – please click here.

 

Unbelievable NEW Features!

Mike and I have been friends for as long as the LumaPix has been established. For those of you that don’t know – LUMAPIX:Fotofusion is, hands down, the fastest digital design software for photographers on the planet!  LumaPix:FotoFusion, has always been a great piece of software, but amazingly it just got a whole lot better! 

The NEW features are unbelievable not just from a design standpoint but from a marketing standpoint too.  Now you can upload your album designs to the “Cloud” where your client can share them with family and friends almost instantaneously.  Your clients have the ability to then interact with you on the final design.  It’s is an unbelievable new feature and there are many more that will also blow you away – you need to see the seminar! 

Even if you’re not sure about being able to make it, register anyway to hold your seat. LaDawn will be riding “shotgun” monitoring questions from our web audience.  I’ll be following questions on Twitter.  Just tweet your questions to @digitalprotalk and include #lumapixdesign.  Michael and I will answer as many questions as best we can during the webcast time period.  Once again, here is the link to register right here. FREE Webcast: Thursday April 26, 2012 at 4:00pm. EST.

YES, Door Prizes Too!

Wait, there’s more!!! ;~) We’ll also be giving away nearly $600 in door prizes during the webcast and winners must be present to win.  Prizes will include a full version of LumaPix:FotoFusion Extreme ($299 value) [link], my Captured By The Light 5-DVD seminar ($89 value), Divine Design Collection ($149 value) [link], and a copy of my Captured By The Light book ($54 value) [link].

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  Don’t forget to register for the webcast.  It WILL be a sellout and you don’t want to miss this wonderful opportunity!

I’ll plan on seeing everyone tomorrow for another edition of Business Day Thursday.

See ya’ then, David

Best Of Show – WPPI 2012

Good Morning Everybody,

I knew it was going to be a late post yesterday but then it turned into a NO post yesterday.  It just wasn't in the stars.  On Tuesday we were out at nine in the morning and finally returned around midnight - a very long day.  Yesterday morning we were out the door early again and been in the trade show day today. In fact I was sitting in the back of Dane Sanders program as I began yesterday's post. With so much going on we never made it back to the hotel till about 9:00 p.m.  By then I was wiped out - no energy for a blog post.

Today is our first day off since we landed in Vegas last Saturday and I mentioned to LaDawn I was going to spend a leisurely day working on the blog and relaxing a bit. That said, let's get right to it.

Most Amazing New Software Demo's At The Show

Here is a quick recap of what’s been happening the last two days. We visited with soooo many vendors over these last 3 days.  I think we must have walked about 20 miles, at least it felt like 25 miles. One of the highlights of the show was catching up with my buddy, Michael Sheasby, the President and CEO of LumaPix, the makers of FotoFusion.  Mike and I first met 8 WPPI's ago just as most of the the world was beginning to embrace the new digital technologies.

Mike and his partner Mike Monroy were demonstrating the first version of LumaPix.  I was blown away and knew they had the winning app for wedding album design.  I made my introduction and we have remained friends ever since with me becoming their biggest evangelist over these many years since.

Anyway, FotoFusion has evolved into the most robust piece of collaging software on the planet earth.  FotoFusion has been sitting at version 4 for a few years but at the show they were showing the soon to be released version 5.  Both LaDawn and I were blown away by the power of the new version. In addition to some powerful new text features, they are also introducing a brand new "Publish To The Cloud" feature! 

You just had to see this feature in action. After Michael quickly designed an album, one press of the "Publish" button sent it to the Cloud where your clients could easily view it on their computer, iPhone, and iPad and also share the link with friends.  The service is free and allows the album to stay "LIVE" for 30 days.  It was WAY cool new feature.  I'm looking forward to getting the link to the BETA, hopefully later today.  I'll give you the details once I've had a chance so I can give the new FotoFusion a spin. I can't wait!

Most Amazing People We Met

At a convention you always meet so many fascinating people.  For me, that's what’s so cool about coming to a show - IT'S THE PEOPLE!  I've said it before and I'll say it again - too many of today's photographers are locked behind their computer screens Facebooking away and are completely "missing the boat" on meeting like minded photographers, making friends in person, and creating relationships, finding inspration that could take their career to brand new heights.

Let me give you a good example.  We were invited to the Peachpit cocktail party - Peachpit is about the best known and most active publisher in the photography, Photoshop space. They published my book Captured By The Light in 2010. Anyway, a few of us were introducing ourselves to each other and eventually this great group came together and we all really enjoyed the conversation and insights we were able to share with each other.

Above is a photo of our group. From left to right; Roberto Valenzuela, an amazing wedding photographer from Beverly Hills.  Roberto is on the Grace Ormond Platinum list and named one of the top wedding photographers in the world by Junebug Weddings.  Check out his work right here.

Next to Roberto is Suzy Clement who wrote the book, Weddings: From Snapshots to Great Shots.  It’s a great book for anyone aspiring to enter the wedding photography field. In the center of the group is Sarah Jane Todd, from Peachpit and the editor we all work with on our projects. 

Next is Khara Plicanic, who wrote Your Camera Loves You: Learn to Love It Back.  Khara and her husband recently completed a cross country bike ride from San Diego to Florida in 65 days, 45 of those days peddling, 3,300 miles and 23 flat tires!  It was an amazing story!  She blogged the entire trip – here is the link right here. What a great experience!

And The Winner Is…

Last night we made it back to join the Awards ceremony in time  to see my buddy, Cliff Mautner win Photographer of The Year.  What a thrill it was for Cliff and all of us that know him.  Hi Fives and Congrats!  Cliff – no one deserves it more!

And you know what, everyone attending this year’s WPPI was a winner one way or another.  It was a great convention with great talent, unbelievable programs, and a fabulous trade show.  We all will take home many wonderful memories from this year’s WPPI!  Hope to see you again next year!

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  We have most of the day and are planning a little R&R.  How about I see you tomorrow for a short post before the weekend.

Hope to see you then,  David

A Huge Success! Digital Design, Now Easier Than Ever: Re-Broadcast

Good Afternoon Everybody,

WOW!  We hit it out of the park yesterday with our Digital Design webcast.  We had nearly 1100 registers and had viewers from 26 countries around the world tuned in!  Here is just a quick sampling: Australia, Panama, Brazil, Trinidad, Romania, Portugal, Japan, New Zealand, Israel, Italy, Hungary, and China just to name about half of the countries represented – unbelievable!

Praise For Our Digital Design Webcast!

From the “LIVE” comments, and those tweeted and emailed it’s sure seemed everyone was blown away by yesterday’s webcast!

“Fantastic webinar!”  Twitter

“This software is incredible!”…Twitter

“Fabulous session”…Twitter

And a few more from the webcast,  “Wow! Amazing!” from Virginia, “Thank You, Wonderful webcast!” from Israel, “Woohoo Thank You” from Ohio, and “Thanks to all at Ziser.com” from Australia.

My personal thanks also to Michael Sheasby, LaDawn, Jennifer, and Damien for being part of our fantastic event!  But mostly my thanks to all of you who turned in for the broadcast – Thank You!

And The Winners Are…

At every webcast, we always give away about $1,000 worth of door prizes.  Yesterday was no exception. Are winners were…

The Summer Success Collection [link]: Lars Anderson from Denmark.

My Captured by the Light Book [link]: Linda Fox from Alaska and Sandy Ashley from Alabama.

Devine Design Collection [link]: Marla Glassman from Ohio.

LumaPix:FotoFusion Extreme [link]: Frederick Gary from New York.

Watch It One More Time! Or Many More Times!

This hugely popular webcast featured the new release of LumaPix for the MAC. Now MAC users can enjoy the same easy, fast, digital design that PC users have enjoyed for years.

Anyway, I know there were lots of folks a little disappointed that they couldn’t attend yesterday’s “LIVE” webcast so today I’m offering you the second best option – an opportunity to view the webcast in it’s entirety and for those that want to review the presentation again….here you go!

Michael "razzle-dazzled" the audience with his thorough knowledge of the interface throughout his MAC demo - hey, he invented it, right - he should be the best!

LaDawn showed the "sensitive" side of the Lumapix showcasing how she uses her Divine Designs to create beautiful projects that any client would love. 

I wrapped with a quick lesson on the profit building potential of LumaPix showing features mostly overlooked by most LumaPix users. These features open up a vast opportunity to market your photography more effectively than ever!

I hope that if you missed yesterday's program, that you’ll hit the PLAY button and enjoy the show.  If you heard the program yesterday, then hit the PLAY button again and catch what you missed ;~)

 

How To Get The Lowest Prices Ever On Lumapix: MOST IMPORTANT!

Near the end of the the presentation around 1:56:00 into the webcast, I tell you how to purchase LumaPix for only $99 - it's a $300 program.  Scrub the PLAY slider ahead and don't miss seeing how you can pick up LumaPix at the lowest prices ever.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  The length of these webcasts make it a pretty time consuming process to get it posted the next day, but I really wanted to have it ready for weekend viewing.

Be cool, dry, and safe in what ever part of the world you’re in and I’ll plan to see you again next Monday.

Have a great weekend everybody.

-David

Digital Design Webcast Today At 3:00 p.m.

Good Afternoon Everybody,

We have everything ready to go for this afternoon’s Digital Design webcast with our special guest, Michael Sheasby – President and Co-founder of LumaPix.  I’ll open the doors about 2:30 p.m. EST. Michael and I did a quick run through on Tuesday so all should be good to go today.  Remember, there is no charge to attend the program.  You can probably still get in the webcast room even though we are near capacity.

The highlight of the show is that LumaPix:FotoFusion now works on a MAC, a feature clamored for the last few years.  Well “clamor no more”  - Michael will be doing his entire demo on a MAC.

I’m really looking forward to this webcast.  I’ll begin discussing a bit of LumaPix’s history and how they revolutionized album design around 2003.  That’s when we jumped on board and life has never been the same – because we got our lives back!

Michael will follow-up with some “razzle-dazzle” demos and be answering  questions along the way.  Damien Tepe will be my wing-man again on this webcast monitoring questions from our studio audience.  I’ll be following questions on Twitter.  Remember, just tweet your questions to @digitalprotalk and include #lumapixdesign.  Michael and I will answer as best we can during the webcast time period.

LaDawn will take over for a short while demo-ing how we set up our own “Divine Designs” using various resources like her “Swirls and Twirls” to really give our projects a unique look.

I’ll wrap with some pretty cool ways to have LumaPix:FotoFusion boost you profits, too, and who doesn’t want to do that.

Wait, there’s more!!! ;~) We’ll also be giving away about $1000 in door prizes during the webcast and winners must be present to win.  Prizes will include a full version of LumaPix:FotoFusion Extreme ($299 value) [link], my Summer Success Collection ($600 value) [link], Divine Design Collection ($150 value) [link], and a copy of my Captured By The Light book ($54 value) [link].

During the program and for the next few days, we’ve lowered ALL our Lumapix product bundles down to TOUR pricing in honor of the MAC version being released.  These are quite simply the lowest of the year!  You can check out the specials right here for the PC and here for the MAC.

In case you’re not able to attend the webcast in person you can still catch it on the re-broadcast.  You’ll miss out on the door prizes but you still get a chance to get all the good information.  I’ll try my best to get the re-broadcast up as soon as possible.

Anyway gang, that’s it for me today.  I’ve got to get to make-up and wardrobe so I look good for today’s broadcast ;~) Hope to see you there!

Until tomorrow,

Adios, David

Business Day Thursday: Make Yourself Famous Fast! Here’s An Amazing Way To Promote Your Business! & New Contest Announced!

Good Morning Everybody,

I can’t believe it, I sent out an email yesterday about our brand new FREE Digital Design Webcast and we have nearly 800 signed up already!  Wow!  Yep, looks like it’s going to be a sellout.  I’ve also talked with Michael Sheasby about covering some real sizzle points on LumaPix – it’s shaping up to be a great program.  Hope you can make it!

Hey gang, I am super excited about my post today. I’ve spent half the day putting it together for you so I hope you like it.  I going to tell you about a web site that I stumbled on yesterday and had me engrossed for two hours checking out all it’s cool features.  The more I played around on the site the more excited I got.  Let’s get right to it because today’s post really ROCKS!!!!

Make Yourself Famous Fast: Here’s An Amazing Way To Promote Your Business!

OK, here’s the back story. I was checking emails late yesterday afternoon and saw I had several new folks following me on Twitter.  I always check out the followers to see if I want to follow back.  The qualifier for me – don’t tell me what you had for lunch, it’s all about rich content.

I checked out several of John Lasurdo tweets and liked what I saw.  The one that got me fired up the most was the link to this really cool site Issuu.com [link].  A quick trip over, 30 minutes of checking it out and I was hooked – and hooked in a big way!  My brain began churning with all kinds of ideas on how a photographer could use this service in their business.  The more I thought about it, the more ideas kept popping into my head.  And, you want to know the best news – it’s FREE!!  Let me tell you what I came up with in that short time last evening

The Wonderment Of Issuu – A Few Of My Suggestions

• Promoting and marketing your business
• Sizzling your blog and website
• Client proofing
• Company newsletters
• Studio guides like clothing suggestions for photo shoots
• PowerPoint presentations for training
• Downloading documents like contracts, portrait suggestions, wedding shoot sheets, and other studio forms
• And the list goes on and on!

OK, I Was Stoked - Had to Give It A Try

My first thought was getting a wedding album up to see what it looked like on Issuu.com.  It was way cool!!  It took me a grand total of less than 30 minutes to get my first “wedding album e-book” published – and it looked great! Check it out below – what do you think?

Open publication - Free publishing - More album

 

Next I thought,”How about a Bar Mitzvah Album?” 30 minutes later it was online too. Over the course of the next few hours, I had uploaded 4 albums, 1 PowerPoint Presentation, and 1 DOC file wedding article. Here’s what my Issuu library looks like now.

 

But here is the “LIVE” embedded version where you can browse all my publications to date.  Just click away and enjoy!

 

Issuu will let you upload a nice variety of file formats including PDF, DOC, PPT, ODT, WPD, SXW, RTF, ODP, and SXI which is what makes it so versatile for a photography business. Maximum file size is 100 megs and up to 500 pages, making all my uploads well within the document requirements.

Embed It In Your Blog and watch in Full Screen Mode – Very Cool Viewing Experience!

You’ve got a few choices when viewing your uploaded albums.  You can easily link to them with the link associated with each album.  For instance, here is a link to a Black & White wedding album I uploaded.  It was a special collection of images that the bride’s mother loved.  Check it out right here.

OK, David, Just How Are You Doing It?  LumaPix Is Our Secret Weapon.

Next Thursday we have our Digital Design Webcast happening right here at DigitalProTalk – one more time, here is the link to register.  I’ll give you the specifics then.  But let me give you a general overview today.

You’ve heard me say it a million times – LumaPix has been our secret weapon for fast, easy album design around here for nearly 8 years.  LumaPIx:FotoFusion literally redeemed us from Photoshop purgatory years ago.

LumaPix also has one very powerful, little known feature built in to the software – it let’s you save out your album design as a PDF file – PDF file like Issuu wants to see when uploading.  Also LumaPix let’s you save out your double page spreads as separate pages which Issuu can now display properly.  Here are the LumaPix settings I used to export my albums to a PDF.

DAZNOTE: Issuu likes to see a normal “Page 1”  We design our Designer albums – the “coffee table” albums with a double page spread opening.  Be sure to change the first double page spread to a single album page or cover sheet so LumaPix doesn’t split it.

Or you could change that first page to a single page before exporting, otherwise Lumapix will split that page and all your pages will be offset by one page upon uploading to Issuu.  This sounds more complicated than it is – I’ll go into more detail in next week’s webcast.

Anyway, this combination of LumaPix PDF export and Issuu PDF upload makes the magic happen!  Both programs were made for each other perfectly.  And its this combo that really opens up the doors for powerful marketing and promotions for your studio.

We’ve got special pricing on all our LumaPix MAC [link] and PC [link]bundles over at our Digital Resource Center right here.  You may want to pick up your copy before next week’s Digital Design Webcast.

Issuu Offers A Very Compelling Viewing Experience!

Just look how great these albums look on my blog.  Go ahead and play around with some of the viewing options in Issuu. 

You can display the album pages in full screen view as shown above or as thumbnails below and navigate to any part of the album you desire.  If you look at the full screen view above, you’ll also see opt to print or email the page too.

Check out the entire “LIVE” Bar Mitzvah album below – it’s fun to just page through it and enjoy the entire day again. Be sure to view it in full screen mode.

Open publication - Free publishing - More album

 

Kicking In Your Marketing Afterburners

Do you know the power of possibilities with Issuu? Everything you turn into and album, you upload to Issuu.  You can set up different bookshelves for each category of images.  You could have one for weddings, families, high school seniors – whatever.  What a fabulous way for your potential clients to preview a large body of your work!

Don’t stop there either.  Anything you have as a DOC file you can upload into Issuu. Think studio guides like clothing suggestions for photo shoots, documents like contracts, portrait suggestions, wedding shoot sheets, other studio forms – the list goes on and on!  Here is a DOC file I shot up to Issuu this morning. 

The article is a few years old but that’s besides the point – it’s still easy to get the info up there.  I’ve even set this document to be downloaded if you would like to keep it.  There’s some good suggestions in it.

Anyway, you get the idea and after playing around on Issuu’s site, I’m sure you get a lot more ideas too. 

How About A Little Contest

I’ve thrown tons of ideas up here for you guys and girls today.  I’m looking for 20 more different ideas to share with our DPT readers.  If we get 20 different unique ideas, I’ll award the winner my Summer Success Collection (on sale now for $59 - $500 value)

Post your suggestions in the Comments section following this blog post please – please NOT on Facebook because those posts sometimes end up in my spam folder.  Anyway, I’d love to see what you come up with.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  I’ve spent the entire morning getting this post up, but I’ve sure been having a great time learning the ins and outs of Issuu too.  I sure hope you get as excited about it as I am. And, don’t forget to send in some suggestions – let’s see what our creative DigitalProTalk readers come up with.

On that note gang, I’ve got to get back to my real job.  I’ll see you tomorrow for a short post. 

Have a great rest of the day,

David

FREE Digital Design Webcast;

Good Afternoon  Everybody,

First off, let me thank the hundreds of folks that sent me birthday wishes over the weekend.  Yes, I read each and every one of them – very much appreciated. I’m not divulging my age, but let’s just say, I’m still feeling pretty darn good considering the mileage ;~)

Sorry for the late post today.  I woke up a bit under the weather and have been slow moving ever since.  Add to that a mid-morning appointment and presto, we have a late post today.

Anyway, I do have some very cool news for you today so let’s get right to it.

FREE Webcast: Digital Design 2011 – Making It Easier Than Ever!

That’s right, Register Now! [link] for my NEW Digital Design Webcast happening on August 25, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. EST. I’ll be hosting a 90 minute digital design webcast with special guest, Michael Sheasby, the president of LumaPix.  LumaPix is by far the fastest digital design software on the planet! And the BEST NEWS – LumaPix, after months of very expensive development, now works on a MAC!

We’ll discuss and demo on the most powerful features of the software – I promise you will be blown away.  I’ve asked LaDawn, our Chief of Design, to be on hand for the web event too. Every time I turn around, she’s discovered clever new features in LumaPix that just adds even more pizzazz to our digital projects.

You’ll have two opportunities to ask questions.  You can post your questions in the comment section of this post and we’ll be taking questions “LIVE” via Twitter.  After the webcast begins just Tweet your questions to @digitalprotalk and include #lumapixdesign in your Tweet.

Anyway, I’ll give you updated details as we get closer to show time. Even if you’re not sure about being able to make it, register anyway to hold your seat.  Once again, here is the link to register right here.

OK Wedding Photographers – Get Inspired!

• 100 Beautiful Examples Of Wedding Photography: There are a few gems in the collection like this one. [link]
• 10 Inspirational Wedding Photography Blogs: A nice selection – worth the peak.  [link]

And Still On The Subject Of Photography

• 1:1 boudoir shoot training ~ Pictures and technique – Rated PG-13 but good info. [link]
• 32 Fun Outdoor Photographs of Bridges:  Some of the images are amazing!  [link]
• Headline :: I Switched To Canon. World Still Turns: Zack Arias turns in a good gear article, not so much for switching to Canon but more for his choice of gear and why.  [link]
  

Social Media Links You Need To See – Oh My!

• Free Professional Icons Set – Social Networks Icons: Come and get it fellow bloggers! [link]
• The 100 Things You Need To Know About Social Media: This is a great read!  [link]

Photoshop & Lightroom Freebies

• 20 Beautiful Water Textures and Patterns: Pretty Cool! [link]
• 40 Fresh Free Photoshop Actions For Image Enhancement [link]
• 20 Photoshop Video Tutorials – from the Professionals of Graphic Design:  This will keep you busy for a while. [link]
• Lightroom 3 Tips and Tricks: A few More of My Favorites: Some goodie in here. [link]

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today. I still feel like I’m in a fog around here today. I’m planning on getting a new Technique Tuesday up tomorrow – just no promises on what time.  Tomorrow’s title, “Whoops! I Should Have Caught That.”  It will make sense when you see it tomorrow ;~)

See ya’ then everybody,  David

Quick Hit Monday: Deals, Deals, and More Deals; Request Line Still Open; CBTL DVD Update; Lightroom Bucket List, Perfectly Clear Images; and More

Good Morning Everybody,

Today is a big day – it marks the first day of the next ten days that we will be in town, back home, on our own turf… and we are looking forward to it.

We had a great time in Detroit over the weekend and captured some beautiful images at the wedding – I’ll share a few of them with you this week. We arrived home late yesterday and it just felt good getting unpacked and knowing we’ll be around for the next two weeks.

We’ve got a few things lined up for this week so let’s get right to it.

Request Line Still Open

Friday I did a post [link] about looking for ideas for upcoming Kelby Training videos.  I appreciate all the great feedback about my suggestions, but sure would like to hear more from you guys and girls about YOUR suggestions that are DIFFERENT than the ones I posted. Come on now, put on your “thinking caps” – I really want to hear your good ideas too.

Just post them to the “Comments Section” below – I promise to review each and every one submitted.

Super Black Friday Sales Coming Your Way

That’s right, nearly every retailer is doing it so we thought we would too.  We are in the middle of taking inventory to see what’s left over from out tour.  We over ordered a few items so look for some super great deals happening later in the week.

Also, I talked with LumaPix and have talked them into extending the $99 bundled pricing on LumaPix:FotoFusion for a couple more weeks.  You can find all my educational materials and products listed at our Digital Resource Center right here. We are getting all the details worked out with  our specials, so stay tuned.

Captured By The Light DVD Looking Good

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we recorded my Captured By The Light 2010 tour while in California.  I just heard from our production team that the DVD production is looking great.  I can’t wait to see it.

Last year when I offered our Digital WakeUp Call – A New Dawn DVD [link] with all the goodies thrown in, everybody loved it.  I’m working on putting the same kind of value packed combo together again this year.  So if you missed the seminar or I just couldn’t get to a location near you, the DVD set will have the complete presentation available. I’ll keep you posted.

What’s On Your Photography Bucket List?

I saw this post by Steve Russell at Beyond Megapixels.com [link]and it really got me thinking.  What’s on my “bucket list”?  Where would I like to go to capture some great images?  I think this is a great question for all of us to consider. 

Hey, I’m not talking about leaving today, tomorrow, or next week, but I sure do like the idea of putting the list together.  Just  by beginning the process of assembling our list, in effect, we take our first step in that direction. When we make it to our first stop, it has to be a liberating experience. C’mon, start your list today!

I’m starting my list right now:

Yosemite National Park, the Slot Canyons [link] out west, South African Safari, Italy – uhmmm… not a bad start so far ;~)

How About A Bucket List For Lightroom 3

OK, it’s a different kind of bucket list, but it is still a great resource listing for all Lightroom users.  Tom Hogarty, Adobe’s Lightroom guru and product manager, has been running a Lightroom plug-in project over in Twitter and Facebook all last week.

He’s taken all the LR3 plug-in listings and put them all in one grand listing.  Here is the listing right here.  Due to my crazy schedule lately I haven’t had a chance to check out to many of them, but if Tom’s got them on his list, I’m sure they’re good.  Looks like a weekend project to me.

I Want My Images Perfectly Clear

I caught this at ImagingInsider.com [link] over the weekend.  Athentech’s Perfectly Clear software was just introduced for the iPad. I had a chance to meet Brad, the owner of Athentech many times over the past few years at the various tradeshows around the country.  I’m always impressed with his Perfectly Clear image enhancement product every time I see it demo’d. 

Perfect Clear does just that – it just makes your images look great.  Brad has been gracious to let me try the product and with touring, etc. time has just slipped by and I haven’t had the opportunity to check it out the way I want.  Let me plan to put that on my To-Do-List. Anyway, check out all the Athentech products right here.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  It feels good to be home for a while.  So what’s next – the giant pile of “stuff” to go through on my desk ;~) 

How about I see everyone back here tomorrow for another episode of Technique Tuesday – hope to see you then.

-David