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

Enter PhotoPro Network’s FALL Digital Image Competition, Review & Webcast! $1,000 in Prizes!

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Here is the big announcement I promised.  PhotoPro Network, you know, that great organization that’s hosting the Super Bowl of all photography conventions better known as PhotoPro Expo 2012 next February, is also kicking off it’s HOT SHOTS Fall image competition this weekend. Read all about it below.

Challenge yourself and your creativity and enter PhotoPro Network’s HOT SHOTS Fall Digital Image Competition, Review, & Webcast 

Photographers from all around the world will be able to submit their images electronically RIGHT HERE. All images will be judged and reviewed by an esteemed panel of photographers and will be broadcast "LIVE" via a worldwide webcast.  Don’t miss the fun or your chance win a part of the $1,000 in prizes awarded to the winning entries.

Here is what you need to do. First, mark your calendars for:

Thursday December 8, 2011  6:00-8:00 p.m.

That's the BIG day of the competition and image review.  To watch it “LIVE” you’ll need to register for the webcast right here or hit the secure registration button to the right. There is no charge to tune in and watch the Hot Shots Fall Competition & Review. 

The HOT SHOTS Fall Image Competition, Review & Webcast is for anyone wanting to learn how to make their images more exciting, more dramatic and technically more sound. You cannot afford to miss the opportunity. It’s really cool to see what goes through the judges mind as they review the images submitted.

That’s right – IT’S FREE to watch! 

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It’s EASY To Enter!

Entering is easy and secure. Select your favorite 6 images and enter them in any or all of the following categories:

• Portrait – Portraits of Adults, Children, Groups, etc.
• Wedding/Event – Weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, etc.
• Landscapes -  Scenics, Forests, Beaches, Mountains, etc.
• Digital/Artistic – Digitally manipulated images, Composites, etc.
• Wildlife – Anything is fair game ;~)
• Sports – Football, Baseball, Soccer, Racing, etc.

Now just hit the red button to the right then follow these easy steps:

• Hit the “Register New User” button.
• Enter your email address and select PPN – PhotoPro Network even if you are not a member then hit the REGISTER button.
• Next fill out your contact information and create your password and hit the SUBMIT button.
• Now you are on the print entry screen. Add your cell phone number to receive a TEXT as your image is scored – way cool!
• Now select category from drop-down window, type the title of your entry, upload your images, pay your $25 entry fee and you are ready to go – It’s that EASY!

Digital Images must be sized approximately 6x9 @ 300 DPI for uploading and digital judging. Thanks.

Remember, 6 entries per person please.  The cost is only $25 to enter all 6 images and helps defray the costs of the competition and pay for the prizes. That’s all there is to it. You can always go back and even change your images before the deadline if you like.  You’ll also receive an email of your print scores.

Submission must be received by Midnight December 7, 2011 to be eligible for prizes.

Remember, you could win part of $1,000 in Prizes! So join the FUN!

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  Have a great rest of the weekend and I’ll see you on Monday.

-David

The Coming World Of Photography; A Look To The Future; FREE Lighting Seminar; & New B&H Wedding Web site

Good Morning Everybody,

I have to tell you, the very nice weather around here is really making it hard for me to get motivated ;~)  Heck, I even took off an hour early yesterday to enjoy it.  I've got a few things for you today so let's get right to it. 

I see where my good buddy and fellow blogger, Kerry Garrison, is giving a FREE lighting seminar in Anaheim, CA this Saturday July 2.  Yep, I'm sure I read FREE - you can check it out right here.

Next up - let me tell what our good friends over at B&H are up too - it's pretty cool.  The have just launched a brand new website just for wedding photographers entitled, "The Ultimate Guide To Wedding Photography."  I have to tell you, this is not "fluff" stuff.  The site has lots of solid wedding tips and tricks for aspiring pro and seasoned professional.  Check it out right here.

And speaking of Aspiring Pro's, I ran across this very interesting article a few weeks ago.  Give it a read and then tell me what you think.  Be sure to read this article to the end - you'll be surprises by the "punch line."

The Coming World Of Photography; A Look To The Future

Photography spent its first hundred years slowly developing its mechanics, its lenses, cameras, emulsions, and lights. But digital cameras have speeded progress and will place the digital camera in the forefront of man's technical devices when victory comes.

To determine the new uses, new methods, new viewpoints that will give digital camera work its direction in the digital period, POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY has asked a trusted photographic editor, a war correspondent, documentary photographer; teachers of photography, manufacturers, and a soldier to contribute to this symposium. (I've only selected one person for this story - DAZ.)

Their opinions differ. Yet somehow all seem to feel that the second hundred years will see the digital camera put to use as never before with the aspiring pros often leading the way. THE EDITORS

WILLARD D. MORGAN, Photo Editor [link]

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY can well afford to pause and take stock of its phenomenal growth. Today, as photographers we have high ISO's, fine cameras, marvelous color rendition, highly perfected flash radio triggers and strobes, efficient lighting equipment, fine sophisticated exposure meters, easy and cheap digital printing solutions, excellent lenses, and uniform photographic printing mediums of excellent quality.

There will naturally be changes and improvements as we progress in our digital age, yet basically we will be using familiar materials. What then for the digital photographer?

For the commercial photographer I can only see a period of intense production to fulfill somewhat stylized photographic demands. Here and there a creative worker may override static work to produce a variation in style.

The aspiring pro will ride through the digital years with a free spirit of adventure. Every new camera, lens, and piece of camera equipment will be eagerly seized upon and used. These digital aspiring pros will form many new camera clubs, eagerly buy all the new photographic books, read 100's of blogs, and become the initial participants in a great proving ground of new equipment and methods which may later become standards for the professional as well.

I feel that the great changes in digital photography will come from the creative aspiring pro, who is not bound by commercial conventions. To be specific, this creative aspiring pro photographer will learn to give a fuller interpretation to the people and places about him. Changes will come from within the photographer himself. I would like to see the discussions of the future center around the interpretation of the photographic idea and not on endless techniques which will be fairly easy to acquire anyway. In this way we will enter a new century of photography which will be challenging and exciting.

Article text reprinted from the February 1944 issue of POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY magazine.

 

"1944 you say! Digital wasn't even around then!"  You're right, but 1944 was another time of tremendous rebirth in photography - the post war years. 

I para-phased the article referenced above and changed out ever so few of the original words - like "postwar" for "digital" and "amateur" for "aspiring pro".

 

What rings true is this: 

When you have an explosion of enthusiasm in our profession, it is the amateurs and aspiring pros who jump on the bandwagon first.  That's clearly what happened in our current digital revolution and also helps explain the new digital photography landscape we see before us.

--Food For Thought!

 

BTW, you can read the original text by hitting the "Read more..." link below.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. I've got to get working on a few items for our upcoming PhotoPro Summer School next week.  Have a great rest of the day.  I'll hope to see you tomorrow for a very fascinating Business Day Thursday.

See ya' then,  David

The Coming World Of Photography

Photography spent its first hundred years slowly developing its mechanics, its lenses, cameras, emulsions, and lights. But war speeded progress will place the camera in the forefront of man's technical devices when victory comes. To determine the new uses, new methods, new viewpoints that will give camera work its direction in the postwar period, POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY has asked a trusted photographic editor, a war correspondent, documentary photographer; teachers of photography, manufacturers, and a soldier to contribute to this symposium. Their opinions differ. Yet somehow all seem to feel that the second hundred years will see the camera put to use as never before with the amateur often leading the way. THE EDITORS

---

WILLARD D. MORGAN, Photo Editor

PHOTOGRAPHY can well afford to pause and take stock of its phenomenal growth. Today, as photographers we have fast films, fine cameras, marvelous color film, highly perfected synchronizers and flashbulbs, efficient lighting equipment, fine photoelectric exposure meters, standard reliable processing solutions, excellent lenses, and uniform photographic paper of good quality. There will naturally be changes and improvements after the war, yet basically we will be using familiar materials. What then for the postwar photographer?

For the commercial photographer I can only see a period of intense production to fulfill somewhat stylized photographic demands. Here and there a creative worker may override static work to produce a variation in style.

The amateur will ride through the postwar years with a free spirit of adventure. Every new film, developer, and piece of camera equipment will be eagerly seized upon and used. These postwar amateurs will form many new camera clubs, eagerly buy all the new photographic books, and become the initial participants in a great proving ground of new equipment and methods which may later become standards for the professional as well.

I feel that the great changes in postwar photography will come from the creative amateur, who is not bound by commercial conventions. To be specific, this creative amateur photographer will learn to give a fuller interpretation to the people and places about him. Changes will come from within the photographer himself. I would like to see the discussions of the future center around the interpretation of the photographic idea and not on endless techniques which will be fairly easy to acquire anyway. In this way we will enter a new century of photography which will be challenging and exciting.

Quick Hit Monday: Interview With The Digital Camera Inventor, 10 Photogs You Need To Study, Image Recovery, & More

Good Morning Everybody,

We arrived safe and sound in Banff, Alberta, Canada after nearly 9 hours of travel. We are staying in one of the most historic hotels in Canada – the Fairmont Banff Springs.  It is one of those picture postcard hotels you often see  in many travel brochures. We don’t have quite the snow cover you see in this image, but there is still plenty of the white fluff, on the ground .and mountain tops

We are here for the Canadian Imaging Conference. Besides having a trade booth I'm also doing a couple of presentations in the tradeshow yesterday, Sunday and today, Monday. Then on Wednesday I start the morning with an on-location early bird presentation  at seven o'clock. Then a short break before I start my presentation until 4:30 in the afternoon.  I’m really excited to be sharing some information, lighting, Lightroom, album design and sales with the Canadian photographers.

There is an outstanding list of speakers presenting at conference including our good friends Bev and Tim Walden from Lexington Kentucky and Jim DiVitale and Helene Glassman from Atlanta. Also our good friends for many years, Joseph and Louise Simóne, are also speaking. These are just a few as the line-up is talent filled. It will be good to catch up with old friends and make some new friends as we visit the conference over the next few days.

As usual, blogging during conventions is quite challenging. I'll do my best to keep you posted about the week's activities while we’re here. So that being said let we get right on with today's post.

Interview with Steven Sasson, Inventor Of The Digital Camera

Can you believe it? The digital camera was invented way back in 1978. It would be almost 25 years before we wedding and portrait photographers would be utilizing this market changing invention routinely.

If you'd like to hear the back story on the original digital camera then hit the link right here and enjoy a conversation with the inventor.

Top 10 Photographers Every Student & PRO Should Study

Picturecorrect.com did a nice post listing 10 photographers every student should study.  I think this is an important link  whether you're a student or full-time professional photographer. We can find inspiration from several of the old Masters  many of which are listed in the post. When you've got a few minutes, I suggest you give a read to the list  right here .  Enjoy!

Blogging With Lightroom

I caught this post on a couple of sites over the weekend and although I haven't had a chance to try it, I think it looks like a interesting solution for bloggers who are using Lightroom.

Regardless of whether you using WordPress, Blogger, or any other blogging software, this article right here shows you how to post directly to your blog from Lightroom.  As I said, I haven't had an opportunity to personally try it  but it sure looks interesting .  Give it a try let me know how works for you.

The Best Image Recovery Software Out There!

Got a trashed flash card and can’t recover the images?  Then let me point you to my favorite  recovery software for just this situation. I've been using Photo Rescue for a number of years and found it to be the outstanding choice for recovering images from a flaky, unsteady flash card.

I remember stumbling on the software years ago and it still remains my top choice for image recovery. I've used recovery utilities from SanDisk cards and Lexar cards, but Photo Rescue still stands heads and shoulders above the rest .  You can try a free demo right here. I recommend that you spend the $29 to get the full version – it's worth every penny.

And Now For A Little iPhone Fun

Okay, I have to admit I'm kind of a sucker for these image manipulation posts. Nevertheless I still enjoy giving them a peek and sharing the link to you. I stumbled upon this link right here over the weekend at Multi shades.com which featured 51 images of photo manipulation using the iPhone.  They are kind of a fun Monday morning view so I hope you enjoy them.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. We've got the tradeshow starting soon and we need to proceed to our booth to get things set up . Everybody have a great rest of the day and I'll see you tomorrow . 

Adios, David

Captured By The Light 2010 Tour Kicks Off Today! Use Code CBLDPT1- To Save $20 Off Registration

Captured By The Light Tour Kicks Off Today!

Today is the day! I'm officially announcing the the kick off of my brand new digital photography tour "Captured By The Light 2010". Because of the tremendous success of my book by the same name, we are hitting the road and planning to share with you a few highlights from the book, some great new lighting secrets, and lots of dynamite photography and software techniques.

Hit this link right here for all the latest information and to register! Don’t for get to use Promo Code CBLDPT10 – it will save you $20 off the registration $79 fee!

Hey, I don't plan to stop with just that either. I've also got a few of my latest greatest Lightroom 3, Lumapix, and NIK tips and tricks, just to name a few, to show you. And, I'll wrap with some solid new ideas on how to promote yourself and your photography business.

The cool thing is that this year's program is NEW and jammed packed with information you can start using right away! The program is scheduled for 4 hours, and what I don't cover that evening, we’re throwing in a Tour DVD with and additional 4 hours of extended content covering lighting, Lightroom, photography, marketing, and much more. That means you will be getting 8 solid hours of info all in one evening.

Each attendee will also receive our Welcome Pack with over $350 of REAL value. And, yes, we are doing it again. We are giving away over $3,500 worth of door prizes each evening! That was so much fun last year. So thanks to our sponsors' generosity, we are doing it again. It's always a BIG crowd pleaser.

You can get all the information and register right here. I'm really excited with this year's tour and hope to see everybody there!

Shooting Tethered - A Few Things You Should Know

Good Morning Everybody,

First off, I’m still planning to announce our tour launch today, but we are in the final stages of polishing up a few last minute items and getting the site links up and running.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Stay turned – the news may still pop today.

We’ve got lots of good things to talk about today.  Let’s get right to it!

Quick Tip Wednesday: Shooting Tethered - A Few Things You Should Know

Hey gang, today I thought I would discuss a few things about Lightroom 3's new "shooting tethered" feature. There have been a few YouTube videos on the subject, but they are going on about the "shooting tethered" feature much the way a commercial studio would shoot. I'll post the YouTube links at the end of this post.

Anyway, I'm a portrait, wedding, on location shooter. How can I make tethered shooting work for me? As I said, lots of the videos show the camera on a tripod with the photographer using the on screen camera controls to fire the camera. That may be great for the in studio commercial shooter but, it just doesn't work for the photographer shooting portraits.

We've got to go for the expression, follow the action, and make the exposure at that critical moment to get our best shot. As I make my shots, I want them to sail right on over to my computer so we can get instant gratification from the client.

Lightroom 3 let's you do just that. In fact Lightroom 3 makes the process almost effortless. Notice I said almost. Yes, tethered shooting in Lightroom 3 is about as easy as it gets, but there are still four things you need to keep in mind when your camera is wired to your computer.

Hit the “Read More…” link below for the videos and the rest of the story.

Let me give you my 4 top tethered shooting tips:

1- When shooting tethered, you will most often if not always be working more than ten feet from your computer. More likely the distance will be 10-20 feet away. I like the longer cable run because it creates less of a possibility of yanking the connectors from the computer or camera - not a good thing.

The problem is that USB cables will not give you consistent data transfer over that distance. That means you've got to use USB Active extension cables. These cables boost or amplify the data signal from the camera to the computer. It really is necessary to use these cables and they will set you back a few bucks. I picked up two 16 foot USB Active Extension cables at CablesToGo.com for $34.99 each. They worked like a charm.  Here is the link to the cables I purchased right here. I love working with this company - great products and great customer service.

2 - The weak link in this entire process are the cable connectors/connections over the distance of the cable run. For the cables themselves, to keep them from coming undone over the 35 foot run, just tape them together so they don't become dislidged. I actually knotted mine together on my last shoot, but I didn't think it was good for the cables because of their thickness. Use tape instead.

The bigger thing to watch for is the connection into the camera. I have not been able to find a mini USB jack that does not stick out of the camera any less than two inches. To me it looks like an accident waiting to happen.  More than once I set my camera down right on the cable side of the camera. Fortunately nothing got damaged. It would be nice if somebody like CablesToGo.com would manufacture a mini USB cable that would fit much more flush with the side of the camera.

3 - Another thing you need to be concerned with is how fast you shoot your images. You've got to take your time when shooting otherwise the data connection will "choke" and will stop transferring your images. That has happened to me more than a time or two. If that does happen; you will need to go though the entire process of closing down Lightroom 3 and reconnecting the camera in order to get back up and running. It's more of an inconvenience than a problem.

Remember too, that the consistency of your data transfer is linked to file size of your image. The larger the file size, the slower the transfer. And the slower the transfer, the slower you must shoot to avoid the "data choke" issue. I was shooting my Canon 7D on mRAW and as long as I shoot at a moderate pace, no PJ shooting here, I had no problems.

4 - I recommend shooting with your regular import presets. That just saves time down the road in your post production. Le's say you had a hang up when shooting tethered as I mentioned above. Don't worry about it now. Just import from your flash card as you normally would into the directory you set for your tethered shoot telling Lightroom 3 to not import suspected duplicates.

That's about it folks. Shooting tethered is really easy with Lightroom 3 and even if you do get disconnected or the camera powers down, Lightroom 3 will not miss a beat getting you back up and running once the connections are back on line. Like I’ve said - way easy shooting with nearly immediate feed-back.

I hope the four tips I given you today give you a few insights as to how to make your next tethered shoot go off without a hitch. If you've got a few tips for our DPT readers, why not share them in the comment section following this post. Happy shooting everybody!

Additional Video Links:

Akel Studio: Lightroom 3 and Capture One 5 [link]

Yanik’s Photo School: Shooting Tethered In LR3 [link]

Lynda Podcast : LR3 Tether Dialogue [link]

CameraDoJo.com: Tethered Shooting [link]

ProPhotoResource.com: Shooting Tethered Set Up [link]

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Hey gang. that's it for me today, we still have a few loose ends to tie up with the tour right around the corner.

Also, I am concurrently working on another project for my buddy, Will Crocket's Friday Photo School which I will be presenting next Friday, August 6th.

I’ll provide additional information to you as we get closer to the date. So for now, mark your calendars and plan to join in. As is usual, things are REALLY cookin' around here so I've got to get scooting. How about I see everybody tomorrow for another episode of Business Day Thursday. Our topic, "How To Set Your Prices".

Hope to see you then, David

Quick Hit Monday

Hey gang, before I hit the road for class, let me leave you with some Quick Hit Monday links.

I always like stopping over at Matt's place for a peek at what he's up to. Matt Adcock, fellow blogger, is also a wedding photographer out of Atlanta who always has some great images to share. Check out his latest right here. Great lighting, great composition, and most of all - great images.

How about some Geek speak that probably interests about 4 of my readers - count me in. DPreview is now posting Pixel Density in their camera data base - here is the link. What's that mean? It's how many pixels/cm2 on the camera's sensor. So what? The more pixels in less space usually means smaller photo-receptor sites (the photons can't get in so easily) and that generally means more noise. Anyway, it's interesting to note that Nikon's new D700 has 1.4MP/cm2 on it's full frame 24x36mm sensor as opposed to Panasonic's 36MP/cm2 on it's 6.13 x 4.60 mm sensor. This isn't necessarily a metric for image quality (although it is to some extent) but is interesting to see just how many pixels can be crammed into a tiny space. Now I can sleep at night.

Here's one making the rounds - it's Deke McClelland's very funny 5 minute rap of 101 Photoshop Tips In Five Minutes - here is the link. You may need to listen twice to get all the tips, but it will bring a Monday morning smile to your face.

And one more for the road - our buddies over at 1001 Noisy cameras have started posting a weekly review of news photography sites and blogs. It's always a fascinating list. Got some time to kill this week, check it out right here.

Hey gang, that's it for me today - I'm off to class. Have a good one and I'll see you tomorrow. -David

How Many Megs - Hasselblad's New 39 meg Offering

Hasselblad may have already hit 39 megapixels more than a year ago, but that doesn't make the company's new H3D II DSLR any less impressive. Here is a quick story about Hasselblad's latest offering. I was a big Hassey shooter years ago - back in my film days, and loved, loved, loved their system. Now they have one of the hotest digital systems available. You can check it out here.

Wednesday - Photoshop World Pre-Con Day

Good morning everyone,

Today is the day - Photoshop World kicks off today with a great line up of pre-conference sessions. I have the honor of presenting the "On-Location Wedding Shoot". This is always great fun and the attendees love it. Last year, the man himself - Mr. Scott Kelby - came by to say hi along with Photoshop guru Dave Cross. Scott told me a few weeks ago he was planning to be here today, too. I wonder if he gets a special discount ;-) I'll have images up here tomorrow from today's session.

Just a short note about Bert Monroy's visit to Cincy last Friday. Boy, does he really know his stuff. I have never seen anyone "mouse" so quickly through all the Photoshop Stuff he showed us at the program. It was like that old Maxell ad years ago that showed the guy holding on to his chair for dear life, hair blowing straight back. Many of us felt like that at Bert's program. Be sure to catch the Photoshop Creativity Tour when it comes to a town near you - it's well worth it.

Follow up to Bert's visit - I was strolling through the mini - trade show at one of the breaks and saw a very attractive lady at the Photoshop User booth. I knew she looked familiar, and then it hit me - it's Debbie, Scott's "Bride model", we have been seeing in his new Lightroom and Photoshop for Digital Photographers books. I even took this souvenir photo of us.

A Bit More on Sunday's Wedding - I just wanted to leave you a few more notes on Sunday's big wedding. In the back-lit images, I had my assistant positioned behind my couple about 12 feet away. This gives a nice wrap around effect to the rim lighting. In the image of them on the stairway, the flash was only a few feet behind them because of the space limitation, but we still got a good result. I also tested the Canon Mark III at the ISO 6400 setting - looked darn good to me. After Noise Ninja, I'm sure it will be fine. The sax player was at ISO 6400. That's about it on the wedding. We will get some more photo tips posted as the blog settles in. Check yesterday's slide show for the images I'm referring too.

A Few News Flashes - then I "gota" go:
I'm intrigued by GPS data being added to the image meta data. I posted an article on it a while back. Today over at Terry White's blog he has found another one from Sony and goes into great depth on it. It's a GPS Sony Unit for Digital Still Cameras - Give it a read at Terry's blog - he has the entire low-down on it right here. - very "geeky" but still cool.

Now Everybodys Getting Into Digital:
Here is a funny story from the Telegraph over in the UK - Longleat Meerkats take photos of themselves. Yep, that's what it read. The article showed the inquisitive Meerkats taking - are you ready for this - Family pictures! It's good read for a "giggle" today. Here is the link.

Photoshop Tutorial:
Here is an interesting Photoshop Tutorial on how to create a photo woven from interweaving strips. The result looks very interesting. I'll give it a try when I get back to the studio. Here is the link.

I Save the Best for Last:
I have always been intrigued with pinhole cameras since I was a kid. To be able to make an image on film where the aperture was this very small pinhole was fascinating. While cruising the web today, I inadvertently came across an entire site dedicated to the Art and Craft of Pinhole Photography. It's called "Pinhole Visions" Here is the link - really cool!

Thanks for the read, everyone. Got to go and set up for my program - see ya tomorrow. --David

Early Tuesday News

An early good morning to everyone,

Here are a few interesting news items I thought I would try to post before LaDawn and I head to the airport . I also promised a recap of my wedding over the weekend - look for it later today - some cool stuff.

On with the news:

Sept. 4, 1888: Photography Leaps Into the Late 19th Century
Yep, today was the day - 119 years ago, that George Eastman received a patent for the first roll-film camera and registers the name "Kodak." This article is a nice read for the photo-history buff. Here is the link.

Vincent Versace - Podcast - Nikon D3/D300:
With all the new camera announcements over the last few weeks, I thought I would point you to Vincent Versace's podcast on the Nikon D3 and D300. Vincent Versace, Photographer, Trainer, and Author. One of Nikon’s “Legend Behind the Lens” and premier product beta tester joins host Scott Sheppard for a first hand look on Nikon’s newest digital SLRs. I'll be seeing Vinney at Photoshop World this week - what a terrific photographer. Here is the link to the podcast.

In Depth Canon 40 Review:
Let's give Canon equal billing here. I just saw this review of Canon's latest and greatest 40D. I had my hands on one this weekend - Sweet. Click here for the link.

Which Batteries for digital and How to Make Them Last:
I just replaced some of my NiCads before the wedding this weekend. Want to know which batteries are the best? The Strobist had a nice piece on just that topic. Give it a read right here. Now that you've made the battery choice, how do you make them last. Here is the tell - all article - right here - posted over at John Nack's blog that gives you the low-down. I feel so recharged already.

World’s Fastest-Shooting Digital Camera:
This story has been popping up all over the web lately so I thought I would post it more as a - "Look to the Future" item. Just where is all this technology going these days? Just when we think we hit the megapixel sweet spot and all is perfect, new technology points our imaginations into a new direction. Here is the news piece. Casio has just revealed plans of an as yet unnamed twelve times zoom, six megapixel CMOS based digital camera which can capture a burst of full-size six megapixel images at sixty frames per second and VGA AVI movies at an astonishing three hundred frames per second (obviously shutter speed allowing). Exact specifications and details are currently a little vague but we do know that it has a 2.8" wide-screen LCD monitor, electronic viewfinder and sensor-shift image stabilization. You say so what? the "so what" is this - things are moving fast, think of the posibilities. It's great to be along for the ride! Click here for the story.

Hey Gang, that's it for now - got a plane to catch. Check back for the wedding recap story later today. See you in Vegas! --David