Quick Hit Monday: Imaging USA Off to a Great Start; Top 100 iPhone/iPad Apps; Photoshop Tuts and Tips; and 200 Windows Shortcuts

Good Morning Everybody,

We landed in San Antonio on Friday and spent Saturday hanging with my brother who made the trip from Austin.  We don’t see each other often so it was good to get together. What I love about this convention is the fact that you get to catch up with all your friends you’ve made over the years from around the country. I’m enjoying the many HI’s and HELLO’s from the minute we hit the Marriott lobby.

PPA Charities Party Kicks Off The Convention.

Saturday evening was Imaging USA’s Charities Auction hosted by Texas School the largest annual week long get together of photographers in the country.  About 1200 photogs get together to learn from over 53 instructors conducting 35 classes. 

My class was sold out the day registration opened but there are still a lot a great classes waiting for you to check out.  Here is the link right here.  Here’s a photo of me with co-instructor Sam Puc.  Every one was having a great time at the party.  PPA Charities raised over $100,000 last year – WOW!

OK, who is that crazy monster with Sam and I? It’s the Ukandu monster.  Sam has just launched her Ukandu monster marketing campaign and I grabbed the opportunity to get my photo with Sam and the monster. Sam gave me a quick overview of Ukandu – marketing muscle for only $20 bucks per campaign -  but it’s best you check it out right it.

Another fun thing that happened was meeting the Grand Prize winners of our Digital WakeUp Call 2009 tour.  Blanca and Alex, owners of Blanca-Duran Photography, came up and said Hi. They continue to be so enthusiastic and bubbling about winning our $7500 grand prize – it was a nice visit. Check out their website and blog right here – some nice images.

Yesterday was the start of the Imaging USA Convention in San Antonio and things certainly began with a bang.

Top 100 iPhone/iPad Apps

I love the TOP 10 lists many bloggers post each year. Heck, I'm doing the same thing this week. One of my favorite sites to visit on occasion is Terry White's Top App site [link]. I don't know where he finds the time to research all the apps he ferrets each week but I'm glad he does.

If you are an iPad/iPhone/iPod app junkie you will love his Top 100 apps list of 2010 right here. I still need to review the list to see if I've missed anything. It's a fun read and he's got quite a few gems on his list.

Now A Few Photoshop Whiz-bang Tuts and Tips

Cool Senior Illustrations

Last week I stumbled on some pretty cool Photoshop tutorials. The first one can be found at TemplatePhotoshop.com. My good buddies at ACI Labs sponsor a Video of the Week and this one is quite well done on how to apply makeup in Photoshop.

What I loved about the tutorial is the very cool high school illustration pieces he was producing. I thought Woody Walters idea was one of the most original new product ideas I have seen recently. Check out the tutorial right here.

Adding Skies, Any Skies To Your Image

OK, I have to admit - I saw this in an email I received last week from Gavin Phillips pitching how easy it was to add skies and clouds to any image. I watched the video and liked what I saw. Gavin's multitude of skies can really change the look of an image dramatically. Check it out right here.

Histograms And Photoshop

PSDTUTS [link] has a nice series on understanding histograms and how you can get your best exposure.  Photoshop Basix, by Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor, Martin Perhiniak includes 25 short video tutorials, around 5 – 10 minutes in length that will teach you all the fundamentals of working with Photoshop.

This is Part 5 of the series.  The topic - What Does a Histogram Tell Us will explain the Histogram panel; specifically the Shadow/Highlights and Levels adjustments. This is a nice “gold nugget” find on the web – check it out right here.

200 Windows 7 Shortcuts All For Free!

Sorry MAC fans this is for PC users only ;~)  I get weekly updates from PC World about what’s happening in the world of computers.  Many times there are some nice treasures in their e-newsletter.  I thought this article could be helpful to lots of our DPT readers, hence the post. 

This 43-page guide covers not only the OS, but also apps like Calculator, WordPad, Windows Media Player, and Internet Explorer. It's arguably the most comprehensive keyboard-shortcut guide I've ever seen. You can download it right here.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. We've got a full day so we need to hit the road. Don't forget, if you are reading this in San Antonio, plan to stop by at my program tomorrow and say "HI".

Adios, David

Quick Hit Monday: Good Deals Brewing; Maybe A Problem With The New iPad OS Upgrade; A Cool iPad/iPhone/iPod App; Photo Links Galore; and More!

Good Morning Everybody,

We made it back safe and sound late Saturday and got right into the holiday swing of things. With the snow falling on Sunday, it made it kind of easy. Hey, Cabo was great but Christmas time is still my favorite time of the year and our home and the studio prove the point with 9 Christmas trees  already in place.

Anyway, it looks like it's shaping up to be a busy week around here so why don't we get right on with today's post. Here we go...

Holidays All Around, and Good Deals Too Starting Wednesday!

That's right, this coming Wednesday we are beginning our first holiday sale at DPT. LaDawn and Jennifer have been putting the finishing touches on several holiday specials. I have to say, you are going to like what you see. Be sure to check back Wednesday for all the details.

On The Fun Side For The Holidays

Last week I stumbled across a new iPhone/iPad app that I love. It's Bill Atkinson's PhotoCard app. Bill Atkinson is both a MAC guru and fantastic nature photographer. In fact we used Bill's profiles when we started printing everything inkjet on my first Epson 9600 printer.

Anyway, back to the app. The light version is free with the full version costing only $4.99. The lite PhotoCard version works great as I've been using my own images instead of Bill's - sorry Bill. The app is soooo.... easy to use. Pick an image, fine tune it if needed, add the recipient's address - I been sending a few cards to my daughter Elizabeth during our trip - add a stamp and you are ready to go. Just hit send.

It's a great way to share your travels with friends and family. But  more than that, I think it has a place in my studio on the business side of things, too. Here's why. With the iPad it's really easy to send an uploaded image to a client, but if you've uploaded the RAW files to your iPad as I do while shooting a wedding, it's that Hi-Res file that they receive - not a good thing.

With the PhotoCard app, the image is downsized and sent as a Jpeg attachment - pretty cool. Now I have even a better and fun way to interact with my clients and vendor buddies. you can check the PhotoCard out right here.

Problems With iPad Upgrade - Maybe

Hey gang, you all know I'm an iPad fanatic. And, I was really looking forward to downloading the latest greatest version of OS 4.2. Luckily I haven't yet. I love the fact that you can use the Delkin Card reader to easily upload my flash cards into the iPad.

I blogged about it right here months ago. Here is the link to the post. Fellow blogging buddy and Adobe guru, Terry White did the same thing right here and posted a video too. OK, that all well and good. I was anticipating no problem with the latest OS version. Well, there seems to be a problem with the latest OS version not working with the Delkin card reader.

I recently received a note from Amanda Spillman, one of our loyal DPT readers. Here is an excerpt from her note, "After I upgraded I can no longer import jpegs or RAW images using my Delkin card reader. I attempted to download the same card I had last imported before upgrading & it says there isn't enough power to support my device. Which I had no issues before with importing images using that card reader previously. Wanted to see if it was just me or if there were others having the same problem. Thanks."

Anybody having any of these same issues? Not being able to get images from flash cards from a wedding shoot would be a huge deficit for me and many others who use our iPads to add a large amount of image sizzle to the wedding day with impromptu iPad slide shows. I'll keep you posted on anything I find out.

Geek Squad Report - Windows 7 Not Letting You Hook Up To A Wireless Network?

After our long drive to Cabo two weeks ago, I mentioned the computer issues Kent and I were having connecting our Windows 7 machines to his network. It was pretty frustrating for about two days especially if you are trying to get a blog post up.

I don't know if anyone else has had the same problem, but if you have, here is the solution that worked for us thanks to a post by Microsoft moderator, Novak Wu.

"This issue can occur by incorrect DNS settings. I suggest you perform the following steps to troubleshoot the issue.

1. Click "Start", input "NCPA.CPL" (without quotation marks) and press Enter.

2. Right click on the connection that you use for the local connection, and then click "Properties".

3. Click to select "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)", and then click "Properties".

4. In the Internet Protocol window, let's change the "Preferred DNS server" to 208.67.222.222

5. Click 'OK' twice to complete the modification.

If the issue persists, please repeat the steps and change the "Preferred DNS server" to 208.67.220.220."

Thanks a bunch Novak. That did the trick for us!!

Just For Fun - Some Photography Links You Might Enjoy

It's getting close to the end of the year and several sites are posting some of their "Best of" links. Let me share a couple of gems with you today.

First off how about heading over to Tiffinbox.org to see what Master Twitter king, Seshu, has posted. (Seshu tweets like crazy and it's good information too.). Anyway, he’s got a pretty cool blog going called Tiffinbox.org right here. It's an interesting collection of posts by photographers for photographers. Check it out right here.

The second link list is over at LifeHacker, always a good read. His post, "The Most Popular Tips, Tricks, and Hacks of 2010" looks to have some fun things listed. You can find them listed right here. Enjoy!

Now To Get You In The Mood For The Holidays

Have you seen any of the "flash crowd" videos over at YouTube. Many are quite interesting. One of the first I saw was when several hundred people staged a "flash crowd" at Grand Central Station [link]. The large group showed up and milled around the station until the precise predetermined moment - at that moment they just froze in motion with the other commuters continuing on to their connections. It was quite interesting to see the visual result.

Anyway, this "flash crowd" video is pretty darn amazing. All I'll tell you is that it takes place at a mall during Christmas season. Hit the PLAY button below and get into the spirit. It's quite fun.

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Hey gang,that's it for me today. The snow is falling, the cider is warming on the stove, and presents are ready for wrapping. Oh.... you mean after two weeks of being away from the studio, I've got real work to do? OK, warm cider and presents tomorrow then ;~)

Have a good one everybody. See ya' tomorrow for another episode of Technique Tuesday.

David

More Cool News with NYC Views

And You Thought 22 Megapixels Was Big

John Nack, one of the all time Photoshop gurus had this really, really interesting piece over at his blog. He posted a link to a - get this - a 13 GIGAPIXEL image of Harlem, New York. You can navigate the image, zoom super close. It is truly amazing - check out the image here. Check out the entire story at John's blog right here.

Smoke Sculpture Photography:

This piece caught my attention because I had seen some similar images by a photographer in Indiana about two years ago, but these images are just outstanding. I stumbled on them over at F1.0's site. They were produced by Mehmet Ozgur. Check out the images here. Amazing!

Lighting For Commercial Applications:

Here is a nice article on commercial lighting published by my friends over at Rangefinder Magazine. It was also written by Linda May, whom I just finished an article with last evening. More on that later. Anyway, this piece gives you some good insights as to how to get it right on your next commercial shoot. Here is the link. It's a down loadable PDF so print it out and give it a read.

Freebie of the Day - Wondershare iPod Slideshow:

Here is the description - Wondershare iPod Slideshow is an innovative and easy-to-use tool to show off your imagination and create your entertaining slideshows on iPod. Tons of dazzling transitions & Ken-burns styled effects, powerful photo/video editing, various photo/video formats to iPod mp4 files converting, and the program’s simplified three-step workflow enables you to make show-n-tell custom movies for enjoying easily on the go! Click here for the link.

Meridian iPod Dock Upscales Video to 1080p:

Hot on the heels of the Freebie of the Day News comes news of Meridian's new iPod dock. It lets you res them up to 1080p for presentation on your big screen TV. Does this have the same "ring" as giant shrimp? Anyway, that's it for today.

See everyone tomorrow, All the Best -- David