"Somewhere in Time"David A. Ziser Photography
Friday, August 24, 2007
Friday - Good Things Happening - 3 of 3
More News and Resources:
Cool Scanning Service:
I was just reviewing some older posts - being sure I didn't miss anything - and came across this interesting post on Scott Kelby's site. He mentioned the nifty service that would take all those negatives still in the shoebox and scan them into high res images for about $.19. I checked out the site right here at ScanCafe, and I think they've got something there. As a Hasselbald shooter for years , my negs are a bit bigger, so I wish they offered the service for the "medium format" shooters of years past. Anybody got and suggestions in that department?
Gobs of Photoshop Tutorials:
I thank John Sullivan, one of our readers, for this great link. If you want months of Photoshop tutorial pleasure, then just head over to Wikivid.com - here is the link. They have over 450 tutorials for viewing. They are all over the board too, but many are pretty darn good. One I enjoyed was by the doctor himself - Russel Brown. If you have never seen a program by Mr. Brown they are both extremely informative and "belly laughing" funny. Here is a link to his tutorial entitled - Healing Brush tool, and Vanishing Point. This one takes a bit of time to load, but it is worth the wait. Here is another example. It's by the folks over at Lynda.com and covers how to set up some important user preferences in Photoshop. Here is the video link. This tutorial is actually the second of two parts, but had the best info in it. Enjoy Wikivid.com! Great rainy day surfing.
Freebie of the Day: Buffer Zone
BufferZone Security Pro lets you download files from any website, run any program, and open any email attachment with complete safety. BufferZone’s virtualization technology creates an isolated zone on your PC, which separates your operating system and confidential data from unknown programs, downloads and files. Here is the link - looks interesting to me.
High Speed Photography:
I have always been a fan of high speed photography. I was always originally turned on to these images when I saw some of the images created by Harold Edgerton back in my collage days. Click here to see some of those images. Anyway, I found this very interesting post that I thought you might enjoy. Here is the link.
That's it for today. Have a great weekend - see you Monday. --David
Cool Scanning Service:
I was just reviewing some older posts - being sure I didn't miss anything - and came across this interesting post on Scott Kelby's site. He mentioned the nifty service that would take all those negatives still in the shoebox and scan them into high res images for about $.19. I checked out the site right here at ScanCafe, and I think they've got something there. As a Hasselbald shooter for years , my negs are a bit bigger, so I wish they offered the service for the "medium format" shooters of years past. Anybody got and suggestions in that department?
Gobs of Photoshop Tutorials:
I thank John Sullivan, one of our readers, for this great link. If you want months of Photoshop tutorial pleasure, then just head over to Wikivid.com - here is the link. They have over 450 tutorials for viewing. They are all over the board too, but many are pretty darn good. One I enjoyed was by the doctor himself - Russel Brown. If you have never seen a program by Mr. Brown they are both extremely informative and "belly laughing" funny. Here is a link to his tutorial entitled - Healing Brush tool, and Vanishing Point. This one takes a bit of time to load, but it is worth the wait. Here is another example. It's by the folks over at Lynda.com and covers how to set up some important user preferences in Photoshop. Here is the video link. This tutorial is actually the second of two parts, but had the best info in it. Enjoy Wikivid.com! Great rainy day surfing.Freebie of the Day: Buffer Zone
BufferZone Security Pro lets you download files from any website, run any program, and open any email attachment with complete safety. BufferZone’s virtualization technology creates an isolated zone on your PC, which separates your operating system and confidential data from unknown programs, downloads and files. Here is the link - looks interesting to me.
High Speed Photography:
I have always been a fan of high speed photography. I was always originally turned on to these images when I saw some of the images created by Harold Edgerton back in my collage days. Click here to see some of those images. Anyway, I found this very interesting post that I thought you might enjoy. Here is the link.
That's it for today. Have a great weekend - see you Monday. --David
Friday - Good Things Happening - 2 of 3
Next, I visited the the location of my wedding next week. Adath Israel synagogue has just gone through some MAJOR renovation and it's looks beautiful. Click here to see some interior views. You will have to wait till the week after next to see the wedding pics.Then it was back home to catch up with my friend Janice Wendt from Nik Software who was planning to give LaDawn and I the "full tilt boogie" tutorial on all Nik's latest offering. After I caught my breath, we set up a projector so we could watch Janice's demos on the big screen.
The first amazing software she showed was Capture NX. Nik Software developed the U-Point technology and now licenses it to other companies - currently Nikon is one of those companies. The Nik Software U-Point magic was evident in Capture NX. This software lets you easily make local adjustments to any part of the image without affecting other parts of the image. Words do not describe how cool this was. I've downloaded a trial of the software and will give you a peek hopefully next week. In the mean time check out the Capture NX web site here for some brief demos. Can't wait to see what Nik has in store for this technology in the future - stayed tuned.
She also showed us Dfine 2.0, Nik's latest "noise reduction" software. Most of you know I have been a big fan of Noise Ninja since it's beta. So I wanted to see how Dfine 2.0 - just released about a month ago - would compare. Janice's demo was impressive You can get more info and download a 15 day demo right here.
Niks' Color Efex Pro 2.0 and Nik Sharpener Pro 2.0 show some impressive possibilities too. Check out this page right here for demos on all Nik's products. Kind of fun to watch.
After 3 hours plus of Janice's gracious demonstrations, we headed out to dinner. It was a terrific day. On to Part 3 of today's posts.
Friday - Good Things Happening - 1 of 3
Good Morning Everybody,
Still hot as heck here in Cincy - over 100 degrees again yesterday, no rain for weeks, everybody's grass is brown. But the sky is blue, the air is clear, and I have the weekend off - time for a little R&R. I'm breaking this news day into a couple of posts because of all the info today. Anyway, on with the news and features.
I photographed about 15 items for Jones and we were wrapped about 12:30 p.m. I burned them a disc of the favs and I was on my way by 1:00 p. m. On to the second post. I'll share in a future post what a great marketing tool this can be for your studio.
Still hot as heck here in Cincy - over 100 degrees again yesterday, no rain for weeks, everybody's grass is brown. But the sky is blue, the air is clear, and I have the weekend off - time for a little R&R. I'm breaking this news day into a couple of posts because of all the info today. Anyway, on with the news and features.
Jones Shoot:
I arrived about 10:00 a.m., set up the gear and we were ready to go by 11:00a.m. These guys do great work at Jones and I have the honor of working with many of their designers at the various wedding and Bar Mitzvah functions I photograph - but I digress. The whole set up looks pretty complicated, but is not really. Check out the image and let me walk you through it.
Main Light Source is fairly obvious. The background Light is set up to illuminate the white seamless paper, but because of its proximity to the object being photographed, I had to "gobo" or block the "light spill" onto the flowers being photographed. There is also an Accent Light ( hidden by the "gobo" unbrella) that skimmed light across the flowers from the back. The Accent Light just "kisses" the flowers with light and adds that added touch of "garlic" accent to the image.
The Canon 5D is tethered to my computer. I was running Canon's Photo Professional software. This let me take the photograph which transmitted quickly to the computer, popped all the RGB histogram info, and let me quickly fine tune exposure - white balance had previously been set. I was shooting JPEGs by the way - please no "religious jpeg vs. raw" debate here ;-)
Here is my position and the finished image. Notice the "gobo" umbrella is only blocking the Background Light from spilling to much light onto the flowers, yet it still supplies a nice amount of "Fill Light" to the scene.
I photographed about 15 items for Jones and we were wrapped about 12:30 p.m. I burned them a disc of the favs and I was on my way by 1:00 p. m. On to the second post. I'll share in a future post what a great marketing tool this can be for your studio.Thursday, August 23, 2007
Thursday - Another HOT News day in Cincy!
Good Morning Everybody,
Boy, we are dyin' here in Cincy. The temperature hit 100 degrees yesterday and it looks like another hot one today. But, not a problem, the calendar looks like a good day. I'm off in about an hour to shoot the Fall season flowers for Jones the Florist. They are one of the biggest and best in the city. It's always a fun shoot and the floral aromas are wonderful throughout the building.
Next I meet with one of my favorite clients to discuss the family's upcoming wedding in two weeks. I'll post a few pics from the job - it should be beautiful. And then later today, my buddy, Janice Wendt, from Nik Software is stopping by on her way to the Florida Professional Photographers Association annual convention - nice images on their home page, by the way. I'm getting a long lesson on Nik's latest software releases. Check out Nik Software's catalogue to see what their products do right here - you will love the images.
On with the NEWS:
It Only Gets Better, Faster, and Cheaper.
After all Canon's announcement on Tuesday, Nikon came charging out of the gates today with a long and impressive lists of new products including the Nikon D3 and the Nikon D300. Am I reading this right - full frame sensor (finally) and ISO 25,600! Check out all the specs on the new Nikon gear right here.
How Many Gigs?
Just read that Toshiba is introducing a 32 Gig SDHC flash card by January. A couple of these cards filled with images would give the whole "workflow" paradigm a whole new meaning. Read more here.
Food for Thought:
"...Is the “easy availability” of digital photography & the Internet destroying our collective appreciation for the true art in the medium? Have we been so overexposed to supersaturated, supersharp, over-digitalized photos that we have lost the appreciation for other artistic aesthetics in photography? ... " Read the whole article over at F1.0's site right here. Read the comments too. Very thought provoking.
Cool Software:
I came across two pretty cool pieces of software yesterday. Today, let me tell you about iWatermark. For all digital camera owners posting to the web or sending images via email, this is a great little piece of software the gives you the protection and recognition for your digital images and artwork. iWatermark makes it really easy to "digital" sign your images 1 or 1000 images at a time. Check it out here.
Obi Wan Kenobi Had it First:
When I first read this, I could only think of that first Star Wars movie - can you believe it - almost 30 years ago. Anyway, Japan's Hitachi, Ltd. has developed a lightweight 3D display that can potentially be adapted for mobile devices such as telephones. Looks just like Princess Leah to me. It's a fun look at some potentially cool technologies. Give it a read here.
That's it for today, folks, got to pack the gear, and head for work. See ya tomorrow, --David
Boy, we are dyin' here in Cincy. The temperature hit 100 degrees yesterday and it looks like another hot one today. But, not a problem, the calendar looks like a good day. I'm off in about an hour to shoot the Fall season flowers for Jones the Florist. They are one of the biggest and best in the city. It's always a fun shoot and the floral aromas are wonderful throughout the building.
Next I meet with one of my favorite clients to discuss the family's upcoming wedding in two weeks. I'll post a few pics from the job - it should be beautiful. And then later today, my buddy, Janice Wendt, from Nik Software is stopping by on her way to the Florida Professional Photographers Association annual convention - nice images on their home page, by the way. I'm getting a long lesson on Nik's latest software releases. Check out Nik Software's catalogue to see what their products do right here - you will love the images.
On with the NEWS:
It Only Gets Better, Faster, and Cheaper.
After all Canon's announcement on Tuesday, Nikon came charging out of the gates today with a long and impressive lists of new products including the Nikon D3 and the Nikon D300. Am I reading this right - full frame sensor (finally) and ISO 25,600! Check out all the specs on the new Nikon gear right here.
How Many Gigs?
Just read that Toshiba is introducing a 32 Gig SDHC flash card by January. A couple of these cards filled with images would give the whole "workflow" paradigm a whole new meaning. Read more here.
Food for Thought:
"...Is the “easy availability” of digital photography & the Internet destroying our collective appreciation for the true art in the medium? Have we been so overexposed to supersaturated, supersharp, over-digitalized photos that we have lost the appreciation for other artistic aesthetics in photography? ... " Read the whole article over at F1.0's site right here. Read the comments too. Very thought provoking.
Cool Software:
I came across two pretty cool pieces of software yesterday. Today, let me tell you about iWatermark. For all digital camera owners posting to the web or sending images via email, this is a great little piece of software the gives you the protection and recognition for your digital images and artwork. iWatermark makes it really easy to "digital" sign your images 1 or 1000 images at a time. Check it out here.
Obi Wan Kenobi Had it First:
When I first read this, I could only think of that first Star Wars movie - can you believe it - almost 30 years ago. Anyway, Japan's Hitachi, Ltd. has developed a lightweight 3D display that can potentially be adapted for mobile devices such as telephones. Looks just like Princess Leah to me. It's a fun look at some potentially cool technologies. Give it a read here.
That's it for today, folks, got to pack the gear, and head for work. See ya tomorrow, --David
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Wednesday News and Notes
Hi Everyone,WOW! Great News - When I hit the keyboard this morning, to check my email - there it was. The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce just named David A. Ziser Photography/Photographic Resources, Inc. one of the "Emerging 30" businesses in the area. It was a very nice surprise. A lot of the credit goes to my great team - Susan, Sharon, Gayle, and Nicholas, and my wonderful wife, LaDawn.
On with the News.
Canon One More Time:
I spent half the morning on line checking out the specs of the new Canon 40D. Man, that's looking like my next camera. Here are a few of the important features that "speak" to me.
- Full Viewfinder "Blinkies" finally! Now I can really see which highlights are "blowing out" and fix it before I take the shot. I always hated the fact that the "blinkies" only showed up on that teeny little 1/4 screen thumbnail in "Play Mode". Nikon has had "full screen highlight warning" all the time - glad to see Canon now on board too.
- Highlight Tone Priority - Read "... JPEG shooters Rejoice!!!" This is a wonderful custom feature that I reported in my Digital Newsletter #12. I have reprinted it in the post that follows this one, so give it a read.
- A Kelvin setting that now goes down to 2500K. The 20D and 30D only went down to 2800K. 2800K was good for "ceremony"shots in the church, but for "available light" images at the reception, it just was not quite enough - glad to see the new lower Kelvin number.
Those are the main "ticklers" for me - there is lots to like about the new camera. Canon D40 info right here.
Really Unusual Camera:
It's a "Scanner Camera" made out of and inexpensive desktop scanner and a view camera. The inventor is Mike Golembewski. You have got to see it to believe it. He is producing 115Meg files with his current camera. He has a whole site dedicated to the design of the camera, his current camera, and lots of images - very fascinating. Check it out here.
Hot! Geek News - Google Earth Heads for Space:
Now I might be one of about 3 people in the world that think this is really "cool" but, I couldn't resist telling you about it today. When I was a kid - like in the 2nd grade - my hobby was astronomy. I wrote to the major observatories around the country and asked for any free stuff they could send - my allowance wouldn't allow me to purchase much material. I even did a special astronomy report to my class. I bet my buddy I would beat him to the moon - that bet is still on by the way.
Anyway, here is the hot news - Google Earth is now going to be Google Space too. Here is an excerpt, "... The new feature in Google Earth called Sky promises to bring the world of astronomy to viewers without the need of a telescope. Launched today, the new tool is claimed to enable users to view and navigate through 100 million individual stars and 200 million galaxies using high resolution imaging and overlays." Check it out here.
Now Maybe News From Nikon!
I just saw this minutes ago. We just finish hearing all the hot new announcements from Canon, and now there may be a slew of announcements by Nikon coming real soon. Nikon may be announcing their new D3 - full frame camera and D300 - both with 6400 ISO's too. Here is the link.
That's about it for today. I've got to tell the staff the good news. Have a great one! --David
Highlight Tone Priority Setting in Canon's New Mark III
What was the highlight of the Spring Master Class - shooting with the new Canon Mark III. I invited Mary Mannix, our regional Canon representative to come by and show the class some of the new Canon "goodies." The Mark III "right off the presses" was a big hit with the class.The hottest new feature - not even discussed much on the Internet photo sites yet - is the "Highlight tone priority" feature. What's that you say - only the best thing since "P for Professional" for us JPEG wedding shooters. Here is the scoop - under C.FnII:3 of your custom functions - set to "Enable" Highlight tone priority.
You have now extended the dynamic range of your JPEGS - read this as meaning less chance of "blowing out the whites." Check out the before and after images here. The left image is about a stop overexposed, but by enabling Highlight tone priority, the resulting image on the right was saved!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Tuesday's Notes, News, and Tips
Good Morning Sunshine! - I used to wake my kids for school with that phrase when they were younger - boy, they hated it. Anyway, good things happenin' today. I am putting finishing touches on the "Digital Newsletter" today. It should email tomorrow - be sure you are signed up if you want to receive it - good stuff here. Here we go.
Canon Makes it Official
Yep, new cameras - Canon 1Ds Mark III, 21MP - whew! and Canon 40D, 10.1 MP, and a slew of others as well. I even like the new ELPH 950 - 12.1 MP, IS - looks sweet. I've been an ELPH shooter for years and love it for its compactness and quality. Get all the Canon News announcements right here.
And You Think You Got Problems
As a wedding shooter, we occasionally have some small, some large issues pop up in the course of the day - but a hurricane. I caught this story over at the Strobist blog and it "blew me away." (sorry) Seems our photog heard about my "Pole Cam" to get those over the head pics too.
Give it a quick read - fascinating.
Lighting Tutorials
There is more good education "stuff" on the Internet, and it's all free. PhotoFlex - the lighting gear manufacturer - has a whole slew of lighting tutorials right here - some really good lessons. Off to school we go.
Clean Out the Cobwebs
Sometimes we all need a little help getting our creative juices going. One of my favorite sites - Luminous Landscape, had a great article on creativity. It's a little long, but great info and a lot of food for thought. Read it slowly and thoughtfully - right here.
Now a little Fun
Check out this site - http://www.easypano.com/ - and watch some of the Panorama shows. The software takes your stitched panos and converts them into a flash show which you can easily post to your website. This whole thing sort of appealed to my "geek" side. I'm still trying to figure out what I'll do with it, but I did download the free trial.
Quick Photoshop Tip
Here is a TIP directly from Planet Photoshop.
..."Generally, when you apply a transformation to an object (scaling, rotating, distorting, perspective), you apply that transformation to the object itself. However, here’s a cool tip if you want to apply a transformation (using Free Transform) on a duplicate of your object, rather than on the original: Press Command-Option-T (PC: Control-Alt-T), then use the Free Transform tool as you usually would. You’ll notice that as you begin to transform, the original object remains untouched, and a copy is transformed instead. "...
Check out all their other tips right here.
Option #2
Last week I told you about a nifty piece of software that could recover data from your scratched CD's and DVD's - don't want to spend the $29 - watch the following post for an alternate solution. - Enjoy!
Canon Makes it Official
Yep, new cameras - Canon 1Ds Mark III, 21MP - whew! and Canon 40D, 10.1 MP, and a slew of others as well. I even like the new ELPH 950 - 12.1 MP, IS - looks sweet. I've been an ELPH shooter for years and love it for its compactness and quality. Get all the Canon News announcements right here.And You Think You Got Problems
As a wedding shooter, we occasionally have some small, some large issues pop up in the course of the day - but a hurricane. I caught this story over at the Strobist blog and it "blew me away." (sorry) Seems our photog heard about my "Pole Cam" to get those over the head pics too.
Give it a quick read - fascinating.
Lighting Tutorials
There is more good education "stuff" on the Internet, and it's all free. PhotoFlex - the lighting gear manufacturer - has a whole slew of lighting tutorials right here - some really good lessons. Off to school we go.
Clean Out the Cobwebs
Sometimes we all need a little help getting our creative juices going. One of my favorite sites - Luminous Landscape, had a great article on creativity. It's a little long, but great info and a lot of food for thought. Read it slowly and thoughtfully - right here.
Now a little Fun
Check out this site - http://www.easypano.com/ - and watch some of the Panorama shows. The software takes your stitched panos and converts them into a flash show which you can easily post to your website. This whole thing sort of appealed to my "geek" side. I'm still trying to figure out what I'll do with it, but I did download the free trial.
Quick Photoshop Tip
Here is a TIP directly from Planet Photoshop.
..."Generally, when you apply a transformation to an object (scaling, rotating, distorting, perspective), you apply that transformation to the object itself. However, here’s a cool tip if you want to apply a transformation (using Free Transform) on a duplicate of your object, rather than on the original: Press Command-Option-T (PC: Control-Alt-T), then use the Free Transform tool as you usually would. You’ll notice that as you begin to transform, the original object remains untouched, and a copy is transformed instead. "...
Check out all their other tips right here.
Option #2
Last week I told you about a nifty piece of software that could recover data from your scratched CD's and DVD's - don't want to spend the $29 - watch the following post for an alternate solution. - Enjoy!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Monday - Off to Another Great Week
What a Week!
I'll say what a Week - Last week Digital ProTalk had visitors from 55 countries viewing it in 22 languages. Not bad for the first real week out of the gates. I'm thrilled our readers are enjoying the site so much. This week promises to be just as info-packed (and maybe more.) Check back everyday for the latest, greatest, interesting news, photography and Photoshop and Lightroom tips and techniques. By the way, I'll post wedding images this week - Enjoy! Let's get right to it with some news.
Canon 1Ds Mark III and Canon 40D - the Word is Out!
Yep, That's the news I got. Amazon apparently had BOTH cameras listed on their web site - albeit, before the Canon official announcement - but have since pulled down the pages. No problem - you can still see all the specs and a lot more info by just clicking here.
Great Lighting Lesson by the Master:
I first met Monte Zucker - an icon in our profession - in 1979. Monte and I were friends for over 25 years until his passing earlier this year. He was probably one of the finest teachers on classical lighting on the planet. I was bouncing around the Internet this past weekend - yes, I had a little time off - I found this great article by Monte on lighting. Enjoy it by clicking here.
While We Are on the Subject of Photography
One of my hobbies is macro photography. I picked up Canon's 100mm F2.8 macro lens earlier this year and love it. With macro photography, you have two choices, 1- keep everything in crystal clear sharp focus with a really teeny F-stop or, 2 - go for that shallow depth of field only keeping the subject or part of the subject in sharp focus by using a larger F-stop. I could go on and on here but check out this article on the macro photography by clicking here. I have one suggestion for Canon though - make the macro lenses "image stabilized." Nikon was the first with such a lens with their Nikon 105mm F2.8 VR macro lens. Are you listening Canon?
I Never Knew that Before
Okay, you might think this tip is kind of weak, but I got this email last week that echoed my exact dilemma when I was fairly new to Photoshop. It went like this.
...."I have had a weirdness in all the versions of PS that I wonder if you ever had and if so how you overcame it. During a session the cursor changes to precise and in order to get it to show brush size you have to go to the Cursors menu and change it to "precise" to get PS to show the brush size. No clue why it does that and closing and reopening PS doesn't resolve it. You have to reboot the PC to return it to normal."...
Drum roll please - The CAPS LOCK key was inadvertently turned on - just hit it again to get the brush again. When I first learned that - it was like finally understanding the "Theory of Relativity." (Just click here for more info on the ToR - sorry, couldn't resist.)
One Last Thing - A "Cool" Little Gadget:
This should appeal to all geek freaks - yep, count me in - it's called a Gisteq PhotoTrackr. What's that you say. It's a fairly inexpensive way to get all your images loaded up with GPS data. PhotoTrakr and it's software lets you "geo-tag" your images with the GPS info. Then image hosting sites that are geo-tag enabled can let you, your friends, family, and even total strangers know where your images were taken. Click here for all the info. Now, how many of you thought that was the "coolest" tip you heard today?
Well, I'm off - got to get to work. I'm updating a few of my presentations for Photoshop World coming up the first week of September - hope to see you there. Have a great Monday everybody - see you tomorrow. --David
I'll say what a Week - Last week Digital ProTalk had visitors from 55 countries viewing it in 22 languages. Not bad for the first real week out of the gates. I'm thrilled our readers are enjoying the site so much. This week promises to be just as info-packed (and maybe more.) Check back everyday for the latest, greatest, interesting news, photography and Photoshop and Lightroom tips and techniques. By the way, I'll post wedding images this week - Enjoy! Let's get right to it with some news.
Canon 1Ds Mark III and Canon 40D - the Word is Out!
Yep, That's the news I got. Amazon apparently had BOTH cameras listed on their web site - albeit, before the Canon official announcement - but have since pulled down the pages. No problem - you can still see all the specs and a lot more info by just clicking here.
Great Lighting Lesson by the Master:
I first met Monte Zucker - an icon in our profession - in 1979. Monte and I were friends for over 25 years until his passing earlier this year. He was probably one of the finest teachers on classical lighting on the planet. I was bouncing around the Internet this past weekend - yes, I had a little time off - I found this great article by Monte on lighting. Enjoy it by clicking here.
While We Are on the Subject of Photography
One of my hobbies is macro photography. I picked up Canon's 100mm F2.8 macro lens earlier this year and love it. With macro photography, you have two choices, 1- keep everything in crystal clear sharp focus with a really teeny F-stop or, 2 - go for that shallow depth of field only keeping the subject or part of the subject in sharp focus by using a larger F-stop. I could go on and on here but check out this article on the macro photography by clicking here. I have one suggestion for Canon though - make the macro lenses "image stabilized." Nikon was the first with such a lens with their Nikon 105mm F2.8 VR macro lens. Are you listening Canon?
I Never Knew that Before
Okay, you might think this tip is kind of weak, but I got this email last week that echoed my exact dilemma when I was fairly new to Photoshop. It went like this.
...."I have had a weirdness in all the versions of PS that I wonder if you ever had and if so how you overcame it. During a session the cursor changes to precise and in order to get it to show brush size you have to go to the Cursors menu and change it to "precise" to get PS to show the brush size. No clue why it does that and closing and reopening PS doesn't resolve it. You have to reboot the PC to return it to normal."...
Drum roll please - The CAPS LOCK key was inadvertently turned on - just hit it again to get the brush again. When I first learned that - it was like finally understanding the "Theory of Relativity." (Just click here for more info on the ToR - sorry, couldn't resist.)
One Last Thing - A "Cool" Little Gadget:
This should appeal to all geek freaks - yep, count me in - it's called a Gisteq PhotoTrackr. What's that you say. It's a fairly inexpensive way to get all your images loaded up with GPS data. PhotoTrakr and it's software lets you "geo-tag" your images with the GPS info. Then image hosting sites that are geo-tag enabled can let you, your friends, family, and even total strangers know where your images were taken. Click here for all the info. Now, how many of you thought that was the "coolest" tip you heard today?
Well, I'm off - got to get to work. I'm updating a few of my presentations for Photoshop World coming up the first week of September - hope to see you there. Have a great Monday everybody - see you tomorrow. --David
Friday, August 17, 2007
Friday News Hits
Hi Everyone,
There is lots of good stuff posted today. Don't forget to check out the promised Photoshop tutorial just posted - it follows this post. Enjoy!
Mastering B&W Photography:
There was this great interview on Inside Digital Photo with Amadou Diallo, Photographer and Author of “Mastering Digital Black and White Photography”. I think this guy knows his stuff - nice insights and good information. Heck, I headed to Amazon.com and bought his book. Listen to the interview here.
Unbelievable Message, Unbelievable Photography:
I stumbled on Media Storm several months ago. It's a site that features stories from photojournalists from around the country. This doesn't sound like a big idea till you see how the stories are features on the site. This story about the Ivory poachers in Africa will give you "goose bumps" as you watch it. The photography is breathtaking and the story is compelling. Just hit the link above, sit back, enjoy, and think.
Newsletter - One More Time:
I am in the process of putting the finishing touches on our next Newsletter which is planned to go out next week. It is shaping up to be one of the best. Content will include - as usual - a "cool" Photoshop tutorial, great lighting lesson, strong marketing idea, and some very interesting - and maybe a bit funny - news items. Anyway, don't forget to sign up right here on on this page so you don't miss it. Hey, if you don't like it, you can always opt back out. But, I don't think you will want too.
Today's Freebie:
I thought this little "screen grab" utility from TNT Screen Capture looked interesting. I do a lot of screen capture for my seminars and workshops. We also use "screen capture" for some of studio materials. You might want to give it a try. Click here for the link. Heck - it's free, at least for today.
That's it for today. Have a great weekend - see you Monday!
-David
There is lots of good stuff posted today. Don't forget to check out the promised Photoshop tutorial just posted - it follows this post. Enjoy!
Mastering B&W Photography:
There was this great interview on Inside Digital Photo with Amadou Diallo, Photographer and Author of “Mastering Digital Black and White Photography”. I think this guy knows his stuff - nice insights and good information. Heck, I headed to Amazon.com and bought his book. Listen to the interview here.
Unbelievable Message, Unbelievable Photography:
I stumbled on Media Storm several months ago. It's a site that features stories from photojournalists from around the country. This doesn't sound like a big idea till you see how the stories are features on the site. This story about the Ivory poachers in Africa will give you "goose bumps" as you watch it. The photography is breathtaking and the story is compelling. Just hit the link above, sit back, enjoy, and think.
Newsletter - One More Time:
I am in the process of putting the finishing touches on our next Newsletter which is planned to go out next week. It is shaping up to be one of the best. Content will include - as usual - a "cool" Photoshop tutorial, great lighting lesson, strong marketing idea, and some very interesting - and maybe a bit funny - news items. Anyway, don't forget to sign up right here on on this page so you don't miss it. Hey, if you don't like it, you can always opt back out. But, I don't think you will want too.
Today's Freebie:
I thought this little "screen grab" utility from TNT Screen Capture looked interesting. I do a lot of screen capture for my seminars and workshops. We also use "screen capture" for some of studio materials. You might want to give it a try. Click here for the link. Heck - it's free, at least for today.
That's it for today. Have a great weekend - see you Monday!
-David
Photoshop Tutorial - Stretching the Background
Here is the Photoshop Tutorial featured in the Newsletter #13 - Enjoy. To sign up for our monthly newsletter, just click here. Past issues can be found here. Thanks, David
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Thursday's News and Tips
Image of the Day:
Hope everyone is enjoying the image of the day. I promise to run some wedding images next week, but I'm still on that France high from last week's wonderful vacation to Paris and the South of France.
August Newsletter Going Out Soon:
Don't miss out on a terrific tutorial in this month's newsletter due out soon. Just click here or hit the "Sign Up" button here on this page. It's been said that it "kicks butt" by some very respected people in the business.
Looking for More Business:
We are all trying to increase business, raise our community profile, or just plain trying to get more people to notice us. I found this article that gives some good pointers on doing just that. Give it a read right here.
Back Ups - News, or Bad News:
Hey, we all know it - the fear of the hard drive crash. Here at the studio, e have everything backed up about 17 times - not really, but one on-site hard copy back up and one off-site hard copy back up. On top of that, we maintain redundant copies on our network too. Can't be too safe if you ask me. Click here for a very good read on back up strategies and technologies.
Bad Teeth, Shiny Face - Check this out:
LaDawn and I had the privilege of meeting the Image Trends folks at both WPPI and the PPA conventions this year. The Professor, the person who invents some of these very interesting Photoshop time saving plug-ins for wedding/portrait photographers, is a fascinating gentleman to meet. Check out their latest "cool" inventions for "teeth whitening and "facial shine reduction."
Update for Tomorrow: ( Sounds futuristic, doesn't it?)
Look for one of the past newsletter tutorials to go back on line tomorrow.
Well, it's back to work here - enjoy the day. -David
Hope everyone is enjoying the image of the day. I promise to run some wedding images next week, but I'm still on that France high from last week's wonderful vacation to Paris and the South of France.
August Newsletter Going Out Soon:
Don't miss out on a terrific tutorial in this month's newsletter due out soon. Just click here or hit the "Sign Up" button here on this page. It's been said that it "kicks butt" by some very respected people in the business.
Looking for More Business:
We are all trying to increase business, raise our community profile, or just plain trying to get more people to notice us. I found this article that gives some good pointers on doing just that. Give it a read right here.
Back Ups - News, or Bad News:
Hey, we all know it - the fear of the hard drive crash. Here at the studio, e have everything backed up about 17 times - not really, but one on-site hard copy back up and one off-site hard copy back up. On top of that, we maintain redundant copies on our network too. Can't be too safe if you ask me. Click here for a very good read on back up strategies and technologies.
Bad Teeth, Shiny Face - Check this out:
LaDawn and I had the privilege of meeting the Image Trends folks at both WPPI and the PPA conventions this year. The Professor, the person who invents some of these very interesting Photoshop time saving plug-ins for wedding/portrait photographers, is a fascinating gentleman to meet. Check out their latest "cool" inventions for "teeth whitening and "facial shine reduction."
Update for Tomorrow: ( Sounds futuristic, doesn't it?)
Look for one of the past newsletter tutorials to go back on line tomorrow.
Well, it's back to work here - enjoy the day. -David
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
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