Thursday Stuff
May. 1
3:07 am
Here’s waz up:
- One of my readers (I believe his name is Earl) posted a really useful comment here on Tuesday; he mentioned that on every removable drive he has (like a flash drive for example), he always puts a folder named “Property Of” and it contains his contact info. It’s how he got back a flash drive lost in a snowy parking lot. Anyway, I thought it was a great tip and I wanted to (a) pass it on, and (b) thank Earl for sharing it (I’m sending him a signed copy of my 7-point-system book).
- If you’re looking for a really unique photo workshop, with a famous photographer/trainer, check out the “Focus on Nature” workshops in Iceland. We’re talking big name trainers like Stephen Johnson, National Geographic photographer Chris Rainer, Rick Sammon, Vincent Versace, and John Paul Caponigro, among others.
- I saw Mark Johnson’s (from TheRadientVista.com) brand new book, Botanical Dreaming; Using Photoshop, your camera, and your heart to create inspiring images, and it’s just a beautiful book from top to bottom. His images of flowers are just stunning, and Katrin Eismann says of the book, “…Botanical Dreaming guides the reader on a journey of creative thinking, photographic insights, and valuable Photoshop tutorials with a well-written text and a variety of beautiful images.” Here’s the link to the book on Mark’s site.
- Photoshop World instructor Taz Tally just had a new class go live at KelbyTraining.com called “Creative Suite Integration.” If you’ve been waiting for a class on how to get the most out of working between the different Creative Suite apps; this is the one! Here’s a link to the list of lessons (and you can watch a free sample there, too).
- Here’s a schedule of Matt and my free classes on Monday, May 5th at B&H Photo’s Event Space in New York City (courtesy of NAPP and B&H Photo).
- 10:00 am - 12:00 pm: Scott Kelby’s Photoshop CS3 Seven-Point System (sold out)
- 12:30 - 2:30 pm: Introduction to Lightroom (with Matt Kloskowski) (sold out)
- 3:00 - 5:00 pm: Scott Kelby’s Photoshop CS3 Seven-Point System (sold out)
- Matt’s also teaching his session: Tuesday from 12:30 - 2:30 pm.
- Corey Barker is teaching his Photoshop Channels Class on Tuesday from 10:00 - 12:00 pm, and then again on Wednesday from 12:30 - 2:30 pm.
- RC Concepcion is teaching a class on Wednesday morning from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm on Creating an Online Photo Gallery for photographers.
For more info, or to register for these FREE classes (space is VERY limited), click here.
That’s it for today. See ya tomorrow! 
That’s a great tip, thanks! Contact details on the computer and drives, now one should be a lot more secure. (Who knows what the mind does to you and you suddently forget something somewhere)
Sounds like a smashing week at B&H, too bad it is a big many time zones away from here.
Hey Scott,
That is a handy tip, and I had employed it on my USB memory sticks. I’m sure it will help me when I next loose it! However, I always use my camera to format my memory sticks, and I’m guessing this will wipe this folder. I have got a permanent pen and written my name and phone number on the back - hopefully achieving the same result.
A huge congrats on your book. I’m one of the proud owners!
I have a spiffy UBS stick that I found on the floor of of a convention center classroom. Despite considerable effort, I had no luck tracking down the owner — and the Word docs didn’t help.
Now it’s mine. It wouldn’t be if the previous owner had known this tip.
Ron
I like the permanent marker idea from Mark.
There was a computer article that was published about a year ago that documented a security company leaving a number of those in a parking lot and all were infected with a virus. They were trying to make the point of not putting unknown memory sticks in your computer (particularly if your machine runs Windows!). The article is at http://weblog.infoworld.com/zeroday/archives/2007/05/usb_worm_gets_i.html
-Andrew
Scott,
Regarding Mark Johnson’s book, it sure is a shame that we continue to appreciate the wondrous beauty of nature, but seem to ignore who created it (i.e. God through the Lord Jesus Christ). That beauty would not be there to photograph without Him creating it. I know you are a Christian, however, many are not that review your blog and I am putting this plug in for the Creator since He is not mentioned in photography circles nearly as much as He should be.
Pat in Cypress, Texas
Hi Scott,
Earl: Thanks for the cool tip!
Scott: Thanks for building a great creative community!
Y’all have a great day…y’all~
(:
~Issac
Hi Scott,
Thanks to Earl and you for an excellent suggestion. I work in a computer center in a college and teach a few classes. We constantly find drives that have no contact info on them. I will pass this suggestion on to all of the professors in my division and to my students.
Thanks again Earl, Scott, and NAPP,
Mike
Scott,
Talking of tips, I know you’re a big fan of Wescott’s Spiderlites. But some of us have very limited budget, so I decided to build my own version of a “Spiderlight” along with the softbox too!
It’s already being featured on a couple of photography blogs, and I thought it might interest some of your readers too. So here’s the links for the tutorials:
DIY Spiderlight:
http://alexcampagna.blogspot.com/2008/04/diy-spiderlight-strobe.html
DIY Softbox:
http://alexcampagna.blogspot.com/2008/04/diy-spiderlight-strobe.html
P.S. I’d really like to know what you think about those!
Alex
I’ve been told that you should always format your card before each shoot using the format command within the camera itself. This is done so as to minimize data corruption issues (see the Hoodman card debate from earlier this week). This on camera formatting would remove any text files on the card with my contact information so I’ve got another suggestion. Make the first shot on each new card (after you format) a picture of your business card (use a JPEG setting not RAW as the finder of your card may not know what a RAW file is much less how to read it). You could even print out your contact information on a piece of paper using a large font so as to make the shot from a few feet away perhaps even including a note about a reward.
Also I too want to agree with Pat on acknowledging the creator, Jesus Christ, for providing all of us with so many wonderful photographic subjects.
Have a great day!
I do the same thing, but add a tilde (~) as the first character of the file or folder name (e.g., ~Property of Jon Haverstick) so that the contact info folder sorts alphabetically at the top of the list. That way, the info file is the first thing someone would see on your drive if they plug it in…
Love your work, Scott. Have all your books! AND I’ve read the intro section from start to finish on every one! (As a fellow believer, I appreciate your acknowledgements). Looking forward to your next project!
I got a copy of Botanical Dreaming for Christmas and absolutely love it. The techniques he teaches have really helped me take some of my flower shots to a whole new level. Like this one: http://www.invisiblegreen.com/index.php?showimage=304
It’s exciting to see Mark Johnson’s book receive the kudos it deserves. But you should know the correct URL for The Radiant Vista website is http://www.RadiantVista.com. Thanks!
Hi Scott,
Glad to see you acknowledged Mark Johnson of the RadiantVista.com
In addition to his book, I would also like to call attention to Mark’s great work on his Photoshop Workbench segment on the Radiant Vista Site.
BTW, Mark mentioned Photoshop Users magazine on last week’s workbench.
I was also going to mention that I format with my card in the camera before each use. I like Robbie R’s idea of photography an id.
Scott - It would be great to see Mark Johnson as part of Kelby Training. I have been watching Mark on RV for some time and he is as good as it gets.
Lou
Here are some other ideas that I use:
After I do a full format of my memory card, Picture 1 on the fresh card is of a Word document opened on my computer listing camera owner information in 128 point type. It’s easily viewable on the small camera LCD. I keep this file on my desktop for easy access after each reformat.
I keep at least a couple business cards in my camera case.
I rename my USB memory sticks my phone number with area code as the volume name.
I transfer a file called Owner.txt to all my iPods in drive mode. I also got my big iPod engraved by Apple with my name and phone number.
The tip is good. We learned to do that at the community college Computer Lab, where there is a giant box of lost flash drives. And thank you Jeff for the memory card ID tip as well. I will make that file now