Hi gang. I’m off to the island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean to teach a workshop with Joe McNally and then I’m going to spend a few days doing absolutely nothing but reading and sitting by the pool (I know, I’ve got it rough), which is all the more reason I feel I should share yet another embarrassing photo. This was taken in the mid-80s (note the cool gloves, blond tips, and excess mousse in my hair. The trademark black shirt is there, along with a Korg DSS-1 keyboard [bottom], which had sampled sounds I used to load into the keyboard with a floppy disk). Man, I gettin’ old.   Now, onto the news:

First, a shout out to the Deke Man for a fantastic guest blog and video tutorial yesterday. The comments were nothing short of a love-fest, and it was a real kick having Deke here on the blog. If you’re going to Photoshop World in Vegas this October, make sure you check out Deke live.

What’s the Difference Between Vols. 1, 2, and 3?
I got another email yesterday asking if Volume 3 of my book “The Digital Photography Book” is just an another update to the original book, or if it’s an entirely new book, so I thought I’d better tackle it here. Volume 2 is a completely new book from the ground up that picks up right where the original Volume 1 left off.  I did the same thing with Volume 3, but of course it picked up where Volume 2 left off, so while the three books are designed to work together (and the Publisher is planning a three-book set), the content is completely different in each of the three books. Hope that helps.

Check out Syl’s Canon Speedlite Wishlist
Spend any time around Joe McNally and you’ll become a Nikon off-camera flash believer, and that’s exactly what happened to Syl Arena over at the PixSylated blog, who just did a post on his wishlist for Canon’s off camera speedlites, and he really did a great job with it. Here’s the link to check it out.

Catch the finale of our series on lenses
Later today we’ll posting the final segment of our five-part segment on lenses on D-Town TV. This has been one of the most popular set of shows we’ve done on the program thus far, and if you haven’t caught it yet, here’s the link (the fifth installment is episode #20).

A Special Deal on two new DVDs from Vincent Versace
Vinny is about to release a new in-depth DVD called, “Oz to Kansas 2.0: The Black and White on Black and White Conversions” where he goes into detail about the process, which includes:

• When and why you should and should not use global de-saturation.
• When and why you should and should not use LAB conversions.
• Split Channel conversions -  what they are good for and a way to get the same effect with a file two thirds the size.
• When to use the Black and White adjustment layer to bring out and separate the tones in a color image.
• The only soup to nuts overview of the Silver Efex Plug-in. How to use it and when.
• Multiple Channel mixer black and white conversions that replicate the physics of film.
• What is “Faux-infrared” and a look at how to convert files to black and white from digital cameras that have been modified to shoot Infrared.
• When and how to most efficiently use the Gradient tool for black and white conversion.
• Mid-tone Contouring
• Combining multiple conversion techniques to get the optimum black and white image.

He’s also got another DVD about to release as well, called; “The Lazarus Effect: Raising the Dead Pixels in the Mist and In Blur to Focus. Here’s how he describes it:

This four DVD tutorial is for anyone who has ever taken an image in which the focus was a wee bit “off.” Maybe you tried to photograph a waterfall and, regardless of your exposure and how carefully you set up your tripod and camera, the focus was a little too soft, or perhaps you have images that you know were in focus when you shot it them, but because of the type of sensor or the way the RAW file was processed, the sharpness you knew the lens could deliver is missing in the images on the screen.

This DVD not only teaches you how to bring detail back from both landscape (Pixels in the Mist) and portrait images (From Blur to In Focus), it also presents a new way of thinking about your images as well as a new approach to seeing and creating.

Vinny has extended his special pre-order offer of $59.95 for either DVD to readers of my blog until July 22nd (the DVD’s are scheduled to ship on July 15th). Here’s the link with all the details.

Another Cool Video From Last Year’s Photo Walk
We’ll wrap things up with a video taken during last year’s Photo Walk in Hollywood, California as part of my world wide photo walk last year.

Hope you all have a great Thursday, and just remember; there’s a 50/50 chance I won’t be blogging tomorrow because I’m on a topical island and just flat out don’t feel like blogging. Hey, it could happen.