Earlier this week I got my hands on the latest version of one of my favorite plug-ins, Topaz Adjust, which now sports a clean, new very, very, very Lightroom-like interface. In fact, if you use Lightroom plug-in version of Topaz Adjust 4, you might not even realize you’ve left Lightroom, as the layout is so similar. That’s not a criticism—you open it and you immediately know how to get around, and how things will work, and that’s not a bad thing. [Photo above by Stephen Gober].

I use the Topaz Adjust 3 plug-in quite a bit, and this upgrade (which is free to existing customers, which is awesome) is a big step in the right direction. Here’s what the gang at Topaz says is new 4:

…includes many new presets, the ability to handle larger images, a new user interface, faster noise reduction, and greater stability.

So far, I agree with everything, except on my machine the stability part isn’t 100% there yet, as it does occasionally crash, but I imagine a bug fix will be on the way soon.

But there are these two little things….
I do love the new interface—-a huge improvement over the old one, but there are two little things that are driving me a little crazy (but, of course, these may just bother me—you may not bat an eye), but to me it seems like they stuck the “OK” button in the wrong place. Instead of putting it in the bottom right hand corner of the window (where everything from phone numbers in print ads to OK buttons usually wind up, simply because that’s where we’ve all be trained to look for them since just after birth), instead it appears below the center preview window.

So, when I’m done editing I keep going over to click where OK should be, but instead it says “I feel lucky.” At that moment, I don’t feel lucky. But that’s not the weirdest thing. When you launch the plug-in from Photoshop’s filter menu, the dialog you see below appears:

OK, so, ‘Why?” I just chose Topaz Adjust 4 from the Filter menu in Photoshop, so I was pretty sure the next thing that would appear was the Topaz plug-in. I’m not sure it’s necessary to reinforce that. Secondly, it goes on to tell the user that when you’re done with filter click OK or Cancel. If my teenage son read that, he’d say “Duh!”

Those two minor things aside, this is a big step ahead for Topaz in refining and expanding their plug-ins. While I can nit pick some of this little stuff (both of which really just make me kind of chuckle), you can’t argue with the quality it produces; the ease of how it does it’s thing, and the incredible value for the price if you’re buying the plug-in for the first time (and of course, if you’re already a registered user, the upgrade is free).

Here’s a link for more details on the new Topaz Adjust 4.

UPDATE: I just got word from Larry Becker (NAPP’s Executive Director) that NAPP members get 25% off Topaz plug-ins (check the member web site for details).

Hey gang—that’s right—it’s back. I’ve snagged another deal on the amazing Drobo (the same units I use to back up my entire photo library). Here’s the scoop:

The deal is on the Drobo S & DroboPro (pictured above) models. People who buy during the “This Weekend Only Deal” (which ends Sunday at Midnight EST) and use “KELBY” as the special discount code, will get what the folks at Drobo have told me are “…the lowest prices we’ve ever offered on these products…. ever. But only for the weekend.”

Drobo S
Deduct $100 off of these redlined prices
http://bit.ly/1biNq2

DroboPro
Deduct $250 off of these redlined prices
http://bit.ly/CHDd

So, they are offering a deal to the public, but then this deal is on top of that. Pretty sweet! If you’re not familiar with Drobo yet, and why just about every pro photographer I know has at least one (I have three), watch these short videos on the Datarobotics Web site.

OK, there is a slight distinction in the headline you see above from my normal football game coverage—I didn’t say “shooting from the sidelines.” This time, I actually shot from up in the stands, because I didn’t have sidelines credential.

Now, if you’re wondering how I got some “big glass” into the game, here’s the trick. The NFL has a rule that a spectator can’t bring a lens that’s more than 6 inches long (15.25 cm) into the stadium, and they measure the length as you come through the security. So, I measured my beloved Nikon 70-300mm f/3.5 – f/5.6 VR lens, and it measures (without the lens hood, and attached to a camera body), about 5-3/4″—just under the wire, so they let me in with it.

I shot with a D700, so to get even closer (I was a ways back from the field), I used the DX crop, so although it got me in much closer than I would set at full frame, it does crop your image down to 6 megapixels.

Our seats (I went with my brother-in-law), were right on the goal line, so when the action was down on our end of the field, we both took some shots, but when they went past the 50-yard-line in the opposite direction, we pretty much just put down our cameras and watched the game.

The half-time show was absolutely amazing to see in person (and especially seeing them build that huge stage and lightshow in less than 6 minutes). The Who sounded just fantastic in person (much better than I expected), and the stage looked so cool I had to snap a few shots of them, too (but again, I didn’t really have the right access or the right lens, but it was fun shooting them anyway).

Although I didn’t get a sidelines pass, as I was walking into the Stadium, I ran into my buddy Jeff Snyder from Adorama, who had sideline media credentials, along with his son (who was shooting his 9th Super Bowl). You can check out his blog about shooting Super Bowl week right here.

As I write this, I’m back in my hotel room in Miami (heading back home first thing in the morning), and I really had a blast. A good friend hooked me up with the tickets, and we hung out with him and his family during the game, and just had an amazing time (plus the Saints won, and as an NFC guy, with a few buddies as die-hard Saints fans too, I had to root for New Orleans, but honestly, I thought the Colts would take it. Glad they didn’t though!).

Saw lots of celebrities at a party before the game (Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Harry Connick, Jr. [he's told me he's been using Photoshop since version 1.0], Jerry Rice, LL Cool J, Hillary Swank, and we saw Brad Pitt and John Travolta a little later).

What a fun day. I know, I know—the fun’s over—now back to work.

Last Friday I was sick. This Friday (today) I feel great, so instead I’m calling in lame ’cause I’ve just got nuthin’.

I’m in my hotel room in Dallas, and I’ve been preparing for my seminar tomorrow, and it’s really late, and although I have some things I want to talk about, none of them are short and sweet, so unfortunately, I’m having to “call in lame” for the blog today.

If I can remember, I’ll get an iPhone photo or two from the seminar here and post them, but it’s kinda hectic seminar day, so I’m not sure if I’ll remember (I have the memory retention of a hamster). ‘Big Daddy Don Page’ will be at the seminar, along with Austin Mann (we all grabbed a bite last night), so maybe I’ll get them to stop moving long enough to snap a photo.

Anyway, have a great weekend everybody, and we’ll see you back here on Monday. 

> Learn Concert Photography Live at Photoshop World
One of the coolest pre-conference workshops we’ve ever held during the Photoshop World Conference is the Real World Concert Photography workshop, taught by two pro-concert photographers, and kick-butt instructors: Alan Hess and Scott Diussa.

This workshop was a huge hit back in Vegas—-so much so that we’re bringing it back for Orlando (on March 23rd), but it’s limited to just 40 participants (the photo above was taken during  the workshop in Vegas, during the “Live Shoot” portion of the class) where you get to practice shooting with a live band.

For more info, or to sign up, click right here.

> 50 Free Fonts (this is not a scam)
Braddo (my knickname for Brad Moore), turned me on to this site that has links to 50 actually fairly cool fonts. I went there myself and snagged half a dozen or so, and I have to tell you—-there’s some totally great stuff there. Here’s the link.

> My Dallas “Photoshop for Photographers” Seminar will be sold out later today
It actually had sold out last week, but we were able to expand the room so now we can accommodate the nearly 700 photographers who’ll be joining me there on Friday. As of this morning, we have just a handful of seats left, and we’ll be sold out by tonight, so if you’re thinking of going, you can grab one of those remaining seats right here. (If you read this blog, make sure you come up and say “hi.”).

> Have you Entered Adorama’s Ultimate iPhone Photo Contest Yet?
They have so many prizes that if you don’t win something, you’re just not tryin’. Here’s the link with all the details.

> This is just a really cool song
This has nothing to do with Photoshop, and I’m not quite certain how I even came across this song, but it’s really cool. It’s by the band “Porcupine Tree” and the song is called “The Sound of Muzak.” Here’s a link to the song on iTunes, so you can hear a free 30-second preview. Give it a listen and see what you think (by the way—the recording quality is great).

> Apple’s Tablet on Wednesday?
Apple will be announcing something on Wednesday (hopefully, it will be the rumored tablet, or Apple’s stock will drop down to like $3), which is my guest blog day, so I won’t have a post here until Thursday. However, if my head explodes with excitement (which I feel is likely), I’ll be sharing my total freak out over on twitter at http://twitter.com/ScottKelby

> That’s it for today!
Hey, thanks to everybody who wished me well during my sick-day on Friday. I feel much better now, and I’m back to work (well, back to writing a book, and the occasional stop by the office to tape a show or do a meeting). Hope you guys have a really great Tuesday!

A great photography project to raise funds to help Haiti

A week from this Friday in Dallas. You. Me. And 500 or so of your friends.
There are less than 50 seats left for my Dallas “Photoshop For Digital Photographers” one-day workshop, so if you’re planning on going, I’d snag a seat now before it’s too late. Here’s the link.

BestAppSite.com announces their 2009 “Reader’s Choice Awards” for the top 50 iPhone Apps
There are some juicy ones in there (and check out what’s at #2). Here’s the link.

Wanna see some cool photography?
NAPP member Bill Reichardt has some really wild stuff in his NAPP online portfolio (wild in a good way), and if you’ve got a second—it’s totally worth checking him out. Here’s the link. Way to go, Bill!

That’s it for this one folks
Hope you all have a kick-butt Tuesday!

This is a great, quick way to make a real difference today. Click the banner for all the details, but they need our help in such a big way, and the Red Cross are the people to bring that help, but they can’t do it without us.

Here’s a direct link.

Before we get started, how about a big round of applause for Laura Heald, assistant to Bill Frakes and my awesome Guest Blogger yesterday. I totally dug her post (and so did a lot of other folks), and I particularly like her writing style. Very engaging! Thanks Laura (you’ve got an amazing job, and a 2nd career as a writer, too!)!!! Now, onto the news:

Share your favorite iPhone App: Maybe snag a $50 iTunes Gift Card
My buddy Terry White is running a very cool, simple, fun contest over at his new site, “BestAppSite.com” and all you do is share what you favorite iPhone App is, and you’re registered to win a $50 iTunes Gift Card. Easy enough (here’s the link).

Giving RC the Love (and tales of his midnight tweak)
My buddy RC Concepcion was listening when you guys pointed out the Arrow/Direction problem in new Portfolio design (link) and son-of-a-gun if he didn’t go in there and tweak the code so now it moves in the direction you guys felt it should. I also just wanted to thank RC Concepcion, and give him some love, not only for his helpful Q&A Tuesday about the new portfolio design, but for helping so many commentators with their questions as well. It’s an RC love fest (but a well-deserved one). Thanks RC and I agree with everybody else—you rock! (and I can’t wait for your class either!).

Dallas, Texas here I come!
I have nearly 400 photographers already signed up for my “Photoshop for Digital Photographers” workshop there on Friday, January 29th, so don’t miss out on all the learning and fun. Here’s the link—-come and hang out with me for the day—I promise to make it worth your while.

Oklahoma City, here comes Corey Barker!
Photoshop super genius guy Corey Barker is taking our “Photoshop Down & Dirty Tricks” tour to Oklahoma City on Wednesday, January 27th (it’s just a few weeks away). If you’re out that way, and into Photoshop, you gotta check this day you—he will blow you mind (and you’ll learn so much your head will hurt). NAPP members go just $79, everybody else is $99. Here’s the link.

The Amazing Photography of Mark Zibert
Mark first caught my eye with his incredible series of ads he did for Adidas, and then Brad Moore sent me his link again this week, and I checked out his stuff once more, and just wow. What a combination of photography and Photoshop skills. Go check out his work if you have a quick sec (His Adidas stuff is there too). Totally cool stuff (here’s the link).

The First Blog Review of my Photo Recipes Live DVD/Book Combo is out
Although my new Photo Recipes Live: Behind the Scenes DVD/Book combo just came out last week, the blog “World Through a Camera Lens” has posted the first in-depth review. Here’s the link.

NOTE: I just got word that Amazon.com now has the Photo Recipes combo back in stock, ready for immediate shipping. Here’s the link.

Thanks it for today everybody!
I’m staying home today and working on a new book (if I go into the office, I’ll just sucked into an endless vortex of meetings), so while it’s unlikely that I’ll have a kick butt day, I sure hope you do!

Guys—-we raised nearly $2,500 with this raffle (link), of which 100% goes directly to the Springs of Hope Orphanage in Kenya to feed, clothe and care for this wonderful kids.

And the winner (chosen at random) of my “Signed by the Photoshop Guys” Signature Series Schecter Diamond Series Electric Guitar (including the display case, signed photo, and iStockPhoto guitar pick) is:

Ken Toney
of Fairforest, South Carolina

Congratulations to Ken, and to everybody who donated and invested in the lives of these children. This is a great way to start the year!

I’m up in Boston for the kick-off of my new one-day workshop called “Photoshop For Digital Photographers,” but while I’m teaching today, I wanted to give you guys a quick highlights/wrap-up of the Photo Plus Expo which wrapped up on Saturday in New York. (The photo above [click for much larger view]  was taken during my Saturday presentation at Nikon’s main stage—-photo by Rafael “RC” Concepcion).

The Buzz
The big buzz was about digital video on DSLRs, and editing that video. I saw a number of vendors selling different mounts and stedicam-like brackets for getting smooth hand-held HD video from DSLRs, and everybody was talking video (which is weird for a photo tradeshow). Lightroom 3 was getting some buzz, but since Adobe wasn’t exhibiting, a lot of the buzz was “Where’s Adobe?” Nikon’s D3s and Canon’s 7D were both getting a lot of buzz, too. I saw lots of booths from companies offering: (a) online portfolios (b) printed photo and wedding books (c) printing on different mediums (metal, aluminum, etc).

The Attendance
I have no idea what the official attendance number was, but the show seemed very crowded the entire time, and the aisles were always busy. We had a NAPP booth at the show, and had one of our best shows in years, and every vendor I talked with seemed really upbeat and busy, and that’s a good thing.

Cool Stuff I Saw
JVC had a 3D television (you had to wear 3D glasses), that was really cool. I went by Think Tank Photo’s booth three times to try and finally meet someone from Think Tank in person, but it was so crazy in their booth, you couldn’t move. You’d think they were handing out $20 bills (that’s their booth above–photo by Rafael). Moo.com was there with their photo business cards (where you can get up to 50 cards business cards, each with a different photo), and it seems like I’m the last one on earth to have heard about them, because everybody had Moo.com cards already. Olympus had a pretty cool almost-point-and-shoot camera called the Pen that people were talking about. Nikon had a packed house for their Capture NX 2 theater, and their booth was a mob-scene morning til night. Nik Software had ‘em wall to wall checking out Viveza 2 (totally amazing) in their theater, and I saw quite a few microstock companies there as well.

Awesome Demos
Matt Kloskowski and I both did demos over at the Elinchrom booth (that’s Matt seen during his demo in the “taken with my iPhone” photo above). Jim Smelzer was pulling a huge crowd for three solid days for his lighting demos in the Westcott booth, and people were eating his stuff up (that’s Jim holding the softbox above).

Also, UK-based fashion photographer Mark Cleghorn was doing live lighting demos at the Lastolite booth and he had ‘em packed in. I just caught the end of a demo at the Asukabook booth, but they had a bride and groom in the booth, with a photographer giving posing tips, and what I saw was really interesting. Saw a great presentation from Tyler Stableford at the Canon booth, who had some incredible adventure sports photography and portraits (here’s his site), and I saw Douglas Kirkland doing a fashion lighting demo for Canon that was very interesting and entertaining. Also saw a great presentation from celebrity photographer Jerry Aveniam at the Lexar media booth. There were so many great presentations all over—I wish I had more time to check them out. (That’s my brother Jeff and Dave Loebig in the NAPP booth in the photo below—-photo by Rafael)

Conference Sessions
I got to attend three workshops on the conference track; two of which were absolutely fantastic. The first was from wedding photographer Cliff Mautner, and Matt and I both caught his class and we were blown away. This guy is the real deal—incredible photographer and teacher. I learned a bunch (he does live workshops—here’s the link). I also caught a Sport Photography workshop given by Sports Illustrated’s Peter Read Miller and it was just absolutely fantastic!!!! He was very informative; gave very specific information, and I took loads of notes the whole time. He was very gracious and humble, (especially for a living legend of sports photography), and I learned a lot. Really, one of the highlights of the whole trip for me.

(Above. Softboxes. Mmmm!). There was one workshop Matt and I were really disappointed in, because the instructor didn’t teach anything—he just showed slides and talked about himself (and how much smarter he was than the art directors, and the clients, and well…everybody). Matt and I eventually walked about after about an hour and a half. Outside of that—-it was great!!! I also saw Julieanne Kost teaching Lightroom. I was only in the classroom about 10 minutes and sure enough—I learned something I didn’t know. Dang, she’s good! (That’s Bogen Product Manager Mark Astmann below, showing off my beloved Ranger Quadra. Mmmmm. Quadra. Photo by Rafael).

Good Friends and Good Fun
One of my favorite parts of PPE is seeing so many friends and making new ones. I saw a lot of my Photoshop World buddies, like Joe McNally, Vincent Versace, Jack Reznicki, Kevin Ames, Steve Inglima, and of course Matty K, and Dave Cross (by the way—Matt few home Friday night to compete in a Martial Arts tournament on Saturday, and he wound up taking 1st place in Sparring and 2nd place in Forms. Congrats Matt!!!). Scott, Ted, and Sara Jane from Peachpit were there, too. My wonderful older brother Jeff was there and we got to hang out a little, which is always awesome.

I also talked sports photographers Matt Lange and Don Page (the guys I shot the Louisiana Tech game with last week), into coming to New York for PPE, and we hung out the whole show and I introduced them to “the gang” who took them in like they were old friends. Both are really great guys, and I think they made a lot of new friends, too (Don, RC, and Brad wound up hanging out one night at Joey L’s house until way late along with Jeremy Cowart, Dustin Snipes, and company—-Matt Lange had to get back to shoot the LSU game on Saturday).

Kudo’s to Anthony Bourdain!
The night before Photoshop World last month, my buddy Rod Harlan and I stayed up watching the Travel Channel show “Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations” and he did a show called “Disappearing Manhattan” based on all these amazing restaurants that have been around “forever” and are one of kind places, with amazing histories and food to match (which is why they’re still around). I had already been to one of the places he profiled on the show (Katz’s Deli), but I got to two more from his list. “Keen’s Chophouse” (just amazing steaks and atmosphere), and Mangenaro’s Italian Foods and Restaurant (which I totally loved), shown in the iPhone photo above.

Also, my wife told me about a place she read about called “Pop Burger” and RC and I had to check it out after the show closed (that’s RC at Pop-burger above in another “iPhone photo.”).

Thanks, You Guys!
My humble thanks to everybody who came by to catch my presentations at Nikon’s booth, or at the Elinchrom booth, or who caught my panel appearance in Jack Hollingsworth’s session on Social Media for photographers. Also, thanks to Andrew, Mike & Mike, Ed, Joe, Bill, Scott, Mr. Fortney, Annie, and everybody at Nikon who were just absolutely wonderful to me. It truly was an honor to speak for you guys. (The photo above is something I never thought I’d see—-one of my prints [the football player] hanging in the Nikon booth. For me, that was really a thrill. Photo by Rafael). Also, thanks to the Photo Plus crew for hosting such a great show. Can’t wait till next year!

Here’s my Expo Floor Training Schedule for the PPE show in New York this week:

Thursday
10:15 am – I’ll be doing a live presentation about my photography called “The Power of Color” for Nikon at their Expo theater in the Nikon booth

11:00 am – Special presentation with Matt Kloskowski at the Nik Software Booth

2:00 pm – Behind-the-Scenes with Elinchrom Lighting (at the Bogen Imaging Booth).

Friday
1:15 pm – My “Power of Color” presentation in the Nikon Booth

Saturday
3:15 pm – My “Power of Color” presentation in the Nikon Booth

All these presentations are free and open to anyone with an Expo pass (here’s the link), so if you’re there this week, I’d love to meet you and say “hi.” Hope to see you there!