Photoshop Insider

I wanted to share an interesting story with you that happened to my brother Jeff while we were in Italy. We were in Genoa one day, and he and his girlfriend had been out doing the tourist thing, and at the end of the day they stopped into a large grocery store to get some Diet Cokes (called “Coke Light” in Italy) to take back to the hotel room.

As they were walking around, Jeff saw some interesting looking produce and pulled out his Canon G-9 Point-and-Shoot and took a few pictures. Within a few minutes a man came up dressed in plain clothes, flashed a badge, and told him he couldn’t take photos in the store. My brother said “no problem” (after all, it’s a private store, right?), but then the guy demanded my brother’s memory card.

My brother gave him that “Are you outta your mind” look and said, “No way!” Can you guess what happened next? The guy simply shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

My brother saw him in the store a little later, and the guy had a bag and was shopping. My brother made eye contact with him, and the guy turned away as though he didn’t want Jeff looking at him. Jeff feels like this wasn’t “official store security,” but instead some guy collecting (and then reselling) memory cards from unsuspecting tourists (many of whom might have just surrendered that card immediately).

Anyway, he kept his card, and the shots, and luckily that was the end of it. Have any of you heard of anything along these lines? I’d just be interested to know.

If you’ve been reading this blog for the past month or so, you’ve read my posts about photographers being harassed when shooting in public, and a lot of readers have chimed in with comments about what we can and can’t shoot, what our rights as photographers are and aren’t, our interpretations of copyright law, and so on. There’s just one problem; we’re not attorneys.

So, I contacted New York-based Intellectual Property Attorney Ed Greenberg, who’s a published author on the topic, and who has been dealing with photography copyright, contract, and creative rights issues for over 30 years, to finally get the straight no-nonsense scoop on all this.

Ed is absolutely brilliant; he communicates in Plain English (and with a great sense of humor as well), and he cuts through the bull and gets right to the point (which is why we now have Ed, and photography rights advocate Jack Reznicki, co-host a legal session for photographers at Photoshop World).

I had Ed as a call-in guest for next week’s episode of Photoshop User TV where I asked Ed to debunk some of the most widely held myths of copyright, model releases and shooting in public (the same topics we’ve been discussing here on the blog). Below are two video clips of the interview from next week’s show, approximately 10-minutes each, which represent some of the best, and most important information we’ve ever delivered in the history of the program.

The two clips, Part I and Part II, will air on next Monday’s show, but I wanted to run the interview here now, because I think you’ll find it as eye-opening, surprising, revealing, and as incredibly valuable as I did. This interview can change the way you work and protect your images in a very profound way, and that’s why I wanted to run it today, and during this entire fourth of July weekend, so you’d have a chance to really give it your undivided attention.

My thanks to Ed for being so gracious as to share his time and expertise with my readers here on the blog. I really hope you find this helpful. Also, thanks to my buddy Terry White, who came up with the idea to go straight to the source and really get to the heart of this matter.

Click the videos below (start with the top video Part I), to watch each interview.

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PART ONE:

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PART TWO:

Again, my humble thanks to Ed for his time and insights, and if you’re going to Photoshop World Las Vegas this September, make sure you catch his and Jack’s full hour-long, eye-opening class.

Seriously, I have cooked up something very, very cool for us to do together, and you are SO going to want to be a part of it.

Although I can’t spill the beans until later this month, I wanted to give you a heads up now to mark your calendar to spend Saturday, August 23rd with me (Trust me; you’re gonna love it!)

Remember; on August 23rd—-it’s you and me—doing something you’re totally going to be into, so try and keep that day open. More details soon!

First, a big thanks to Senior Photoshop Product Manager John Nack for his Special Guest Blog yesterday, which resounded with so many of my readers. It was an honor to have John sharing his insights and perspective, and a point of view we don’t often get to hear. Now, onto some quick news stuff:

• Joe McNally has a great post on his blog about the new Nikon SB-900 Flash, and you’ve got to check it out (here’s the link). Also, Bob Krist does a great interview with Joe about travel photography in the June issue of Outdoor Photographer magazine (click here to read it online).
• Two new Online Classes have gone up at KelbyTraining.com; Part III of Dan Margulis’ Picture Postcard Workflow (here’s the link), and a new class from Rick Sammon about On Location Photography (here’s that link).
• Next week, on Photoshop User TV, we got a BIG giveaway; we’re giving some lucky viewer a complete Westcott Spiderlite “Scott Kelby Studio Kit” (including 2 TD-5 Spiderlites, two softboxes, a pop-up reversible background, and two lightstands. Watch this coming Monday’s show for details on how to enter (you can watch the show right on the site–click the Photoshop User TV link above).
• Our buddy, and Photoshop World instructor, Deke McClelland did a very clever thing that can only be described as a Photoshop Music Video, where he packs literally 101 Photoshop keyboard shortcuts into just five minutes (and better yet—he raps). It’s classic Deke, and here’s the link.
• The popular Mac web site, “The Mac Observer” did a review of my new book, “The Mac OS X Leopard Book,” and you can read it right here (spoiler; they gave it a five-star rating).
• NAPP’s Executive Director, Larry Becker, is featured interviewed on Mac Edition Radio, and you can listen in by clicking here.

That’s it for today. Have a kick-butt Thursday, and we’ll see ya tomorrow!

Huge news: My best buddy Dave Moser and his wife Lisa just delivered twin girls!!!!!!

I’m blogging this from the hospital waiting room, and my buddy is so thrilled, relieved, exhausted and overjoyed! The girls were four weeks early, but they’re doing GREAT!!! Thanks to everybody who sent their prayers Dave and Lisa’s way!!!

As soon as I get some photos, I’ll post ‘em here. Congrats to Dave and Lisa, and a big welcome to Katherine and Elizabeth, (who I’m sure will both soon have MacBook Airs and the Creative Suite).

Whoo Hoo!!!!

Nikon just announced the Nikon D700 DSLR: a brand new, full-frame FX format 12-megapixel camera (shipping near the end of this month for around $3,000), along with a new flagship for the Nikon Creative Lighting System: the Nikon SB-900 Flash (available July 25, 2008 for around $500).

The BUZZ on the D700: The outside still looks like the D300, but supposedly the inside is said to pretty much be that of a Nikon D3 (with a CMOS sensor and extremely low noise), but with some additional features not found on the D3. Unlike the D3, it comes with a built-in pop-up flash. It seems like it’s a D3 in a modified D300 body (RobGalbraith.com wrote, “Pictures shot with the D3 and D700 are expected to look the same in every respect.”)

The BUZZ on the SB-900: Faster recycle time, more powerful, better software, larger LCD window, and my favorite; a simple switch on the back for going from Master to Remote for wireless use. It automatically senses whether you’re using a DX or FX format camera, and adjusts accordingly. It’s extended zoom range auto-zooms from 18-200mm, and it features the ability to have its firmware updated via user uploads.

For the full scoop visit either:

• Nikon-USA (D700 link; SB-900 link)
• RobGalbraith.com (D700 or SB-900)
• DPReview.com (D700 or SB-900)

>> Download Nikon’s 24-page Brochure on the D700 here (PDF).
>> Download Nikon’s Spec Sheet on the SB-900 Flash here (PDF)

I can’t wait to get my hands on that flash, baby!!!!

Mark Allen, one of my blog readers, posted this comment yesterday:

“I’ve used your books over the years in a number of projects. One thing I’ve always wanted to learn to do was take some good photos of fireworks. I used your method in The Digital Photography Book last night and got some great ones. Wow! With the right technique, it was easy!”

So, I thought with the Fourth of July coming up this week, I’d do a quick post on how to shoot Fireworks (well, how to photograph fireworks, anyway). So today I’m posting the technique, directly from page 175 in my book. Thanks to Mark for the comment (saying nice things like that is a surefire way to get my attention, by the way), and for inspiring this post today. Here we go:

This is another one that throws a lot of people (one of my best friends, who didn’t get a single crisp fireworks shot on the Fourth of July, made me including this tip just for him, and the thousands of other digital shooter that share his pain).

For starters, you’ll need to shoot fireworks with your camera on a tripod, because you’re going to need a slow enough shutter speed to capture the falling light trails, which is what you’re really after.

Also, this is where using a cable release really pays off, because you’ll need to see the rocket’s trajectory to know when to push the shutter button—if you’re looking in the viewfinder instead, it will be more of a hit or miss proposition.

Next, use a zoom lens (ideally a 200mm or more) so you can get in tight and capture just the fireworks themselves. If you want fireworks and the background (like fireworks over Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World), then use a wider lens.

Now, I recommend shooting in full Manual mode, because you just set two settings and you’re good to go:

1. Set the Shutter Speed to 4 seconds
2. Set the Aperture to f/11. Fire a test shot and look at the LCD monitor on the back of your camera to see if you like the results. If it overexposes, lower the shutter speed to 3 seconds, then take another shot and check the results again.

TIP: If your camera has “Bulb” mode (where the shutter stays open as long as you hold down the shutter release button down), this works great–hold the shutter button down when the rocket bursts, then release when the light trails start to fade. (By the way; most Canon and Nikon digital SLRs have bulb mode). The rest is timing—because now you’ve got the exposure and sharpness covered.

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There you have it—-hope you all get some great shots!

….Adobe Photoshop Senior Product Manager, John Nack.

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I’m a big fan of John’s official Adobe blog (it’s called “John Nack on Adobe.” Here’s the link), because it gives us all a “peek behind the curtain” and his insights and comments really give you look into the mind of Adobe.

Besides his comments on all things Adobe, John digs up some of the most unique, fascinating, often funny, and just downright interesting sites and articles (and he blogs at least five-days-a week), and its won him a legion of devoted readers.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with John on a number of things over the years, and I can tell you this; he’s exactly the kind of person you would hope would be a Product Manager at Adobe. He’s really a brilliant, articulate, hilarious, and extremely talented guy, and it’s truly an honor to have him here tomorrow as my guest blogger, so make sure you stop by and check out his post.

Over 2,500 of you voted on Friday’s survey. Here are the top 10 results, in order by popularity:

Interesting stuff to note:

• You didn’t ask for wild new features, and stuff Photoshop can’t already do; instead you just asked for improvements to things Photoshop can already do.
• A lot of things you asked for, can already be done in Photoshop, but only through workarounds. For example, you can apply Shadow/Highlight as a Smart Filter (after you convert your layer to a Smart Layer), but obviously that’s not what we want; we want it as a real Adjustment layer.

  Same thing for wanting Filters to be applied as Adjustment Layers. Smart Filters offer the same basic functionality as an Adjustment layer (it comes with a layer mask, it’s fully editable after the fact, you can change the blend mode and opacity, you can save your Smart Filter layers in a layered Photoshop document, and you can delete your Smart Filter layers any time—all traits of an Adjustment layer), but obviously; that’s not what we want. We want to apply filters as a simple Adjustment layer without converting it to a Smart Layer first.

  Also, you can certainly apply watermarks in Photoshop, and you can even create an action that will do it for you—but that’s not what we want. We want a dedicated Watermarking feature.

• Seeing a quick before/after (like Lightroom lets you do) was one of the top 3 most requested features. Again, you could do this, in most cases, by going to the History palette—but that’s not what we want. We want a simple before/after keyboard shortcut, or button, etc.
• Overall, speed isn’t an issue—even having Photoshop launch faster wound up near the bottom of the list.
• Better noise reduction is the #1 feature request (but of course, this is skewed by my audience, which is skewed toward photographers).
• Just a reminder: Remember my original premise: Adobe could add 50 or even 100 other features as well, but in this “feature dreamland” they’d have to include your top 10 (as shown above) in the next release. Then, after a while another version of Photoshop would come out, and then you’d get to vote again, and they’d have to include your next top 10. I know–the mind reels.

Last night I forwarded your Top 10 to a list of people at Adobe, including Photoshop product managers, engineers, etc. Hey, ya never know.

My personal thanks to everyone who participated in this survey, and for sharing such great ideas with me, my readers, and Adobe.

I had so many questions and requests to show how I made those calendar layouts last week using photos from my vacation to Italy, that I’m going to give you a step-by-step on how it was done (and how to make your own).

Now, before I go any further; most of this was done using Apple’s iPhoto application (which comes free with every Mac), and it’s absolutely brilliant for stuff like this. If you’re using a Windows PC, then later in the week I’ll have a separate tutorial on how to achieve a similar look in Photoshop (but it takes a bit more work).

STEP ONE: Import your photos into Apple’s iPhoto application, then create an Album (similar to a collection in Lightroom, or a Playlist in iTunes) by clicking on the + (plus sign) icon in the bottom left corner of the iPhoto window. Name your Album, then drag your newly imported photos into this album. Once your photos are in their own Album (seen above—click for a larger image), click the Calendar button in the toolbar at the bottom of the window (as shown above).

STEP TWO: This brings up the Calendar window (shown above) where you choose which theme you want for your calendar from the list of themes on the left side. I choose the Classic Theme (as seen above), and it shows you a preview of how that style of calendar looks in the main part of the window. Once you’ve chosen Classic, click the Choose button. (more…)