Photoshop Insider

I took a few days off this week to go shooting with my buddies Jeff Revell and Dave Moser, and over the course of these past three days we covered over 1,200 miles, I took over 1,000 shots, we saw some amazing places and just generally had a blast. (I took the shots shown above [except for the one of me, of course, which was taken by Jeff Revell] at “The Wave” outside Page, Arizona [click on them for larger views]—it took a six-mile hike over rough terrain and hills in 112 degree heat to get there and back….but it was worth it!)

I’ll be posting more images tomorrow and on into next week, plus I took some new gear and I’ll be giving you field reports as well on: The Canon 5D (I shot with all Canon gear the entire trip on loan from our friends at Canon), and I took some Sigma Lenses as well, plus I put the Gitzo Traveler Tripod and Really Right Stuff BH-40 Ballhead through “Hell Week” and I’ll have reports on them as well. I made good use of the Hoodman Loupe (you can see it around my neck, as well as some Lee Neutral Density Gradient filters), and I totally abused a LowePro Camera Backpack, an Epson P-5000 Storage Unit, and both Jeff and Dave (who are great sports, great shooters, and good friends).

Besides “The Wave,” we shot at Monument Valley, The Grand Canyon, and The Antelope Canyon Slots. Really an amazing, tiring, hilarious, and often inspiring time without a decent cell phone signal or Internet connection to be found (thanks for all your patience with “No Blog Wednesday.”)

Now, onto some news!!! (Scroll down to the next two posts).

On Tuesday I mentioned some of Ben Willmore’s upcoming workshops, and besides Ben’s, there are some very cool Photoshop and photography workshops coming up that I thought you want to know about, too. Here’s what I know so far:

• The amazing Vincent Versace is taking a second trip with the Palm Beach Photographic Workshops to Myanmar from October 10-25, 2007. The trip is broken up two ways; From October 10 to 19 (all travel days included), or the full trip is October 10 returning home on the 25. Vincent has said that his last trip to Myanmar was “the most wonderful photographic experience I have ever had.”) They still have a few openings left, so if you’re interested in taking a photographic workshop with Vincent, click this link. You will have the experience of a lifetime!
• The Santa Fe Workshops (producers of absolutely brilliant photographic and digital imaging workshops), has got something very special coming up: An Australian Photographic Journey, featuring Jerry and Julie Courvoisier (you can also catch Jerry teaching at Photoshop World this year). If you’ve got a sec, check out this page with all the info (and some imagery) from this extraordinary photographic learning opportunity.
• Randy Hufford is teaching a special condensed version of his Santa Fe Workshops class at Photoshop World, and you can check out some images from his recent Santa Fe class by clicking here.
• Dave Cross, Moose Peterson, Matt Kloskowski, and Laurie Excell are teaching on next year’s Picture Perfect Hawaii Photoshop and Digital Photography Cruise (August 9th-16th, 2008). Check out the details here (and while you’re there, enter their “Win a Free Cruise” contest.

At the upcoming Photoshop World Conference & Expo, Adobe (and Adobe’s own Russell Preston Brown) will have a special booth setup to capture 3D head, and face scans of conference attendees which they can manipulate inside of Photoshop CS3 Extended.

But wait! – There’s more! Then, you take your 3D head/face scans to the Adobe printing station (also in the booth), and you can make your own personalized 3D pillow. That’s right, a pillow with your face printed on the surface! (as seen in the image above—click for a larger version).

Here’s how it all works: each day, when the Expo opens, just come to the Adobe scanning booth (Booth #620), to pick up a special pass that will indicate your time slot for when to come back and get scanned (the number of passes are limited, but when Adobe runs out of passes, you can also wait in line at the booth for any available openings.). If you don’t want to wait in line, simply purchase a copy of Photoshop CS3 Extended at the Tech Expo, bring it to the booth, and you’ll be escorted to the front of the line.

If you haven’t registered for Photoshop World Las Vegas (Sept 6-8, 2007), it’s not too late (it’s almost too late, but not quite), then click right here.

Hi Everybody:

Sorry there’s no news today—I’m on the road and have been without Internet access all day (except for now, of course, but it’s too late), so check back tomorrow to experience all the full wholesome goodness that only can only be delivered on a Thursday News Update. That’s it for “No Blog Wednesday.”

Take care,

-Scott

I’m a big fan of my buddy Matt Kloskowski’s “Lightroom Killer Tips” blog podcast for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it’s the most frequently updated Lightroom site out there. But besides the fact that it’s so regularly updated, Matt also adds his own tips and tricks to the site each week, along with any interesting news or links (including links to some really cool photography) he comes across.

Of course, beyond all that—each week Matt posts a video tutorial (which you can watch right on the site–or download it to your iPod via Apple’s iTunes for Mac or PC). Anyway, if you haven’t checked out Matt’s blog, it absolutely is one of those daily “must-visit” blogs, so—here’ the link.

Here’s what’s goin’ on:

• Ben Willmore, who’s the featured instructor at NAPP’s “Photoshop for Photographer’s Tour” has a number of very cool workshops coming up. Here’s where Ben will be next:

• Photoshop Creative Explorations,
  Oct 1-6, Maui, HI
• Photoshop for Nature Photographers
  Oct. 17-21, Smoky Mountains, TN
• Advanced Photoshop for Photographers
  Nov. 26-30, Los Osos, CA
• Galapagos Cruise & Photoshop Workshop
  April 7-17, 2008

For more details, check out Ben’s “Digital Mastery” Web site (click here to go there).

• Terry White sent me this link to a cute video about a woman who got her first iPhone bill from AT&T. If you own an iPhone, you gotta see it (here’s the link).
• I’ve been watching the new “From Camera To Print” video tutorials from Michael Reichmann and Jeff Schewe (over at the Luminous Landscape), and not only is there lots of great information, it’s also very complete (the whole series is over 6-hours). They cover everything from calibrating your monitor to capture and output sharpening, and everything in between. You can buy it and download it immediately from the Luminous Landscape site. Kudos to Michael and Jeff on a very thorough job!
• Oh yeah: Hi Mike. Hey Don. Jeff says “hi.”

That’s it for today—have a great one (a great one what?).

I am very excited (read as: giddy), to announce that we’ve added a new date to my Lightroom Tour; Honolulu, Hawaii!!! The seminar is scheduled for December 3rd, at the Hawaii Convention Center, and with this much notice, you can use this as a very flimsy business-related excuse (as I have) to go to Hawaii for a work/vacation.

You can see a description of my class at PhotoshopSeminars.com, but I don’t think they’ve officially posted that date on the site yet, so, if you want to go just call the toll-free registration hot line at 1-800-201-7323 instead. (I wanted to give you as much advance notice as possible for travel planning purposes).

This past Saturday I did an interview on “Photo Talk Radio,” and I have to say–they have a very clever way of doing a photography show on the radio. They have their listeners go to a special online Web gallery of their guest’s work so the listeners can see the photographer’s work as they discuss it on the air (here’s the link to my gallery at Photo Talk Radio). So, if you’d like to listen, go to that link first, then click here to jump to their site where you can listen to the show.

Also on the show was photographer Stephen Dantzig, and he and I chatted briefly on the show (we had met at San Diego Photoshop World a few years back), but it wasn’t until after I was off the line that it hit me that he was the author of a great book I’ve been reading, called “Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers.” Here’s the link to his book on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com.

>> Scroll down to the next post for more news.

Here’s a quick look at the news on this fine, fine Monday morning here on earth:

• Start your Monday off with a smile by watching this very clever iPhone TV ad parody (the end will crack you up!). Click here to watch it online.
• The Strobist is right; this never happens to me (click here)
• If you’re a NAPP member, I’m not sure if you’re aware of it, but as a member you get special members-only discounts from Apple (we have a special version of the Apple Online Store just for members, and you access it from the member’s Web site). If you’re buying iPods, or Macs, or displays, or just about anything [except the iPhone, of course], make sure you take advantage of this member benefit.
• Guru Awards Deadline Extended: we had so many requests to extend the Guru Awards entry deadline that….we’re extending the entry deadline to midnight on this Wednesday (August 15th). You can enter by clicking here (remember, The Guru Awards, sponsored by CDW, is only open to registered attendees of Photoshop World Las Vegas).
• Photographer David duChemin has released “The Pixelated Image” which is a limited edition monograph (there are only 100 copies) of David’s work (he’s got some really wonderful work), and you can find out more (and order your own limited edition), right here.

Gotta run—have a great Monday everybody!

Happy Friday everybody–here’s what’s up:

• A friend sent me a link to the Web gallery you see above, which is actually a sample gallery posted by Apple to demo their new Web Gallery feature of their newly updated iPhoto ‘08 app, and you’ve got to check it out, because it’s got some pretty ingenious features I haven’t seen before.First, here’s the link to that sample gallery. Of course, you get to decide a bunch of options for what people can do in your gallery (everything from downloading high res versions of the photo, to adding their own photos to your gallery), but there’s a visible options bar for people who come by your gallery, so they can decide the layout, thumbnail size, and even the background color they want to see your gallery in. It doesn’t use Flash, but you’d swear it was, because of the transitions, and reflections, and cool features (I think they’re using Ajax). Anyway, take a sec; try each gallery, and try the viewing options as well for a great look what can be done to enhance the user experience.
• ABC News.com has posted a collection of “Doctored magazine covers,” (which includes the Faith Hill cover we talked about here in the blog), and each photo gives an explaination of how it was revealed the photo was faked (often times it was the celebrity themselves who realized, “Hey—that’s not my body!” Worth a quick visit (click here).
• I’m going a live radio interview with Photo Talk Radio on Saturday, and since it’s a live show they take callers on the air to ask me questions, and generally make me look foolish, so if you’d like to call in, here’s the link to the show. It airs this Saturday from 11:00-12:00 noon EST, and I hope I get a chance to take your call on the air. If you don’t get to listen in then, you can listen the taped version of the show right on the site (to listen to the show, click here, then click on the flashing banner near the top).
• Book News: My new book (co-authored with my buddy Terry White) on Apple’s iPhone called “The iPhone Book” hits stores on Monday! It’s the first printed book available on the iPhone, and I used the exact same style and layout as my book, “The Digital Photography Book,” where each page covers just one tip, one topic, one feature of the iPhone. You can get your copy over at Barnes & Noble.com, Amazon.com, or stop by your local bookstore this week! NOTE: here’s a link to the press release that crossed the wire this morning.
• One more piece of book news: BlogCritic.com just posted an in-depth review of my latest book, “The Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers” (click here to read their review), and Moose Peterson just posted his review of the book over at Moose News Blog as well.
• Brilliant landscape photographer Stephen Johnson (who has been called “the Modern Day Ansel Adams”) has just posted his August 2007 newsletter, along with this list of upcoming workshops. Click here to read it online.
• I’ve now spent over a week with the Drobo (the robotic hard drive storage system that ensures that your photos are safe by constantly monitoring the health of your drives), and I have to say—this is probably the future of professional storage. I hope to have a full review sometime next week or the following, but I’ve had a number of emails asking how it was going, and all I can say at this point is that you get a new comfort level knowing your stuff is finally, really, safe.

That’s it for this week. I hope to have some photos to post next week from a shoot I’m doing. Have a great weekend!