Photoshop Insider

Thanks to msacks and wade who both posted comments asking if they could see the “before” untouched shot of the house image (shown above–click for a larger view), to see how the Seven Point System was applied to create the final image posted yesterday.

I also think it’s helpful to see the “before” windows (the open windows I covered), and the large truck and the DLWS van on the sides, which I had to clone out, though the edge vignette effect (which is also included in the Seven Point book, even though it’s not one of the “Seven Points”), did help to minimize distraction around the edges of the image, too.

Thanks again to msacks and wade for the suggestion.

I’m back in the office now, and happy to announce the first two winners of the “iPhone Book-a-day” giveway. They are:

Monday - Day 1: Jonathan Perez
Tuesday - Day 2: Chris Kennedy

I have no idea where these two fine people are from, because we don’t ask for address information until you’ve won (so we can ship you the book). We’ll ship the books (or the iPhone itself), to any country. Also, if you win one of the “iPhone Book a Day” contests, you’re still in the running for the grand prize on the 10th day. Thanks for entering, and good luck everybody!

Inside Digital Photo radio has just posted an in-depth radio interview with me about my new Photoshop 7-point-system, and a whole bunch of other stuff (It was one of the most fun interviews I’ve done, because after a short while, the host Scott Shepard and I kind of forgot it was an interview, and it turned into two buddies talking on the phone, and we talked about my Canon experience, and Nikon stuff, and iPhone stuff, and well…you name it). Here’s the link. 

On Tuesday about an hour before sunset we headed out to a lighthouse, right near a public beach, where I got this very “Cape Cod-like” shot (click on it for a much larger view). Same camera and lens as the shot I posted yesterday, but at 50mm, with an exposure of f/11 at 1/20 of a second, shot in Aperture priority mode (I shoot all outdoor shots in Aperture priority so I can control the focus of the background).

NOTE: I had a number of comments and emails yesterday about how yesterday’s photo was post-processed. For the image you see here, and yesterday’s image, I used my “Photoshop Seven Point System” for all image toning, but in yesterday’s image I had to do some serious cloning, because on the right side of the house, you could see the DLWS van in the parking lot, so I cloned that out. But worse yet, on the left side of the house, in front of the front porch, was a huge Army Corp of Engineer’s truck that had to be cloned out, and it took some time, but it was totally ruining the shot.

Although those two things HAD to be removed to save the shot (believe me, I tried recomposing as best I could, but that truck was REALLY big and in just the wrong place), then I cheated a little bit. If you look at the third window from the right on the bottom floor, it looks just like the other windows. In reality, that window was open, and it didn’t look very good, so I copied the window to the left of it up onto its own layer, and then I dragged that nice golden reflection window over the open window, and used Free Transform to shrink it down just a little bit so it was a perfect fit (this “window swap” was much easier than it sounds–it took all of 30-seconds). I did the exact same thing for one of the windows above the front porch–I copied the closed reflecting window to the left of it, and put it over the open window.

Other than the two window swaps, and cloning out the truck and the van, the rest was just toning use my Seven Point System. By the way, I got my first printed copy of the book on Friday right before I left for Detroit, and I was really psyched. Also, if you’re going to PhotoPlus in NYC this week, we can’t promise it, but Peachpit Press has a booth there, and they hope to have a limited number of copies there for sale. Hey, you didn’t hear it from me.

We got there early enough to get in position for sunrise and that moment when its beautiful light first kisses the front of this wonderful landmark on the beach (click on it for a larger version). INFO: Taken with a Nikon D200 on a tripod, using a Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 lens at 22mm, at f/8, with the ISO set at 100, and the shutter speed set to 1/8 of a second.

I’ll post more when I get a chance but we’ve been just goin’, goin’, goin! (but we’re having an absolute blast). Last night I also did a session where I turned them on to my new “Photoshop 7-point System,” which really struck a chord with the class, big time!

This past Sunday, I got the chance to present a live version of my new “Photoshop 7-Point System” to MacGroup Detroit (the group founded and run by the amazing Terry White), and I have to tell you; I’ve never received a warmer welcome for any speaking engagement ever. As we drove up to the conference hall, members of MacGroup were standing outside, each holding a letter that spelled out “Welcome Scott,” (photo above by James Cutler) and they had balloons and even a gift of a stars and stripes “Rocky” jacket, that they had me put on as soon as I stepped out of the car.

For photos of the event itself, visit Terry’s Tech Blog by clicking here. 

Thanks so much to everyone at MacGroup Detroit, for their gracious hospitality, and for making me feel so welcome. You guys are just the best, and I had a wonderful time seeing all my old friends, and making new ones!

We had a glorious dawn shoot this morning along the Cape’s blustery coast, and although I haven’t had a chance to process any images from this morning yet (we’re back in the classroom right now), Joe McNally’s assistant Brad Moore was kind enough to take this shot of “the DLWS gang” (pictured here, L to R, are: Joe McNally, Moose Peterson, Laurie Excell, and myself). Click on the image for a larger view.

Also, make sure to scroll down to the next post to catch my just announced new “Win a free iPhone” giveaway.

Wanna shot at winning a free Apple iPhone? Then enter my “Not so Subtle Promotion for my iPhone Book” Giveaway. That’s right, my friends, simply fill out This Entry Form, and you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of 10 signed copies of the book (I’m drawing one winner per day for the next 10 days), and then on the 10th day (Oct. 26, 2007), I’ll draw one lucky winner to win both the book AND an Apple iPhone itself. There’s nothing to buy (unless of course, you’re one of those instantly gratification people [like me] ,and you want to buy your copy of the book right now, from Amazon.com, or Barnes and Noble.com, or wherever cool iPhone books are sold). You may only enter once, but seriously, isn’t that enough? Here’s the Link to enter, and best of luck to you (and me).

Hi everybody, and greetings from blustery Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. We’re up here for the Digital Landscape Workshop Series (DLWS), with Moose Peterson, Joe McNally, and Laurie Excell, shooting some of the wonderful Cape scenery (This is posted a few hours before our dawn shoot, so if I get anything decent, I’ll post it here).

In the meantime; here’s some quick news:

• I was really happy to see that the gang at PixelGenius has now added the Epson R2400 to their list of supported printers for their free downloadable color profiles for Epson’s new Exhibition Fiber Paper. Way to go, guys!
• I might have mentioned this before, but if I didn’t—I sure should have: The new issue of “The Blind Monkey” (which is a wonderfully produced quarterly PDF newsletter from kick-butt photographer Andrew Kornylak) is now available. The PDF is free, and absolutely worth the download (download it right here).
• Last week I mentioned that some of my fine art prints are being sold over at Digital Photo & Art, and the 100% of my proceeds from the sale are being donated to “Springs of Hope Kenya” which is in the process of building a clinic and orphanage for homeless and orphaned children in Kenya. Well, one of the individuals who bought one of my prints last week, so was moved by Springs of Hope is doing, that he donated $1,000 to the cause. I was just absolutely blown away. He asked that he remain anonymous, but to this very special person I just want to give you my personal thanks for doing something so wonderful, so caring, and so important. I am truly humbled by your generosity.

That’s it for now (except for the next post down, of course). Hope you all have a really wonderful Monday!

Just a few weeks ago, when I was doing my GAPW photo workshop out in Montana, Barney Streit (one of my students in the workshop—-a really great guy and accomplished photographer, who I’d met at a previous workshop), turned me on to an HDR program he uses that just might make an HDR believer out of me after all. The program is called Photomatix Pro, (available for Mac and Windows) and it makes the process of combining multiple exposures into a single HDR image much more simple and straightforward.

In the example shown above (photos by Barney Streit); the top photo is the regular correct exposure for the building, which was shot in flat overcast mid-day light. The bottom photo is the HDR image which displays a much broader dynamic range. That image was processed in Photomatix Pro, from nine separate photos (all shot on a tripod), each with a different exposure (bracketed in the camera) to capture the full range from the darkest possible shadows to the brightest highlights.

You can download a trial version from the Photomatix Pro Web site (click here), and here’s a link to Barney’s NAPP online portfolio, where you can see more of his HDR work. My thanks for Barney for the use of his images, and for turning me on to this very cool program.