Photoshop Insider

If you’re a NAPP member—-good news!!!! Along with your next issue of Photoshop User magazine, you’ll be also receiving a special free bonus “All CS4″ issue of the magazine, with the whole issue—cover-to-cover, dedicated to teaching you all the amazing new features of Photoshop CS4.

Each time Adobe comes out with a new version, we at the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) produce a special bonus issue for our members, and I have to tell you, it’s one of those things we really put a lot of sweat into, and maybe that’s why it’s one of the things I’m most proud of.

That fact that our in-house magazine team can put together two simultaneous issues of our magazine is still amazing to me, and I can’t thank them enough for all the extra hours they’ve worked to make this happen for our members.

Also, a congrats to our own Corey Barker who created the cover art for this issue, using some of the new features of Photoshop CS4.

We’ve been doing Learning Centers now for years, but what RC, Corey, and the Layers magazine team have done with their Adobe Creative Suite (CS4) Learning Center, is beyond anything we’ve done before.

They’ve teamed up with more than 30 instructors, authors, writers, and Creative Suite experts to bring you a vast collection of videos on all the new CS4 Creative Suite applications, including InDesign, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Illustrator, and of course, Photoshop.

If you’re a creative suite user, you’ve gotta stop by and check out what they’ve done over there, because it is off the hook. Here’s the link to the Layers Creative Suite Learning Center, the most comprehensive CS4 learning anywhere, and it’s all free!!!

…none other than the man behind the “Whibal” white balance reference card, and the popular “How to Shoot Raw Without FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt)” Camera Raw training DVD, Michael Tapes.

I’ve known Michael for a number of years now, and when he heard a few weeks back that I didn’t have a Special Guest Blogger lined up, he proposed a very interesting idea. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but he’s on to something that a lot of people will really be into, so make sure you check back here tomorrow to see what Michael will be unveiling. Should be fun!

Mornin’ everybody. Here’s what’s up:

• Just in case you missed my “Rare Friday Night Post,” Adobe posted a Lightroom 2.1 “Release Candidate” free update on Adobe Labs on Friday. Scroll down to Friday’s post for all the details (and a description of what a “Release Candidate” is).
• The Digital Landscape Workshop Series DLWS) (with instructors Moose Peterson, Laurie Excell, and Joe McNally) have posted their workshop location schedule for next year, and I’m telling you now because they’re already starting to selling out for next year. I can’t recommend DLWS enough—-it is an amazing experience (to say the least). Here’s the link to their 2009 schedule, and if you get to go, just know that I am totally jealous!
• PhotoWalk Leader Update: I found out that if you led a PhotoWalk here in the U.S., your Lightroom 2 shipped mid-week last week, and I’ve already heard from some of you that have already received your copy. If you led an international PhotoWalk, your books shipped last Friday, so depending where you are in the world, you should be receiving yours soon! Once again, my thanks to my publishers Peachpit Press/New Riders Press for making all this possible!
• Just a reminder: My Lightroom 2 Live! Tour kicks off in Dallas, Texas on October 27, 2008. Here’s the link.
• If you attended my “Portrait Retouching” session at Photoshop World, Las Vegas, just a reminder; the “bonus” start-to-finish portrait retouch video that I did you for guys, is online at the address that I gave out in class.
• Lastly, the first reviews of my new “Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers” have started to appear. Here’s a really in-depth review from T. Michael Testi at “TheBlogCritics” (link).
• Also, the photography blog “NeutralDay” did an in depth review on my book, “The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2” and although this book has been out since the beginning of the year, I wanted to point this particular review out, because of all the reviews ever done on this book, I think this reviewer did absolutely the best job of describing exactly what the book was about—who it was written for, and why. Here’s the link.
• Tomorrow should be a big day, with Adobe’s big CS4 announcement coming. If you’ve haven’t signed up to be a part of free Web broadcast, click here to sign up.

Have a great day, and make sure you check in tomorrow for the big scoops on all the new stuff!

This rare Friday-night post is to let you all know that Adobe has just posted Lighroom 2.1 “Release Candidate” on Adobe Labs today; a free update to Lightroom that addresses a number of bugs and performance issues some users were experiencing. The “Release Candidate” moniker is explained by Adobe:

“The ‘release candidate’ label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing before it is distributed automatically to all of our customers. The Lightroom team would like the community to help verify the quality of this update through normal usage as this will ensure that the application is tested on a diversity of hardware and software configurations not available internally at Adobe.

I think it’s very cool that Adobe thought to release it this way first, and get the benefit of additional outside testing before releasing the final version. You can download the 2.1 update right here.

Here’s a quick video clip I did for you guys with some background info on my new “Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers.” On the video (it’s around around 2-1/2 minutes long), I talk about how I developed the book; the differences between this new version of the book, and the original version I wrote for Lightroom 1.0, and some of the new things I added to make the book more valuable to the reader. (However, I forgot to mention on the video another cool thing I added to the book—although I put Lightroom 2 tips throughout the book, at the end of each chapter I now added a special “Killer Tips” page with some very slick little tricks, timesavers, workarounds and shortcuts).

Anyway, I hope you’ll take two minutes and watch the video.

NOTE: Good news; we just got our shipment of Lightroom 2 books in at Kelby Training (finally!), and they started shipping those books out Tuesday and Wednesday, so they’re on their way.

There have been a number of questions posted on the blog this week, and I thought I’d over a few of them here today. Here we go:

• Q. Why did you use HSC [High Speed Crop] for more reach, rather than cropping later in Lightroom or Photoshop? Is it just the desire to get it right in camera and save time later, or is there more too it than that?
  A. I really like to compose in camera, rather than later in Photoshop or Lightroom, so it is that desire to get it right in the camera. I know—it’s a sickness.
• Q. Recently you shot the college football game and used a 1.4 teleconverter with your Nikon camera and lens. Could you give more insight into how it worked for you and any drawbacks that there with it? My local camera store strongly discourages using one.
  A. The only downside to the 1.4 teleconverter is that you lose 1-stop of light (so an f/2.8 becomes an f/4). As long as you use a decent teleconverter (I bought a Nikon brand converter), it works just great. As for why your local camera store strongly discouraged it—-I have no idea. Well, I have some idea.
• Q. I am surprised you didn’t rent the 200-400mm f/4 or the 500mm f/4 from LensProtogo.com for the big game! NAPP members get a 10% discount on rentals.
  A. I ran out of time. I only found out I was going to shoot the game the day before, so I didn’t have time to get it overnighted. This cost me a bundle, because this week I went ahead and bought the 200-400 f/4 from B&H Photo because I’ve got a NFL shoot coming up next week and figured I should finally go ahead and make the plunge. Ouch!!!! That one hurt. My kid’s won’t get to go to college now, but by golly I’ll have a swell lens.
• Q. Nice shots, and as has been mentioned… great hat!
  A. You can buy that classic black Zildjian ballcap direct from Zildjian for $13. Here’s the link.
• Q. I was wondering… could you recommend a tripod head that lets you switch from horizontal to vertical FAST in a situation like this [shooting sports]? (more…)

I’ve got a few cool little news things today, but first my thanks to Rod Harlan for his Special Guest blog yesterday, which came at photography and Photoshop from a very different angle. From the comments I read, I think it got a lot of us thinking about new ways to show our work, new techniques to try, and new ideas to consider. I can’t wait to see sample of what you guys come up with using his techniques (don’t forget to send me links). Anyway, way to go, Rod!

Now, onto the news:

• My in-house Tech Editor Cindy Snyder asked me to donate a print for a charity auction she’s involved with, and so I went to MPIX.com to have a 20″x24″ print sent to her. I was just going to have it mounted on matboard, but when I was on their new site, I saw that they now offer custom framing, so I thought I’d try it out (I thought it might make the auction piece more attractive to potential buyers if it was framed).

  Well, yesterday it arrived and I was just bowled over at how nicely it came out (that’s me holding it above—-photo by “New Daddy” RC). I showed it to Matt, Dave and some other folks and by last night I literally had friends and co-workers emailing me that they had just ordered their own framed prints from MPIX. In case you were wondering, I had then output the 20″x24″ print, had it mounted on matboard, framed with that large flat black frame (which I think look great with photography), including glass, for only $82.84, (plus they shipped it overnight Fed Ex next business day for only $10.75). Anyway, I thought I’d pass that on becuase I know a lot of you use MPIX but may not have tried out their new framing stuff.

• This week’s new online class at KelbyTraining.com is from photographer Rick Sammon, and it’s called, “Exploring Digital Photography” and it’s an online version of the presentation that Rick does across the country at seminars and workshops, and it’s packed with photography tips, techniques, and some very inspirational images. Here’s the link.
• I just found out some absolutely wonderful news yesterday—I got a call from the Church handling the donations for “Springs of Hope, Kenya,” and they wanted to let me know that readers from this blog had been sending in their own personal checks directly to them, as donations to help build the orphanage in Kenya. I was just so touched by your generosity, and so grateful to have such wonderful, caring readers. My personal thanks to you guys for making a real difference in stuff that really matters.
• My buddy Dave Cross has come up with a pretty interesting thing on his blog. It’s called “Finish the Sentence” and it’s a quick interview-style article with different people in our industry, and his first one is with Photoshop Hall of Famer, Eddie Tapp. Here’s the link.
• Canon announced their long-rumored Canon EOS 5D Mark II yesterday (which sounds like just an amazing camera), and Terry White over at Terry’s Tech Blog, has a really interesting angle on one of its new features—the ability to shoot high def video built right in. Anyway, you’ve got to give it a quick read (here’s the link). Also, if you’re a iPhone freak (like me), make sure you stop by Terry’s site on Fridays, as he posts his “iPhone Application of the Week” pick.

That’s it for today. See you guys tomorrow for the Friday festivities!

So I bet you’re asking, “What’s a video guy doing as a guest blogger on a (primarily) digital photography site?” Well, I’m here to tell you why you need to jump on the online video bandwagon… and do it now! But first, for all of you that would feel a little cheated that you came to Scott’s blog today and you didn’t get a cool tip or trick to take with you, here’s how to turn Timelapse Photos into beautiful video in Photoshop CS3 Extended in just a few easy steps:
1. Choose File > Open and direct it to your folder of images. Make sure that they are numbered in sequence.

2. Select the first image and then click the “Image Sequence” checkbox (as shown below).

3. Select your Frame Rate. This will also determine the overall duration of the clip as it makes this calculation based on the frame rate.

4. Click the Play button in the Animation timeline or simply hit the Space Bar to render the video clip into RAM.

Here’s a video clip where I show the technique and talk about it in a little more detail: (click here).

If you’re using a 10-15 megapixel camera, then your images will allow you to create 4,000 – 5,000 pixel wide video files. This is many times larger than Standard Definition or High Definition video files. In fact, you can go out and shoot once, and then chop up the resulting monster video file into 30-50 Standard Definition video files for sale as a collection on DVD or website. You can see me demonstrate this technique with one of Moose Peterson’s files by viewing this video clip here:

Why Online Video
Now on to my main discussion point… the reason Photographers should jump on the online video bandwagon as soon as possible. To say that online video today is (more…)

Howdy, folks. First, a few answers from questions posted about yesterday’s FSU sidelines shoot.

• I shot in Aperture priority because I knew I wanted to shoot “wide open” all day. I had plenty of light, so shutter speed wasn’t really an issue—the challenge was white balance. When a play started in the sun, the white balance looked great, but as soon as a running back or receiver would wind up in the shade, everything turned blue.
• As for renting a lens; I wish I had time to rent the 200-400mm f/4 (my favorite all-around sports lens) from LensProToGo.com, but I only found out on Thursday night that I’d be shooting on Saturday, and leaving my house at 7:00 am Saturday, so no time to have one overnighted. I’m probably going to have to break down and just buy a 200-400mm, but they are just darn pricey (around $5,000. Yeeeeoch!).
• I had the question, “Besides white balance, what else would you have done to those shots?” I would have made sure that the players faces where well lit, so you could better see their expressions (I would either use Fill Light or a Screen layer and a Layer Mask). I also probably would have done some dodging and burning, and some spot sharpening as well. Not on every shot—only the best of the bunch.
• As for tracking the action: I just switched my D3 from Single to Continuous focus (the switch is right below the lens itself on the front of the camera), which I always do for any moving subject. Works great for tracking sports. I also set the camera to the 51-point focus mode (though I normally leave it at 21 point for day-to-day stuff).
• Here’s another question from yesterday; “…could you recommend a tripod head that lets you switch from horizontal to vertical FAST in a situation like this [shooting sports]?” When you use large lenses, they usually have a collar around them, which attaches to the monopod, which lets you instantly rotate your camera and lens by just loosening a knob. It’s ideal for sports shooting.
• Lastly, my FSU shooting buddy Mike Olivella posted a very detailed comment yesterday about how to get credentials to shoot a college game. Go check the comments from yesterday post for Mike’s insights. Absolutely invaluable (thanks Mike!). Also, check out Mike’s sports shooting portfolio here.

Hope that answers some of those questions. Now, onto some news quickies:

• Photoshop World instructor David Ziser did an interview with Donny Hoyle (the guy behind the popular “You Suck at Photoshop” series on YouTube.com. Take a quick moment and check out what David found out. (Here’s the link to it on David’s “Digital Pro Talk” blog).
• If you read German, check out my interview/tips article in the online version of the popular German magazine Spiegel, called Spiegel Online by clicking right here.
• My congratulations go out to Susan Hayre Thelwell (who I was lucky enough to have as my lab teaching assistant during my Santa Fe workshop last year), as she won an “Honorable Mention” in the Blurb.com photo book competition, for her photo book, “Mitchell’s Lot.” She’s a terrific photographer (and just a wonderful person), and if you’ve got a minute to take a look at some really great photography, click right here to see some of her beautiful images from the book. Way to go Susan!!!!
• When I did my “Top Five List for Everyting” list earlier this year (link), in one of the categories I listed my top five photographers I’d love to take a workshop from, and they included Jay Maisel, Karen Kuhen, Nevada Weir, Michael Greco, and Lou Manna. Well, one of my readers sent me this link to an article along those lines that absolutely made my day (here’s the link).

That’s it for today, folks. Have a kick-butt day!