P&P Weekly: #31

Sorry for the delay in posting this week's P&P Weekly but we were busy with a large youth event until last evening and I've just been home recovering.

Here’s what’s been happening this week in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Amy of 2007 Picture a day (or week) - "The wall"
• Paul of A Clean Well-Lighted Place - "Untitled #4904"
• Kathleen of A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania - "Jakey Disking the Horseshoe, 8:00 p.m."
• Bruce at Bruce L. Snell Photography has a gallery and slide show of Christina and John's wedding.
• Mike of Creative Sweet TV has his latest video on multi-placing in InDesign CS3.
• Dave at Dave Beckerman Photography: New York - "Soldiers & Sailors Monument," "Lobby, 140 W. 86th St.," and "Woman on Bus"
• Dave at Dave Cross Online has a tip on using CS3's quick selection tool.
• Richard from Europe in Black and White - "Briers in your hand"
• Mike at eyes on the road has a post about the Topeka SO's new brochure that features his photography, his new CS3 order, and "Spot."
• John of John Nack on Adobe always posts an interesting array of links from the world of photography, technology, and sometimes the unusual. A post from last Sunday is about a creative misuse of CS3's importing frames as layers and layer alignment.
• Matt of Lightroom Killer Tips has a video about loading develop presets. Also, over at Photoshop Killer Tips, Matt has posted about creating a watermark, repeating adjustments on another document, supersizing thumbnails, toggling between blend modes, edge darkening, and filter settings.
• Jim of PHOTOBLOG by Jim Larimer has a couple of variations of his gum prints.
• Scott of Photoshop Insider has a link here from last week's Monday News, a pano from his Yosemite trip, and a number of interesting links.
• Justin of Photoshop Quicktips and SeeleyMedia.com isn't posting a podcast this week due to some unfortunate circumstances.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. This week I like "Taking a Break"
• Shooter at Serial Photographer - "Untitled #52"
• Clayton at The C Spot is back with a shot called "Grandview Morning"
• Andy of The Global Photographer has an overview video from his photo safaris, a daily photo of a leopard in a tree, and he's off to his Galapagos workshop.
• Erik of The Journal: Life of a Persson - "Web Zen" and "Slightly Less Abstract" as well as a really cool shot he received in an email.
• Andy of Visual Realia - I like the color and texture in "Reflection of the Truth"
• Aaron of What the Duck publishes a daily online photography comic strip and just celebrated his 200th strip. Congratulations Aaron!
• Martin of What the Heck Journal - "Heaters" and "Violent Seas"
• Ben of Where is Ben? is making his way across Texas, with a side trip to Chicago to speak at a conference.

Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

Friday Tips: #2

It's tip day once again! Here are a few tips that I use to make work in Photoshop and Lightroom a bit easier:

• In Photoshop, when you make a mistake you want to hit Ctrl-Z to undo, right? Well, if you make a few mistakes in a row and need to undo multiple times you may notice when you Ctrl-Z again it isn't undoing but rather redoing. It's an easy fix. Under Edit>Keyboard Shortcuts, replace the shortcut for "Step Backward" with Ctrl-Z (you will be told in the info area that it will remove it from "Undo/Redo" but that's OK. Now, when you hit Ctrl-Z it will take you back one step in the history each time instead of just toggling back and forth.
• When you hold down Alt while adjusting the exposure or black levels in Lightroom or ACR the image will temporarily go black or white, respectively, to show you the highlight/shadow clipping as you move the sliders.
• Ever have a lot of documents open and get annoyed by having to close each one when you're done? Holding down the Shift key in Photoshop while closing a single document will close all open documents. Haven't saved everything yet? You will still have a chance to save any unsaved documents before they close.
• When using shape or selection tools you may know that holding down the Shift key will constrain the proportions to perfect squares or circles and that holding the Alt key will grow your shape/selection from the center. If you add the Spacebar to that, you can move your selection around to make sure it is properly aligned with what you are trying to select. Give it a try and you will quickly learn how great it is to use!

Peter Strong

As I was looking around the NAPP Member Portfolios Wednesday I came across the gallery of Peter Strong's images. What first caught my attention was his shots of the familiar scene of the Shanghai skyline, particularly the Oriental Pearl Tower, which was one of my first views of the city upon waking on Semester at Sea nearly 5 years ago.

His New York City shots also provide an interesting perspective. It's a small portfolio and I would definitely love to see more of his stuff, but it's a solid body of work and worth a peek.

P&P Workflow: #8

by Jason D. Moore

Before:
Taken one year ago tomorrow in Redwood National Park, CA 4/26/2006, 2:46PM (PST). Taken with available light, no flash.

• Nikon D50
  Auto Exposure Mode
  18.0-50.00 f/3.5-5.6 lens
  1/25 at f/3.5
  ISO 800
  Focal Length 18mm
  RAW

In Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 (Develop Module):

• Basic:
  White Balance:
  -Temp: 4750
  -Tint: -8
  -Exposure: -0.52
  -Recovery: 100
  -Fill Light: 0
  -Blacks: 34
• Tone Curve:
  -Highlights: 0
  -Lights: +30
  -Darks: -18
  -Shadows: 0
• Saturation:
  -Red: +100
  -Orange: +75
  -Yellow: +4
  -Green: -41
  -Aqua: -13
  -Blue, Purple, Magenta: -100
• Detail:
  -Sharpening: 25
  -Color Noise Reduction: 25
• Lens Vignetting:
  -Amount: -60
  Midpoint: 42

After:

*If you would like to contribute to the P&P Workflow, please email Jason.

Rosco LitePad

My dad sent me a link to an interesting product from Rosco called a LitePad. According to the site:

Rosco LitePad™ is a slim profile light source that generates a soft even beam of light and almost no heat. Its small form factor and light weight make the Rosco LitePad™ perfect for use in many places where a larger, typical luminaire could not fit. Drawing just a few watts of power, LitePad is simple, fast and economical to use in film and television, theatre and live entertainment, and retail and event lighting.

Ranging in sizes from 3x3 to 12x12 - either square or rectangular - the LitePad is about 1/3" thick and has a lamp life of 100,000 hours, producing a color temperature of 7,000 degrees K.

Though it is advertized for use in film, video, and stage as accent lighting or to illuminate objects/subjects in hard to light places, I could certainly see how this could be a useful addition to any lighting kit. I've looked around and haven't found a price yet but

P&P Weekly: #30

Here’s what’s been happening this week in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Amy of 2007 Picture a day (or week) - my favorites from this week are "The evening sun" and "Alleycat - let me in"
• Paul of A Clean Well-Lighted Place - my favorite this week is "No Parking"
• Kathleen of A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania has a nice farm-themed series.
• Dave at Dave Beckerman Photography: New York has 4 shots up at the Kips Bay Decorator Show House and a shot called "Kid on Scooter"
• Dave at Dave Cross Online has a post about common reader questions.
• Richard from Europe in Black and White has stocked his eBay store.
• Mike at eyes on the road has a few posts with shots from his recent stock photo trip to Virginia.
• John of John Nack on Adobe always posts an interesting array of links from the world of photography, technology, and sometimes the unusual. Of note this week is a post about some alternate CS3 icons based on the new box designs, a Lightroom getting started guide, and a pair of cleanup scripts when upgrading from beta to CS3. (Win, Mac)
• Matt of Lightroom Killer Tips has a video about straightening photos and a post about keyboard shortcuts to get to your favorite panels. Also, over at Photoshop Killer Tips, Matt has posted about fading filters, exporting for the web, CS3 workspce options, document size, and the eyedropper tool.
• Scott of Photoshop Insider has a roundup of his Great Smokey Mountains workshop, a Wednesday news update, a bunch of Lightroom-related info, and a review of Westcott's SpiderLites
• Justin of Photoshop Quicktips posts a weekly podcast on handy tips and techniques in Photoshop and he's celebrating the first anniversary of the PSQT. Congrats! He has just launched SeeleyMedia.com
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. This week I like "Relaxing with the Magueys"
• Shooter at Serial Photographer always has great shots. My favorites this week are "Wyre Wreck #7, 8, & 9"
• Andy of The Global Photographer has a photo of the day from Mount Kilimanjaro
• Erik of The Journal: Life of a Persson as a charming shot called "His Grandpa's Camera"
• Andy of Visual Realia has some really nice flower shots this week.
• Aaron of What the Duck publishes a daily online photography comic strip. My favorite one this week is "WTD 194 & 197."
• Martin of What the Heck Journal has a nice shot called "Right on Track"
• Ben of Where is Ben? is back from Russia and his on his currently on his way from Florida to Houston.

Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

Friday Tips: #1

It's tip day! Periodically, I will post a handful of quick tips on Fridays to help make your Photoshop life a little easier.

Here are this week's tips:

• To open a document, instead of clicking on File>Open or Ctrl-O, simply double-click on Photoshop's desktop and the Open dialog will appear.
• If you want to have a flattened version of your image on its own layer, select your topmost layer (or any visible layer), hold down the entire left side of the keyboard (Ctrl-Shift-Alt) and the letter E. This will this is called "stamp visible."
• When you are using the brush tool, hold down the Alt key and your cursor temporarily turns into the eye-dropper tool to select the color you would like to paint with.
• Also, as a bonus tip, if you click and hold with the eye-dropper, you can move outside the bounds of your current document in order to sample colors from other areas of your screen. If Photoshop isn't taking up the whole screen, you can even sample colors from other programs or from the web, as long as the color you would like to sample isn't underneath the Photoshop window.

Remembering the Journey

I went through some of my shots from last May's Alaska vacation and came across this forgotten shot. Right when I got back we entered one of our busier seasons at work and a number of my photos from the trip were neglected and went untouched. So I thought it was time.

This shot was taken just south of Anchorage on my way down to Seward during my first full day in AK. Cropped into a "fake" pano and processed entirely in Photoshop Lightroom.

Scott Kelby's Lightroom Book

I'm in the process of reading Scott Kelby's new The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers. Because of my normal work responsibilities I'm only able to read a chapter every few days but I am already hooked. I've read other books by Scott - his Digital Photography Book and his Photoshop Channels Book, a great read on my flight back from Alaska last May - and this one has so far proven to be a great read. It is, of course, chocked full of great information and tips on how to make work in Lightroom faster, easier, and with the highest possible quality. And it wouldn't be a Scott Kelby book without the elaborate "non-introductions" at the head of each chapter - the first one is on a conspiracy theory surrounding the covert government plot to conceal stock piles of missing Chapter 1s in an unmarked Midwestern warehouse and Scott's heroic efforts to stand up to "the man" to bring us a Chapter 1 - or "An Unexpected Q&A Section" at the beginning of the book.

I'll write a more comprehensive review when I'm finished, complete with some of my favorite tips. Already, though, I know this is going to be great!

Stupid Laws

For a diversion, I was looking around at strange, funny, and down-right stupid laws last evening. It is crazy what some states come up with. Some of my favorites from my own state of New York include:

• It is against the law to throw a ball at someone's head for fun.
• A license must be purchased before hanging clothes on a clothesline.
• A person may not walk around on Sundays with an ice cream cone in his or her pocket.
• Slippers are not to be worn after 10:00 P.M.
• In Greene (near where Kim is from), during a concert, it is illegal to eat peanuts and walk backwards on the sidewalks.
• And, in NYC, citizens may not greet each other by "putting one's thumb to the nose and wiggling the fingers."

Do you know of any stupid laws?

PSWorld Portrait Tip

This tip comes from Scott Kelby's Killer Tips for Photographers class at Photoshop World. He also showed it to viewers on last week's Photoshop TV.

Though I added a few steps before the final output, here's basically what I did to turn an ordinary photo that my friend Kevo took of our friend Al into something a little more dramatic. (If you know another way, I'd love to hear it. I just love this effect.):

• Duplicate your background layer twice.
• Change the blend mode of the middle layer to Screen and the top layer to either Soft Light or Color Burn (which ever looks better)
• Adjust the opacity of the upper layers until you get your desired color balance
• Flatten the image, or stamp visible (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E)
• Add some noise and then sharpen it
• Duplicate the layer and change the blend mode to Multiply.
• Make a rectangular selection around most of the image and then feather it at least 100 pixels and hit Delete

Give it a try.

Now Shipping CS3!

Adobe has just announced the "immediate availability" of all Creative Suite 3 bundles as well as the individual applications that compile the various suites. Click here for the full press release.

P&P Weekly: #29

Here’s what’s been happening this week in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Amy of 2007 Picture a day (or week) - my favorite from this week is "Paint Me."
• Paul of A Clean Well-Lighted Place - my favorite this week is "Untitled #4844"
• Kathleen of A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania - my favorite this week is "Dreaming of Spring."
• Bruce of Bruce L. Snell Photography has a couple of shoots of Stacey Herman and Carolyn Collier.
• Mike of Creative Sweet TV posted his latest video called Photoshop CS3D.
• Dave at Dave Beckerman Photography: New York has a slideshow of his subway photos and a shot of L. Mendes.
• Dave at Dave Cross Online has a shot from Richmond and a useful opacity tip.
• Richard from Europe in Black and White just opened his new eBay store and has another view of Cesky Krumlov.
• John of John Nack on Adobe always posts an interesting array of links from the world of photography, technology, and sometimes the unusual. Of note this week is a post about large versions of items that are traditionally small - like Donkey Kong out of post-its or a life-sized model car or a kite that looks like a mouse pointer.
• Matt of Lightroom Killer Tips has a video about applying edits to multiple photos and a crop tool shortcut. Also, over at Photoshop Killer Tips, Matt has posted about split channels, the curves dialog box, the channels palette, creating rounded edges, and shadows and highlights in ACR.
• Jim of PHOTOBLOG by Jim Larimer has a couple of new gum bichromate prints. I especially like this one.
• Scott of Photoshop Insider has just relaunched his blog in a new format and has a number of great posts this week.
• Justin of Photoshop Quicktips posts a weekly podcast on handy tips and techniques in Photoshop. This week's video is an interview with John Nack.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. This week I like "Ninas Just Wanta Have Fun"
• Shooter at Serial Photographer always has great shots. My favorites this week are "Wyre Wreck #5 and #6" and "Untitled #47"
• Andy of Visual Realia has a nice abstract shot called "Nature’s Palette" and a nice one called "Recalling the Past"
• Aaron of What the Duck publishes a daily online photography comic strip. My favorite one this week is "WTD 189, 191, and 192."
• Martin of What the Heck Journal - I really like "Abandoned Childhood"
• Ben of Where is Ben? is on his way to Moscow and an interview on Your Mac Life.

Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

New Look!

It's been awhile since I've updated the look of my website and blog so I thought I would. I have the design created and have integrated it into the blog but I'll be working on the website tonight. You should see the changes made by tomorrow at the latest.

UPDATE: The updated website is now online!

Another One From Photoshop World

I think this will be the last shot from Photoshop World. Taken from my seat in one of the ballrooms while waiting for a session to start.

Hynes Convention Center - Boston, MA

From Photoshop World in Boston.

Photoshop World Moments

I'm not really happy with how some of the shots turned out - a little blurry, a little over or underexposed, all shot in jpeg, shameful - as I said Monday but it's the opportunities to meet some of these amazing people that really matter. I attended Scott Kelby's Photoshop Killer Tips for Photographers and Even More Down and Dirty Tricks sessions at Photoshop World. Not only is he a great educator and really funny guy, he's a really warm and approachable man. With everything he's responsible for at these events, Scott, and all the other instructors, makes himself available to the many fans and eager learners who come for the Photoshop and stay for the show.
My first class of the event was Ben Willmore's Easy as 1, 2, 3 session. He took us through a series of effects that can be be accomplished in 3 straight-forward steps.
I ran into Dave Cross on the Tech Expo floor - wearing the same shirt as his blog's profile photo - and was soon joined by his daughter, and Photoshop TV news anchor, Stephanie and Photoshop Lad Cory Barker. I also sat in on Dave's 7 Functions You Never Use, But Should class.
I caught Matt Kloskowski's class in the Peachpit Expo Theater and stuck around as he answered questions and signed the guy's lens hood - that Matt referred to on this week's Photoshop TV.
John Nack, Photoshop project manager for Adobe, was on hand for the opening keynote and to walk us through some of the new features of Photoshop CS3 in the Adobe booth.

Photoshop TV - Live!

Last week at Photoshop World in Boston, the guys over at Photoshop TV taped a live episode on the tech expo floor. I had the chance to sit in on the taping - about the 3rd row - and boy was it fun! If you're a regular viewer and think they're whacky in the studio, you haven't seen anything yet!

As I was watching, they panned the crowd after Scott's "Paystation 3" tutorial and I caught a glimpse of me in the background as the camera zommed by. Pretty cool!

P&P Weekly: #28

After a packed week at Photoshop World, I'll be posting a more limited Weekly this week. Please visit the member blogs to see all that they have been posting.

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Amy of 2007 Picture a day (or week) - "The renovator's chair"
• Paul of A Clean Well-Lighted Place - "Old Radiator"
• Kathleen of A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania - "Onion Snow"
• Bruce of Bruce L. Snell Photography - Jamie and Steven's Wedding
• Mike of Creative Outlet and Phoblography - Week 12 PAW - Flash Battery
• Dave at Dave Beckerman Photography: New York has a number of new videos and slideshows of his work.
• Dave at Dave Cross Online - onOne's new Dave Cross Digital Frame Collection.
• Jason at Designfruit - Choice Spring brushes.
• Richard from Europe in Black and White - "Cesky Krumlov II"
• Michael over at eyes on the road - "Detail of Shaker boxes"
• John of John Nack on Adobe told me about this strange post when we met at Photoshop world. I saw a similar segment on Ripley's Believe It Or Not about the "father of disc golf" who had his remains made into commemorative frisbees to be shared with his family and friends.
• Matt of Lightroom Killer Tips has a video on working with metadata.
• Mike of Mike's Blog and Creative Sweet TV posted his latest video on CS3.
• Jim of PHOTOBLOG by Jim Larimer has a new gum bichromate print.
• Scott of Photoshop Insider - Monday News Update. Scott has also moved his blog which you can find here.
• Justin of Photoshop Quicktips - Vintage Advertising
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day - "Serenity"
• Shooter at Serial Photographer - "Untitled #46"
• Andy from The Global Photographer announced his next workshop to the Arches and Canyonlands.
• Erik of The Journal: Life of a Persson - "Mexicana"
• Andy of Visual Realia - "Pearls Inside"
• Aaron of What the Duck - "WTD 185."
• Martin of What the Heck Journal - "Outlet"

Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

I'm Back!

It's been a whirlwind week here at Soup Questions HQ. On the Photoshop & Photography side, I just got back from Photoshop World in Boston where I learned a lot, I laughed a lot, and I got to meet a few of the blogroll members including Scott Kelby, Dave Cross, Matt Kloskowski, John Nack and a number of other Photoshop users from around the world - I bowled a few games with a guy from Belgium at the After Hours Party at Jillian's.

I'm still getting used to my new camera - the weight of the vertical grip made it difficult to get steady handheld shots - and I'm definitely not a fan of taking shots in a more rushed setting, since PS World is so hectic, so I'm not thrilled with how the people shots turned out. I'll be posting them in the coming days as well as a few shots more typical of my style. I will also be posting a tip or tutorial from each of the sessions I attended throughout the week. And the P&P Weekly will be posted tomorrow now that I've had a chance to recover a bit.On a more personal note, as I returned from Boston on Friday night, Kim surprised me by showing up at my apartment to welcome me home. We stayed up late talking and in the wee hours of Saturday morning I just couldn't wait any longer. I pulled out my grandmother's wedding ring, placed it on her finger, and the rest, as they say, is history! We haven't set a date yet but we're just so happy!

On the Road

Today I am on the road to Boston for Photoshop World. A friend of mine from Semester at Sea lives north of the city and is letting me sleep on her couch and I'll be commuting in each morning. Someone I've known for a number of years and used to live around here is now working in Boston and has made his parking space available for me (Thanks, Bob!). So I am all set and ready to go!

Because it will be a full schedule these next few days I will not be posting during the rest of the week. On Monday I will post the next P&P Weekly and throughout next week I will feature shots and thoughts from my Photoshop World experience. As a teaser, I have been in contact with Scott Kelby and Ben Willmore and will be meeting up with them at some point during the conference to say hello and get a couple of shots together. If you're going to be in Boston for Photoshop World, definitely track me down. Here is a preliminary schedule of which sessions I'm planning on attending (subject to change).

Safe Travels and Happy Trails!

Unrelated Post Script - Just a reminder if any of you know of any tips for travel in London and/or Paris and know of any "must see/do/eat here" suggestions for our trip, leave a comment here or email me with ideas!

P&P Weekly: #27

Here’s what’s been happening this week in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Amy of 2007 Picture a day (or week) - my favorites from this week are "The fog," "Spring flowers," "Country skyline," and "First summer daisy."
• Paul of A Clean Well-Lighted Place - my favorites this week are "Modern Life #3" and "Social"
• Kathleen of A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania - my favorite this week is "Boomer Fishing for Muskies on the Delaware River."
• Bruce of Bruce L. Snell Photography is back to the previous iteration of his blog.
• Mike of Creative Outlet is back to his blog after dealing with a busy period at his day job. He celebrated by heading out and doing some shooting.
• Dave at Dave Beckerman Photography: New York has a number of videos and slideshows of his work up.
• Dave at Dave Cross Online wrote about the CS3 launch in NYC and you can see some shots here.
• Richard from Europe in Black and White has a couple of nice shots titled "Old Carousel Seat" and his free print for April: "fruit tree garden"
• Michael over at eyes on the road has an interesting shot in a post called "Tulips by... moonlight?"
• John of John Nack on Adobe always posts an interesting array of links from the world of photography, technology, and sometimes the unusual. Of note this week is a number of posts about the new CS3 launch including one on humanely zapping tourists using stacks in Photoshop Extended.
• Matt of Lightroom Killer Tips has a Quick Develop Module tip. Also, over at Photoshop Killer Tips, Matt has posted about saving selections, a layer mask trick, fast restoration tricks, camera raw before and afters, and a CS3 interface tip.
• Mike of Mike's Blog and Creative Sweet TV posted his latest video on the CS3 launch party in Australia.
• Jim of PHOTOBLOG by Jim Larimer has a couple of new gum bichromate prints.
• Scott of Photoshop Insider has a number of posts this week on the CS3 launch and Photoshop World: Boston.
• Justin of Photoshop Quicktips posts a weekly podcast on handy tips and techniques in Photoshop. This week's video is about a photo processing effect.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. This week I like "Amaryllis-Bonita"
• Shooter at Serial Photographer always has great shots. My favorites this week are "Dead Calm" and "Flotsam and jetsam."
• Andy from The Global Photographer has a couple of spots open on upcoming trips. Act Now!
• Andy of Visual Realia has a couple of nice shots including "Imagining" and "The Crooked Path" - frankly, I think they are my favorites of his. Nice work, Andy!
• Aaron of What the Duck publishes a daily online photography comic strip. My favorite one this week is "WTD 181."
• Martin of What the Heck Journal - my favorites are "I Am Sailing" and "Rubble"
• Ben of Where is Ben? celebrates his first anniversary of living on the bus. Congrats Ben!

Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.