Photoshop Insider

I put together a iPhoto book of some of my favorite shots from my trip, and I’ve included some of the pages from the photo book below (click on them for a larger version). I went in a bit of a different direction with photos I shot on this trip than I did on my trip to Italy this past summer. These images have more of a focus on texture, color, and mood than my Italy images (I just wanted to try shooting in less of a commercial style than I usually do).

Besides this photo book, I did take loads of regular vacation photos (with us posed in front of pyramids, the Sphinx, etc.), and those are going into a separate photo book that’s more for us to look at to remember the trip, the places we ate, photos of our tour guides, hotels, and regular stuff like that (more like the photo from Tuesday’s post).

The images below were mostly taken with my Nikon D300, and my 18-200mm f/3.5 - 5.6 VR lens (my standard vacation shooting set-up) at ISO 200, 400 and occasionally 800. I took my D3 along as a second body, but wound up using it on just two occasions. The photos are pretty much “as is” out of the camera, but I did apply the “Camera Landscape Beta 1″ profile in Lightroom’s Calibration panel, and I added some Clarity to any photos with texture (Clarity loves texture—or vice versa). Anyway, here are the images as I laid them out in two-page spreads for the photo book.

Greetings from Atlanta‐Barbara.

Splitting my time between our Atlanta commercial photography studio, my wife Helene Glassman’s portrait/fine art studio in Santa Barbara, and teaching digital photography programs means I spend a lot of time in the air. Today as I start to write the beginning of my guest Blog entry, I am flying to do a program in Chicago.

As I was shooting snapshots of clouds out of the window and thinking of what I would like to write about, I took notice of the date. I realized that in two weeks it will be exactly 30 years since graduating from the Art Institute of Atlanta and official start of my professional career in photography. In those thirty years I then realized that exactly 15 of those years have been in a film‐based work environment and the other 15 years have been in a totally digital capture environment. A very interesting moment in time to reflect on….

A lot has changed in those 30 years. Although the tools we work with have changed and the final product is somewhat different, we are still doing the same job that we have always done. What was important then is even more important now. Where quality counts, doing just an OK job is not going to be good enough. For me as a photo-illustrator, I now have the tools to make things as perfect as possible which makes the clients very happy.

As I have been giving programs at photography schools around the country, I am meeting some incredibly talented art students educated in the latest digital imaging workflow techniques and software. It’s exciting to think about their futures ahead of them as they get ready to start their new careers. For those of us who are not currently in school, staying a head of the learning curve by being active members in your specific trade associations (like NAPP) and attending seminars isn’t even a choice any more. It’s a necessary part of your continuing education you must put yourself through to be competitive.

We must all constantly be working hard to improve our portfolios. That’s where the self‐assignment comes in. I have several different types of self‐assignments going on at once. One on-going assignment I have been doing for a long time is creating a multi‐image montage or digital panting that represents my feelings of each of the places I visit as I travel. These images are not for clients. Even though they are just for me, working on them makes me better prepared for the illustrative assignments that I do get from clients.

Over the last few years, I have had the honor of hosting the “Art Of Photography” panel at Photoshop World. Several of the PSW photography instructors each get 15 minutes to show off their latest imaging with most of the entire conference in attendance. I am always amazed of what each artist has been doing it the 6 months between each show and I get even more inspired to create new portfolio images. For me, the trick is to now pick subjects for these self‐assignments that I have little or no experience photographing.

I decided I wanted to photograph whales…. That’s a lot different that photographing golf (more…)

Back in early July, as my birthday present, my wife surprised me with a dream vacation, which we’re just coming back from today (In fact, I’m writing this on the plane flight home right now).

We started our vacation in Istanbul and spent a couple of days there (even got a few tips on where to shoot from David Honl, who used to live there). Then we boarded a cruise ship for a week visiting Athens (where the photo above was taken by our waiter) and the Greek Islands, and we ended our cruise in Alexendria, Egypt where we transferred to Cairo, to spend a few days seeing Pyramids and Sphinx’s before heading back home. Here’s the kicker—-the even bigger surprise was—it was just us two—the kids stayed home with Grandma. We haven’t done anything like that in years (the kids go everywhere with us), and it was just an absolute blast to have that time together.

Although we totally loved having that time to ourselves, we couldn’t stop talking about the kids day and night, and suckers that we are, we missed them terribly the whole time we were gone. Let me tell you, those two are going to get some serious hugs and kisses when we walk in that door (by the time you read this, we’ll already be home, and they’ll be all “hugged up.”)

During the 11 days, I took lots of photos (as you might guess) and my wife was the ultimate trooper making sure I had plenty of shooting opportunities each day, and planning special shore excursions to places she thought I’d like to shoot. I tried to make it a point not to overshoot, and still enjoy each city and country, and most importantly, I just wanted to enjoy our time together, and that worked out really well (I didn’t even take as many photos as I did in Italy this summer). I also took plenty of just regular “vacation” photos, so when we got home, I’d be able to put together a photo book to relive this trip of a lifetime.

We were blessed with really great weather the entire trip, and we laughed, drank wine, had some really yummy food, slept late, and did an incredible amount of nothing. It was the perfect vacation (and boy does my wife know how to give a birthday present or what)!!

I really haven’t had a chance to process the images yet, but I tried out a different Lightroom 2 organization workflow just for this trip, and if I can get one kink worked out; I’ll share it with you (well, even if I don’t get the kink worked out—I’ll still share it, hopefully later this week).

Anyway, my batteries are fully recharged, and I’m really psyched about the great stuff coming up before the end of the year. My thanks to you all for hanging in there yesterday for “Unexpected No Blog Monday.” I thought I would have time to do it before we left for the airport, but I was so wrong.

Have a great Tuesday everybody, and I’ll try and get some photos together for Thursday.

…..commercial photographer, Photoshop User magazine columnist, Photoshop World Instructor, and master of the montage, my friend Jim DiVitale (I always just call him, “Jimmy D” for short).

I’m particularly honored to have Jim as a guest blogger because he’s had such an impact on my career. Jim was an attendee at the first Photoshop World Conference ever, and a few months after that, I ran into him at an Atlanta tradeshow (I had never met Jim, but I saw someone walking by with a Photoshop World t-shirt on, and I went up and introduced myself). An incredibly lucky break for me, for as it turned out Jim had been teaching courses for PPA for a while, and he told me (in as kind a way as possible), what we needed to do to offer real photography training at Photoshop World, and he even offered to teach a class. Well, he’s been a fixture at Photoshop World ever since, as one of our key instructors, and for years now Jimmy has penned Photoshop User magazine’s digital photography column.

Beyond that, Jim (along with Kevin Ames) was a big help to me when I was developing the concept for my first “Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers,” and Jim is the reason why I include a tear-out gray card in the book to this very day. Jim and Kevin also flew down from Atlanta to NAPP headquarters a few years ago to help us set up a product-shoot studio for the magazine, and Jim and his talented wife Helene, flew down on another occasion just to spend the day with me, teaching me how Helene lights and poses her subjects.

Jim’s given me an awful lot during the years, and it truly is an honor to have him here on my blog tomorrow, so please make sure you stop by and check his guest post out. Also, in the meantime, check out Jim’s own blog by clicking here.

I won’t be able to do a regular post today (sorry ’bout that), but I’ll be back tomorrow with details on why I missed today, and a bunch of other stuff. Have a great Monday!

That’s right folks, it’s time for this year’s ultimate holiday guide to the nothing but the coolest photography and Photoshop gear for the photo freak on your holiday list.

The online version of my Gonzo Holiday Gear Guide is now available over at LayersMagazine.com. Happy Shopping!

It looks like we’re going to have a pretty huge crowd on hand for my December 4th Lightroom 2 Live Tour in Los Angeles, so I’ve asked Matt Kloskowski (from LightroomKiller Tips.com, and one of the leading Lightroom experts) to come and help me field your one-on-one questions during the day. Matt was there with me in Orlando as well, and that enabled us to answer twice as many questions, and it worked out so well, I wanted him to be there in LA as well. If you haven’t registered for the event yet, here’s the link (see you there!).

Before we get to the book news, a big thanks to Dano for just an excellent post yesterday, and really inspired a lot of us, informed, and let us enjoy some very cool photography. Thanks Dano! Now, onto the book news:

I’ve finished writing the update to my book, “The Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers” and it’s in the final stages of production now. My publisher is working to get it out in time for the holidays, so keep your fingers crossed, but we should see it next month. Besides updating it for all the new CS4 stuff (including Camera Raw, the CS4 Bridge, and all the other goodies), I also included an entirely new chapter on processing HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos, in which I included a small section on using Photomatix Pro. You can preorder the book now at Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com.

This year Amazon put together a list of 10 books that would make great holiday gifts, and I’m honored that they included my book (co-authored with the amazing Terry White), ‘The iPhone Book” in their top-10 list, as seen above. What I thought was particularly cool, the list isn’t just tech books or computer books, it’s on the top 10 list of ALL books on Amazon. Here’s the link to pick up a copy as a holiday gift.

The next book I’m working on after the first of the year is “Photoshop CS4 Down & Dirty Tricks.” This was the book that started it all for me, but the last one I released was from back at Photoshop CS (other books kept pushing it back), but this time I’ve set aside time to do it, and it is my very next Photoshop Book for sure, due for release in February. You can preorder it from Amazon.com (they’ve got it for only $29.69) or Barnes & Noble.com.

I learned earlier this week that Amazon has released their Editor’s Choice, and Customer Choice awards for 2008, and I’m just thrilled that two of my books (and one that I edited) made their Best Books of 2008 list:

1. My book, The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 was the #1 Customer Favorite (based on sales for books published in 2008), of all arts and photography books.
2. Amazon’s Editors chose my book, The Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers as one of their Editors’ Picks in their Top 10 Books of 2008, taking the #3 spot.

I was also equally as thrilled to learn that Joe McNally’s The Moment it Clicks was the #2 bestselling Photography book of the year (Way to go Joe, ya mook!), and when Joe learned of the news, he did a post on his blog (here’s the link), and in his post, Joe said (in his Brooklyn-mobster sort of way), such nice things about me, that it totally displaced the thorough beating I took on Digg.com last week (however, know up front that Joe gave me more credit than is due. The reason that book became a sensation is because of the guy who wrote it, and made those amazing images; Joe McNally).

Anyway, thanks so much to my readers, for making my book #1, and to Amazon’s Editors for your gracious recognition, and to Joe for being such a Mensch. What a great way to end the year!

More news from Amazon: They are doing a special VERY Limited Edition Boxed Set of my Digital Photography Books, where you get both Volumes 1 & 2, and a hand-signed 8×10″ print (yes, I signed every one myself, and MPIX did all the printing, and did a wonderful job). This is only available through Amazon, and since it is a limited edition box set for the holidays, once its gone—that’s it. Here’s the direct link to this special limited edition package.

Well, you knew it was coming, right? After Photoshop CS4 Down & Dirty Tricks, I’m going to release, The Digital Photography Book, Volume 3. Again, this book will pick up right where Volume 2 left off, and I’ve got lots of cool new stuff to share, new tricks, and new ideas, and I’m so excited about what I have to share, that I kinda wish it was the next book I was writing (but I promised my publisher is would be Down & Dirty Tricks, and I definitely owe it to my readers who’ve been waiting far too long). I’m thinking this will be an April/May time frame, but more on it as I get closer.

I also just finished the 5th edition of my book, The iPod Book with the help of contributing author Terry White (who co-authored The iPhone Book with me), and that should be in stores either late December or early January.

I’ve got some brand new ideas for books, including a Photoshop book that I think desperately needs to be written (based on what I’ve heard during the past year while I’ve been out teaching), but I can’t tip my hand on that one quite yet, but it will be a summertime release.

That’s it for this exhaustive book update. Thanks so all of you who support my book-writing, and to my book Publisher Peachpit Press, my Editor at Peachpit Ted Waitt, everyone at New Riders Publishing, and my in-house book production and editing team (Kim, Cindy, Jessica, Felix, Damstra and friends) who help make this all happen. 2008 was a banner year for us, and I can’t wait to show you what’s new in 2009. Stay tuned!

Between Meetings
Rediscovering My Passion for Photography
By Dan (Dano) Steinhardt

Photographic Birth
I was 13 and barricaded myself in a small bathroom. A towel was jammed under the door for complete privacy allowing a new and mysterious adult-like red glow to fill the room. The smells were intoxicating as I watched the 5 X 7 inch white sheet of paper slowly turn into an image. It was an amazing moment of alchemy meeting art, combined with something special I had never experienced before. I squinted in pain as the light went on like an electric shock in a Sci-Fi movie and there I saw my first print gently bobbing in the fixer. I was immediately hooked. Not only had I developed my first photograph, what I really began to develop was my passion for photography.

That passion was cultivated by my amazing high school photo instructor Warren King who exposed me to the works of Dorothea Lang, Arnold Newman and W. Eugene Smith who would come to have a profound influence on my style. Warren became my first mentor and an equally important critic. I traveled all around my native Los Angeles shooting everything and discovered photography could capture amazing moments on the streets of LA that most did not see. But whenever I talked about the great pictures I shot over the weekend Warren would point to the sign above his desk which 30 years later continues to resonate, “Don’t Tell Me How Good You Are, Show Me”.

Fast Forward
After graduating from Brooks Institute I was running my own advertising photography business in Chicago. Everything was captured on 8 x 10 film and when it came time to Scheimpflug (for those who remember view cameras) I was world-class. But new opportunities presented themselves and I found myself working in the New York City Photo District for Kodak and soon moved into strategic marketing on a worldwide basis. It was during these years that my focus was business. To paraphrase a song, I was sent away and taught how to be sensible, logical, responsible, practical, intellectual and clinical. I was studying in Executive Programs at leading business schools and advancing in my career. I loved it and I still love business, but I didn’t touch a camera from 1987-2000 and hadn’t used a 35mm camera since High School. Then I got a call from a relatively new company in the photo world called Epson and was asked to develop and lead its marketing programs for professional photographers and advanced amateurs.

Rediscovery
In 2001 digital printing was still relatively new and the market was reaching out for information and education. I developed the Epson Print Academy (shameless plug) as a way to meet this market need (link). We went on the road to videotape leading photographers and fine-art printmakers. My goal was to glean all the technical stuff there from the best of the best. The pre-production notes were a checklist of mission critical items from color spaces, to file formats to advanced color management. But when the video camera was on, these artists talked to how Epson printers reminded them of teenage years, watching their first print develop in a darkroom, fueling their passion for photography. I started to recall the glow of that red safelight, the smell of fixer and the joy I used to experience with the camera. I bought a Nikon D100 in 2002, tapped into my analog experiences from high school and via digital photography became a teenager all over again.

So What Have You Shot For Me Lately?
I travel a lot in my job. I also have the incredible honor to work with the some of the most well-known photographers on the planet. One of those legends is Jay Maisel who has become my new mentor. With all my business travel I took Jay’s advice, “Carry the camera because without it, it’s really tough to take pictures.” In the process I essentially returned to my roots of street photography versus the comfort and control of the studio.

I’m in Las Vegas 3-4 times a year for different trade shows including Photoshop World. I love to shoot in Vegas because there is so much extraordinary to be found in the ordinary like the valet running to retrieve a rental car, the early morning joggers in front of a hotel and the pool chairs stacked in the beautiful light at the end of the day. When I have some free time (and the light is right) I head straight for the tourist traps looking for interesting images of people vs. the actual attraction like the silhouetted person in front of the fountains or the shadow of a person walking in front of a famous hotel.

I also remember Jay Maisel’s advice to look 180 degrees in the opposite direction as it (more…)

…Photoshop World Instructor, the man behind the Epson Print Academy, Marketing Manager for the Professional Market for Epson USA, and one of my all-time favorite urban/city/people photographers, Dan Steinhardt.

Dan (better known as Dano to those who know him), has an amazing advantage, in that in his role at Epson, he’s got access to all the coolest new printers even before they’re out, and because of that, I don’t imagine Dano spends a lot on paper or inks. He also has an amazing disadvantage, and that is because he is so well known as “Dano from Epson” I don’t think he gets nearly the attention his work deserves as he is just a flat-out amazing urban/city/people photographer.

Here’s an example, on the day I spent in New York earlier this year with Jay Maisel, at one point during the day, he started raving to me about Dano’s work, and said, “Dano has the city people thing down. He’s got it!” When Jay Maisel is raving about your work, “You’ve got it!” Dano gave me a heads up of his subject for tomorrow’s guest blog, and if you want to be inspired and informed, make sure you check back here.