Announcements – Page 5

Adobe Elements 9 Released!

September 22, 2010 Jason2 Comments

You can tell that Photokina is generating quite the buzz with all the product launches and announcements that have been leaking out recently. Adobe is no different as they announced today the release of Photoshop Elements 9!

This is a great product and actually is my recommendation for the cost-conscious crowd when it comes to editing your photos. While Lightroom is a great resource for managing your photos and doing the “quick edits”, sometimes you do need the power of layers and more heavy-lifting tasks that Lightroom just isn’t equipped to do.

To add Photoshop CS5 adds a pretty big hit to the wallet, and unless you either have deep pockets, really need it for graphic work, or have a LOT of photos to manipulate, Elements is a great low-cost alternative that gives you most of what the CS5 option has, with some notable restrictions. Elements 9 retails for $99, but as always, I’ve got a treat for you! You can save $20 off your purchase by using the affiliate link below (and thanks to Adobe for offering it to me to give to readers).

There are bundles and Elements Premiere (video editing) options available too…so if you’ve got previous bundled or Premiere versions, use the following links to save $30!

Premiere Elements 9 – Save $20

Elements and Premiere Bundle – Save $30

The frenzy has started, and there’s money to be saved, so get in while the gettin’ is good! Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

49 Photo Tips – The Sequel

July 15, 2010 Jason1 Comment

About eight months ago, I cobbled together a laundry list of almost 50 photo tips and tricks to help with everything from gear to composition, photoshop, and more. Given the penchant for sharing these things online, I decided to launch it as an eBook – but in the interests of keeping it simple, didn’t add much of anything. It was basically a spreadsheet with a category on the left and the tip or trick on the right. Given the minimal overhead I had put into the design, decided on a bargain basement price – $1.99. Half a cup of coffee, and easily digestible!

After a few months of feedback and suggestions, it seemed the idea was pretty good, but people wanted examples, or at least something to liven things up a bit – the “spreadsheet style” was a little tedious on the eyes. So began the latest project for me (as if I don’t have enough projects, according to Tracy)! Well, after 6 months of blood, sweat and tears, it’s finally here – 49 Tips, The Sequel!

All the tips are new, just as useful, and even more in-depth, but here’s the best part – it’s really an eBook now! With a cover page, a prologue, epilogue and, as you can see, there’s a photo for every tip! Okay, so some are screen captures so technically not photos, but each one gets the point across quite well (I think anyway). A few of these tips have been shared out via Twitter and Facebook in recent weeks to give everyone a sneak peek of sorts, but it’s “out there” now, and very excited to see what people think.

So, let me know what you think of the new style and layout! It’s only $4.99 , which is less than a grande white mocha at Starbucks (at least that’s what I’ve heard…b/c I don’t drink Starbucks…right?)! And for the time being (through the end of July, anyway), there’s an additional discount code for $1 off if you use it in your shopping cart: “Sequel“

Since it was 6 months between Part One and The Sequel, my guess is it will be another 6 months before I come up with a third installment, so feedback, thoughts and input are always welcome! There’s a link in the feature product are on the blog, or you can go to the full store here to see all three product downloads! 🙂

Apparently the WordPress eCommerce does not work as advertised as several people have gone through the process and not received their digital download email. So, to hopefully make things easier for everyone, I’ve signed up with a company friends have used called eJunkie, and after a little configuration and setup, it’s available for purchase through their system (still using Paypal). My apologies for the hassles initially, here’s the new download location:

Enjoy, and we’ll see you back here again next week!

The Workshop Tour Takes Off!

July 5, 2010 Jason5 Comments

After extensive preparations, logistical planning and coordination, it is very exciting to finally announce the often teased and hinted at Learning Lightroom 3 Workshop Tour! Kerry Garrison and I have pooled our collective resources and we’ll both be at all the classes! We’ve got an initial launch in our own residence cities, with dates and locales already in place at:

Sunday Aug 1st – Anaheim, Ca [Completed]
Saturday Aug 28th – Denver, Co [Completed]

Seats are expected to go fast as this is a full day workshop aimed at getting you up to speed with Lightroom 3 whether you are new to the game, or ready to jump in for the first time! With lots of content, including “bags-o-schwag”, door prizes, and resource DVD’s, the dirt cheap Early Bird Price of $79 for the first 15 to sign up, we’re sure to hit capacity quickly! After that, the regular price of $99 per person kicks in. Special thanks to our sponsors: Adobe, Thinktank Photo, Nations Lab, and many more for their generous contributions to help get this off the ground. We’ve also got lots of local vendors who will be showcasing some super cool products at super cool discounts, and we’ll have gift certificates to give away too! So, come on out and check things out – it’s a steal at these prices!

Also, if you don’t live near any of the initial launch cities, make sure to submit a request for your own city (and get your friends to do the same!). Fifteen requests for another city brings us to you! There’s also an email subscription link on our launch page, (and here on the blog) so be sure to stop in and visit us at:

Lightroom Dudes

Cultures Colliding – a Podcast with Martin Bailey!

June 14, 2010 Jason3 Comments

On this week’s show, we’ve got a lot to talk about including a couple of particular news stories to note, with a little insight from the crew, we’ll be taking your questions and answers on the show and the special guest of the week for this show is none other than the well-reknowned Martin Bailey!

Photo News

3rd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk has been announced by Scott Kelby, and details are here.
Lightroom 3 was announced last week Monday – and is available to purchase and download…you can also download a 30 day trial for free from Adobe here (or buy via the sponsored link in the sidebar!)
New Plugins available for LR – Pro Show Gold, a popular slideshow and movie creation software set. Info here

Martin Bailey

Photography and Culture in Japan: Laws or hassles shooting in public?
Workshops and your development in photography

Workshops

Development/Inspiration

X-Rite Colorati
Martin on the web

Links: http://www.martinbaileyphotography.com/
Blog: http://blog.martinbaileyphotography.com/
Podcast: http://www.martinbaileyphotography.com/podcasts.php
Workshops: http://www.mbpworkshops.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MartinBailey
Folio: Martin Baily Photography

Q&A

Professional Critique
Cost of Printing
Starting Camera Suggestions

Martin was also kind enough to share a sample selection of his portfolio with us here on the show. These are the low res versions, to see things super nice, head on over to his folio link provided above. In the meantime, enjoy the photos, the show, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for the latest in photography reviews!

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Over $2000 in prizes!

May 3, 2010 Jason4 Comments

With April in the books a new winner has been determined. It was a really tough call as all the entries this month were deserving, and each could have easily been considered a winner given the theme, the composition, creativity, and treatment. All in all, the cream really has risen to the top, and I am seeing some really impressive quality in the images this month.

Okay, enough dancing around the subject. The winner is:

Bryan F

Seriously, I don’t know if I can keep doing these contests, because every month the decision gets more and more difficult to make. It was a real toss up, and the only reason this one topped the others is because of the sense of tension brought to the image as well. I just kept coming back to it saying “Wow…” So, congrats to Bryan F – he is officially now the first repeat winner on LDP, and also he marks the winner who took us over the threshold of $200o in giveaway prizes! Pretty cool if you think about it – on many counts!

In new contest news – the May contest is now underway, and the theme this month is:

WIDE!

The reason? Well, by now you should know that themes are typically based around some premise of the prize, and since the prize this month is the well-respected PTGui Panorama Software (thanks to the folks over at PTGui for their generous sponsorship). Given the nature of the contest theme, there will be a slight variation this month: images should be no wider than 1600pixels on the longest side. The theme lends itself toward panorama shots, so it would be silly to restrict the dimensions to prevent any decent panos. This will also be noted in the contest thread up on Flickr. Get clicking and above all, have some fun! Deadline is the last Friday in May (28th).

Oh, and in case you can’t keep that in mind – download a May Calendar (yup, they are back at least temporarily…more on that on tomorrows blog post). For now, feel free to download your own desktop sized calendar from the links below:

For those interested in the technique, be sure to tune in tomorrow. Otherwise, happy shooting, good luck in the May contest, and we’ll see you back here mañana!

P.S. For vendors interested in sponsoring a contest or future giveaway, I am getting caught up now and ready to start scheduling giveaway content starting in August 2010. For readers, if you know of any vendors that would be cool for prizes, by all means, let me know and I’ll see if I can’t get them on board!

First Lightroom then CS5!

March 24, 2010 Jason5 Comments

Yesterday Adobe shared the news that they were releasing a second Beta of the upcoming Lightroom 3 – and it’s got a lot of cool new features for us to try out in this public beta, including managing video, point curve, tethered shooting, luminance noise control and much more. Today, I understand that Adobe has made yet another software announcement:

Creative Suite 5 will launch on April 12th!

Since I just got wind of this late last night, I don’t have a lot of details on the products (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, etc.) but there are some sneak peek videos over on their launch site, and Adobe is encouraging folks to follow the hashtag #cs5 on Twitter. Evangelists like Terry White, Julianne Kost, and many more will be talking about various aspects of the suite of products, highlighting some of the snazzier features and functions. It looks pretty cool so far, and I think I am probably sold for a couple of reasons:

Indesign – As you know, I like to write, and I am putting more and more content out in PDF and eBook form. The ability of InDesign to assist me in that regard to put together professional looking material and to help with layout is well worth it.
Photoshop – I am still on CS3, and I did not do the upgrade to CS4 knowing that I would probably upgrade every other iteration. So, now is the time to upgrade.
Business Catalyst – I’d not heard of this, but the improved layout for the CB store sounds appealing by using this software interface rather than hacking through code all the time. Will want to check this out!
Dreamweaver – An old school coder, I’ve always used text-based editors because I was a “purist” of sorts. With the development of HTML5, the new features of CSS and XHTML, there’s a lot to get up to speed on, and when I want to just put something out to the web, Dreamweaver is becoming more and more of a consideration.

Here’s the launch page for all the detailed information on the new CS5 Suite: Have you checked out some of the features of the CS5 suite yet? What do you like? Are you going to upgrade or take the plunge? Sound off in the comments with your thoughts and feedback!

Last but not least – don’t forget that we are in the final week for the Cheetah Quickstand Giveaway – share your photos over on the Flickr Contest Thread!

The Canons Keep Coming!

March 8, 2010 Jason5 Comments

Last week we had the pleasure of visiting with Nicolesy on the show, and this week another Canonite graces us with his presence. It’s none other than Rick Sammon! We had a great conversation that touched on quite a few things including learning and teaching strategies for seminars and workshops, different stages of learning, and even broached underwater photography. I also got the scoop on his latest developments including his iPhone app, a new book that is forthcoming, and much more! All that on Episode #42 of LDP! Here’s the notes!

Learning Digital Photography – Episode #42: Seminars and Workshops

News
Conversation with Rick Sammon
- Seminars and workshops
- Learning styles
- iPhone App
- New Book
Listener Questions and Answers
- Go long or go shallow?
- Best zoom lens under $1000
Rick’s Contact Info
- The Web
- Twitter
- Seminars
- Apps

Be sure to either grab the podcast from the host feed over at PLM or over on iTunes. Remember to share your thoughts and feedback at either place or here on the blog…your feedback and thoughts are what keeps the content coming through the pipes! In the meantime, keep on shooting and don’t forget to tune back in tomorrow for my wrap-up of the weekend sunrise photo shoot! Happy shooting all!

Contest News and Announcements

March 3, 2010 Jason3 Comments

Congratulations and kudos go out to the winner for the February contest – the theme was Height and the winning image came from Sue90ca! To see all the images submitted for February, check out the thread here with all the images. Some really great ones were included, and as always, it was a tough decision. Nevertheless, Sue90ca’s “Crayons” was selected as the winner.

You can see the rest of Sue’s portfolio on her Flickr stream here…

Before anyone asks, the March contest info is not up on FLickr yet, but I should have an announcement for that later on tonight. I’ll give you a WILD hint though about the subject and the prize! Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

P.S. Sue, if you could email me at jason <at> canonblogger <dot> com or message me on Flickr, I need to get in touch with you about the prize delivery for February…congrats again! 🙂

Talk about cool!

March 1, 2010 Jason3 Comments

I had the unique pleasure of connecting with none other than Nicole Young (Nicolesy) from TWIP fame recently. We chatted things up quite a bit on Skype, and as luck would have it, the recording was running! 🙂 So, for LDP episode #41, please welcome Nicole to the show by stopping over and giving her a big thanks. The show notes follow below. Continue reading “Talk about cool!” →

What is it about Bridges?

February 25, 2010 Jason3 Comments

As the popularity of this theme continues to grow, I am really having more fun culling through my own archives, and have several ideas for actually getting out and shooting even more “themed” sets. However, today, I present to you (courtesy of my wife, who astutely remembered that I shoot a lot of…):

Bridges