OK, so you saw the B&H Photo contest winner above from last year, but what are we going to give away as the grand prize for our Photoshop User TV photography contest this year? That up to you!

Come up with a really cool, inventive idea for a contest, post it here on the blog, and if we pick your idea, I’ll get you an autographed copy of Joe McNally’s blockbuster “The Moment it Clicks.”

But don’t just put “Give me a D3, or a Mark III;” come up with something really creative and fun, that would make a great contest. Think “Dream assignment” or some amazing package of gear (but not one that’s going to bankrupt the show). Whatever it is; come up with something that makes you say, “Now that would be really cool!” Hey, ya never know! (Ask Rachael Cardella). :-)

Those of you who’ve been reading this blog for while, will remember when I did my Lightroom Tour in Hawaii this past December.

Well, the day after the seminar I joined my family in Maui, and the hotel we were staying at had this beautiful koi pond. As I was walking by, I saw what had to be the most beautiful, perfectly formed water lily, in the most perfect setting and light possible. I thought to myself, “Oh, I have got to shoot that—that is just too perfect.” But then I thought, “But to do it right, I’d have to get out my tripod, and cable release, and bring all my gear down, and it’s all up in the room, and…..(wait for it….wait for it….) I’ll just come back and shoot it later.”

The following day, the biggest storm to hit Maui in like 12 years rolled in, and our side of the island was without power for literally days. Well, when the rain finally cleared, I walked by the koi pond again, and my beautiful, perfect lily, had become the drowned, wilted, water-logged, limp lily you see above. The setting had changed, the lighting was bad, the lily was trashed, and I took the hand-held snapshot above just so I could share this “Scott’s School of Hard Knocks” story with you when I got back, with the the moral being:

“Don’t ever assume you can get the shot later.”

David Hobby, over at the Strobist, posted what I believe is the first full in-depth review of Joe McNally’s new book, “The Moment it Clicks,” and if you’ve got a sec–jump over and give it a quick read. At the end of David’s review, he also announces something pretty cool (you’ll have to read the review—I won’t spoil it). Here’s the link.

Back in January of 2007, a special live tribute to beloved educator and instructor Bruce Fraser, was held during the Macworld Expo in San Francisco where industry leaders gathered to celebrate his life and achievements. The tribute was captured on video, and friends and fans can request a commemorative DVD of the event at a special tribute website (here’s the link).
The DVD is free — with a nominal amount requested to cover shipping expenses. Donations are also being accepted via a PayPal link on the site to help retire lingering medical bills that continue to affect Bruce’s widow, Angela.

As a special bonus, donors making contributions of $100 or more may request either a set of programs and etched shot glasses from the Macworld celebration or a print of the iconic image of Bruce signed by Jeff Schewe. Supplies are limited for both premium gifts.

It’s February—let’s try something completely different. Nah! Here’s what’s up:

• Big Electric Cat is Back! In an on-going effort to make absolutely certain I never sleep, my band “Big Electric Cat” (featuring Kalebra on vocals, Felix Nelson on Bass, Scott Stahley on Keyboards, me on Keyboards, and Tony Llanes on lead guitar), will be playing live in concert at the Photoshop World Conference & Expo attendee party, held this year at the new BB King’s Blues Club, in Orlando, Florida (that’s us above playing in Vegas last year—photos by David Ziser). Hope I’ll see you there!
• I saw the cover of Blender Magazine, over at the PDN Plus blog, and they pointed out something I think is both clever, and the reality of the digital retouching world we now live in. The cover has a photo of Brittney Spears wrapped in a bedsheet, but right there on the cover is a “Truthiness” disclaimer (I thought that “Truthiness” moniker was pretty cute), that says right there that the cover is a photo composite—it’s not Brittney’s body. Here’s the link to PDN Pulse blog’s story on it (with a shot of the cover).
• I just saw that Joe McNally’s The Moment it Clicks is now in-stock at both Barnes & Noble, and at Amazon.com (the incredible buzz about this book has made it the 137th bestselling book of ALL books on Amazon.com right now (I’m not talking 137 of all photography books, or all computer book—I’m talking ALL books)! How cool is that! (Here’ the link to it on Amazon.com, and Barnes & Noble.com).

• If you’re in the New York area, B&H photo has put together something pretty cool; it’s a brand new high-tech classroom called “Event Space” at their NYC store and they’re bringing in experts to give free classes on everything from lighting, to Photoshop, to video editing, to infrared photography, to…(well, you get the idea). They also have techs from some of the big camera companies, and they’re doing demo sessions on their gear. Here’s a link to their class schedule.

Well, that’s it for today folks. Have a fantastic weekend, and don’t forget to take some shots, displace some maps, liquify some pixels, and reduce some noise.

OK, this isn’t exactly Photoshop related, but it’s for creative people (like you), so I really wanted to turn you on to it. I’ve been a fan of Garr Reynold’s blog on presentation design for a few years now (here’s the link), and when I saw (two days ago), that Garr had written Presentation Zen, an entire book on designing slide presentations, I knew I had to get it.

Well, it came in today, and read it cover to cover tonight. This book is absolutely brilliant (that’s why I gave it my first 2008 “Scott Thinks It’s Hot Award!”), and should be required reading for anyone that has to do a business slide presentation on any level. It’s that good!

What really got me excited about this book (besides the obvious design aspects of it) is that it’s really a book about how to communicate with people on a visual and emotional level. It’s way beyond just where to put the type and where to put the photos (though it covers that in great detail). Instead, not only will it change the way you design slides, but more importantly how you view the role of slides, and give you some communication insights that go way beyond the slides themselves.

It’s very well written, researched, it’s straight to the point, and I could go on and on but I can sum it up this way; you must buy this book! (you’ll thank me later).

Here’s the link to it on Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com.