Here’s a quick shot of my seminar class right before the doors opened this morning (photo by Dave Moser). Well, gotta go to work! :)

Greetings from New York City, where I’m doing my “Photoshop CS3 Power Tour” seminar for a record-breaking 1,300 people today at the Javits Center. I hope I get to see you today (if you’re there and you read my blog, make sure you say “hi”). Now, onto the news:

• Congratulations to our own Matt Kloskowski whose book “The Photoshop Elements 5 Restoration and Retouching Book” was chosen by ShutterBug Magazine as one of the top digital photography books of 2007 (Vincent Versace’s “Welcome to Oz” and my “Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers” were also among their picks).
• On Monday I got to see B&H Photo’s newly expanded (read as: incredibly huge and amazing) photography dept. They took over the entire 2nd floor (not just the area where the used gear was—I mean, “The entire second floor!”) and I’ve never seen more photo gear in one place in my life. It was staggering. I blacked out several times and my buddy Dave Moser had to revive me several times with his Visa card. If you get to New York any time soon, head upstairs—you will lose your mind!
• David Ziser’s Digital Pro Blog mentioned this very cool tutorial on removing Moiré patterns from jackets and shirts, and if you’ve ever run across this problem; they’ve got a great solution (here’s the link).
• If you didn’t see last week’s episode of Layers TV, go check it all. That’s all I’m sayin’
• Thanks to everybody who posted comments yesterday about my Bucs on-field shoot and because so many of you had questions, here’s some answers:

• Q. Did I shoot in raw?
• A. You betcha. The whole time. The main reason was I wanted the flexibility to recover any clipped highlights from shooting out in the direct sun, and with all the white on the players jerseys (on both teams), it really, really worked out well.
• Q. Why did you shoot at 200 ISO
  
• A. The Buc’s official Team photographer, Paul Abell posted an answer to this yesterday before I could, but it was to make sure we had enough shutter speed to get to around 1/2000 of a second. Paul’s shooting Canon so the ISO noise issue isn’t a big deal, especially between 100 and 200 (where the noise is barely perceptible), and so when faced with a decision; he could perhaps get a tiny amount of less noise, he (we’d) have to give up shutter speed and stopping power. Read Paul’s comment yesterday for more details. Thanks Paul for jumping in and posting your comments yesterday. It’s much appreciated.
• Q. What did you think of the Canon 1D Mark III?
• A. Remember when I talked about shooting the Canon 5D, and how I had two big gripes: (1) The shutter felt funky—almost a bit too digital, and (2) the LCD didn’t have full screen highlights warnings? Well, both of my gripes have been addressed in the Mark III, and it was an absolute joy. I don’t have a single complaint—it absolutely rocked (and the battery life is just incredible. I shot with it today at a studio in Manhattan for four hours, and I still haven’t recharged since before Sunday’s shoot).
• Q. Did you use your “Photoshop Seven Point System” on those shots?
  
• A. Absolutely. I use the Seven Point System on all my own photos (it’s based on my own exact workflow), so if you see one of my shots, it went through “The System,” but luckily not every shot needed all seven points. There are two images where I also applied a variation of the “Hollywood Effect.”
• Q. Do you prefer shooting on Lexar?
• A. I hope I’m not jinxing myself, but I’ve never had one go bad, and at the end of the day, reliability is king.
• Q. Did you ditch your Nikon gear?
• A. I still have all my Nikon gear, but it’s the old stuff (D200, D2xs, etc.). I haven’ t decided what I’m going to do yet, but I can tell you this, right now I’m really loving that Mark III. I love the way it renders fleshtone, and the way it handles things that are red (like the Buc’s jerseys), is really wonderful. I wish I felt a little more comfortable with all the controls, but it’s getting more comfortable every day.
• Q. What’s the Loupe around your neck?
• A. That’s the Hoodman Loupe, and for outdoor events like that, it’s absolutely invaluable. You can either use it, or turn off your LCD and save your battery, cause you can’t see a dang thing on it in that direct mid-day sun. Other photographers on the sidelines kept asking me about it all day. Now that I’ve been using it, I don’t know how I got along without it.

Well, that’s it for today. It’s 2:33 am, and I should probably hit the sack. Ya know, since I’ve got a class in the morning, and didn’t get any sleep last night either. I’m gonna sleep like a rock on my flight home tonight, though.

Have a great Tuesday and I hope to see you today at the Javits! :)

This Sunday I got to shoot my home team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in my home stadium (Raymond James Stadium). First the big news; we won!!! (17 – 10). A Bucs win is always something to celebrate in my house, but getting to shoot them on field during a win was just an absolute blast (of course, had they lost, it still would have been a blast, just a smaller blast). Click on the slideshow above for larger views of the images.

Perhaps the coolest part was that I had incredible access because I had an “on-field” pass that got me out there with the players (I was even at a midfield for the coin toss) I pretty much had access to anywhere I wanted to go, and I went pretty much…well…everywhere. What a blast!

For the game I shot two different bodies that were with me all the time; For the wide shots, I used a Canon 5D with a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, and for the long stuff, I shot a new Canon 1D Mark III (what an incredibly sweet camera, by the way!), with a 400mm f/4 with Image Stabilization, supported with a Gitzo monopod. It was a load to carry around, but it was absolutely worth it!

All the long shots were taken at f/4, at 200 ISO, to get a very shallow depth of field, and the wide shots where also at 200 ISO but mostly at f/5.6 or f/8 to get more detail in the background. All the shots were imaged on Lexar digital film.

A big thanks to Bucs Team Photographer Paul Abell, who is just a terrific shooter (and Lightroom User), for his gracious hospitality, and to his wonderful assistant Patrick who helped make sure I didn’t get leveled by a 280 lb. linebacker. Also thanks to Paul and Dave Carlson at Canon for the two photos of me you see in the slideshow above.

Here’s what’s up as we head into the weekend:

• How ’bout we start with some photographic inspiration by stopping for two minutes to check out the brilliant work of photographer Erik Almas. Great images, and very nicely-executed Photoshop technique. Here’s the link (It will start your Friday off right).
• Peachpit Press has a contest going on called “The $1,000 Question” (the logo is shown above) where they asked a number of photographers (yours truly included), what they would tell a friend to buy if they only had $1,000 to spend on digital photography. There are five different short video advice clips, and just by watching them, and voting on which package you’d like to have yourself, you’re entered into the grand prize giveaway of (you guessed it), that $1,000 in digital photography gear you voted on. Watch the clips, and enter Peachpit’s contest right here.
• Here’s a link to a very interesting blog from a photo editor at a major magazine. It’s called “A Photo Editor’s Blog” and I have to say, even if you’re not interested in submitting your work for publication to a major mag, the ideas and perspective shared there about how to submit, your portfolio, what works/what doesn’t, etc. is really fascinating. Definitely worth checking out (here’s the link once again).
• I have right around 1,100 people joining me next Tuesday at the Javits Center in New York City for my Photoshop CS3 Power Tour one-day seminar, and if you haven’t made plans to join me for the day; it’s not too late! Click here for details and to snag a seat. Hope to see you there!
• I hope to be posting some shots from a very special shoot I have lined up for this weekend, and if I get anything, you’ll see it here on Monday morning (I’m keeping my fingers crossed). :)

That’s it for today. Hope everybody has a great weekend, and we’ll see you in New York next week (ya know….or not).

We’ve just totally updated the online home of Layers Magazine (The how-to magazine for everything Adobe; available on newsstands nationwide) with an all-new look and feel. But beyond that, the new site features some very cool things, most notably a brand new daily blog from LayersTV co-host RC Concepcion; a new Photoshop Killer Tip video tutorial posted each day from Photoshop guru Matt Kloskowski, and it’s also the home of the Adobe Creative Suite how-to show; Layers TV (you can watch each weekly episode of LayersTV right there on the home page).

Besides the fresh new look, LayersMagazine.com has loads of tutorials on all the Adobe Creative Suite apps, including InDesign, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Photoshop and more! It’s really pretty slick, and RC’s blog and Matt’s Killer Tips make it worth a daily stop for sure. Check it out today; here’s the link.

The “Call for Entries” goes out today for the 2nd annual worldwide “Photoshop User Awards” competition, (sponsored by Photoshop User magazine), and if you’re this year’s “Best of Show” winner, we’re sending you and a friend on a trip to beautiful Maui, Hawaii (including round-trip airfare, hotel, and daily expenses) to get you totally inspired to have your work featured as the cover art for an issue of Photoshop User magazine. Besides the grand prize, there are also thousands of dollars in other prizes and winners in a variety of different categories. The contest is open to any Photoshop user, anywhere in the world, but you can’t win if you don’t enter, so for all the details, visit PhotoshopUserAwards.com. Good luck everybody!