Thursday News (and my Rock Studio Tutorial Goes Live)

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Hi everybody. It’s Thursday—but before we get to the news, a big thanks to Scott Bourne for his kick-butt tutorial yesterday on bird photography. Nobody’s ever covered that topic here, and I thought his 10 tips were terrific (though he did leave out one of my favorites bird shots of his;  a black & white shot he used in a recent post that I just loved. Here’s the link to see for yourself). Now, here’s what up:

My Rock n’ Roll Studio Shoot’ Tutorial Now Online
The image you see above (of professional model Orsolya Bergman), was shot after I wrapped up a photo shoot for Volume 3 of my Digital Photography Book. I created the 3-up rock shot as a tutorial for the NAPP member Website, where I show the entire process, from the initial set-up and shoot, through the post-processing retouching, and compositing after the fact in Photoshop.

Well, good news; that tutorial is now live online at the NAPP member Website, and you can check it out there (it’s 23 minutes long, but I cover everything from the lighting to the Photoshop stuff). Hope you NAPP members enjoy it! (and if you’re not a NAPP member, why not? Here’s the link for details).

NOTE: My EDP tutorial is scheduled to go live (at NAPP) in just a few weeks.

Making the Top 10 and the Top 5 in One Week. Whoo Hooo!!!!
A big thanks to the Examiner.com, who named this blog one of their “Top 10 Photography Sites” (here’s the link) and to “Beyond Megapixels” who named my blog one of their “Top 5 photography Websites they rely on.” (link to their list). I’m honored that you guys would include me, and a sincere thanks!!!!

My MPIX Pro Journey Continues
I got my first prints back from MPIXPro, and they included a number of shots from my Black Hawk helicopter shoot (see Tuesday’s post) and they did an phenomenal job. I had the one of Lt. Ozburn walking away as a metallic print, mounted on a black foam core, and it just looked great (in fact, it looked better than the shot I took. I can’t believe what that metallic finish did for the image!!! Hey—I’m not complaining—if their printing makes my image look better than it really did, I’m totally OK with that). Anyway, I received this round of images the very next day after I ordered them (Terry White just got approved as an MPIX Pro customer last week, and I told him one thing that got him totally hooked—-the next-day Fed Ex shipping for MPIX Pro customers is only $4. Four bucks! Sweet!).

I also got an acrylic print done as well with one of the image from my Tuscany trip (these are gallery style prints that appear between two clear Plexiglas sheets, like you’ll see in some photographic gallery exhibits. These are mounted with four brushed aluminum round mounts in each corner which just adds to the gallery look. However, I made a mistake a silly mistake in Photoshop that caused the image to come out differently than I had imagined.

I ordered a 12″x12″ acrylic frame, and I wanted my image to appear “floating” in the center of the frame, with the area around it clear. In Photoshop, I made a new 12″x12″ document, and then I put my 7″x7″ square image centered within it, and forgot (ugh), to delete the background layer, so my image printed with a white background (not MPIX Pro’s fault—that was my fault. I created it with a white background, so they printed it with a white background). Just a heads up in case you order one yourself (even the one with the white background looks great—-it’s just not what I was going for). What I should have done was just made a 7″x7″ image in the first place, and then it would have floated automatically in a 12″x12″ frame. Double Ugh. Anyway, just an update for you guys on how my move to MPIX Pro is going.

The “Live Concert Shoot” Pre-Con Gets Even Cooler!
Now that Nikon Professional Services (NPS) is officially sponsoring our Live Concert Shoot workshop at Photoshop World next month in Vegas (taught by concert photographer Alan Hess, with special guess instructor Scott Diussa), Nikon is bringing some extra bodies and some really fast glass for any Nikon shooters in the class who want to try some new fast gear. They’re also sending an NPS tech rep to answer your question right there on the spot. If you’re thinking of being a part of this, there are only about 9 spots left, so snag one now before it’s sold out! (Here’s the link with details).

There’s Still Time
Want to go to Vegas, and be a part of the world’s largest Photoshop training event? I’m teaching some really cool classes (including two classes on portrait retouching, and one on Creative Print Layouts in Lightroom).

Plus, Matt will be there. Dave wiil be there. Corey, RC, Deke, Ben, Moose, Jack Davis, Katrin, McNally, Julieanne, Russell, Jack and Ed, Bert, Eddie (HCIET!), and even more of nothing but the best and most talented Photoshop instructors and photographers (Jay will be there), in the world.

They’ll be all there for one reason—–to teach you their latest stuff. To give you the edge. To make you better, more creative, more marketable, more valuable, and to take your career to a whole new level.

We’ll all be there! You can be, too! There’s still time. Here’s the link.

That’s it for this Thursday.
Have a really kick butt day and don’t let the Goobers get you down! :)

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