what would david do?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to work we go. Not sure what kind of work these little bugs do but with bright orange eyes and a face like a Boston Terrier you’d probably get out of the way.

Canon Rebel XT 60mm Macro 1/200 @ f11 ©David A Rogers

Recently I was working with a photographer to create a look from a “Toy Camera”. You know, the Diana’s and the Holga’s. Whats odd to me, almost funny in fact, is the act of taking an image with a five or six thousand dollar camera system and making the image look like it came from a camera system retailing for less than $50. Surprisingly its not a system thats actually dead despite the progression of the digital world. Holga recently released a 135mm version.

Despite the fact that the cameras were never designed to have vignetted edges and fuzzy images, that is exactly what they have become so favored for. Not to mention the happy accidents that couldnt possibly be predicted, such as double exposures or ghosting light leaks.

High Technology?

This presents the challenge of not only how to repeat something but also how to control it. Thats where the digital format rocks. We have such minute control over alost every aspect of the image it often leads us to spend far longer at the computer and come up with far more iterations of the same image.

But once we decide the look or style we can easily repeat it and perhaps tweak it, so you can have a series of images that look like they were the result of happy accidents but not too dissimilar from each other.

Using Photoshop actions, smart objects and Lightrooms ACR controls the process is surprisingly simple. The decision making and knowing when to stop, on the other hand, is not so obvious.

PhotoshopWorld - Boston March 25-27 2009

Number 9 - The Guru Awards

The Guru Awards are only given to PhotoshopWorld attendees entering the best and most creative imagery in the following categories,

Photography Category

Photography edited or corrected within Photoshop, including portrait, wedding photography, outdoor and nature photography, travel photography, commercial photography, photo journalism, panoramas, etc…

Illustration Category

Original art drawn or created from scratch in Photoshop, including photorealistic images and cartoon images.

Artistic Category

Artistic or painterly images created using Photoshop.

Photo Restoration Category

Restoring or repairing a damaged image - ie: ripps, scratches, etc.

Photo Retouching Category

Retouching people, landscapes, architectural renderings, photographic special effects, etc.

Commercial Category

Photoshop art used in brochures, flyers, advertising images, logos created in Photoshop, print ads, Web sites, posters, game designs, slides used in presentations, environmental graphics, multimedia design, etc.

Photo Montage Category

Combining multiple images in Photoshop.

Take a look at Last Years winners (PSW Las Vegas)

You can enter up to 3 pieces (total) in any of the categories. Winners will see their work featured in PhotoshopUser magazine. Entries must be received by March 9 2009, there is no fee but you must be an attendee of the Photoshop World Conference.

I’ll See you in Boston. More Details and yes, I will be entering some work.

Other reasons:

• Portfolio reviews and Help Desk Live
• The Guru Awards

PhotoshopWorld - Boston March 25-27 2009

is a gathering of professional and non professional creatives focussed on one thing -

“How can I Improve my use of Photoshop”

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) organizes two of these conventions annually, one for the west coast and one for the east. Over the next few weeks I will be posting some of the top reasons you should consider attending.

Number 10 - Portfolio Reviews and Help desk LIVE!

Where else can you get feedback, in person, from industry professionals. If you’ve ever wondered if your work is any good or even if you are headed in the right direction, show up with your portfolio to have it reviewed one on one with someone that knows what they are talking about. It’s all very well if Mom likes it but she would like anything you do, remember the ashtray you made in 5th grade? Actually I didnt go to school in the U.S. so I dont know what age you are in the fifth grade or even if you should be making ashtrays but you get the idea, right?

Can’t find an answer to why Photoshop does this when you meant to do that? Well now is your chance to nail the Help Desk team and demand answers! Or just stick around and listen to what others are asking, either way you’ll gain some insight to the wonderful world of Photoshop.

See you in Boston. More Details

We all know a bunch of shortcuts for our everyday programs and if you use photoshop everyday then you probably know some that your mates don’t since the program has so many uses for different fields and as creatures of habit we tend to stick well to what we know.

But, if you really want the chance to know more shortcuts than you’ll ever remember just check this out. Trevor Morris has put together an extremely comprehensive list of shortcuts for CS4 and also kindly (smart) noted which are new to CS4 and which are only available in CS4.

How comprehensive? 4 pages worth at around 90 lines a page! Thats a lot. Why should you use shortcuts? Well basically, time is money. Shortcuts will allow you to work much faster but simply knowing that there is a shortcut for x may encourage you to do x. So download the files, print them and have them handy for those times when you have a few minutes to scan it over.

You will also find a custom shortcuts file that adds and tweaks some keystrokes. Thanks Trevor.