John Nack Weighs in on CS4

Software, Software - Photoshop  Comment
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Senior product manager offers a great inside look into the many improvements in CS4.
“I’m a perfectionist, and I deeply, viscerally want to smooth & polish every aspect of Photoshop.  Doing it all in any one cycle is impossible, but I’m proud to say we’ve put a ton of effort into sweating the details in CS4.
You’re going to see tons of flashier features in other write-ups, and of course I’ll cover them here, but for this cycle I want to lead with the little stuff–things you might not read about otherwise, but which can make a big difference while working.”
Read his extensive list of advances in CS4 here.

Adobe CS4 – New Features

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John Loiacono emphasized three key concepts during his keynote address at Photoshop World in Las Vegas. Timesavers (real speed increases), Integration (transparently with Macromedia products), and Cutting Edge (daring new features). Check out my previous post on this event here.
What’s new in Adobe Photoshop CS4?
Here’s a short list.
Adjustments panel
Masks panel
Auto-blending of images
Extended depth of field
360-degree panoramas
Fluid canvas rotation
Industry-leading color correction
Better raw image processing
Improved Adobe Photoshop Lightroom workflow
Efficient file management with Adobe Bridge CS4
Adobe Community Help
More powerful printing options
File display options
Higher performance on very large images (Windows only)
Get more information on all of these items here.
Should you upgrade?
Sometimes it’s just one feature that makes all the difference and makes an upgrade totally worth it.
Which items make big differences for you?
Comment here!
Check the Comments for my number one reason.
Learn Photoshop CS4 in my workshops.

Epson Print Academy – New Dates

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The Epson Print Academy is gearing up for another tour. There are two tracks.
Track I programming includes …
Jack Reznicki seminars and hosts.
Video presentations by top industry experts.
Track II programming includes …
Andrew Rodney    Color Management
Jeff Schewe        Raw Conversion
Greg Gorman     Black and White
Mac Holbert     Fine Art Workflow
J P Caponigro    21st Century Dodging & Burning and The Art of Proofing
Video presentations with Michael Reichmann, Henry Wilhelm, and Epson Professional Product Managers.
Which track should you attend? Find out here.
Nov 8, 2008       Atlanta
Nov 16, 2008     Washington DC
Dec 6 , 2008      New York
Dec 13, 2008     Dallas
Jan 31, 2009      Seattle
Feb 7, 2009       San Francisco
Feb 21, 2009     Los Angeles
Feb 28, 2009     Boston
Mar 14, 2009     Chicago
Mar 21, 2009     Toronto
April 4, 2009      Minneapolis
April 25, 2009    Denver
May 3, 2009       New York
May 9, 2009       Los Angeles/Orange County
May 16, 2009     San Francisco
May 23, 2009     Vancouver
Get more details on dates and locations here.
Track 1 costs $79.95. Track 2 costs $149.95. This is one of the best deals around. Sign up now!
Check out Schewe and Reichmann’s video tutorial here.
Check out Holbert’s DVD The Dirty Dozen here.
Check out my DVDs here.
Check out my Fine Digital Print workshop series here.
If you attended the Epson Print Academy tell us what you liked and what you’re looking forward to. Comment here!

Adobe Announces CS4

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This morning Adobe announced CS4 with a web broadcast demonstrating many new features across the entire product line. In it, John Loiacono (senior vice president of Adobe’s Creative Solutions Business Unit) described CS4 as “The most compelling release in adobe’s history.”
Here are three stunning new Photoshop features.
1    Real time panning and zooming in huge high resolution files (440mp 2gig).
2    Creating spherical 3d images and easily compositing new elements into them.
3    Content aware scaling.
There’s much more!
You can find out about many of the new features on Adobe TV.
Check these videos out.
See Bryan O’Neil Hughes’ – Photoshop Bridge CS4 Feature Tour here.
See Zoranna Gee (Product Manager) show the new CS4 Extended features here.
The Russell Brown Show – Content Aware Scaling here.
The Russell Brown Show – Spherical Panoramas here.
(And yes, all of my workshops and seminars will be updated for Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4.)

John Loiacono Discusses the Future of Photoshop

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Known for his engaging personality, “Johnny L” (senior vice president of Adobe’s Creative Solutions Business Unit) discusses his thoughts on the future of imaging and how Photoshop plays a part of that. He gets it. He really gets it. And he’s got an inside track on future imaging technology. Among the many key ideas he addresses is what I consider to be an extremely important issue, enriching the experience of engaging high density information (beginning of video 2). Check out these videos for a glimpse into the future and one of the minds helping guide us there.
And check back here tomorrow for news on an important announcement from Adobe tomorrow.
Are you ready for something brilliant?



JPC on thirdeyephotozine.com

Creativity, Interviewed  Comment
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Recently Rayhaan Traboulay interviewed me for his online magazine thirdeyephotozine. Here’s an excerpt.
RH I recently had a discussion with a friend about creativity within people. I
find that people either generally “have it” or don’t. I believe that you
can’t really teach it too much. Theres room for improvement and critiques
and so on, but I find it is either innate in someone or it’s not. Would you
agree or no?
JPC I disagree – strongly. To be a successful creative person in any field, it
takes perseverance, intelligence, hard work, skill, talent, and luck – in
that order. Everyone is creative. Different people have different creative
strengths. It helps to find the areas each of us are strongest in and to
develop skills within other areas to become more versatile. Creativity is
not contained to the arts. Some of the most creative people in history and
with us on the planet today work in the fields of science and business. We
all have something to offer. And something to learn from each other.
Do you think you can learn to be more creative? Comment here!
Read the rest of the interview here.
Read more interviews here.
Read and hear my comments on my images here.
Find free PDFs on making artist’s statements here.
Hear my free tips on becoming more creative here.
See my images and get free portable galleries here.

Certificates of Authenticity

Printing  Comment
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How do you reduce forgery? One way is to issue certificates of authenticity. The artist issues a certificate of authenticity with the artwork. There are many ways to handle this. The artist can give the certificate to the client. The artist can keep the certificate on file for clients. Or, the artist can give one to a client and keep a duplicate. Ultimately a certificate can be forged. But holographic seals can’t. The Hahnemühle Certificate of Authenticity (certificates and holographic seals) was designed to help reduce the risk of forgery.
There are many steps you can take to reduce forgery.
1 Share digital files only with trusted sources and post low resolution files to the web
2 Insert copyright information in the file (as a layer, in the file info fields, in metadata).
3 Sign and number all prints(even if issued in an open/unlimited edition). Sign only saleable prints.
4 Keep good records of sales.
5 Note provenance (production history) on the back side of prints.
6 Use certificates and seals.
What other steps do you/could you take to ensure authenticity? Comment here!
Learn this and other tips and techniques in my Fine Digital Print workshops series.

Printing – Finding the Coated Side of the Paper

Printing  Comment
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Finding the side of a paper that’s optimized for printing can sometimes be challenging. Here are a few tips to help.
1 Look for the logo – the logo is always on the back.
2 Compare whites – the coated side is often whiter.
3 Feel the surface – the coated side is smoother.
4 Lick the paper – the coated side sticks more.
5 Feel the edge – paper is cut coated side up leaving a tiny lip/edge on the back side.
If you have other tips for finding the coated side of paper, comment here!
Learn this and other tips and techniques in my Fine Digital Print workshops series.