Epson Print Academy – Chicago – 3/14/2009

Event - Seminar  Comment
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The Epson Print Academy comes to Chicago tomorrow. Both tracks 1 & 2 are full day information packed seminars offered at an unbeatable price.
I’ll be processing one of my new files from Antarctica live during my demos.
Henry Wilhelm will be making a special appearance.
It’s one of the last Epson Print Academy events and the only domestic one of the season; there are only two more after this in Toronto and Vancouver.

Check out the Epson Print Academy here.
Check out my Fine Digital Print Workshops here.

Illuminating Creativity – Lecture at the College of Dupage

Event - Lecture  Comment
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Tonight, for the first time, I’ll be showing new work from my Antarctica January, 2009 voyage. I’ll also reveal a lot about my creative process; camera, software, drawing, and writing technique and how it all goes together. The lecture is at 7 pm at the College of Dupage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois (outside of Chicago). Sponsored by Canon, the lecture is free and open to the public.
See my previous Antarctica posts. Type Antarctica into Search.
Stay tuned here and to Insights for upcoming online releases.
Check out my upcoming field workshops in Palm Springs, Namibia, Maine, and Iceland.

New Adobe Updates

Software  Comment
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Adobe has recently released a number of updates to their core photographic imaging products – Lightroom, Photoshop, and Camera Raw.
Adobe Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 update – February 24, 2009
* A number of issues that could cause slow performance have been addressed.
* Pen barrel rotation with Wacom tablets now works correctly.
* Photoshop now correctly recognizes 3D textures edited by a plug-in.
* The quality of the results of Auto-Blend Layers (Stack Images) has been improved.
* A problem that could result in a crash when pasting formatted text has been fixed.
* A crash that could result from a corrupt font no longer occurs.
Camera Raw 5.3 update – March 3, 2009
This new version of the Camera Raw plug-in replaces the original one that was installed with Adobe® Photoshop® CS4; Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0; and Adobe Premiere® Elements 7.0 software. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.
Lightroom 2.3 update – March 3, 2009
* Additional camera support for the Nikon D3X and Olympus E-30
* Includes several corrections for issues introduced by previous Lightroom 2 releases
Get all the updates here.
Learn about them in my workshops.

Kathy Beal – Alumni – Antarctica

Alumni, Workshop  Comment
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Kathy Beal has a thoroughly unique approach to making images, capturing out of focus fields of color on location and using them as a jumping off point for creating unique compositions in Photoshop. Though still inspired by specific places and their palettes, her images take you to entirely new places with a palette all her own.
Kathy’s one of my long standing alumni who has come so far so fast it’s thrilling to watch! It took a combination of many things to make breathroughts – commitment, research, persistence, risk, courage, feedback, sensitivity, passion, and the most important of all hard work. But she enjoys what she’s doing so much, it doesn’t seem like hard work. She’s become incredibly productive, producing thoroughly unique work. Her growth can only be described as an explosion of creativity.
Check out more of Kathy’s work from Antarctica here.
Check out my workshops here.

William Eggleston

Photographers, Video  Comment
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“Eggleston is the beginning of modern color photography.” – John Szarkowski, Director Emeritus, Photography, MoMA
“It would be difficult to imagine a world according to David Lynch, Gus Van Sant, Juergen Teller or Sofia Coppola without the world according to William Eggleston.” – The Observer
These are dramatic statements that bear further discussion. But Eggleston’s is important work and well worth becoming better acquainted with.
Eggleston Photos

William Eggleston Photographer

William Eggleston In The Real World

Learn more about color in my eBooks, DVDs, and workshops.

Resonance in Red and Gold

Images - Photographs, Images - Statements  Comment
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July 18, 2003

“Many meditation practices suggest gazing at the flow of water, in some cases watching or visualizing a drop of water hit the still surface of a greater body of water. Like many mandalas, Resonance in Red and Gold has a rhythmic centering quality.

The methods of both photographer and painter are married here. The color is an invention. The composition, both representational and abstract, offers a fluid structure to explore the power of color, physically and psychologically.

Red, the warmest color. Is its presence here the reflected glory of the heavens, a display of bodily fluid, or an omen of toxic waste? The power of this image can be found, in part, in tantalizing ambiguity. When looking at this image, I’ve asked myself why red, time and time again. I can’t answer the question. But by asking the questions that surround it I learn to more fully appreciate the presence and power of red.”

Read other artist’s statements here.

Find out more about my workshop The Power of Color here.

Color Theory

Color - Theory, Workshop  Comment
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Color theory can help describe what is perceived more precisely. It offers a language that is shared and reasonably precise. Color theory can help make perception more precise. Language encodes thought and a more precise and nuanced language can lead to more sensitive perception. Color theory can help analyze what makes some color relationships particularly successful and what makes others less successful. It illuminates the dynamic interactions between the elements of color, which can be used to guide decisions in selecting and adjusting color relationships.
Color theory is best used to inform color choices rather than to make them. Theory lays a foundation for exploration (guiding inquiry toward areas with greater potential and away from areas with less potential). It is not a substitute for discovery. Jazz musicians Keith Jarrett and Theolonius Monk mastered music theory, but even they were surprised by their most original compositions; their compositions were informed and empowered by theory but not determined by it. Theory is the sum of what we know, but it does not contain what we do not yet know. It can prime conditions for a breakthrough, but it cannot make one. It can be used to empower a unique or authentic sensibility, but it is not a substitute for one.
Find out more in the current issue of Digital Photo Pro.
Find out more in my color theory ebooks.

NEC Monitors

Tools  Comment
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How much time do you spend looking at a monitor? A lot. Right? So investing in a high quality monitor makes good sense, even for everyday use. If you work with digital images on a regular basis and want to produce great color you know just how important using a high quality monitor is for getting the best results. NEC’s new LCD 90 series are exceptionally high quality monitors. I hesitated to recommend any LCD monitor – until I used these. Now my NEC monitors are the ones I trust most in my studio.
Will Hollingworth (Senior Manager – Product Development for NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc. www.necdisplay.com) offers a number of insightful answers about NEC and monitors.
JP     I hear the average digital photographer spends thousands (or even tens of thousands) of dollars on cameras and lenses but only a few hundred dollars on monitors. And they spend an average of 15-40% of their time behind the lens and 40-80% of their time in front of a monitor. So, how important is a monitor?
WH    It doesn’t make much sense to make a huge investment in camera hardware and then skimp on a monitor of questionable performance … Read More

Solux Lighting

Tools  Comment
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For the photographer light is important from start to finish – capture, editing, printing, and display. Solux offers products designed to give you the highest quality viewing light at surprisingly affordable rates. How much does high quality viewing light affect the way you see things? Dramatically! Recently, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris France joined the list of SoLux users that include the National Gallery of Art, the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Gugenheim and many other museums, galleries and homes. In every case they had to see it to believe it. Once they did, they’ve never looked back (or in any other light). The same thing happened to me; now I only use Solux lighting. See it and you’ll believe it too. (Check out my review and their website for more information.)
Phil Bradfield, PHD, VP-Tailored Lighting Inc. (Solux), provides a number of insightful answers about light and Solux products.
JP    So, there  are three things that are critical in evaluating light. Amount (lux), temperature (Kelvin degrees), and spectral distribution (smooth or spikey).  Solux offers a variety of choices. Help us understand what they are and how to choose between them.
PB    Excellent question JP.  These are very common lighting terms that are important to understand … Read More

Kids

Creativity  Comment
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Kids do the most creative things. My seven year old son asked for the big box my new Epson 9900 printer arrived in. He spent the next half hour quietly working in the gallery. Then he invited my wife to come have her picture made. He’d cut a small flap in one side of the box and put a seat on the inside, got a stack of blank cards, and a box of crayons. Led by the hand, she sat inside. He looked through the flap – and drew her portrait. On the outside of the box he wrote “photo booth”. We just don’t have the heart to take it down. We smile every time we look at it. Want to be more creative? Spend more time with kids. And spend more time being childlike.
Check out my Creativity and Field workshops here.
Check out my Digital Printing workshops here.
Check out the Epson Print Academy here.