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Colin Smith – Online Video Tips @ PhotoshopCafe


Colin Smith is the force behind PhotoshopCafe a dynamic website/web community where you can also find his high quality training DVDs. Colin also gives 9 useful video tips online – Dotted Lines, Portrait Glow, Straighten Images, Wacom C Panel, Dodge and Burn, Rollover in DW, Connect FTP, Double Glow Text, Text on Cylinder. There free!
Check them out here!
See the face behind the tutorials here at NVIDIA’s Speak Visual.com.
Check out Colin’s DVDs here.
Check out my DVDs here.

Adobe Configurator


Adobe® Configurator is a utility application that helps create custom panels for Adobe Photoshop® CS4. Configurator makes it easy to drag and drop tools, menu items, scripts, actions, and other objects into a panel design, then export the results for use inside Photoshop. These panels leverage the support for Adobe Flash built into Photoshop, making it possible to drag and drop audio, video, images, and even other SWF files into a panel design.
Configurator is great for any Photoshop user who’d like to customize the application interface, without having to learn Flash/Flex/ActionScript. It’s particularly suited to authors, trainers, and other experts who’d like to create panels that make Photoshop easier to use, and who’d like to share those panels with others.
Configurator is free for anyone to use. Running the panels it generates requires installing Photoshop CS4.
Download Adobe Configurator here.
Find out more about Configurator on Principal Product Manager, Adobe Photoshop John Nack’s blog. Type in Configurator in the Search field there.
Download the Configurator guide here.

Artist's Statement – Mandala in Silver & Gold


Like any art form, writing reveals new things every time you engage the process. You can use writing to explore dimensions in images that aren’t immediately obvious.
Here’s an excerpt from the first statement I wrote on Mandala in Silver & Gold. I later wrote a second. I think a third may be useful.
“Surprises often become the start of something new. I find they contain the seeds for a new series or a new subset of an existing series. A latent theme is suddenly made visible. Rosa Celestia is one of those images for me …
I’ve come to know more and more about this image the longer I have lived with it. Yet it still remains a mystery. The fact that I can’t explain it, yet it still moves me, tells me the work is alive. I continue to look and be fascinated by it. I see more every time I return to it. It has become a well to draw from.”
Read two statements on one image here and here.

Ink Info – Agitate Cartridges to Prevent Sedimentation


Sediment in ink can settle so agitating ink that’s been stationary (for more than a month or three) makes sense. Agitate gently, or you may damage the needle valve in the cartridge. You don’t need to do this for ink in a printer, unless you don’t use the printer for a long time. The printers gently rock during use, which provides automatic agitation.
Learn more at the Epson Print Academy.
Learn more in my workshops.

Ink Myth – 2880 Uses More Ink Than 1440


Printing at 2880 and 1440 resolutions uses about the same amount of ink. The difference is 2880 only uses the finest dot (3.5 picoliter) rather than a variable dot structure. (2880 may look a little darker, particularly on matte papers, because the dots tend to bleed together. Use 1440 if you get excessive dot gain – pooling in shadows, spattering in highlights.)
Learn more at the Epson Print Academy.
Learn more in my workshops.

Epson Print Academy – Larry Kaufmann




The videos in the Epson Print Academy are packed with information. Epson’s Larry Kauffmann, a source with over a decade of direct real world insider experience, quickly dispels many myths and provides clear information.
Here’s one tip. Epson printers provide both USB2 and Ethernet. Both are fast enough for the highest quality printing. USB2 has length limitations, so it’s used when printing from a computer near a printer. Ethernet is used to print over longer distances.
As an aside, fast data transfer prevents banding. If you encounter banding check a few things. Check head alignment. Check the cable delivering the data – type and length. Check to see that the computer spooling the data isn’t taxed performing other functions.
Learn more at the Epson Print Academy.
Learn more in my workshops.

Video – Phillips Lighting

When social concerns get mixed with commercial messages you know a sea change is in process.
What does lighting have to do with energy efficiency? A great deal for both big business and individuals.
Support companies who take public stances, act, and deliver real solutions.