Happy Birthday Photoshop!
20 years? Yes! It was released in February 19, 1990.
Here’s a link to all of the release dates through CS2 in 2005.
And a fun article written by Jeff Schewe in 2000 about the history of Photoshop.
Photoshop changed photography.
Photoshop changed my life.
How has your life changed because of Photoshop?
NAPP (The National Association of Photoshop Professionals) will be hosting a celebration of Photoshop’s 20th Anniversary at the Palace of the Fine Arts Theater in San Francisco. The event will feature Adobe’s senior vice president of Creative Solutions, John Loiacono, as well as vice president of Photoshop Product Management, Kevin Connor, Photoshop co-creator Thomas Knoll, Adobe creative director Russell Brown. NAPP’s entire team Scott Kelby, Dave Cross, RC Concepcion, Matt Koslowski, Corey Barker, and many others will be there. Over a thousand people are expected to attend.
The event starts at 7:30 pm tonight.
You can see the live webcast here.
See Scott Kelby’s report here.
“Can’t remember your shortcuts? No worries. Introducing the Adobe Shortcut App, an amazing new tool from Adobe that lets you find and gather the shortcuts you need on your desktop. So they’re right where you need them, when you need them, allowing you to create your masterpieces with ease.”
You get a full list. You can make your own lists. I don’t find a list of shortcuts I already know useful. But I do find a list of shortcuts I’m currently trying to commit to memory very useful.
Get this application here. It’s free!
Learn more with my Lessons, DVDs, and Workshops.
Camera Raw 5.6 and Lightroom 2.6 Available on Adobe Labs.
Here’s the link to ACR 5.6.
Here’s the link to Lightroom 2.6.
If you’re using Lightroom 3 read the notes before downloading/installing.
Find more Lightroom details on Lightroom Journal.
Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Public Beta is now available.
Download it now.
Highlights include …
1 Importing has been redesigned
2 Collections panel in the Develop Module
3 Better Noise Reduction
4 Grain feature
5 Improved vignetting controls
6 Drag and Drop Publishing to the Web
7 Watermarking
8 Export Slideshows with music
9 Custom Print Package for creating print layouts
10 Change the background color of prints
Find over 12 useful video tutorials on the new features at NAPP’s Lightroom 3 Learning center here.
Find Seth Resnick and Jamie Spritzer’s D-65 free PDF here.
It’s important to think about how you use star Ratings (in Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom). Not everyone uses them the same way. However you decide to use them, you should use them consistently. Otherwise, when you browse multiple folders, you’ll have to interpret the same symbols differently in different contexts. That gets confusing fast!
I like the 5 star rating system. It helps make useful distinctions with only a touch more granularity than 3 levels of distinction – typically high, medium and low. It doesn’t get as granular at 10 levels of distinction, so you can cut to the chase fast. It’s used in other venues like restaurants and hotels so it’s familiar. Still, I don’t find using 1 and 2 star ratings useful for ranking the quality of images; I have no use for images that are below average. The images use are either good – 3, better – 4, or excellent – 5. So, I use 1 and 2 stars for something else. I use 1 star to identify a good idea in a substandard exposure or composition; I’ll try and use the idea later with better material. I use 2 stars to identify images that are good for composites; the exposures are fine but the composition is unfinished.
How do you use star ratings?
Comment here.
We discuss this and many other subjects in my field workshops.
Learn more about composition in my field workshops.
Upcoming dates include …
8/9-15 – Iceland … 10% discount ends June 20.
10/16-19 – Fall Foliage … 15% discount ends August 15.
Adobe’s John Loiacono, Russell Brown, and John Nack gave a great overview of all the key new CS4 features making a compelling case for upgrading. They noted that there have been many free enhancements to the product line since the release, including great updates for Camera Raw. If you upgraded, but didn’t get these updates, get them! And there’s a new utility that let’s you make your own custom panels – Configurator. NAPP has made a new panel to help make watermarking your images a breeze. It’s free to members.
Missed the event? See it here!
Check these other blogs for co-coverage of the event.
Corey Barker
John Paul Caponigro
RC Concepcion
Dave Cross
Jim Divitale
Laurie Excell
Martin Evening
Richard Harrington
Scott Kelby
Matt Koslowski
Deke McClelland
Joe McNally
John Nack
Moose Peterson
Jeff Schewe
Colin Smith
Ben Willmore
David Ziser
Find out more about Photoshop World here.
Precons at Photoshop World XVII start today.
We’re coblogging again. Presenters will try and make one post a day of a highlight.
I haven’t even started my Epson Print Academy Precon (today from 1-5 with Rodney and Schewe) yet and I’ve had a highlight. RC Concepcion, Matt Koslowski, Corey Barker and I were discussing shooting for HDR for their demo during their Precon session. RC had scouted locations and remarked that crowds might be a problem. So I offered an idea. Shoot 3 shots for each bracketed exposure (three each for low, medium and high). First merge the moving people out. Then use the remaining three merges for the HDR merge. This stuff gets you thinking – in new ways. I love it! I’ll be do this in my workshop in Palms Springs next week. Someone will let you know how it goes. When they do you’ll find a link here.
You can see what other presenters share each day by accessing these links.
Here’s a list of everyone who coblogged last year. Check back for more links each day.
Corey Barker
John Paul Caponigro
RC Concepcion
Dave Cross
Jim Divitale
Laurie Excell
Martin Evening
Richard Harrington
Scott Kelby
Matt Koslowski
Deke McClelland
Joe McNally
John Nack
Moose Peterson
Jeff Schewe
Colin Smith
Ben Willmore
David Ziser
Find out more about Photoshop World here.
Check out the Epson Print Academy here.
Check out my Workshops series here.
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.
Adobe has entered into the world of online social networking with Adobe Groups.
“Adobe user groups provide a forum of support and technology to business and creative professionals of all levels and professions. Whether you’re a business user, designer, seasoned developer, or just starting out — Adobe user groups strengthen community, increase networking, unveil the latest technology innovations, and reveal the techniques that turn novices into experts, and experts into gurus.
The Adobe groups site provides a place on Adobe.com where community members can create a profile, join Adobe user groups and connect with other members of the Adobe community. The Adobe designer, developer and mobile communities are represented on Adobe groups as are Adobe employees and Adobe product teams. Go to Adobe groups today and start building connections within the Adobe community.”
Adobe Groups makes it easy for you to find, join, participate in user groups – worldwide. Virtually all languages are supported. You can even start your own group! Adobe Groups provides tools to help make user group management easier so you can focus on participating and creating content, not managing it. You’ll find user groups, personal profiles, event calendars, and even job boards. Anybody can join. All you need is an adobe membership idea, which is free and easy to set up.
Learn more in this online video edition of Adobe Edge.
Find our more about Adobe User Groups here.
Find or join a group here.
Are you a member? Comment about your experience here!