Fine Art Workflow – Seminar – Barriers of Flexibility


Today I present a seminar Fine Art Workflow with R Mac Holbert at PhotoPlus East in New York City.
Flexibility is one of the things we both emphasize in our seminars and workshops. Flexibility is an essential quality to preserve in your worfklow(s). You may change your mind in the future. You might have missed something in the past; you might learn something new; you might form a different opinion; things change and your workflow and files should be able to accommodate change. (Of course, this means allowing deliberate change not introducing unintentional change.) You want to be able to make a change as quickly and precisely as possible, without having to change everything
or repeat all your other successes. The practices you adopt in your workflow will determine how much and what kind of flexibility you preserve. Knowing what to avoid is as important as knowing what to do. Avoid practices that limit flexibility.
Here are 11 barriers.
1   resample resolution (lowering is worse than raising)
2   lower bit depth (8-16 bit)
3   convert to smaller gamut editing space
4   crop (mask instead)
5   erase pixels
6   work directly on the background
7   rasterize type
8   rasterize Smart Object and Smart Filters
9   apply masks permanently
10   merge layers
11   flatten
Can you name more? Comment here!
Check out my free download Barriers of Flexibility here.
Check out PhotoPlus here.
Check out my workshops here.

R Mac Holbert – New DVD!


R Mac Holbert joins the Acme Educational with his DVD series R. Mac Holbert’s “Nash Editions Master Class”. Preorder prices ($39.95 until it ships, $49.95 thereafter) for the first DVD – The Dirty Dozen: Eliminating Common Imaging Mistakes – are available for a limited time only. Order here.
Mac and I have presented the Fine Art sessions of the Epson Print Academy Track 2 together many times. And I was there during the recording of this DVD. Mac’s material just keeps getting better and better. You might have to watch the DVD more than once to get Mac’s subtle dry humor. But, in a flash, you’ll get the no nonsense techniques born out of years of in the trenches that he presents here. I highly recommend it!
Here’s more from the Acme website.
When it come to fine art printing R. Mac Holbert along with Graham Nash started it all. If it was not for them fine art inkjet printing would not be what is today. Simply put Nash Editions is THE name in fine art printing and R. Mac Holbert is the talent behind that name. This DVD is the first of R. Mac Holbert’s Nash Editions Master Class. This is a truly unique opportunity to have access to the knowledge of one of the pioneering innovators of digital imaging.
Have you ever printed an image only to find you’ve overlooked a minor but critical mistake? Or have you made a small print, only to find a larger print shows issues that need to be fixed in Photoshop? Whether you print your own images or send them to a service, this Nash Editions Master Class DVD is an invaluable lesson on eliminating twelve common imaging mistakes. Distilled from 18 years of printmaking experience these elementary mistakes are made routinely, not only by the neophyte, but by the seasoned professional as well. Learning to avoid them will save you time, printing costs and ultimately will enable you to more precisely realize your vision on paper.
Learn how to correct contaminated neutrals with only one layer, doing the work of 4 -5 color correction layers. Learn how mid-tone contrast can add dimension to your images. Get these and other techniques on your workflow checklist, integrate them into your workflow and take your images from the ordinary to the extra-ordinary.
Topics include …
Destructive Workflow
Oversharpening
Midtone Contrast
Image Alignment
Imprecise Cropping
Bad Masking
Contaminated Neutrals
Unreasonable File Size
Untagged Files
Cross Purpose Layers
Incorrect Layer Stack
File Extension Issues
Read my conversation with Mac here.
Find out about the workshops I coteach with Mac here.
Stay tuned for our joint PhotoPlus East seminar Fine Art Workflow.