At our meetings we cover a wide range of topics, including:
- Basic editing of digital images
- Actions, Effects and Plugins for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements
- Color management techniques for editing and printing
- Equipment and software selection
- Photographic composition and lighting
- Printing techniques for digital images
- Restoration of old photographs
- Workflow for the digital darkroom
To see the agenda for the upcoming meeting, Click here...
To receive
our monthly newsletter send your name and email address to: disigleader@svcs.net
Hewlett
Packard is Looking for a Few Good Evaluators
Hewlett-Packard's
Imaging and Printing Organization is looking for people to
evaluate our prototype products in their home or office. These evaluations
are performed with your computer along with an imaging and printing
device or software that is supplied by Hewlett-Packard. If you are
interested in being considered for upcoming HP digital camera and
printer Beta and Delta programs, please take a few moments to answer
a quick survey located at
the
VOConline feedback center. It should
not take more than 5 minutes or so to complete. They are looking
for a wide range of testers, including people who are new to digital
photography and want a simple point and shoot solution. They are
looking for people who are the primary family photo taker and who
consider it their responsibility to capture those memories. You will
be contacted as programs become available that match your background
and responses.
PhotoWorks
and Picasa
PhotoWorks,
an Internet-based digital photo-publishing company, announced that it
is offering users of Google's Picasa Web Albums
an
array of new ways to enjoy their photos. People who upload their
photos to a Picasa Web Album can now order high-quality prints and personalized
photo gifts such as mugs, mouse pads, ornaments, t-shirts and canvas
prints from PhotoWorks by clicking the "Order Prints" button
within the Picasa Web Albums user interface.
Software
for finding Web photos
Swedish
start-up Polar Rose aims to
make
it easy to find photos of familiar faces online, solving difficult
Web search issues while potentially raising new privacy concerns. Polar
Rose said it plans to offer free software to make photos searchable
on both personal computers and across the Web by analyzing the contents
of pictures with pattern recognition technology to locate specific faces
within them.
Akvis
releases Sketch plug-in v.2.1
AKVIS
LLC announces the release of AKVIS Sketch plug-in v.2.1 for
Windows and Macintosh. The revolutionary algorithm allows converting
a photo into a pencil sketch in a few mouse clicks. Different
from similar standard filters built in the popular photo editing
software that offer an approximate sketch, Akvis Sketch provides
results that can be tweaked to your personal taste and come
very close to hand-drawn works of a human artist. You can make
any photo look like B&W or color drawing, imitate the technique
of graphite or color pencil, charcoal or watercolor painting. AKVIS
Sketch plugin is compatible with Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop
Elements, Corel Painter, Corel Photo-Paint, and Paint Shop
Pro, ACD FotoCanvas, and Ulead PhotoImpact.
A 10-day trial version is available.
Digital
imaging contest
PhotoWorkshop.com
and Adobe announced the fifth annual
Digital
Imaging Competition. The competition will be hosting two categories,
Photo Illustration, for images that take strong advantage of Adobe Photoshop's
image editing features, and Lightly Manipulated, for generally "straight" photography,
enhanced in Photoshop via cropping, color correction, etc.
The contest
runs from December 7, 2006 through February 28th, 2007.
Online
Photoshop CS2 course
The
National Association of Photoshop Professionals proudly announced the
release of
Photoshop
CS2 for Beginners, a 21-day online training course. Hosted by the
Senior Developer of Education and Curriculum for NAPP, Dave Cross, the
class takes you through a full range of Photoshop functions, tools and
techniques; from creating workspaces, to making Selections, to working
with Layers, and more.
January Special
at Calypso Imaging
In
celebration of our
move to Santa Cruz and to kick off the
new year we are offering a
15% discount from
the prices listed on our web site on all services. (not
including framing, mounting, laminating or workshops).
For local and visiting clients we will add an additional
10% discount
during the month of January when you come into our lobby
and sign our guest book.
Our new address:
256 Potrero St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(just off River St. and opposite the entrance to the sash
Mill)
(map)
Plans for 2007:
An extensive offering
of
one to five day image workshops spread throughout the year.
Some of the instructors we anticipate: Charles Cramer, Bill
Atkinson, Dan Heller, Barbara Brundage, Phil Borgess, Michael
Frye, Justin Black, Joe Hoppa, Youssef Ismail, Scott Peck, Sean Duggan,
Mark Gottleib, Erik Peterson. We will be adding workshop dates over
the next few months. Call us for class schedules or check our workshop
section on our web site.
Our emphasis is on quality
services in the areas of Fine Art, Wildlife, Landscape, and Travel imagery.
A large percentage of our employees are artists and we look
forward to presenting a selection of their images at Calypso
and on-line.
Grand opening party! We are putting the finishing
touches on our new space and when that is done we will invite you all
to a party and tour the lab. Stay tuned and we will let you know when
all is ready. In the mean time stop by, sign the guest book and get
your additional 10% January discount.
Bruce
Fraser dies at 52
Sadly,
on Saturday, December 16th,
Bruce
Fraser - best-selling author, internationally recognized
Adobe® Photoshop® trainer,
Photoshop® Hall of Famer, and co-founder and principal of Pixel
Genius LLC - passed away in San Francisco after battling
terminal lung cancer. Only a week before, he had been named
the recipient of the first NAPP Lifetime Achievement Award.
Bruce was one of the world's most leading authorities on
color and digital imaging, and is the co-author of the
award-winning
Real
World Photoshop series, as well as the bestselling books
Real
World Color Management and
Real
World Camera Raw.
Permanently
turning off the automatic Adobe Photo Downloader
We're
very big fans of the new
Adobe Photoshop Elements
5.0 product. We'll
be giving the product ongoing coverage here at Connected Photographer
Magazine because we think it's such an excellent value. There
is one complaint, though, we have about Elements. It's really
just a nit, and it's easy to fix. When you install Elements,
the program installs something called the Adobe Photo Downloader. The
Photo Downloader automatically searchs for and downloads photos from
attached card readers, cameras, or mobile phones. The minor gotcha about
Photo Downloader is that it loads automatically when Windows XP launches,
and it takes up almost 2MB of RAM. By following these simple instructions,
you can quickly reclaim almost 2MB of your system's RAM. It's not a
huge amount, but every little bit adds up.
Adobe Releases Photoshop CS3 Public Beta
Adobe
Systems Incorporated introduced a beta version of Adobe® Photoshop® CS3 software, the next release of the world standard in digital imaging, on Friday, December 15th. Adobe is delivering a widely available Photoshop CS3 beta to enable customers to more easily transition to the latest hardware platforms, particularly Apple´s new Intel-based systems. The beta is available as a Universal Binary for the Macintosh platform, as well as for Microsoft® Windows® XP
and Windows Vista computers. Photoshop CS3 beta will expire soon after the
launch of Photoshop CS3 in Spring 2007. The software can be downloaded at http://labs.adobe.com.
Important: A licensed copy of Photoshop CS2, Creative Suite 2, Production Studio, Adobe Web Bundle, or Adobe Video Bundle is required to use this technology beyond a two-day trial period. After installation you will be prompted to enter a CS3 beta serial number for Photoshop.To obtain a beta serial number, visit www.adobe.com/go/photoshopcs3beta_serialnumber and enter your CS2 serial number. Although the beta is available only in English, all language versions of Photoshop and the products mentioned above qualify to participate.
Packed with new features, Photoshop CS3 beta also includes a pre-release version of a major upgrade to Adobe Bridge, as well as a preview release of the all-new Adobe Device Central. Photoshop customers can use Adobe Device Central to design, preview, and test compelling mobile content, created specifically for smaller screens. This new tool, integrated in the Photoshop CS3 beta, simplifies and accelerates the creation of mobile content through a preview environment and built-in device profiles.
For more information and tutorial videos on Adobe Photoshop CS3, visit
the National Association
of Photoshop Professionals website.
Steven
Johnson - The Way of a Digital Photography Pioneer (audio
interview) 
In "Stephen
Johnson on Digital Photography," the renowned photographer writes
about his journey on the "bleeding edge of digital photography's
evolution."
In
this podcast, Johnson talks to Sara Peyton about
his career, photo techniques, photo ethics in a digital age,
and why, for him, taking landscape photos became synonymous with caring
about the wild places he wandered in. (20 minutes 27 seconds)
To hear more interviews, go to the O'Reilly and Friends
FOOcast
website.
New Learning
Centers for Photoshop Elements 5 and Premiere Elements 3 
Subscribers
to Photoshop
Elements Techniques are among the first Elements
users nationwide to get in-depth information about the newly
upgraded Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and Adobe Premiere
Elements 3.0 software. Adobe has made major upgrades
to the software, and we want to let you in on all the new
features and upgrades for doing everything from retouching
and color correcting your photos to sharing them. Check out the brand
new Learning Centers in the
subscriber sectionwhere you'll find:
- Exclusive subscriber access to 11 awesome video tutorials
- A Photoshop Elements 5.0 review by Matt Kloskowski
- Photoshop Elements 5.0 frequently asked questions
- A video overview of Premiere Elements 3.0
Adobe
Photoshop Lightroom beta 4 software available for download If
you consider yourself a serious photographer then Adobe would
love to hear from you. They've recently launched the Windows
beta version of their powerful new software program called
Lightroom™ and
they would like you to become involved in the development process.
As a Wacom pen user, your input is especially valued because
you understand the importance of intuitive tools and the need
for an efficient workflow. So if you're a pro-level photographer,
download
the beta version of this software today and get actively involved
in helping shape the future of Lightroom.
Perpetual
Upgrade License available for Thumbs Plus
Perpetual upgrades for ThumbsPlus Pro and Home Network
(any version) are available to registered users as an
upgrade for
only
50$US! New users can
buy ThumbsPlus
with a perpetual license. This will provide you with upgrades
at no additional cost for the life of the product. When major
updates are released, we will provide you with a new registration
code automatically. Also, with any ThumbsPlus new order or
upgrade, you can now receive
CapSnapper for
only
10$US!
SmugMug
provide online photo sharing directly from Photoshop Elements 5
SmugMug announced a collaboration with Adobe to give
Photoshop Elements 5.0 software users a simple way to share
photos online. "Photoshop Elements 5.0 software can make ordinary
photos gorgeous," said Chris MacAskill, co-founder and
President, SmugMug Inc. "Why put important photos in
generic albums when you can flaunt them in style?"
The
new Photoshop Elements 5.0 software offers new and more flexible
ways for consumers to organize files, edit images with ease
and share photos in engaging and innovative ways. Within
Photoshop Elements 5.0 software consumers have the option
to send photos directly to SmugMug, which offers stunning
online albums. The only requirement is an Internet connection
and a SmugMug account.
How much time
do YOU spend?
In
a recent poll conducted by the Plugin Site, 70% of
more than 320 respondants said that they
spend between 2 and 30 minutes editing a single photograph.
Another 18% invested between 45 minutes and 4 hours reworking
their image
. Correcting
and enhancing photos seems to be quite important for most of the
people who voted in the poll.
Digital
Focus newsletter from PC World
Dave
Johnson's expert tips promise to enhance your expertise with
your digital camera, scanner, printer, and image editing software.
The latest issue is entiltled "How to Take Sharper Pictures".
Other issues have included: "Messing with Perspective", "Making the
Most of Aperture Mode" and "Selling Your Digital Pictures".
Monthly
Newsletter and FREE issue of VideoMaker magazine 
Pinnacle
is offering a monthly newsletter to users of Pinnacle Studio
and Avid products. It includes upgrade announcements, special
offers, podcasts and tutorials. This month's installment
of Studio Technique will start at the end - the credits.
What better way to wrap up your great looking movie than with
great looking credits. We'll start with the basics, and then
provide plenty of advanced techniques for getting that professional
look.
Crystal
Ball Plugin
At
the July DISIG meeting Maury demonstrated the FREE Crystal
Ball Plugin for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. This plugin
is available
at the
Shutterfreaks
website .
A number of other interesting free actions can be found on
this website.
For a demonstration of how the plugin was used to create the "Atomic
Energy"
image, visit
Adrienne Cleveland's
website.
JAlbum ver.
6.5 is now available
JAlbum 6.5 with
file sharing! JAlbum is now fitted with a small web
server that allows you to instantly share your albums with friends.
This means no more publishing. The catch is of course that you need
to keep your computer online and JAlbum running in the background for
the albums to be available, but in situations where you just want to
quickly share last nights party pictures with friends while chatting
online, this is perfect! (JAlbum will run quietly from the icon tray
when sharing albums)
Fine Art
Printing Workflow (Doug Broussard's Presentation)
Our speaker from the June and July meetings, Doug Broussard, has
provided a link to the slides from his presentation on "Fine Art
Printing Workflow". Two versions are available, a PowerPoint presentation
with speaker's notes and a Flash version.
10
Free Plug-ins to Enhance Photoshop 
Photoshop
plug-ins do a variety of things, such as creating new image effects
or performing actions that might otherwise be impossible. Although
Photoshop has a wealth of built-in features, designers and power users
sometimes want more, and some plug-ins can help out novices who may
otherwise have to wrestle with a confusing series of menus or dialog
boxes.PC Magazine editors have assembled their top 10 favorite Photoshop
plug-ins, all of which fall within the
filters category—by
far the most extensive group of plug-ins. Filters are pretty easy to
set up in Photoshop. All you have to do is install or copy the filter
in Photoshop's Filter folder, and then they'll load whenever Photoshop
boots. They can be quickly accessed under the Filters menu. Many of these
filters can also be used for older versions of Photoshop, and even
other graphics apps such as Paint
Shop Pro or PhotoPaint.
FREE
Subscription to DV magazine Since 1993, DV magazine has served
the information needs of professionals involved in the production,
postproduction and delivery of digital video. Written and produced
by experts in the field, DV provides objective, hard-hitting,
in depth
product information.
Free subscriptions are available to qualified readers.
FREE
Sample Photoshop Elements Video Tutorials Adobe® Photoshop® Elements
Techniques newsletter and website is offering free sample
image-editing video tutorials in their Learning Center. These
videos demonstrate how simple it is to create great looking photos
in Adobe® Photoshop® Elements.
Unlock the secrets of this amazing program and learn to edit
your digital photos the easy way with
Adobe® Photoshop® Elements
Techniques newsletter and website. You will learn,
step-by-step, how to do everything from color correcting and
sharpening your photos, to creating the most requested photographic
special effects. View the free
video
tutorials or
take the “Get Started Now”
tour
of the website.
FREE
SmartCurve plugin for Elements
The
SmartCurve plugin from EasyFilter was developed for Photoshop
Elements as a compensation for the missing Curves command, but
you can use it in Photoshop and other applications, too. It supports
- Curves adjustment of RGB and gray images.
-
Full support of 8 and
16 bits color depth.
-
Use of the more common gamma correction.
-
Smart-display of the live
histogram.
-
Auto level correction by setting of shadows and highlights.
-
Remove
of color casts by setting of multiple midtones.
-
Highlighting of clipped
colors.
-
Batch Mode for applying a curve on multiple images.
A free software download from Google.
Picasa is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all
the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically
locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and
sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you will
recognize. You can drag and drop to arrange your albums and make labels
to create new groups. Picasa makes sure your pictures are always organized.
Picasa
also makes advanced editing simple by putting one-click fixes
and powerful effects at your fingertips. And Picasa makes it
a snap to share your pictures – you
can email, print photos at home, make gift CDs, instantly share
via Hello™,
and even post pictures on your own blog.
N.B. The following information was received from
one of our members (Irwin
Bernhardt):
I figured out something about Picasa 2.0. Unfortunately, when you
save to a slideshow, it appears as though the original photo's are what
lies below the show, not the edited photos. When I put in a disk
and told the system to import the photo's, it recognized them as duplicates
and showed them in my Picasa without edits. In order to fully preserve
the edits, its appears you have to take a few more steps before you can
get the fully edited pictures to not only display, but be recorded. First,
you need to make a copy of the folder with the edits (that will keep another
folder with the originals. Then you need to "export" that
folder to a file outside Picasa 2.0. That file will have the edits
incorporated. I took a photo and saved a copy and created a new folder
in Picassa 2.0, then I edited the copy to black and white. Then,
I "exported" the photo to my desktop. I opened that photo
with another reader (Microsoft's Photo Image reader). It was as edited
in black and white. I will try then absorbing the edited file back
into Picasa 2.0 and exporting a slide show to a CD. That should give
me both the slideshow with edits and underlying pictures with edits too.
The following information was provided by Picassa Customer
Support:
Picasa Customer Support
How do I save edited pictures?
Picasa does not automatically save the edits you make to the
picture files saved on your hard drive. To save your edited picture,
you'll need to select the photo, click the "Export" button
(which is like "Save As"), create a new JPG image on
your computer. The "Save a Copy" feature is faster
and easier for single images. Export is better for batches, and/or
resizing.
Picasa works this way in order to help preserve the image quality
of your original images. For example, each edit performed to
a JPG image causes the image to be decompressed, and then recompressed
when saved. This means that if you did a red-eye removal, crop,
and enhancement on one picture, it would be decompressed and
recompressed three times--each time your image is degraded further
if Picasa saved incremental edits to your computer.
