Third Annual Scott Kelby’ Photowalk

Recently I had the opportunity to be part of Scott Kelby’s 3rd Annual Worldwide Photowalk on July 24th. The walk I attended was held in Providence Rhode Island. Like always, it is a great way to get out there and meet other photographers and have a good time. This year was no different. I met a lot of great people from my area who share my passion for photography. Some operated studios and photo business’ and some were regular Joe’s like myself who just like to get out there and shoot. I also met some people in my area who ran a “Photo Safari” which is a group that organizes local outings and photo shoots regularly....nice huh?

The whole Photowalk idea was originated by a man named Jeff Revell. Jeff owns and operates a website called PhotoWalk-Pro. The idea is to get a group of photographers together (usually around 50 walkers) and then walk around in predetermined locations for a few hours and afterwords, get together and share their imagery. Alone or with a group, the purpose is still the same and that is to get out there and shoot. It’s a great way to share ideas and boost your own photography skills, not to mention, meet new people who enjoy photography.

Three years ago, Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and the number one selling computer and technology book author, organized the first Worldwide Photowalk to celebrate the release of his book, Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers and to help raise funds for the Springs of Hope Orphanage in Kenya. Their original expectations were blown away.

On the first Photowalk, there were 8,324 photographers registered in over 47 countries. There were Photowalks held in 44 states and over 236 cities worldwide. Over 1 million photos were taken on the first walk, and now it has become an annual event. You can also view entries from other walkers around the country (and the world) on a special Flick’r site dedicated to this event.

This year there were about 1150 walks and over 33 thousand registered walkers attending Worldwide Photowalks around the globe. Did I mention it is also a great way to compete and win some great prizes? All Photowalk leaders (organizers of local walks) receive a copy of Scott’s newest book, (this year was his Lightroom 3 Book for Digital Photographers) and all walkers can submit entries to compete for some really great prizes from sponsors like Adorama and Kelby Training.

Maybe next summer you’ll be able to attend the 4th Annual Photowalk in your area? They’re a lot of fun and great way to meet photographers in your area......Remember, keep shooting and have some fun!

Adobe Configurator – finally customizable Photoshop!

Every now and then I come across a program that makes it feel like I’ve won the lottery. I had heard about Adobe Configurator and had even watched quite a few videos on it, but at the time I was using Photoshop CS3 and it does not work with anything before CS4. Myself, I usually upgrade about every other version and when CS5 was released I upgraded within the first week or so.

I spend a lot of time in Photoshop editing and manipulating photos and graphics, so anything that makes it quicker and easier I definitely like. I immediately went out and did some more homework on the Configurator. You can download it online for free at Adobe Labs. 

At home I’ve got a two-monitor set-up and most of the time I would just put my panels on the other screen. I’m a big fan of Wacom Tablets and I’ve been using them for about 4 yrs. When I’m in Photoshop I rarely ever use a mouse so I’m using my pen to navigate and edit. I’ve been using Photoshop since 6.0, so I already knew tons of shortcut keys and commands, but even so, sometimes I had to use two hands to hit some of the shortcut keys and it would be much easier to just tap a button. If you are like me, you don’t use half of the items in the menus anyhow? I know that you can customize the menus and create your own shortcuts, but some times you still have to go hunt for certain tools and then you have to dig through menus or scroll through dialog boxes just to activate them. For years I thought that with all of Adobes technology that they should come out with a program that would let me create my own panels and add just the things I use daily, finally Configurator is that program!

The Adobe Configurator is a utility that lets you create custom panels (palettes) for use in Adobe Photoshop CS4 or CS5. It also works in Adobe InDesign CS5 for those who work with that program. Think of Configurator as a box of Legos--an application that lets you drag and drop all the tools and menu items in Photoshop, and then even lets you add actions or scripts, and even add various widgets complete with images or videos. Adobe Configurator makes it all this pretty easy to do. You can create your own panels in the Configurator panel and them just export the results into Photoshop or InDesign, nice huh?

I know it sounds pretty complicated, but seriously, I sat down with a cup of coffee (or two) and played around with it for a couple hours. But I finally created just the perfect panel for me. One of the biggest obstacles for me was making the panel the correct size. I wanted mine to look exactly like it was built into the program at the factory. I had to play around with it for quite awhile until I got the exact measurements for my own personal panel. The one I have in the photo is 230 wide by 372 height, but you can change yours to fit your own layout. You can also change the size of the buttons or re-arrange them to get just the right look. Once you get the hang of it, you can go back in anytime and easily edit your panels in minutes. Another nice feature is that if you have another PC (maybe a Laptop) you just download Configurator onto it and then you can just export the panel or panels you just created and instantly load them on that computer too! Through trial and error, I created the panel that works for me and now I have a custom panel that has all my favorite tools and actions loaded on it in one spot and I can control them all with the simple click of a button. One of the only obstacles was when creating or loading a Configurator Panel, you had to sign into Photoshop as the administrator. Believe me, it took quite awhile to overcome that problem. But, now I've got a Panel that does everything I want it to do and don't have to go hunting for a tool or remember the shortcut keys........Nice huh?

If you’re a trainer or you teach Photoshop or InDesign, you can also add video panels or text panels with buttons for any of the commands. Configurator will let you create as many panels as you’d like and set them up exactly the way you want. Load one at a time or load all of them, its up to you. I’ve included a few links to videos, grab yourself a coffee and check them out. One of these is narrated by John Nack of Adobe online and you might want to check that out. If you’re like me, you’re going to love Adobe Configurator too! I'm sorry to say that Configurator will not (at least I can't figure it out) on the Cloud, but if you've got a full version of CS4, 5 or CS6 your all set. I hope you enjoy this article. And remember, as always, keep shooting and have some fun!

Captured By the Light by David Ziser

This book is aptly subtitled “The Essential Guide to Creating Extraordinary Wedding Photography”, and for good reason. If you have ever shot a wedding, or were just thinking of shooting one, this book is like the instruction manual for wedding photographers.

Some you of you might not know anything about David Ziser, but his work is very well known in the professional wedding circuit. David has been shooting weddings for over 30 years and because of his skills, he has also been a much sought after lecturer and teacher on the art of wedding photography for many years. His bio reads: “David is an internationally renowned portrait and wedding photographer, and has shared his knowledge with tens of thousands of photographers in five languages and in 14 countries worldwide”. David has also been teaching at Photoshop World for the last few years and when Photoshop World comes to Boston, I always make it a point to catch his lectures.

I enjoy his style of teaching because he lays it out, plain and simple. I especially like his work with speedlights and off-camera flash and this book is loaded with tips and techniques everyone will find useful. He emphasizes the fact that you’ve got to get your flash off the camera because in doing so you will add detail, depth, dimension and color saturation to your images.

His blog; Digital Pro Talk, is one of my personal favorites that I try to read daily. I like the fact that it is always fresh because he submits new articles to it every day. In it he covers everything from camera and flash tips, how to use umbrellas and soft-boxes for lighting effects, some product reviews, some of his own shooting and personal experiences and even sharing his business knowledge and expertise on how to increase your sales and boost your own profits.

In his book, he goes from describing simple posing techniques designed to make your clients look their very best, to tips on how to get the most out of your lighting with speed lights and off camera flash. He describes how and when to utilize front and back lighting, how to get the most out of natural light and even some great tips on composing your shots. David even devotes one chapter entirely to his personal choice of gear – cameras, lenses, and lights and why he chooses those particular tools. His personal choice of equipment might surprise you!

David has two chapters where he takes you out on a sample-wedding shoot and covers everything from packing the equipment to take with you on your shoot, to saying goodbye at the end of the evening. He really covers everything from the alter shots and posing the family, to tips and tricks to boost your own creativity. He then takes you through the whole reception and describes some of his favorite shots to get, and covers everything from the cake cutting, the first dance, and shooting the entire evening right up to packing up your gear at the end of the night. Then, to finish it all off he devotes over 20 pages of sample page layouts designed to get your creative juices flowing.

Granted, these days the weddings he shoots personally are more upscale than the ones we all start off shooting, but his work speaks for itself and has earned him the reputation of being one of the very best in the business. These days his weddings are the cream of the crop and because of that fact, he uses assistants and extra shooters, which can definitely help your creative style, but this book is loaded with tips and tricks of the trade that every photographer will find useful. It’s eleven chapters filled to the brim with over 30 years of experience, laid out in over 275 pages and crammed with tons of beautiful full color images.

The whole idea of this book is to help you make the best possible images so that you stand out from the crowd. This book will show you how you too can deliver an album of treasured memories to your clients that both of you can be proud of. To order this book you can click here: Captured By The Light and get yourself a copy today. So, if you’re a wedding photographer, or just want to be, I know you will definitely enjoy this book…... Remember, keep shooting and have some fun!