Digital Imaging Tune-up Clinic With Jim DiVitale

Upcoming Photography Exhibition At The Marietta Museum Of Art

2012-01-26T20:11:00.000-05:00

Iam very excited to announce that the Marietta Museum of Art will be hosting anexhibition of photography from my recent book collaboration with author DougFrey, “Marietta, The Gem City of Georgia”entitled “Homes and Heroes”. Thisexhibition will be a collection of black and white images of historic homesfrom the Civil War time period in the city of Marietta. The show will alsoinclude a collection of original Civil War daguerreotype photography and willrun from April through the summer. This is my first major museum exhibition ofmy photography and I am working hard now to get the images prepared. It will besponsored by Canon USA, Adobe, onOne Software, National Association ofPhotoshop Professionals, Digital Picture Atlanta, and GW Molding. I wouldn’t beable to put this together without their generous financial contributions tothis project so thanks to all of you for the support. Exact details of the dates, lectures, and reception will be posted soon.

Click to view larger image

The recently published 400+ page book has been a great success for the city. Last week, The Cobb Landmarks and Historical Society honored both Doug and me for our contributions to the city of Marietta at their annual awards program.

2012is starting out with lots of upcoming digital photography programs and exhibits.On February 7, I will be presenting a Canon Explorers of Light Program inMelbourne Florida for the Camera Club of Brevard. I always look forward to avisit to Florida as I grew up in West Palm Beach. Hope to see some of myFlorida friends there. In March, I will be speaking at my 24^thPhotoshop World with brand new programs in Washington DC. This will be thefirst time Photoshop World will be held there. As always, this should be agreat show. The next week, March 29^th, I will be presenting anotherCanon Program for ASMP San Diego at the Museum of Photographic Arts. San Diego is such a cool city, soHelene and I are really looking forward to that visit. We hope we can spendsome extra days there seeing some of the sights.

Are You Current On Your Version Of Adobe Photoshop?

2011-11-27T14:30:00.009-05:00

I just read an open letter to Adobe that Scott Kelby has written and posted recently on his blog that may be of interest to any of you who are not working in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Adobe's possible plans for the next update are if you are not in the most current version of Adobe Photoshop, you may be paying the full list price for any upgrades when you want to go to the next version. No more hanging back with an older version of CS2 or CS3 and then saying I get caught up when the next version comes out.... If you don't do this, it might cost more than you planned to upgrade, so you better get upgraded now before it's to late. It's no surprise to me that Adobe needs to do this to keep users current as I constantly see people using versions that are several years old. Scott, who represents over 70,000 professional users as president of NAPP, has asked Adobe to give us more warning on this, but to be safe, you better update to CS5 before the next version makes it way to the public. I have always taught that Photoshop is one software that you don't want to get behind on as all available training on older versions almost completely disappears when the new version comes out. If you want to be working on a older version of Microsoft Office, or an older email program, that's fine, but not when it comes to Photoshop.... So if you don't want a possible higher upgrade cost.... Get upgraded today.... If you snooze on this.... Don't say you weren't told....

Upcoming Programs

2011-10-12T18:35:00.003-04:00

Lots of programs coming up... This month I will be doing a 3-hour Canon Explorers of Light program at PPR on October 27. Hope those of you in the Atlanta Area can join me there. Space is limited and I understand it's almost full now, so please let PPR know if you are attending. Got some nice door prizes from onOne, Nik, Adobe, Lensbaby, X-rite, Hoodman, and Triple Scoop Music.

I will be in Orlando on October 21st speaking along with photographer Mark Maio at the Ophthalmic Photographers' Societies Annual conference sponsored by Adobe. The afternoon workshop will be a hands-on computer class where attendees can work on files along with us...

On November 7th, I will be doing another Canon Explorers of Light Program in Boston for the Commercial-Industrial Photographers of New England. CPINE has invited ASMP members and local photography students to join in on this 2-hour long evening program. Hope you can join in... Look forward to seeing you there.

Art Institute Of Atlanta-Decatur Exhibit

2011-10-07T16:44:00.000-04:00

After a few months of preparation, my first solo fine art exhibit is now open at the Art Institute of Atlanta-Decatur. I am very excited about this show as it coincides with Atlanta Celebrates Photography month. This exhibit entitled "Shape and Shadow" is sponsored by Canon Explorers Of Light. It is a collection of 20 of my multi-image illustrations of both studio and architectural subjects. I printed all the work myself and had the expertise of Digital Picture here in Atlanta to handle the final image mounting. Big thanks to Steve Inglima of Canon, along with Angus Galloway and Nicole Jacobs of the Art Institute of Atlanta for making all this happen for me. The show will be up for the next two months with a reception set for Friday Oct 28th from 6-9 at the AIA Galley in Decatur. For those of you who are in Atlanta, I hope to see you there.

I will also be doing a 3 hour program sponsored by Canon at Professional Photo Resources on digital photography on Thursday the 27th that is open to all, but space is limited and is filling up fast. If you would like to attend the program at PPR, please RSVP them soon. I will do additional programs at AIA for the students and faculty during the show as well. I hope you can find time to visit the exhibition during the next two months. For more info visit the Atlanta Celebrates Photography guide site at http://festivalguide.acpinfo.org/listings/view/762

http://festivalguide.acpinfo.org/listings/view/762

Maui Photo Festival 2011

2011-09-01T10:38:00.003-04:00

On thing I do a lot more of these days is teach at photography festivals. Just getting back from a week at the Maui Photo Festival. Always a great time there. Terrie, Beth, and Zane alway put on a great show. This year was no exception. It was held again at the Hyatt Resort in Kaanpali Beach which is beautiful area on the west side of Maui. First day while we had some free time, photographers Eddie Tapp, Jack Reznicki, Jay Fletcher and myself had a snorkeling day. It was documented by Eddie and he has posted it to Vimeo... Pretty Funny... Take a look by clicking on this link.

http://vimeo.com/28203578

Having fun with Eddie's Canon D10 waterproof camera.

Opening Night at the Maui Photo Festival 2011.

Attendees shooting Hula Dancers at sunset.

Last year I shot 16 gigs of raw files on these dancers. Tried not to overshoot this time.

Photographer Lewis Caryle set up some nice food sets to practice photographing on. Slipped in a few exposures with the Canon 90mm tilt/shift lens.

I was ready for a nice lunch after this class.

Jack Reznicki demonstrated his lighting techniques on photographing children.

Every morning, Jack and I would meet for breakfast by the pool, The hungry birds would wait above us in standby until we were finished so they could dive right in.

Sometimes they wouldn't wait

This one was especially attracted to chocolate muffins

The light was always changing out there... One minute it would look like this....

Then an hour later it would look like this.....

Any time spent in Maui with friends is a good time..... Aloha....

Webinar With Nik Software & X-Rite

2011-08-31T14:36:00.006-04:00

On September 14 I will be doing a webinar sponsored by Nik Software and X-Rite Color Management on problem solving techniques in digital imaging. Register for this free event at:

http://xritephoto.com/ph_learning.aspx?action=webinars&eventid=1015&eventdateid=4806

Topics will include:

Calibrating and profiling camera, monitor, and printer for complete color management using X-Rite ColorChecker Passport, ColorMunki Display, and ColorMunki Photo
Using HDR Efex Pro to process multiple exposures
Working with Viveza 2 to control luminosity and contrast
Using Silver Efex 2 to create stunning black and white

Selection Tools In Photoshop Part-1

2011-07-26T19:06:00.006-04:00

One of Adobe Photoshop's strongest features is the many ways we can make selections. Having so many different approaches to isolating pixels from each other gives us incredible flexibility in image compositing. Here's a quick Photoshop video tip to download on making selections with the Circular Marquee Tool. If you like this tip, I will be posting more of these as I prepare for a bunch of upcoming programs, webinars, and new on-line tutorials. Look forward to any of your feedback. To download the video, click this link.

http://www.divitalephotography.com/selections-1.zip

Photo Illustration... Irish Style...

2011-07-24T19:55:00.006-04:00

In Orvieto, Italy, a couple of years back, I met this great Irish guy named Vincent O'Byrne. I attended one of his programs and it was really different and inspiring. Vincent is an advertising photographer based in Dublin, but perhaps he his best known for his Fine Art Fantasy Nudes.

I have just had a look at his recent high quality video production showing how he creates some of his Illustrative images. What I like about these tutorial movies is that he shares his creative process in a way to help to pre-visualize images. Vincent talks about the 'Spark of an Idea' and shows how he develops those ideas into hard copy images. He also shows how he works with his model in a live studio scenario, illustrating how he lights and poses the model for the perfect image. Finally, he takes his captures into Photoshop and composites them with the simplest of techniques. All in all, this is a fabulous production and great value for money running at just over 2 hours. Check out this sample clip on U-tube to get a taste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP30BqOPTzY

It is available as a digital download at http://www.vincentobyrnebeinspired.com/

New Kelbytraining.com Tutorials On-Line

2011-07-18T11:00:00.006-04:00

Kelbytraining.com just released my third set of on-line digital photography tutorials. These new lessons follow me through a start to finish location job from client meetings to finished images. Location portraiture, tethered shooting, interiors, light painting, and multi-image special effects are all covered here. Check it out! Click to view lessons titles

California Photo Festival Coming this Fall

2011-07-07T20:05:00.003-04:00

This October, Light Photography Workshops will hold their second annual California Photo Festival held in San Luis Obispo. Last year's festival was a lot of fun and education for everyone involved. Helene and I had a great time and we are both looking forward to the big event. This year will be bigger and better then ever with more hands-on photography classes and some of the best photography instructors in the industry. Check out all the info at www.californiaphotofest.com. We hope to see you there!

Photography Exhibition At The Art Institute Of Atlanta-Decatur

2011-07-06T00:39:00.010-04:00

I am very excited to say that this fall during “Atlanta Celebrates Photography” month, The Art Institute of Atlanta-Decatur will showcase my very first solo photography exhibition of my fine art images entitled “Shape & Shadow”. The two month long show will consist of my architectural abstract photography that I have been working on for the last decade along with some of my commercial montage illustrations. It’s a really great gallery right in the heart of Decatur with large windows facing the street. Canon Explorers of Light will sponsor the exhibition as all the work was done with Canon digital cameras and printed on my Canon large format printer. I am planning a three-hour evening Canon program on October 27^th at Professional Photo Resources in Atlanta open to the public to attend. The following night, October 28 will be an open house reception at the AIA Decatur gallery that I hope many of my Atlanta friends will be able to attend. The show will run for all of October and November at the Decatur Campus Gallery. Got lots of work ahead to get ready for this and I will give some updates along the way as I prepare for this. Here are just a few of the selected images I will be showing…. Hope to see you there!

Sunrise in the Grand Tetons with the DII

2011-06-29T00:03:00.017-04:00

Just back from our first trip to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks where Helene and I were teaching this past week. We had a great group of attendees for the Digital Imaging Institute’s second annual “Imaging in Ophthalmology” workshop. Our days were long, but very rewarding as we started each day around 4 a.m. to be on the road by 5 for photographing in the best morning light. Instructors and attendees then spent the late mornings and early afternoons in digital imaging classes. Topics ranged from basic photography and Adobe Photoshop Extended, to advanced medical imaging and Raw capture processing workflow. Then it was back outside in the evenings to photograph again. Longest days of the year gave us good shooting light till almost 9 pm each night. Then we would meet back in class again to download and process images until late at night. From landscapes to wildlife, we had our hands full every day. Got lots of new material to work with for future tutorials and webinars. Thanks to Cathy and Mark Maio and all the instructors for making it a great week! Here’s just a sample of some of the images I did.

(click to enlarge images)

Lots of opportunities to photography the wildlife all week in the two parks.... Elk, deer, bear, moose, bison.... They got it all.... But there's more to it than that...

All week long, this grizzly bear and her three new cubs were hanging out up the street from the lodge we were staying at. Everybody got such good images of them except me.... When it came tho the best animal shooting situations, I never seemed to be in the right place when they were close to the road. Wasn't going into the woods after them, so I got what I got and have to work harder at it... Besides the photography skills, you need some luck mixed in with a lot of patience to be good at this. I got a whole new respect for this speciality in photography.

I am going to need a lot more practice to get good at wildlife photography. The only wildlife cooperating with me this week was this little guy.... Still never saw a moose....

Of course we had to stop and watch Old Faithful go off. It draws a big crowd.

I always find time to shoot some textures. Yellowstone was full of great color and texture. I will use these in other composite illustrations in the future. There kind of cool all by themselves as well.

On the last night of the workshop, we had a nice gathering with great food and wine, and watched the sun set from the open deck of the lodge. We all viewed samples of our week's work in a revolving slideshow as we excitedly planed for the next DII Imaging workshop.

The New Book Has Arrived!

2011-06-06T11:27:00.009-04:00

After three years of location photography, and several years of research and writing by author Doug Frey, “Marietta The Gem City of The South” has finally arrived. This 400+ page book illustrating the homes and history of this southern city was the largest photography project I have ever taken on. The printing was done in China and is just beautiful. Even better than I had hoped. Just goes to show you that properly applied color management really does work.

We had our first official book signing Friday night at the DK Art Gallery Friday night to a full house of excited Marietta residents wanting to get the first copies of the 6 1/2 lb coffee table book. The response from everyone was just incredible, and this book is something the entire city can be very proud of. Doug, book designer Michael Leidel, and myself signed the first copies for over 4 hours as the first books were picked up by people who bought them in advance along with local residents coming in on the First Friday Art Walk they have at the square every month. Some people bought several copies as gifts. There are still a lot of copies to be signed, so I will be busy getting all of that done in the next week.

I have a new portfolio section on my web site dedicated to the project that can be viewed at www.DiVitalePhotography.com. I also have been working on some black and white versions of the images and have posted them on a web site if you would like to see at www.divitalephotography.com/marietta_homes.

Grand Teton Imaging in Ophthalmology Workshop

2011-04-27T14:41:00.005-04:00

This coming June, Helene and I will be presenting at the second annual Imaging in Ophthalmology Workshop. This year it will be held at the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Last years workshop at Yosemite National park was a great success, and we are looking forward to another great time. I have never been there, so I am excited to see the incredible landscapes there... For more information, visit the Digital Imaging for Science and Medicine Web site at http://www.digitalimaginginstitute.com/

A Week In Banff

2011-04-24T21:02:00.014-04:00

This past week Helene and I taught programs at the Professional Photographers of Canada Conference in Banff. We had a nice time there and the Canadian Photographers were great hosts. We stayed at the Banff Springs Hotel that is pretty much a castle in the mountains built by the railroad company back in the 1880’s. The scenery was beautiful both inside and outside of the hotel. We would both like to thank our sponsors Booth Photographic, Adobe, and onOne Software for helping us present our photography classes here.

... Click on image to enlarge ...

You don’t have to travel far in this area to see the wildlife. It’s just roaming around the town.

Here are some of Helene's images that she did while we were there. Aways on the lookout for good material for her fine art and greeting cards. Our new friends Heather and Sandy drove us up to Lake Louise for some landscape photography in the snow.

When I wasn't teaching, I found myself working away on retouching product images I brought with me to finish up from Atlanta. At least the view from my window was good....

Sandy and I walk out on the frozen Lake for a better shooting angle on the glacier.

Not looking forward to next months cell phone bill......

We are both looking forward to more visits with our friends in the Professional Photographers of Canada!

Photoshop World Orlando 2011

2011-04-11T19:54:00.013-04:00

This past week I had the pleasure of teaching at my 22nd Photoshop World along with Helene. This year’s show had the fashion theme of Project Photoshop. The opening keynote was done with a fashion show parody of the TV show Project Runway with Photoshop World instructors playing all the parts. The videos that NAPP produces at the keynote get better every year and this time was no exception. The Photoshop Fashions that were created were very cool.

Lots of new classes this year. I did a class on Post-Production Prototyping for the first time that went well. Helene had a large crowd on hand for her posing and lighting class. Besides the regular programs and portfolio reviews, I did several short programs in the trade show theater and the onOne and Wacom booths so it was a fast paced conference as usual.

The Art of Digital Photography panel was one of the very best ones ever. Hosting this conference gathering of 2500+ attendees is defiantly a major highlight and honor every year.

Photo realist artist and Photoshop World instructor Bert Monroy (www.BertMonroy.com) had his 25-foot long Time Square digital painting on display there in a giant backlit light box. Bert is the only person I have ever sceen that can draw a computer image by hand that looks like a photograph. You have to visit his site to really appreciate this image that took 4 years of work, 750,000 layers, and upwards of 1,000,000 paths. (Makes me worn out just saying that) Another reason this is so cool is that all of the Photoshop World instructors are in the crowd including Helene and me. Remember… This is drawn from scratch… No photography here… You just have to see it in person to believe it….

Helene and I are shown here in the New York crowd along with all our Photoshop World instructor friends. If you missed the Orlando conference, you need to make plans for the fall show in Las Vegas….

Helene is showing the class how to pose a large group portrait.

Scott's band Big Electric Cat rocks out at BB Kings.

Keep That Camera Close By

2011-02-03T19:05:00.017-05:00

You never know when interesting photography subjects come your way. It’s sometime not easy carrying around a camera bag full of gear, but it’s at that moment that you don’t have the camera that the great photo opportunities become available. For that reason I always carry some type of small Canon camera at all times. For me it’s about finding great background textures and elements, and when you see them, you’ve got to get them right then or just forget about it.

In this example, I have a set of images I shot on my Canon S90 pocket sized camera of a blue doorway with light streaming down on it while walking around downtown Santa Barbara. It wasn’t planed for…. It was just there. I get a nice ten Meg Raw file that has plenty of enough detail for creating interesting elements in other composite images.

I opened up a product shot of a vodka bottle that I recently shot with the Canon 1Ds Mark III and 90mm tilt/shift lens for a new client, and dragged the image of the blue lights over the bottle shot using the Move Tool. Pressing the Shift Key and + Keys cycles through the different blend modes. I decided that the Multiply Blend mode looked best. A Layer Mask was then added to the blue layer and some of the color was brushed away from the vodka label and glass to let some of the original color come back through with a soft black brush. I then added a Screen Blend Mode Levels Adjustment Layer to the top of the stack to brighten up the values some and we have a much more interesting image now.

On Thursday Feb 17^th, I will be doing another new Creative Techniques in Adobe Photoshop webinar with onOne Software. This one will be concentrating on using multiple elements and compositing in Photoshop with extra enhancements created with onOne PhotoTools and PhotoFrame. Register on their website at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/515258041 . If you have a moment, check out my new on-line source book portfolio at www.foundfolios.com/Jim-DiVitale

Thank You For Another Great Year!

2010-12-30T14:58:00.015-05:00

It’s the end of another great year, and I would like to thank all my Blog followers and clients for keeping up with all the postings. I would like to especially thank all the Facebook Blog Network followers for making The Digital Imaging Tune-Up Clinic Blog the #1 highest following for the subjects of Digital Photography, Photoshop, and Digital Imaging. Another big thank you goes out to all of you who have taken the time to write to me about my recent webinars with onOne Software, and my new on-line training with Kelby Media. The onOne webinars are archived on their website, so you can now view them at any time at www.ononesoftware.com/university. It means a lot to me that you took the time to give me your feedback and send me your sample images to view so I can make improvements in the future presentations. The feedback has been great and I am looking forward to more webinars and on-line training programs in 2011.

It’s been a busy year with settling into the new studio facilities in Atlanta. It’s been slow and steady progress, but the new studio is finally done with all of the additional electrical work and our new kitchen finished. My studio partner Steve Dinberg and I are looking forward to lots of new assignments and we are ready for action. While Helene and I have been taking a holiday break in our home in Santa Barbara escaping the cold weather, I have been giving my Website a big update adding dozens of new images to each section as well as my new architecture section I mentioned in my last Blog post. If you haven’t visited it in a while, please check it out when you have a moment at www.DiVitalePhotography.com. Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated.

With lots of ongoing programs and webinars on the upcoming 2011 schedule, Helene and I are also working on creating some new hands-on workshops in our Atlanta studio for small groups of attendees to help streamline their creative photography techniques and speed up their digital imaging workflow. We cover everything from setting up a practical color managed working environment, to portrait and still life lighting techniques and all the Photoshop your brain can absorb. We have had some great feedback on our in-house studio workshops in the past, and we are so looking forward in sharing with other photographers in the coming year. If you are at all interested in getting on a direct mailing list when we finalize our dates, please e-mail me at jim@divitalephotography.com or Helene and heleneglassman@me.com and we will contact you directly. We will post the dates as soon as we get them worked out. Have a safe and Happy New Year!.... Jim and Helene

Marietta - The Gem City Of Georgia

2010-12-25T13:26:00.017-05:00

For the last 3 years I have been working on a book project of photographing the historic homes of Marietta Georgia. The book written by author Doug Frey, edited by Grace Barr, and designed by art director Michael Leidel is now ready to go to press. This 400+ page coffee table book showcases homes that date as far back as the civil war. It was both a real honor and challenge to take on this ongoing project. Most of the photography had to be done on weekends to accommodate all of us as well as the homeowners. The major challenge from the photographic point of view was to get in and out of theses homes fast without disturbing the homeowners as much as possible. This basically meant that I could not just show up with a truckload of lighting equipment and spend the day photographing each room. Instead I needed to be in and out in 60 to 90 minutes and cover several different scenes for each home with out any elaborate extra lighting. The answer… Merge to HDR and use the available window light to capture the natural look of each home. What I learned along the way was very valuable for any architecture projects I may get to photograph in the future. The only extra lighting I used was a singe ProFoto 600WS battery strobe used as bounced fill light to help reduce the extreme contrast between the windows and room interior. I have more detailed information on the lighting challenges in an upcoming article I have written for Photoshop User Magazine that will be available very soon. I have added a new portfolio section to my web site that showcases many of the images from the book that can be viewed at www.DiVitalePhotography.com in the Architecture Portfolio section. Since this is my first attempt at this area of photography, I found that it was an incredible learning experience along the way. The images are all shot on the Canon 1Ds Mark III camera and an assortment of different Canon lenses. Using the new 17mm and 24mm tilt-shift Canon lenses was a real advantage on the images in getting the proper perspective in the camera from the start. I would love to here some feedback on the new images if you have a moment to check it out. Have a safe and Happy Holidays.

Digital Painting In Photoshop CS5

2010-12-08T19:43:00.017-05:00

This fall, I have been teaching an advanced Photoshop Class at the Art Institute of Atlanta as a guest instructor along with my wife Helene Glassman, www.imagerybyhelene.com and photographer Keith Roland, www.krdigitalphotography.com. It has been a long time since I gave up my photography instructor position there in the eighties for doing programs at conferences and schools around the country. The students in this class have some real talent and it has been fun for us to work with them. This week was the last session, and I decided to do the digital painting class like this weeks onOne Software webinar. www.ononesoftware.com/webinars With only a quick 30 minute demo on the painting technique, the class produced dozens of cool painting for their final assignment. I would like to share some of them with you so you can see how cool this can be in taking existing images to the next level in creativity. For more information on this technique, you can visit the archived webinar that will be posted soon on the onOne Software webinar site, and you can also download the tutorial PDF at http://www.divitalephotography.com/digital_painting.zip

Creative Edge In Photoshop & OnOne Plug-ins Webinar

2010-12-01T15:18:00.007-05:00

This Thursday at 2:pm EST (11:am PST) I will be doing another webinar hosted by OnOne Software. It is free to register for and I would like to invite you to attend. I will be demonstrating my techniques for creating fine art digital paintings from photographic files using Adobe PhotoshopCS5 and OnOne Software's PhotoTools and PhotoFrame. Hope you can tune in. You can register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/442088384

Digital Imaging Institute Yosemite Workshop

2010-11-07T15:41:00.010-05:00

Last weekend ended our first three day Yosemite Imaging in Ophthalmology Workshop. With expert speakers in both digital imaging and ophthalmology, attendees had a great time both learning in class and going out on morning and afternoon shoots in the incredible Yosemite National park. Organized by DII president Mark Maio, this workshop was an experience for both speakers and attendees alike. This was my first trip to the park and I was just blown away with the landscape there... We had a nice reception at the Ansel Adams Gallery getting to view many of his different masterpieces. This was just the first in what we hope will be many workshops in different specialties within science and medicine that we will be putting on through the DII. A special treat for the group were programs with Capture Integration http://www.captureintegration.com and the quarter of a million dollars worth of high-end digital cameras they brought for everyone to try out. Helene did portraits of all the attendees so everyone could go home with a great headshot to be used in their future business needs. For more info on our association and to see our digital magazine, visit the website at http://www.digitalimaginginstitute.com.

click image to enlarge

Photography In Paradise

2010-10-20T22:50:00.010-04:00

Want to mix having a great vacation while attending a photography conference? One that you might consider planning ahead for is The Maui Photo Festival. http://www.mauiphotofestival.com Helene and I had a great time there this year and are looking forward to teaching at the next one on August 25th-28th 2011. There are lots of opportunities to go and learn photography these days, so the big question now is which ones to attend. You obviously can’t see them all, so you have to be a little picky. One thing I get to do a lot more than most photographers is attend photography conferences. Working as an instructor for NAPP, PPA, Canon, and Adobe, I am very fortunate that I get to work at most of the major digital imaging shows. You start to kind of rate them on speaker knowledge and how efficiently they are run. They all start to have their good points about them and there won’t ever be the perfect conference, but this gathering in Maui is a pretty good environment to learn in. Held at the Hyatt in Kaanapali, Maui, you might as well take a trip to paradise if you got to learn photography. Great speakers and a relaxed atmosphere lead to learning at a very high level. I am amazed every time I get to go there at how much imagery there is to take in. I just wanted to share a few more images from my last experience there. Look forward to seeing you there next year… Aloha

Click to enlarge image

New On-Line Commercial Photography Training Course At Kelbytraining.com

2010-10-19T22:32:00.011-04:00

Kelbytraining.com has just released my new commercial photography training course on line. These digital capture and Photoshop workflow tutorials cover start to finish sessions on setting up color management, studio product photography, working with tilt/shift lenses, tethered camera workflow with the Canon 1Ds MarkIII, and final file enhancements in Photoshop CS5. Recorded down at NAPP headquarters in Scott Kelby’s photography studio facilities, these new lessons hopefully will help photographers streamline their studio photography process and give some creative options in their work. I look forward to any feedback from Kelbytraining.com subscribers who watch them. To find our more info, watch a preview, or view any of The Kelby Media tutorials, check it out at http://www.kelbytraining.com/

Program With The Atlanta Adobe Users Group

2010-09-26T00:13:00.010-04:00

Join me in Atlanta this Thursday for a free 2-hour program with the Atlanta Adobe Users Group. I will be demonstrating problem-solving techniques using Photoshop CS5 to streamline both the creative and production of the digital imaging workflow to improve quality and save time. Topics will include new features in Photoshop CS5, calibration and custom profiling of the camera, monitor and printer, creative Photoshop techniques using multi-image compositing with Photomerge and a preview of the upcoming new Nik HDR Efex Pro plug-in. Admission is FREE and I would love to see you there. Invite your Photoshop friends!... For RSVP details go to:

http://www.augatlanta.org/ug/event.cfm?id=34DD9DA8-B238-0E4A-9F1690C5D0E027A0&mode=

Team Nik Radio Interview

2010-09-17T14:49:00.002-04:00

Nik Software has just posted an hour-long interview with me hosted by Scott Sheppard on my views on digital photography and imaging workflow and is now available on Nik Radio on I-Tunes. Check it out at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nik-radio/id365360524

$100 Discount To The California Photography Festival

2010-09-07T15:34:00.003-04:00

Victoria at The Light Workshops as given me a $100 discount code for any of my Blog readers who are interested in attending the first annual California Photo Festival in Los Osos later this month. The registration site is http://www.californiaphotofest.com/ and the code is JDPSW_CPF2010. We hope to see some of you there for a great week of photography training.

Installing The Optional Plug-ins back Into Photoshop CS5

2010-09-06T15:22:00.008-04:00

This past week was a great learning experience at Photoshop World. One of the classes I taught was "Creating the Perfect Panoramic Image" and I showed attendees that you could put back the missing user interface that has been left out for controlling the individual frames when stitching with PhotoMerge. I have had dozens of e-mails this weekend from attendees saying that they can't find them. They are very difficult to find unless you put the exact description words in the search engine. I will save you the time.... Here is the exact links you need to put back all the missing plug-ins and presets. Just remember, they only work in 32-bit, so you must set Photoshop CS5 to open up in 32-bit mode instead of 64-bit mode in the Photoshop CS5 info panel to use these additional plug-ins. Follow the on-line instructions and read me files to install. At least it's a lot easier to install than the last version. You don't have to drop different files all over the the computer any more. It is a one button install now. Another real important plug-in that is reinstalled is the original Photo Web Gallery. I find this interface much better than the one in the Output Module of the Bridge and well worth putting back in. I am sorry we have to bounce back and forth from 64 to 32-bit, but that's the way we will have to do it for now.

Download the optional plug-ins from these locations:
For Mac OS: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4687
For Windows: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4688

Something Fishy Going On Here

2010-08-26T06:22:00.016-04:00

Every time we come to teach photography in Maui, Helene and I spend so much time running around like crazy trying to photograph everything in sight that we come home more tired than when we left. This week we told ourselves when came here to teach at the Maui Photo Festival, to put the cameras down and just relax and not really try to shoot to many photos. Just kick back and recharge…. So much for that idea…. Not going to happen when you come to Maui. We took a trip on the Quicksilver Catamaran for snorkeling day at the Molokini Crater and Turtle Town. Swimming with the giant sea turtles face to face was a blast…

click images to enlarge

Now just to make sure I got some good fish photos, the next day we went to the Maui Aquarium for the afternoon and shot some fish in the tanks… No, these are defiantly are not shot while snorkeling as much as I wish I could get shots like this underwater… Maybe with a lot of practice, my underwater shots might look like these next photos one day….

Got another 1000 images to sort through of some killer sunsets and landscapes I shot this week to get up soon. Helene is teaching a hands-on 4 hour portrait class in the morning and I am teaching my montage class followed by a HDR and Panoramic class in the afternoon.... More to come ... Aloha....

Upcoming Conferences And Workshops

2010-08-21T16:38:00.013-04:00

Aloha from the Island of Maui.

There are lots of cool workshops and conferences coming up right now in Photoshop and digital photography training for you to get in on. This week Helene and I are kicking back in Maui getting ready for the 2nd annual Maui Photo Festival. This will be several days of fun and sun in one of my most favorite places in the world, Ka’anapali, Maui. Although we have taught classes here before, this is our first time teaching at this conference as we had a timing conflict with being here last year for the first one, but we don’t plan on letting that happen again. This is definitely the place to come and recharge your batteries.

http://www.mauiphotofestival.com

Next, home for a day, and then off to another Photoshop World West in Las Vegas. This is a great year for Photoshop as we are celebrating the 20th year anniversary of it's first release from Adobe. This will be the first Photoshop World since the official release of Photoshop CS5 and there are lots of new classes to choose from. Helene and I will be busy with platform and tradeshow classes and of course it’s time again for my favorite night of the year, hosting the all conference after hours class, The Art of Digital Photography. I have had the honor for several years of hosting this panel of some of the greatest names in photography as we all get time to show off our latest portfolio work. Scott Kelby and his crew know how to put on a great show.

www.photoshopworld.com

As Director of Education of The Digital Imaging Institute for Science and Medicine, we are ready for our first multi-day imaging workshop for ophthalmology held in Yosemite National Park organized by our CEO, Photographer Mark Maio. We hope this will be the just the start of many great workshops held for different specialties in imaging within science and medicine and Helene and I are looking forward to this a lot. Mark and I will have a good warm up for this next month in Chicago as we are both presenting at the Annual Meeting of The American Academy of Ophthalmology with as many as 30,000 doctors and technicians attending the conference. This will be my third year of presenting programs there sponsored by Adobe.

www.digitalimaginginstitute.com

Another new show for us this year is the first California Photography Festival held at the Light Workshops in Los Osos California. Helene and I are teaching several classes there and I will be giving a featured Canon Explorer of Light evening presentation at night open for the public that is free of charge. Hope all of you in California might be able to stop by and see that.

www.californiaphotofest.com

That’s all for now. Need to get down to the pool, catch some rays and recharge..... Aloha……

Weekend In Utah

2010-08-04T22:16:00.015-04:00

I spent this weekend in Park City, Utah assisting Helene photograph a three-day event there. I am always passing through Utah on my way back and forth to Santa Barbara, but never get out of the airport to see the beautiful countryside. It is quite an incredible place. I need to get back there and spend more time. One of the venues we shot at was the Olympic Museum and Ski Jump Park where we watched the athletes train on the ski jumps. Now I am not a sports photographer by any means, but I gave it a good try and was not too disappointed in the results. Lots of fun trying anyway.

click to enlarge photos

After we were done with the event we spent a couple of extra days to relax and went up to an area called Mirror Lake. Along the way we stopped at this very cool Diner to grab a bite and a few photos. .....

2010-07-30T18:17:00.005-04:00

I just got a nice e-mail to tell me that my Digital Imaging Tune-Up Clinic Blog has just won an award for 2010 Top Photography Blogs from OnlineSchools.org. I would like to thank all my readers for this and also for making my blog the highest readership slot on the Facebook Blog Network for the subjects of Photoshop, Digital Photography, and Digital Imaging. This year has been so busy that my posts and tutorials have been less frequent, but I will be trying harder now to get more tutorials posted more often for you to check out. To see all the winners, go to http://www.onlineschools.org/top_photography/ Thanks again!!!... Jim

A Painting For Every Port

2010-07-27T14:38:00.011-04:00

As a self assignment example for a program I presented on board the ship to members of the 2010 Texas School Cruise, I created a digital painting for each of the different ports we visited on the trip. These are very easy to create with the Art History Brush and I spent no more than 5 to 10 minutes on each image. To download the PDF tutorial on how to create a digital painting, click on the link below.... Enjoy....

www.DiVitalePhotography.com/digital_painting.zip

Click on image to enlarge

Speed Up Your Retouching With Content Aware Fill And The Spot Healing Brush

2010-07-22T15:09:00.006-04:00

Every new version of Photoshop always has at least one new feature that shines through the crowd of new tools. Photoshop CS5 is no exception with the new Content Aware Fill process. Complex retouching has made a giant step forward in being able to let the computer replace areas of an image with what it thinks should go there. Does it work on every type of situation… No way…. but, it still is a quick option to try when enhancing an image and can do a surprisingly good job considering what it has to work with.

In this hand held stitched panoramic image taken with the Canon S-90 camera in Mykonos, Greece, you can see that I was unknowingly lowering the camera position with each movement missing some the image. Hard to tell that until you put the image together in Photoshop’s Photomerge.

click on image to enlarge

I selected the the Lasso Tool and drew a selection around the missing areas. In Photoshop CS5, I chose Menu>Edit>Fill and picked Content Aware in the dialog box.

The Software took a few minutes, but it completely retouched the sky and sea with a perfect blend back into the original image.

The same technology is also available in the Spot Healing Tool. Just pick the Content Aware option in the Options Bar and just paint over the area. In this example of a early morning scene in Venice shot with the Canon 1Ds Mark III and 70-200mm lens, I decided to paint out the boat in foreground. Just brush over the areas you want to remove, and poof… it's gone….

Images From Venice, Italy

2010-07-18T20:22:00.013-04:00

Venice, Italy is a place that no matter where you look, there is a cool image waiting to be photographed. While I am sorting through the files, I thought I would post a few for you to see. We got up very early in the morning each day and worked late into the evening to get the best light.

We stumbled into a small shop of hand painted masks, and while we shopped around for some masks to ship back to Atlanta, I snapped a hundred shots with my Canon S-90 camera to create some interesting still life images.

After three days of great image making, we gathered with our friends in the lobby of the Hotel Marconi the to get ready to start our cruise to Greece… Lot’s more to come.

Photoshop TV Episode

2010-07-13T22:49:00.013-04:00

Just getting home from our trip to Italy and Greece with the Texas School and I will have lots of new artwork to be posting soon... Here is a nice view from where we stayed in Venice.

click image to enlarge

If you would like to get a preview and what my new Kelby Media digital photography training tutorials are going to look like, here is an advanced peek at a couple of the setups. While I was down recording in Tampa at NAPP headquarters I sat in on video taping sessions of Scott's D-Town and Photoshop User TV shows. I recorded some samples on the shows and they are now on line. check out the episodes by clicking on the links below.... Enjoy...

http://kelbytv.com/dtowntv/2010/06/18/episode-43/

http://kelbytv.com/photoshopusertv/2010/07/01/episode-236/

New Photoshop & Digital Photography Training Tutorials Are Coming

2010-06-28T00:55:00.007-04:00

I wish I could figure out how to get more hours out of a day. If I could, I would be writing a lot more on the blog. Been busy getting ready for a lot of new digital imaging training. Our new studio has been busy with catalog work and is starting to shape up nicely. There’s always more to do, but it's getting more comfortable to work in every day. I just spent this past week in Tampa at Kelby Media headquarters taping my new digital imaging tutorial classes. We did the video parts for 2 new upcoming classes that will be out later this year. Class 1 is on small product photography in the studio as we taped several different camera and lighting setups from start to finish. Class 2 is on location photography and digital compositing techniques that go with it. A third class on my fine art and illustration montage techniques will follow soon. I had a great time hanging with all the Photoshop Guys at NAPP. Got the chance to tape a couple of segments for the Photoshop TV and D-Town podcasts, so be watching for those episodes this week.
This week Helene and I are headed for Italy and Greece with the PPA and Texas School for a cruise out of Venice through the Greek Islands with about 75 of our photographer friends. I am so set for shooting lots of new elements for digital paintings and I will post some new shots as soon as possible. Check out the time-lapse movie of how we do a basic tabletop lighting setup.

Creating New Digital Photography Training Videos at Kelby Media

2010-06-26T23:41:00.002-04:00

Behind The Scenes At Photoshop World

2010-04-06T21:47:00.025-04:00

Back after another great Photoshop World. This was my 20th time teaching there and it was a lot of fun as always. This years theme was based on the band KISS, (only called NAPP) and Scott and the band pulled of an incredible opening once again with a hilarious movie on the history of their Photoshop loving rock band.

Scott Kelby as Path Selection Man.

After a quick change of clothes, Scott opens the show to the large crowd at the Orlando Convention Center.

Adobe Creative Director Russell Brown stole the show with his over head projector review of the 20 year history of Photoshop. It was pure genius.

The live digital camera shooting track had the largest groups we have ever had. Helene's class on Posing and Lighting in Portrait Photography was standing room only.

I started the set with a live still life shoot set up and displayed how to custom profile your camera and shoot with a tilt shift lens.

Helene used me as a model to show some posing techniques and then followed it with posing 20 attendees on stage in a large group shot. We used the live video feed from the Canon 1Ds Mark III camera to project up the big screens so everyone could see better. Worked really great!

Thanks to Jean-Francois O'Kane, The Studio Coach http://www.thestudiocoach.com for all the help on stage and most of these behind the scene photos. Booth Photo provided all the studio lights and equipment. http://www.boothphoto.com

Joe Glyda then followed up with a live food shoot. This alway is a big hit with the conference.

The I-Phone is great for taking snapshots while hanging out at the trade show with Photoshop World instructors Jack Reznicki and Jeff Schewe.

Hosting the Art of Digital Photography panel is one of the big highlights for me at the show. I think this years presentation was the best we have ever had with our group of photographers. Can't wait till the west coast show..... See you there!...

Creating A Custom Camera Profile With The X-Rite ColorChecker Passport

2010-03-28T20:58:00.018-04:00

Getting perfect color with our digitally captured files has always been a challenge for photographers. Calibrating and custom profiling our monitor and printer, doing a custom white balance, and choosing the proper color space for the type of output has been our tools of choice for the prediction of the final color. That’s been the extent of it for the most part and when it worked, it worked well. When it didn’t, we enhanced the file until we were reasonably pleased with making lots of adjustments. Making a custom camera profile that describes the behavior of the camera sensor under the specific lighting conditions has been somewhat of a mystery for the majority of us as it took some very expensive and complicated software to attempt to profile a digital camera properly.

Times have changed for the better. Finally, we have a way to custom profile the camera quickly for all the different lighting conditions we shoot under and it is as simple as it could possible be…. and it works! The new ColorChecker Passport from X-Rite is the best thing to come to color management since the availability of the affordable colorimeter. We can now quickly take a shot of the ColorChecker Passport under the lighting conditions of the photo shoot and custom profile the target to get the predictable and repeatable results we have been looking for with a single click. This whole process can be completed faster than it took to read the last couple of lines of this blog post. Here’s how it works…. Step one: First thing you need the X-Rite Color Checker Passport… It’s a $99 product you can buy at your local professional camera store. It comes with a CD that includes the profiling software to create a custom profile to be used in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. You start by shooting a photograph of the ColorChecker Passport target. Light the target evenly, have the white balance of the camera set for the type of lighting you are shooting, and try to get the best exposure you can of the target when making the exposure. Doing a custom white balance is unnecessary at this time, as the software will just ignore it anyway.
Step two: Open the file in Adobe Camera Raw, and without doing any adjustments to the file of any kind, save the file as a DNG format file. The DNG is Adobe’s native Raw format that can be opened in both Photoshop and Lightroom.
Step three: Open the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport software. Drag the saved DNG file into the open window of the ColorChecker Passport software. After about 5 to 10 seconds, the software finds the color chart and it appears in the open window with a green square around each of the color patches. The colors are analyzed, and like all other profiling procedures, it compares the actual measured values it’s reading against what they really should be. Next, click the “Create Profile” button in the bottom right corner of the dialog box to build the camera’s custom profile. The software uses the metadata from the file to extract the information about what model camera was used in the process and names the file automatically. The new profile is placed in both Photoshop and Lightroom and will be available for use after the software is restarted.
Step four: Open any new Raw file shot under the same lighting conditions in either Photoshop’s Camera Raw or in Lightroom. Go to the Camera Calibration Tab and click on the Disclosure Triangle in the Camera Name field to pick the new profile and be ready to be amazed and the change of the file. By doing this you will find there are much fewer enhancements needed to process the file. At this point you can open the same file now click on a gray swatch with the White Balance Tool to apply a custom white balance to neutralize the color. You will find the relationships between all the colors on the chart are much better after this calibrating procedure. By clicking on any of the warmer or cooler gray swatches, you can cool and warm up the image to any color needed. Open additional files shot under the same lighting and apply the new custom profile to them. Repeat the profiling process for each different lighting condition as shooting under tungsten, sunshine or open shade will need a slightly different profile. Then process the enhancement control sliders as you normally would to finish up the procedure. You will find that that the file looks much better than before right from the start with much fewer adjustments. Finally, we now have the final piece of the closed loupe of color management made easy for us with repeatable and constant results for our future photography. For more information, go to http://www.xritephoto.com.

A New Decade Begins

2010-01-28T01:59:00.010-05:00

The year is only a month old and I can barely catch my breath. All moved in to the new studio, but it’s going to take a while to get completely set up. It’s a good feeling to get things all reorganized for the new decade. Out with the old stuff…. Get ready for the new…. I think the new space will be great once everything finds its place.

Been on the road all month so it’s hard to get enough hours in the day to get it all done. Started with the PPA Imaging USA conference in Nashville where I did a Canon Explorers of Light program in the Trade show. Then it was off to London with Helene where we both did multiple programs for the SWPP conference. Both conferences had record-breaking attendance, which shows that the education of photographers is still very strong. Didn’t have a lot of time for sightseeing on these trips, but we did have a nice night out on the town in London with several of our friends who were also speaking there. Then back to Santa Barbara to work with Helene on a large job there.
Lots of big things coming up in the next few months. I have an upcoming series of Webinars on Digital Workflow sponsored by Adobe and PPA. These are free to PPA members and you can fine out more info by clicking on this link. http://www.ppa.com/ . There will be a new one each month that will take you from setting up color management and file processing through final archiving. These hour-long programs will be featured once a month for the next 5 months. I will be heading to the Hallmark Institute of Photography in Massachusetts to do a day-long program there. Next it's off to WPPI where I will be teaching a two-day pre-conference Plus Class and an Canon Explorers of Light program on image compositing. There are a few spaces left for the Plus Class if you are attending the show so check it out at http://www.wppionline.com/pages/wppi2010.aspx . Then it’s off to Orlando for Photoshop World East 2010… This will be my 20th PSW show and I have all new programs for the three-day event… (This is making me tired just talking about it). Hope to have some new tutorials for you to check out very soon so stay tuned for more.

I Can't Believe We Moved The Whole Thing

2009-12-27T22:49:00.004-05:00

After a month of work it’s finally done… We have moved out of the Atlanta studio. It was quite a project. A month of throwing away a ton of old cameras, computers, enlargers, backgrounds, promo cards and props to get it down to a manageable amount of stuff to move… That’s a joke… It took two full days and 5 truckloads to move the remainder of the studio into our new space in Chamblee (a nice little suburb in Atlanta). The new space is going to be so much nicer. Taller ceilings, a new Cyc wall and bigger offices will make it much more fun to work in. I am sharing it with a long time friend photographer Steve Dinberg, and when it’s all set up, will be a much more efficient workplace for the next decade. We are very excited about the new space. I will post some new photos as soon as we have it all set up. At the same time, we have just finished building a new shooting studio extension to our home in Santa Barbara for Helene’s new studio. She is very excited about her new space as well. Lots of great photography assignments and constant teaching engagements kept things jumping all year long. When you do what you love for a living, it never seems like work…. It’s just a 24/7 lifestyle of creativity and sharing the knowledge. Next year will be more of the same.
I would like to thank all my followers of my blog for making my site the #1 site on the Facebook Blog Network for the subjects of Photoshop, Digital Photography, and Digital imaging. I currently have over 1350 registered followers reading the Blog on a regular basis. I hope to get a lot more tutorials done more often next year. I am taking a long overdue break out in Santa Barbara for the next two weeks to get some rest. I hope everyone will have a safe and happy new year!

New Guide To Tutorials and Blog Posts

2009-11-08T21:53:00.015-05:00

I always love both receiving and answering questions on digital imaging from everyone, but I sometimes have a hard time getting the answers out in a timely way. Most of the time it’s just trying to reference the right tutorial or blog post to get you the information. The answer… “The List” I have taken the best of my digital photography and Photoshop PDF tutorials and blog posts and created one place to launch them all with a click. Want my formula for changing product color when creating new prototypes? Just click on the link. Want to create a photo-painting? Click the link. Want to learn Merge to HDR, stitch together a panoramic, light painting with layers? Click the link… I have also included links to download a hi res PDF of my twenty page studio portfolio, and my new super reference test chart…. Just download one PDF with all the links on it…. No typing … No kidding!…. Just click and learn at your own pace. I will expand and update it with new links in the future. The address will always stay the same. Just add a “/download.zip” to the end of my website address and “The List” will automatically download… The link is http://www.DiVitalePhotography.com/download.zip

Updates on what’s going on… Just in from Chicago today after giving a daylong “Photoshop For Medicine” program with photographer Mark Maio at the University of Illinois. The week before we did it in San Francisco. Each program we do gets better and better. Our new web site for The Digital Imaging Institute for Science and Medicine will be up soon.

Our first quarterly digital magazine is out. Download the PDF file and give it a peek. Let me know what you think…. http://www.divitalephotography.com/digital_insight.zip
I have expanded my color checker chart that many of you have seen over the years to have an Adobe Lightroom to Photoshop number conversion to help us understand where the most important numbers are. Download the new chart and see if it helps…. Just click the link.
http://DiVitalePhotography.com/chart.zip

Photoshop World Las Vegas 2009

2009-10-08T20:01:00.015-04:00

Back from another Las Vegas Photoshop World. This was my 18th PSW conference speaking with NAPP. Always a great show! The show started with a keynote from Adobe’s VP Johnny L. and Creative Director Russell Brown showing off some of the upcoming technology we will see in future versions. This year’s theme was football and the Photoshop Guys did a very nice job of entertaining the 3000+ crowd of attendees. There were lots of new faces at this show this year. All the programs went very well. Helene and I had our hands full throughout the week teaching multiple programs. Helene started the week in charge of Portfolio Review where attendees can have a PSW instructor do a 15-minute review of their work. Thursday night is always the big PSW party at the House Of Blues where Scott’s band Big Electric Cat entertained a packed house. On Friday, Helene and I both did live photography shooting classes. Friday night I finished with hosting the “Art Of Digital Photography” panel that had about 2000 attending. Saturday, Helene had a full house for her Creativity and Marketing class out in the trade show stage, while I taught new classes in Photo Illustration and Panoramic Photography. In the trade show Mark Maio and I spent a lot of time talking with representatives of software and hardware companies about our new association, The Digital Imaging Institute for Science and Medicine with lots of great feedback. http://www.digitalimaginginstitute.com. We ended Saturday night with a nice wrap up get together in Scott Kelby’s suite to say goodbye till next time. It’s just amazing how far this association has gone in the last ten years.

I am always asked when I get back what were the coolest new products in the trade show, and this year is no exception. Anyone who has heard me speak knows than I am a big evangelist for burning files off the hard drive and onto DVD’s. I always get a lot of arguments that DVD’s a based on dyes that will fade in time while I argue about the failure of magnetic media hard drives. Well, things have now changed. A brand new type of DVD burner and disc has arrived that is total archival and will last forever. That’s what I have been waiting for. You need to check out this info at http://www.millenniata.com. Wouldn’t you pay a little more for a disc that you know as long as you don’t trash it, will always have your most important work permanently stored. I know I would…. Another great product was the introduction of the X-Rite Passport. It is a new color checker that is in a plastic case so it would not get ruined with time. It has lots of cool features including different tones of gray so you can have a warmer or cooler point to set your white balance and has software to custom profile your Raw camera file with. You can fine more info at http://blog.xritephoto.com. This along with my trusty Photo Master Target will always assure my color is perfect when shooting….
After returning home from Las Vegas, I get a call from my good friends Jim and Laura Sullivan that they had a couple of U2 tickets for me, so it was off to my 8th U2 show. I didn’t have a ticket for the show and I was not happy about missing it since I missed the show while I was in Dublin Ireland. Show was outstanding. The biggest stage they have ever done. Set list consisted of mostly material from their newest CD, but they had time to fit in many of their classic songs from the last two decades as well…. All in all, a very good show…. Till next time… JD

The Tourist Remover in Photoshop CS4 Extended

2009-08-20T22:57:00.017-04:00

Thought it was about time for a new tutorial in Photoshop. Have you ever been out photographing, and just when the scene is all set for the perfect image, people start getting into the frame? I really hate that. It’s always that way. I don’t have the patience for this nonsense. Next time you're ready for an Adobe Photoshop upgrade, think about getting Photoshop Extended. There is a great feature hidden deep in this software version that is one of the best time saving approaches to file enhancing ever invented. I like to call it the “Tourist Remover”. Now you might think the Extended version of PS CS4 is for medical and science applications only, but this one feature alone makes PS Extended a must have for anyone who shoots location or travel photography. (Click on any image to enlarge)

This is how it works. When shooting a scene with subjects moving around in the image area, start by setting the camera up on a tripod. Compose the scene, set your exposure, and lock in your white balance. Shoot a sequence of frames of the same scene several seconds a part while the people in the scene are constantly moving into different positions. They can be anywhere in the frame, but hopefully not in the same position. Shoot enough to make sure the unwanted people are moved around a bunch to new positions. Process the group of files as you normally would and put them in a folder. From the Photoshop Menu, choose File>Scripts>Statistics.

A very simple dialog box opens that prompts you to browse for a folder of images to blend. Select the images in the sequence and choose the Statistics mode of Maximum. Think of it as a type of layer blend mode that examines all the images, stacks them, and then looks for anything that is not in all the images in the same place and removes it completely. The results are just unbelievable in some cases.

In this example shot at Butchart Gardens in Victoria BC, I shot several images with a infrared converted Canon digital camera on a tripod as other visitors toured through the middle of the garden scene I was photographing. Photoshop CS4 extended blended all the frames together and removed 99% of all the people saving a lot of needless time cloning them all out individually. This very small investment in software can yield a very large increase in productivity. Check it out......

Creative Fine Art Montage Class At The Light Photographic Workshops

2009-08-10T15:28:00.008-04:00

Just got home to Santa Barbara from a great weekend teaching at the Light Photography Workshops in Los Osos California. Victoria and Hal Schmitt do a wonderful job of creating a comfortable environment to really let the creative juices flow. This was my first experience teaching at this facility, and I must say it is the most well equipped digital photography workshop training facility I have ever worked in. Most workshops have you bring you own computer with you. The attendees don’t have to bring anything to these classes. Each student has a two-monitor workstation and share large Canon 5100 printer between each station. This is one of the few classes that I have taught where I spent the entire time on creating fine art and illustrative multi-image compositing for the entire length of the workshop. We really had lots of time to explore many different avenues of how images can blend together. I was very impressed with the how the attendees really just exploded with new directions of image compositing with each project they took on. I really like this type of workshop better than the ones where I only cover a small part of image composite training among many others aspects of the digital photography workflow. I highly recommend keeping up with their blog and website for many other creative photography courses in the future. http://lightworkshops.blogspot.com/

Back From Ireland

2009-08-02T23:35:00.020-04:00

Just wanted to post some of the first images I have processed after returning from our two weeks in Ireland. We had a great time with our friends touring around the countryside. We visited lots of historic sites along the way to Westport , Galway, the Aran Islands, the Cliffs of Moher. Killarney, and the Ring of Kerry. We stayed for some extra days in Dublin and visited the Guinness and Jamison Breweries and the Dublin Zoo. Click on any image to enlarge. More to come……

Greetings From Dublin

2009-07-21T02:07:00.012-04:00

Reporting in from Dublin Ireland, as we are getting ready to start a weeklong tour across the country with friends from PPA and Texas School. Helene and I came in a few days earlier that the rest of the group as my good friend photographer Ronnie Norton of Dublin arranged for me to do an all day Photoshop program sponsored by Adobe and hosted by local companies from the UK and Ireland. It was hoped that we could get around 75 attendees to come in for a day class, and we ended up with over 250 for a great day of Photoshop and digital photography workflow training. Thank you Ronnie and thank you Adobe for making this happen! We had a great time, as the Irish photographers are always great to be with as all of the people here. It had been many years since I have done a program here and it is just one of the most beautiful countries you can visit. (The beer not half bad either) We had Ireland venders DML and GMS there as well as Adobe, Canon, and OnOne Software reps coming in from the UK to talk to the attendees on the breaks. The overall response was just fantastic as they are more than ready for the next installment of training in the near future. Afterwards we ended with a couple of pints of Guinness and a good chinwag with some of the local photographers. (a new term I learned)….

Coming in early before the tour, Helene and I had a nice time for a few days relaxing and shopping as we stayed in the Westbury Hotel in the heart of Dublin. On our first night here, we caught a performance of RiverDance in a small local theater and enjoyed visiting the local pubs, shops, and restaurants. Today we met up with the other photographers coming in for the week and went on an afternoon tour of the sights of Dublin including St Patrick’s Cathedral and Trinity College to view the Book of Kells, a ninth century Gospel manuscript transcribed by midlevel monks. At night we all went to dinner and show of local Irish music and dancing at The Abby Tavern outside Dublin located along a picturesque fishing harbor. The Tavern nestles against the ancient ruins of Howth Abby, which dates back to the 11^th century.

I will be posting a bunch of photos next week when as we stop in different towns along the countryside of Ireland so stay tuned for more….

New Images From Seattle Visit

2009-06-15T22:36:00.008-04:00

Working on some new fine art images. While in Seattle recently, I shot several details of the side of the building of the Museum of Science Fiction. These are some of the composites from this series. Click on the image to enlarge the view.... Enjoy!....

Back From Alaska

2009-06-10T16:01:00.011-04:00

If you have never been to Alaska, you must try to plan a trip there someday. Helene and I are back from our cruise that took us from Seattle to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria. We had a great time with all our friends from Camera Craftsmen of America. Here are a few pictures from the trip to see.

Finding the “Goodies” in Photoshop CS4

2009-04-09T21:35:00.007-04:00

As we move from earlier versions of Photoshop to new ones, we learn new tools and techniques to build on what we already know. Photoshop CS4 and CS4 Extended are no exception. Eventually, some of the older tools and filters will fade away as they make way for the newer streamlined workflows and effects. As we learn and get comfortable with the newer tools and interface, you my find that you sometimes miss the way you did a task in the past. I first noticed it in CS4 when I would stitch images together, I noticed there was a dialog box we had in earlier versions that was not there anymore that allowed individual control of the elements being stitched. I liked that extra step for complex compositing of images. After talking to the folks at Adobe, I found out that it was there and could be put back in…. It was there on my install disc all along with a bunch of other cool stuff that puts some the PS CS3 bells and whistles back into your PS CS4. These plug-ins can be found on your PS CS4 install disk in the English folder. Inside of that folder is a “Goodies” folder containing lots of fun stuff to put back in your PS CS4. Besides the Photomerge extension, there is the older version of the Photo Web Gallery. I like the new procedure through the Adobe Bridge CS4, but I also like the older Photoshop version of Web Gallery as well. In the Goodies folder you have the older Web gallery can install and access from both the Tools/Photoshop Menu in Bridge CS4, or the File/Automate Menu in Photoshop CS4. Other items you can install include the Extract Filter, the Pattern Maker and the Contact Sheet Plug-in. If you don’t have the install disc due to the original software being a downloaded version, you can find them on the Adobe Software Download site as well. You can’t just drag the whole thing into the PS CS4 Plug-in folder. There is an important read me file that comes with the plug-ins it that will tell you where to put each file. You really have to follow it to a letter. Directions are easy to follow for each plug-in. A few minutes of drag and drop files and you are ready to go….

Photoshop World Boston 2009

2009-04-02T11:41:00.017-04:00

Helene and I are back from Photoshop World #20. Hard to believe we have had 20 of them already. Attendance was a little down from others due to the tight economy, but it still was a busy show. I had all new programs this year and some that I had never done on stage before. Since I didn’t have a pre-con class this show, I helped Kevin Ames with his class running the computer for the live shoot everyone enjoyed seeing how make-up, prop-styling, and fashion photography all comes together at once. The theme this year is football, and we had some great moments of football fun at the opening keynote. Things moved pretty smoothly through the entire show. I taught a class on Photo Illustration for Advertising, Still Life Live Shoot, Creating the Perfect Panoramic Image, and Working with your Digital Photographer. Helene ran the portfolio review and taught a live shooting class on digital portraits. Then she taught her creativity class to a packed house in the trade show theater. On Thursday night I hosted the Art of Digital Photography panel where I share the stage with Jay Maisel, John Paul Caponigro, Joe Glyda and others to show a 15-minute presentation of my artwork. Always a lot of fun!

   Spent a bunch of time in the three story Apple store across the street from the conference center. They had the coolest glass spiral staircase… Took lots of pictures with my little Canon 870 to make some new montage abstract images.

   On Saturday Mark Maio and I had our first day long seminar under our new flag of The Digital Imaging Institute for Science and Medicine. We made or presentation to Boston area attendees at the Joslin Diabetes Center. We felt it went very well and got lots of great feedback to make each one we do better and better. Our next presentation will be in Atlanta at the Emory Eye Center on April 18th. Please feel free to pass along this info to any of your friends that have anything to do in the medical or scientific side of digital imaging.

   I had my first print competition at the state convention as a new member of the Professional Photographers of California this past month. I haven’t done one in a long time. Judging was pretty tough as they have very good photographers across the state. I was pleased to find in my returned case that I won EI Commercial Photographer of the Year and EI Illustrative Photographer of the Year. I have several different competitions I am working on now both for photography, and for the design of my new 20-page studio brochure that designer Mile Leidel of Steem created for me. (see the side bar link if you would like to download a copy of it) I am finally getting caught up at the studio so I can have time now to get another tutorial up... I am working on new articles for Photoshop User and Professional Photographer magazine. Watch for those soon....

Hands-On Digital Photography Workshop In Our Atlanta Studio

2009-03-31T15:56:00.006-04:00

It's time once again for the Divitale/Glassman hands-on workshop held in our Atlanta Studio hosted by Software Cinema. Helene and I are looking forward to three days of in-depth digital photography training and would love to have you join us. For more information, please visit the software Cinema website link at http://www.software-cinema.com/page/6/jd_hg_09

Mark Maio and Jim DiVitale announce the start of the Digital Imaging Institute for Science and Medicine

2009-03-15T23:36:00.018-04:00

To help bring digital imaging training into the medical areas, photographer Mark Maio has created the Digital Imaging Institute for Science and Medicine. As President and CEO of this new association, Mark has appointed me Director of Education. Mark and I have been working on these plans for a long time as we create our outline to help get the medical and scientific users up and running on the latest imaging techniques and Photoshop CS4 Extended. This expanded version of Photoshop has many additional features that are designed for the forensic, medical and scientific research side of digital imaging. From basic digital capture through specific area applications, we plan to provide a place for ongoing training through the web, seminars, hands-on workshops, and training DVD’s. Our first official daylong seminar is in two weeks in Boston right after Photoshop world. Information can be found on our new web site http://www.digitalimaginginstitute.com.

Mark and I have been friends for over 25 years. We started out as instructors together at the Art Institute of Atlanta in the eighties. Both photography and education has been a big part of our lives. Mark is both a world-class medical photographer and consultant specializing in ophthalmic imaging, as well as an established fine art photographer with a permanent collection of work in the George Eastman House. I am very excited about the opportunity to help coordinate the training efforts for this new association as it starts out. Adobe is very excited to see where this can go as we start off small, by have really big ideas for it’s future. If you, or have any friends in the medical or scientific side that you feel would benefit form this type of association, please send us an e-mail through the web site.

I have been on the road teaching a lot this past month with programs in Atlanta and Raleigh NC. This coming week I have a Canon Explorers of Light program this Thursday for ASMP held at PPR Atlanta, and another 2-day Canon sponsored program in Chattanooga. Then it is off to Boston for Photoshop World and our medical seminar. Back in the studio we have been very busy shooting our Mizuno Baseball catalog for 2010.

Helene has been very busy with multiple photographic projects in Santa Barbara. This weekend, she taught her “An Outlet For My Creative Self “ two-day workshop at Lepp Institute. Students learned all types of creative imaging techniques as well as solid business marketing applications. These are all good tune-ups for both of us as we approach Photoshop World in Boston. Working with Scott Kelby and his staff is certainly the best teaching experience we have all year. I have some new classes I have never taught before and I am looking forward to an exciting conference as usual. If you have never been to a Photoshop World, you should really make plans to attend one in the future. I will get a new imaging tutorial posted as soon as I can this week…

It Starts With The Histogram

2009-02-24T00:31:00.012-05:00

Understanding digital photography starts with the exposure. If you compare it to exposing film, it is more like transparency film than negative film. To get the best dynamic range from a digital exposure, you must expose it as bright as possible without over exposing the image. There is a fine line in finding that perfect place. Many photographers play it safe and stay on the lower side of the perfect exposure. Pro photographers know not to overexpose, but getting that perfect spot on the verge of overexposure is where the beauty lies in digital Imaging. To find that perfect place you must master the art of previsualization and reading of the histogram.

   In the days of film, we could always count on the Polaroid to double check the exposure. Learning to read the Polaroid exposure and evaluate the results to adjust the film exposure was very important if you want consistent results without bracketing all over the place to get the final image. The photo on the LCD viewer of our camera is not a modern day equivalent of the Polaroid. You must learn to look at the scene and understand where the exposure should be to create the perfect rendering of the image. Remember, there is no such thing as a good or bad histogram. There can only be a good or bad rendering of the file. Think of the histogram as a bar chart with 256 separate bars. How high any one bar rises depends how many times any pixel value appears in the image.

   When determining the proper exposure for the final 8 bit file, you will find that on a scale of 0-255, white with detail is at about 240-245. Above that, white will start to loose any true detail as it approaches pure white of 255. On the shadow side, black with detail lives at about 20-25. Below 20 and you start to loose you shadow detail. This does not mean you can't have a pure black of 0, or a pure white of 255 in you image. It just means you need to be aware of where these values fall to hold detail in the areas that really need it. Just remember to expose for the highlights, and process for the shadows.

   By shooting Raw files you will have incredible control over the tonal range of the image. Buy letting the camera process it’s Raw data into jpeg files, you lose all this control. You spend a lot of cash for these incredible cameras, and not want the best possible quality? That’s just plain crazy….

Custom White Balance and Exposure

2009-02-12T01:40:00.010-05:00

There’s something that really drives me crazy with digital photography and Photoshop. Why is there so much emphasis on color correction? When did we all become such bad photographers where we have to spend so much time correcting color instead of shooting an image properly to start with? Want life to be better? I have three words for you today… Auto Is Evil… Now, three words that will make everything a lot better…. Custom White Balance…. Doing a custom white balance at the start of a photo shoot will save so much time on the computer that you will actually find time to be creative again, instead of being a color correcting technician…. I have worked with several different color charts over my 30 years in professional photography, and the one that I have found that works better than any other is the Photo Master Target developed by my good friend Jean-Francois O'Kane. I am not saying it because he is my friend… I didn’t even know him before discovering this tool that is part of my everyday workflow in or out of he studio. I met J F while Helene and I were teaching a weeklong workshop at the Niagara School in Canada. At first glance, it might seem like other targets you may have used before, but it’s not … Using this target has saved so much time for both Helene’s portrait photography and my commercial images in the studio and on location. Here’s how it works….

   The target has 4 patches of very neutral tones. They are created to give you a nice middle gray, and black with detail, a white with detail, and a forth tone of white that is slightly darker the white with detail patch.

   When starting a new photo shoot, you set the custom white balance by shooting a reflective image filling the frame with the middle gray patch, or shooing through the semi translucent white patch for an incident reading.
   Once the white balance is set, you then photograph the entire target filling the camera frame with all 4 patches that will give you a very unique histogram. What you are looking for is 4-peek histograms that will help you determine the proper highlight contrast. If you can get the two lighter peeks to have slight separation between them, you will have proper highlight contrast and exposure.

   When working with a group of images that are shot under the same lighting situation, you can open all of them up in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom and enhance the tonal range to all of them at once by adjusting the histogram of the target and applying the enhancement to all the files at once. This will save a great deal of processing time and help with consistency between all the files on the shoot. You can find out more information on the Photo Master Target at www.photomastertarget.com. You can use the discount code 68VT284 that J F has provided for all my readers. You won’t be disappointed.

The Targeted Adjustment Tool in Lightroom 2

2009-01-31T11:35:00.007-05:00

I would like to share this short video I made on using the Targeted Adjustment Tool in Adobe Lightroom 2. This tool gives us options in sliding around the tonal range of an image with ease. Double click the play icon below to enlarge video viewing size. Take a look and let me know what you think...

New Web Site Is Up

2009-01-30T14:34:00.027-05:00

I would like to introduce you to my new web site dedicated to my digital art photography. The site can be found at www.JimDiVitale.com. That address should be easy to remember. There are lots of new images I have never shown before along with many of my classic digital montages and paintings from my portfolio.

From the splash page, you can launch into my fine art site in Flash (or HTML), or the DiVitale Photography commercial advertising site. I would love to have you take a look and pass along any comments to me as this new site takes shape. I am in the process of removing the remaining fine art image section from the main DiVitale Photography commercial web site to make room for a new portfolio section on architecture and interiors. I am working on a project photographing historic homes in the Atlanta area for a new book, so I will have lots of new images to post there soon. I am doing this new project as Merge to HDR images with little to no extra lighting added to achieve a very natural environmental look to the images. It's a fun project that will take many days of location shooting over the next few months....

I had a very busy time in Houston last week. Taught a 2 day hands-on class of 15 students with Steve Herzberg at PrairieFire Productions. We called it "Keep it Simple". We spent a lot of the time reviewing the best options for using digital imaging workflow tools. The class followed along on their computers as we did step by step assignments together in Photoshop and Lightroom. I will be back in the Houston area a couple of times this coming year for more two day workshops.

If you are not on Steve's mailing list for his newsletter, you can join at this address. Steve's newsletter goes out to over 45,000 subscribers and keeps you well informed on hot digital imaging products, topics, and techniques. Check it out at PrairieFire Productions.com. While I was in Houston, I did an Adobe presentation on What's new in Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2 for a packed house of ASMP photographers. I alway enjoy any time I get to work with any of the ASMP chapters around the US.

A few hours after my return to Atlanta, I made yet another evening presentation on Compositing for Advertising illustrations in PS CS4 to the Adobe Users Group of Atlanta. I met lots of new friends there. Sseveral of them decided to take my Tune-Up Clinic Class the following Saturday at PPR Atlanta. We had twice as many attendees this time in our second of these monthly courses I am holding at PPR. We did a fast paced 4 hour class on Raw processing in both Photoshop and Lightroom. For more info on the next class go to PPRAtlanta.com.

This week I have been working on series of magazine illustrations that had some nice Photoshop challenges. I will be posting a few things from that soon.... Got my case of print entries out to my first competition of this year at the Professional Photographers of California conference. Haven't competed in a while, so it was good to be working on that. We will see how well they do before the next round. Sorry for the delays in posting. With all this running around, I was out with a cold for few days and I am just now getting back to normal... Till next time.. Have a great week... Jimmy D...

Creative Selective Focus with FocalPoint from OneOne Software

2009-01-19T18:58:00.021-05:00

Selective focus isn't a new technique, but there sure is a new way to apply it like never before with OnOne Software's FocalPoint. This Photoshop plug-in has the ability to give the photographer control like we have never had before. I still like my tilt-shift Canon 90 mm lens and my Lensbaby, but when I need very exacting control and all the possible options for my selective focus photography, this is where I turn to for creative effects. This way I can have my sharp images and my selective focus images from the same original Raw capture. Best of all, I can pull images from my past and re-apply this plug-in to get a whole new look for my older images. This is a very simple to use Photoshop plug-in that has a unique dialog box for the control freak in all of us. Start by opening your file in Photoshop, and access the software plug-in from the OnOne drop down menu at the top of the screen.

In the large dialog box you have a control called the Focus Bug which looks like a large grid across your image. In the center is a small circle with handles that come out. These handles control the amount and direction of the blur and vignette. Pressing the Option Key (PC: Alt Key) allows you to change the direction of the plane of focus to follow the natural fall off of the image. It's easy to learn in just a few minutes of playing around with a photo. The sliders on the right side of the dialog box also work in conjunction with the Focus Bug handles.

You can save any adjustments you like as a preset to return to them later. Always remember to add just a little noise back to the blurry part of the image with the noise slider. An amount of about 2 to 4 on the slider should be enough to bring back the original grain of the image to match. The vignette slider can make the the edges darker or lighter if you are doing a high key image. This is a must have plug-in for you creative workflow and I am sure you will be having a lot of fun with it..... Till next time.... Jimmy D....

Imaging USA 2009

2009-01-19T15:20:00.013-05:00

Helene and I had a great time in Phoenix at Imaging USA. We got to see lots of friends and attend many classes. Many of our fellow Photoshop World instructors were there teaching, so we got to sit in on some classes that we never have time to see at the NAPP shows. Several of our close friends were receiving degrees this year so it was nice to be there with them for the awards ceremony. I received the Imaging Excellence Bar for a earning 13 additional PPA Loan collection merits over the last few years. I did two programs in the Canon Explorers of Light stage in the trade show to a nice sized crown of photographers. One program was on how to stitch panoramic images, and the second one was on shooting techniques using Merge to HDR and Extended Depth of Field. Arizona is a great place for these shows as the weather was perfect and the brand new convention center was very nice. Here are some photos from the show.....

We have moved to a new web address

2008-12-27T17:49:00.044-05:00

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. I am starting the new year with a new blog address and format that I hope will read better on your computer. I will keep the 2008 archives at the old address if you would like to refer to any of the older posts. You can find them

at http://web.mac.com/jimdivitale. Please bookmark this new Blog address and I invite you to subscribe and become a follower of Digital Imaging Tune-Up Clinic Blog by clicking on the link to the upper right of the page. I will try to post 3 to 4 different tutorial lessons each month if possible, but sometimes the shooting or seminar schedule might interrupt the writing schedule. If you are looking for a new post and there is not one there, please be patient with me.

I am sure many of you have already upgraded to the newest version of Adobe Photoshop CS4. Some of you may not have and are waiting to make sure it is stable or maybe waiting to see what others are saying about the upgrade. There's no reason to be waiting. The longer you wait, the more catching up you have to do with all your competition. Many of the upgrades to the newest version are improvements under the hood. They are not new tools, but improvements to the tools that are already there. Big improvements! One new tool that I really like is the new Content Aware Scaling. This is a very subtle new tool that lets us re-size document dimensions while preserving the most important main subject from distorting. This will be very important when the finished image doesn't quite fit the final output size needed for delivery and croping the image is the best option. I think this is one of the most

amazing technologies Adobe has ever come up with. Let's look at a simple example.

In this image of a bald eagle, we see that it was photographed as a horizontal image. Yes, you could crop it to a vertical image, but you would loose a lot of the volcano in the background. If you used the traditional Free-Transform Tool Command-t (PC Control-T) and scaled it, it would become totally distorted and that wouldn't work at all.

Now with Content Aware Scaling, you can size this horizontal image to become a vertical by pressing Command-Option-Shift-C (PC: Control-Alt-Shift-C) and the main subject of the eagle stays in proper shape, while the rest of the image scales back to the vertical shape...

It's just plain amazing the way it works... It's kind of spooky!.... How does it know that?..... This is going to be very important for image re-use when it was shot for one crop, and then needed for another later. Well worth the upgrade, and this is just one of the many improvements to Photoshop CS4...

Helene and I are just returning from a nice cruise over the New Years Holiday and Helene's birthday. Leaving out of Miami, we spent a week with friends visiting Key West and Grand Cayman. As we got ready to start our vacation, we decided to leave the bags of cameras behind and just take the Canon G-9 cameras with us instead. They worked great and we were a lot happier not carrying heavy bags of equipment around when we were supposed to be relaxing. We had a great time and feel ready to start the new year.

Off to Imaging USA conference this weekend to do some Canon sponsored programs in the trade show. If you are going to be there, please check the speaker schedule in the Canon booth and come by for a visit..... Till next time... Have a great week... Jimmy D.....

Training DVD's and are available through Software Cinema

Please visit my website at DiVitalePhotography.com for more information on upcoming classes,workshops and seminars in both Atlanta and around the country.

Please add any comments, questions or suggestions by clicking the comment button below. I would love to hear what you think of the new look, and how well it works on your computer. The older Blog seemed to take more time to load for many viewers. Any topics you would like me to write about?... Just let me know.....