PhotoWalkPro

It would have been easy to just re-hash the Lightroom 2 book and add in new features from Lightroom 3 but then that just wouldn’t be Scott Kelby, now would it? I’m always amazed at how each book series update he does seems like something brand new and this latest book is no exception. From the moment I first opened the cover until I turned the last page, I was pleasantly pleased to see so many new features in this book. So let’s talk about the real meat and potatoes of this book.

The book starts out just like you would work in Lightroom, by importing images. It’s hard to believe that there is so much to know about just getting your photos from your camera into Lightroom but everything is well covered in this Chapter. The Import function was completely overhauled for Lightroom 3 and the book uses a step-by-step approach to guide you through importing from camera, computer, even video. There’s also a great section on using the new tethered shooting section.

Next it’s on to the Import module. Once again, everything is laid out in a step-by-step fashion including how to create custom metadata templates for copyright, custom naming templates, and tips on navigating through your images. The next chapter is all about organization. There are tons of different strategies for organizing photos in Lightroom and Scott shares his personal methods for sorting, searching, and keeping all of your shoots organized.

The next chapter is very cool. It’s full of tips on how to customize Lightroom to get the most out of the program. In it, you will find things like setting up two monitors, customizing panels, setting the loupe magnification, and even adding your studio logo to the top of the program banner.

The rest of the book follows the same pattern of instruction, covering the Develop, Slideshow, Print, and Web modules, each in great detail but with a simplicity that never leaves you feeling overwhelmed.  If that was all there was to the book, it would be well worth the money but wait, there’s so much more. First of all, every chapter ends with a section of Lightroom Killer Tips. These are short little tips and hints that you probably won’t find in any other book.

The final chapter is by far my favorite because it really pulls everything together. In it, Scott has taken his 7-Point System and adapted it to Lightroom. There are four different projects where Scott walks you through his entire process for adjusting images, including a fashion shot, a landscape, a travel photo, and a sports shot. By following along you will discover just how easy it is to take your good shot and make it great by applying his 7-point system in the develop module. It’s this personal insight into Scott’s Lightroom workflow that really takes this book over the top and gives you the benefit of his vast knowledge of this powerful program.

The bottom line is that, even if you were pretty comfortable using Lightroom 2, version 3 is a whole new ballgame with lots of great new features and this book is the perfect guide. Not only will you learn all of the features and tools that Lightroom 3 has to offer but also Scott’s keen insight on how to leverage them all to your advantage. It’s definitely another winner for Scott and Lightroom users everywhere.

There’s nothing like the site of a FedEx truck pulling into my driveway. Usually it means that I am about to get some really cool new piece of photo gear. But yesterday it was even better because I received my author copies of my latest book, right from the printers.  That’s right, my latest title, Canon T2i/550D: From Snapshots to Great Shots is finished printing and should be hitting the warehouses soon. I had a lot of fun writing this book because the T2i is such a great camera. Not only that but the crew at Peachpit did a fantastic job as always with the layout. It really is a great looking book if I do say so myself.

For those of you that have not seen one of my books, they aren’t your normal camera book fare. When I began writing the series (this is number 5 for me) I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t just offering up a re-hash of the owner’s manual. Instead I cover the most important camera features, and then I take it one step further. I tell you how to use them to make better photographs. Your owner’s manual does a good job of describing what a feature might do but it doesn’t necessarily tell you how or when to use it, but I do.  So if you are a Canon T2i/550D owner give it a read and see if it is the right book to help take your photography to the next level.

By the way, if you own a Nikon D3000, D5000, Canon 50D, G10/11, 7D or T1i/500D, there’s a Snapshots to Great Shots available for you as well. Just check at your favorite book seller like Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Borders.

Attention all you Canon 7D owners out there. There is a new book available in the Snapshots to Great Shots series and it’s just for you. Salt Lake City photographer Nicole Young has written the perfect book for new 7D owners that will guide you through the best features of the camera and how to leverage them to make great looking photos. You can find her new book at Amazon or wherever you buy great photography books now.

Alien Skin Releases Exposure 3

Are you an old school photographer who uses digital for the speed, convenience, and cost but longs for the look of film? Well then you need to check out the latest release from the folks at Alien Skin software called Exposure 3. With 500 different film techniques, you are sure to find something to bring back the organic look of film to your images. There are tons of presets including B/W films such as Tri-X, NeoPan, and Delta. But there’s more than just black and white presets. There are tons of them for classic color films such as Kodachrome, Polaroid, and even old classics like Daguerreotypes. The plug-in is completely compatible with 64-bit Photoshop CS5 as well as Lightroom 3. The only problem you might have with this plug-in is trying to decide on which one of the 500+ presets you want to use. Check out the video below and then head to Alien Skin for more information and to download the free trial.

A Photo Companion for Google Earth

The other day I wrote about how I use Google Earth to find great places to shoot when I travel. Shortly after the post I received an email from a reader telling me about another app that could enhance the travel photo experience. It’s called The Photographer’s Ephemeris. Wikipedia defines ephemeris as “is a table of values that gives the positions of astronomical objects in the sky at a given time or times” and that’s pretty much what this app does. Just put in the location and you will not only see things like sunset and sunrise times, but also how the sun will track across the landscape so you always know where the good light will come from and where it’s going.

To check out the app and see all of the features, follow this link to iTunes. I have not had a chance to check out this app but I have downloaded it and am anxious to give it a try. If you have used it or the desktop version, drop me a note in the comments and let me know what you think.

If you have children over the age of 10 you’ve probably heard the exclamation “Oh Snap!” more than once.  It’s kind of like the kid version of “Holy Crap!” but in a good way.  As a parent, I have come to adopt my children’s slang terms if for no other reason than to be able to communicate on some base level.  Well yesterday evening I found myself playing with a newly installed version of Aperture 3 and I believe I heard myself saying “Oh Snap!”as I was checking out all the cool new features.

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I am a long-time Adobe Lightroom user.  I gave Aperture a spin when it first came out but it just never really did it for me.  I’m not sure why, but I just felt that I could be more productive in Lightroom.  Then yesterday on the way home I was talking to a buddy about Lightroom and then he mentioned some new features in Aperture that were pretty slick.  I was intrigued so I downloaded the trial version when I got home and then imported some images so I could investigate further.

Now I can’t tell you that I am going to throw my copy of Lightroom in the recycle bin because it just isn’t true.  On the other hand, there are some features in Aperture that are just crazy-good and I am wondering what Adobe is waiting for.  Case in point, the Aperture books feature just downright rocks!  Of course Lightroom doesn’t even have a book feature but I ask the question, why not?  Apple’s book creation in Aperture is smooth as butter and completely customizable.  It’s as easy as selecting Book from the New drop-down menu and then selecting a style.  From there, you can go to one of your image collections called Projects and simply drag the images you want onto the newly created book icon.  By the way, this was my first time really using the software so please forgive me if there are other ways of doing this (which I am sure there are) but my point is that it was easy enough to do without even reading a help file.

After adding the files, I chose the page layouts from a variety of choices and then dragged images from the thumbnails at the bottom of the screen into the empty image placeholders.  I could resize the images by double-clicking them and then using the sizing slider and dragging the image around in the frame until it was positioned just the way I like.

By the way, you can even backscreen your pages.  I found this out by accident as I was dropping an image into a frame and missed.  I let go on the page instead of the frame and it automatically snapped my image into the background.  I then located the wash filter and I had a beautifully washed out backscreen for my page.  Just too cool.  You can also customize just about anything else on your pages as well.  You can resize the picture frames and drag them all around he page until you have it just the way you want it.  If your image doesn’t look right, you can double-click it to take it back into the adjustment portion of Aperture and when you’re done, just double-click it again and you are right back into the book building section.

Here’s another cool feature.  When I was done, I could have selected to send my book off to the printers but instead I turned it into a PDF document.  You can’t tell me that isn’t slick.  Can you imagine creating a wedding album and then sending a PDF proof off to the client for final approval before sending it to the printers.

I could go on and on about some of the very cool features in Aperture but I’m still learning my way around and frankly, that’s have the fun of it.  So if you are a Mac owner and you haven’t tried Aperture 3 yet, head over to Apple’s Aperture page, read up on the “What’s New” section (there’s over 200 new features, which is why I’m not going to even try and list them), and then download a free 30-day trial version and have some fun.

Hey everyone, I just received word that my latest book, Nikon D3000 – From Snapshots to Great Shots is available for pre-order.  I expect to have the writing all wrapped up by the end of this month if all goes according to plan (maybe sooner if I get a few more snow days).  I don’t have an official shipping date but I would expect to see it on store shelves by around the beginning of April.  I’m also checking out the possibility of another book after that but I don’t want to announce anything just yet because you all know how things go in the camera market. Just when you decide on one thing, BANG, here comes another camera out of the gate. Read the rest of this entry »