Professional Photoshop Toolkit

Professional Photoshop Toolkit

A Few Power User Tools for Serious Image Enhancing I am usually not big on filters or commercially available “Action” sets for Photoshop—I prefer to “roll my own”—I spend most of my time showing people how to get the most out of Photoshop by...
Don’t Forget the Details

Don’t Forget the Details

Epic Imagery is not Everything in Photography! I am returning to my photos of Italy in this post but with a difference! I have been sorting through the thousands of photos captured during a magical two-week trip through Rome, Florence and most of Tuscany. There are...
B&W Tone Control for Rendering Success

B&W Tone Control for Rendering Success

Some More Thoughts on B&W I thought I would write a little bit about the decision process when creating B&W renderings from color images. The images that follow were all captured in and around Los Osos on the central coast of California. I have often said that...
The Pleasures of Black and White

The Pleasures of Black and White

The Upcoming Workshop in Los Osos Before I return to my photo adventure in Italy, and while I’m preparing for my B&W workshop at Light Photographic, I thought I’d share some thoughts and B&W images of the beautiful locations in and around Los Osos....
On Location in Italy – 2

On Location in Italy – 2

Lee Varis shares some panorama insights in Florence Well… the dust has settled, somewhat, from my trip to Italy, and now begins the long process of evaluating the thousands of images captured during my tour of Tuscany. Our first stop after Rome was the...
On Location in Italy – 1

On Location in Italy – 1

Rome, Amalfi Coast, and Pompeii I’m just throwing up a quick post from the road here in Italy. Stay tuned for more detailed posts later. First stop was Rome and a quick walking tour. Our hotel was just a few steps away from the Trevi Fountain: We spent the first...
Death Valley Adventure – 3

Death Valley Adventure – 3

Using Puppet Warp to un-distort panoramas Well… my Death Valley adventure has inspired many discoveries and I thought I’d share one of them for part 3. This takes advantage of the distortion capabilities in Puppet Warp to correct for some common...
Death Valley Adventure – Part 2

Death Valley Adventure – Part 2

The Pleasures of Lightroom 4 Process Sliders Every personal photo safari I go on is a great learning experience, and often this extends to discoveries in my post processing experiences. Fortunately, I have been working with the new Lightroom 4 for a while before its...
Death Valley Adventure – Part 1

Death Valley Adventure – Part 1

Sampling the Visual Pleasures of the Lowest Point in the US Every year, if I can, I spend and extended weekend in Death Valley with a small group of friends—we’ve been going to Death Valley to photograph for that last 30+ years. In the past I’ve been known...
Architecture Interiors — The Broad Stage Revisited

Architecture Interiors — The Broad Stage Revisited

Creating Panorama Scenes in Photoshop I’ve been quite busy lately—the first part of the Month I was in Death Valley, then immediately after returning, I jumped into a photo shoot for the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, part of the Santa Monica College arts campus....
Lightroom 4 and the Digital Zone System

Lightroom 4 and the Digital Zone System

While Lightroom 4 is still in beta, it is clear that there have been major changes to this preeminent photographers tool, especially with regards to RAW processing. This has serious implications for my digital zone system. Fortunately this doesn’t require...
Report from Fotofusion 2012

Report from Fotofusion 2012

Escaping the Cold with Total Immersion Photography Its that time of the year when a good percentage of the country is starting to experience serious cold weather—not the biggest problem for me, living in Santa Monica, CA, but it is still good to get away to the warm...
B&W How to – 3D Tone Sculpting

B&W How to – 3D Tone Sculpting

Think like a sculptor and shape your tones for ideal B&W conversions. Often, when confronted with the need for a B&W version of a color image, the process of conversion is treated as an afterthought. There may be some thought as to what the best method will be...