Still scanning film or prints?

Do you still have a significant slide, neg, or print collection that you occasionally need to pull images from and scan, or have you been putting off scanning that image collection because your scanner software doesn’t work well (or at all), or because you haven’t had an efficient workflow for scanning? If that’s the case, check out Mark D Segal’s new E-Book on Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8, SilverFast HDR, Photoshop and Lightroom.

Some of you may remember meeting Mark here in Tucson at Marco Ugolini’s ASMP Tucson Color Management workshop a few years ago. Mark is an expert, seasoned researcher and practitioner of scanning techniques and workflows, and during the redevelopment of SilverFast 8, Mark assisted LaserSoft Imaging as one of its foremost external beta testers. At the same time, Mark identified the need for a comprehensive book describing how to use the new application in its own right, in the context of complementary external image editing applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.

Given the cold, wet winters in Toronto ;-), Mark was able to devote significant time and resources into testing and developing real-world capable workflows. If this is a topic you’re interested in, you can find more information about this book on my blog, including links to a free download of the index and first 23 pages of this 380 page book, as well as a download link to purchase the (259 MB) download directly from LaserSoft Engineering.

http://www.wildnaturephotos.com/Blog/2012/05/scanning-workflows-with-silverfast-8/

You can also go right to LaserSoft for the downloads or to Mark’s website www.MarkDSegal.com.

Highly recommended.

North American Book Launch Features the work of ASMP Tucson Members

ASMP Tucson announces the April 10, 2012 North American release of Giant George: Life with the World’s Biggest Dog, which features the photographs of former ASMP Tucson member Erin Barnes and current ASMP board secretary Martha Lochert.

The book was originally released in the UK by Simon & Schuster London in 2011. That version’s front and back cover photos are by Martha Lochert. The book has also been translated into Dutch, German, Portuguese and Italian. The Portuguese version also features the photography of Martha Lochert.

The book will be featured on ABC’s Good Morning America this Wednesday, April 11.  Also, USA Today and NY Daily News will be featuring the book and publishing interviews.

Photographic Images copyrighted by Erin Barnes and Martha Lochert. Book artwork copyrighted by the publishers.

Adobe releases Photoshop CS6 Public Beta

You can download the Public Beta of CS6 here:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/photoshopcs6/

There is a good review of the new features here:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/22/2890617/adobe-photoshop-cs6-beta-hands-on

If you like the user interface in Lightroom, you’ll love the new interface in CS6.

The “…refined, fresh, and elegant Photoshop interface features dark background options that make your images pop.”

If you don’t like the dark interface, don’t panic! You can get rid of the dark background in Preferences (I don’t like the “more immersive experience” – that’s not how my images are viewed) and turn off tabbed windows. The choice is yours.

There are speed increases, GUI improvements, and now video editing is possible right in Photoshop.

The Camera RAW 7 update is fantastic.  Just be aware that the new Process Version 2012 requires a different approach to adjusting the RAW image settings compared with what you’ve been doing with CS5 (PV 2010). Use the Exposure to set the midtones – this is now critical. Most of the controls have also changed – all have zero defaults and can go positive and negative, and the underlying algorithms have improved. For example, Clarity no longer creates halos.  The results are usually far better than what you could get with CS5 (PV 2010).

Have fun!

The Top 12 Myths about Embedded Photo Metadata

Are you metadata savvy?

There are a lot of myths and misunderstandings about embedding copyright, contact information, and other “metadata” into JPEGs, TIFFs, DNGs, and other digital image files.

Are the following statements facts, or urban legends??

1. Embedded photo metadata is something that is hard to read unless you have Photoshop or some other professional software application.

2. Embedding photo metadata adds a lot of disk space overhead to an image file.

3. Removing embedded photo metadata is against the law.

4. Images that I upload to my social media or photo sharing sites will still retain my embedded photo metadata.

Get the answers and learn more about the top twelve metadata myths at David Rieck’s excellent Controlled Vocabulary website.
www.controlledvocabulary.com/blog/top-metadata-myths.html

Center for Creative Photography

PDN Survey of Photo Assistants and Digital Techs

PDN is conducting a survey of photo assistants: what they earn, what skills are in demand, how they find work, what skills they would like to learn. The results will be published on PDNOnline in March.

It’s a totally anonymous survey, and takes about 10 minutes to fill out. Here’s the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NR8LYRR

After taking the survey, the respondent is given an option to provide his/her email (on a separate page, to maintain the confidentiality of the responses to the survey) and be entered in a drawing to win a $100 gift certificate to a mail order photo retailer.

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