And you get to take photos of the reason you sat in traffic for an hour..

How a person can do this in stop and go traffic is beyond me…

Link to Full Size

I guess the picture fits the general mood… News will get posted over the next few weeks and big info about our upcoming podcast…

There sure were allot of oooo’s  and ah’s in the audience – I assume none of them were thinking about the possible consequences.

So how does this help photographers – Well it helps greatly by allowing us to fix massive mistakes & possibly save huge jobs. But the real question is what happens when Adobe empowers editors with the ability to remove anything easily from an image? It is really a problem we have daily and that is how to mark or watermark your images to hopefully maintain some kind of control over the images and the content you created. This incredible tool like many things great in our world can easily be used for evil.

I believe we all know that we as photographers should not impede the creation of such great time saving tools but on the flip side i ask Adobe: Can we please have a good way to secure our content when tools like this are released?

Adobe has very smart people working for them, they have and to this day create great products, now its time to make a reliable, secure way for photographers to lock down their images. We have asked for it for years and with the introduction of  Content Aware Fill it’s time to see some better options.

In diving a bit deeper into this topic it does seems Adobe is working on solutions as I could only image they would be, this article: http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdfs/phscs2ip_digintegr.pdf and a few others show the high level of concern we all have but in the end we still have no real tools available to secure images.

Will any of these unknown security tools solve the problem, doubtful. But just like with “The Club” on your car steering wheel the harder we can make it the better.

The Fractalius plugin creates unusual, eccentric artworks in a single step. The effects are based on extraction of so-called hidden fractal texture of an image. You can also simulate various types of exotic lightings and high realistic pencil sketches.

This is definitely one of the more fun plugins for photoshop – and I even paid for it because the results can be so cool and fun to play with… Sometimes a plugin should just really mess with pixels and this one does just that.

No details of what has changed yet – but there seems to have been a few fixes lately:

Version 2.12, July 2009

• No Changes listed yet

Version 2.11, 4th July 2009

• The export was being disabled unnecessarily when the watermark height field was empty, even though watermark resizing option was not turned on.

Version 2.00, 2th July 2009

• New JPEG compression option will compress JPEGs to the highest quality that’ll be smaller than the requested file size.
• Text annotations can now include accented characters and other such things.
• Unnecessary punctuation resulting from empty tokens in a text annotation is now removed.
• Text can now be scaled as a percentage of the shortest or longest side of the image so that it’ll be the same size on both landscape or portrait images.
• Watermarks can now be scaled as a percentage of the shortest or longest side of the image so they’ll be the same size on both landscape or portrait images.
• Estoteric errors that resulted from leaving width and height fields blank are now trapped.

For those that use lightroom here are the details of this great export plugin – actually something worth donating money to the author for:

LR2/Mogrify is a Lightroom 2 post-process plug-in that can embellish your images as they are exported from Lightroom. It’s flexible interface allows you to add borders, watermarks and text annotations to your images.

It’s also capable of exporting optimum JPEG images that are no larger than your requested size; great for uploading to web sites that limit the file size.

LR2/Mogrify uses ImageMagick to process the images. ImageMagick is a collection of powerful, freeware command line utilities for processing images.

In contrast to the original LR/Mogrify for Lightroom 1.3 and above, LR2/Mogrify is implemented as a "post-process" plug-in (new to Lightroom 2.0), allowing it to work in tandem with any export plug-in. This allows you to process your images using LR2/Mogrify and still have them sent to your final destination using the export plug-in of your choice.

LR/Mogrify and LR2/Mogrify are donationware plug-ins and are distributed via the Photograper’s Toolbox. The trial version limits the number of images that can be exported in one go to ten. Donating towards one of the projects removes this restriction and will give you a serial number that works with both.

You may also be interested in my LR/Enfuse plug-in to blend multiple exposures together.

Are you, or do you dream about being, a photographer … amateur, semi-pro, or pro?

Have you ever wondered what it takes to shoot stunning photographs of beautiful women, or perhaps just wanted to improve your current shooting abilities?

Ever wanted to attend a photo workshop from one of the top glamour photographers in the world, but just couldn’t afford it or coordinate an opportunity to do so?

http://sirensmystique.c.topica.com/maam7XhabQDC2aQ8f1tbaeQCqs/

Mystique photographer Mark Daughn is now revealing his secrets and techniques in a new series of instructional DVDs. These DVDs are perfect for all levels of photographers, from someone who just began or is about to, to practicing professionals.

For the past eleven years, photographer Mark Daughn has been creating the unique look and feel of the images in Mystique Magazine. In addition to Mystique, he has published pictorials in Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler, as well as many of the top women’s fashion magazines. And top clothing companies have paid him mega bucks to create national ad campaigns for them.

Mark got his start in fashion photography, which gives him a unique perspective on how he approaches glamour photography.

Students pay thousands of dollars to take private lessons from him, some even flying to the United States from Europe and Australia just to attend one of his workshops.

But Mark understands not everyone can afford to attend a private workshop, so he is now sharing his decades of experience in a new series of affordable glamour photography DVDs.

The first three DVDs in the series are now available. Take a look …

Disc 1:

Production 101: Producing a Successful Shoot Mark explains each step of a successful production, giving you all the information needed for you to produce your own shoot.

http://sirensmystique.c.topica.com/maam7XhabQDC3aQ8f1tbaeQCqs/

Disc 2:

Lighting 101: The Fundamentals

Mark will teach you the breakdown of lighting, giving you all the concepts and information that will allow you to build your own lighting from the ground up.

http://sirensmystique.c.topica.com/maam7XhabQDC4aQ8f1tbaeQCqs/

Disc 3:

Lighting 201: Ultimate Single Light Setup By the end of the lesson, you will master the single light setup.

http://sirensmystique.c.topica.com/maam7XhabQDC5aQ8f1tbaeQCqs/

Also available are a set of 40 lighting diagrams, either as 4×6 cards, or on DVD for easy transfer to a mobile device or computer.

Photo Tip Cards:

http://sirensmystique.c.topica.com/maam7XhabQDC6aQ8f1tbaeQCqs/

DVD with Photo Tip Cards:

http://sirensmystique.c.topica.com/maam7XhabQDC7aQ8f1tbaeQCqs/

If you are serious about wanting to know how to improve your photography skills, and wish to learn what to do to take the best possible image of a woman, then these DVDs are an investment that will pay for themselves over and over again.

Order yours today!

http://sirensmystique.c.topica.com/maam7XhabQDC2aQ8f1tbaeQCqs/

If you want to learn from one of the top glamour photographers in the business here is a way to learn without breaking the bank.

From Mark’s Website:

“I’m very excited to finally announce the grand opening of my new online store!

On sale now:

* BRAND NEW, JUST RELEASED INSTRUCTIONAL DVDs!

Lighting 101 – The Fundamentals
Lighting 201 – The Ultimate Single Light Setup
Production 101 – Producing a Successful Shoot

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Lighting Diagrams DVD Format *New*
Lighting Diagrams Card Format *Best Seller!*

This was a huge project and after many months of hard work, things are now coming to fruition. This is just the beginning, there are more products coming soon. The estimated completion date for my next couple of DVDs in the lighting series is this August.

Click this link to visit my store: http://www.markdaughn.com/store.html

Zoom has revolutionized digital recording yet again with the first digital recorder with 16-track playback and 8-track simultaneous recording that utilizes Secure Digital (SD) memory. The new R16 recorder is three production tools in one incredibly versatile device. It’s a digital multi-track recorder, an audio interface and a control surface, providing you with all the tools necessary to create studio-quality recordings anywhere you need to.

The R16 combines a remarkable level of functionality with exceptionally intuitive design. For recording purposes, the unit supports up to 32GB SD cards, allowing more than six hours of recording using all 16 tracks. Additionally, the flexibility of SD recording not only makes the R16 lighter and more portable, it also ensures increased reliability with no concern for a crashing hard drive. You can even have respective SD cards dedicated to specific recording sessions.

With the ability to record up to 8 tracks simultaneously, it’s easy to capture a live band or even a complete drum kit. The R16 features built-in stereo condenser microphones for field recording or quick, convenient "sketch-pad" capturing of ideas and rehearsals. It also provides 8 balanced combination XLR-1/4-inch inputs along with one Hi-Z input for direct connection of guitar or bass.

USB operation means you can control each function of your favorite DAW software from the R16 for easy mixing with fine-tuned control. Incorporate any of the 100+ built-in studio effects to enhance your recording and use the pro-quality mastering effects to complete that studio sound. You can even connect two R16s via USB for synchronized operation and 16 tracks of simultaneous recording.

With the new Zoom R16, versatility, control and comprehensive features come together in a single device that puts the power to produce professional recordings right at your fingertips.

• Digital recorder with 16-track playback and 8-track simultaneous recording utilizing Secure Digital (SD) memory
• 24-bit/48kHz linear PCM recording in WAV format
• Built-in stereo condenser microphones
• Includes 1GB SD card and supports cards up to 32GB SDHC
• Allows simultaneous recording on up to 8 tracks
• Battery operation for remote recording
• USB power for studio operation
• 8 mic inputs / 2 outputs (8 x 2)
• 8 balanced combination XLR-1/4-inch inputs
• High-definition 24-bit/96kHz recording capability using digital audio software
• Built-in effects can be used as outboard effects as well
• Hi-Z input for direct connection of guitar or bass
• Includes preamp with phantom power on two channels
• Mackie control emulation via USB for popular DAW software including Cubase, Logic, Digital Performer and more
• Over 100 built-in studio effects coming from advanced DSP
• Amazing guitar amp and effects models
• Professional quality mastering effects, multi-band compressor, normalizer and more
• Operates as USB storage device for quick data transfer
• Connect two R16s via USB for synchronized operation and 16 tracks of simultaneous recording
• Undo/Redo functions
• Comes with Steinberg Cubase LE 4
• Supports Windows XP/Vista, Mac OS X operating systems

DTown TV is a weekly show brought to you by Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski with KelbyTraining.com. In this week’s episode they cover:

• Scott shows you how to embed your copyright information into your image files in-camera.
• Need to check if you have the latest firmware for your camera? Here’s the link
• Vincent Versace shows how to set black, white, and gray points in Capture NX2.
• Matt gives a tip on time-lapse photography. Click here to download the JPEGS from Matt’s Time Lapse Tip
• Nikon Professional Services Manager Scott Diussa shows you the proper way to attach your camera strap.
• For info on the St. Lucia workshop, check Joe McNally’s blog, or the resort website to sign up.
• Click here to download a PDF about Joe McNally’s upcoming workshop
• Scott shows how to attach the SD-9 battery pack to the bottom of a camera body
• Scott’s final tip… If you’re wondering if a tip works for your camera, give it a try!