Haven't shared any work for a while!

I've been really busy lately, so I haven't been blogging much.  But here are some shares from the archives:

Re: need testers

Thanks for the fast and overwhelming response to my previous post.

I have enough Photoshop users for my testing, thank you.  I need one more Lightroom user, and I don't have any Elements peeps yet.  I'm sure you're out there, so please get in touch.  Elements has fantastic raw capabilities, so don't hold yourself back.

UPDATE:  I've got all the testers I need, thanks.

New Raw Class - need testers

I'm SO excited to be writing this post, because it marks a milestone in a very long journey.  For the last few months I've been writing my new Raw Class, and it's finally ready.

Some of you will know that last year I was running one-on-one live Raw Classes.  I trained lots of people that way, with great success.  I taught many photographers the basics of clean processing in Raw and Photoshop.

Well, my personal circumstances are changing - my health hasn't been great, and my "Mr Mum" duties are about to increase from three days per week to four.  And my other work (retouching and restoration) has been steadily increasing.  So unless I can use the Clone Tool to clone myself, I just don't have time for four hours of one-on-one training per person any more :(

Instead, I've turned the class into a comprehensive written slideshow, accompanied by plenty of videos.  It's taken a long time, but it's finally finished.  In fact, it's much more comprehensive than the live class was.  Without the constraints of the four-hour time limit in the verbal delivery, I've added heaps more information than I could ever fit in before.

Pesky pinks

I'm supposed to be doing all sorts of other work tonight, but I can't resist a good blog topic!

The lovely Rowena Field sent me a photograph that was troubling her.  In it, her daughter's pink shirt appeared quite blotchy and pixelated when viewed at 100%, despite the fact that all the other detail in the image was perfectly normal, and despite the fact that she'd got good exposure at only ISO250, which is a piece of cake for her 5D.

I know this is a problem for everyone from time to time (although not everyone examines their photos as closely as Rowena!), so she cautiously gave me permission to use the photo here.  Thanks, Ro!

Here's the shot:

Setting up a super-secure Facebook profile

Facebook has a justifiable reputation as a place of sharing - in fact, an "orgy of sharing" might be more appropriate.  People seem to share all sorts of personal stuff there, and some people make it available to anyone!

Not surprisingly, this "orgy" is distasteful to a lot of people; and they avoid it.

But I love Facebook.  It's a place where I can keep up with the news of my friends and family, in a way that would otherwise be impossible at this busy stage of my life.

If you have resisted Facebook because you are concerned about your privacy, I'm here to change your mind.  Despite what you might think, it's very easy to set up a very private place on Facebook, and nobody will know you're there except the people you choose.

Let's walk through the process of signing up and locking down your privacy settings.  It only takes a few minutes to be really secure, and start enjoying the company of your friends on Facebook.

For this example I'm making a page for one of my cats, Meggsie :)

Spyder3Express settings

Frequently I advise Spyder3Express users (particularly on Macs, and PC laptops) to calibrate to the "LCD Native" setting rather than the default 6500K setting.

However, I was never able to give very good advice about where to find that setting, since I'm not a Spyder user myself.

So, I'm very grateful to Crystal from Pennsylvania for writing this guest post for me.  Please take a moment to visit her lovely site: http://www.crystalsatrianophotography.com/

Where is LCD Native???

Everyone says you must go to ‘Preferences’ to click ‘LCD Native’. They are right, but did you know there are TWO ‘Preference’ tabs??? If you were having trouble finding LCD Native, you were probably going to the wrong Preferences (like I was).

When you click the Spyder3 Utility icon on the toolbar:

You see:

 

This is the Preferences I kept going to.  WRONG ONE!!!!!!  Instead, you need to Launch Spyder3Express.  Once you have the program open, go to the top left and click on ‘Go’ -> Preferences.  This is the RIGHT ONE!!! (MAC Users:  Same area, top left of monitor next to apple, click on Spyder3Express->Preferences)

Then you will FINALLY find the LCD Native spot to check :)