Julie, the Deputy Editor from Advanced Photoshop has just shown me a blog-site, which is saying some very nice things about us. Just what I needed on this rainy, cold day to lift my spirits! Check it out… http://www.campphotoshop.com/Top-5-Magazines-For-Creative-Inspiration

P.S Jet-lag sucks!

P.P.S Finally figured out how to post images on here - what a doofus!

Well Photoshop World is over for another six months and I must say it’s a little depressing to be home after all those bright lights of Vegas : ( !It was a fantastic event, well worth a visit if you’re ever in the States. It was so well organised that despite the huge amount of seminars, everyone seemed to make it to all their choices. For me, the highlight was meeting the Chief of Operations of the Kelby Media Group, David Moser. The Kelby Media Group are the big Photoshop players out in the US and also run the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. David had plenty of time to chat ’shop and it was great to hear his thoughts on the show.Now, unfortunately it’s back to reality! We landed this morning and Im desperately trying to stay awake a couple more hours so I can get a good night’s sleep ready for work tomorrow. I’ve been awake 26 hours and counting….and Im starting to feel a little delirious to say the least.Looking forward to Photoshop World Boston in March already! Night night : )

I don’t know if it’s jet lag or brain ache but this is tiring! I’m not complaining though as the show has been excellent so far, with some amazing seminars.You can literally learn anything you can imagine with regards to Photoshop. I’m loving the photography-based seminars the most as that’s where my heart lies, but if you had the time you could get something out of every single lesson.This afternoon we’re hitting the expo again to meet with some of the exhibitors. We’ve met the guys from iStock who have flown over from Canada and are having a great time meeting with all the lovely Photoshoppers. We’ve also just met with the PhotoshopCafe.com team who were showing us five new training DVD’s they’ve released. I’ve picked up a couple, which I plan to review when I get back - including one on HDR which Im sure you guys will find interesting.Right… better get back to it, Have a great weekend : )

Wow - this place is immense! For those of you who don’t know, I’m in sunny Las Vegas for Photoshop World. The keynote speech kicked off the day with an excitable preview of what’s to come over the next few days, followed by a wealth of seminars to choose from. Photography, web, digital painting - you name it there’s something for everyone here and each class is packed to the rafters with eager Photoshoppers waiting to learn some new tips.We’ve managed to catch a quick photography seminar today, but for the most part we’ve been checking out the amazing tech expo they have here. There are some great new products being announced today too, including a new sharpening plug-in from Nik Software and a fab new frame plug-in from the guys at onOne.It’s so weird being in a place totally dedicated to Photoshop! Everyone has such a passion for what they do and it’s been great to meet some readers too. The US is absolutely Photoshop mad which is great to see!We’re back tomorrow for some more Photoshop fun, so check back to see what we get up to. Annoyingly I have loads of pics from the show but I’ll have to upload those when I get back on Tuesday. Byeeee!

This time tomorrow I’ll be well on my way to Photoshop World in Vegas. The show starts on Thursday and I can’t wait! I’ll be trying to cram in as many seminars as possible, as well as meeting as many of exhibitors as I can too. It’s going to be a pretty hectic few days - but who cares, I’ll be in Vegas! Check back soon to see my show reports!

I’ve just been told about a website called www.dearadobe.com which is meant to be a portal for people to give their views on all Adobe products. However, it seems there are a few angry people who are not quite feeling the Adobe love! Check it out and scroll through a few of the comments - if you’re easily offended by swearing then stay away!

A recent article in the New York Times highlighted the fact that many people are using their Photoshop skills to help erase bad memories from their past. It reports that many people choose to clone out ex-lovers and ex-friends from their photos so they can enjoy the view without being haunted by the bad memories certain individuals bring up.It’s also being widely used to almost fake happy memories too, with people comping images together to forge a lasting memory of happy times spent together. In one way it makes me think ‘why not?’ Photoshop is a fantastic tool and if it makes you feel happy to erase parts of your past then go for it. On the other hand, however, there’s something that is slightly unnerving about changing the course of events, which doesn’t sit well with me.Why fake the past when you know inside who was present at the time? Sure, Photoshop can take people away or add them in in an instant, but deep inside the memory will always live on.Check out the article for yourself http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/fashion/17photo.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 

I’ve just got back from a three day camping-trip in Swanage, Dorset with a group of five friends. In fact camping is a pretty strong word, posh camping may be more appropriate when you see the kind of place we stayed in! www.yurtvillage.co.ukAnyhoo, despite the luxury abode we thought we were hardcore campers for the weekend, until that is we took a look around us and realised how reliant on technology we really were. Four ipods, one set of speakers, one laptop, three satnavs, two Blackberry’s and six mobile phones later, it dawned on us we couldn’t be any further from proper campers in the slightest. Yuppie me? Never! 

 Our sister title, Digital Photographer has got a fancy new feature on the website and I must say Im quite jealous. The Photo Face-Off feature throws up random gallery images onto the screen and viewer must choose their favorite. I must say it’s very addictive and I’m sure there’s not much work being done on the Digital Photographer team due to the need to fix their Photo Face-Off habit! Have a look at the site and let me know what you think. It could well be something we could implement here on the Photoshop Creative website.

7 August 2008

Are you ready to Photo Face-Off?

Imagine Publishing unveils its latest innovative photography website

Described by photography website regulars as “Pure genius!” and “Highly addictive, I love it!”, Photo

Face-Off (www.photofaceoff.co.uk), the latest new online photograph comparison site from Imagine

Publishing and DPhotographer.co.uk, is already creating a storm online.

Launched in July 2007, Dphotographer.co.uk is the online home of the Digital Photographer magazine,

and provides users with up-to-the minute news, reviews, an active online forum, and an online image

database to showcase all their digital photos which can be uploaded to their own personal.

Photo Face-off utilises the 28,000+ photographs that have already been uploaded to

sister site DPhotographer.co.uk, and randomly selects two shots to battle it out in a simple

point & click competition to see which one wins the face-off. Developed for photographers

by photographers, Photo Face-Off is accessible, fresh and full of inspirational images taken

by amateurs and semi-pro photographers.

Debbi Allen, Editor of Digital Photographer said: “Photo Face-Off is great fun and we’re

keen to offer a better, more interactive and more exciting website, the team behind

dphotographer.co.uk has been working hard to develop this cool new feature.”

Andy Wooldridge, Digital Photographer and Photo Face-Off’s Advertising Executive added:

“This highly addictive feature will drive traffic to the website and give our online advertisers

even more value for money. Photo Face-Off also offers a unique sponsorship opportunity

for one company to maximise branding exposure on what will become the most viewed

area of the site.”

Digital photography has never been bigger news and this is proven by the tremendous

success Digital Photographer has experienced over the past 12 months. 2006 saw the magazine

achieve its highest-ever individual issue sales figures and this has continued into 2007,

and it is one of Imagine’s most successful magazines.

I’ve just spent the weekend in London and had a great time taking photos of all the scenes and sights. Luckily I managed to photograph my way around the city without too much bother - something which cannot be said for an elderly woman in Southampton recently, who was brandished a possible paedophile for photographing an empty paddling pool.Recently, more and more stories are cropping like this in which photographers (both professional and amateurs) are being branded as a nuisance or in some cases even paedophiles simply for taking pictures in public areas. Is it just me or is it political correctness gone mad? I too have been at the receiving end of such treatment in my local train station, being asked by the guard not to take photos of the trains due to ’security reasons’. How on earth a photo of a South West train is breaching security I shall never know!Obviously, as a photographer you have a responsibility to conduct yourself in an appropriate manner. When photographing people, ensure they are happy for you to do so and don’t break any trespassing laws etc etc. But when you are singled out for no reason other than the nervy, twitchy reactions of a society we live in today, who can help but feel frustrated and angry?Photography is something that should be an enjoyable hobby, not a risky escapade. Let’s hope the jittery kill-joys learn to distinguish the innocent photographers from anything more sinister, before outdoor photography is banned altogether.