The Closing Ceremony Wrap Up

The beginning of the end started with Photoshop Guy, Larry Becker starting the closing ceremony with a video showing the pre-conference fun for those who were not fortunate to join the fun. Next, Joel Grimes spoke about creating photography and vision. We then were treated to a short video of the Opening Ceremony and the Keynote.

The ever-entertaining and 1st time instructor from my hometown (really!), Calvin Hollywood then took the stage for a quick look at one of his freaky Photoshop edits. Combining images of 2 people to create a non-existent person. Another short video showing some of the fun from day 1of Photoshop World. This followed by talented sport photographer Dave Black telling us about the road he’s taken to become the photographer he is today. He encourages the photographers to practice and commit to doing something better every day.

With sincere compliments and thanks to the NAPP video crew, Larry Becker presents another wrap-up video of Day 2. Included were entertaining clips from the always fun, Midnight Madness. Moose Peterson then shares a great video of his fantastic aviation photography.

Of course, you can’t have the closing ceremony without Scott Kelby taking the stage. He introduces his awesome assistant, Brad Moore and shares Brad’s excellent concert photography images and is very grateful for all that he does to help him out.

Finally it is prize time! Pete Labrozzi, Freddie Clark and Sharilyn Green were chosen as the finalists for Westcott’s “shoot it first contest”. Sherilyn was awarded a $1600.00 Westcott Spiderlite TD Continuous Lighting Kit for her beautiful image. She also happened to win a ticket to Jeremy Cowart’s Lifefinder DC workshop being held tomorrow. Other prizes included a Calumet gift card, a $1300 value Ben Willmore workshop and Nik Software Complete Collection among many, many, many more!

Prior to the final Grand Prize Award, Scott thanks Julie Stephenson. She is the brain-child who plans the Photoshop World events and received a standing ovation from the packed room. No doubt that planning this in a new location and venue, it must have had some great challenges.

And the Grand Prizes of Photoshop World Vegas is awarded to David Fordham….

And so it ends…

Expo floor comes alive on day 3

With the doors to the Expo floor open to the public, it’s definitely buzzing. I’ve seen the retailers staying busy with sales and many happy photographers using their new toys. The Wacom booth was a popular place to be with Photoshop Guy, Corey Barker and makeup artist Shelley Girard teaching users about the Wacom tablets and how to use them. Vincent Versace spoke to a full booth at Nik about his workflow and how he manages his images and what formats he uses.
The crowd was noticeably larger at the Westcott booth as their pros taught the public about lighting, strobes and the various modifiers being used for their sets.
I’m a bit bummed, to be honest, that this is the final day of Photoshop World…so many new friends and great folks at this premier event!

Photoshop Product Managers Zorana Gee Bryan O’Neil Hughes

Adobe released a public beta of Adobe Photoshop CS6 just in time for Photoshop World and I was fortunate to be able to ask two of the people behind Photoshop, Product Managers Bryan O’Neil Hughes and Zorana Gee about the release.

So thank you for the great public beta! Why release it publicly?
Zorana explains, ” a lot of people like Photoshop and we wanted to give them a chance to play with it. We want them to use it and give us feedback.” I then asked about their favorite feature in Photoshop. “Can I give you two?” she asks, “In Photoshop CS6 my favorite feature is the Blur Gallery in Filters. Not so much because of what the effects actually do to an image, but mainly the cool and fun way you can interact with the blur effects the on-screen widgets, the in-canvas usability of it. For Photoshop CS6 extended, my favorite feature is with 3D the fact that we consolidated fourteen 3D tools into one single tool, the Move Tool that everyone is familiar with. So now you don’t have finagle with the Camera Tool, Mesh Tool, the Light Tool, etc. it’s just one tool the Move Tool. You can click on at object and it moves that object!”


Next up was Bryan’s favorite feature. “For me it’s video.” Bryan explains, “I was heavily involved in six waves of research going all the way back to looking at what we offered in CS3 extended and seeing how that was relevant To a large group of people that between Premiere Elements and Premiere Pro that are struggling to figure out what to do with all this video content on their IPhone and DSLR. So we really wanted to introduce something that has ease-of-use with Photoshop power. So that is very close to my heart and I think it’s one of the most misunderstood parts of CS6 but for the people who use it and get it, it’s very exciting.”

I then asked Bryan where he sees the product’s future in our industry. “As far as where I see the product going, in our 22 years into this thing it’s only the second time we’ve done a public beta. When we do a public beta and everyone can suddenly use Photoshop for free, it makes the whole thing moot about ‘I can’t afford it’, it’s much more than just a trial. People can download, they play around and work with it. A lot has changed between the CS3 and CS6 public beta. CS3 was the first time we went into verticals like architecture, video, and 3D. We’ve gone so far beyond that now. In that time suddenly everyone has a camera in their pocket, so Photoshop means something to everyone in one way or another. So my real hope with it is that more new users find it. People who have played around with the tablet application or the consumer app and decide to go further with the pro app because for the first time they can just download and use it.”

A huge thank you to both Bryan and Zorana for taking some time out of entire busy Photoshop World schedule to share some insights with us!

FREE Expo Pass for Photoshop World

If you are in the DC area- don’t forget to download your FREE expo pass to Photoshop World and see all the great vendors. Show hours are Monday 9:00 am — 1:00 pm in Expo Hall A. Be sure to bring your pass to the booth in front of the hall.

Glyn Dewis is warmly welcomed at Photoshop World

Another first-time instructor, Glyn Dewis, who hails from the UK, has a NAPP Theater full of enthusiastic photographers. Talking about ‘Photoshop Fast and Furious’, he also explains how he loves to use plug-ins in his editing workflow.

After hours party fun at Club Ibiza

What a treat! Party-goers were treated to dinner, drinks and entertainment provided by the rockin’ and rollin’ Big Electric Cat. Lead vocalist, Kalebra Kelby wowed the crowd with her awesome singing abilitymwhilenthe crowd enjoyed the dance floor until the early hours of the morning. Many attendees were able to mingle with the instructors from whom they’d learned during the day. Meeting new friends and exchanging photography ideas, this was another opportunity to enjoy some extra time with fellow NAPP members, instructors and creatives. The European NAPPsters tore up the dance floor, led by Calvin Hollywood and Glyn Dewis, accompanied by Stephanie Cross in this photo.

Matt Kloskowski draws a crowd in the NAPP Theater

Matt Kloskowski has a full-house of photographers and creatives learning about HDR in the NAPP Theater.

End of Day 1 at Photoshop World

So, at the end of Day 1, there were many happy photographers and creatives. The exhibitors stayed busy with photographers and creatives, answering questions and demonstrating software and photography-related gear. Adobe to Xerox are on the Expo floor educating customers about their products.

I spoke with many 1st time attendees who were extremely impressed with Photoshop World. They commented about how extremely organized Photoshop World is with a stellar staff and awesome instructors. Of course, the Expo floor is always a treat and the attendees have taken advantage of the various contests, demos and many have spent a few dollars or more to the delight of the awesome vendors present.

Of course, by the end of the day, there is a bit of information overload. One must step back and take a deep breath thinking about the events of the day. As you can see, even the instructors such as Photoshop guy, Pete Collins, can be overwhelmed with the awesomeness of Photoshop World.

Our next stop…After hours party at Club Ibiza!

Steam punk Abraham Lincoln

Until 1:45 today stop in at the Wescott Booth to see Russell Brown from Adobe as “Steamounk Abraham Lincoln”!

Taking A Look at the Wacom Intuous 5

One of the many big names on the expo floor is Wacom. This year they released their Intuous 5 Touch tablet and I talked with Joe Sliger, field application specialist about the device.

“What we learned from the buttons was that people did not know what they did. So on the Intuous 4, we introduced the lit buttons but you had to look at the tablet to see them. With the Touch, we created a HUD so you can keep your eyes on your work.” The buttons even support “chords” allowing multiple buttons at the same time.

“The best thing we did not ship in the box is a mouse. The mouse is a crutch we go back to if available. With the touch you not only have standard one- and two-fingered gestures, but we’ve introduced Wacom gestures which support three, four and five- fingered gestures that you can customize.”

Another amazing feature about the Intuous 5 Touch is each tablet has wireless capabilities with the purchase on an add-on RF accessory kit, making the tablet not only touch sensitive, but now mobile. “Imagine you are a teacher in a classroom or lab , walking around, controlling the screen by touch gestures.”

Overall, I can’t wait to try this out and you can too by stopping by the Wacom booth during the Expo hours today and tomorrow.