First Classes

My first class for today was Lightroom 3 Crash Course.  I have an extensive background with the Adobe Suite, but I weirdly have never had the chance to use Lightroom.  This ends today.  I sat in Matt Kloskowski’s class and was pleasantly surprised when Matt asked the audience how many people have never used Lightroom and over half the class raised their hands…guess I was in the right place!  Matt did a fantastic job of explaining the different sections of Lightroom 3 and the 4 step process that he uses everyday when he works in it.  The most important thing I learned in the class is to keep your files organized  and to not move the file folders after you import the photos into lightroom because it will break the link.

My next class was Photoshoptography (try saying that 10 times fast, heck try saying it once slowly!).  This class was taught by Dave Cross, who has always been one of my favorite instructors at previous PSWs.  This class covered how to shoot picture with purpose of using them in Photoshop, which is backwards to the way most people think about it.  Sometimes things are just done more easily in Photoshop than the real world.

I really liked what Dave said about keeping folders of interesting textures and skies for use in other projects.  I am going to try to implement this myself and create my own library of stock images to use in future projects.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Dave, “Photoshop +Photography = Creativity”,  now do you get the name of this class? I do, but I still can’t pronounce it.

Time To Say Goodbye

The wrap-up party I have gone to every year.  I admit one reason is that they give out great prizes, but it is also a chance to get to see other instructors that you did not get a chance to sit in their classes this time.  This year one really stood out to me.  Dave Black showed some of his work, which was breath-taking, but what really got me was his story about how he started in photography.  He owed it all to a teach of his that support him in school and eventually lit a flame in him that can be seen for miles.  Dave spoke with such emotion about his former teacher that it struck a cord in me.   Before my job at Dragon Pulse Entertainment, I worked for a local design school and I know first hand that a teacher can change someones life.  You can see when that light of understanding turns on inside your student and you know that not only did they  understood what you taught them, but they are excited to learn more!  That is pretty much the only thing that I will miss about working at that school…..the students.

Well after a few outstanding slide shows of instructor’s professorial work, they announced some of the winners for the conference.  I am happy to say that the Stained Glass Filter inspired dress made by Sophie Henry that I voted for won!  I actually got a chance to speak with the designer who  said it took her 3 weeks to make and she had to hand cut each reflective piece on the dress, which were in actuality cds!  Check out Alex Paz’s blog for a fantastic picture of the dress.

After 3-days of intense training, I am exhausted!  I cant wait to sleep in tomorrow.  It was a fantastic convention and I am always impressed by how smooth the event goes.  Thank you to all the Kelby Media Crew who makes it possible.  See you all next year!

~Dan

Designs By Barker

Photoshop Design Effects by Corey Barker is a must see class.  It is just amazing at how his mind works.  He literally took a cell phone picture of a light reflection pattern on the wall and turned it into an amazing finished piece.  I just sat back in this class and watched.

He of course had some great tips, like using the wireframe of a 3D extruded piece set to overlay as a background element and how to virtually create a sewing-look brush.  The most impressive demonstration was how to turn a picture of smoke into fire.  It took 3 steps and it looked fantastic!

Any class that Corey teaches I would make sure you go to it, period.

Motion In The Morning

Back again this morning for the early AM class.  This time I choose Advanced Motion Control by Richard Harrington.  In a previous PSW I sat in the beginners class for this, so I was prepared for it.  It had some wonderful ideas about how to turn a static 2d picture into a animated 3D piece with a moving camera.  If you have never touched After Effects this class could be a little intimidating, but Richard explained it really well, so I am sure anyone could follow along.

Next I was off to Photoshop Motion Graphics for Designers by Rod Harlan.  I sat in this class before as well in a previous PSW.  They use to have much more of a selection for the Motion Graphics track, which I am hoping they bring back.  I did learn a few new things about compression and the fact that you can include a .wav file.  Previously I thought you could only bring in music as a movie.  The first time I sat in this class, I was so impressed that I used these techniques to do almost half of the videos for a charity event that I has tech-directing for.  They came out great and were extremely easy to create.  If you have any interest in doing motion graphics in the future, this is a good starter class.

Creating Creativity Is Smart

David Cross’s Unleashing Your Photoshop Creativity was all about the Smart Objects.  If I had a nickel for everytime Dave said Smart Object….well I would have like a dollar.  He showed us some great ways to wrap a Smart Object inside of  a Smart Object so that you can get multiple smart filter masks.  Stack Mode under the Smart Object menu was also explained.  Honestly never used that menu before, but it produced some great effects so I am going to have to give that one a try!

Day 2 Images

A Blog About Blogging

Just attended 2 classes before lunch.  Intro To InDesign by Terry White and Blogging For Photographers by Scott Kelby, Matt Loskowksi and Richard Harrington.

Intro To InDesign was a little basic for me, but I did get a few tips out of the class.  My favorite was under the Preferences Menu ->Compositions there is a check box so that the text wrap effect only affects text that is beneath that layer.  This is great and I wonder why it is so hidden!!

The Blogging For Photographers class was amazing.   I think it rekindled my interested in blogs in general.  I myself have two blogs: My Personal Blog What’s Dan Doing and a blog about fun and wacky ties that I have made Fit To Be Tied.

I have gotten out of the habit of posting on these sites, which Matt said most blogs don’t even last 30 days!   I am not sure that I am going to be able to post 2-3 times a week like they suggested, but they will both be updated more frequently than before.

Let’s See What Develops

I decided for my second class to attend Develop Module Boot Camp in Lightroom 3 taught by Kevin Ames.  I have had no experience with this software but the Lightroom 3 Crash Course from Day 1 that I attended left me wanting to know more about it.  The Develop Module class was very informational and I feel like I have a pretty good grasp at what this software is capable of.  Kevin also gave us some great keyboard shortcuts which I am always a fan of.

I think the Develop module looks a little overwhelming at first but once explained it makes perfect sense.   Kevin explained it in a great way.  He said that you can think of the Develop Module and the Photoshop Camera Raw screens as the same girl wearing a different dress.  Essentially they the same, they are just packaged a little different.

I learned a lot from this class and can’t wait to try to correct some of my older pictures using the Process 2010 feature to remove some of the noise in them.

TIME for another post

Today I woke up at 6:30 am, which is super early for me, but I managed to make it  to the first class of  the day, Playing With Time by Julieanne Kost.  I have always had an interest in time lapse photography but I never knew how to do it this changed today.  Apparently to accomplish this you need a intervalometer. She said this word 3 times and I still had to ask the guy next to me what it was again.  It is a little machine that you use with your camera that takes pictures at certain intervals.  I will be buying one of these!

We also covered how to make a tilt shift effect on this footage as well.  I love this look ever since I say the commercials done by Walt Disney World, where it makes the time lapse photography look like models. Check it out here.

To learn this, I don’t mind being a little tired for today.

Event Photos Day 1