Lightroom Presets – Focal Point Background Effects
A while back I had an idea about using the adjustment brush to create a focal point in certain parts of the photo (by darkening the rest of the photo). The vignetting controls (in the Effects panel) are great for doing this but if your subject isn’t in the middle of...
The Wacom Pen/Tablet That I Swear By
I'm gearing up for my Lightroom seminar in Seattle tomorrow, and I was thinking of just skipping the blog post for today because I'm freakin' beat. I've been shooting sunset and sunrise all week, and busy days of driving or meetings in between. But as I unpacked my...
Photo Update From Portland
I'm teaching my Lightroom seminar in Seattle on Friday, so I decided to visit some friends in Portland and shoot for a couple of days. Well, last night, my buddy Brian Matiash and I drove to the Oregon Coast to a place near Cape Perpetua called Thor's Well (a 3+ hour...
My First “Official” Black & White Photo (and the story behind it)
This week's story is a little different. A few weeks ago I posted about a class I was involved in for Kelby Training. It was called The Art of the Black and White Print. You kind of have to read the post to know where I'm coming from, but to sum it up, I've never been...
Free Lightroom Presets – The Dark City Night
People love to shoot skylines and cities while traveling so I thought these would make a good recipe to try out on those photos. Like many of my presets, there are 3 flavors to this one (Light, Medium, Strong). They all have a slightly dark theme to them so if you...
Photoshop Myth Busters (And The Problem With Web Content That Never Dies)
I've been tossing around a series of posts called "Photoshop Myth Busters" for a while now and I thought I'd start one today. Basically, the idea came to me at a seminar a few months back when some one came up and asked a question about resizing. He said that...
Video Tutorial: Before and After with Lightroom and Photoshop (and a black & white conversion)
Hey everyone. I've got another Before/After video for you where I start from scratch in Lightroom, jump into Photoshop and back to Lightroom (but don't forget to scroll down because there's another post today). I'm even throwing in a black & white conversion in...
The Story Behind the Photo (Week 4)
This week you're getting one of my photography learning moments that luckily resorted in a photo I could "fix" enough to show off. It was my first time shooting a Superbike race and boy did a learn a lot. But First...The Story Behind, The Story Behind the Photo...
Lightroom Presets – Big Sky Landscapes
So, we're driving home last night, and I look west toward the beach to see this crazy-cool-cloudy sunset. We live in Florida and this time of year (with all of the thunderstorms out there), you can imagine some of the dramatic scenes we get. So it got me thinking...
Some Thoughts on Reviews and a Quick Follow Up to the Tiffen Dfx Review
Hey everyone. First, don't forget to scroll down to the next post. I'm giving away a ticket to my upcoming Lightroom seminars. Next... I wanted to post a quick follow up to the Tiffen review from yesterday. I realized from some questions I got on the social media...
Review: Tiffen Dfx V3 Lightroom/Photoshop Plug-In
I've been wanting to try out Tiffen's Dfx V3 Lightroom and Photoshop plug-in for a while now. So I installed it a few weeks ago and started diving in. I've gotta tell ya up front. I'm a total onOne Software and Nik Software snob. For a while, I've felt that all I...
If You Spend $15 on Photography This Week, Spend It On This
Okay, I did something today that I haven't done in years. I printed a bunch of 4x6's. The ones you see right at the top of this post (from a recent family vacation to New Jersey). Full disclosure though... my post today has two purposes. First, it's to help my friends...