Some Joel Grimes seminar images...

These images from the Joel Grimes seminar are long over due.

It was a phenominal weekend, Joel went deep into photography, image editing, and marketing. I left feeling like he held nothing back. Not only did he teach, but everyone was able to shoot as much as they wanted and received individual attention at each and every shooting station until they "got it". No question was left unanswered.

I think this quote from one of the attendees pretty much says it all:

"What did I think about the workshop? I wanted to call Joel this morning and complain! I didn't sleep last night thinking of all the images I want to shoot and when, and where!

The workshop was wonderful, Joel could not have been more accommodating to me and all the attendees, he said time and time again during the workshop he loves to pass on his knowledge and he still gets excited creating images and it shows."

Here are images from some of the attendees. Keep in mind that all of the outdoor images below where shot with a single speedlight. Simple lighting, great results.

From Trent Hobbs:




From Laura Imbeault:




From Kevin D. Couture:




You can also read what Chad Doyon wrote about his experience at the seminar on his blog.

If you have the opportunity to attend a Joel Grimes seminar, run, don't walk, to get your ticket.

(Click on any image to view larger and in a new window.)

VIVA LA WEDDING ON STYLE ME PRETTY!!

Viva la wedding is just so excited to have one of our beautiful couples featured on Style Me Pretty.

Style Me Pretty is a style savvy wedding resource devoted to the modern bride. They cover everything from gorgeous real weddings to up and coming vendors and seasoned pros in the industry. Featuring only the most chic and style centric wedding related content SMP is continually discovering new and brilliantly talented vendors, brides with an eye for all things gorgeous, and the personal loves of editor Abby Larson. SMP readers look far beyond your cookie-cutter wedding ideas and strive to design an affair that is both personal and incredibly charming.

Launched in February of 2007, SMP has become a mainstay in the wedding industry. With nods in nearly every major bridal magazine including Real Simple Weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings, Elegant Weddings and Modern Bride along with features in such publications as Blog Watch in the Wall Street Journal, SMP is quickly becoming one of the most read wedding resources on the web.

Now on to the wedding...

Krystel & Ivan were married at Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello on August 22nd 2009. They were such a wonderful couple to work with and as you'll see on SMP, Krystel was a true DIY bride and all about the details. Krystel & Ivan had some great vendors on board including the talented Melissa Johnston who is responsible for all the images and did a fabulous job capturing their day. Enjoy!

Krystel & Ivan's wedding featured on Style Me Pretty!

People in minivans are cool!...

Got the pride in my ride… in my swagger wagon…

;)

Enjoy the video below or head over to YouTube to watch it.

Photographing people with glasses...

Over the weekend I was photographing my girls for a canvas pano they are giving to their mom for Mothers Day.

One of the problems I faced (other than the fact when I talk they hear "blah, blah, blah") is two of my three girls wear glasses. To make it even harder Emma (pictured above) has eye glasses with very wide sides (that work great at blocking light) AND she wears them further away from her eyes because she has incredibly long eye lashes.


So I took a few shots and was not at all liking the results so I decided to try something I had been shown by Jed Taufer, I instructed Emma to try to maintain her position as best she could while reaching up and removing her eye glasses and snapped a couple shots of her with her glasses off (this will work best if you shoot on a tripod).


I took all the images into Photoshop and using a lasso tool made a rough selection around her eyes (in the image without glasses).


I copied the selection and then pasted it into the image with the glasses. I lowered the opacity of the eyes I brought into the image and this helped me get them into the correct position. Make sure you increase it back to 100% before moving on. With the layer of the imported eyes selected I created a "hide all" (black) layer mask by holding down the "ALT" key and then clicking on the layer mask button.


Then using a white brush I carefully erase the lenses in her glasses revealing her eyes that I brought over and "hid" in the layer mask. If you make a mistake while erasing and remove part of the frames simply change the brush to black and paint over the area you meant to keep and it will "re-appear".

Here is another look at the finished product.


And that was pretty much it. If folks find these instructions hard to follow I might be talked into doing a "how to" video on this.

Click on any of the images to view larger and in a new window.

PaintShop Pro X3 on sale this week...

Through the end of this week (May 8th) you can buy the latest release of PaintShop Pro X3 from Corel at Staples for just $49.

I know some of you may look down your nose at this, even though I have CS4 (and am anxiously waiting for CS5 to hit my door step) there are times I want to do some quick and simple editing and PaintShop Pro fits the bill nicely.

Plus, you may be new to photography (or editing) and don't want to take out a second mortgage to get Adobe Photoshop, well PaintShop Pro X3 is a more than adequate alternative.

Below you will find an intro video showing some of the features new to X3. You can also head over to the PaintShop Pro X3 YouTube channel where they have 44 new videos that demonstrate X3 features, tips, and techniques.

Adobe Photoshop CS5.... For $198!

I have already stepped up to the counter, put my money down, and begged them to please send me Adobe Photoshop CS5 as soon as it comes out. In fact I am sitting on the front porch as I write this because I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Usually I hem and haw when it comes to upgrades, sometimes I will skip a version, buying software with every other major release.

Not this time, after hearing the opinions of photographers I respect I knew I was getting on the Adobe CS5 bandwagon.

Two weeks ago when Joel Grimes was here he displayed his workflow and it's obvious by his work that he uses Photoshop, but he uses third party programs to perform some of his tasks, like HDR and making complex selections. More than once he commented that he was looking forward to CS5 as it would eliminate the need to use other programs to perform these tasks.

One greatly improved feature people are raving about are the selection tools, you can watch Terri White separate a woman with long flowing (and blowing) hair from the background using the new edge detection tool here.

Wanna see more new (or improved) features in CS5 like noise reduction, layers improvement, content aware fill, and puppet warp in action? Scott Kelby (and friends) have put together a new Adobe Photoshop CS5 learning center that you will want to visit.

I am sure at this point you are thinking "Please, just tell me where I can get CS5 for $198!". If you are lucky enough to have a student or teacher in your house you can get the full (and boxed) version of Photoshop CS5 Extended at Journey ED for only $198 (Windows version here, MAC version here)!

Crazy, I know! And if you order by April 30th they will ship it to you for free.

You can compare what is new and/or different between "regular" Photoshop and Photoshop Extended at the Adobe website (extended version here and regular version here).

And just in case I haven't provided you with enough links, here's one more, probably the greatest collection of CS5 resources in one place.

I will leave you with a video, probably one of the most talked about features in CS5 is "content aware fill" and this video demonstrates just how well it works.

If you are a subscriber (and you know who you are) you know that videos are not pushed through with your subscription so you'll need to return to the blog or head directly to YouTube to watch it.

Enjoy...

DIY studio for product photography...

I wanted to share this video I came across that shows how easy it is to setup and light product photography, it demonstrates that with a little effort (and little money) you can get big results.

The cans with sticks look extremely useful and I will be making some for myself this weekend.

If you find this video interesting/useful you might want to check out the library of videos done by Pro Photo Life, they have over 30 well done photography videos of interest to photographers of all levels.

Subscribers will need to return to the blog or head over to YouTube to watch the video posted below.