Lightroom and royalty...

If you use Adobe Lightroom, either the current version (2.x) or the Beta (3) a great resource is Victoria Bampton, the "Lightroom Queen".

She offers a ton of free resources like "what's new in Lightroom 3" and a thorough comparison between Lightroom 2 and 3 and Lightroom Keyboard Shortcuts (as a free download).

Victoria also offers a "Missing Lightroom FAQ's" series (for all versions of Lightroom) for sale in eBook form.

Se be sure to add the Lightroom Queen as one of your Lightroom resources.

BAKE ME A CUPCAKE

Who knew that when the cupcake craze hit Ottawa a few years back it would turn out to be more than just a passing fad lasting a season or two at best. Whether they're replacing the traditional cake at your wedding or simply being served as part of the late night buffet, cupcakes are here to stay.

The cupcake has really evolved over time. From the mouth watering choices in flavours of cake and icing to the many creative ways to decorate and display them, there's no such thing as the "standard" cupcake anymore.

Along with the evolution of the cupcake is the evolution of places you can now get them. The Ottawa area is full of great shops that create these yummy treats!! Here are just a few - The Cupcake Lounge, The Flour Shoppe, The Girl With The Most Cake, Isobels, Little Cakes and The Lush Cake.

Enjoy!!

"Captured By The Light" Re-Broadcast...

For those of you who missed (or just couldn't schedule) the webinar from David Ziser "Captured By The Light" on March 3rd you're in luck, David has posted it on Viddler.

"Captured By The Light" is 2 hours of :

• on-location lighting setups

• posing

• lens selections

• off camera flash

...and more.

So make some popcorn, sit back, and watch a video filled with learning moments.

There were special offers provided by the webinars sponsors for the original broadcast and those specials are still available.

Topaz Adjust 4 is now available...

You may remember our review of Topaz Adjust version 3, we liked it then and we like it even more now.

Usually when you buy software you get the incremental upgrades for free, but a full version release will cost you.

Well, Topaz Labs has released a full version upgrade (from version 3 to 4) and if you are a version 3 owner, you can download and upgrade to version 4 FREE.

How cool is that?

What is new in version 4 is the interface, more default image options, and more fine tuning control.

What isn't new is that is the great output you will get.

Don't take my word for it, you can check out what Scott Kelby had to say about Topaz Adjust.

Below are a couple sample images, shot by my friend (and partner Mark) during a commercial shoot at a marble company. These are the kind of images that work best with Topaz Adjust (high key, back lit) to make a more interesting shot.

The background image is well lit, well constructed, but the Topaz Labs Photoshop plugin just adds a very cool "look" to the foreground image.

Click on either image to view larger and in a new screen.

The best book on social media...

... and the best book for building your online presence.

Photography is not a "build it and they will come" business.

Putting the most stunning images on your website will likely do very little for attracting visitors.

The details of why I love this book are below but I can sum up my thoughts in just two words - "Buy it"!

Before you would attempt to remove an appendix you need to learn about the procedure and the tools you would use to do the job.

So before you build a blog, start to tweet, or do anything else with social media that you think will enhance your business you must read "Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs".

Social media is made up of Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, Micro Blogs, and more - this book will provide you with an in-depth overview of all "the spokes" that make up the social media wheel.

"Inbound Marketing" starts out by showing us how the world of marketing has changed because of the advent of social media and then introduces its different elements, and the how and why they work along with the Do's & Don'ts of using them.

Do you know what makes a website "sticky"? Do you know the difference between "Digg" and "StumbelUpon"? How about what Google likes (and just as important) doesn't like?

You will after reading "Inbound Marketing".

The authors teach you what social media is, how to use it (correctly) to your advantage, and how to measure the results so you can see what is working for you and why.

I can already hear some of you "but I'm not web savvy, I can barely do email". Don't worry, it isn't rocket science, if you can read you can do it AND do it yourself. You won't need no stinking PR firm.

Seriously, this book is easy to read, easy to understand, and all the touch points are just as easy to implement. Are you picking up on the word "easy"?

I promise you nothing will do more for building your business than this book and it won't hurt your wallet either, it's available at Amazon for under $17.

"It was winter buddy, just winter"...

Sorry for my absence this week but things have been very busy on the shooting front, in fact I am getting to walk out the door in a few minutes for our forth all day commercial shoot in the last six days.

I will share the details of what we shot and who we shot it for in the very near future.

But in the mean time, today is the first day of spring, it's going to be 70 here and Maine, and I think this video says it well for all the folks who have suffered through a winter that was too long with snow storms that were too frequent.

And for subscribers (as usual), videos do not get pushed through in your email so you'll need to come back to Weekly Photo Tips or head directly over to YouTube to watch it.

Food photography from today...

I just wrapped up day one of a two day food shoot and wanted to share the setup and a few of the images.


Here is the setup:

1. A Nikon SB800 as the key/primary light (using a shoothrough umbrella, fired by a Pocket Wizard)

2. Another SB800 as the fill light (using a Photoflex LiteDome, fired by a Pocket Wizard)

3. California Sunbounce Micro to "kick in" some light

4. Foam core as a second (and smaller) kicker

5. Camera/shooting angle

Here are several samples, I realize there is a familiarity with the look, but one thing the client wanted was a "consistent" look and that's what I gave them.