In case you missed the announcement over the weekend Adobe released a public beta of Project ROME. Project ROME is unlike any other app out there in that it's an all-in-one content creation tool for vector/raster images, video and animations as well as web sites. On the surface ROME appears to be a simple easy to use basic program and that's a good thing. This product is aimed at casual users. However, unlike most basic programs, ROME allows you to go deep if you need to. I was floored with the number of options available.
You can download your copy of ROME here or just use it in your browser! That's the beauty of ROME, it was built entirely as an AIR app.
To get you started I recorded these 5 very short videos:
It's been talked about since the release of the Wired iPad App, and now it's here for you to see and explore. Adobe is taking the wraps off the Adobe Digital Publishing Solution today that will allow Magazine publishers to publish electronic versions of their publications as iPad Apps/Issues. Rather than talk about it, I recorded this video to walk you through the process:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlxqsN7HZyU
You find out more as well as download the necessary components for InDesign CS5 to get started here.
Download the Adobe Preview Tool for iPad for Free here from the
i'm on the road and literally on the go in the airport. However, I wanted to take a moment to thank the thousands of you that came out to our Adobe Creative Suite 5 tour in Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo and of course the beautiful Copenhagen! I had a blast presenting the latest tips and techniques including a sneak peek at our NEW Digital Publishing solution featuring the iPad. 😉
It's no secret that I manage my photos using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3. Whenever I do a model or client shoot whether I'm shooting tethered into Lightroom in the studio or shooting to a memory card in the field and importing the shots later, they end up in Lightroom. I do my non-destructive adjustments using Lightroom's Develop Module. Before I do any compositing and further retouching using Photoshop CS5 Extended those initial images are posted online in a private gallery for the model/client to review and make their selections.
While Lightroom has had built-in web galleries since day one, none of the ones that come with Lightroom automate the process for receiving the client picks. A couple of years ago I discovered a really cool Lightroom Web Gallery Template/Plugin by The Turning Gate and I haven't looked back.
The Turning Gate Highslide Gallery
I'm so used to using this template that I often forget when I'm presenting Lightroom, that it doesn't come with Lightroom. Once you download this plug-in and install it, it shows up in Lightroom alongside all the rest of your Web galleries. You can customize the look and feel of your gallery pretty extensively. You can then either upload your gallery to your FTP space directly (hosting is NOT included with the plugin) from Lightroom or Export a folder of your web gallery and upload it via any other method that you use to get files to your space.
The one caveat is that your web server/space has to allow you to be able to run PHP scripts. Luckily most web hosting packages do! This FormToMail script is necessary to process the form that the client uses for their selections to send back to you via email. It's very transparent on the clients end. They basically see a web page with all the images that you provided. They can click to make them larger (again sizes you specify) and they can check off the ones they want. At the bottom of the web page is a spot for them to enter their name, email address and comments. At that point they hit the submit button and you get an email (to the address you configured in the plug-in/script) containing the choices they made.
You can get the Turning Gate Highslide Gallery here for $25. They also make a pretty cool Client Response Gallery with less features for $10 here.
I couldn't imagine using Lightroom without this plugin!
If you attended my 2010 Westcott Top Pro Tour Event last night I want to take this opportunity to thank you! It was a blast doing this event and seeing everyone so engaged. I not only had fun but yes I learned a lot too. The evening started off with John from Westcott showing the 6 different lighting patterns and how light affects your subject. Although I've been doing this for years, I've never heard it or seen it explained that way and it clicked with the audience. I now have a whole new appreciation for my gold reflector. 🙂 Then it was my turn to show my complete end-to-end workflow when photographing a model. Once again I had the beautiful Shannon Bayless as my subject and not only did I shoot, but I gave the audience an opportunity to shoot with each of my setups.
We then got into image selection and management with Lightroom 3 as well as the final retouching techniques that I use in Photoshop CS5. This was the first time that I've been able to walk a class through the exact things that I do during a shoot all the way from Makeup by Renata to final client image delivery via Lightroom. I ended up going over my time by about 20 minutes and the telling sign for me was not a single person moved to leave 🙂 So I guessing you guys were getting something out of it.
Thanks again to Westcott for putting this tour together and I look forward to more opportunities like this to share my workflows with you.
Wacom Intuos 4 Small <-It's the one that's always in my bag. Yes, i have a medium and medium bluetooth too. Yes I like all 3. If I had to pick one it would be the bluetooth one.
Model/Property Release Apps for iPhone/iPad – Contract Maker Pro (more customizable) & Easy Release (native iPad and iPhone version)
The long USB cable that failed me during my tethered shoot 🙂 All kidding aside I've been using this cable for about two years now and it has worked flawlessly up until last night. I have already replaced the one from last night with a new one that I had ordered and forgot to pack. Cables that you're winding and unwinding day in and day out don't last forever. My lesson learned is that I will now always have TWO of these in my camera bag as you never know when one is going to die.
In the final installment of this series, Adobe Worldwide Evangelist Jason Levine takes you through the process of exporting/rendering your DSLR video/stills creations using the 64-bit Adobe Media Encoder. He'll talk about some of the most common formats for going to mobile devices, iPods, blu-ray discs as well as common formats for Web delivery. You'll learn about background rendering and the ability to 'queue' multiple versions of your video edits. Also featured: using *presets* in the Media Encoder for your favorite destinations (like YouTube, Vimeo, HDTV, etc)
Yes, I even got to present in a real Castle! – Schloss Lenzburg Switzerland
photo by Markus Dobbelfeld
Last week I wrapped up the Adobe CS5 Masters Tour with the last stop in Schloss Lenzberg Switzerland! I have to thank my overseas audience for a great tour. It was great seeing so many of you in Munich (sadly I didn't make it to Octoberfest or Photokina), Düsseldorf, Vienna, Hamburg and Zürich. We had a back to back world-wind schedule and as much as I loved the locations I visited, I didn't get a chance to enjoy the sites as much as I would have liked to. Nonetheless I had a great time!
There is a reason why photokina is only once every two years, it is a huge place to visit and get around. Have you been to Photoshop World? PhotoPlus Expo? To sum it up you would be able to fill these expos into the bottom floor of one hall. There are seven halls at Photokina and four of them are two floored! Imagine an entire floor filled with china, japan and hong kong companies, many of which are just copies of other vendors! It is crazy! Here are some highlights for me:
Yes, there are vendors…
There might be a reason as to why the show needs to have see seven halls, everyone wand I mean everyone is at photokina. While vendors like Canon, Nikon, Olympus etc. have almost an entire floor to themselves, smaller ones still have good sized booths and as you can guess, there are a lot of the small ones here! One of the main reasons to visit the show is to chat with vendors and get up to date on all the new gear that ends up being released in connection to Photokina, maybe even more so getting to chat with all the smaller vendors and finding new companies that you haven't heard about before that might stock your next favorite gadget.
Seeing the news!
Inevitably there are a bunch of new cameras being released before Photokina and this year was no exception. For me, the Nikon D7000 is a true highlight and a camera that is high up on my wishlist now that I got around to playing with it! It just kills, even the D300s is pretty much beaten by the D7000. Sure there were a lot more of the news from the show but you can find that on sites that are all about covering them (like 1001 Noisy Cameras) instead of me even trying to list it all here in a wrap-up.
Animoto
I caught up with the good guys over at Animoto and got a good demo of their software which makes it very easy to design a slick video slideshow to music. The photo slideshow that you can see above is all made by the animoto slideshow interface. Check them out!
Seminars
Even though photokina really is about the vendors that are exhibiting, there are a bunch of different seminars going on in the different booths. Big names such as Joe McNally and Vincent Versace were there and a special shoutout to Rufus Deuchler who did a great job presenting the CS5 news specific to what photographers can do with them, especially within InDesign. What can you say, the crowd loved what you can do in CS5.
