Join me for my “Master The Shoot” Digital Photography Workflow Workshop

TWPworkshopSQUARE

By popular demand I’m doing a digital photography workflow workshop. The 1st one will take place Saturday, August 24th, 2013 from 10 AM – 3 PM in my Troy Michigan photography studio. After that I’ll head to Cincinnati Ohio for another one on September 14th.

I’ll walk you through my complete end-to-end digital photography workflow. You’ll get a chance to see how to work with models, how to light for beauty and fashion photography as well as the secrets to my workflow for bringing images into Lightroom 5, organizing, picking the best shots, delivering client galleries and retouching the final selections in Adobe Photoshop.

Seating is LIMITED! So Register Today!

Register for August 24th, Troy MI

Register for September 14th, Cincinnati OH

Why attend this Master the Shoot workshop?

There are several great workshops that concentrate on lighting or photography techniques, what makes this workshop different is that I will take you through the entire process from start to finish. You’ll learn tips and tricks to speed up your entire workflow including image management and retouching techniques that will help you deliver the best shot.

What should I bring?

If you want to participate in the portrait shoot bring your camera.

If you want to follow along with the workflow bring your laptop with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 or 5 and Photoshop CS6 or higher. While this will be mostly a lecture on the workflow and retouching techniques that  I use, you should be able to follow along with many of the tips and best practices. Please note: Everyone is going to have different configurations and shoot slightly different images and therefore it will NOT be a hands on class step-by-step session. If you bring your laptop you’re bringing it as a convenience to you, as there will not be time for me to work with everyone one on one. With that said, you will walk away with my notes/workbook so that you can go back and practice the main points of the day.

Adobe Bridge CC vs. Lightroom 5

brvslr

I have gotten the question “Which one is better, Bridge or Lightroom?” more times than I can remember. In this episode of Adobe Creative Cloud TV the gloves come off for the ultimate smack down. Well actually no, they don’t. The gloves stay on because it’s not really a competition although there are those out there that feel that there needs to be a winner. Actually like many tools, both Bridge and Lightroom have their strengths and weaknesses. In this video I show you how each one works and more importantly which one might be best for you depending on the work you do. Also if you use Bridge or Lightroom I’ve included a few tips that you may not have known about each app.

 

Are you missing out on my Bonus Content?

See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Cloud TV and get the App below. It features EXCLUSIVE CONTENT that no one else gets to see. This episode has a BONUS CLIP that is available only in the App! My iOS App is a Universal App for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. I also have an Android version on the Amazon App Store:

Learn Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White - Wizzard Media

 



Review: Westcott Skylux LED Studio Light

Skylux

I use both standard studio strobes AND continuous lighting. I pick and choose between the two depending on what I’m lighting and what I think will do a better job. For my continuous lighting I have relied on the Westcott’s Spiderlite TD5 and TD6. The TD6 has really served me well with a better overall design over its predecessor. As nice as the Spiderlites are the one thing you’ll never hear anyone say is that they are “easy” to travel with! With the TD6 you have a fairly large head and 6 individual bulbs that need to be unscrewed and packed in a way that they won’t break. Clearly studio strobes and speedlights have the advantage here. So Westcott thought outside the box and combined the two

The NEW Westcott Skylux

The Skylux is an LED continuous light in the form factor of a regular studio strobe. This is smart for a few reasons. First off they are smaller and MUCH EASIER to travel with. Set up is also faster as it’s just a matter of putting the light on a light stand and attaching whichever modifier you prefer. Speaking of modifiers, that’s the next advantage. You can use virtually ANY light modifier you want. There’s a built-in umbrella mount and you can use a Bowens S-Type Mount Speedring to adapt any of your existing softboxes.

wpid12532-Zahava7-0012-Edit_sm.jpg

The Skylux puts out a 1,000 watt equivalent of soft beautiful light. This puts it on par with the TD6. It also has a dimmer on the back to dial it up or down to give you a 30%-100% range.

wpid12549-skylux-overhead_sm.jpg

The Skylux is 5,500K daylight balanced just like the Spiderlites. This is something that a lot of people take for granted and sometimes go with cheaper solutions only to find out that the color temperature of some of those cheaper products can vary over time.

wpid12538-Zahava7-0096_sm.jpg

You can buy the Skylux as a standalone light or in a complete kit with a stand and either a 36″ or 48″ deep octa softbox as pictured above.

The Good

wpid12536-Zahava7-0052-Edit_sm.jpg

OK so what do I like about the Skylux?

  • Small compact design that fits right in with my strobes
  • Lightweight and easy to travel with if need be.
  • LED light is cool (low heat)
  • Great for both still photography AND video
  • Low fan noise which is crucial for video
  • Easily adaptable to various modifiers
  • Great catchlights

 

The “Could Be Better”

wpid12534-Zahava7-0033-Edit_sm.jpg

Like any product the Skylux is not perfect and many of you know that I try to do fair and balanced reviews so here’s the areas where the Skylux could be better:

  • Like the Spiderlites, the light output is good, bright and soft, but strobes will give you more light. This means that in certain situations you’ll either need to lower your F-stop, slow your shutter speed or increase your ISO to expose the shot the way you want. With most modern day DSLRs you can usually go up to 800 ISO without batting an eye, but I like to stay at 200-400 ISO as much as I can.
  • There is a power switch on the back of the Skylux head AND on the power brick. However the dimmer is only on the back of the Skylux head. I’d love to see one on the power brick as well.
  • Speaking of the power brick, it is a BRICK and large. In studio this is no big deal at all, but on the go it does add weight and little more bulk.

The Bottom Line

Westcott is no stranger to LED continuous lighting solutions. See the Ice Light below. The products are great and provide great professional results. I have no problem recommending. However, like most newer technologies there is a price to pay and the cost of LED continuous lighting may be price prohibitive to some. What helps me justify the cost in my head is knowing that these solutions can not only be used for still photography, but also for video work. Since every DSLR being made today does both still photos AND video, video lighting is something that more and more people will want to have. I welcome the Skylux to my arsenal.

Skylux Head

Skylux XL kit with Rapid Box 36″ Softbox

Skylux XXL kit with Rapid Box 48″ Softbox

 

See my original Ice Light Review here.

wpid12530-KandiceLynn21-0008-Edit_sm.jpg

I’m still trying to figure out if I like the Ice Light so much because of being a Star Wars fan 🙂

Continue reading “Review: Westcott Skylux LED Studio Light”

How To Use Bitmapped Images as Custom Brushes in Illustrator CC

Illustrator_CC_totem

You’ve been able to create custom brushes in Adobe Illustrator for years. However, those brushes had to be made from vector objects that you drew or traced. Now in Illustrator CC you can also create custom brushes from bitmapped images. In this episode of Adobe Creative Cloud TV, I’ll show you how to use bitmapped images as custom Brushes in Illustrator CC, starting with how to prepare them first using Photoshop CC.

 

Are you missing out on my Bonus Content?

See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Cloud TV and get the App below. It features EXCLUSIVE CONTENT that no one else gets to see. This episode has a BONUS CLIP that is available only in the App! My iOS App is a Universal App for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. I also have an Android version on the Amazon App Store:

Learn Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White - Wizzard Media

 



How To Use Adobe Camera RAW as a Filter in Photoshop CC

PS_CC_totem

The beauty of Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) is that it provides you with a non-destructive way of making several adjustments to your images easily. However, the problem has always been that once you were in Photoshop and you had an image open, if you wanted to edit that image in ACR you would have to close it first and reopen it in ACR. Now with Photoshop CC you can use ACR with ANY layer on any image without having to close it first. In this new episode of Creative Cloud TV I show how to use the new Camera RAW Filter in Photoshop CC.

 

Are you missing out on my Bonus Content?

See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Cloud TV and get the App below. It features EXCLUSIVE CONTENT that no one else gets to see. This episode has a BONUS CLIP that is available only in the App! My iOS App is a Universal App for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. I also have an Android version on the Amazon App Store:

Learn Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White - Wizzard Media

 



Use Any Smartphone on any iPod Dock

dock_boss_iphone5

I’ve reviewed several iPod music docks here over the years. Starting with the Bose SoundDock I’ve had an appreciation for these music devices to dock my iPods back in the day as well as my iPhones over the years. As a matter of fact I used to smile when I’d walk into a hotel room and see an iHome or other similar device on the nightstand. This meant that at a minimum I could dock my iPhone and charge it overnight even if I had no plans to listen to music via the dock’s speakers. Well those days are over, or at least I thought they were when I got an iPhone 5. Apple has aggressively phased out the 10+ year old 30 pin dock connector found on several of these music docks and in most modern cars. While Apple does sell Lightning Adapters to adapt older 30 pin connectors to the new Lightning connects found on the iPhone 5, newer iPods and current iPads. The problem is that compatibility can be hit or miss. Some may still play music, but not charge the device.

Enter the CableJive dockBoss 5

The dockBoss is an adapter for the older 30 pin based docks and on the other end is a standard USB port and 3mm audio-in jack. Instead of simply converting the older 30 pin connection to a Lightning connection, the dockBoss 5 converts to a standard USB port for power and a standard audio-in port for music. This means that not only can I use my iPhone 5 on any of these devices, but I can use my iPad or any other handheld device or smartphone. I now travel with a dockBoss 5 in my luggage. When I arrive to an iPod dock equipped room I just plug in the dockBoss and one of my regular USB-to-Lightning cables. Now my iPhone is charging without me have to search for a plug by the bed (some hotels still don’t get this need) and if I want to listen to music I can plug in the supplied audio cable that comes with the dockBoss 5 (as pictured above). If I don’t care to listen to music then it’s just a single cable connection. Also note that the dockBoss 5 includes both an audio cable and standard micro USB cable for connection to most other smartphones and other portable devices.

The Bottom Line

dockboss-cables

Since Apple retired the 30 pin dock connector most portable music player manufacturers are now leaning towards bluetooth and wi-fi for connectivity for there new devices. However, if you’ve got an older music dock that works perfectly there’s probably no reason to throw it away! With the dockBoss 5 you can get more life out of it and make it compatible with other devices that it never worked with before.

Order the dockBoss 5 here.

Thank You New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore

tw-onstage-india
photo by Jason Levine

Once again I had to take a moment out of my hectic travel schedule to thank the over 1,100 people that came out to see my Adobe Create Now shows in India.

wpid12465-TLW6532_sm.jpg

After leaving Singapore, we headed to New Delhi in India. This was my first time back to India since 2010 and my first time in New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore.

wpid12471-TLW6592_sm.jpg
Jason is a huge Bollywood fan and couldn’t resist the chance to break out into song on stage. He was a huge hit with the crowds.

In each city the story was the same. Hundreds of Creatives, Photographers, Web Developers and Videographers came out to see the new Adobe Creative Cloud offering.

wpid12469-TLW6538_sm.jpg

In each city the venues were filled to capacity with standing room only in most cases.

wpid12473-TLW6603_sm.jpg

We were joined on stage by our local colleagues Abhijit Ghosh (photo above) and Hitashi Garg, but Hitashi and Abhijit covered the web portions of the day.

wpid12467-TLW6598_sm.jpg

wpid12475-TLW6701_sm.jpg

 

wpid12482-TLW6619_sm.jpg

The Bangalore event was standing room only and since we had later flights out that night we were able to show more tips and techniques during the shootout at the end.

wpid12461-Bangalore-0001-Edit_sm.jpg

I had a chance to do a little photography in Bangalore before heading out.

wpid12477-TLW6710-Edit_sm.jpg
A view from my room in Bangalore

 

wpid12479-TLW6680_sm.jpg

Thank you India and I hope to get back there again…

One of my NEW photo sharing workflows is powered by Adobe Revel

iPad_with_DSLR

Sometimes you can be so focused on what you do professionally that you totally overlook what’s out there for fun. Both Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC are at the heart of my day-to-day photography workflows. Many of you have heard me talk about Adobe Revel in the past. I had begun using it as my portfolio App on iPad. I loved that it sync’d my photos from Lightroom to the cloud and instantly to my iPhone and iPads. However, the one BIG THING that was missing from the iOS apps was a “slideshow” feature. Sure you could swipe the images, but you couldn’t simply hit play and let them run. The beautiful new redesign of Revel 2.0 changed all that. The app is gorgeous and has many new features that has me using it as my Portfolio app again. Let me share some of the other updates with you that you may have missed…

adobe-revel2-ipad

 

What’s Adobe Revel?

adobe-revel-mac

Adobe Revel is Adobe’s “consumer” based photo sharing service. It’s FREE to use for those with modest needs. With the FREE account you can upload an unlimited number of photos in the 1st 30 days after setting up your account and then 50 photos a month after that. If you “need” more than that you can go UNLIMITED for $5.99/month. Yes, that’s unlimited imports, no limits ever. Once you upload your images to Revel they are instantly available on your Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch (Windows and Android is in the works, but no timeline for when they will be available). As with other services like Flickr. com, most will only need the FREE account, but if you want to handle a lot of photos each month you can go unlimited whenever you want.

Download Adobe Revel for Mac here:

Adobe Revel - Adobe

Download Adobe Revel for iPhone, iPad and IPod touch here:

Adobe Revel - Adobe

Why isn’t this a part of Creative Cloud?

Adobe Revel is on the consumer side of the house and the consumer offerings from Adobe (like Photoshop Elements) will remain separate from the professional offerings in Creative Cloud.

 

What do the Mac and iOS Apps let you do?

adobe-revel-iPhone5-editing

In addition to uploading your photos, the Mac and iOS Revel Apps allow you to do non-destructive edits to your photos. Think of it as a Light version of the Lightroom develop module for consumers. It’s all slider based and like I said, 100% non-destructive. Once you make edits on one device those edits are automatically sync’d to all your other devices. This means that you always have the most up to date photos with you. You can also use the App to display your photos on screen or via AirPlay to say an Apple TV.

 

How does this work with Lightroom 4 and 5?

adobe-revel-LR

Lightroom 4 had a Revel Publish Service built-in and Lightroom 5 has a plug-in that you can download for free that does the same thing. Get it here. When I sign in to the Revel Publish Service I see my Revel libraries and I can create collections (or better yet, Smart Collections) that represent my portfolios. This means that I can publish my best/favorite images from Lightroom directly to Adobe Revel. I have created a Smart Collection in the Revel Publish service for each of my portfolios. When I update the regular Lightroom collection with new images, all I have to do is hit the Publish button in the corresponding Revel Publish Service Collection and my images are uploaded and my iPhone, iPad and Mac are updated. This has been the easiest way for me to carry my “CURRENT” portfolios around with me on my various devices. Yes the images can be viewed offline too. Actually if it weren’t for the Lightroom tie in I wouldn’t be half as excited about Revel. Since all my photos live in Lightroom it’s the hub of all my photographic workflows.

 

You mentioned a NEW photo sharing workflow. What’s NEW?

adobe_grouppix_iphone5

Everything I mentioned above is pretty much old news to Revel. The 2.0 iOS Apps and rate plan changes have been out for a while. What’s new is a couple NEW iPhone Apps. The 1st one is called Grouppix. I reviewed it here last week. When you and your friends download this FREE App, one of you can create a “shared” Album and invite the other to it. At that point anyone that has access to the album can upload pics to it and you all see them. This is GREAT for events such as parties, weddings, conferences, etc. Now everyone will have access to all the photos. That’s pretty cool, but what I didn’t realize right away is that those albums are powered by Revel! If you’re a Revel user those Grouppix shared albums show up in your Revel account. This also means that they show up in the Lightroom Publish Service. This makes it really really really easy for me to not only share photos I’ve taken with my iPhone, but also the ones I’ve taken with my DSLR. I can import my DSLR photos into Lightroom 5, select my picks, Develop them and add them to a Revel collection (Grouppix album), hit Publish and everyone that’s on the shared Grouppix album now has access to them. I did this last week during the Adobe Create Now Tour in APAC and it worked GREAT! If you’re into video there’s also a consumer based video editing app for iPhone called Video Bite. Yep it’s free too. It’s basic, but hey it lets you put clips together quickly and output a final movie right on your iPhone. Also did I mention that it’s free?

Get Adobe Grouppix for iPhone here:

Adobe Grouppix - Adobe

Get Adobe VideoBite for iPhone here:

Adobe® VideoBite - Adobe

 

Learn more about what Adobe Revel has to offer here.

Thank You Bangkok & Singapore!

wpid12434-1005993_10151525238441984_575540169_n_sm.jpg
Photo of me on stage by Panchalak Bhirakit

 

It’s Friday afternoon here in Singapore and I just wanted to take a few moments to THANK ALL OF YOU who attended our events this week in Bangkok and Singapore!

wpid12420-2013-07-09-10.55.29_sm.jpg

It was a pleasure presenting all the new things in Adobe Creative Cloud to these two sold out events.

wpid12418-2013-07-08-22.26.53_sm.jpg

It was also nice to present with Paul Burnett for the 1st time. He kicked things off both days with the new Edge Web Tools and of course Dreamweaver CC.

wpid12436-BOtWnO3CMAAdPDO.jpg-large_sm.jpg
Photo by Jason Levine

It’s always a pleasure receiving such a pleasure presenting the tools and services that I love to such enthusiastic crowds

Continue reading “Thank You Bangkok & Singapore!”

Thanks goes out to my now over 75,000 Subscribers on YouTube!

75000-youtube

I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for subscribing to my YouTube Channel. I just blew past the 75,000 mark and I’m thrilled that so many of you like my content. Having over 75,000 subscribers and over 13 Million Views is no small accomplishment and again thanks.

Hey if you’re in the subscribing/following kinda mood, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter (approaching 25,000 followers) and Like my Facebook Page (over 15,000 likes). Also add me to your Google+ Circles (over 25,000 have me in their circles) and follow me on Behance.

In other news

learn-cc

My Learn the Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White App has now been rebranded to “Learn the Adobe Creative Cloud with Terry White” as well as some bug fixes. Be sure to download the update. (note – I did have one person tell me that he’s having issues with it on iPad 1. So if you have an iPad 1 you might want to hold off till I confirm).

Grab the app here:

Learn Adobe Creative Cloud with Terry White - Wizzard Media