Brushes Galore

If you're like me, an unstoppable collector of photoshop brushes, you'll be thrilled to find out that there is a very simple way to view and manage your brush collection!

First, don't follow Adobe's rules putting all your Photoshop brushes in the Photoshop brushes folder. The more brushes you have in this folder, the longer Photoshop will take to load.  Instead, keep them in your My Documents folder in a sub-folder called Brushes.  Burn the folder to a CD so you always have a back up.

Next download ABR Viewer, a free opensource tool available at http://abrviewer.sourceforge.net. 

It's just a small application, but with big benefits - see your brushes without loading them, and set your favorites. A HUGE timesaver!

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Rise and Shine

With all the family turmoil, I guess my stress levels are a little high - I wake up at ridiculously early times these days.

But there is a payoff! This is what I saw this morning. Where are the deer when it really counts?  Maybe tomorrow

 

No Photoshop, except to remove the ever-ubiquitous (is that reduntant?) powerlines.

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Image Salon Blues, and greens and reds...

I'll have to make a very dilligent effort to book time with myself to create 4 new images for the Nationals coming up in May.  Naturally I have many ideas, but which ones will make the best competition images is really the difficult part. 

And with Halloween coming up, there's a splendid opportunity to get some great shots at a local "Haunted House."  Not far from me is a spectacle that i am just itching to go see. 29145 Prairie View Road, just outside the booming metropolis of Dugald, Manitoba!  Plus that little graveyard on the hill in the gravel pits looked very spooky this week under the gloomy autumn skies.   So my shot list is filling up nicely -hope the weather cooperates - with a full moon week, some mild weather, the ghostly shooting should be just fine!

Have a great week!

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Image Shows

The PPOC MB Annual Convention took place this past weekend - a great time!

Although I entered 4 images only one was accepted but it got a ribbon for Excellence, and a Judge's Choice ribbon. There are only 5 Judges and I think there were something like 150 entries so the Judge's Choice is quite an honor.  In every show I enter I recieve at least one of these .

I also noticed that many of my images tent to split the Judges - some do not like my images or find them not acceptable for the competition, but there are others on the same panel who LOVE them! So funny.  I guess it's my twisted ego but I like that.

Tonight I will be speaking at the Manitoba Camera Club, sharing some of my new infrared photoshop processing techniques, the same ones that are in my newest Photoshop tutorial program.   

Hope to see you there!

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"One Photoshop to go, please!"

Just in time for Halloween, Adobe has released Photoshop Mobile - a mobile photoshop app for your iPhone!

I've just downloaded it and it seems to be very user friendly and quite a robust little app for us on the go!  I'll be off on a little road trip for the day, out to the rural lands and I'll be sure to take some autumn scenes with the iPhone and I'll do the postprocessing with the new Photoshop app.  Given that  a lot of the photography related iPhone apps are less than intuitive and some give less than desirable results, I'm anxious to see what this will actually do!

I've never been too keen on playing with iPhone photos since for me I can't do too much with them as they are usually too small for the kind of work I like to do, BUT if Photoshop Mobile works, it may be t he start of a whole new class of digital art!  (Will the iPhone become the "Lomo" of the 21st Century?)

You can read more and download Photoshop Mobile for the iPhone here. Let me know what you think of it if you get it.

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Thanksgiving

It's the Thanksgiving Weekend here in Canada.  Just like our friends in the US, we celebrate our good fortune with turkey and family gatherings. It's a good time.

There will be many family photos this weekend to be sure, and in places where the weather is less bitter, a final chance to get outdoors to enjoy nature without the blanket of snow that is surely hulking towards us. 

But I really don't believe that one day of gratitude is enough.  It should be continual state.  Buddhist teachers tell us that when we are grateful we are "in the moment."  Not pondering the past or musing about the future - but fully engaged in the NOW - which spiritually anyway, is where all the good stuff happens. Photographically speaking, since we capture moments, it seems fitting that our heads and hearts be there too.

Here's my Thanksgiving challenge to you. That gratitude you feel when you sit down for your big dinner with your friend and family - feel it every day. Stay in the moment.

You'll feel amazingly exhillarated, and you may just find your photography improves too!

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Those old backroads

By now you know how much I like going for drives far away from the crowded places, to explore the forgotten, abandoned, and dilapidated artifacts of our world.  This past week I have "discovered" 2 new places to explore (this weekend!), as well as this place, which caught my eye in a strange way.

This is an infared shot, taken on a cloudy day (what else was there this year!?).  I didn't have any expectations of how it would work out, but I knew that the contrast of the "smooth" looking sky and the cracked texture of the debris needed to be central.

The other 2 places I stumbled upon (not literally thank goodness!) on first inspection, to be good subject matter for Halloween photos, and since the full moon is on Novmeber 2nd, a mere 2 days off Halloween eve, if it's a clear night, a little "almost full moon" photography in these abandoned places should be very coooool indeed.  All I need now is a way to get my 12-24 mm lens repaired - the one that got squashed when I took my tumble...

SHAMELSS ADVERTISING: The PPOC Manitoba Image Salon is on October 17th at Tec Voc High School - come out to see some truly kick as* images.  If you think my images are good, you MUST see the rest of the show.  It's FREE and you'll be MORE than entertained by the Judges - makes Simon Cowal look like Mahatma Ghandi!!! Oh! the repartee!!! Laugh, outrage, rant, it's all there.

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Hello!

Yes, it's true I have been very distracted these last few weeks, but I'm not ignoring you

There have been a lot of things going on and I'll be letting you know about a few big announcements very very soon.  I also have a great Fall Colours Article going up, along with a very cool tool made to enhance the autumn scenery in all your photos.

So, now I have to get back to my distractions!!!!  Have a super weekend.

ciao for now.

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