Friday, November 06, 2009

Going to the Big Show


If you've read my blog for a while you know that I sing in a Barbershop Harmony Chorus and that each year we compete for the right to go to the annual International Contest (known to us as the big show). For the last 7 years in a row we've finished a very close second in the the Florida competition, always coming very very close (pretty much redefining the term "close but no cigar).

At the beginning of October my chorus competed and once again finished second, but this year our score meant we thought we might have a chance to go as a "wildcard" entry (the next 10 highest scores after all the regional contests are over).

Last week we received the official invitation, telling us that we had qualified 6th out of 10 wildcard spots, so we're going to International next summer! I can't tell you how big this is for us - after 7 years of coming close.

So we'll be heading to Philadelphia next July for the International Chorus Contest (it's always held in North America but there are competitors from Europe, hence the name "international" contest)

Woo hoo!!

Layers Magazine Design Contest


Don't miss the latest Back Page Design Contest from Layers Magazine. This time around you can win a 1.5-TB Guardian MAXimus quad interface hard drive and $200 in credits courtesy of Fotolia.

Get all the details here

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Photoshop Fixes Flickr Group


Although I have not been directty involved for some time, the Photoshop Fixes Group on Flickr is still going strong, and still holding friendly challenges.

Take a look

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Photo opp at Photo Plus Expo

Walking around Photo Plus Expo a couple of weeks ago, I had an opportunity to meet and chat with many well-known photographers who I'd never met in person before - including many who had been kind enough to "finish the sentence" here on my blog.

Among others, I got to meet Joey L, Zack Arias, Kenny Kim, Dave Sanders, and Bob and Dawn Davis. Here's a pic of me with Bob and Dawn taken by a very nice fellow who's name was Vithaya.


Along with some "celebrities" I also got a chance to chat with quite a few NAPP members, blog readers and Photoshop TV Users - that was very cool!

Looking forward to next year's show.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

PRESS RELEASE: onOne Software

onOne Software, Inc., has announced Plug-in Suite 5 for Adobe Photoshop. Designed to solve the most common problems facing photographers in the areas of color correction, enlarging, masking and professional photographic effects, the Plug-in Suite 5 combines full versions of six essential software tools in one affordable package: FocalPoint 2, PhotoTune 3, PhotoFrame 4.5 Professional Edition, PhotoTools 2.5 Professional Edition, Genuine Fractals 6 Professional Edition and MaskPro 4.
With support for Photoshop CS2, CS3 and CS4 the onOne Software Plug-in Suite 5 now includes the new onOne Panel which provides quick access to all products, Windows 64 bit support and the ability to access select plug-ins from within Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and Apple Aperture 2.1. Plug-in Suite 5 will be available in November.

Plug-in Suite 5 includes full versions of the following onOne Software products:
FocalPoint 2 – Like bringing the camera lens inside Photoshop, this new version of FocalPoint 2 gives photographers the best way to add the most realistic depth of field and selective focus control to any image after it is photographed. Photographers now have an incredible amount of flexibility and control over the look of the blur with FocalPoint 2's new blur algorithm, FocusBrush, Lens Presets and multiple FocusBug features.

PhotoTune 3 – Getting great color doesn’t have to be so hard. This new version of PhotoTune 3 uses patented eye-fidelityTM technology, originally developed by and licensed from imsense to optimize the dynamic range, color and sharpness of images so that they look more true-to-life. The improved Wizard offers fast color and tone correction in as little as two steps while giving pro users direct access to advanced and innovative controls. SkinTune, which represents two years of research and analysis of thousands of skin tones, now offers one-click color correction of portraits and the option to correct just the skin in an image.

PhotoFrame 4.5 Professional Edition – With PhotoFrame 4.5, you can add the perfect finishing touch to your images with over 100 exciting new professionally designed frames, backgrounds, textures and layouts including over a dozen from professional photographer Kersti Malvre. With one thousand design elements like film edges, borders, textures, backgrounds and adornments, PhotoFrame 4.5 Professional Edition even has complete layouts where users can simply drop an image in and they are done. It is the easiest and fastest way to add an authentic darkroom touch with a film edge or to create beautiful albums or scrapbook pages

PhotoTools 2.5 Professional Edition – PhotoTools 2.5 is the highly acclaimed Photoshop plug-in that allows photographers of all skill levels to maximize the full power of Photoshop with it's ability to preview and combine Photoshop Actions in a single, intuitive interface. Designed by photographers for photographers, PhotoTools 2.5 Professional now includes a new MaskingBug control based on the FocusBug control from the award-winning FocalPoint plug-in. The new MaskingBug allows photographers to create high-quality masks to selectively apply effects to images. With over 30 new creative effects, for a total effect library of 280, photographers can easily find, combine and save the results to create images that truly stand out.

Genuine Fractals 6 Professional Edition - The industry standard for enlarging photos, Genuine Fractals 6 enlarges images up to 1,000% while maintaining sharp edges and important image details. Genuine Fractals 6 now includes an automated gallery wrap feature and output options for tiling an enlarged photo. No other resizing plug-in is as widely used by more professionals than Genuine Fractals.

MaskPro 4 – For those times when you need to extract a subject from a photo, Mask Pro 4 uses a color-based method that allows users to easily remove unwanted backgrounds from your photos. Mask Pro's unique Color Decontamination technology allows users to get realistic results by maintaining transparency in hard to mask objects like hair, smoke and glass in a fraction of the time using traditional tools.
Availability

The new Plug-in Suite 5 will be available in November to new users for $599.95; purchased separately the products would normally cost $1,300. Existing users of Plug-in Suite version 1, 2, 3 or 4 can upgrade to the Plug-in Suite 5 for $199.95. Customers who own any one or more of the products in Plug-in 5 will be able to upgrade as well by visiting http://www.ononesoftware.com/upgrade/. For more information on the Plug-in Suite 5, please visit http://www.ononesoftware.com/.

Monday, November 02, 2009

An unwired week

Wow, how odd/refreshing it was to go a whole week without internet, blogs, Twitter or email (I was too cheap to pay the very high cost of cruise ship connectivity)

As nice as it was to not have to have to worry about email etc, of course I am paying for it now with the backlog....

Anyways, it's great to be back on land again after a fun cruise.

Here's a couple of quick shots from CuraƧao


Monday, October 26, 2009

Photoshop Cruisin'

This week Matt, Corey and I are teaching on a Photoshop Cruise to the Caribbean. Woo Hoo!
Very little to no blogging is likely.
Have a great week!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Matt presenting at Photo Plus

Dave's NY adventure begins

Off to Photo Plus for the day

Dave's one day adventure begins

Off to Photo Plus for the day
More pics to come