To our followers in Japan

I have seen the devastating videos and find it hard to comprehend the tragedy. I know that all that can be done is being done to help in the recovery efforts. I wish you well.

Trey Ratcliff's 9 HDR tips, a must read

A friend asked if he would contribute to her blog. He wrote these nine tips for HDR but they are tips for photography and photographers in general. There are some very interesting thoughts in this short piece. It may shake up some of your own thinking. Let me know what you think. You can find it here.

Kelby TV Introduces a new show, "The Grid" is on the air

Yesterday, Scott's newest show made it's debut on Kelby TV. "The Grid" is a new weekly talk show hosted by Scott and Matt Kloskowski about Photoshop, Photography and everything else in between. It airs every Monday at 12:30 pm EDT and will feature a different guest each week. You can watch the first show here. I think you'll like it.

Catching up and a NIK announcement

I apologize that I haven't posted in a while, but I'm back now and plan to post on some kind of regular schedule. No excuses to offer other than sometimes life goes by too fast.
On a much more important note, NIK software has announced the shipping of their updated SilverEfexPro2. If you have never used Silver Efex Pro for your black and white images, you don't know what your missing. Now they have added some additional very cool features that give you more control.
I know I have mentioned this before, maybe many time, but you should take a look at Trey Ratcliff's blog. If your in to HDR, StuckInCustoms is absolutly the best place to find information on how to use the HDR process correctly.

Thomas Hawk - WOW!!!!

A self proclaimed photography factory, this guy does outstanding work. I heard the interview he gave on TWIP, he is dynamic. You should read some of his comments here and you should definitely listen to the TWIP interview, here.

Silver Efex Pro 2 announced by NIK Software

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Today NIK Software announced Silver Efex Pro 2. If you are into Black and White photography and have never use Silver Efex Pro, you're really missing something. It helps to produce outstanding B&W images using their patented "U" point technology. So simple and intuitive that it gives you the feeling of working in a darkroom (for those of us old enough to remember those days). You can find more information here, and don't forget to use the discount code they supplied for my readers. You can find it under Discounts to your right.

Welcome to OZ 2.0 - Vincent Versace's new book

"Welcome to Oz 2.0" is a must read for those who want to take their processing to a higher level. "Welcome to Oz 2.0" is not just a quick update to his original book "Welcome to Oz". This is a completely re-written text moving way beyond the first book. In 3 of the chapters he uses some of the same images as in the first but his workflow has expanded. He explains in great detail the path to a great print starting with the concepts of pre-emptive photoshop and image harvesting. For those of us interested in HDR photography, Vincent expands the whole concept to what he calls ExDR. This expands dynamic range to include time, blur, color etc. For me, one of the most fascinating sections in each chapter is his use of the lighting effects filter in photoshop. (Filters>Render>Lighting Effects).

100 pages longer than the first volume, the book also includes over $230. worth of NIK and onOne software, free.

You can find here.

Merry Christmas to all. . . .

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I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I hope that all your dreams come true.

A Plea for HDR

This is an article I ran across on Facebook. I don't know Alexandre Buisse, and until now I have not seen his work, but he does some wonderful stuff. If your shooting and processing HDR or even considering doing some, I strongly suggest that you read his article.


I have just finished Joe McNally's new book "Life Guide to Digital Photography: Everything You Need to Shoot Like A Pro". I can tell you, it's amazing. There are gems on every page. You can order it from Amazon.

The "Candid Frame" Podcast

Ibarionex Perello, photographer, teacher, writer and host of this very informative podcast that is nothing short of habit forming. His interviews with the likes of Joe McNally, Jay Maisel, David (the Strobist) Hobby just to name a few are insightful and educational. I download them for free to my itouch but you can also listen to them online. I'm sure you'll find them a very valuable resource.