Matt Kloskowski of NAPP and the infamous Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips, has come out with a response to the Apples release of their Aperture 3. He has a blog post of 5 Reasons to Stay with Lightroon? posted Feb 15, 2010.
I will let you got to the link above to view the entire post. But, here are my quick thoughts on the Lightroom vs. Aperture. First, any program that makes my life easier is a good program. When I first got my MacBook Pro, I was given a trial version of Apples Aperture 1. It was a step up from iPhoto, because it offered more post processing control over the current version of iPhoto at the time. I knew I wanted to go the Adobe Lightroom way, because of the workflow is designed to work better with other Adobe products i.e. Photoshop. Another reason I chose Lightroom over Aperture, is the fact that most plug-ins a free, and more user presets.
Aperture has one major benefit that I looked into to help me make a decision to go with Apple Aperture. In the early days I really used the iLife programs especially iWeb and iMovie/iDVD. Aperture works seamless with these programs. However, as my needs grew beyond what these programs offered, my interest in Aperture diminished. I nolonger use iWeb for my web publishing, I use Adobe Dreamweaver CS4.
In conclusion, any program that makes photo post processing easier for anyone whether it is Lightroom, Aperture, iPhoto, Adobe Bridge or one of the other web 2.o programs available, I think you should use the best one for your needs.
Post your comment, thoughts or ideas in the comment section below or take the survey.
Matt’s Final Thoughts:
Final Thoughts If you’re a current Lightroom user, you’re among the group of the most used photo management/processing software in the world. There’s a reason why when you do a search for buzz, news, tutorials, presets, etc… on Lightroom vs. the same for Aperture, you find much more about Lightroom. It’s an awesome program and like anything out there, will just get better with time. Be happy with it. If your curiosity just has to get the best of you then by all means, download the free trial of Aperture and give it a try yourself. Maybe you’ll switch. If that’s the right thing for you then go for it. Just don’t do it because it’s new and different. As always, leave a comment. I welcome your thoughts on the topic (just be nice)
Does anyone have any news when Adobe will release their Creative Suite 5. I started looking across the web to find a release date for the CS5. I have come across a blog called CS5.org. According to CS5.org they had an unconfirmed release date of October 2009. Well obviously they were a little off on their release date.
I did find another date that seemed be a little more realistic. This date has been repeated form web site to blog. The date of the suspected release will be April 2010.
3. Adobe Creative Suite 5
Rumor has it that the new versions of Photoshop, Flash et. al should be with us around April. It’ll be a new era for the design suite because the Mac version has been completely rebuilt in Cocoa, and will no longer run on PowerPC chips. Judging by the sneaky peeks we’ve seen here and from what was announced at Adobe MAX 2009, designers will be whimpering with delight when CS5 finally becomes available. New goodies you can expect from the suite include ‘wet look’ 3D Photoshop paint brushes, native iPhone game compiling in Flash, and a ‘Smart Paste’ tool for Dreamweaver that makes it easier to integrate vector graphics and Illustrator-created content into your web sites. Ref: Top Software for 2010
I am really interested in the release of CS5, because I am thinking of buying the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium and I don’t want to throw my money into a product that will be out dated in two months. I learned my lesson in the past. I have purchased products and spent a great deal of money on them, when a month or two later they release a new item. Then it’s to late to return the item and it cost another chunk of change to upgrade. That happened to me on my DSLR.
I guess that is one of the questions I can ask when I head into San Francisco for the Photoshop 20th Anniversary bash.
I you have any information on a release date of any Adobe CS5 products put them in the comments.
I thought I would post this little bit of news. I was reading Scott Kelby’s new post and found a contest to get a free ticket to the Adobe Photoshops 20th Anniversary invitation. The birthday party will be on February 18, 2010 at the Palace of the Fine Art theater, in San Francisco.
Here is the link to Scott Kelby’s Blog Photoshop Insider. Read his post and sign up, maybe I will see at the party. I just got my ticket sent to me in my email.
Technique Tuesday is running behind and I posted it today. Here is a little Photoshop trick I ran across the other day. This tip is brought to from Peachpit Press. Who would have thunk it… that Peachpit had videos. The video was actually done by Matt Kloskowski, one of the many Photoshop gurus’ that haunt the halls of NAPP.
In this video, Matt shows us how to adjust the symmetry in your photos. This is a quick tip that I have used several time to adjust the tilt when photographing a high-rise building from the ground while using a normal lens.
Good Morning and welcome back from a long holiday weekend. If you are in the USA then hopefully you celebrated Thanksgiving weekend with family, friends and or loved ones. You have slugged off your tryptophan coma, and decided to focus on something other football.
During the weekend in-between football games and eating leftovers, I did find some time to skate through the blogosphere. While in the sphere I ran across a great post about Restoration of old or aged photos. I know I have been looking for a simple easy way to restore some of our old family photos, that have either faded been slightly damaged or discolored. Sometime if you don’t have the negative to restore the original picture, then you have to scan the orginally photograph. When you scan the original, then you scan all the defects that go along with it.
So I ran across a blog by Michael Albany on how he restores old photos. He has a great video that he explains how he restored an early vintage baseball photograph. It was explained very well, and it is an easy adjustments to make in Adobe Photoshop. Here is the link to his blog post “Faded Old Photo? Easy?
I am currently working on some pre-World War I photos that my wife and her mom dug up from a folder of her grandfathers. He was in the US Navy and we think that he may have served on the USS New York, during his years at the United States Naval Academy. After I finish one of the Image Restorations I will post it again in a new post recap.
I hope this helps those of you like me, that have family projects to restore old images and movies before they all turn to dust. I would like to see any photos you restore using this Michael Albany’s process or any other process you might use to restore old photographs. You can post them and your technique to the comments section below.
Dave Cross from NAPP share this bit of information and technology on his blog. I thought it was information I should share as well. Adobe labs has been working on a very cool feature Content-Aware healing tool. It’s an improvement from the current healing too in Photoshop CS4.
Kelby Training Live is offering a Adobe Photoshop CS4 Seminar in Sacramento, CA on Monday November 9, 2009. This should be a well informative trainging session taught by Ben Willmore. For more information got to Kelby Training Live.
Ben Willmore has personally helped over 30,000 design and photography professionals make the transition from blindly following step-by-step techniques, to “Aha! I finally GET Photoshop!” His breakthrough teaching style of “not-just-how-but-why” has made Ben the in-house instructor of choice for companies such as Mercedes Benz, Adobe Systems, America Online, and Fisher-Price. He’s a member of the Dream Team for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), a featured speaker at design and photography conferences in around the world, and writes for numerous digital imaging publications.
Ben Willmore is author of the award-winning, best-selling book, Adobe Photoshop Studio Techniques and co-author of another bestseller, How to Wow: Photoshop for Photography. His hit seminars, “Photoshop Mastery” and “Photoshop for Photographers”, have established Ben as one of America’s favorite Photoshop instructors. He has personally helped over 30,000 design and photography professionals make the transition from blindly following step-by-step techniques, to “Aha! I finally GET Photoshop!” His breakthrough teaching style of “not-just-how-but-why” has made Ben the in-house instructor of choice for companies such as Mercedes Benz, Adobe Systems, America Online, and Fisher-Price. He’s a member of the Dream Team for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), a featured speaker at design and photography conferences in around the world, and writes for numerous dig… read more »
Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 for Photographers
Coming to Sacramento, CA | Monday, November 9, 2009
Join Ben Willmore as he shows you how to master your digital photography
and apply the hottest and most cutting-edge Photoshop techniques to take your photography skills to a whole new level!
You’ll learn extremely powerful Photoshop techniques such as adjustment essentials by exploring Photoshop CS4’s new adjustments and masks panels
and see how they can solve even the most challenging adjustment issues.
You’ll also learn how to control the viewer’s experience by directing your viewer’s eye through your photographs by adjusting tone, color, and sharpness. Learn how to produce images that would be impossible in a traditional darkroom, such as, how to slow down water without slow shutter speeds, reduce or eliminate environmental mist, changing background colors by filtering the subject’s light, creative light painting and streak photos with a difference, shooting techniques that ensure accurate color and skin tones, how to combine two less-than-ideal shots to produce an acceptable result, hand-held extreme panoramas that will blow your mind, a two-shot process for making flash look natural, simulating sunrise or sunset light, and much, much more!
“The BEST! One of a kind, master teacher, focused, clear, incredible instructor! Ben’s off the charts!!! I’m amazed at how much I learned!”
P. Toney, Attendee – view more testimonials
with Ben Willmore Best-Selling Author, Photographer, and Instructor
This is not my photo I borrowed it for another Flickr users. I use a Mac, so I can’t create my own.
A few months back I put up a little post called Fractalius… It hasn’t received a lot of attention, but it has seen its share of web traffic.
In a nutshell it was about my frustration with Redfield who creates this fractalius plug-in. If you haven’t seen this plug in take a look on the internet. Go to Google or your favorite search engine and type in Fractalius images.
Redfield has stated in thier FAQ, that the plug-in is not supported on for a Mac, and nor do they ever plan on making a plug-in for Mac.
I have noticed an increased amount of traffic to my blog posting over the past few months. After going back through the searches that have led readers to the post and 90% have been from “Fractalius for Mac”.
If you ask me I think that Redfield is missing a crucial market. The Apple Mac user is basically a graphic user, and since this is a graphics image plug-in, I think it would be only natural to have this unusual plug-in available for the Mac OS platform.
I know, I am not the only Mac user that thinks this way. After linking to other sites from the links queried on my blog, I found an on-line petition. This petition is for all those Mac user being discriminated against by Redfield Plug-in. This petition is for all those Mac users that have said “Enough, I want my Fractalius Plug-in”.
Do yourself a favor sign the petition above. Do me a favor a sign the petition. Do it for your mom, your dog, your fish or your spider . Sign the petition, sign it for any reason on earth just sign it, so we all can enjoy that little plug-in.
Reflection at Dawn
Originally uploaded by Kirk HowarAn early February snowy morning in Yosemite National Park. This is a photo from Stoneman Bridge take with my Panasonic Point n Shoot.
What attracted me to this image is the glassy calm of the Merced River and the dawn colors in the reflection.
Rumor has it that the new versions of Photoshop, Flash et. al should be with us around April. It’ll be a new era for the design suite because the Mac version has been completely rebuilt in Cocoa, and will no longer run on PowerPC chips. Judging by the sneaky peeks we’ve seen 
