Lens Correction in ACR 6.1 and Lightroom 3

Hey, I have to say I'm a happy man!!! Did I win a million bucks? Nah. But ACR 6.1 and Lightroom 3 will have Lens Correction. How cool is that! One of the most requested features is finally going to be a reality. Now, if only we had Soft proofing and Book creations ;-) .

In the meantime, here's Tom Hogarty with the new features!

It's Here: CS5!

Yes, it's finally here: Adobe Creative Suite 5! And I have to say. it's the best release EVER! If you missed the launch event, you can see it here.

And for my latin IDUG users (spanish will be spoken now):

Ya fueron testigos de la mejor versión jamás visto de Adobe, el Creative Suite 5. Pero si eres desean ver en persona esta nueva versión (y vives en Puerto Rico) le invito a que me acompañes a nuestra próxima reunión del InDesign User Group el 1 de mayo de 2010. Puedes ver mas aquí.

Adobe to launch CS5!!

Adobe just announced that they are going to announce the Creative Suite 5! (Weird, I know) Anyhoo, on April 12, 2010 we'll get the whole scoop on what's new in the Creative Suite of applications like InDesign and Photoshop. Something tells me this will be the best release ever!

Sign up here!

365 Project Day 11 - Up in the clouds

Yesterday I went for the dumpster, today I went for the sky... how poetic!



Image: Caught some interesting clouds, nothing fancy. But did some fun processing in Lightroom and Photoshop. It's cool what you can capture if you look up!

Manual: Page 38 (Nikon D40 manual) Two-Button Reset. Now I know what to do if my camera acts wonky.

Inspiration: Todoy i'll give it to Chase Jarvis. Not only are his images amazing, but just today he announced a new book that makes the saying "The best camera is the one that's with you" a whole new meaning. See his post here!

365 Project Day 9 - Fence

It's late as I write this, so i'll make it short and sweet. Went to visit my wife's parents. Had a great time. Took my camera, of course!



Image: Played with depth of field here. Didn't want to go wide open at f/1.8, so I tried f/2.8. Sharp and defocused. Converted to black & white to increase contrast and eliminate some nasty distractions. Processed with Lightroom and sharpened in Photoshop.

Manual: Page 45 (Nikon D40 manual) Matrix metering. Camera meters a wide area of the frame and instantly sets exposure according to distribution of brightness, color, distance, and composition for natural results. This is what I use most of the time, pretty much gets it right.

Inspiration: Walker Evans. A superb documentarian and journalist. Some say he captured the face of the Great Depression. His images are simply amazing!

365 Project Day 8 - Exhausted

Today was basketball night, a great excuse to take the camera. Took my 50mm f/1.8 to catch some images. The action shots wasn't all that great (well, actually they stinked). So I focused my attention on other details, like the exhausted players. It was fun, but tiresome. Playing a couple of games and then trying to catch some shots can be really exhausting for sure.



Image: Took this shot of a good friend of mine who played tonight. What I like about this image is the water bottle, it gives some context. Also, there is a fading line that draws your eye from the player and back to him. Processed with Lightroom and Photoshop.

Manual: Page 32 (Nikon D40 manual) Continuous shooting mode. Taking more than 1 frame per second. Didn't tried this, should have... D'OH!!

Inspiration: Going with a local, but an extremely great photographer. He's a mentor and a friend, Samuel Collazo. Please check his black & white and color galleries on Flickr. He's a true inspiration!

365 Project Day 7 - Deteriorate

de•te•ri•o•rate | diˈti(ə)rēəˌrāt |

verb
become progressively worse

Don't you ever wonder why things deteriorate? Everything eventually deteriorates. Be it objects, nature, even life. One can pass by the things that is deteriorated and not notice. But if you stop and observe, ask yourself: how was it before? What made it what it is today? Is there hope it can "come back to life"? There is beauty in things deteriorated. Is it because of the fact it is deteriorated? Or is it something else? Oh well, so much for my ramblings. ;-)



Image: Driving away from my work, I see this and was intrigued. The combination of color, shape and a little bit of deterioration just caught my interest. A little bit of Lightroom and a tablespoon of Photoshop, and done. Hope you like it!

Manual: Page 76 (Nikon D40 manual) Auto ISO. ISO sensitivity will automatically be adjusted if optimal exposure can not be achieved at the selected value. What a great feature. Can you imagine using this feature on a Nikon D700 or D3? Wow!

Inspiration: Jacob Riis. Like Lewis Hine, he dedicated his photographic life for a cause, in his case exposing the life of New York City's Slums. Superb images!

365 Project Day 6 - Inspiration

in•spi•ra•tion | ˌinspəˈrā sh ən |
noun
1 the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative

Inspiration. That was lacking today for a while. With so little time to take pictures, every shot counts. But it wasn't there, until... I see my lovely wife. What a way to bring back that spark. I gotta tell you, I am a very fortunate guy. Having a beautiful, smart, inspirational and supportive wife has to be one of the biggest highlights of my life. And she's a heck of a photographer too!!



Image: Took a series of shots of my lovely wife, and this one just won. The look of her eyes are just beautiful. Worked some post-processing in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Manual: Page 40 (Nikon D40 manual) Flexible Program. In this mode, one can adjust the combination of shutter speed and aperture by rotating the command dial. Most people are keen on avoiding Program Mode, but i believe it can have its place. Heck, I know excellent photographers who shoot in Program Mode. What do you use? I mainly use Aperture Priority, but would use Program Mode if its needed. No shame in that!

Inspiration: Recently bought the latest Outdoor Photographer a read about Fine Arte photographer Richard Garrod. His images are stunning and his black & whites are exquisite. Truly inspirational!