We have just a couple of spots open for Sunday's cool photo shoot -- join us!! Photograph old cars, trucks, AIRPLANES, and MORE!!!

We have just a couple of spots open for Sunday's cool photo shoot -- join us!!  

Photograph old cars, trucks, AIRPLANES, and MORE!!! 

Sunday October 29th 9am to 2pm

Pay and Sign up here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=FZKSBTW6TGRMJ

Address to people who sign up only. This location must not be disclosed to friends/photo groups/social media/etc. No refunds. Email us with your hometown (photographybyLisaAndTom [at] comcast.net) and we can provide an approx drive time 

See more info after the photos; view some photos from our last trip there: https://www.meetup.com/photography-by-lisa-and-tom/events/240768646/

  

 

Carpooling is encouraged, you can post comments to list where you are coming from to coordinate efforts. 

Bring your "regular" 24-105 type lens, plus your macro (or 70-200 type lens with an extension tube), a longer lens (70-200, 75-300 can be useful, as is a Lensbaby if you have one.  Bring water/snacks/lunch.  

Please let us know if you would like some help with exposures, composition, zoom blurs, double exposures (easy to do on the Canon 5DM3), close-up, etc.  We are more than happy to help, this is a great place to really get creative and have some fun!

DxO acquires Nik Collection from Google and will continue to offer it for free... for now

https://www.dpreview.com/news/1675836798/dxo-acquires-nik-collection-from-google-and-will-continue-to-offer-it-for-free-for-now

Press release

DxO acquires Nik Collection assets from Google and plans to set a new bar on Photo editing softwares

PARIS – October 25, 2017 – DxO, one of the most innovative companies in consumer imaging, today announced the acquisition of the Nik Collection assets from Google.
DxO plans to continue development of the Nik Collection. The current version will remain available for free on DxO’s dedicated website, while a new “Nik Collection 2018 Edition” is planned for mid-next year.
“The Nik Collection gives photographers tools to create photos they absolutely love,” said Aravind Krishnaswamy, an Engineering Director with Google. “We’re thrilled to have DxO, a company dedicated to high-quality photography solutions, acquire and continue to develop it.”
“We are very excited to welcome the Nik Collection to the DxO family,” said Jérôme Ménière, CEO and founder of DxO. “DxO revolutionized the image processing market many times over the years with its innovative solutions, and we are convinced that we will continue to do so with Nik’s tools, which offer new creative opportunities for photographers. The latest version of our flagship software DxO PhotoLab, which is available as of now, is the first embodiment of this thrilling acquisition with built-in U point Technology.”

About the Nik Collection

The Nik Collection is composed of seven desktop plugins for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop that provide a powerful range of photo editing capabilities — from filter applications that improve color correction, to retouching and creative effects, to image sharpening that brings out hidden details, to the ability to adjust the color and tonality of images. The current lineup of the Nik Collection includes:

• Analog Efex Pro: Applies film-era camera, lens, and film simulations to digital images
• Color Efex Pro: A comprehensive set of filters for color correction, retouching, and creative effects
• Dfine: Noise reduction software for camera-specific digital images
• HDR Efex Pro: Specialized program for processing HDR pictures
• Sharpener Pro: Image sharpening for digital images
• Silver Efex Pro: Black & White conversion of images with darkroom-inspired controls
• Viveza: Selectively adjusts image color and tonality without complicated masks or selections

New Photoshop is here! CC 2018

New Photoshop is here! CC 2018

With Photoshop CC, you always have access to new features as soon as they’re released.

some of the features I am very happy about -- 

• Better brush organization -- finally!! I have sooo many brushes and the brush panel had not been updated in a long while and brushes are popular. You can now organize brush presets into folders—including nested folders, yes! 
• Select and Mask improvements-- Wahoo!! "Get more accurate and realistic results with algorithm and performance improvements, especially in cases where the foreground and background color are similar. Other usability and performance improvements include faster Quick Mask and more intuitive view mode settings."
• ability to save large files faster - yes!
• better Content-Aware Crop -- cool! 
• better Content-Aware Fill on edges -- yes!!
• Quick Share menu -- finally! You can send/share within almost every other application, finally you can do it from PS too
• AI Upscale "Photoshop now features artificial intelligence-assisted upscaling to preserve important details and textures while resizing images without introducing distortions. In addition to skin tones and hair textures, this feature preserves harder-edged details like text and logos."

How do I verify if I have the latest version of Photoshop?

To verify that you have the most recent version of Photoshop:

• macOS: Choose Photoshop > About Photoshop.
• Windows: Choose Help > About Photoshop.

How do I verify if I have the latest version of the Camera Raw plug-in?

To verify that you have the most recent version of Adobe Camera Raw:

• macOS: Choose Photoshop > About Plug-In > Camera Raw.
• Windows: Choose Help > About Plug-In > Camera Raw.

The information below was copied from http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/features.html?utm_campaign=custom_email&utm_medium=email&utm_source=student_mailer

Better brush organization

Organize and save your brushes in the order you want. Drag and drop to reorder, create folders and sub-folders, scale the brush stroke preview, toggle new view modes, and save brush presets with opacity, flow, blend mode, and color.

Brush performance improvements

Don't be slowed down by lagging brushes. New, faster reaction time is especially noticeable when working on large documents with large brushes.

Access Lightroom Photos

Get your photos from Lightroom Cloud Services right inside Photoshop via Search or the Start Screen. With deeper integration between all the Creative Cloud photography desktop and mobile apps, all your photos are synced and accessible everywhere.

Brush stroke smoothing

Get a more polished look faster with a new smoothing algorithm. Vary the amount of smoothing for cleaner lines, even when using a mouse. Available in the Tool Options bar, along with Flow and Opacity.

Exclusive brushes from Kyle T. Webster

Access over 1,000 digital brushes from award-winning illustrator Kyle T. Webster, now available exclusively inside Photoshop.
Learn more ›

Variable fonts

With new font technology from Adobe, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, you can define variations within each supported font for weight, height, slant, and more.
See how it works ›

Quick Share menu

Share a flattened copy of your work via email, text, social networks, and more. This feature uses native OS sharing mechanisms, including already authenticated services.
See how it works ›

Curvature Pen tool

Create paths more quickly, intuitively, and precisely. Push and pull segments directly instead of having to modify Bezier handles, similar to the Curvature tool in Illustrator. Simply double-click to switch between point types.
See how it works ›

Path improvements

Improve the look and feel of your paths. Choose the color and line thickness to make them easier to see.

Copy and paste layers

Copy and paste multiple layers in groups, keeping the same order and location instead of having to drag them to reorder. Copy layers onto your clipboard and paste them at the desired specific spot in your panel, within and between documents in Photoshop.

Enhanced tooltips

Learn about the different tools in Photoshop without leaving the app. With enhanced tooltips, dynamic information surfaces when you hover over a tool.

360 panorama workflow

Edit and export 360 panoramas. Photoshop will maintain important metadata to work with third-party viewers. You can also pan and zoom around your image inside a spherical workspace for a realistic preview experience.

Properties panel improvements

Keep better track of details for Adobe Stock assets by viewing title and license state. View an image and find similar images on the Adobe Stock site. Edit type properties with multiple layers selected, change the leading, and more.

Support for Microsoft Dial

Native support for Microsoft Dial gives you quick access to important controls without having to use your mouse. Control brush parameters including size, hardness, opacity, flow, and smoothing.

Paste as plain text

Now you can paste text without the styling. No need to spend the time reformatting text after pasting.

Support for HEIF

Photoshop now supports High Efficiency Image File (HEIF) format, promoted by Apple in macOS 10.13 and iOS 11.0. With depth information provided by the iPhone 7 Plus and future devices, you can create a depth-of-field effect using the Lens Blur filter.

Select and Mask improvements

Get more accurate and realistic results with algorithm and performance improvements, especially in cases where the foreground and background color are similar. Other usability and performance improvements include faster Quick Mask and more intuitive view mode settings.

And so much more

Also includes: Performance and stability improvements, ability to save large files faster, better face detection for Face-Aware Liquify, better Content-Aware Crop and Content-Aware Fill on edges, and more.
See full release notes ›

We had an amazing workshop yesterday!

We had an amazing workshop yesterday! While the morning was full of histograms and blinkies and apertures and camera menus, the afternoon held a wonderful surprise in store with Lord Jeffrey, Sir James, the feisty warrior Destiny, the formidable Ron, the sultry Louise, the precious Tory and a young squire. See photographs taken by us and by our participants as they upload them here http://www.breaphotosgalleries.com/Our-workshops/KOG-Gillette-Castle-Workshop/

 
Everyone came with an open mind and learned new techniques. Michael learned how to set up bracketing and HDR in his new camera. Paul tried some cool zoom bursts. Joe said that he took so many photographs that his (trigger) finger hurt (what an awesome compliment!), Mark got to play with his new SONY and learn the menu system and how to get in and out of bracketing. Candice had an amazingly positive and reflective outlook on learning and asked lots of questions (our workshop are not like that "Who wants to be a millionaire" game show, you get as many questions/lifelines as you want. Deb came with her usual artistic impressions and also suggested a wonderful scene with "little red riding hood" Tory coming upon the knights fighting. A most productive and amazing workshop! We have a wide variety of workshops, follow us to learn about future workshops.

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST, FIND OUT ABOUT PHOTO CLASSES, TOUR, WORKSHOPS, PHOTO OPS, ETC.

http://eepurl.com/b9P2IH

Photograph old cars, trucks, AIRPLANES, cool junk, and MORE

Photograph old cars, trucks, AIRPLANES, and MORE!!! 

Sunday October 29th 9am to 2pm

Pay and Sign up here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=FZKSBTW6TGRMJ

Address to people who sign up only. This location must not be disclosed to friends/photo groups/social media/etc. No refunds. Email us with your hometown (photographybyLisaAndTom [at] comcast.net) and we can provide an approx drive time 

See more info after the photos; view some photos from our last trip there: https://www.meetup.com/photography-by-lisa-and-tom/events/240768646/

  

 

Carpooling is encouraged, you can post comments to list where you are coming from to coordinate efforts. 

Bring your "regular" 24-105 type lens, plus your macro (or 70-200 type lens with an extension tube), a longer lens (70-200, 75-300 can be useful, as is a Lensbaby if you have one.  Bring water/snacks/lunch.  

Please let us know if you would like some help with exposures, composition, zoom blurs, double exposures (easy to do on the Canon 5DM3), close-up, etc.  We are more than happy to help, this is a great place to really get creative and have some fun!

PacSafe

Be safe my friends. There have been three sets of camera thefts recently from people that I know.

Tom and I travel with a cheap travel blanket or a cheap black sheet from Walmart to put over our gear. We also make sure not to fiddle or put away gear at restaurants and when parking in streets/parking lots (we do this all at a different location ahead of time).

We also try to remember to use our PacSafe products.  You notice I said try, it is easy to get complacent and think that it will not happen to you or it will not happen here, so we travel with the Pacsafes with us but we do not always go the extra effort to use them. We bring them with us when we fly and when we drive. The PacSafe locks to the D ring in the back of the car.

This Pacsafe will hold my Think Tank camera bag http://amzn.to/2yqSp7m

and this kind can be fitted around larger camera bags and suitcases http://amzn.to/2yrlAHg

and a slashproof lockable duffle bag

http://amzn.to/2fXl9wT

W.A. Young & Sons Machine Shop & Foundry

• 11-26-17 
   W.A. Young &Sons Machine Shop & Foundry 9am-3pm
• The W.A. Young and Sons Machine Shop & Foundry is a century-old, belt-driven machine shop and foundry featuring fully operational machines. Great opportunities for HDR and macro.
• Pay and Register here (Paypal will send you a confirmation that you have registered; all workshops are non-refundable): https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2DLS5ZCEPBYU4

The W.A. Young & Sons Machine Shop & Foundry is a century-old, belt-driven machine shop and foundry featuring fully operational machines. Great opportunities for HDR and macro.

Pay and Register here (Paypal will send you a confirmation that you have registered; all workshops are non-refundable): https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2DLS5ZCEPBYU4

As always we will have a small group size to maximize your photo opportunities. This photo tour is all about access to this awesome location, having it to ourselves, with tripods.  

As always, you must sign a liability waiver for this photo tour. Please note that all of our workshops require the participants sign a liability waiver. Download it here; then print, read and sign it. Some venues may also require a location liability waiver.

The Machine Shop is located on Water Street in Rices Landing.

General directions: 1-79 to Ruff Creek Exit, then east on Route 221 to Dry Tavern; follow to Rices Landing.
From east of Pittsburgh, 1-70 to Route 88 South to Dry Tavern, then east to Rices Landing.