Ps Weekly

Howdy Folks!

Photoshop World Vegas has come to a close and we’re about to send another fine, fine issue of Photoshop User to the printers (thus the reason why I haven’t posted in awhile lol). Last week, the good folks over at Mpix sent me an invitation to have some of my work printed. As one might imagine, this was a blessing and a curse all in one shot for a number of reasons: 1) I have a terrible habit of going for a shoot and then blowing off the post production; 2) I work with a platoon of the best creatives in the industry, so it can be a bit daunting to show my own work; and 3) I’m #2 to Scott Kelby on the masthead, so my [poop] better at least be presentable, right?

So this weekend I sat down and went through my images to find something worthy of sending to Mpix’s lab for printing; they recently updated their website, which has propelled the company headlong into the life of 2.0, and I guess they need fodder for their new system. I think I found three or four that might be worth some canvas action; plus, there’s at least one that should look good rocking their metallic print processing. I saw one of Scott’s shots done this way and I was amazed at how it sucked you in and repelled you at the same time—brilliant. “How does this connect to Photoshop World,” I bet you’re wondering at this point.

While I was sitting there messing with my images, I grabbed the 2″-thick workbook containing my notes from Photoshop World and flipped to Ben Willmore’s class on High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography for some tips and inspiration…I’m telling you, that workbook by itself is worth the cost of admission to PSW. I’ve been shooting HDR for a couple years now and regardless of it’s sometimes cumbersome post-processing requirements, I dig it. (Here’s a link to one from awhile back that my buddy RC Concepcion posted on the Layers magazine homepage.) This shot is the crown jewel of the weekend. It’s an HDR I grabbed with the Nikon D3 after dropping wifey off at a bridal shower out in BFE/Clermont, Florida. I saw it as I was crossing a bridge, while on the phone with my buddy, Bryan Smathers. We were planning our mischief for the upcoming weekend (: I told him I had to call him back ’cause I saw this otherworldly image outside the passenger window. This shot was merged into HDR using Photomatix Pro 3 (which is the best freakin’ HDR software on the planet IMHO; visit www.hdrsoft.com for more info) and then I applied the “Scott Kelby 7-Point System” to really bring out the shadow and midtone details, and make it punch you in the chest (technically speaking). That’s a great book too btw.

Anyway, there’s this one step in his book where you use the Shadow/Highlights dialog (convert to smart object, and then go to the Image menu, under Adjustments). Well, when you shoot HDR, that dialog, when you click the More Options checkbox, is your best friend in Photoshop.

As you can see, it gets pretty beefy when you click that checkbox.

Okay, this is getting a bit involved, so I better break here; perhaps I’ll put up a full blown tutorial at a later time.

Here’s the final image that I’m planning to send for a canvas wrap. I hope y’all have a great week!!

Tags: Behind the Scenes at Photoshop User magazine, Kelby Media Group, Mpix 2.0, NAPP, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Photography, Photoshop, Photoshop User magazine, Scott Kelby