Heya Folks!
I hope you’re doing well. It’s just another day in paradise here and, on top of that, today begins the first day of my family’s favorite month: October! Woohoo! Don’t worry, I’m not gonna go gushy over the whole leaves-changing thing ’cause I’m in Florida and for the most part we don’t see that stuff down here lol
So remember that post I did awhile back talkin’ about the print lab Mpix? Well, I sent them some of my images last Monday afternoon at around 3 pm. I ordered what I thought might be some of the most challenging pieces to put together: canvas wraps, standouts, foam backing, double-matte, and more with various print styles to boot. Besides the mind-blowing speed (I had the stuff in hand the next day by 2pm—less than 24 hours after I hit the order button), their cost-to-quality ratio is exceptional, and their staff are really patient and helpful. I finally found the right combination to display my HDR images. The Mpix folks have this metallic print process that is utterly freakin’ stunning—especially when used with High Dynamic Range imagery. Color reproduction is exceptional and they were able to retain all shadow and midtone detail (highlights were great too, but I’m all about sucking people in with shadow and midtone detail, so that’s where I place the most scrutiny). Even if you’re not shooting HDR and you just want a lab to print your stuff, or even see what your work would look like on canvas, give these guys a shot, hands down, they’re the best lab I’ve ever used and they’re really good people over there. If you are shooting HDR, go to www.mpix.com, upload your images, click the “Specialty Products” tab, select Standouts, and follow the instructions from there. Once you’re done with your adjustments, click the “Add to Cart” icon, go visit your cart and you’ll see your image. Click the thing that says “E-Surface” and select Metallic from the New Paper Type menu. I have no idea why I’ve busted out into a tutorial about a process that’s so intuitive, but I wanted to make sure you knew where to find the metallic print processing lol hopefully it’s just obvious that I’m really stoked about this discovery and I want to share it with y’all…they just do some awesome freakin’ work!
Man, I couldn’t be more thrilled to finally have a way to get my stuff printed and have it communicate the way the scene captured my imagination. Look at me…I’m gettin’ all misty <sniff> q: I wish you guys could see these things in person ’cause there’s just no way to relay the visual impact and how they command your attention. Maybe we can get something put together for Photoshop World…hmmm. Wow, okay I’m going on a bit too much here, but go check them out, you will not be disappointed if you do: Mpix.com.
In other news, my Chief, Scott Kelby, and his best-bud Terry White from Adobe Systems Inc., are almost done updating their most-recent co-authoring endeavor: The iPhone Book. To celebrate they started a photo contest! Check out that link and read how you could win a $500 Apple store gift card or many other prizes—there are lots of chances to win. While we’re talkin’ about Scott and Terry, you gotta check out their blogs. Scott’s “Photoshop Insider” blog will keep you in the loop on what’s going on worldwide in Photoshop and photography. And Terry White’s Tech Blog will keep you in the loop on all the latest technology—I visit his blog at least once a week to salivate over the latest and greatest in movie tech (and to snoop around for what’s going on at Adobe ’cause he’s really high on the food chain over there).
And finally—last but certainly not least—I just received my registration confirmation for the Adobe MAX Conference taking placing in San Francisco November 16–19. My buddy Chris Main, Managing Editor for Layers magazine (our sister publication…but don’t say that to Chris ’cause he gets miffed lol), and I are heading out to San Fran to get some killer CS4 training—plus we’ll get sneak peeks and the future of Adobe technologies while rubbing elbows with a unique cross-section of some of the brightest creative minds in various industries. As I’m sure you’re aware, I’m all about Photoshop, but the next victim on the stuff-I-need-to-learn-before-I-kick-the-bucket list is Flash. I’ve been studying ActionScript 3.0 here and there—watching quite a few of Lee Brimlow’s tutorials at www.gotoandlearn.com—while waiting for Flash CS4, which received some serious attention this upgrade cycle. So I’m gonna check out those classes and others on integrating Photoshop CS4 with Illustrator CS4 (admittedly, I’m a bit weirded out by Illustrator—not much patience for paths—so it’s time for me to get over it and learn more about that little vector-based freak lol).
Okay! That’s it folks, have an outstanding week! (:
Tags: Behind the Scenes at Photoshop User magazine, Chris Main, HDR, iPhone, Kelby Media Group, Layers magazine, Mpix 2.0, NAPP, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Photography, Photoshop, Photoshop User magazine, Scott Kelby, Terry White
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