Available Soon: Adobe Digital Imaging How-Tos

Tagged with: , , , , , ,
Jul 302010

Adobe Digital Imaging How-Tos

Apologies for the prolonged absence from the web-o-sphere; this week I put the finishing touches on a new book (Peachpit, Adobe Press), called Adobe Digital Imaging How-Tos. It’s been quite a challenge but with the help of some talented editors and layout professionals, we made it!

Over the last three months I’ve been working hard to get nearly 300 pages worth of professional tips for Photoshop CS5, Lightroom 3 and ACR 6.1 into published format, as well as taking time to get nearly 7 hours worth of  video tutorials published. Needless to say the web site took a back seat for a while. :)  The  book will be out in August, just in time for the new school year, and I hope you will agree that it’s packed with a lot of good information, tips and shortcuts for getting the most out of your digital photos and imaging workflows.

Features like the new Noise Reduction controls, Lens Corrections, and (Film) Grain effect are covered as part of the raw side of the workflow. Once your’ve massaged your raw data and are ready for more retouching, you can jump into 50 tips on Photoshop CS5, including: Content-Aware Scale, Content-Aware Fill, Merge to HDR Pro, improved PhotoMerge, Puppet Warp and many more!

Check back in the weeks ahead for updates on more Adobe titles and free tips! I will be uploading free tutorials to my Vimeo account, as well as posting some free content that is part of the book, on Peachpit.com. Details will be forthcoming once those URLs are available. You can follow my daily updates for software and important tech happenings (as well as news beyond our mortal computers and software!) @Colortrails.

New Adobe Tutorials from macProVideo Available!

Tagged with: , , , , ,
Jul 192010

It’s been a busy spring and summer! Since March, I’ve been working to produce a new series of  Adobe tutorials for macProVideo.com; two have been released so far, with a third title right around the corner! If you haven’t worked with macProVideo before, I recommend you head over there and take a quick look. Every tutorial has free sample videos so you can experience their powerful streaming and subscription system, as well as the ability to view tutorials on any device, including iPhone and iPad! There are some seriously talented trainers there, including authors of Apple’s famous courseware, Emmy winning audio professionals and more. It’s a great group of people, who are dedicated to bringing you some excellent training titles at a very reasonable price.

A few words about my new Adobe video tutorials:

Photoshop CS5: Image Retouching & Adjustment provides 4 hours of detailed techniques for getting the most from Photoshop CS5′s image adjustments and new photo editing features. Content-Aware tools, key image adjustments, retouching tips, creative effects… if it’s a core part of the Photoshop photo editing workflow, it’s in there!

Just released, Core Lightroom 3 training provides nearly 3 hours of focused instruction on the latest advancements, including core raw editing techniques. Learn how to get organized quickly and start making precise raw edits with the Tone Curve, HSL, Lens Corrections and more. Even get some pointers on working with Slideshows, Contact Sheets, and more!

Finally, Mastering Adobe Camera Raw 6 is right around the corner, providing 2 hours of detailed tips for getting the most out of your raw edits with this popular Photoshop “plugin”. As the summer continues we’ll be bringing you more announcements for great Adobe tutorials as well as other titles, so I hope you’ll keep an eye out! -Dan (@Colortrails)

"Full-time" FX and Video Production lessons... online.

Tagged with: , , ,
Nov 102009

For those who are lucky enough to have found a career in the creative arts, it’s often difficult to find the time to expand our educational horizons. “Going back to school” or taking evening courses at the local arts college, even when affordable, can be very time consuming or downright inconvenient. However, those looking for a full-time learning experience in the world of motion graphics and video production, there is a fantastic (and very affordable) alternative to college enrollment.

FXPHD is a one-of-a-kind “online school” that has a rotating schedule of classes focused on all the latest video technologies from Apple, Adobe, Autodesk and Maxon, as well as traditional cinematography topics like filming and direction. Rather than just teaching software functions, FXPHD instructors -many of whom work on feature films, TV shows and other Hollywood productions- focus on real problem solving workflows used in the industry. Each 10 week term offers a new “catalog” of courses that you can sign up for. The cost is under $400 for the standard setup, which gets you their Background Fundamentals course plus three electives that you choose, based on the types of workflows and software you want to learn.

Each week you download a new video and set of working materials from your “class schedule” page, which allows you to work on the lessons when you have time, and to follow along creating things as you go. This is a pretty time-intensive approach compared to traditional video tutorial products, however it’s much preferable to spending the time and money on even a part-time college  course load IMHO. Once you’re 10 week session is up you can keep all the video lessons, and then have a look at the new courses being offered for the next 10 weeks. While a few popular courses are given every term, most are different each term so that you can branch out and learn new software and workflows as you develop your skills. For those with a little more time on their hands (that means you, part-time undergrads!) For Cinema 4D training Tim Clapham handles all of the courses there  (last I checked); that alone should give you an idea of the quality. I definitely recommend you check it out.

Unless otherwise noted all content ©Dan Moughamian Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha