Perez Studios

While doing some research on the web on Adobe Lightroom, I came across a site from Adobe that is called Adobe TV.  The site actually has videos that show you how to use the Adobe programs.  I was amazed at all the helpful information that they have for viewers and what is even better is that it is all free.  I studied up on Adobe Lightroom and have been playing with the program to familiarize myself with the program.  I was amazed how Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop work hand in hand together to automate photos.  I even learned how catalogs work.  If you want to learn more or share your experience with Adobe TV then please do so.

I have been wondering where do you professional photographers store your photos after so many years?  I have a 1.5TB drive as my Main drive and another 1.5TB drive as my backup which I use Storage Craft’s Shadow Protect to backup but what do the pros use?  I use Adobe Lightroom 2.0 to keep track of all my photos but as I begin to run at about 300GB left on the 1.5TB Main Drive I am wondering should I archive them onto DVD and keep them in a safe or what? 

Anyone with any ideas I would appreciate the help!  

Over the years I have hated the fact that I didnt have the patience to go and touchup people’s faces in Adobe Photoshop.  I gave it up actually and fixed just the major issues with a charge of course.  That was until I came across Portrait Professional which is a very powerful program that allows you to draw the outline or major features of a face and it does all the touching up for you.  If you look at the photo above and look to the left you see a girl with a case of bad acne.  On the right you see the work that Portrait Professional does.  If you are into portraits and need to do a lot of touching up I highly recommend it. 

You can purchase Portrait Professional by going to http://www.portraitprofessional.com/ and paying $69.95 right now.  If you are interested in a free trial they offer that as well.

Hello All!

It has been a while since my last post.  I have been really thinking about my career and the thought of moving out of the photography field for a profession has crossed my mind.  I have thought more about doing landscapes and selling my work that way.  Not sure yet but I just feel like I get more pleasure out of just shooting landscapes.

I feel like there isnt as much pressure like shooting weddings, parties and other events.  I could do without the stress. 

Well, here is a photo that I caught on my way to work.  I was turning on Brannon Ave. and noticed the sun just peaking over some clouds that had been in the area the day before and it looked amazing.  I used Adobe Photoshop to modify the colors and lighting and also adjusted the shadows.

Tell me what you think…

Hello All!

It has been a while since my last update but I have been very busy with a lot on my plate.  I kind of wish my mom had made two of me so that I can get twice the amount of work done. 

Anyways, I have been busy with the Police Activities League Photos and the FAST 2009 Swim Team Pictures.  I just finished ordering the photos yesterday after doing all of the editing.  I am glad it is done.  I still have to prepare the envelopes and packages for the photos but that is easier than the photo editing. 

I have one major project coming up and it is not until next month.  A friend of mine has a brother that will be celebrating their 25th birthday.  I will be videotaping the event.  There is supposed to be food, mariachis and a DJ.  We will see how the event turns out.

I have also been working on a website for a good friend of mine.  They wanted something to be able to post their work on to.  I have a skeleton site up and running after they purchased the domain and hosting plan.  The site is http://maryallenscountrycolors.com.  I invite you all to check it out and let me know what you think. 

I have also been working on some evaluating projects.  I mentioned before about how much I love Adobe Lightroom and I must say it is great but I was also curious as to see if there was a program out there that a photographer can use to take the photograph from the camera and actually keep track of what type of package the person in the photograph is ordering.  Something like a portrait program that a school photographer would use.  I am trying to find an easier way to keep track of the kid in the photograph and what they ordered and when it comes time to order just run a report that tells me what and how many to order.  If anyone has something similar to what I am looking for I would surely appreciate the name and where I can get my hands on it. 

Thanks and stay tuned for future updates.

I was at my local Costco store one day and I was looking at the Magazine rack just before checking out.  I saw some interesting magazines for graphic design artists.  The magazine that I bought was Advanced Photoshop.  It was pretty pricey also.  The cost was about $25.00 for the one issue.  I picked it up and took it home and started looking at the content that was in it.  Very helpful if you are interested and skilled in Adobe Photoshop.  I started doing some more research on the actual publisher that publishes the magazine and noticed that they have a large variety of magazines geared for many different hobbies.   From Photoshop to video games they have it all.  I am not sure if they would hook you up with a discount on the prices if you ordered more than one magazine but the price for the subscription to Advanced Photoshop is £80.00, which calculates to about $122.40 US Dollars.  The magazine comes with some tutorials and even some CD/DVD that has materials on it to recreate the tutorials.  That is still pretty pricey for a magazine but I am not sure how many of you out there actually read this stuff, but I would love to hear back from you. 

If you are interested in picking up a subscription go to http://www.imaginesubs.co.uk/ and signup.  If you are able to get a discount for getting multiple subscriptions I would love to hear how much.  To go to the actual Advanced Photoshop Magazine website click here. 

I recently began using Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom and I must say that I am impressed.  It is a very powerful tool that allows you to import and manage your photo library.  I like the way it will allow you to customize the import options so that you are in control.  It also lets you keep control of your photos’ location by keeping them where they are.  This can be bad because if you move or rename any file or folders then you will have lost the connection from Lightroom and it will delete the file.  I haven’t got too far into the nitty gritty but I am running out of space on my machine and cant have all of my photos on the same drive so I will try to experiment with importing files from CD/DVD and see how that works. 

I do love one feature and that is the ability to write meta data to the photos.  You can add keywords and tags straight from the program or the import.  It all depends on you. 

If anyone hasn’t had a chance to play with Lightroom yet, I highly suggest it.  It might make your photography career move a lot smoother.  If anyone is already using Lightroom and would love to share their feedback on it, then please let us hear about it.

I did a trial of Alien Skin’s software called Bokeh for Adobe Photoshop.  I compared Bokeh and Focal Point from OnOne Software and I believe that Focal Point is just too much easier than Bokeh. 

I thought that Bokeh would be easier because of Alien Skin’s other software products but  I found out I was wrong.  Maybe I need more training on the program but I found its whole navigation and customizing layers and using the effects more difficult compared to the Focal Point’s easy bar that lets you adjust the settings for each effect. 

Bokeh does have one plus probably and that is that it probably doesnt require a specific video card where I had to purchase a new one for OnOne’s Focal Point. 

If anyone has any details to share or experiences about either one of the programs I would love to hear about them. 

Recently, I began a trial on using OnOne’s Plug-In Suite for Adobe Photoshop and I must say that I was very impressed.  It makes things so much easier with all of the built-in effects and snap-ins.  It has the ability to enlarge photos, make photos pop and so much more.

I love the PhotoTools plug-in because of all of the cool stuff that it allows you to do with just the click of a button.  It asks you for some options but it shows you instantly right there what the before photo looked like and what the after will look like. 

I am seriously considering purchasing this program because it gives photographers a lot of power without having to know all of this computer, art and Photoshop tricks.  It takes all of the features and gives them to the ordinary person. 

If you want more information make sure you check out the OnOne Software web site.  If you are using OnOne and want to share your experience with it then please feel free to.  If you are using another plug-in that is similar then share the name of the program and I will do a trial and let others know my opinion on it.  I am trying to compare the OnOne plug-in to Bokeh’s plug-in.  I will keep you all posted.