Perez Studios

I came across an article today when I was getting caught up on some RSS feeds and one that got my attention was from the Digital Photography School.  It mentions the fact that today, photographers cant just be photographers.  They have to master so many different areas in order to stay in the game and keep up with the rest of the competition.  I, myself try to keep up with things and it seems to overwhelm me with my full-time job and my part-time life. 

I thought this article was a great read and I recommend you all read it as well.

Here is the link to the article.

Thanks for reading!

Semper Fidelis,

Manuel Perez

Adobe released Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 recently and I must say I was looking forward to some of the improvements in the new version.  Some of the new features are:

• Superior noise reduction
• Accelerated performance
• Lens correction
• Support for DSLR video files
• Flickr integration
• Image watermarking
• Easy-to-share slide show videos with music
• Easy image importing
• Tethered shooting
• Perspective correction
• Film grain simulation
• More flexible print packages

To see an introduction video on how to use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 you can watch it on Adobe TV.

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Manuel Perez

Well, after all the reinstalls after reinstalls, I decided to go with Windows Vista Ultimate 32.  I tried running Vista Ultimate 64 but a lot of my programs didn’t like the 64bit environment.  I then tried going to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 and the same thing.  I then went down to Windows XP 64 and the same thing.  I thought this is great!  I have 8GB of RAM and wont be able to use it all because I am going to have to go to Windows Vista Ultimate 32.  So I took out 2 sticks of 2GB, bringing me down to 4GB and after installing iTunes and importing all my music the system kept crashing.  So I thought I should put the memory back in and see how it runs.  It ran a lot smoother after the whole 8GB of RAM was in there. 

I then began installing all of my programs again.  I am about 75% complete with installing all my programs.  I just finished the big Adobe programs and will begin the little ones later on tonight.  I am going to take my computer in to get it readjusted with the memory changes so that I can take out the 4GB and get it over clocked just a bit more.  I was burning a CD for my wife yesterday and I must say the thing flies.  I started playing the first song on the list of songs on the CD and before it finished playing the song it was finished burning the entire disc. 

The system is running on an Intel Core 2 6700 CPU @2.66GHz over clocked at 3.20GHz.  The 8GB of RAM is fast.  I am waiting to come up with some money to buy an add in card for the RAID.  I plan on running a RAID 5 with the (4) Seagate 1.5TB 7200.11 Drives.  The motherboard supports 6 SATA devices but Vista doesn’t support RAID in the OS. 

I would love to hear back from everyone to see what they think or if they have any advice on this computer technology subject.

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 didn’t 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 isn’t 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…

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.