If you heard a persistent buzz coming from Las Vegas last week, it was the excitement in the Photoshop World Tech Expo. I’ve never seen a more energetic expo hall. Virtually every vendor offered non-stop presentations. In the past, you’d walk up to a counter, grab the latest catalog and move on. Now, you use your elbows to find a seat.

The breadth of topics presented in the Tech Expo rivaled the Photoshop World curriculum. When I closed my eyes, the number of voices booming from all directions was surreal. In my opinion, the Tech Expo took Photoshop World to a whole new level. [Tip for locals, if you can't afford a ticket to Photoshop World, definitely attend the Tech Expo.] Here’s a peek at a few of the Expo highlights.

Peter Reed Miller, legendary Sports Illustrated photographer, gave daily presentations in the Microsoft Expo Theater. I was fascinated with his stories from the Beijing Olympics. [Read more →]

Adobe has announced that they will announce the newest generation of their Creative Suite software on September 23rd. If you’d like to be the first on your block to watch the Adobe CS4 webcast, click here to sign up.

JP Caponigro attended the recent Photoshop World keynote and provides a sneak preview about the future of Photoshop CS4 here.

The dates for the upcoming 2008/09 tour of the Epson Print Academy are now online. The 16-city tour starts in Atlanta on November 8. No specifics about pricing or curriculum have been released. Click here for the event calendar. I expect that more details will be released by the end of the month.

The last tour, held in 2006, offered two tracks at each venue –- one for amateurs and one for professionals. I attended the pro track in San Francisco and met Bruce Fraser, JP Caponigro, Greg Gorman, Jeff Schewe and Mac Holbert. I expect that the instructors on the new tour will be equally stellar.

I always look forward to the Epson Print Academy as a way to catch up the latest techniques. Even though I drive my Epson 3800 with a high-degree of confidence, I’m looking forward to attending the pro track in San Francisco next February. With the recent release of Lightroom 2 and the upcoming announcement of Photoshop CS4, I highly recommend the event regardless of your printer make and skill level.

Paso Robles, California | September 1, 2008
For Immediate Release

Syl Arena officially pulled the covers off his newest project - a workshop program that will offer courses in and around Paso Robles on photography, food and wine. “Thanks to the national attention that our wineries have earned, Paso Robles has become a popular destination for wine enthusiasts. Likewise, we have so many amazing restaurants and charming places to stay.” Syl said. “It’s only natural that there’s a growing interest in educational-tourism on the central coast.”

The Paso Robles Workshops will begin offering programs in early 2009. Classes will range from 1-day excursions to week-long intensives. Topics will run the gamut and appeal to all skill levels - from complete novice to working professionals…

Click here to read the complete announcement.

I’m a big advocate of shooting tethered into Lightroom. Great synergies result when I send images from my DSLR straight into Lightroom.  Even on location shoots, I’ll tie my camera into my laptop. Here’s a run down of the benefits of tethered shooting - for both photographers and their clients. [Read more →]

So you’re heading to Vegas for your first Photoshop World. Don’t quite know what to expect? Here are 10 tips to help you make the most of your first Photoshop World.

1. Rest up before you go - Seriously. Even if PW was held in El Paso rather than Las Vegas, you wouldn’t get much sleep. PW crams an amazing number of classes and fun events into a handful of days. (The schedule is here.) On Friday, for example, classes start at 8:15am and run into the early evening. Then, from 7:15-9:15pm, consider the panel discussion ‘The Art of Digital Photography‘ to be a can’t-miss session. And… if you’re really a night owl, get one of the coveted 200 tickets to Midnight Madness, which follows the panel discussion. [Read more →]

I have just merged one of my other blogs, Photo-Resources, into PixSylated. The original thought behind Photo-Resources was that it would be short posts on events and resources for photographers. As the lines between what should be on PixSylated and what should be on Photo-Resources have grown very blurry of late, I’ve merged all of the posts and comments into PixSylated. If you never visited Photo-Resources, you might want to cruise PixSylated’s expanded list of posts to see what’s been added. Onward!

SEO for photographers is critical to the success of a portfolio website. For almost a year, I’ve listened to what Rob Haggart at A Photo Editor says. He’s brutally honest, highly opinionated and knows a hell of a lot more about the editorial photo biz than I ever will. Rob recently launched A Photo Folio so that photographers can have websites that photo editors won’t hate. If I were looking to launch an online portfolio today, A Photo Folio would be the place I’d start.

For several years, however, I’ve been a relatively happy client of SiteWelder. So, when Rob did this blog post about how his Photo Folio site is tweaked to keep photo editors happy, I compared it to what I had going on my site.

Here’s how I hacked two of Rob’s great ideas into my SiteWelder site. The common theme to all of this is “Photo editors work at warp speed in an environment that constantly distracts them from your portfolio. A PE will give your site a handful of seconds. Don’t waste it.” [Read more →]

This is the 3rd (and last!) installment in the PixSylated series on Learning Food Photography. You’ll find several web videos of food shoots, blogs on food & food photography, links to the sites of food shooters and stylists, sources for supplies… and more. [I say "last!" only because these three posts have grown to epic proportions and it's time I move on to completing other PixSylated projects.]

In case you missed the previous posts, here’s a summary. In Part 1, I reviewed a long list of books on food photography and styling. In Part 2, I surveyed workshops, conferences, and trade associations for food photographers and culinary professionals. [Read more →]

It’s no secret that getting your flash off the top of your camera is the quickest way to improve your photography. Flash Zebra is a great, little (as in one-man-band) company that sells a wide range of solutions for getting some distance between your camera and your flash.

I originally found Flash Zebra when I was looking for a way to tie a Elinchrom Skyport (which I love) to my legion of Canon 580Ex strobes. Fortunately for me the $19 wired hot shoe on Flash Zebra was a heck of a lot cheaper that upgrading to the Canon 580EX II. If you’re a fan of Pocket Wizards, you’ll find that Flash Zebra can tie your PW to virtually any device. They also sell the handy PW caddy and many other cool items.

Beyond a great range of solutions, you’ll find that Flash Zebra has great prices. At first, I was put off by the difference in prices between Flash Zebra and larger sites. My first order put my concerns at ease. My items were shipped immediately. Upon arrival I found their quality to be top notch. Through several orders, I’m now able to tie my Skyports to everything from speedlights to monolights to studio packs.