We sure appreciate all of you, and we’re always so happy to be able to bring you the best tutorials and reviews of the Adobe Creative Suite. Above is a shot that I did over the holidays when I was looking to capture a cool Daughter/Santa moment in a Norman Rockwell type fashion. If you’re interested, There’s a little bit more info over on my Google Plus page.

(click on the image to see it larger or visit 500px.com for a larger image

Again, thanks for everything.. we’ll definitely see you guys soon!

RC

Here at Layers Magazine I’ve spent some time playing with this app on the beta team, and the app certainly shows a lot of promise in this consumer space. The concept is pretty simple. With the Carousel app, you upload your images onto their cloud based storage. Adobe Carousel gives you options between a monthly and annual subscription – as well as a 30 day trial subscription. With this subscription, you have the ability to upload an unlimited number of JPGs to your Carousel.

Imagine setting up a family carousel of images. Once you have it set, you can allow up to 5 additional people access to this carousel, and others can upload and edit these images – providing great collaboration tools. You can provide adjustments to the images as well as crop and rotate – so you even have a good editor, right on your mobile device.

Here’s a great thing about it. So the Carousel service allows you unlimited JPG uploads – but your iOS device isnt limited. If you own a 32GB iPad, theres only so much space you have on your iPad to dedicate to images. Because these uploads are in the cloud, only the images that you are looking at and editing are available to you. The images you have stored on the cloud are available to you on demand, freeing the space that you have on your iOS or desktop device – a boon to consumers that take a lot of pictures.

Make sure you click on the links above to take a look at the app in more depth, and to sign up for a free 30 day trial. One of our contributors here at Kelby Media Group, Rob Sylvan (who is also the author of Lightroom 2 for Dummies) has a walkthrough of the Carousel app for you guys to check out. Click on the link below to get you started:

Rob Sylvan – A Lightroom Carousel Walkthrough

Make sure that you guys Follow me on Google Plus or on Twitter and let me know how you do with it!

NAPP

NAPP is an organization dedicated to teaching people how to improve their use of Photoshop. Membership includes 10 issues of PhotoshopUser Magazine, access to hundreds of discounts, and access to the members-only website, with thousands of tutorials and product reviews, updated with new content every week. Here are a couple examples of tutorials at PhotoshopUser.com:

This video tutorial teaches how build creative background graphics (click on image):

Photographers don’t have to wait for the magic hour to take photos. This written tutorial shows them how to add magic light in Photoshop (click on image):

For more information about the benefits of membership in NAPP, visit this page:

Planet Photoshop

Corey Barker is world-class Photoshop artist and instructor who writes a blog at PlanetPhotoshop.com. Corey posts weekly tutorials which focus on graphic design techniques. Corey also teaches the 3D tools found in the most recent versions of Photoshop. Check out these tutorials at PlanetPhotoshop.com

In this video find out how to create this graphic in Photoshop using text layers, clipping masks (click on image):

Create exploding brushes of fire starting with a simple image of clouds (click on image):

Don’t believe me? Take a look at the video below!

Tell us what you think?

Trial Download of Premiere CS5.5 here

Check out our Premiere Pro Tutorials

About The Book
I really wanted to cast a wide net into the stylings of HDR, and really focus on the post processing of the images once they are done. If you use Photomatix, Photoshop CS5, or Nik Software’s HDR Efex Pro (which is what I prefer), you can see screenshots of presets, and follow along from start to finish.

(Like this shot? There’s one like it in the book for you to play with (Click on the image to see it bigger at Flickr or Click here to see it at the 500px Site)

Another thing I did.. I included 13 projects – and you get ALL of the RAW files for you to use.. as you wish..

Want to know more about the book? Check out this page I wrote about it.

Where Can You Order My Book

Click Here to Order The HDR Book from Amazon.com
Click Here to Order The HDR Book from Barnes and Noble

Signed Book
Now, If you order the book from Kelby Training – these will be the books that I will have access to signing on the get go. So, if you’re looking for an autographed copy, click on the link below to get them:

Click here to get an autographed copy of The HDR Book from Kelby Training

If you or someone you know is into (or considering) getting into the world of HDR, I would totally appreciate you giving the book a look over..

My Interview with Nik Radio
Not too long ago, I did an interview with Scott Sheppard and the folks over at NIk Software. I had such a blast chatting about with Scott on all sorts of things – from Photography to HDR, Software, Post Production – you name it!! We even got into a couple of cautionary tales on why you should absolutely back up your images.

Click on this link to check out the Nik Radio interviews. Mine should be at the top of the list for this week. a Special thanks to Scott Sheppard for chatting it up with me on all things Photoshop and Photography.

My New Book Is Here!

Hey everyone, RC here with some awesome news! Over the last few months I have been working on a book for Photographers who want to get themselves on the web, but don’t really want to code. This book is now available, and it’s called “Get Your Photography On The Web”

Why This Book?

I spend a lot of time playing around with sites on the internet, and one of the things that makes me really excited is the fact that nowadays, anyone can get themselves online with very little money. Averaging about 7 dollars a month, you can setup a decent presence where you can show your Photography and even do a little bit of selling of your images. As I talked to Photographers, one of the biggest hesitations that they had was the actual building of the site. As a whole, those who don’t code really don’t want to get into the world of coding, but they don’t want to be held ransom to the prices of super expensive design firms, or companies that make it really hard to get you online.

I set out to write a book that did not focus on learning any code – lord knows there are tons of books out there that can help you with that. By taking a start-to-finish approach, I would able to make a manual that any photographer of any skill level can pick it up and say “OK, i will start here.. and at the end of the book, I will have a site that I can manage on my own.”  The images in the book are mine, so it doubles as a showcase of my work too!

Along The Way

In between the process, I included interviews with people who may encounter during the process of getting yourself online. You can read about what motivates Scott Kelby, David Hobby, or Joe McNally to blog for an internet presence. You can get some tips and things to think about from Jacob Cass – an amazing graphic designer and tour de force on the internet. You can even meet people like Diablo Tibi – a Flash Developer from Romania who makes amazing sites, that you can purchase for next to nothing. You can look like a flash pro, and not crack a programming book.

You can listen to a quick audio review from John Nemo on Pixiq here as well!

I’m really proud and really excited to be able to share this book with all of you. Please click on the links below to get a copy. Additionaly, you can order the book from Kelby Training, and I’d be more than happy to sign it for you.

So there you have it – if you’re a photographer (or a graphic designer, or visual artist) that’s just itching to make your own internet home, without having to go back to school, “Get Your Photography On the Web” should be able to help you with that. I hope you like it!

RC

Purchase RCs book from Amazon.com
Purchase RCs book from Barnes and Noble
Purchase RCs book from Kelby Training

Another thing that came up was the use of plugins, and the choices that we prefer. One of the plugins that will have to be pried from my cold fingers happens to be from onOne Software. They take a lot of the pain of doing your work in Photography, and lets you focus on more important things. Like shooting! Well, onOne has gone out and put together a new software bundle Now, called the Perfect Photo Suite- taking their software to the next level. To me, there are a couple of big changes.

First, most of the onOne products will now work as standalone applications. This lets you work on the images you want, with the software of your choice.. a big plus!

The big one for me? Perfect Layers. In short, one of the things that was missing for me in Lightroom is the ability to have Layers. To be able to let me use a plugin inside of Lightroom to have layers was a big thing, and something Scott Kelby had been really keen on suggesting. Thankfully, onOne went out there and just made it happen.

Now, they’ve taken this to the next level. If you click on the links in this post, you’ll be taken to the onOne site, where you can purchase their Perfect Photo Suite for a big discount. They’re taking their software, which can run about 600 bucks and taking 250 bucks off the price. That means that you’ll pay $349.00!! On top of THAT, they’re throwing in a FREE YEAR of NAPP. If you know me, you know how much I love NAPP, and the value it brings. I think everyone should be a member.

So.. deep discount on software.. AND a free year of NAPP – what more could you want! Make sure you click on this link to check it out further!

Tune in from 2:30-3:30 pm EST to learn some hot digital photography tips while getting a one-of-a-kind tour of the B&H store, where you’ll get a look at the hottest lighting, lenses, cameras and printers available today.

Matt Kloskowski shares a pre-processing tip in Photoshop, and Scott Kelby shows you a special studio tip using one light. Then it’s off to Larry Becker highlighting some economical, yet high quality, alternative light stands and tripods.

Plus, you’ll get to ask questions and chat live with Matt and Larry, as well as have the chance to win free B&H gift cards!

Click here for more information .