Photoshop Saves The Day!
This weeks winner of the How Photoshop CS4 Saved The Day contest is by Martha DiMeo – Digital Imaging Specialist & Color Director at Melody The Artist Home. Check out her story below:

“From a selection of a couple hundred photos, the one image that was grossly under-exposed was the one the Art Director chose for the Fall/Winter cover of Wedding Style magazine. In the old days of film, it would have been a lost cause. In addition, I would have been faced with the task of breaking the news to the Art Director that it could not be used. (You know what happens to the messenger.) Fortunately, today Photoshop makes most things possible.

Through a combination of corrections done at the RAW conversion stage and layer adjustments with masks, a photograph was created that met the technical requirements of print reproduction and the artistic vision of the Art Director and Publisher.

Want to hear how it all turned out? make sure you visit Martha Di Meos’ Site page

FJ Westcott Strobelite Offering Killer Deals
If you know me, you know I LOVE playing with lights for Photography. Now.. around these parts there are a TON of different choices when it comes to lights. I’m sure that there are tons of people that can sit and argue for ages the merits of one light versus another.. but when it comes down to it’s most basic, light is light. Sometimes, the cheaper I can find it, the better!

To that end, I was pumped to see that FJ Westcott just announced a huge discount on their Strobelite series of lights. You have three systems to choose from, and the heads go from the 150ws regular models to the 400ws Plus models. There’s a bunch of free stuff that you get with the kits, and if it were me, i’d want all of the add ons PLUS some big Octabanks.. but thats just a candy store there.

I’m going to check these out a little bit further and as I get more familiar with them, i’ll share some shots and setups with you guys. I know i’m a die hard fan of their TD5 light kits, so with FJ Westcott as a name you cant really go wrong there. Make sure you head to their site and check out the specs.

Contest Time
Go to the Contact page, select the Layers Blog drop-down, then fill in your name, email address and answer to this week’s following question. For this one, the contest will end this Sunday 5PM,. and the winner will be announced Monday morning.

The Contest Question:I’ve got an idea – Let’s use FJ Westcott as a target for a 2 part question! Go over to their website, and click on their sale for the Strobelites. Tell me the difference between the three kits, and which you would rather get?

Part 2: What was the last tutorial that I did on the Layers website?

The Prize:
I’m going to give you a choice here. You can either get a copy of
The CS4 Designer/Photographer Pack by Kelby Training and a subscription to Layers Magazine and Photoshop User Magazine.

Or

A Ticket to Photoshop World!.

Good luck.. .happy hunting!