Don't Have A Mentor Yet? They May Be Closer Than You Think

As we have followed the exploits of our fearless NoBS leaders, Rob and James, on their Alaskan Odyssey in the past 3 weeks, their absence has given the humble NoBS minions an opportunity to reflect on the importance of having a photography mentor.

Regardless of the stage of your journey, whether it be that of a complete newbie or a seasoned pro, it's difficult to get around the need to have a source of inspiration and education. If logic does not fail us at this moment, this is why most, if not all, of us are members of the NoBS Photo Success forum. We're looking for that little nugget of inspiration (and perhaps a free tutorial or download) to keep us on the path to success.

Is NoBS the only place to learn and find a mentor? Obviously, not. If you're a children's photographer, perhaps Sandy Puc' is your hero. If classical portraiture is your thing, then you've not doubt heard of the late, great Monte Zucker. The point is, if you look hard enough, you will find your source of inspiration. On NoBS, which is loaded with extremely talented photographers, you may have already found just that person. If there is a particular person you turn to most for inspiration, then reach out more and pick their brain for guidance.

Perhaps you don't feel you need a mentor? It wouldn't be unheard of to feel that way if you are a creative wunderkind. But, for the average person, sometimes it's easy to get caught up in a safe and comfortable routine and before you know it, you're in a creative and technical rut. Stretching your wings and trying something outside of your comfort zone can lead to perhaps amazing results. You never know unless you look and you try.

Niagara School Of Imaging August 2008

Looking to stretch your wings and get a creative resuscitation? Consider attending Rob and James' annual week-long seminar next month at the Niagara School of Imaging.

This five-day workshop will focus mostly on posing, lighting and creating high impact images that sell. Without a good product, your business, and your ability to close sales for profit will suffer. Learn how to create outstanding wedding images, baby portraits, children's portraits, families, head shots, glamour, and even some commercial images for which clients are eager to hand over their hard-earned cash.

To see details on this exciting seminar, click here .

Photoshop Case Study: Salvaging Overexposed Images

NoBS member Sharon recently turned to her NoBS colleagues for some assistance salvaging overexposed beach images. Photoshop guru, Bill Guy, came to the rescue with some simple steps to improve her images.

"So you know and have been told here you over exposed the images but in looking at some of them you also have a second problem. Some of the faces were in the shade and not over exposed so if you do a general exposure correction you will be running into problems trying to balance the images. There are some work arounds for this too.

First lets go over what can be done for the general images. Open CS 3 and Bridge. Select all the RAW images that in the sun that were over exposed. Double click and this will open the ACR with all the images in a slide form on the Left. At the top will be a Select All button (Click on this) and then the Synchronize button will show up and click on this too. (A new little menu will pop up asking just which functions you want. Just click ok)

Ok, now you are ready for the corrections. Starting at the top of the develop menu you can set the White Balance or just leave it alone for now. Moving down to exposure you can pull back on this slider to left for a darker image. 7 times out of 10 this may be enough. However if your whites were blown out even this will not recover pixels that weren't there but it can help. The Recovery slider works best if you had under exposed, bumped up the exposure to lighten it then using Recovery bring back some of the highlights that were lost.

One thing you will notice is as you are doing this all the images you selected are being adjusted at the same time. A big time saver.

When you get them down to a more acceptable level then go back up to the White Balance and make your adjustments. For me beach images always look better with a little warmth to them.

Get all of this done then save the work you have done with the button on the lower right side called Save.

At this point you can click on individual images on the left and do even more tweeting of them. When you are done you can save the whole group by clicking Done or have them open in Photoshop and save them as a PSD image and open them in CS 2."

To read more and see the images, go to this link .

NoBS Member Receives Honorable Mention

As if there were any question as to whether NoBS produces top notch photographers, longtime member Julie Lowry (aka calgal) put that to rest. Julie was honored this month with an honorable mention in the July issue of Rangefinder Magazine for her entry in the Nikon Cover Photo contest. To see the article and her image, go to this link .

How Well Do You Know Netiquette?

Miscommunication and misunderstandings will always exist on large forums, including here at NoBS. In the spirit of promoting clear communication and keeping the peace, we bring you this list of 10 netiquette rules as seen and explained in depth on Netiquette .

Rule 1: Remember the Human

Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life

Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace

Rule 4: Respect other people's time and bandwidth

Rule 5: Make yourself look good online

Rule 6: Share expert knowledge

Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control

Rule 8: Respect other people's privacy

Rule 9: Don't abuse your power

Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people's mistakes

Update On NoBS Member Ricky

As some of you may recall, NoBS member Ricky, was a victim of crime last month when armed bandits raided his home, kidnapped and beat him and his family, and stole practically all of his equipment. Well, Ricky recently posted an update on his situation and here's what he had to say:

"Hi guys! so far i bought 4 receivers and a transmiter from Alienbees, not enough to get PW again, my uncle got me a 10D body which will be my new cam, an aunt bought me the 24-70, planning on getting 4 bees 800, a pair of 22" softboxes and a big softbox like the octodome i had the 48", also i bought the light meter again the same one, L358, love it, so still getting the money for the lights and softboxes, i got a power pack too the vagabond II, and a lightsphere, on camera flash was under my bed hahahaha, so as far as starting again i would say about 2 months to possibly get on the track again, so i guess it good news,

Hugs and love for all of ya!!!!

Ricky"

Keep up the good work, Ricky, and thanks from all NoBS members for being a constant source of inspiration even when things get rough.