NoBs Digital Dogbowl
The NoBs Digital Dogbowl Newsletter:
Keeping you up to date and informed on the latest, coolest, and outrageous happenings inside the world of NoBS Photo Success.
Loaded with Free photography tips, Photoshop tutorials, photo reviews,
and other totally relevant essentials. Be sure to check out the whole thing!
Hungry for more? Visit our digital photography forum.
November 2009 Digital Dogbowl
2009 Inferno A Success
There were no tears shed this year, but don't let that fool you into thinking that the 2009 Inferno was not a wild success. There were surprise guests and NoBSers were treated to presentations and demonstrations from some of the industry's finest (Steve Harrington, Mama Shan, and Sandy Puc to name a few). At times, it was more like a family reunion than a three-day seminar.
And just so you don't feel left out if you weren't able to make it this year, Rob has begun posting videos taken at the Inferno. They aren't all there yet, but don't fret as he is rendering them out and will post them as they become available. You can find them at this NoBS link. (Maybe you were there but wanted a refresher on some of the topics covered. Well, this is your chance to relive it.)
Here is a special message from Rob to all who attended. To see it, go here.
Member Spotlight: Jaco Fourie
His work exudes a romanticism and an emotion which have been compared to Jerry Ghionis and Yervant, two photographers who have greatly influenced his style. He is NoBS' very own Jaco Fourie and he is a shooting star in the wedding photography industry.
The latest in accolades for Jaco include an interview by Crash Taylor, himself a well-known photographer, and a recent invitation to an exclusive group, Best of Wedding Photography.
If you're wondering how long it took Jaco to reach this high level of excellence, take a seat. He has gone from a novice to a world-class professional photographer in a staggering five years, all the while continuing to work full time in the IT field and designing and producing coffee table books for other photographers.
Workshop!
The wait is over! Jaco is doing a workshop in the USA next May. It is going to be a four day event on the island of Orcas which is near Seattle. Check out this eleven page PDF with all of the juicy details: Workshop Details
To see Jaco's work, visit his website: www.jdphotography.co.za
To read Crash's interview with Jaco, click here.
Webinar Madness Picks Up Where It Left Off
December will bring some new webinars your way. On December 3rd, Kris Gay will be presenting her tips and tricks for using Lightroom. To sign up for this webinar, click here.
On December 7, Rob Provencher will discuss his Baby's First Year Wall Panel. To sign up for Rob's webinar, click here.
Rock Star Day
Rob Provencher has been successfully running Fairy Day mini-sessions for quite a few years now, but he has been looking for a theme that would be just right for boys. Well, he may have struck gold with his new Rock Star Day program. To see his setup, sample images, and pricing, click here.
Fairy Day at Westmount Studo
Rob recently shared some video from his successful Fairy Day campaign. He also shared a video that clients get to view once their child's session is complete. To see the his video and more details on how he runs Fairy Day, go to this link.
Photoshop: Clipping Masks by Bill Guy
Clipping masks are layer masks that hide part of the image. Much like a window where you have frame in a background and the image is behind this frame.
There are a couple of ways of doing this. One is to create the frame on the background, save the selection, then go to the image that you are going to place there. Copy the image and when back at the image you are going to place this image in that frame have the selection active. Go to Edit>Paste Into to put the copied image behind the selection. The image will come in on it's own layer that you can move and resize to taste.
Another way to do this is to have your background image with blacked out frames already on it. I suggest make a new one for each image on it's own layer. Then bring in the image you want to place there as a copy layer above the blacked out frame. Link the image to layer with the blacked out box by holding down the Alt or Option key and clicking on the line between the layers. This will slightly move the image to the right linking it to black frame. You can move the image layer to fit.
If you have CS 2,3,or 4 you can use Smart Objects for the images. Go to File>Place, find the file that you want to put there, and click. The image will come in with handles for resizing and you can place it anywhere. With CS 3 and 4 you can add any effects like a frame or filters. To replace this Smart Object image you just right click to find a new image and it will come with all the effects still in place. As a Smart Object you can double click on the thumbnail to go to the original image if you want to do anything to it even after it is in place. Save the image after you work on it and it is automatically updated on your other image.
Sandy Puc Announces 2010 Tour
Sandy Puc recently announced her 2010 Family Tour. Sandy is visiting 52 cities in the U.S. and Canada beginning January 2, 2010 teaching the best methods of family portraiture, the latest trends in marketing, timesaving tips, advice on tools of the trade, and much more. For more details click HERE
Upselling To Seniors With Composites
Among what Steve and Shelley Harrington discussed during Inferno that was working for them in their senior sessions was upselling with large composite images. They promised to discuss this in more detail on the forum and voila came through for NoBS members. To see a sample of the composite image and how it has worked for them, go to this link.
Rob Provencher's studio. Ever wonder what it would be like to spend a day in Rob's studio? Now's your chance to unravel the mystery. This is a very large download so be prepared to wait a bit longer than normal to view it. Click here.
Design house creator Andy Armstrong recently created an action especially for use by NILMDTS (Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep) photographers. "Design House is proud to help the wonderful volunteer photographers of the NILMDTS foundation with a simple, easy-to-use post-processing action." To get this action and more information, click on this dh link.
James recently posted this video demonstrating how he set up an environmental shot focusing on instrumentation. Here's the link.
Next On The Agenda...
James and Rob will be doing a cross country NoBS road show in Canada April 5-12, 2010 and they are most likely hosting another Inferno in Chicago April 19-21, 2010. Stay tuned for details!
Here's the latest monthly success interview brought to us by Rob Provencher. This interview is with fine art photographer Alain Briot who has discovered the secrets to creating real profits. His principles apply to portrait and wedding photographers so you won't want to miss this interview. There is also a bonus link for NoBS members to get $200 off his DVD. To hear the interview and get the discount link, click here .
If you want to create an effective ad campaign that will draw in business for your studio during critical periods (slow season) but are not sure where to start, look no further than Rob Provencher's recent fall ads.
Here's a webinar that Rob was asked to host by Kerry Allen of Photography Schoolhouse. Rob interviewed Shel Holtz, who is a social media GURU of the highest order and speaks to many fortune 500 companies. Kerry graciously allowed Rob to post the video here on NoBS. To see it, follow this link.
SCAW Fundraiser Coming Up
James will soon be announcing the annual NoBS drive to collect funds to purchase bedkits for Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW). Stay tuned for details on the forum!
Get a head start on Christmas and make your donation here.
Mike Long and Andy Armstrong are once again teaming up to present their intensive two-day photography and photoshop workshop. This time it will take them to Canada where they will be presenting two workshops. One will be hosted by none other than Alison Berk of Imagin Studio and the other by Tina Weltz of Calla Studio. To see more details, go here.