Adding texture to an image

Objective: Create a painting effect using textures.

Skills taught: Layer mask, Layer blend mode

Video Level : Beginner to Intermediate

For more tips on textures, Click here to visit Stuck In Customs.

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SmugMug Spotlight : Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

The Friends of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge provides environmental education and public outreach. They also help raise funds to support the Wildlife Refuge mission, goals and vision.

About their Program

The purpose of the Loxahatchee Friends is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the natural history and environment of south Florida, the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, and the entire Everglades system.

Arnold Dubin and George Berman

Arnold Dubin is an amateur photographer interested in capturing images of wildlife in their natural environment and sharing them with his friends and people who share the same interest as he does.  The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge provides him a wonderful sanctuary to experience flora and fauna in their natural habitat. He has been using SmugMug to display his photographs online for about one and half years.  He found it to be the best means of displaying his photos and recommends it highly to his friends and other photographers.

George Berman, Webmaster for The Friends of the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge, recently started using SmugMug Pro.  He realizes the benefits and ease of using SmugMug. We are now able to organize our photos, customize the display, and have the viewers be able to search on keywords to find the photographs they are interested in viewing.

How they are going to use SmugMug Pro

The Friends of the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge will be using SmugMug to display photos taken by photographers of the fauna and flora around the Wildlife Refuge,  and to document events and activities.  This will provide people visiting The Friends of the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge website a means to view images of the Refuge.  Their main website is  (www.loxahatcheefriends.com).

Tribute to a Father

When times are tough and disappointments get me down, I can see your shadow next to me reaching out before I touch the ground. As a thank you is about to be said you disappear without a trace, you never look for glory or fame just a simple smile filling my face. You are my source of strength and your words of wisdom inspire, you have given me the gift of Life and a spirit filled with desire. As I  journey through Life thoughts of you are etched in my mind, special moments we have shared will live in me until the end of time. -Robert Louis Vanelli

Fixing a bad photograph

Objective: Using a combination of software and plugins, we will address common issues when we have to edit a really bad photograph.

Skills taught: Cropping, color cast, sharping, cloning, noise reduction and artistic interpretation.

Video Type Available : Novice to Advance-Speed Clinic and Beginner- In-depth (coming soon)

It all starts in the camera

While in Boston, a group of us went on a photo shoot of  the city. I saw a father and daughter standing on the subway holding hands. I quickly took a shot. Sounds simple?  Let’s explore the thought process and technical issues I had to face in a matter of seconds.

I was dealing with poor lighting, a moving platform, lots of people in the way and TIME. I calmly observed the situation and set the camera to ISO 1250, F/2.8  at 1/60 of a second using my 80-200 lens. Well if I were Joe McNally that’s what I would have done. Instead, BEFORE I entered the subway, Sandy Foster suggest I try a great feature found on most Nikon cameras, auto ISO. Now before you judge me, let me finish. On Pro and Pro/Consumer Nikon cameras you are able to dial in when to change the ISO. In my example, I programed the ISO to start at 200. If the shutter falls below 1/60 of a second, then the ISO changes but won’t go any higher than 1600. I kept the camera in Aperture Priority and steady myself against a pole. This feature is amazing. It let’s the photographer focus on composition while still allowing creativity by changing the aperture. A plus or minus EV (exposure value) can also be used.

You are probably wondering why not just keep the camera in the AUTO mode. Although you can, you are now letting the camera make ALL your creative choices for you. As a photographer, it’s always best if we can decide when to make a change to our settings. By using the method I just described, we would have come up with those setting IF we had an abundance of TIME.

This brings me to our tutorial, how to fix a really bad photograph. It’s always best to get the shot right in the camera. Under the difficult situation I was faced with, this was the best I could do. With a few tweeks in Photoshop, Lightroom and the help from a few plugins I was able to save this photograph.

Before the digital age, photographers were making incredible images. Don’t get caught up in the tools I’m using; Lightrrom, Photoshop, ect.., Try to focus on the concepts and work flow I’m demonstrating. Understanding these  concepts will enable us to work faster.

This tutorial will be available as a video and written instructions Monday, April 26, 2010.

SmugMug Spotlight: Niceville High School

This “East Coast” 2010 Photoshop World was held in Orlando Florida this year. I had the great pleasure of running into Shane and Christina Sauer again; along with their group of 26 9-12th grade kids. Yes, you read that right, 26 high school kids at Photoshop World! I met Shane and Christina Sauer at one of the Photoshop Worlds in Boston a few years back. Their dedication and love for kids made an impression on me.  As most know, kids always have a strong place in my heart along with people that unselfishly help them. It gives me great please to present to Niceville High School a year of SmugMug!

About their Program

The Choice program at Niceville High School gives young students the chance to get their feet wet in IT with a graphic design and digital cinema like no other k-12 program. The thing that separates the NHS Choice program is the experienced faculty and the rigorous curriculums. It’s more like a college environment and strives to find instructors from the industry rather than from the education field. Its that real world knowledge that keeps the students on the cutting edge. In addition the ultimate goal is for students to learn a lifelong skill while earning industry-standard certifications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Motion, CEO, Cisco, CIW, and many more.

Shane and Christina Sauer

Shane and Christina Sauer head up the Digital Media & Cinema program. They are a husband and wife team who honed their skills in New York City and decided to settle down in the Emerald Coast. The Sauer’s teach 9-12 grade students, and strive to expose them to things that most kids would never experience. This is the second year the Sauer’s brought students to Photoshop World. Last year, they took 9 students to PSW in Boston and it was such a motivating and enriching experience, they took 26 kids this year to the Orlando 3-day conference. Not only do students get exposed to the best in the industry, taking classes such as Photography, Lighting, Photoshop, and Motion Graphics, they walk away from PSW refreshed and inspired to make a career out of what they love.

Rather than bring the standard parents as chaperons, the Sauer’s decided to bring former students from last years trip. The PSW alumni have the knowledge of how the conference is organized as well as get a chance to take classes and continue learning themselves. They get much more out of the conference than a parent would. Last year one of the many things that learned at PSW was to create amazing panoramas. The 180 degree shot shows the NHS Digital Media Mac lab, and the 360 degree shot shows the adjoining studio where they film, shoot photography, and have equipment checkout. This year they also built a website where students could send live photos from their mobile devices, and friends and family could watch as NHS CHOICE rocked their way through PSW 2010. Niceville thanks the NAPP & ADOBE for making PSW so much fun and can’t wait for next year!

How they are going to use SmugMug Pro

They are planning on using Smug Mug as an online portfolio for students and as a fundraiser. Students could upload their work and share it with one another, friends and family, other teachers, etc….In addition, they could use this as a fundraiser. Parents and family members would be able to purchase the students artwork. They also think this would be useful for students to share work with one another, it would help with brainstorming, feedback, and improve the overall quality of work that’s produced.

The SmugMug connection

Back in January of 2010 I was fortunate enough to be a guest of  Scott Bourne at his workshop in Tampa Florida. His special guest, Trey Ratcliff. When I introduced myself to Trey he just smiled and said, “So you are Vanelli, R.C. told me all about you!” I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or bad thing I told him and we laugh. Little did I know the connection I made with Scott Bourne at Photoshop World and the flattering words from R.C. Concepcion would add Trey to my list of friends.

At lunch, Trey was asked about his online photo gallery. He explained it was a custom design from SmugMug and how he  incorporated it into his work-flow. A few weeks later, Trey called and asked if I was willing to have SmugMug donate a ticket to Vacation With Vanelli that would be given away at a contest that Trey was holding . I was excited that he thought enough to include me in his contest and SmugMug to do such a generous thing. Trey wanted to introduce me to Markham Bennett, VP of BizDev for SmugMug. He said he felt we both have a lot in common and together we can brainstorm on a few ideas.

That connection with Markham Bennett made me look like a super hero at Photoshop World in Orlando. (By the way, for those who went to PSW, did you notice I wore a different super hero tee-shirt each day?) SmugMug, through the help of Markham, donated 300 camera straps that were given away to attendees that “Found Vanelli” or was caught doing a good deed. He also arranged for me to give away 3 free SmugMug Pro accounts and one fully custom SmugMug Pro account!

Choosing the lucky attendees wasn’t an easy task. In casual conversations, I would ask what type of work they do and how an online portfolio could help them. Little did they know I was vetting them! I had the great pleasure to award 4 very deserving people with a SmugMug Pro account that they can use in their charitable works. I have created a special SmugMug Spotlight section that will announce each of the winners.

Although I got all the credit and hugs, the real credit goes to Scott Kelby for having Photoshop World that lead me to RC, Scott, Trey and now Markham!

Behind the scenes of Photoshop User TV’s Webinar

I’ve always wondered what happens behind the scenes of Photoshop user TV. Yesterday I had a great opportunity to be on the Live Webinar for the release of Photoshop CS5 and was able to see first hand what goes on.

Let me start by explaining how it happen. I’ve been behind the eight ball since I came back from “Vacation With Vanelli” in North Carolina and then Photoshop World in Orlando a week later. The back projects caught up with me and I had to take a nap. I receive a text from Terry Reinert Tuesday asking me if I saw the early show. His text was full of excitement and enthusiasm. I couldn’t believe I missed the first show. I watched the second show and called in for a question about the new painting feature.. We’ll I said the question was for a “friend” Fay Sirkis. On a side note Fay is one of today’s most sought after digital artist and she specializes in  Fine Portrait Painting. Now can you see why it was funny? During the show Alan Hess playfully harassed me and Elizabeth “Firgs” Gast started the “Hey the show is missing a Vanelli”. Scott said we are short handed tomorrow why don’t you come over and work security (another inside joke). I thought he was kidding. After  Larry Becker assured me he was serious, I asked Norm DiCrocco and Tom Clark if they could take over my karate class and I took the 163 mile drive to Tampa. It took a group of people to help make this happen and I’m very thankful!

I was greeted with the tradition “Vanelli is in the building lock down alert” from Larry Becker. I made my rounds to say hi to the NAPP staff (I love them!) before I saw the man himself, Scott Kelby. We did our usual joking and he asked if I wanted to do a tutorial. I thought I was just coming for a visit! I had a jump drive with me but no computer. Scott said no problem, we’ll get RC to get you one.  RC Concepcion is the Swiss Army Knife of NAPP. He looked for a windows 7 based machine loaded with CS5. When that was proving to be difficult, he prepared a MAC machine for me. Keep in mind he was downloading the beta, getting the computer ready, arranging for IT to have the video feed set up, ordering food, researching questions and preparing his tutorial for the show. (There’s more in a bit!). I created a few quick tutorials keeping in mind I was on a different platform and well, it’s a live show. Scott assured me if I messed up it would be OK, they would just razz me for the entire show.

We walked to the studio from the office to set up. When we got there, the video crew was ready. I gave a huge hug to Nancy “NAPP News” Masse who was preparing the whole live chat section of the show. Juan (who is also a talented Photog and Photoshop user) did my makeup and I sat down for a sound test. Jason “The Scriv” Scrivner runs a tight ship! Keep in mind, my computer still hasn’t downloaded CS5 and I’m hiding the fact I’m getting nervous. Dave Cross kept us all entertained with his humor and I was amazed at how cool and collective he was. If he were an Italian I would compare him to the king of cool, Dean Martin. Scott showed up 5 minutes before the show and the studio took on a life of its own!

Scriv gave us the count down and the guys were joking all the way down to the 5 second mark. Then BAM we were live! Did I mention I still didn’t have CS5 download…let alone installed yet? Three minutes into the show, CS5 was finally downloaded. RC must have had an internal clock, he walked over and installed it quick and padded me on the shoulder. I just laugh and took in how calm everyone was. I loaded my image and with one minute to spare, Scott had me do my tutorial! Once I completed my first tutorial, I reminded myself of lessons I learned from my years on the National Karate Circuit.  I stilled myself to soak in the memory of the event and to live in the moment.I saw how everyone was just having fun. Nancy was trying to hold in her laughs as she typed 80 words a minute organizing the live text chat. RC was working on two computers having a blast answering text questions and preparing his tutorials. Scott and Dave bounced off each other as seasoned Host and Co-host. Scoot also included everyone from us to the video crew into the show! It was an incredible experience to be with friends doing what I love.

The second show’s format was a little different. Larry Becker filled in for Scott. RC and Dave came up with a JDI (Just Do It) idea 15 minutes before the show. RC gave me my JDI and Dave pulled from his own JDI library. I’m sure when Thomas Knoll (the creator of Photoshop) watches Dave he says “Wow Photoshop can do that?”. The man knows his stuff!  With Larry being on the show, I remembered what my son Alec said before I left. I told him I was a little nervous and he said just don’t mess up and if Larry is on the show, don’t try to be funny, you can’t compete with that! Larry is the Executive Director of NAPP. One of his many job duties is to organizes great deals for NAPP members. He is a natural born speaker, motivator and teacher. His photography and Photoshop skills are amazing. With so much talent around me, could you understand why I was a little nervous?

On a side note, I now know how the gang feels when I text them during a show. After my distracting experience from Alan Hess, Mike Kubeisy, Kevin McSparron, Dawn Camp, Terry Reinert and Randy Van Duinen, I will limit my pranks. did you notice at one point Scott asked me a question and I couldn’t answer, I just laughed?  MATT KLOSKOWSKI was texting comments like…. “Dude your bombing the show. Just kidding you’re the only good one, the other guys are hacks.” He had me laughing so hard, I had to turn my phone off.  For that, I have arranged another sparring match for him with Superfoot Wallace.

I just want to thank Scott, the crew and you the viewers  for making my experience a memorable one!

Photo credit Juan Alfonso via his android phone