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PhotoPlus Expo 2016 – Show Floor Highlights

As usual, I had a great time at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City. There was so much to see that my head was spinning! It was also nice to reconnect with many familiar faces. And as usual, I have a long list of companies and products that I’m racing to share with you so that you can see what I saw if you are attending the show on Day 2 or 3 (Fri. 10/21/2016 or Sat. 10/22/2016).

Here is a page on the PhotoPlus Expo site with a full list of exhibitors in case you’d like more info about the ones below or any others at the show.

Also, if you’d like to read my other article about the Expo, which includes info on how to get a free Expo only pass, here it is. So without further ado, here are about 25 companies in 20 booths (listed in alphabetical order) that I’d like to highlight.

AcrylicPress.com 
Booth 361 – This company (according to their website), is the largest manufacturer of acrylic photo decor and full-color personalized acrylic keepsakes in the world, and they truly know how to face-mount to acrylic. Their prints and photo blocks are stunning, and one of the things that sets them apart is that they offer the option of having the edges of their acrylic prints beveled, which gives them a very nice look. The hanging options they offer are also very elegant and strong. They are also giving out cards at the show with discount codes for their services.

Adobe.com  (The Adobe Theater)
Rear of the Expo Hall near the PDN Gallery and Booth 170 – I could have stayed here most of the day learning new tips and tricks from experts who really know their stuff. Below is a photo with the full schedule of presentations.

Canon U.S.A.: Power of Print Pavilion
Booth 973 – Canon is making 17×22 inch prints for any attendee who stops by the Pavilion with an image from your phone, flash drive, or memory card. For best results, I recommend that you prepare a file at about 200-300 ppi at about 16×20 inches. Prints will be output on papers from either Moab by Legion Paper or Innova Art. I would try to get there as early as possible to minimize wait times. They are also featuring an impressive group of speakers there on all three days.

Epson America Inc
Booth 707 – Epson’s booth is always impressive, and this year is no exception. Seeing so many prints on so many papers can really help you decide which one might be right for your work. You can also see their newest P-series line of printers.

Hahnemuhle USA
Booth 437 – Hahnemühle’s booth is another favorite of mine to visit each year, primarily because you can browse printed samples of so many of their papers. They have a new limited edition black portfolio box for the Super A3/Super B size only (also known as 13×19 inches) with three fine-art paper options. You can find out more about it here. The boxes have a notched area that allows for the paper to be easily removed, which is a nice touch that combines stability and convenience.

Hoodman Corporation
Booth 1055 – Hoodman is constantly innovating, and in addition to their loupes for DSLRs and video cameras, they were showing quite a few hoods for use when flying drones. They even make a hood for GoPro units called the H-200 (about $20).

Innova Editions
Booth 1148: This is another great company who makes inkjet papers. Here is an overview of two new art papers developed in cooperation with Fabriano, as well as information about their new Editions Line of inkjet papers. Their booth also features some stunning large format prints of Marilyn Monroe photographed by Milton H. Greene.

LumeCube
Booth 948 – LumeCube launched with a Kickstarter campaign in 2014 and their main lighting product is nothing short of amazing. It’s a small cube that produces super-bright daylight-balanced light. You can even control the LumeCubes with an iOS or Android device, which allows for much more control. They also offer a 5-Pack Colored Cap Kit for about $10 that interfaces with the app so that you can easily tell one LumeCube from another. They were also showing new aluminum “cages” for gels and other light modifiers. And for drone owners who want to light up the sky, they recently released mounts without lights as well as custom lighting kits for specific drones that include two LumeCube units.

MagMod
Booth 948 – Last year at the show I purchased quite a few MagMod accessories, which are designed to work with just about any shoe-mount flash or continuous light. What makes their system unique is how the accessories connect via a magnetic system to the lights. I highly recommend stopping by to see their innovative products, and you can even bring your own flash to test out their products.

Manfrotto Distribution
Booth 555 – Manfrotto has so many outstanding products, from tripods and “video monopods” that have small retractable feet, to bags that can carry many light stands and other equipment. 

Moab by Legion Paper
Booth 848 – Moab has a very large selection of high quality inkjet papers and the prints they show in their booth are truly stunning, including a panoramic print of a glacier and ship by Joshua Holko which he photographed in Antarctica. It must be seen to be believed! For more of his incredible work, visit this page.

Modibooth
Booth 558 –Photo booths are extremely popular, and this company has a number of affordable solutions that impressed me. They simplify everything and their hardware looks great. You can even test it out and walk away with a print and/or a 4 frame animated GIF!

My Case Builder
Booth 1069 – This company does something truly amazing: they custom cut foam inserts similar to the open case that’s in the photo below in the Nanuk booth photo. In fact, the company resells Nanuk cases as well as other cases so you can choose both a case and a custom insert at the same time. They recommend you actually ship your gear to them so that they can properly fit everything, but if you have standard cameras, etc., you can have them create an insert online without having to send any gear in. 

Nanuk
Booth 170 – This company makes some super-strong hard cases for a very wide range of devices. Some even have extension handles to make carrying them through airports and other locations much easier. They also have cases that are perfect for light stands.

OWC (Other World Computing)
Booth 462 – If you are not familiar with OWC, you should first take a look at their site, macsales.com. If you need an empty enclosure for any hard drive, a RAID system with drives, a new SSD drive, a dual hard drive “bay” to run bare hard drives/SSD drives in, or if you are looking for a reconditioned Apple laptop, iMac, or other Mac, they are definitely a place to check out.

Peak Design
Booth 661 – Peak Design is a company that I’ve been very impressed by for years. I’ve been using their Capture Clips (Capture and Capture PRO) since their first Kickstarter campaign in May of 2011. Since then, they’ve done a few more hugely successful Kickstarters, and recently, they really hit a home run with over $6 million raised for a number of new camera/gear bags. Here’s a great story about Peter Dering, the company’s founder and CEO. Their booth at the show is very well laid out, with all of the gear at eye level and on tables just in front of the items. 

PhotoFlashDrive.com
Booth 949 – This company’s booth is truly spectacular! They specialize in custom flash drives as well as boxes and related items that hold prints, USB thumb drives, etc. They also recently introduced slip-in mats that they call “Simply Slip-Ins Archival.” They are also running a “Virtual Trade Show” during the PhotoPlusExpo on their site at PhotoFlashDrive.com.

Photofocus (Featuring Four Exhibitors: Perfectly Clear by Athentech, Platypod Pro, and Plotagraph)
Booth 869 – I give the folks at Photofocus a lot of credit for putting together an awesome booth packed with great hardware, software and friendly people answering questions about photography, Lightroom, etc. I’m honored to have written quite a few articles on Photofocus.com, and I highly recommend the website.

Re: the companies whose products are being featured in their booth, I watched an impressive demo of the Perfectly Clear plug-ins by Levi Sim (see photo below). With just a few presets and slider adjustments, he was able to dramatically improve an environmental portrait.

The Platypod Pro products are so simple, but powerful. They are essentially weighted plates (currently there are three options) that can hold all types of gear, including ballheads, cameras and lights. At the booth there are a number of them set up with different equipment. You can even thread some webbing (a.k.a. strapping) or a tension strap through the Platypod Pros’ belt slots and wrap them around trees, strap them to railings, etc. Levi Sim wrote a great article about how he used the Platypod Pro Max while hiking, and Richard Harrington, also from Photofocus.com, wrote a very good article about the Platypod Pro Max here. This Facebook post from Platypod Pro shows how you can even use cable ties to secure the Platypod Pro (not sure if you can do this with all of them, but you can see how it is done here with a Platypod Pro Base Plate).

Plotagraph is a software that’s truly amazing. Essentially, you can turn a still image into one that has motion. Picture a scene with clouds that can be animated to look as though they are moving. I had a demo with the inventor of the software and CEO of the company, Troy Plota, and I look forward to testing it out for myself soon. Below are Troy Plota’s hands using an iPad Pro to make adjustments to one of my photographs using the software. I learned that fireworks photos take some expertise to animate well!

And for those interested in attending a photo walk Friday evening, 10/21, Photofocus will be meeting in Times Square at 7pm. For details, visit this page. There is no need to sign up to attend, but if you do register (as long as there are still free tickets remaining), you will be eligible for prizes from the three companies listed above who are exhibiting in the Photofocus booth, as well as ThinkTAP Learn.

Booth 519 – Sony’s booth, like usual, is very impressive. They have a number of model photography areas, and the photos on the wall taken with Sony gear also look great. You will also find a café inside the booth serving coffee and other beverages, which was a nice touch!

Westcott
Booth 124 – I always like visiting the Westcott booth to see their lighting and modifiers, such as their Rapid Box, which is available in a number of sizes. Below is an embedded post from Instagram from their booth:

A photo posted by Westcott Lighting (@westcottlighting) on Oct 20, 2016 at 9:12am PDT

NEWSLETTER & LIGHTROOM VIDEOS

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All the best, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy the show if you attend!

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PhotoPlus Expo 2016 New York City – Registration Info, Free Exhibit Hall Passes and Tips

It’s that time again! The PDN PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo is returning to New York City. The conference runs from Wed.-Sat. 10/19-22 and the Expo runs from Thurs.-Sat. 10/20-22, 2016. If you love photography or video, this is a truly outstanding event and I highly recommend attending.

There is a huge amount of free education on the show floor, as well as in the seminar rooms, and you will find many opportunities to take pictures of still life sets, models, action, etc).

There are also many great fee-based seminars happening, which you can find listed here.

And don’t miss the many, many opportunities to see stunning prints on all types of media. Here is a photo from Epson’s booth, which is always fantastic:

TIPS FOR THE SHOW

Last year, I wrote some Tips For Getting The Most From PhotoPlus Expo. You can find the article here. The tip about downloading the PhotoPlus Expo App is, in my opinion, a biggie. It really helps save time when navigating through the aisles, and in case you don’t read the other article, here is the link to download it for iOS or Android.

FREE PASSES

If you are looking for a promo code for a free pass for the exhibit hall, here’s one option that should work (code is SMILE): https://twitter.com/PhotoPlusExpo/status/785543858935435266

If that doesn’t work, just search the PhotoPlus Expo Twitter feed for more.

TEST DRIVE EVENT

There’s also a free Test Drive event happening on Wed. 10/19 from 4-7pm, which is a great way to see the latest and greatest gear (below is a post about it from the PhotoPlusExpo Facebook page):

LIVE TALKS ON THE SHOW FLOOR

One of my favorite parts of the show is listening to photographers from many different areas of expertise talk about their work. For example, here is a link to a PDF of the show schedule for Nikon’s booth this year.

Adobe will have 30 minute presentations all three days of the show at the Adobe Show Floor Theater. I’m sure these will be fantastic.

The folks at Photofocus.com will have a booth with Perfectly Clear, Platypod Pro, and Plotagraph. I’m particularly excited to be able to learn more about how to make Plotagraphs, which are “moving pictures” that can be made from single exposures.

And here is an announcement from Unique Photo’s Twitter feed. They always have great speakers at their booth:

Visit us at booth 337 at @PhotoPlusExpo October 20-22, check out the latest gear & attend free photography lectures! https://t.co/dlnY843DVG pic.twitter.com/AGVlKRLvAl

— Unique Photo (@UniquePhoto) October 6, 2016

PHOTO WALKS

A few years ago, PhotoPlus started doing photo walks. Here is another Facebook post with info about them:

MORE EVENTS

There is much more happening, and this page has a long list of events. One of them is the Power of Print Pavilion, sponsored by Canon. The company will be making free prints for attendees, and that page has all of the details. Prints will be output on Moab by Legion Paper or Innova Art paper.

And don’t miss the keynotes, which are free with your exhibit hall ticket. On Thursday from 12:30-1:30 PM, Graham Nash and Mark Seliger will share the stage. Graham Nash, along with R. Mac Holbert, helped pioneer the field of fine-art inkjet printing. I had the honor of visiting Nash Editions in California some time ago. Their original IRIS printer is currently housed in the Smithsonian Institution.  Here is an article about it.

And if you can’t get to the show this year, you’ll find a lot of info about new products (plus many special offers) on hardware and software from companies who are exhibiting at the event. The official PhotoPlus Expo Twitter feed is @PhotoPlusExpo (find it here), and their Facebook page can be found here.

If you see me there, please say hi. I look something like this! (this was from last year’s show).

And in case you don’t receive my free newsletters, you can start getting news, photo and printing tips and three one-hour Lightroom videos delivered to your in-box by signing up below (you can unsubscribe at any time and we respect your privacy):

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Email:

All the best, thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you at the show!

1

PhotoPlus Expo 2015 Returns to NYC 10/21-10/24 – Tips and Selected Show Floor Talks

It’s almost here! As I always say, the toy store of all toy stores for photographers and videographers is returning to New York City in the form of the PDN PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo. The conference runs from Wed-Sat. 10/21-24 and the Expo runs from Thurs.-Sat. 10/22-24.

One of the best parts of the show is the fact that there is a LOT of free education and many fantastic photo opportunities (for example, amazing still life sets, male and female models, sports-related action, etc.) all around the show floor.

There are also many outstanding fee-based seminars happening, including post production seminars by industry experts including Katrin Eismann, Stephen Johnson, Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski and Julieanne Kost.

And even if you can’t make it to the show this year, you will find a lot of news and info (plus special offers) being mentioned on many of the social media feeds of just about all the companies who are taking part. The official PhotoPlus Expo Twitter feed is @PhotoPlusExpo, and their Facebook page can be found here.

TIPS FOR GETTING THE MOST FROM PHOTOPLUS EXPO

Here are some tips for getting the most from the show.

1. Read the Press Releases for the Show: The press releases for the PhotoPlus Expo have a lot of information about what’s happening at the show, including free and fee-based workshops and events. You can find all of the releases from the show organizers here.

2. Download the Free PhotoPlus Expo App: The PhotoPlus Expo app is truly fantastic resource. The app allows you to quickly view dates and times of many events and seminars. It also allows you to view a list of exhibitors with their booth numbers, and you can star (favorite) them and then refer to them later (under “Favorites” on the home page). I can’t tell you how helpful this was to have last year while walking the show floor compared with using a printed list of exhibitors. You can even mark a booth as visited, and you can take notes in the app for each exhibitor. I’m almost sure the app is iOS only, and here’s a link to it on Apple’s App Store.

3. Bring Your Camera to Test Different Lenses and Accessories: There’s nothing like being able to put the latest and greatest lens or flash unit on your camera to put it through its paces. Not every company will allow you to do this, but many will, and it can be very useful when trying to decide between a few different products.

4. Bring Media Cards to Test Different Cameras: By bringing a few smaller capacity and EMPTY SD/CF cards to put in cameras that you really want to test, you will come home with images that you can “pixel peep” to your heart’s content. I write EMPTY and smaller capacity because it is very easy to forget that your card is in a camera, and I’m sure you would not want to leave any important data (or an expensive card) behind.

5. Don’t Miss the Competition Galleries and other Photo Galleries on the Show Floor: Every year there are galleries of prints on the show floor containing absolutely stunning work. I never have enough time to spend there, but I’m always happy that I can enjoy the work.

 

6. Take Photos of the Booth Event Schedules: Some companies will publish their booth speaker schedules before the show, but many don’t. As you pass by schedules of events and speakers that look interesting to you, you can take a quick photo and refer to it at a later time.

7. Drink a Lot of Water! It can be tiring walking the show floor, especially with a bag full of whatever you bring, pick up, purchase, etc. 🙂

You can find more tips for getting the most from the Expo in this article from the folks at F-stoppers.

If you’d like to attend just the trade show but haven’t requested a free pass yet, you can sign up here. Free “trade show only” tickets are available until the end of day on 10/20. After 10/20, you may still be able to get free trade show only tickets by using an exhibitor’s code or link. Using the following set of keywords in your favorite search engine should bring up some companies offering links to free passes: “photoplusexpo 2015 free tradeshow pass.”

LIVE PHOTOGRAPHY THEATER TALKS ON THE SHOW FLOOR

Here’s a schedule of 30 minute presentations happening on the show floor in the “Photography Theater.”

SOME PHOTOPLUS-RELATED LINKS

• The main website for the PhotoPlus Expo.
• My review of some of the things I found very interesting from Day 1 of PhotoPlus Expo 2014.
• My review of  PhotoPlus Expo 2013 (many of the same exhibitors will be attending in 2015.
• My review of PhotoPlus Expo 2012.
• Link to the PhotoPlus Expo iOS app 

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UPCOMING MASTERING LIGHTROOM 6/CC WORKSHOP IN BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ WITH ANDREW DARLOW

Would you like to supercharge your Lightroom workflow? I’m returning to Berkeley Heights, NJ on Sunday, 11/22 for a full day workshop titled: “Mastering Lightroom Workflow: From File Organization to Effortless Manipulations.” The best way to find out more about the class is to sign up for my free Meetup Group here. Or you can download a PDF describing the workshop here.