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Some Upcoming Workshops and Cyber Monday 2013 Specials Worth A Look

I recently sent out a “Top 5” Newsletter to my subscribers (it’s free to sign up via the link at the bottom of this post, or on this page). I send it out about once a month, and it usually includes Lightroom, Photoshop and/or printing tips, information about upcoming workshops, books, etc., and links to special offers or other items of interest. With today, 12/2/2013 being Cyber Monday, I thought I’d share some special offers that have come across my e-mail in-box, and that I personally am offering. I receive no commission on any of these offers, except of course for my own offers (#5 and #6).

1. Adobe’s very special offer of Photoshop and Lightroom for $9.99/month (even if you don’t own any version of any Adobe product).

This is a great offer from Adobe that expires Mon. 12/2/2013. For the last few months, anyone who owned Photoshop CS3 or later could sign up for a new “Photoshop Photography Program” for $9.99/month that includes access to current versions and updates of Photoshop and Lightroom, plus 20GB of online storage and an online portfolio on Behance.com. Now, Adobe is extending that offer to anyone. For more information or to sign up (an annual commitment is required), visit this page. This is for Mac and Windows users.

2. Peak Design Black Friday/Cyber Monday Special

Peak Design makes some innovative products that I use and highly recommend. I’ve purchased their PROpad, Leash, CapturePRO with DUALplate (that one plate works with Arca-Swiss style and Manfrotto RC-2 quick release plates (Manfrotto calls it the “Rapid Connect System”), and an extra DUALplate so that I use multiple cameras with their CapturePRO.

The company is having a very good Black Friday/Cyber Monday special that you can find here:
https://peakdesignltd.com/store/black-friday-bundle

Below is a photo and caption from Peak Design’s recent Kickstarter update that shows the products they are offering for the bundle:

3. Kolo.com’s 12 Days of Special Offers

For the next 12 days, Kolo.com is having a number of different special offers. If you don’t know their products, you should definitely take a look at their site. Their books, albums, boxes and other products are very high-end and elegant, but affordable.

The main site, which contains information about the 12 days of special offers is https://www.kolo.com

4. Athentech Imaging’s 50% off Black Friday/Cyber Monday Special Offer

If you like the idea of a “one-click” improvement solution, Athentech Imaging’s Perfectly Clear Plug-Ins are definitely worth a look. They even have a 30 day Money Back Guarantee, and you can download a 30 day trial as well.

My recommendation is to just purchase the Photoshop Plug-in if you own Lightroom and Photoshop. Then, for images you want to correct using the Plug-in, export your files from Lightroom, and then process them inside of Photoshop with the Plug-in. Then import the edited images you want to import into a Lightroom catalog. That will allow you to close Lightroom while you are working in Photoshop on your images. It’s a bit more time consuming, but you can more easily track your images, and it’s easier to give them unique names that way. Here’s the link to take advantage of the offer:

https://www.athentech.com/products/black-friday-plug-ins/

5. UPCOMING LIGHTROOM & FINE ART PAPER WORKSHOP

I’m very excited to be offering a three hour inkjet printing with Lightroom workshop in New York City on December 7, 2013. Anyone who mentioned this post and who signs up for the workshop by Wed. 12/4 will receive a free follow-up private 30 minute phone consultation with me ($100 value). I can also view your screen as we chat so that I can see exactly what you are seeing. It’s almost as good as working together in person.

I think the best part of the workshop will be seeing prints on a wide variety of fine-art papers from a number of manufacturers, including:

o Canson Infinity

o Hahnemühle

o HARMAN by Hahnemühle

o Moab Paper

o Museo Fine Art

o Premier Imaging Products, and

o Red River Paper

For more information or to register, please visit:

https://lightroom127.eventbrite.com

6. SPECIAL BLACK FRIDAY/CYBER MONDAY CONSULTING OFFER

I have a special offer for those who would like to reserve a 3 hour session (or two 90 minute sessions) with me via phone. Instead of my normal rate of $199/hr, your investment is just $99/hr. This special offer is only available if you send me an e-mail through this page and mention this offer. We will then determine a day or two for the sessions, and payment will be due after each session (as long as you are very happy with the services I provide). Some common items that I’ve helped others with recently include: system and file setup, retouching and workflow using Lightroom, and screen to print matching with little effort. I look forward to working with you!

This special offer expires on 12/2/2013 at 11:59pm EST.

Here is the page to send me an e-mail to take advantage of this special offer:

https://imagingbuffet.com/contact-us/

And below is a form to sign up for the newsletter, which includes a link to a free one hour Lightroom and photo tips video.

First Name:
Email:

We respect your privacy. Your e-mail will never be shared or sold.

All the best, thanks for stopping by, and Happy Holidays!

Andrew

 

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PhotoPlusExpo 2013 Booth Highlights and Observations

I had a great day yesterday at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City. As usual, I had photo gear and photo print overload! Below are 14 booths that really impressed me (there were many more, and I will share more in the upcoming days). I want to get these out quickly for those who are visiting the show on Saturday, so I will add more web links in about a day. For now, I’ve listed the company name and their booth number. If you won’t be there for the last day of the show, you can visit other trade shows where these companies are exhibiting or you can visit the show next year if the companies return to exhibit at the show. You may also want to refer to my previous articles here and here on ImagingBuffet.com for more booth suggestions and tips for getting the most from the show.

There are also a number of photo exhibitions on the show floor that should not be missed. Two that are in the same location (near booth #176) are: “My Favorite People and Places,” sponsored by Canon, and another show sponsored by Sony and printed by Bay Photo that showcases many stunning glossy metal prints related to the Space Shuttle and NASA.

1. American Photography/Pro Photo Daily/DART (Booth #266)

I’ve been reading DART and Pro Photo Daily for as long as both have been available. They are outstanding resources with a lot of news and insight from people who have a very long history in the photo and art world. The company also publishes books of Illustration and Photography from contests that they run each year. If you can visit their booth, you can see many of their booths, and I promise that you won’t be disappointed! The range of work and print/binding quality of the books are truly spectacular.

The site to subscribe to their free publications is https://www.ai-ap.com/register/.

2. AcrylicPress.com (Booth #176)

I was extremely impressed by this company’s face-mounted plexi prints. If you know anything about the process, it is very difficult to do right, and the print quality (prints are made with Canon pigment printers) and edges are outstanding. I highly recommend taking a look. They also have 1″ thick plexi products available which are pretty amazing. They are giving away cards at the show with a 50% off special offer code.

3. Black River Imaging (Booth #443)

Black River Imaging has many interesting products, but three that stood out in my mind were their LOFT line of cards and ornaments (these are printed or mounted to a super-thick board material…think paper coaster (and they make those too)), their books, and their new “Folio Collection” of print boxes and mounted prints. The cover options they have for their boxes and books are absolutely beautiful.

4. Canson (Booth #437)

The print samples on the walls of Canson’s booth are truly stunning. As with most companies who make photo papers, the primarily reason to stop by Canson’s booth is to see their fine-art papers on the walls of their booth to better help you decide which paper might be right for your work.

5. Datacolor (Booth #162)

If you are interested in learning more about color management (it can be a bit complicated if you don’t “see it in action”), or if you’d like to see some powerful tools for color balancing your camera, I recommend stopping by the Datacolor booth. One of my favorite products for getting the right color balance in any light is a simple but ingenious item called the Datacolor SpyderCUBE. They also have a product called the Datacolor SpyderLENSCAL that helps you to determine if your camera/lens autofocus is accurate at different focal lengths (some cameras have a micro adjustment capability built in). If you see a real problem with your autofocus and if your camera does not have the micro adjustment, you can speak with your camera/lens manufacturer about possibly fixing the issue. The folks at Datacolor can also give you more advice about this at the booth.

6. Epson (Booth #701)

As usual, Epson has a great booth with many prints on the walls, and a display rack filled with papers that really helps to compare different prints without glass or other glazing in front of them. What I really like is how they’ve displayed groups of the same image, printed on different papers in a few different areas of the show floor. They also just introduced a new paper called Exhibition Watercolor Paper that has a strong texture and a very nice overall look and feel. It’s Mould Made and contains no OBAs (Optical Brighteners).

7. FLORIcolor USA (Booth #1169)

The quality of this company’s boxes and albums are absolutely amazing. They have cards on the display tables with a 50% off studio sample special if you’d like to produce some samples for your studio, or do testing for a fine art project.

8. Fotodiox Pro (Booth #345)

Fotodiox Pro has many products at the show, but their LED products impressed me most. Some are really innovative because they contain white and amber LEDs for good color balance in different lighting conditions. Two products that blew me away were their LED studio lights (Fotodiox Pro LED100WA-56 Daylight Studio LED and the Fotodiox Pro LED100WA-32 Tungsten Studio LED). At full power, the Daylight model appeared to me to be brighter than the sun 🙂 (I’m kidding, but it had a lot of intensity)! Truly incredible. Just ask them to turn up the brightness to full power to see what I experienced. As I indicated, there is a daylight and tungsten-balanced model available. If I were going to purchase one, I’d get the daylight version and use gels to correct for other color temperatures.

9. Innova Art (Booth #1149)

Innova Art always has impressive paper samples (they make a range of fine-art papers), and this year they had a few items worth mentioning. First, they have a beautiful new fiber inkjet paper called FibaPrint® Warm Cotton Gloss 335gsm. The thickness of this paper is truly impressive, and the overall look and feel of the ink on paper is beautiful. They also have a new easy to use system that allows you to easily mount any print on either a 5×7, 8×10 or 11×14 thick block with a series of holes on the back for easy hanging or display on a table. Their inkjet-printable cards are also worth a look.

10. Josephine Herrick Project (Booth #1067)

This organization has been helping others through photography for over 70 years. They are also featuring a new Benefit Photo Contest that’s running on Phoozl.com, and that’s juried by acclaimed photographer and author Robert Farber. The contest will help raise money for the organization, and you can read about the contest on their site here: https://jhproject.org/2013/10/phoozl-announces-photo-contest-benefiting-the-josephine-herrick-project/

11. Kenko Tokina Co., Ltd. (Booth #1127)

Kenko Tokina has a wide range of products that you can try out on the camera bodies that they provide, or on your own camera. I was very impressed by the look and feel of their two newest wide angle autofocus lenses, the Tokina 11‑16mm F/2.8 ATX Pro DX, and the Tokina AT-X 12-28 PRO DX (available for a number of different camera bodies). If you’ve been thinking of purchasing a teleconverter, they have some nice ones under the Kenko brand name. The Kenko-brand variable NDX Neutral Density Filters are also impressive. Their Zéta brand filters are also very interesting, and they claim to have “zero reflection,” which can be an issue with filters, especially when shooting at longer focal lengths.

12. Red River Paper (Booth #255)

Red River Paper has many impressive paper samples at their booth, and what really stood out in my mind were three new surfaces: San Gabriel SemiGloss Fiber paper (300 gsm), 80lb. Polar Pearl Metallic, and Blanco Matte Inkjet Printable Canvas. They also have many inkjet-printable cards on display that helps to compare the different options. They are participating in a free print program with Canon, and they have cards at the show to learn more about how you can get a free print of your image printed on one of their papers.

13. ShootProof (Booth #443)

ShootProof provides websites geared primarily toward the wedding/portrait/event markets. I was very impressed by the look and feel of the sites (the bottom left of the galleries allows you to switch views easily), and I like their pricing model. Since they charge based on the number of images that are “live” at any time, you can save by “archiving” previously posted galleries for a very small fee per gigabyte.

14. White House Custom Color (WHCC) (Booth #147)

White House Custom Color had a number of books and some small accordion books on display that are really spectacular. I especially liked their press printed books with hinged bindings. They are very elegant and sturdy. I also liked going through the 30+ printed samples on the table at their booth. They also have a very useful print sample pack with many examples of their prints (photo, inkjet and press printed).

 

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PhotoPlus Expo Returns to NYC This Week, and a Quick Review of the Mobile App

One of the highlights of my year is the PhotoPlus International Expo + Conference, held in New York City. This is the 30th Anniversary of the show, which is being held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center from 10/23-10/26, 2013 (trade show runs from 10/24-10/26). Over the last 20+ years I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of the event in many ways, from being an attendee (like most of the 20,000+ people who are expected to attend this year), as an exhibitor, as a speaker and as a member of the Press. All of the experiences have contributed to my love for photography and my overall education. It’s also been a place where I’ve met and have had a chance to catch up with many of the people whom I respect and with whom I’ve become good friends.

Quick Review: PhotoPlus Mobile App

This year, the company who runs the Expo built a new app for iOS, Android, Blackberry and other Smartphones to make the experience of finding everything at the show a lot easier. I downloaded the iOS version for my iPhone and found it fast, easy to navigate and extremely useful. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to go to the main website in the past and hunt around to find the trade show hours, or information about the Keynotes, seminars, special events, etc. The fact that all the exhibitors are listed both alphabetically and by product category (with their booth number just under their name) is fantastic, and you can even press the star in the top left of just about any page to add it to your Favorites (a list of Favorites will then be visible on the page for each category (Exhibitors, Seminars, Special Events, etc.), as well as under the Star on the main page of the app (you can find it just under Special Events)).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is even an option to view “Exhibitors with Show Specials,” and if you click through, the specific show special will be listed. If you are really organized, you can press the “Add to Agenda” button on any exhibitor page to bring up a calendar where you can insert the item into whatever time slot and on whatever date you choose.

To download the PhotoPlus Mobile App, visit this page: https://app.photoplusexpo.com/landing/

Quick Tip for Testing Lenses and Cameras at the Show

The ability to see different papers, print processes, try out different cameras, lenses and other equipment on the show floor are main reasons why many people come to the show, and I highly recommend bringing a few extra SD and/or CF cards to put in any cameras that you’d like to test out. Also have a safe and dust-free place for your current lens to go while you are testing a lens (or better yet, just keep a body cap on your lens, and place it in a small zipper bag to keep dust at a minimum while you are testing lenses).

Related Articles

Below are articles with my “First Day Impressions” and “Second Day Impressions” from last year’s show (Oct. 2012). The vast majority of the companies listed in the articles below will be there again this year, so this information can be very useful for planning your walk through the trade show.

https://imagingbuffet.com/2012/10/26/photoplus-expo-2012-first-day-impressions-from-the-show-floor/
https://imagingbuffet.com/2012/10/27/photoplus-expo-2012-second-day-impressions-from-the-show-floor

And here are links to two more articles from past shows:
https://imagingbuffet.com/2009/10/23/photoplus-expo-new-york-city-1st-day-observations-5-trade-show-booth-suggestions/
https://imagingbuffet.com/2010/10/29/2010-photoplus-expo-review-day-1/

As in the past, I’ll be posting my thoughts and sharing photos from the show floor on Facebook and Twitter. I will also be sharing links to information like booth presentation schedules from different exhibitors. The amount of information you can learn at the talks happening on the show floor is truly incredible. You can keep updated by “Liking” my page here and/or by following me on Twitter here.

Enjoy the show, and if you see me running around the show floor, please say hi!

Link to the main page for the PhotoPlus International Expo + Conference.

Link to a PDF with a pricing guide for the show.