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PhotoPlus Expo 2012: Second Day Impressions from the Show Floor

Digital Silver Imaging’s Eric Luden holding a mounted print on Dibond to demonstrate how they can attach a brace to the back of a mounted print for easy and secure hanging on a wall. One of the main reasons I go to the PhotoPlus Expo is to see things like this.  

My second day at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City on Friday, 10/26 was, like the first day, filled with photo-related goodness at every turn. Below is a list of more booths that I highly recommend stopping by if you are planning to visit the show. If you can’t make it to the show, or if you are not visiting today, I’ve linked each company’s name to its website so that you can find out more about each company. There are, of course, many more great products and services on the show floor, and I will be adding content from the show in the upcoming weeks.

1. Canon: Canon’s booth at the show is always big, but this year, it’s MASSIVE. The gallery has outstanding print samples from various Canon printers, the demo areas allow you to test Canon gear, and the Expo Stage is always a fantastic place to learn from Pros who specialize in both stills and video. Just to give you some idea of how much you can learn on the show floor, I’ve inserted Canon’s Expo Stage schedule below:

2. Squarespace: Squarespace built an amazing booth inside of a black box on the show floor. You can speak with one of their reps and learn about many of the features available in it’s two plans. I was blown away by the quality of the newest templates that are available inside the system. They make it extremely simple for photographers and other artists to make a great-looking website, and the cost for one of the plans is just $8/month. They also have a 10% off coupon code printed on the small notebooks that they are giving out on the center table inside the demo area.

3. Synology: This company specializes in NAS  (Network Attached Storage) enclosures, and their products are very impressive. They showed a small unit about the size of a softball that can hold four “laptop” or SSD 2.5-inch drives, as well as a larger enclosure that can hold 8 laptop, SSD or 5.25-inch drives (the larger enclosure is expandable to 16 drives total).

4. Gura Gear: GuraGear makes camera bags with many features that set them apart from the competition. The split design, and unique handles are just two of the things that impressed me.

5. Digital Silver Imaging: This company, based in Massachusetts, does incredible printmaking for clients around the world. One of the things that sets them apart from others is that they can take a digital file and make real photo-based fiber and RC black and white and toned prints. They also print color or black and white using pigment inkjet printers, and they do mounting to materials like Dibond and aluminum.

Below are five companies who make plug-ins to help extend the functionality of Lightroom, Photoshop and other applications. Some also make phone and/or tablet apps that should definitely be seen. Each has a great booth with live demos worth stopping by to see. You can learn tips and tricks from people who know the software inside and out:

6. Nik Software 

7. OnOne Software

8. Athentech Imaging

9. Topaz Labs

10. Datacolor: Datacolor has many products made to help photographers get sharper images from their lenses and better color/consistent screen matches and prints. The company’s small but extremely useful SpyderCUBE is one of my favorite products for helping to get more accurate color in-camera under different lighting conditions. I highly recommend getting a demo of the products that you might want to add to your workflow.

11. Midwest Photo Exchange: This is a candy store for photographers inside of a larger candy store! Midwest Photo is a retailer who sells an amazing array of equipment during the show. You can demo gear and ask questions about the products they sell. They also have a stage with live presentations on each day.

12. Lowepro: Lowepro has an amazing selection of camera bags and related gear at the show, and they definitely encourage you to play with the many products on the show floor.

And below are five book and DVD/online content publishers who always have great titles to browse through:

13. Course Technology PTR/Cengage Learning

14. Focal Press

15. Peachpit

16. Rocky Nook

17. PhotoshopCAFE

18. Pexagon Technology: (Their booth graphics say “PhotoFlashDrives.com”): This company has a very large booth in the back of the exhibit hall. They do amazing laser engraving on photo boxes, flash drives, etc. They also have some very simple but elegant new paper folders in both black and white that can be used to hold prints.

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Quick Lightroom Library Module Tip and “Top Five” Newsletter Content

I recently sent out my “Top Five” Newsletter for June, 2012 and thought to myself: “Self, why not share the content with readers of imagingbuffet.com?”

But many people who receive the newsletter also receive my blog updates via e-mail, so I’m adding a quick, but very powerful tip for Lightroom users. The tip is…

How to quickly increase and decrease thumbnail sizes in the Library Module of Lightroom without using the slider in the toolbar

Here’s how: Most people use the slider in the bottom-right corner of the Toolbar (circled in blue, above) to adjust thumbnail sizes. However, there’s an easier way to achieve the same result. When you are in the Library Module in Lightroom 1, 2, 3 or 4, just press the “-” or “=” key (located in the upper-right hand part of your keyboard, next to the “0” number key). You will then magically see the thumbnails get larger “= key” or smaller “- key.” It took me more than a year of using Lightroom to discover this.

It’s especially useful when rating and viewing groups of images since you can hide the toolbar and get more room (press the T key to hide/show the toolbar).

And now for the “Top Five” recent newsletter content, which includes links to recent articles I’ve written, as well as some upcoming workshops I’m conducting in NJ, and that others are conducting in NY. If you’d like to receive the newsletter, published about once per month, you can sign up at the bottom of the page, or just send an e-mail to [email protected]:

“Top 5 List of Photo Links Worth a Look,” for June 2012

by Andrew Darlow

#5: Getting Started in Lightroom Workshop in Iselin, New Jersey – June 20th from 10:30am-3:30pm, plus a special 50% off private consulting offer.

I’m very excited to announce an upcoming five hour Lightroom workshop being held at a very nice restaurant in Iselin, NJ on Wed. June 20, 2012. It is geared primarily toward those just starting out with Lightroom, but I think it’s ideal for even some intermediate to advanced users primarily because I will also cover, in a step-by-step fashion, the process that I’ve developed to download, organize, import and back up your images so that you’ll never see another question mark in your catalog again (and if you do, you’ll know how to fix it!).

Many of my clients have invested $500-1500 for me to work with them one-on-one to help them organize their collections and to teach them the tips that I will be sharing. The first 12 people to register will receive a $20 discount, as well as a 20 minute follow-up phone consultation with me (a $50 value). 

For those who are interested in the workshop but who can’t attend, I also added a ticket option for 50% off of your first hour of consulting with me via phone. I can also view your screen and control your mouse with your permission. The experience is almost as good as working together in person.

For more information or to register, visit the workshop page here.

#4: Recent Article with three Q&A’s on Lightroom in Rangefinder Magazine

I recently wrote an article covering 3 Q & A’s from my Lightroom Printing workshop at #WPPI 2012 in Las Vegas back in February. In one of the Q&A’s I go into great detail about how to make PDFs from the Print Module.

Visit this page to read the article.

#3: Article on Keeping Competitive in the Photo Business in Rangefinder Magazine

Visit this page to read the article.

#2: Upcoming Long Island Photo Workshops August 6-9, 2012

I just learned about this upcoming four day workshop being held in Hauppaugue, NY. The instructors are all outstanding, and you can choose from courses focusing on everything from fashion to weddings to sports and Lightroom. It’s definitely worth a look:

THE LINK to learn more about the Long Island Photo Workshops.

#1: Many New Links Added to My Updated Facebook Fan Page

Since February of 2010, I’ve been adding links that I find interesting on a frequent basis to my Facebook Fan page (along with some personal comments). I’ve added over 1000 links so far, and many of the recent ones have covered the topics of Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4 and new Nikon and Canon cameras. You can see my comments and links here:

THE LINK to visit my Facebook Photo and Printing Tips page.

BONUS: Receive a tip a week for 12 weeks from my book, 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques, plus a Resolution Chart and info to help determine file sizes for printing:

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The New York Photo Festival (NYPH ’12) Starts Today 5/16/2012

The New York Photo Festival (NYPH ’12) officially starts today in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NYC. I’ve attended the event a few times over the last four years and have always enjoyed it. The sheer number of exhibitions in the area, live presentations on big and small screens, and opportunities to meet other artists is incredible. Whether you are a collector, aspiring or established fine-art photographer or just someone who just loves to see what people are creating with their imagery, I would recommend visiting. For more information and schedules, visit: https://nyph.at/explore

The powerHouse Arena is always an incredible place to browse books on many topics. In fact, it’s worth a trip to DUMBO any time in my opinion.

Here’s a link to a short article about a previous NYPH that I’ve covered.