Free 3 day workshop on the Fundamentals of Lightroom 4

Another Great CreativeLIVE Event

I always enjoy the workshops at CreativeLive.  What could be better than a 3 day workshop for free?  This time it's on the new Lightroom 4 software which is now running at half the cost of what Lightroom 3 was.  So for $149, you can have a new professional photography cataloging and adjustment software with a 3 day workshop to boot.  As someone who has used Lightroom for a number of years, I look forward to the upgrades. I thought I would stick with Lightroom  3, because it does everything I need it to do. But I hear Lightroom 4 does it better. I am planning to follow the workshop with a trial version to make sure it is worth the upgrade, but from what I hear, it is.

This work shop at CreativeLive.com will be taught by Laura Shoe, a blogger, instructor, fine art photographer and Lighroom certified expert. This is a fundamentals class, but being a new version, I know I will learn something of the new software. Any course I have watched on CreativeLive, no matter how well versed I am on a subject, I always learn something. Everyone can bring something new to the table with their personal experiences and variety in workflow.

These courses are always free for the first three days to watch the video stream. And if you want to purchase the video's they are at a discount while the steam of the workshop is going on.  This one is $79 for the discounted price if you want to order the videos, then goes up to $99 after the weekend. I have purchased about 6 video workshops in the past do the invaluable information. 

So check out CreativeLive and the Lightroom workshop coming March 29th starting at 9 am. Also track other creat workshops at the CreativeLive Calendar.

Hugin Panoramic Software (Freeware Review)

Hugin Panoramic Software

I have been doing panoramic images for sometime mainly in HDR. The two softwares I have had access to have been AutoPano and PTGui. Both have their advantages. However, this is not so much about those softwares for creating panoramic images. As someone who teaches a variety of workshops, including that for panoramic photography, I thought I should sample software which students could get for free, as with the current economic conditions don’t allow for many to purchase a lot of software. So in my search I came across Hugin Panoramic software.  

If you are familiar with PTGui, Hugin is not a long stretch to learn. The interface looks very similar. It’s as simple as selecting your images, entering the focal length, and the crop factor of your camera. Click align, then create panoramic. Granted, this is if your images have the detail to create control points, which will easily connect the images. If not you will have to go through and add control points. This was, in my opinion, easier than the PTGui interface, and quite straight forward. After you have them aligned you can go to the output to let Hugin know what you are looking for, like a Tiff or Jpg or HDR (which needs work).

Most of my Panoramic images are in HDR. I did have a host of issues, which have never really been a problem with PTGui. I just found I had to process them differently. In PTGui, I stitch together all my HDR images then I tonemap the entire Panoramic. I found the software just kept giving me errors and with no result. So I decided to tonemap the individual images with the same settings then went to PTGui to stitch the Tonemapped Tiff together. Finally, after several hours of not getting anywhere stitching HDR images, this method worked, despite what the software was said to be capable of. It did a fairly good job, just on area in my Panoramic was a little ghosting. I figure with a little more time in making adjustments to the area with the ghosting to check the control points, I might have been able to fix it.  

For free software, Hugin works fairly well and is very close in style to PTGui. If you started out with Hugin, and you found that you wanted to upgrade to a $220 software because you become a panoramic photographer, the learning curve is small. If you were to switch to something like AutoPano, the software is a bit different in the interface. I did use the 64 bit version of Hugin, as the 32 bit crashed pretty quickly. However, I was pushing it with large HDR images, which didn’t have the best contrast. After the images were tonemapped for HDR the software has an easy time finding control points.  

You have to play with the software to get a feel for it, but I would definitely recommend it for those who want to save on Panoramic software. I will be making sure all my workshop students use it if they don’t have access to PTGui or AutoPano.  I will be reviewing some Free HDR software soon  for other workshops I create. As I know software accessibility for some is very limited. I have been finding open source software, which I have been very impressed by. If you have recommendations for any open source software, please leave a comment.  

Furthermore, I would like to let people know who teach workshops, that there is a brand-new  website for posting creative workshops. They are giving away free posting to the first 50 people that contact them directly then they offer a trial of $10 for 6 months which then goes to $15 per month to continue to post. They are looking to build their workshop listing as it is a brand-new  site. I paid the $10 for six months to help pay for the work for them to post. I believe in Donating to a good thing, including Open source software. It can take up to 48 hours to post your workshop, but the great thing is, they don’t take a cut of what you charge for a workshop. I have done tutoring, where the tutoring company takes 40%, ouch! Check them out at ArtsAZ.com. If your cities is not listed, they will add it. 

Food Photography with Penny De Los Santo - Another Free Webinar

Ok, I always seem to get this out as it happens. I thought this week I would post it early, so people who would like to see a free weekend Seminar on food photography can catch it. I am a big fan of Photographer Chase Jarvis and his brain child CreativeLIVE. They have Free weekend webinars,  where you can learn so much from industry pros. I have learned so much on different topics which I have had an interest in and have never explored. Furthermore, as a self taught photographer you can miss effects along the way, and these Webinars have filled in the gaps for me. All of these webinars are free. You can purchase the weekend webinar which allows you to download the full three days so you can review it repeatedly.  I have purchased two myself as I wanted to get the full three days, but couldn't sit through them as I had prior obligations. However, I can pull them up anytime I want. If you do end up purchasing a webinar, do it before the actual one end if you can as it will save you $50.

May 13 begins the latest one Food Photography with Penny De Los Santos. Another Webinar I think would be fascinating. I personally have wanted to do food photography as I and most people have a complete love for food. These webinars, go through the how to, tip and tricks, and what to know when you are doing the photography of food. If you already do some food photography, this may give you other great ideas and perspectives you haven't thought of.

If anything, I think Photographers should make contact with the CreativeLIVE site, so that they can get free educational courses, on things that may interest them. They always have something new and interesting coming up, and if you are like me, a person who loves to learn. This may just be for you. 

Click here for the CreativeLIVE  Calendar for future free Webinars.

Foundations of a Working Photographer with Zack Arias - Another great CreativeLive Webinar.

I have now watched most of the first of three days of this great webinar. I have been shooting for 10 years and never really had any Photo classes.  Yes, self taught. However, as a self taught, we get selective on what we read and sometimes miss those important technical aspects that they may cover in a College Photography class, but really don't know if they do. Zack brings all your fuzziness around most aspects of Photography into a focused view. Day one is knowing your Camera, your Lens and Subject. I have clarified things I was a bit unsure of, but you don't think about until you are in the moment.  

If you have a chance catch the next two days. If you miss the free webinar, they offer a download after it's complete for $149.00. However, if you wanted to know all the important aspects of Photography, and you didn't want to sit through a whole semester of classes, then this is for you. And it would be cheaper than that class at the local university. Check it out and if not check out the next Free CreativeLive Webinar!

He really doesn't come across like he does in this Video Trailer. Actually very down to Earth. 

Zack's Blog: http://www.zarias.com/

Zack's Website: http://zackarias.com/

Zack's Workshops: http://zackarias.com/workshop/

CreativeLIVE Webinar (FREE): tomorrow 10-5 (Saturday April 30 & Sunday May 1 )

Free Video Stream with Vincent Laforet on Chase Jarvis: Live

Vincent Laforet on Chase Jarvis: Live

Chase Jarvis: live, takes an inside look when talking to Vincent Laforet. They sit and discuss the in's and out's of film and video production. Vincent talks about his move from photography to video direction. He talks about his technical background moving into the creative side and letting go of the technical to get the best out of his creative. He and Chase discuss using the correct camera for the job, in other words, a red is not always the best camera sometimes it might be a 5D or something else. The lesson here is there is no one size that fits all, and knowing your equipment is important to get the best out of what you have. They both talk about how learning goes on, and how they develop and evolve into new forms and areas within their expanding fields. Part of really growing and learning is to be comfortable not knowing and let the ego go. This will allow you to ask questions and gather information to develop new areas of interest in the field of photography and video. They also talked about the need to et past the stigma, that we have to know how to do everything. We don't have it all, but we can surround ourselves with the people who do and the understanding of techniques can help you but not knowing will not prevent you. They also discuss the need to hustle to get the job, but that it's not a bad thing. You just have to be driven. There's so much competition if you want it, you have to go get it. The only down fall I saw (or heard) was that they were having some audio difficulties with crackling that was rather annoying. They seem to fix it for a while but then it came back and went. Once you get past that it was well worth watching.

This was a very interesting live stream that I would have recommended to anyone who has an interest in photography or video to catch. Vincent will be doing a three day FREE Workshop: HDDSLR - Moving From Still to Video with Vincent Laforet. The workshop starts Friday, March 4 and goes through March 6. You can register online or pre-purchase the course online for $99. The creativeLIVE workshops are free and give great information, or if it's a interview a can be very inspirational as it makes you want to grab your gear and try something new. If you're not a member of creativeLIVE I strongly urge you to join for their free workshops. Chase Jarvis is a wealth of information, and he brings others which have a great amount of information to aspiring photographers and videographers.