20May

A great deal for Photoshop lite

Love me some Costco – great deals, yummy food, quality products. While shopping there with my daughters last weekend, I couldn’t help but notice the great deal Costco has for Adobe’s Photoshop Elements.


Most list the product for $139 (including Adobe), maybe as low as $99, but Costco has it for $79.99.


They only have it for Windows (didn’t see a Mac version there), but so many of you are on PCs, and it’s a great program to own. A must have piece of software for many photo enthusiasts wanting to get into Photoshop, but not interested in shelling out a ton for the full CS4 version -a version where they may only use a small percentage of the amazing functions available.


Click this link to see the software on Costco’s site: Costco-Adobe PS Elements

Enjoy Photogurus and Photoguruesses….
21Nov

Affection for my Master Collection

I finally landed my copy of Adobe’s Master Collection which launched in late September, and I can’t wait to get started! Yahooie.


I’m mainly looking forward to using all the new jammin’ functions in Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.1 (Lightroom doesn’t come with Master Collection), but Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection comes with a ton of programs:

From video to stills, graphics to design, audio to html, the Master Collection is everything a multi-media person could desire. I use Dreamweaver CS3 since moving over from GoLive CS2, but lookin’ forward to Dreamweaver CS4 for new updated web design. Photoshop CS4 Extended also has a new 3D object painting which sounds like a fantastic feature – who says we need to shoot all product colors from here out?! There’s many new aspects of Bridge and Camera Raw that simplify Photoshop functions, allowing you to get a ton of work done before even opening and processing the file.

There’s a ton to go through, but I hope to add updates over the next few months on all the new cool features. The main programs I’ll start with are Photoshop CS4, Bridge CS4, Dreamweaver CS4, and Indesign CS4.

Stay tuned groovy photo dudes and dudettes.
23Sep

Google Earth is the best, true that, double true!

Last week, while on my way to a Seattle Mariner game at Safeco Field, I was walking through downtown Seattle with a friend who pointed out the tallest building in Washington.  “It use to be the tallest building west of the Mississippi”, he stated.  Moving close to the front facade, I pointed my wide-angle lens up toward the sky and captured this image- we were trying to make the first pitch of the ball game, so I didn’t spend much time trying to find out more about the location, however I knew I could license the image to a publication or two at a later time, or turn it over to my stock agency to do the same.


Off we went and I didn’t think much about the image until it showed up on my computer in Adobe Bridge (Photoshop’s media manager for imagery and RAW digital files).  Opening the graphic shot, I came to like it more and realized I hadn’t gathered enough information for a solid caption.  Off to Google Earth– an jammin’ free Mac/PC application that let’s you go anywhere on Earth- one of those scary I-hope-the-terrorists-don’t-get-into-this programs allowing you to fly over mountains, view any landscape at any angle and elevation, and navigate through cities past three-dimensional buildings.  It’s addicting for sure. 

So I typed in Seattle and in a few seconds found my original location of this photo- through links and information on the building I was able to gather all the facts and figures I needed.  

The Columbia Center, the building on the right (along Fourth & Fifth Avenues and Cherry & Columbia Streets) is the tallest skyscraper in the downtown Seattle skyline at 937 feet.  It is also the 19th tallest in the US- constructed in 1982 and completed in 1985. The building on the left is the Seattle Municipal Tower

, 62 stories high, completed in 1990 (designed by Bassetti Architects).

I hadn’t played around enough with the 3D city views in Google Earth and was so amazed by it, I decided to see if I could recreate the view I captured in this virtual globe platform. Sure enough, after a little finageling, I was able to get it pretty close- I’d say close enough.

Wow.  Our world in real-time, available for so many educational functions including a travel photographer gathering caption info for his commercial business.
16Feb

Back in Podcast-land with info & updates




Finally jumping back into another PhotoGuru Podcast after being loaded down the past few months finishing a 65,000 word, 225-page book on Exposure.  It is due out later this year, entitled “The BetterPhoto Guide to Exposure“, and published by Amphoto, a division of Watson-Guptill (now Random House)


It’s gonna be a great book, I’m very proud of it, and if you want to get a grip on photographic exposure, pick up a copy- I’ll also be glad to sign any copies if I run into you at a workshop, event, lecture, or book signing.

The book is up on Amazon.com for pre-orders @:
http://www.amazon.com/seanarbabi

or at Target:
http://www.target.com/BetterPhoto-Guide-Exposure/dp/0817435549

My blog/podcast is a shortie but a goodie as far as Podcasts go, with updates on my travels, shoots, workshops, and more.  I’ve also included two images tying into my podcast.  The first is a screenshot of Adobe Bridge, part of Photoshop CS3 and a place to view image files before opening them.

The second image is an older sunset image from Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, near Yaki Point at the South Kaibab trailhead.  The original image was well-exposed, but the film could not handle the wide range from sunset highlights to shadow detail in the canyon, so I re-worked it in Photoshop CS3 to pull out more detail and a wider dynamic range of light.

Listen away folks- peace, love, and cashflow homies….