April 27, 2010 by
Mike Hoffman
On Sunday, I had the great fortune to make a road trip down to southwest Florida to visit Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, along with two friends from NAPP, Michael White and Bob Arlen. The late spring is generally a good time in Florida for birding, and we hoped to get a chance to exercise our photographic muscles. Rather than head out the night before, we toughed it and left our respective homes prior to 4am (!) in order to make it to the sanctuary by opening time of 7am. The weather cooperated, as the powerful storms that were threatening Florida held off until later Sunday night.
The tone was set for excitement as we spotted an 8-point buck near the park entrance. Deer that size are rare in Florida! We proceeded into the sanctuary, cameras ready and with bated breath. Alas, two natural occurrences prevented the day form being everything it promised: due to the cold Florida winter, there had been no wood stork nesting activity in the Sanctuary this year, and due to the unusually wet winter, there was a lot of water everywhere – so instead of the birds congregating in the center of the swamp, there were very few wading birds in sight.
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April 20, 2010 by admin
Technology can be a great enabler, but it can also be a challenge. This week, I visited Seattle for the first time, and decided to embrace both sides of the coin. My mission; my challenge: a travel blog created entirely with my iPhone.
I like to bring my DSLR with me on trips (when possible) and I had it this time. But, I opted to favor my phone for photos. In addition, I made use of the Phone’s GPS and apps wherever practical. The results are here in this blog post.
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April 8, 2010 by admin
The 3D effects are incredible! The taste… “whatever…” [via]
by admin
As I mentioned yesterday, Adobe will conduct their official global launch of Creative Suite 5 on Monday, April 12… at 8am PDT. Here’s the great part – once the announcement and launch is official, those of us who’ve been testing the beta version of the software will be able to talk about it openly and in depth. And, that means tutorials galore!
Hoffman Art Design has teamed with some exciting partners to provide a stream of high quality tutorial information, starting Tuesday, April 13, over at the TipSquirrel blog. I’m proud to join Tim Shelbourne, Janine Smith, Justin Seeley and A.J. Wood in providing a suite of education to help ease your migration to the latest Adobe platform!
Stay tuned!
April 6, 2010 by admin
There has been a lot of buzz and anticipation over Adobe’s imminent announcement of their newest version of the Creative Suite, CS5. However, Adobe still has a few tricks up their sleeve in the meanwhile! Just announced today over at Adobe Labs:
All that, on top of the already available applications in Beta:
All told, the development teams at Adobe have given us a boatload of new stuff to play with. And with the CS5 announcement just days away, stand by for much more to come! Way to go, Adobe!!
by admin
As I mentioned last week, I’ve been a traveling fool so far this year. And, back at the end of January, I kicked off an around-the-world trip with a visit to the island of Penang, Malaysia. Located on the western coast of Malaysia, a few hundred miles south of the border with Thailand, Penang is an island of about 400 square miles and is home to both a booming manufacturing industry as well a a small but interesting agricultural segment.
Penang is an interesting place, with deep ties to British colonialism as well as its roots of Malay, Thai, Indian and Chinese culture. Once known as the Pearl of the Orient for its beauty and tranquility, Penang today is a juxtaposition of modern technology and industry with ancient and primitive traditions.
Penang is one of my favorite places in the world, due to its variety of cultures, interesting and often eclectic mix of new and old, and especially its food!
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April 5, 2010 by admin
Well, after posting this morning’s post on Photoshop Blend Modes, I ran across this… which seemed relevant in a sort of twisted way The new Apple iPad went on sale this past Saturday, and the question is, “will it blend?” The answer seems to be – not if you’re in your right mind!
Like the warning says, “do not try this at home!”
I think I like Photoshop’s blending much better…
by admin
If you’re using Photoshop, and aren’t familiar with the Blending Modes available for use within this powerful program, you are missing out! Blend modes can apply to layers, but can also be used in conjunction with various tools, layer effects and other parts of Photoshop.
I’ve been running through a series of tutorials on the Photoshop Blend Modes over on TipSquirel.com, and I encourage you to drop by to take a look at the possibilities that Blend Modes can bring to the creative party! Head over now to see what you’ve been missing:
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April 2, 2010 by admin
As I mentioned yesterday, my little unplanned afternoon by the bay turned into a most enjoyable birding expedition. Besides the photo opportunities, I had great fun explaining to my 2-1/2 year old granddaughter what was going on with the Reddish Egret you see below. As you may know from experience or from one of my earlier postings, Reddish Egrets are very animated when fishing, running and trotting in circles in shallow water with their wings out, in what is known as “canopy fishing”
We had a gleeful time watching the antics, and then he stopped directly in front of us, stared, and proceeded to shake himself vigorously. Click! I was able to catch these shots. The light was fading, so there is a good bit of motion blur, but I still like the shots!
These images were processed in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS5. I’d like to give Lightroom 3 a shot at the noise, but I haven’t had time to install the beta version yet.
Tune in tomorrow for some travel photos!
April 1, 2010 by admin
Just when I was lamenting my lack of time for birding, I had one of those moments! My wife and I packed our granddaughter in the car and headed for North Shore Drive in Saint Petersburg, and luckily I brought the camera. For, what should happen to appear, in the golden hour before sunset, but two beautiful roseate spoonbills. And a reddish egret, in full breeding plumage and playful splendor.
Here are a couple of shots of the spoonbills; I’ll post some of the egret tomorrow.
Beautiful birds, aren’t they? These were processed in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS5, with a tiny bit of help from Topaz Adjust (just an accent). Enjoy!
On Sunday, I had the great fortune to make a road trip down to southwest Florida to visit Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, along with two friends from NAPP, Michael White and Bob Arlen. The late spring is generally a good time in Florida for birding, and we hoped to get a chance to exercise our photographic muscles. Rather than head out the night before, we toughed it and left our respective homes prior to 4am (!) in order to make it to the sanctuary by opening time of 7am. The weather cooperated, as the powerful storms that were threatening Florida held off until later Sunday night.
