My Favorite Things...

First let me apologize for the lack of post yesterday - and yes, I'm depressed about the outcome, but mercifully, most games will be on Saturday when I don't blog anyway....

So on to My Favorite Things...

No not in life silly, it's the favorite things that help me do whatever it is that I do here. (In no particular order)

Adobe Photoshop
I fell out of love with photography in college because I couldn't afford the film and processing. I fell back in love with it when I mastered Photoshop 5.5 (thanks to Scott Kelby - see below). I've been in love with both (photography and photoshop - not Scott, because that would just be weird) ever since.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
What Photoshop did to rekindle my passion for photography, Lightroom came along and stole! I now do 85% of my image processing in Lightroom, and most images never see Photoshop. Now Photoshop still has a loving place in my heart and I still use it daily, but the routine processing I do on my images is all done in Lightroom now.

And I've noticed this strange phenomenon, if you tell someone you ran an image through Photoshop to clean it up - they immediately assume you "created" and "fabricated" your way into a nice image. For whatever reason, if people see a nice image now they assume it was "Photoshopped." I hear things like, "You must have Photoshopped that picture," or "wow that's beautiful, did you use Photoshop?" But tell them you processed that image in Lightroom without going into Photoshop at all, and they stare in disbelief and say things like, "That's a really nice image," or "You're a really good photographer." It really cracks me up.

Canon "L" series Glass
Particularly the 85mm, the 70-200mm, the 16-35mm, and the 24-70mm - L-O-V-E them!

PocketWizards
They're more expensive than other options, but world-class leaders in my book. Would buy them everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.

Scott Kelby
Wow. How do you sum up what this man has done for my career and abilities. I'm an Adobe Certified Instructor, Photographer, NAPP member, pretty decent Photoshop'er, blogger, Photowalker, trainer, and even help orphans in Kenya - all directly because of this man. He's a legend, a master, and from all accounts of speaking with his friends - a darn nice guy to boot, and one day I sincerely hope to call him "friend" as well.

David Hobby
No one has done more for lighting in photography than Mr. Hobby. An inspiration on so many levels.

and finally, NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals)
I'm a fiercely loyal member - recommend them to all my students, take my students to every workshop that comes near us, and strongly encourage everyone I know in the biz to join. Most do - have you?!?

Mpix
You guys and gals have heard me rave about them before. Still can't recommend them enough!

I'll see you on Monday,
Chris