$ 140 Or So Getsya

It gets ya either :

a. 12 months prepaid Lightroom and Photoshop on the Creative Cloud system. Good deal when you have internet access and want to do the more extensive image editing that PS is known for. You'll need to do a little more study and practise with PS than with PSE but the results acan be more controllable for some people. Of course Lightroom may be all you need for 95% of the images that you take - if you don't need to get out the electronic scissors and paste pot them LR is the go.

b. One-time for always purchase of Photoshop Elements 14. A slightly less complex version of Photoshop with enough processing power for most amateur and enthusiast users. capable of exhibition or self-publishing standards, though. This blog and many others depends upon PSE processing.

These products, like so many others these days, are available via internet downloading with the appropriate licensing numbers. We sell the cards for this, and for a number of other Adobe products, at the front counter. Some of the other things are quite extensive - ask our experts for advice about your level of processing.

The Annual Leap Of Faith

Spring is here, the grass is riz. I wonder where the annual update to Photoshop Elements is...

Ah, It's on the net. Just announced today in fact. I daresay we'll get some boxed sets of them fairly shortly...but don't ring me up this morning to ask when because I don't know.
Suffice it to say that if you are banging out your work on an older version, this might be a good investment.

I fit into the banging away category - I started my digital adolescence with the Elements 3 version - got free with a scaner. Then I bought Elements 6, and eventually went to Elements 10. Each one was separated far enough in generation to encompass real improvements while retaining most of the useful features of the past.

Note that I said " most " - in between 6 and 10 they ditched some paste-in graphics that they considered tired. In reality they were useful - I am going to go back and capture them and store them for future use. You can never tell when you'll need a Drum Majorette's cap to put onto a bridesmaid...

The new Photoshop Elements 12 seems to have additional features that move items in the picture and then fill in the backdrop behind them. Very useful for street and event photography. There is also an improvement to the straighten tool that settles the horizon and then fills in the little wedge-shaped blank areas at the side with similar content to the main subject.

I am also looking forward to an automatic colour correct that has the capability to learn your preferences and to slap it on at a click. I hope to use other plug-ins to custom craft a look that I can teach to the Photoshop Elements 12 - then I'll just go straight to it for a 50's look. You can do that with the plug-ins now but you are bouncing back and forward to do it. One stop shop is the go.

Is this program prestigious and complex enough for your photographic business? If you need prestige and complexity to sell your services go for the full PS6 Cloud and add a host of special layers and curves and extra operations. The clients will notice, or not, as the case may be...Make sure you tell them about how you spend hours at the computer hand-crafting their images.

Make sure they don't ever get to see what your editing desktop really looks like. Coffee cup rings on your laptop never look good. Especially when they are on the screen...

The Importance of Digital Grey Cards and Digital Colour Cards

You may have noticed a few weeks ago that we announced the Digital Image Flow compact grey cards are now in stock.  These credit card size little cards are super handy and can save you hours of post production when you are trying to get your levels just right, the kit includes one grey, one white and on black card along with a secure lanyard to keep them all together.

We now also have in stock from Digital Image Flow the superbly useful and accurate  Digital Colour Card.  This card allows you to calibrate your camera and means that RAW files from your camera will be consistently accurate in terms of colour reproductions and tone.

All you need to do is make a RAW file from this card and then download the Photoshop scripts and follow some simple instructions.

Complete colour calibration solutions are important if you want to avoid the huge amounts of time needed in post trying to fix colours which just aren't quite right.  The less time you spend between capture and print means more time shooting, some simple colour management before you shoot can save hours down the road!

Digital Image Flow Grey Cards New to Stock

Digital Image Flow grey cards are the biggest selling white balance/grey card in the world.  They are durable, compact and extremely accurate.

Apart from the obvious application of colour balance, the Digital Image Flow grey Card can also be used as a device for reflective ambient light and flash readings.  

Check out this short film for real life examples of the importance of accurate color balance!

Camera Electronic now stocks these superb little devices so hurry down and pick one up.