Land Rover Event Huge Success

This week saw the first of two Land Rover based ‘live shoot’ seminars take place, led by UK automotive and commercial advertising photographer Tim Wallace. This first event was the largest that Calumet had ever been involved with and it took place at the Land Rover plant in Birmingham earlier this week. The event was a sell out and the select group of mainly professional photographers were led through a 2 day course consisting of a ‘live shoot’ with Tim on the first day and then a comprehensive day in the class room to discuss techniques, workflow and post capture routines.

Tim – “This year I wanted to extend the format on our Land Rover events as I felt that photographers still had many questions once the live shoot was completed so we decided to extend this year to a 2 day platform. It’s a pretty intense few days for everybody including me in truth but the feed back that we have received from this first event on the new platform is very positive indeed and I’m looking forward to us enjoying more success working with Land Rover. Our next Land Rover event will be later this year on October 14th and 15th and will be held at the Halewood plant near Liverpool. It’s been a great 2 days and the support that I receive from our suppliers such as Hassleblad and Profoto really makes for a great experience for all those that attend, this time we had the new Hasselblad H4 for people to use doing the 1st day shooting out in the field as well as the latest lightweight field lighting solutions from the Profoto team.

Feedback from this weeks event

This event was a real success for us all, with all the customers sending us positive feedback. 100% excellent feedback on the score questions which is unheard of for any UK seminar event in our long history of seminars, a hands down success.
Francesca Munden, Calumet Marketing

Really really grateful for 2 days. For me photographically it’s a life-changing event, no question. I learned so much. Hope to see you at future events.
Steve Oxley

Tim hi, wanted to say thank you for your time over the last couple of days, very much appreciated and hugely valued. I’m sure everyone feels the same and I know I learnt a great deal and would leap at any opportunities to do something similar again.
I thought you where very generous with your information and very encouraging, really felt you wanted to help everyone as much as possible. I still think your work is exceptional, simply breathtaking and the fact that you use photoshop so little to achieve what you do is still staggering, my mind is still churning over everything you said and showed us!
David Lund

I just wanted to drop you an email to say a huge thank you for a truly fantastic couple of days shooting and editing with you. The course exceeded my every expectation and not wanting to entirely blow smoke up the proverbial was truly inspirational! I’m already feverishly examining ever car I see thinking about light bouncing of angles and shapes, my girlfriend has had the tour of your site including lengthy explanations about the lack of photoshop!! A combination of elements that you focused on have really resonated with me, control , precision , accuracy and skill all at camera level, something finally clicked and with out a shadow of a doubt car photography is the area I want to develop and hone my skills at. I feel genuinely reinvigorated toward the craft!
Thanks again for a truly inspirational couple of days.
David Hall

Just a quick line to say thanks very much for the last two days at Land Rover. The two days were exactly what I was looking for and all expectations were fully met. I particularly liked the relaxed pace, and the opportunity for informal chatting over a meal was priceless. Thanks!
Be warned, it is now highly likely that I will come along to the Morgan shoot in July!
Mike Roberts

Tim will be holding a further Land Rover ‘Live Shoot’ 2 day event later this year in Halewood at the Land Rover plant that will be in the same format and we expect this to sell out very quickly, those wishing to book on to this event should do so as soon as possible to avoid missing their chance and can do so at Calumet Events Online

 

CS5 the new dawning…

20 years after the first Photoshop was unveiled, CS5 is launched with many new and improved features

Adobe have unveiled the latest edition of their popular image editing software. Photoshop CS5 includes new features such as Content Aware Scaling and has made improvements on older features. Also unveiling Creative Suite 5, Photoshop will be available as both a standalone programme or as part of the suite.

Press release:

London, UK — April 12, 2010 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Photoshop® CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended software, must-have releases of the professional industry standard for digital imaging. With millions of users celebrating the product’s 20th anniversary this year, Photoshop CS5 builds upon a rich history of innovation and leadership with groundbreaking features and performance gains that boost creativity and workflow efficiency. Packing in more technological advancements from Adobe Labs than any other release and incorporating enhancements to everyday tasks requested by the Photoshop community, the software has greater intelligence and awareness of the content within images, allowing for complex and magical manipulation in just a few clicks. Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended delivers everything in Photoshop CS5, as well as advanced tools for 3-D which address the unique needs of the video, Web, medical, manufacturing and engineering industries.

Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended will be available as stand-alone applications or key components of the Adobe Creative Suite® 5 family (see separate releases).

“The past two decades have demonstrated an amazing interplay between customers who want to push the limits of their personal creativity and a passionate team of Adobe engineers who make those visions a reality,” said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for professional digital imaging at Adobe. “We experienced this firsthand when we posted a ‘sneak peek’ video of the team’s work on the Content Aware Fill feature a few weeks ago. It quickly became the number one viral video online, with close to 2 million views and its ‘magic’ was one of the top trending Twitter topics of discussion. This version of Photoshop has some of the most innovative and extraordinary technologies to ever come from our labs and clearly customers are already clamouring for it.”

Redefining the Image-Editing Experience

Now a native 64-bit application on both Mac and Windows®, Photoshop CS5 delivers superior tools and creative control so users can perform advanced image manipulations and compositing with ease. Revolutionary image intelligence behind Content-Aware Fill magically removes any image detail or object, examines the surroundings and seamlessly fills in the space left behind. Lighting, tone and noise of the surrounding area match perfectly, looking as if the removed content never existed. New Refine Edge makes nearly-impossible image selections possible. This innovative technology precisely detects and masks the trickiest types of edges, such as hair and foliage, while eliminating background colour contamination.

For photographers, Photoshop CS5 now offers next-generation high dynamic range (HDR) capabilities. When combining multiple exposures into a single HDR image, Photoshop CS5 preserves the full tonal range of a scene with unprecedented speed and accuracy. The new HDR Pro offers exceptional ghost artefact removal and greater tone mapping and adjustment control. With HDR toning, users can emulate the striking look of an HDR image with any single-exposure image.

Photoshop CS5 provides revolutionary tools that maximise users’ creative impact. Breakthrough painting capabilities include a Mixer Brush that blends an infinite combination of colours onto a single paintbrush tip, and Bristle Tips that offer lifelike brush strokes. Puppet Warp gives users the power to precisely reposition or warp any image element, such as straightening a bent arm in a photo or manipulating the landscape to generate a new perspective.

“Since its inception, Adobe Photoshop has been a key tool for pre-and post-production work in the motion picture industry,” said Jon Landau, Academy Award winning producer of Avatar and Titanic. “With Photoshop CS5 Extended, Adobe gives filmmakers new painting, HDR and 3-D tools that will help them push the limits of creativity. Faster performance with cross-platform 64-bit support and tight integration with other Adobe Creative Suite 5 software makes Photoshop CS5 an even more powerful tool in a filmmaker’s arsenal. Photoshop empowers filmmakers and creative professionals in virtually every other industry to turn their imagined ideas into onscreen reality.”

Community Involvement Drives Enhancements

In addition, more than 30 features and enhancements requested directly by the Photoshop community have been added to this release, including automatic image straightening, rule-of-thirds crop tool, colour picker and the ability to save 16-bit images as JPEGs. The goal of this engineering effort was to address seemingly minor enhancements that directly impact everyday workflow, but aren’t always at the top of the development list for a new release. A new customisable Adobe Mini Bridge panel is also available directly in the software for faster file browsing and management.

Taking 3D and Motion to the Next Level

Photoshop CS5 Extended includes everything in Photoshop CS5 plus tools for editing 3D and motion-based content. With new Adobe Repoussé technology, users can easily create 3D logos and artwork from any text layer, shape or mask, as well as twist, rotate and extrude designs for different looks. To mirror the realism and appearance of 3D objects, a new materials library offers a breadth of rich options, including chrome, glass and cork. Users can also enhance the appearance of 3D objects by quickly creating shadows with the new shadow catcher. For motion content, tools including paint, text and clone can be used directly over multiple frames of a video sequence with ease using single-key shortcuts.

Adobe Photoshop Family

Building upon the 20-year history of Photoshop innovation and leadership, Adobe offers a line of Photoshop solutions for every level of user. Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended software are at the heart of the Photoshop family, providing unrivalled power and editing freedom. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® addresses the workflow needs of serious, amateur and professional photographers, helping them find, manage, enhance and showcase images in powerful ways. Adobe Photoshop Elements software provides accessible tools and sharing options for photo enthusiasts. Snap-shooters can quickly and easily share and edit photos with simple gestures using the free Photoshop.com Mobile application on their iPhone or Android™ devices. Photoshop.com completes the Photoshop line providing an online photo sharing, editing and hosting resource for all.

Photoshop CS5 Pricing and Availability

Adobe Photoshop CS5 and CS5 Extended are scheduled to ship within 30 days with availability through Adobe Authorised Resellers, the Adobe Store and Adobe Direct Sales. Estimated street price for Adobe Photoshop CS5 is £548 (ex-VAT) and £794 (ex-VAT) for Photoshop CS5 Extended. Upgrade pricing and volume licensing are available. For more detailed information about features, OS support, upgrade policies and pricing, please visit www.adobe.com/uk/products/photoshop/family/

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionises how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium.

Adobe Announces Lightroom 2.7

Adobe today announced the Lightroom 2.7, Photoshop Camera Raw 5.7 and DNG Converter 5.7 Release Candidates, available for immediate download on Adobe Labs. The updates add raw file support for nine new popular camera models, including the Canon EOS 550D, Sony A450 and Olympus E-PL1. A full list of the newly supported cameras is below.
The term ‘release candidate’ indicates the updates are well tested but would benefit from additional community testing. Adobe encourages photographers to try out the newly added raw file support in this update and provide the product team with feedback so they can create the highest quality experience for customers working on a variety of hardware and software configurations.
Photoshop Lightroom software is today’s digital photography workflow solution, allowing photographers to quickly import, process, manage and showcase images. The Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in provides fast and easy access within Photoshop to the raw image formats produced by many leading digital cameras. Adobe’s Digital Negative (DNG) format is a publicly available archival format for the raw files generated by digital cameras.
The Lightroom 2.7 Release Candidate is available as a free download for Lightroom 2 customers, and the Photoshop Camera Raw 5.7 Release Candidate is available as a free download for Photoshop CS4 customers. The DNG Converter 5.7 Release Candidate is also available as a free download for all customers. Click here for more information and to test out the updates: http://labs.adobe.com/. Feedback can be provided on the Adobe User to User forum (http://forums.adobe.com).
In addition, photographers can also participate in the Lightroom 3 beta program and try out the new features in Lightroom 3 beta 2 for free.

To learn more and download Lightroom 3 beta 2 visit:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom3/

Newly Supported Camera Models
Canon EOS 550D (Digital Rebel T2i/ EOS Kiss X4 Digital)
Kodak Z981
Leaf Aptus-II 8
Leaf Aptus-II 10R
Mamiya DM40
Olympus E-PL1
Panasonic G2
Panasonic G10
Sony A450

Victor Magazine – April 2010

Today sees the launch of the April Edition of the infamous Victor magazine by Hasselblad and features the work of UK based commercial photographer Tim Wallace.

Victor April 2010

Tim Wallace flew out to Hamburg as a guest of the World famous Victor magazine recently in Germany for two days to be interviewed by the magazine as he has been selected to be profiled for his work and creativity in the field of automotive photography. In keeping with the Hasselblad philosophy of developing products of outstanding quality that are ahead of their time, and celebrating the 100th anniversary of Victor Hasselblad’s birth, the magazine showcases the work of selected photographers from around the World and looks in depth at who they really are. Victor is regarded by the professional community as a both exciting and visually stimulating magazine in a large, professional format, and it has proved a huge success amongst top class photographers since its launch in the autumn of 2006. Recently in order to allow a wider audience to enjoy this exclusive publication in the future, Hasselblad announced that Victor would be launched in an online version – providing all the content and all the quality of the paper version, plus the advantages of an online publication with an interactive media facility the enables readers to search all articles and content from the current issue, access tutorials and behind the scenes videos as well as Victor Podcasts. In addition, those wishing to get closer to some of the world’s finest photography will be able to zoom in on image details thanks to the large format quality of the online PDFs that are made available to subscribers. The magazine is very much seen to be one of the most exclusive and desirable publications within the photography community and each year receives requests from over 3,000 professional photographers to have their work viewed and considered for publication.

Stephan Bittner

Stephan Bittner (Editor and Architect for Victor Magazine) – “Each year I see thousands of images, we are sent them on a daily basis quite literally. What I get excited about is when I see something new, something that I have not seen before, at Victor we really strive to bring new photography to our readers and of course also look at the photographer themselves, who they are, what makes them tick. I first saw Tim’s work late last year and had heard his name mentioned by several people for his automotive photography, when I saw it I knew we needed to get him over to Germany to find out more about the man behind these incredibly moody images. Even if you don’t like cars you can’t help being drawn into some of Tim’s work. I met with him along with our writing staff and I have to admit that there is a lot more behind him than I’d expected, it’s a great story and we will be aiming for release in June for our readers to enjoy. I would also point out that next time we meet I hope his baggage makes it, it’s a long story!…

Tim Wallace

” Tim- “Being invited over to Germany to be interviewed by Victor was something that came out of blue for me in truth and at first I pretty much thought that maybe they had the wrong guy…lol It’s not really something that you need to think about when an opportunity arises like that and of course I feel very humbled to be asked to be featured. My work is very important to me and anybody who has met me professionally as a client or as a guest at one of my seminars will tell you that once you get me started on the subject of passionate photography it’s hard to get me to stop! I went out to Hamburg for two days for the interview and really wished that I could have stayed a little longer if not simply to enjoy the city of Hamburg in winter, its a very beautiful place, especially at night when the lake is frozen and the local community take to the ice skating and enjoying the evening together as well as all the good eating and drinking to be had! I spent the day with Stephan and his writing team as we discussed my background, my approach, my visions for the future and where I saw my work in the years ahead. One of the hardest things I think in the day was trying to select the portfolio, I’m glad to say that we did manage this in the end and the feature will I feel reflect a good mix of my style which I’m very happy about. All in all the day seemed to go quite quickly and I have to mention that Victor has it’s own bar right next to the meeting rooms which is sheer genius, for a hot coffee of course! My time at Victor was rounded off with myself being invited to a group celebration meal with the guys from Victor and where we were joined by the MD’s of Hasselblad UK and Germany, Chris Russell Fish and Uwe Moebus. A great night and given that I’d been on the go since 2am with flights etc and my bags had been left in a different country to me I have to say that I didn’t notice that it was 3am by the time we bid each other farewell!”

Victor Magazine