New Photography Exhibition by Robert Ash begins August 5 – and First Major Show for ARTtrust in US!

July 26, 2011 For Immediate Release:

Photographer Robert Ash’ newest exhibition will be held at the historic Jayhawk Theater’s Upstage Gallery located in Topeka, Kansas, USA. It starts August 5 and runs for two months. It is Mr. Ash’ first major, solo exhibition, and it is the first major show for the ARTtrust identification, authentication, and security solution in the US!

The exhibit will showcase Mr.Ash’ high-end, hand-printed fine art landscape and travel images, all printed archival-quality, on 100% museum-quality cotton rag paper, framed with 8-ply conservation-grade mats, museum-standard reflection-free glass, premier local suppliers to support the local economy – and ARTtrust Bubble Tags™ to protect the authenticity of his work.

Robert Ash was the first major photographer to purchase ARTtrust Bubble Tag™ technology in the United States. (see more at arttrustonline.com ). “Our company’s high-end photographic artworks deserve the very finest protection for the art collectors who invest in them,” explains Robert Ash. “Being formally trained in computer science, I love new technology that enhances value. ARTtrust Bubble Tag™ technology is by far the most innovative and effective authentication technology for artwork that I have ever seen. And provably authentic artwork is always more valuable to collectors.”

In 2010 he won a Merit Award and 1st Place in the Weddings category with his first entry in a print competition, and has gone on to win 11 professional awards in just the past 16 months, including a number of merit awards and first place showings for his innovative landscapes, portraits and wedding images.

In February 2011, after only one year of membership, Robert was asked to join the board of directors of Professional Photographers of the Greater Bay Area, one of the largest chapters of Professional Photographers of America. He is also a senior forum member of National Association of Photoshop Professionals and just got nominated to co-chair the Design and Innovation Committee of the Stanford Club of San Francisco.

Robert’s trademark style is bold use of vivid color. After being exhibited at a key Stanford University event last year, his unique color handling was noticed by one of the leading art galleries in the midwestern United States, the historic Jayhawk Theater’s Upstage Gallery located in Topeka, Kansas. Voted by the state’s legislature to be the State Theater of Kansas, the Jayhawk Theater is the first theater ever designed without columns holding up the balcony. President Abraham Lincoln is documented to have attended a performance there.

“Robert’s use of color is phenomenal, and displays a mastery we’ve never seen before – and we’ve evaluated hundreds of photographers as potential exhibitors,” explains Pam Renovato, curator of the Upstage Gallery, “and his showing exceptional care for art collectors through innovations like using unbreakable (ARTtrust) authentication technology for his work not only enhances the value of his art, but also enhances the already premier reputation of our gallery.”

Robert’s show is the first time the Upstage Gallery has featured only one photographer, Robert will be paired with a well-known local metal sculptor. “We’re all very excited to host the Robert Ash photography exhibit,” says Kathy Duncan, president of the Jayhawk Theater board of directors. “A leading gallery must exhibit innovative artwork. Robert’s vision and eye are unique. Robert’s upcoming exhibit is causing a great deal of excitement among art collectors in our region. We are even making plans for a special opening of the State Capitol for Robert to lead a photography workshop there.”

The exhibition starts August 5 to open the gallery’s busy season and will run for two months. For more information please contact the Jayhawk Theater at 785-233-4295 or visit www.jayhawktheater.com.

Robert Ash’ website address/contact info: http://www.robertash.com/

Portrait Workshop Success, Landscape Workshop Scheduled July 26

We had a great session today in our Portrait Photography and Photoshop Retouching class. Great turnout in spite of 108 degree temps outdoors!

Next week, July 26 we have another workshop on landscape photography and image editing in Photoshop.

Workshop Session Two, Photoshop Techniques, Editing Landscape and Scenic Imagery

July 26, ‘09, 9 am-5 pm. Session fee $79 before applicable discount. SCVPA and NAPP members are eligible for discount.

Laptops encouraged. Students are also encouraged to bring their own images to work on.

Topics Include:

1. Panorama techniques that WORK!
2. Tips and Tricks in Camera RAW – get that image ready for prime time!
3. Matching color in multiple images
4. Full- Frame Color – fast track to whole-image color control
5. Selective Color – adjusting selected colors to make an image “pop”
6. Lighting – adjusting luminance of the entire image, or selected areas
7. Creating that cool 3D look- dimensionality and depth with two key Photoshop tools
8. Recovering highlight detail, restoring shadow detail – two techniques for success
9. Poor man’s HDR – combining exposures for extra bounce
10. Create front to back depth of field and sharpness – landscapes and close-up shots
11. Intelligent Sharpening – crisp details, no halos!
12. Converting to Black and White – using color adjustments and filters
13. Choosing print media for appearance, longevity, marketability
14. Providing a Professional Certificate of Authenticity with each print sold

Location: SCV Center for Photography, Santa Clarita, Calif.
28368 Constellation Road, Suite 340, Santa Clarita 91355

Go here for details and registration link: http://tinyurl.com/pfk6kw

 

my web site: www.davidsaffir.com

Managing and Archiving Your Photos, Part Two, Lightroom

Manage and Archive Your Photos – Part 2 –  Importing and Classifying, Lightroom

By Robert Ash, www.pbase.com/robertash

Introduction

Our first installment discussed on-disk organization. This installment discusses using your on-disk organization folder structure to organize your images using your program of choice. Adobe® Lightroom® version 2 will be the primary program discussed but some or most principles discussed here can be used in other major programs as well.

Overview

This article recommends an efficient workflow for importing images from the camera, using the on-disk folder organization from our first article, and organizing our photos within Adobe Lightroom. We’ll also briefly discuss implementing time-based organization from our subject-based on-disk organization using Lightroom’s powerful Smart Collections feature.

Summary

We’ll go step by step through an actual import and in-program organization – importing and organizing photos from my June 2009 photo outings. We visited several locations in Canada and the US.

The steps consist of:

• Importing the files using Lightroom

• Copying the camera RAW files from CF card to disk

• Using Lightroom to create appropriate target folders and move images into them

• Creating collections and Smart Collections in Lightroom to finalize our organization

• Do a first-level time-based organization in Lightroom

Details

Step 1 – Import images from camera into Lightroom

Create a folder 0-ImportThesePhotos (first character is a zero, not an ‘oh’). This is the folder you’ll use whenever you import photos. Zero as the first character in the folder name makes sure that folder sorts to the top in your folder list –in your operating system file browser, in Lightroom or in any other program.

Lightroom allows you to import and duplicate photos in one step. Recommended: Remove the memory card from your camera and plug the card into your computer to save camera batteries.

Choose File > Import (or click the Import button at the bottom left in the Library Module) and select your photos’ location on your camera card. Click Ctrl-A (PC) or Cmd-A (Mac) to select all the images on the card. Clicking the Choose button will open the Import Photos dialog window:

Lightroom Dialog Box

In the Import Photos dialog window:

• File Handling: Copy Photos to a New Location and Add to Catalog

• Copy To: Click Choose… then choose the folder 0-ImportThesePhotos

• Organize: Into One Folder (If you have multiple image folders on your card then choose By original folder). Keep Don’t Import Suspected Duplicates checked.

• Backup To: Leave unchecked if your camera’s card can be your backup for now. If you need to re-use your card right away then check the box and select a backup destination.

• File Naming:

• Template: Select Edit… from the drop-list to change the file names while importing.

• The new filenames will appear in the folder 0-ImportThesePhotos as the files are copied to your computer, yet keep their original names on your camera card.

•  Change the file names to something more descriptive, like their final destination on-disk folder name (see Part 1 – On-Disk Organization). I plan to place this batch of photos into a folder called 2009 Columbia River Highway so I edit the File Naming Template so it reads 2009 Columbia River Highway{Filename}.

• Lightroom displays a good number of filename characters in Grid View. I have filenames up to 30 characters long and still have room for a few more characters.

• Information to Apply:

•  Develop Settings: From the drop-list choose any Preset you’d like.

• A Lightroom preset automatically applies a specified set of Develop Module settings to each photo imported (e.g. Exposure, Vibrance, Clarity, Curves, Sharpening).

•  Metadata: I always select a copyright preset I created in the Edit Presets drop list item for the Metadata field.

•  Keywords: Add any useful keywords. Because of my on-disk folder and my Collections naming conventions I typically don’t need keywords to find images. So I typically leave this blank. Do what works best here for your individual retrieval workflow for these images. You can also add keywords later in Lightroom if needed.

Check the Show Preview button on the lower left corner to show your photos’ thumbnails. All photos are checked by default so they will all be imported. If you want to import only a subset of the images (see above image):

• Click the Uncheck All button below the thumbnails

• Click on the first image you want

• Scroll down then Shift-Click (PC) on the final image you want. This will highlight the first and the last photos you clicked on, plus all the images in between. Use Ctrl-click (PC) or Option-click (Mac) to select or deselect individual photos.

• In any of your selected images, click the check box in its upper left corner. This will automatically fill in that check box for all the photo in your selection (i.e., all the highlighted photos)

Now click the Import button. Lightroom will copy the images from your card, rename them and place the renamed copies into the folder 0-ImportThesePhotos.

An important side benefit is that you’ve imported your photos and created a backup copy of your card in one step! Once you copy your imported photos to a permanent backup location (or ideally, to two backup locations, one onsite and one offsite) then you can safely erase your camera’s card and use it again.

Step 1, Importing, is now done!

Step 2, in the next post: – Organize Images in Lightroom will discuss creating managing your on-disk folders using Lightroom’s Folders panel, plus some very useful applications of a powerful Lightroom feature – Collections.

NOTE:  New Photoshop Workshops coming up – click here for details.

POST ON PORTRAIT RETOUCH IN PHOTOSHOP.

Managing and Archiving Your Photos

Managing and Archiving Your Photos: Part One: Organization 
by guest author Robert Ash

About the author: “Known data warehousing expert Robert Ash heads a global product management team at a leading  software company. He has 15 years’ experience working with the world’s largest data warehousing environments. His customers have won the past two awards for running the world’s largest mainstream commercial databases, plus other industry awards for data warehouse architecture and administration.”

Also an accomplished photographer,  his work has also earned high critical acclaim from top industry experts. His work hangs in company lobbies and in private collections. His online portfolio can be viewed at www.pbase.com/robertash 

Introduction

 This is first in a series of articles that will review options in managing and archiving your photos. Closely related to the overall topic of Digital Asset Management, “Managing and Archiving Your Photos” will show you options available, how to choose what is best for you, how to build a management structure with reasonable effort, and ensure that your system can be used pretty much regardless of which software you choose.

Overview  

We have all felt, from time to time, that managing our digital photos can be difficult, time-consuming and confusing. Organizing photos on disk is the first and most important step in digital asset management. I designed the method shown here to:

• Make photos easy to find, even years later
• Require minimum effort to maintain
• Provide flexibility to easily use any program you choose, or to use multiple programs (Bridge, Lightroom, etc.)
• Keep time spent embedding and updating keywording to a minimum
• Reduce computer time needed to search for an item or items

Summary

Organize images on disk the way you’ll most likely, or most frequently, want to retrieve them. Make your program reflect your on-disk structure then add the minimum additional structure needed

Details

At a fundamental level, there are two ways to organize images – time-based and subject-based.

Most writers prefer time-based organization, typically by year – create a folder for each year then sub-folders beneath it. That works if your workflow is time-based and you typically don’t need to retrieve images after you’re finished with them.

Organizing by year frequently requires duplicating your subject structure for each time period (e.g. 2008 Gorillas, 2009 Gorillas, etc.), which can be a big time waster.

 Here is my approach for working by subject:

• On your main volume or drive, create one folder Photos to hold all images. That allows full backup with drag and drop of one folder. (more on backup and storage in articles to be published in the near future).
• Under Photos create a small set of major category folders. Suggestions include Locations, Nature, People, Events, Other Subjects, Personal Projects, 0-Personal&Family. (I use 0-Personal&Family instead of just Personal&Family so that category will sort to the top of the list. )

 Here is how my largest sized category, Locations, is organized:

You might have a main folder United States, a sub-folder of California, then perhaps Los Angeles as a subfolder of California if you do much photography there and want more fine-grained division for that specific folder.

 You can also add subfolders at any time and any level you want. Just add one new folder and move relevant subfolders into it. Note that year is the bottom category, not the top one, because for me it’s the least important for look-ups and it’s placed where it makes sense for me.

 My other folders are organized like this:

• add any categories or subcategories you want or need
• Animals>Bears>Canada>BritishColumbia
• Canada>Wildlife>Bears>Grizzly>Angry Grizzlies

Strengths/Limitations

 This method drastically reduces the number of keywords needed for image look-ups because the major keywords are already the folder names. All Alaska or Lion or Sunset or Still Life or Weddings images are in a folder that is labeled with the appropriate name.

 Programs like Lightroom allow you to go to your Alaska folder or Juneau folder and see all your Alaska (Fairbanks, Juneau, Sitka),or Juneau (2003, 2006, etc.) or Lion (Tanzania,  San Diego Zoo, etc.) images at once.

 Even better, you can use any program you wish to access the images easily without having to duplicate your major keywords in all the programs, as they’re included in the folder names. (I like this idea a lot – David)

 So if your main program’s catalog gets corrupted or accidentally deleted you can still find images easily.

 Finally, you only need to create each major category once (e.g. Alaska) instead of looking for Alaska in 2007, Alaska in 2009, etc. plus having to remember you didn’t go there in 2008.

 This method will not solve issues like finding all the images including Trees in Munich in Parks in 2007. No on-disk organization method can do that. That level of detail requires keywording, and the most specific the lookups the more keywords required. That requirement either marries you to one program or requires duplicating keywords.

 However, this method can still be of great help if you need to use a different program and can’t duplicate all the keywords. In that case it’s like requiring looking only through the M’s or S’s or Aa-Ae in a telephone book instead of searching the whole book for that year.

If you need to categorize by year as well then programs like Adobe Lightroom allows automation of that through “Smart Collections”, which we can explore more in the next article, Capture and Import.

Robert Ash

New Guest Author, Robert Ash, Digital Image Archiving and Management

In the next week or so, Robert Ash will contribute the first in a series of articles on archiving and managing your digital image files. He’s an expert in the field – just take a look at his bio summary:

“Known data warehousing expert Robert Ash heads a global product management team at a leading software company. He has 15 years’ experience working with the world’s largest data warehousing environments. His customers have won the past two awards for running the world’s largest mainstream commercial databases, plus other industry awards for data warehouse architecture and administration.

 Also an accomplished photographer,  his work has also earned high critical acclaim from  top industry experts. His work hangs in company lobbies and in private collections. His online portfolio can be viewed at www.pbase.com/robertash 

I’m looking forward to it!

 

______________________________________

Update, Directory of Top Photographers, Printmakers, Consultants, and Artists by David Saffir

I have updated my web page to include a number of new names and profiles. The directory can be found here: Directory of Top Photographers, Printmakers, Consultants, and Artists by David Saffir

 Currently, names listed with profiles include:

 Wayne Cosshall

 Tom Hubbard

 Daniel J Cox

 Charlie Cramer

 Nadia Salameh

 Robert Ash

 Don Gale

 Mark Alberhasky

 Kat Silverglate

 Jack Duganne

 Harald Johnson

 Andrew Behla

 Christopher Green

 Jim Hull

 John Lorusso

 Sonny Tohan

 Marc Aguilera

 I am continuing to build this out. Names which are present on the list but still need completed profiles include:

 Dwight Blemker,Jon Canfield , Amy Cantrell, Nick Carlson, Elizabeth Carmel, Skip Cohen, Jerry Courvoisier, Ted Dayton, Joe Drivas, Eileen Fritsch, Helen Golden, Francis Hills, David Hines, Bill Hurter, JD Jarvis, Ryan Joslyn, Douglas Kirkland, Alan Kozlowski, Joel Meyerowitz, Ed Ouelette, Michael Reichmann, John Riedy, Neil Snape, Uwe Steinmuller, Bill Truran, Henry Wilhelm – and more to be added.