In this video I talk about and demonstrate my top 5 BIG headline grabbing new features of Photoshop CS6.
Obviously I’m looking at this from a photographers point of view, so if you’re into 3D or graphic design then your top features list will be radically different.
My Top 5 CS6 photo features are:
The new dark interface
The content aware move tool
The three new blur and oil paint filters
Content aware Patch Tool
and finally the big one… Adobe Camera RAW 7
Like many people I have an A4 printer on my desk. Mine’s a Canon Pixma and is ideal of the odd proof print or two.
A4 is a nice size to print and back in the day of 15” CRT monitors an A4 print looked large. Today however, we’re all used to seeing large images on our large screens, so I want to make my prints bigger then my screen.
A while ago I went looking for a company that could provide me with large prints at moderate prices.
Cheap vs Expensive
First up I tried the same printers I use for my small prints. I started off by sending some files to well known (and cheap) UK internet lab. The photos that came back weren’t amazing but were OK for my needs. So I placed a larger order but the prints I got back the second time didn’t match the colour and contrast of the first set… end result, fail!
Next I tried a pro lab. Their price of a 24” print was many times higher then the cheapo internet lab but the results were excellent. The only problem was I couldn’t get my head past the huge price.
Independent Lab 
Back in January I met a chap call Kevin. We got chatting about photography and it transpired he owned a company called Print Yours who specialise in large fine art prints. I’ve since placed several orders with them and the quality has been outstanding and best of all it’s been consistent. The price isn’t bad either.
My favourite paper is the cotton rag. It’s a matte paper that has amazing detail and even a slight texture (click the image to see more detail)
Print Yours Offer
OK rather the taking my word for it why not give Print Yours a go for yourself. Kevin has organised a special 50% discount offer for the Gavtrain readers. Make it a weekend project to sort out one or two of your favourite photos and print them BIG!
Click here to… Download the Beta version of Photoshop CS6 Beta from Adobe Labs
Photoshop CS6 has some impressive new features which are grabbing the headlines and quite rightly so. However once you’ve used Photoshop CS6 for a while and dig a little deeper, you’ll discover some very handy improvements which in the fullness of time may well be more useful then things like the new blur filters (not that there’s anything wrong with those of course).
One such thing for me is a little enhancement to Actions called Allow Tool Recording. Actions have always been great, but I’ve always been frustrated that I can’t record any brush actions. That means I’ve always had to find imaginative ways to work round things like cloning, painting and erasing, that is until now.
Allow tool recording is turned off by default, so if you want to try it in your actions head over to the actions flyout menu and turn it on.
To give you a very quick idea of what it can do, I’m sharing one of my new hand drawn border actions for you to use on your own images. It’s a very simple keyline black border that I drew using a Wacom tablet and uses one of the excellent presets for the mixer brush.
To download the free sample action CLICK HERE www.gavtrain.com/free/CS6-Demo-Border-1.zip
NOTE: This action will ONLY work with Photoshop CS6
If I asked you to come up with a list of the top 100 gadgets you would buy for a photographic studio, I’m pretty sure the studio clamps would fall somewhere towards the end. Let’s face it clamps are clamps right? All they do is hold things in place, job done.
Well yes that’s true, but that’s not the end of the story. In fact if I had to make a list of the most essential gear you’ll need in a studio, I’d put clamps somewhere towards the top just after lights, backgrounds, and light modifiers. Come to think of it, that might explain why I have so many of them.
So here’s the three types of clamps I use…
DIY store clamps 
You can pick these things up almost anywhere. I’ve found them on market stalls, in the local pound shop and even at the supermarket. From my experience, the cheaper they are the quicker those little orange jaws will break off. That said I have dozens of these things kicking around the studio and they’re great. I have giant ones for attaching backgrounds to large poles, medium sized ones for clamping reflectors to light stands and tiny ones for… actually I don’t use the really tiny ones.
Pros: Cheap to buy and readily available
Cons: Don’t expect the cheapo ones to last too long
Gorilla Studio Clamps 
These things are a big step up from the DIY store clamps. First up they’re made of metal, not plastic, so should stand up to years of use and abuse. The clamp action is seriously strong, so watch your fingers when snapping them closed. Each side of the clamp is lined with a rubber, which helps reduce the risk of marking delicate surfaces. These rubber strips can be removed and frustratingly, they do have a habit of falling off at the wrong moment. As the name suggests the gorilla clamps are super strong and I’ll use a couple of them to attach heavy material to a background support pole or as quick way of clamping and object to one of the many supports I have in the ceiling.
I got mine from my good friends at Smick LINK
Pros: Very strong and built to last, with a price that won’t break the bank
Cons: One day those rubber grips will fall off and get lost
Multi Clip
It’s a clip not a clamp, so don’t expect this to hold anything too heavy. Even so this has to be the favourite clamp I own. It’s basically a couple of two inch bulldog clips joined together but it’s secret weapon is its ability to move each clip independently. This thing is great for making an impromptu barn door. Simply clip a piece of black card to one end and attach the other to a light stand. I’ll use these clips all the time to stop something wobbling, falling down or blowing away. At around £7 they’re not cheap but they’re so useful, every studio should have one. As before, mine came from Smick LINK
Pros: Small but ever so useful, this little gadget will be used time and time again
Cons: It’s not going to hold anything heavy for too long and the price is fairly high.
For the April photo challenge I thought we’d do something different. So this month there is NO THEME. That’s right this month you’re free to enter a photo of absolutely anything you want. In fact there’s only one thing your photo must have… Your entry MUST make use of this texture as part of the final shot.
https://www.gavtrain.com/free/APRTexture.jpg
To download the texture, right click the link above and choose “Save As”
How you use the texture is entirely up to you. Perhaps you want to place it over your photo and change the blending mode, or maybe you’re going to use it to create a border effect. I’ve added a couple of my own ideas at the end of this post. Remember to use a bit of imagination and make it eye catching.
Once you have your photo you’ll then need to upload it to the Flickr Group page at http://www.flickr.com/groups/1964708@N23/
I’m very happy to report that the Photo Challenge is once again being sponsored by Print Yours. They are an independent print lab who specialise is creating small run, high quality prints. Check out their web site for more information http://www.printyours.co.uk/
So what will the winner receive? Well Print Yours have generously offered to print the winning entry on their 270gsm Photo Satin paper up to a whopping 24”x16”. That’s an £18 print for FREE! If you’re the lucky winner then all you need to do is send a high res version to Print Yours (via email) and they’ll do the rest.
RULES
One entry per person
Entries must be uploaded to the correct Flickr group by 30th April 2012
The entry must make use of the texture from https://www.gavtrain.com/free/APRTexture.jpg
The images (including any manipulation or elements excluding the texture) must be the sole work of the entrant
The winner will be selected by By Gavin Hoey and his decision will be final
No alternative prizes are available and only the winning picture will be printed
The winner will be required to email a high res (printable) version of the winning image to Print Yours
The winner will be announced on the Gavtrain Facebook Page during May2012
Good Luck
The theme for March photo competition was “Food for thought” which was a little more challenging then either the January competition or the February challenge. As always I left the interpretation of that phrase completely open and I was really pleased to see so many people have a go.
First up I’d like to thank everyone who got into the spirit of the competition. The purpose of these challenges is to get you to go out and take or make an image that fits the bill rather then simply choosing a photo from your hard drive. So if you went out and took a photo just for this challenge then you should be proud of your achievement.
This time round the winner wasn’t chosen by me. Instead I handed that responsibility to Sam, who many of you know is a food writer and photographer. You can see some of Sam’s work over at her website www.samskitchen.net.
Once again the standard of the entries was very high, so I asked Sam to pick one winner and 9 runners up. I think Sam’s chosen a great selection of photos which cover the whole range of interpretations of “Food for thought”
However there can only be one winner and this month the winner is…Five-A-Day By Drag’n’Drop
Drag’n’Drop will be getting a copy of his print made by my good friends over at Print Yours.
Near Misses…
The runners up in no particular order are below. Click on an image to view it large on Flickr. If you didn’t win this time there’s a new challenge running until the end of April. Details coming very soon.
 Kiwi By Arangan Ananth |
 Insect Food By Jellymoon Photography |
 Pasni: A rice feeding ceremony By sukuchha |
 Schweeeeet!! By stormer014 |
 Fruit Fairy cake-19 By Davebozy |
 Rice and Spice By debrasflower |
 Deconstructed Chicken ‘n’ Chips By Phil-Williams |
 Enough is Enough By teddybearwithatowel |
 Creame Eggs How to you eat yours By CrazyDave53 |
It’s just over two weeks until my all day workshop at Borde Hill Gardens and I’ve got some great plans for the day. So yesterday I paid my first visit of the year to the gardens to check out what was growing and to bag a few shots.
| The first stop of the day was to the Italian garden which has a beautiful ornamental pond surrounded by terracotta pots which are currently stuffed full of tulips. This one caught my eye at it was just coming into bloom. One thing we’ll be looking at during the workshop is the pros and cons of shooting in the shade. Let’s just say it’s easier to add contrast to a photo then it is to take it away. |  |
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| Next up it was a spot of close up work with my Canon 60mm macro. In an ideal world I’d be using a tripod to keep the shots sharp and the ISO down. Sadly I didn’t have a tripod with me so this is a handheld shot at a fairly high ISO. Macro photography needs time and practice and it’s not uncommon to get lots of failed shots before bagging one good photo. |
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| Borde Hill is currently a riot of yellow as the daffodils are in full bloom. This is a close up isn’t all that it seems. Once again I’m shooting without the aid of a tripod, which required me to use a big the aperture in order to avoid a slow shutter speed and the dreaded camera shake. The downside was the depth of field wasn’t enough to get everything in focus in one shot… so I took two. Each photo was in focus on a different part of the flower and I used Photoshop to automatically stack the two focus points together. |  |
There are only a few places left on the workshop, so if you fancy coming along then follow this link https://www.gavtrain.com/?page_id=1195
