Photoshop Philadelphia WAS Yesterday!
January 28, 2010
Last night we got together and held our first “official” meeting for Photoshop Philadelphia. We had about 20 people show up, which was about twice as many as I expected so I was very pleased with turn out. We are going to blow that number out of the water next month as well as hold an even better meeting. This time ’round allowed us to get acclimated to the environment and learn the “lay of the land” if you will.
I am going to send out an email with links and information as promised during the meeting. I will also include a brief overview of the things we covered and maybe even a PSD for you guys to play with.
- We will have the official Photoshop Philly site launched by the Feb. meeting.
-We will be giving away super cool prizes at the Feb. meeting.
-We may even have our first design challenge ready by then. Compete in that and you will have a chance to win some big prizes.
All things considered the night went great, better than expected and I am super excited about next month’s meeting. I’ll keep you guys posted.
More to come…
That’s right the latest newsletter has been released and if you missed it sign up now so you don’t miss any more! Sign up here! It is super easy to sign up, just name and email address, no big deal to get signed up.
Now here is a link to last month’s (November-December) newsletter: Download the November-December Newsletter now!
Here is a little preview thumbnail of the pages in the November-December Newsletter:
Rollip.com: Free Image Filtering
December 24, 2009
Rollip.com: Free Image Filtering
I am going to run over how to use Rollip and then give you my thoughts about the service and the site overall. The fellas from Rollip have given me about 15 free account with 30 free credits a piece, I will have the link at the bottom of this blog post you can visit and grab the free credits. The accounts setup via the link below are a first-come first-serve basis so get down there and get yourself setup.
Because they have set me up nice I am going to try to say some nice things, but there are a couple things I don’t really like about the site and service and I will let you guys know what I think about it. Give me your thoughts in the comments section below!
What is Rollip.com?
Rollip.com is a site where you can upload your own photo(s) and process them using one of a bunch of different filters. You can then download a smaller version of your image which is filtered.
If you want the full size image filtered you can choose to have that happen (you get the smaller image as a preview for free, no credits, no money spent) as well. Once you choose to have the image processed you will get the link to the image as and Rollip will also email a link to you as well. Simply choose to download your image and you will have your full sized image filtered. When you filter full sized images it takes one credit.
That is a basic overview of what Rollip is/does. Let’s take a look at running through this real quick. It is a VERY self-explanatory setup they have, very easy to figure out, but we’ll cover it nonetheless.
How Can I Get Started?
Step 1:
Go to Rollip.com and select the “Sign Up” button (or use the link at the bottom of this post for the 30 free credits!) and fill out the two fields and that’s it! You are set to go process images!
Step 2:
Now that you’ve logged in you will see a bunch of large images, each one with a different filter. Use the arrows above to scroll through and check out the filters and then select the one you want.
Step 3:
The next step is uploading the photo you want to process! Simply grab the image and upload it, Rollip will process it with the filter you selected automatically and give you a smaller image as a preview for free, you can even download this filtered image here.
Step 4:
At this point if you like the image you can go ahead and download it by right clicking and saving it to where ever you want it to go. If you like the image, however, you can select that big “Process High-Quality” button and it will work it’s magic and process the image for one credit.
Step 5:
Last thing to do is just select the download link! See I told you it was easy!
My Thoughts:
Now the hard stuff, what do I think of the service? Remember I am going to try to be nice because the guys were really nice and they hooked us up with those free accounts so here goes.
One thought you are going to have is when you first see this site and the filters is “Well I can just make all this stuff in Photoshop…right?” and you are right, but the fact of the matter is most folks don’t have the time or know-how to duplicate the vast majority of what is happening here (Most of YOU guys don’t have the time, ya’ll the skills…right? 
).
I do wish there was a way to tweak the effects because there is really no clue as to what you are going to get until you wait for an image to upload and process, which, for larger images, can take a little while depending on the internet connection. Being able to tweak color and tone, sharpness and more after applying the effect would be really great, also being able to combine multiple effects would rock!
There are a lot of really great effects here, but some I don’t really view as effects you would use in much of a “professional” way, but that is a pretty subjective way to look at it. If you go into it with a relatively open mind you should be able to find uses for these filters.
It would have been nice to know how much each image “cost” in credits to process full-size, I may have missed something, but I didn’t see it anywhere. I also was not sure how to buy more credits. Both of those things seem like pretty basic things that should be taken care of from a user experience stand point, but other than those two little things navigation of the site was easy and uploading and processing the photos was not only easy, but it worked flawlessly each and every time I tried which was really great!
That’s pretty well it, other than a few little things on the site’s actual design (I am not going to go into a full-fledged critique here) and maybe a few other things, if I were to spend more time sniffing around, I think the site is nice, easy to use, and I will definitely at least use up my free credits, and, if I can figure out how to buy more, would probably even be back for more.
That’s all for now guys, leave a comment and give me your thoughts.
Here is the link I promised at the beginning of this blog post: http://www.rollip.com/pro?coupon=tutvid
Latest News!
December 22, 2009
Latest News!
Well I seem to have survived this crazy snow storm here in the North East, after a day of shoveling snow (although the guys that come and plow my sidewalks and driveway etc are great) everything has settled down and we have ice everywhere, which while very beautiful is also quite lethal, and very hard to remove from your car windshield as well. Anyway as I settle into this great week I am hoping to get a whole bunch of material out there for you guys as long as I can finish up some of these projects I have on my plate, that’s right, I’m working right through X-mas and all the holiday stuff, but I am really looking forward to it and the end result will be worth it 100%. Hope you guys enjoy your week and whatever time you get off!
Sickness Gone:
Lately not too much has been happening on Tutvid.com and those of you that are subscribed to the newsletter know that it is a little late (again J). I have been pretty sick over the past week, which is very NOT like me, I hardly ever get sick let alone stay sick for such a long time, but I guess it happens. Over the past few days I seem to have kicked the sickness and have been feeling great and getting a ton of catch up work done and more site updates will be happening, more tutorials coming very soon, and the new newsletter will be out within a very short while.
Re-Making Older Tutorials:
I would kind of like some of your feedback on this, just let me know what you think about it. I was thinking about re-making all of my older tutorials and updating them for the newer versions of the various programs. With the updated tutorials I would have the wide screen and better video/sound quality and hopefully even be able to explain the stuff a bit better than I could back then. I have plans on doing a bunch of 101 type tutorials and a lot of my older stuff was pretty basic stuff so I think it would only be natural to do it both to compliment a novice and revamp all those older tutorials. Just a passing thought I had and really want to do, but I don’t want to kill a bunch of time if there is something you guys would like to see more. NOTE: I would still be working on more advanced tutorials and hopefully getting these basic tutorials out would push me to get more of these advanced tutorials out.
Photoshop Philadelphia Meetup:
Well we have officially setup our first meetup and laid it out. Check out: http://tutvid.com/photoshopPhilly/ which is our first virtual newsletter. That contains all the details we have nailed down so far, it should give you a decent idea of what we expect to happen and where it all will be going down. I am hoping to get a simple site up for the group so folks can RSVP, but until then go ahead and follow us on Twitter, become a fan of the facebook page and keep track of what we have planned. There is some great stuff coming up!
Thanks guys!
Thank you guys for all the great feedback I have been getting via email, Twitter, the blog, YouTube, and pretty well anywhere you can get a hold of me. I have received a ton of great ideas and inspiration for the new site as well as a ton of things folks would like to see. Thanks for taking the time to send me your thoughts and if you have anything else, I am always open for ideas. Also have a great end of the year and new year!
Add Dramatic Color to Photographs: Photoshop Tutorial!
December 9, 2009
Add Dramatic Color to Photographs: Photoshop Tutorial!
This is a tutorial that should really help some of you photographers out there. We will start with a base RAW file from an 8 megapixel low-end Canon digital camera and we will open it with Photoshop and use the Camera Raw editor to make these changes. Learn all about using the Camera RAW editor and what the different sliders do and why/how you can use them to create really bold effects to your photographs.
Create an Explosive Color Swath: Photoshop Tutorial
December 9, 2009
Create an Explosive Color Swath: Photoshop Tutorial
Be sure to follow along with this quick tutorial because every time you do it you will get something different, sometimes the results will be awesome, other times not so awesome, but any way you slice it you will get some cool artwork. We will talk about some tricks using filters and blend modes, brushes, warping, and even how to get a cool smooth color overlay effect. Follow along and you are sure to have a great time!
Photoshop Philadelphia is happening!
December 8, 2009
Well we have finally set the date for our first meeting for Photoshop Philadelphia. It is going to be happening on January 27th here in Philadelphia! I hope to see some of you guys show up for the first meet-up, it should be lots of fun and we are going to have some Photoshop training and prizes and other good stuff!
For now go and follow the Twitter feed for Photoshop Philly and then become a fan on Facebook! Both of those pages are brand spankin’ new so virtually nobody is following yet, but it will pick up shortly!
It’s December! Can I Have Your Help?
December 1, 2009
It’s December! Can I Have Your Help?
That’s right, a whole bunch of time before I sit down with the family and eat dinner together. I guess this really only means anything to folks here in the US, but thanksgiving is kind of an important “holiday” and I hope everyone had both a happy thanksgiving and has had plenty to be thankful for! I should take a moment and thank everyone who sent well wishes to me via Twitter, the website, and any of the other social mediums you guys can contact me through, Thanks guys, you’re the best.
Last Month’s Newsletter:
We have a new newsletter out and it is doing great! As many of you know when the new newsletter comes out I post a link to the last newsletter on the blog. Here is the October-November newsletter: http://tutvid.com/newsletter/issues/octNovTutvidNewsletter.pdf
For those interested here are links to the older newsletters:
Make sure you update your Camera RAW Editor:
This is month old “news” (oxymoron anyone?), but I thought I would add it on just to be sure any stragglers are picked up and have updated their Camera RAW to Camera RAW 5.5, yes it came out of Beta… wow, about a month ago I want to say, anyway you can grab it for free from Adobe right here: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html definitely a good update. Here’s to the update that supports 7D RAW files! It has got to be in the next update Adobe releases; this release was just way too close to when the Camera came out… I guess, anyway, can’t wait until it happens. LINK: http://digwp.com/book/
Digging Into WordPress by Chris Coyier & Jeff StarR:
I don’t usually buy e-books and I don’t know why maybe something to do with me growing up around a lot of book-books. I did however pick up (virtually of course ) Chris Coyier and Jeff Starr’s “Digging Into WordPress” book. I have not completely gone through the book, but I have been checking it out of the past few weeks (since it came out really) and let me tell you, if you are interested in learning WordPress, this book covers a whole heck of a lot (including a lot of things I get questions about) Basics, to not-so basic stuff Chris and Jeff do a phenomenal job of nailing what you need to know and it is a very nice presentation of some really valuable information. For just under $30 it is well worth the price, you should definitely consider picking up a copy for yourself. LINK: http://digwp.com/book/
Philadelphia Creative Guide:
On Thursday, December 3rd The Philly Creative Guide will be hosting the “2009 Philadelphia Creative Mega Social” which is a get-together of creative types for an evening of fun, games, networking, and of course prizes! I will be there with my friend and co-manager Tony Profeta to work on getting more sign-ups for the Photoshop Philadelphia Adobe User Group and give away a couple books which I actually have sitting right here on my desk, Scott Kelby’s “The Digital Photography Book Vol. 1” and Chris Orwig’s “Adobe Photoshop How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques”, both are great books full of awesome tips and tricks and useful info.
Space is limited and it’s free to go so RSVP right here before you can’t anymore! http://www.phillycreativeguide.com/rsvp/
Be sure to bring some canned food as well as Philabundance will be there taking canned food donations. I would love to see you around! Stop in and say hello!
Photoshop Philadelphia: Photoshop User Group:
Speaking of the Photoshop Philadelphia User Group, we are gearing up for the first monthly meeting in January of 2010, right around the corner! I will continue getting you guys details, but we are planning some very cool stuff, and maybe even stuff where we can get Photoshop Users outside of Philly involved with the Adobe Community and what we are doing here as well. It is going to be very cool. I will try to keep everyone updated as stuff happens and as we get stuff together for the web you guys will be sure to see it. LINK: http://groups.adobe.com/groups/020002a345/summary
What do you want in the new Tutvid?
Alright, I have asked this question a million times and I have gotten a whole bunch of great suggestions and requests, but I want to put it out there again.
What do you want in the new Tutvid site?
Your answer can be what you want it to look like, the content, or really any ideas you have and think are worth sharing. As I build the site I will be trying to take in as much as I can and make this thing a really great site for you guys and anyone who is looking for tutorial information. I will have to include a nice little digital plaque on the new site thanking you all for the ideas, inspiration, and ideas you have given me. Thanks fellas! LINK: http://www.tutvid.com/contact/
Flash Tutorial: Growing Vines Flourish Animations Tutorial
November 17, 2009
Flash Tutorial: Growing Vines Flourish Animations Tutorial
In this tutorial we will use Flash to create the oh-so popular growing vines animation look. We will do it in two different ways; first, we will do a quick masked shape and shape tween under the mask after that we will do it the “right” way and build a frame-by-frame animation that makes this little flourish look like it is really growing. If you want to learn how to animate this effect, this is the tutorial for you. Enjoy!
Spry Collapsible Panel: Dreamweaver CS4 Tutorial
November 12, 2009
Spry Collapsible Panel: Dreamweaver CS4 Tutorial
In this tutorial we will learn about a very cool widget in Dreamweaver CS4 that will allow you to create a very cool and easy to edit Collapsible Panel which basically allows a user to click and tab and a content box drops down below it and the user it able to click the tab and retract the box so it is just the tab again. It is really a cool way to display some content and adds a neat little effect to your website. Go ahead and grab the files from this link: http://tutvid.com/tutorials/dreamweav…
