Source: The New York Times
Written by Randy Kennedy

T0 the small group of photography experts aware of its existence, it was known simply as “the Mexican suitcase.” And in the pantheon of lost modern cultural treasures, it was surrounded by the same mythical aura as Hemingway’s early manuscripts, which vanished from a train station in 1922.

As we approach the end of 2007 we wanted to ask some of the leading figures in the Photoshop community which books they had found most inspiring and in the case of authors, which books they had written were they most proud of. We got some interesting and quite varied responses. So if you are still stuck for ideas about what to get a Photoshop geek for Christmas, here are some reading tips from the experts.

To keep this article seasonal we didn’t want it to be entirely about Photoshop and digital imaging. We did also ask people to nominate a book for recreational reading. After all, the holiday season is a time for relaxing and leaving work to one side! To help you find out more about the books recommended here we have created links to Amazon.com for all the books featured here.

Doode…U gotta Cee LOLCat.com

Ok, this is really pretty cool…
(click above to watch a YouTube hosted seven minute video)

Source: The New York Times
Written by Maria Aspan

The recent discovery that a Lebanese freelance photographer, Adnan Hajj, had manipulated pictures he took for Reuters has raised questions about the standards of photojournalism at a time of widespread digital photography.

The incident also increased pressure on news photo editors, who select and edit thousands of photographs under deadline each day, to detect digital alterations.

The Offices of Adobe Minnesota.

After a recent Epson Print Academy event in St. Paul, Minnesota I had the chance to hook up with some of the Lightroom engineers at Adobe’s offices in Arden Hills just outside of Minneapolis.

The Great Luminous Landscape 2006 State-of-The-Art Shootout

Left to right: Chris Sanderson, Michael Reichmann, Charles Cramer, Bill Atkinson
Bill is blurred because he was running around to get into the shot

Written by Michael Reichmann

We have as much training as other professionals. Imagine if we had their business sense, too.

Source: Newsweek via MSNBC
Written By J. D. Jordan-Newsweek

Sept. 19, 2005 issue - “I could get an art student to do it for $35 and a six-pack.” I remember the first time a prospective client said that to try to intimidate me into accepting dramatically reduced fees for Website design services. I was newly self-employed and hungry for work, so I conceded. I delivered a great Web site, but I hated my client for making me work for so little—and myself for not knowing how to get what I deserved.

Source: The New York Times
Written By Michael Kimmelman

Who knows what suddenly possessed the Vicomte de Renneville in 1859, when he and a friend visited the Paris studio of the society photographer André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, but, bless his heart, we can be grateful that the spirit moved him as it did.

Posing for a carte de visite, the vicomte, after Disdéri had snapped several dour shots of him in the de rigueur black frock coat and top hat, decided he would remove his clothes, all except socks and shoes, don what looks very much like a hot water bottle on his head but was in fact some sort of helmet, hold a shield and pretend to be a ghost.

Images by Maggie Taylor

Source: The Boston Phoenix Written By Christopher Millis

“Maggie Taylor: Then Again” + “John Chervinsky: CaCO3″
Griffin Museum of Photography | 67 Shore Road, Winchester | Through September 10

In several recent news reports, Congresswoman Katherine Harris from Florida is claiming that newspapers have been altering her photos to make her makeup look, well, unflattering.

She seems to think this is a deliberate attempt at poking fun at her.

In 1944 Nine Outstanding Personalities in the Field Express Their Views and Expectations of Postwar Photography

WILLARD D. MORGAN, ELLOT ELISOFON, BERNICE ABBOTT, C. B. NEBLETTE, PAUL STRAND, L. MOHOLY-NAGY, H.A. SCHUMACHER, JOHN S. ROWAN, Sgt. ARTHUR ROTHSTEIN

Even before the premier of my photo essay, A Visit to Adobe a couple of weeks ago, it seems Seetha, or more accurately, Seetharaman Narayanan had a fan club.

Back in December of 2004, on CONCEPTART.ORG, messages were posted about Seetha’s name.

Jetpack42 said: “Every time I open up photoshop I am mezmorized by this guy’s name. It’s all I can look at. Don’t know why…”

Princeton University has posted the results of the first annual Art of Science competition in an online exihibition.

I’ve updated the The Evolution of the Photoshop Splash Screen PhotoshopNews feature story to include all of the shipping dates for all Mac versions of Photoshop since version 1.0.

The update was prompted by visiting Andrei Michael Herasimchuk’s web site Design by Fire and Andrei’s Photoshop Quiz answers from last year. I’m working on getting the shipping dates for the Windows versions to add to the list.

At the Northwest corner of Park Avenue and South Almaden Boulevard stand three rather tall buildings-by San Jose, California standards. They are the Adobe Towers, the buildings that PostScript and Photoshop built. On 10 West (10th floor, West Tower), the majority of the Photoshop engineers work and play.

This report is a chatty (my style don’t you know) report about the PixelGenius meeting we had in Chicago last week. It has no substantial content of importance other than to document what PG does when we all get together. You might draw some insight into the members of PG. If you know us, the following story will amuse you. But, if you are looking for breaking news about Photoshop, you may wish to skip this story.

Once upon a time, I fell in love with an artist who couldn’t draw, Jeff Schewe. Luckily he found out that with a camera he could accomplish what he couldn’t in other mediums. We set up a studio, worked together and lived happily . . . until one day, he met Photoshop.

Hi, my name is Becky Schewe and I am an unwitting member of the Photoshop Widows Club. I guess it’s the same old story but now that it’s personal, I have a new respect for those who wait and wonder.

My first digital imaging experience probably happened around 1987 when I was invited to see a demo of the Quantel Paintbox.

Years ago, Thomas took a liking to hot sauce. As we all know from my previous Widows Club stories, Thomas is obsessive, to the point of being an extremist. So, I’d have to say that Thomas took an extreme liking to hot sauce. At first he would have a bottle of TABASCO® Red Pepper Sauce on the kitchen table or ask for it at a restaurant. Then he discovered TABASCO Green Pepper Sauce. It went on everything. The new flavor was great but it just did not have the zip that TABASCO Red did.

Soon the heat and tingle of the sauce just started to fade - he was up to about a half a small (2 oz.) bottle a week at this point.

The previous article, DNG Workflow / Part I outlined the basic use of Adobe DNG Converter for converting proprietary Raw files into DNG files. While useful for a variety of reasons, it does indeed add a step in a Raw processing workflow.

So, what if you used Adobe DNG Converter right from the very beginning of your Raw processing workflow–Image Ingestion?

When the DNG format specification was announced at last year’s Photokina, a little touted free application was also announced called Adobe DNG Converter. The application is for the conversion of undocumented, proprietary Raw files into the publicly documented DNG format. At the time, many people played with the DNG Converter and decided that while interesting, it didn’t really add anything to their raw processing workflow except perhaps adding a step. As a result, most people don’t really use a DNG workflow.
(Updated 05/25/05 at 4:00PM Central)

Well, things have changed, and now both the DNG file format and the Adobe DNG Converter do have something substantial to offer.

If you have the Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium Edition, you can add RSS newsfeeds directly in the Adobe Bridge Center and read news stories right in Bridge. Note, this will ONLY work in the full Suite version, not the individual application versions of Bridge.

In a shocking revelation, Russell Preston Brown, Sr. Creative Director at Adobe Systems Incorporated and long time Photoshop Evangelist, has revealed that he is leaving the United States on Friday, May 6th, (today), 2005. He indicated that he would be going to Australia.

Before he leaves, Mr. Brown said in a phone call that he wanted to make a definitive statement regarding the “official story” behind Photoshop, its development by John and Thomas Knoll and exactly how it was acquired by Adobe Systems, Inc.

Camera Raw, the Real History
(Or why Ruth Knoll is still the President of the Photoshop Widows Club.)