With headlines like "Microsoft sets sights on providing an Apple-like experience" today on several websites like AppleInsider, i could not help but be confused.

During the last week Apple's new "MobileMe" launch has been a complete mess - nicknamed by many blogs as "MobileMess." Its buggy, slow and often just does not work.

Funny this MobileMess reminds me of countless Microsoft launches like Vista, Zune etc. Now that Apple has lowered the bar, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer realized it would be easy to equal the new "Apple-like experience."

Back around July 4th i mentioned the volcano photos at USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory web site. Well on July 16th this photo was published that looks like a real fireworks image - but its not. Its reaction from lava flowing into the Pacific Ocean.

Caption for photo: Incandescent parabolic arcs trace the path of ejecta cast out during explosions at the Waikupanaha ocean entry early Wednesday morning. This was a relatively small explosion, reaching a few tens of meters height, while the largest explosions this morning approached 70 meters in height. At the bottom of the photograph is the rim of the littoral cone built up by explosion deposits. USGS photo.

Sunday afternoon I was at McDee's quietly reading the latest News Photographer magazine from the NPPA. Then I noticed the Surfer Dude was working across the street. Since I had the time, and the camera, I went over and introduced myself.

But first, a quick history. The Revolution shop had opened in Newbury Park a couple years ago in the old 1960s shopping center at the corner of Wendy Drive and Old Conejo Road. I was surprised by the opening - most of the shops were vacant as the center was being prepared for major renovation. The Revolution occupied a very visible spot once used by a popular convience store.

But of course the reconstruction began early this year. The entrance by the Revolution shop was closed and up went a fence - drivers could not see the shop anymore. Soon afterwards the guy I called "Surfer Dude" was standing in front of the temporary entrance letting the world know THE REVOLUTION SHOP IS OPEN!!!!!

So today I finally introduced mysef to Surfer Dude. Since he is an entertainer, when working us uses the name "Voltage." His friends call him Vic. Personally, I like the name Vic Voltage better than just Voltage.

Voltage uses several props to get drivers' attention, including pom-poms in Newbury Park High School colors. My favorite is the surfboard - sign-twirling advertising with a new twist.

Vic's motto is "Hi I'm Voltage - The Ronald McDonald of Surfing!" - Of course there is that McDees right across the street.

Well the shopping center construction is coming along fast. A relocated Taco Bell and a new Tesco Fresh and Easy will soon be joining Revolution in the upscale shopping center.

I will miss the old shopping center. As far as Voltage's next gig. I will keep in touch with him and let you know.

Yes The Coaches Are Coming, The Coaches Are Coming.



On Sunday the coaches meet with AYSO staff and received housing assignments.

The British Coaching staff for the Major League Soccer summer soccer camp arrived in Newbury Park. This year our old soccer friends called and asked us to host two coaches for the week. My boys attended the summer camp over five years ago and we hosted coaches a twice back then.

Being soccer, I did not need an excuse to go this morning, shoot the first day of camp and put up a photo album.

The camp is co-hosted by the MLS and AYSO Region 42. Dot photo album.

This weekend we put our ten year old van up for sale at the Thousand Oaks Auto Fair. I had to check out the competition. Of all the signs placed in vehicles for sale, this one took the prize.

There is a reason these extras are provided with vehicle. The new owner will need the Kleenex when the gas tank is refillled.

Shot this photo on Tuesday of the Los Angeles Skyline at dusk.


Did you see the photoshop job done by Iran's Sepah News agency? The original photo was of three missiles launched with a fourth still sitting on its launch vehicle. Someone forgot to press the button - so the launch vehicle was removed and a fourth missile added to the photo. Link to NPR story.

Meanwhile an old college buddy, Alan Halfhill, sent me a link to a NASA photo of water on Mars!!!

On the recent Photoshop User podcast was a 20 minute interview with Intellectual Property Attorney Edward Greenberg that should be required listening by every photojournalist.

Part One:



Part Two:



Photoshop User is produced by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), the group that is also putting on Photoshop World that I recently blogged about. The clips are also found at www.ScottKelby.com.

Recently my cousin Wes Landers sent me this video. Way too funny!



Shit happens.

Photoshop World is the twice-a-year educational conference put on by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). Each spring the bi-coastal conference is on the Atlantic, in the fall sort of near the Pacific - Las Vegas. It used to be the reverse, but one spring a hurricane blew everyone out of Florida.



Robert Lachman, an LA Times co-worker, and I have been discussing going to Photoshop World. Recently on his blog www.photographyandthemac.com, he wrote ten reasons maybe not attend this year. In rebuttal, here is his ten reasons and my ten (in bold.)

01. I don't use layers to burn and dodge. Seems like a lot of trouble to make an additional layer.
I figure Photoshop has burn and dodge tools, why not use them? I know this method is destructive to the image. Hey, I try not to goof it up the first time. Am I really going to go back to the photo and make adjustments? Who has the time? Always move forward.

1 - Write an action to build dodge and burn layer. OK, I often have only seconds to work on a photo, so I use dodge and burn quite often.

02. The price of the hotel: The Mandalay Bay Resort. Have you seen the beautiful pool. $189 a night weekday, $229 a night weekends.

2 - Go off strip. Three nights in old Vegas hotels run about $125 bucks total.

03. I don't have any good ideas for the Scott Kelby's poll on what should be added to the newest versions of Photoshop and Lightroom.

3 - I did the poll.

04. I don't use curves to make adjustments on my photos. Never have. Never will. There's all these cool curves, graphs and points to click on. You start clicking curving and the photo gets worse. I spent a day at a NAPP seminar with Ben Wilmore. He did a great job, spending two hours explaining curves to 900 people in the room. He even had great visuals going on. I thought I learned it along with everyone else in the the room but, when I got home, I couldn't make it work. It's the levels adjustment for me. A few quick slider adjustments and then it's on to the next photo.

4 - Dump master curve writing - its a per channel art. Attend Dan Margulis classes and read his books.

05. The price of gas. No explanation necessary!

5 - Drive a 4-banger small car with 185,000 miles on it.

06. I use an old Mac G-4 Powerbook with a missing screw. Shouldn't someone who publishes the www.photographyandthemac.com website show up with a shiny new Mac Air?

6 - Buy a used intel macbook on ebay. I am writing on one. Of course, I had to be different. I have a black top, white bottom macbook.

07. The price of the seminar $599. I'm not an NAPP member, so no discount. I didn't go last year, so another no discount. I'm going to have to pay full price. It's a lot to pay for stuff I will probably forget. There's literally too much stuff to learn.

7 - I am an NPPA member, four time photoshop world attendee and will sign up before August 1st early deadline. Saves $250.

08. I'm still using Photoshop CS. It seems fine.

8 - I have Photoshop CS2 and 3, but prefer the original CS. Got that habit from that Adobe pain the ass - Dan Margulis.

09. I don't use Lightroom. I don't use Aperture either. I shoot .jpg instead of Raw. Also, I don't use the histogram to check my photos on the camera.

9 - I shoot raw, use Lightroom Beta, and love writing channel curves in LAB. And I never check histrograms on back of camera.

10. The location: Las Vegas. This means gambling and adult beverages. Ok that's a good thing. No that's a bad thing. No that's a good thing. No that's a bad thing. Ok that's a good thing. Maybe I will go.

10 - The location: What gambling/drinking! You are too freaking busy soaking up photoshop 24/7.

Bottom line is that there is plenty for everyone to learn - no matter what level of photoshop expertise or photoshop version you use.

Oh and who is this Dan Margulis? He was a printing expert long before photoshop and was an early adopter of the software. But he is no Adobe fan boy. He blasted the company for changes in Photoshop version 5 and more recently the buggy version one of Bridge. The main reason I am going to Photoshop World is to attend his sessions.

While I am at it, its time to try making some money with this site. On the sidebar to this web page, I have added two Amazon links to Dan Margulis' most recent books: Photoshop LAB Color and Professional Photoshop. Margulis, in my humble opinion, is the leading expert on Photoshop color correction. His books are the most advance, outside of academia, on the subject. The full titles are Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction (5th Edition) and Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace.

Do not buy these books to learn photoshop. These books assume the reader already knows and uses photoshop. These books concentrate on more advance techniques for handing images and workflow. If I ever teach a college level photoshop course, these will be my required textbooks.

For more information on the NPPA go to their website, www.photoshopuser.com.

Last Sunday, a photographer working for the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory shot this image of explosions from molten lava entering the Pacific Ocean.


A littoral explosion at dusk. Explosions such as this have been common throughout the last several weeks at the Waikupanaha entry. (U.S. Geological Survey photo)

Kilauea Volcano on the big island of Hawaii has been pouring lava into the ocean since 1983. Since about 2001 the USGS has been posting beautiful images easily downloaded on their web site. For a couple of months in 2004 I downloaded over 25 images that made a great screensaver slide show. I would come back from lunch to find co-workers just standing around watching the images.


Image from July 4th, 2004 of lava entering the Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Geological Survey photo)

The images are found at this USGS web site: Volcano Images

Go to the image Archive. The summer of 2004 had a high number of outstanding images and a good place to start. Enjoy!

Tonight while cruising the internet, I was also listening to Star Wars on TV. As Darth Vader says "Don't underestimate the power of the force."

Tonight I found classic examples of photoshop's evil side.

First is the web site photoshopdisasters.com. The site daily has examples of poorly done photoshop work that appears in major publications, catalogues etc.



Man holding check, except check out the shadow and reflection in car. (http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/)



Dresser seems to be fading away. (http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/)

Thanks goes to This Week in Photography (TWIP) podcast for highlighting this site. Its both shocking to see the poor level of photoshop work and the complete failure of editors allowing this work to be published.

Now on the Fox News. At mediamatters.org is a story today of two photos of New York Times journalist that were run through photoshop.

The lead of the story: "On the July 2 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade labeled New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe "attack dogs," claiming that Steinberg's June 28 article on the "ominous trend" in Fox News' ratings was a "hit piece." During the segment, however, Fox News featured photos of Steinberg and Reddicliffe that appeared to have been digitally altered -- the journalists' teeth had been yellowed, their facial features exaggerated, and portions of Reddicliffe's hair moved further back on his head. Fox News gave no indication that the photos had been altered."





Original photos and Fox News versions. (http://mediamatters.org)

I wanted to enter into a tirade but, why bother - Darth Vader is alive and well, works at Fox News and has a copy of photoshop.