Here are a few of my favorite resources for Photoshop Actions. These save time and make you look good.

Tools for Television – Want to automate standard video graphics production tasks? Then check out Tools for Television’s Photoshop Toolbox for video-friendly actions at http://www.toolsfortelevision.com.

Action FX – For complex text and special effects, check out the excellent site http://www.actionfx.com. There are several free actions as well as some to purchase.

Photoshop Video Actions – Upgraded to CS2 or CS3? Then be sure to check out the built in Video Actions that I authored with
Dan Brown for some timesaving automation tools.

PanosFX – A newer site that is really becoming one to watch is PanosFX (http://www.panosfx.com). This site has some incredible free actions as well as some very affordable and powerful tools for sale.

Adobe Exchange – If you’re not in a position to purchase add-ons to your system, there’s one incredible free resource worth mentioning. With the release of Photoshop 5.5, Adobe launched a Web site originally called Action Xchange where users could share their actions; see http://www.adobe.com/exchange.

I often find I have too much information to remember (and for some reason people expect me to be able to spout pixel aspect ratio numbers like a multiplication table). Fortunately the fine folks over at Digital Rebellion has solved this (and for free). They offer several video widgets that do important math, these run on a web browser or iPhone (and a couple can run offline as well).


Video Footage Calculator – Calculates how much storage you'll need for your footage type and duration.
Web – iPhone version – Offline version

Film Rate Calculator – Determines how much film you need for a particular scenario.
Web – iPhone version – Offline version

Aspect Ratio Calculator – Determines the aspect ratio for different footage formats.
Web – iPhone version

Depth of Field Calculator – Calculates depth of field for many camera sensors.
Web – iPhone version

Pixel Aspect Ratio Calculator – Determines relationship of Pixels for many digital formats.
Web – iPhone version

Lens Angle Calculator – Helps calculate the lens angle for a given sensor size and focal length.
Web – iPhone version

Power Load Calculator – Calculates the load on a circuit to see if it is excessive. You can also calculate the minimum circuit breaker size for the given load.
Web – iPhone version

These tools are cool, free, and useful.... three points that make them a must have for my iPhone.

Looking for a useful application to tell you more about your video files? Mac users should check out the free (and still in pre-release) Video Spec software tool. The tool is a little rough around the edges (it has one major bug which is the aspect ratio of DV and HDV is not reported accurately) but it is still truly useful.

• The latest version has been tested on Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard.
• It is compatible with PowerPC and Intel Mac (Universal Binary).
• This version is localized in english and french.

There's a great article over at Pro Video Coalition about using web tools to collaborate with other creative pros. The article is written by Steve Hullfish who truly knows his stuff...

“A few weeks ago there was a short but interesting thread on CML-pro (The Cinematographer’s Mailing List) about how to collaborate with other creatives on a production team using web-based tools. The original poster wanted a solution – a “group scrapbook” - that would allow a small pre-production team to share images, photos and notes. Expanding on the idea a little further, it would be good to be able to communicate across the group, share schedules, comments and video.
There were basically six good solutions presented by members of the list:

• Google Sites – basically a free on-line website creator.
• Celtx – free software that links to free shared web storage specifically for film and TV productions.
• BackPackIt – subscription-based team collaboration website
• BaseCamp – subscription-based team collaboration website
• Picassa Web – on-line photo sharing
• .mac account with iWeb – simple website creation with annual subscription for serving.

I examined each of these concepts for a project I’m beginning. There are pros and cons to each approach and I figure that you might benefit from all of my legwork.”

You can check out the entire article here.

A trainer that I respect a great deal has released a free tutorial. Mark Spencer offers a free tutorial on Motion Control effects with photos:

“Animating photos is a staple effect pioneered by celebrated documentarian Ken Burns. In this tutorial Mark Spencer shows you why you should be doing these types of effects in Motion rather than Final Cut Pro.”

Click here to watch Mark's tutorial

Caught a great presentation from Steve Martin at NAB. It's all about using Production Premium with other NLEs like Final Cut Pro. Steve is a popular trainer (in fact one of Apple's main instructors). This one is helpful...



If you want more free classes... visit the Adobe TV site.

Want 30 minutes of free training on Adobe Photoshop CS3? Adobe had me in their theater at NAB giving lessons. Here's a recording from one of the days so you can see what was taught.



If you want more free classes... visit the Adobe TV site.

Thanks to all the great people who attended my classes at NAB this year. It was a ton of work to prep (and I must admit I needed some rest when I got back home). As promised, the class notes and resources have been posted to the Handouts section (be sure to browse for other resources as well).

Here's the list of what's available.

01 Fast Start with Adobe Photoshop for Video Pros – Slides | Book Sample
02 Video Podcasting Essentials – Slides
03 Selling Podcasting to Your Clients – Slides
04 A Sense of Perspective with Vanishing Point – Slides | Practice Files
05 Creating Movement within Photos with After Effects CS3 – Slides | Practice Files 1 | Practice Files 2
06 Directing Video Podcasts – Slides
07 Project Management for Video Pros – Slides
08 In-Depth: Video Production for the Web – Slides
09 Creating a Graphic Identity for Your Web Video – Slides
10 Render Faster: Wait Less and Play More in Adobe After Effects – Slides
11 Storyboard Techniques with Adobe Photoshop – Slides
12 Creative and Animated DVD menus using Photoshop – Handouts
13 Automating Broadcast Design with Photoshop – Slides
14 Seeing a New Light: FCP Color Correction – Slides | DVD

The Aperture book is DONE and off to print. We worked in complete coverage on Aperture 2.1 which has some great new features. I've logged a lot of time with the application and wanted to offer some insight on the best of the new features in the free 2.1 update.

• Dodge & Burn Plug-in – This plug-in offers much more than just Dodge and Burn. You'll also find brush-based tools for Contrast, Saturation, Sharpen Fade, and Blur. The plug-in also opens the door to third-party development (including some cool tools from nik Software.
• Customize Default Adjustment Set – You can now specify which adjustments appear by default in the Adjustments Inspector/HUD.
• Updated Crop Tool – The crop tool has been simplified. The new UI makes it easier to preserve an image's original aspect ratio, match the aspect ratio of your display, or use one of the standard preset aspect ratios.
• Flip Images – You can now flip or flop images horizontally or vertically within Aperture.
• Save Books as JPEG or TIFF images – This means you can now submit books to several third party websites.

The book will be out very soon... you can order it here.

Looking for something different? I discovered Animoto at this year's SXSW conference... Load up your photos, pick a song, and within a few minutes you have a rocking music video. You can use their cleared music or load up your own. Thirty-second movies are free, full-length videos cost $3. You can get a full year's access for $30.

The whole process is a piece of cake. Be sure to check them out – here. You can post the videos to a website, download them for an iPod, or even use YouTube to share. The videos you download

Here are a two more of mine that you can check out.

Our new book called Producing Video Podcasts is shipping. We're really happy with how its turned out. It's a comprehensive title that explores all aspects of producing video podcasts (as well as web video).

If you are a budding podcaster or a multimedia professional I strongly encourage you to check out the book. Here are several links to give you a good idea of what its all about.

The Book: To Order –
Read Chapter 1 – Table of Contents – Index
The Website – The Podcast

I need to use textures all the time when creating graphics. I recently found a great website with a bunch of free, high-resolution textures. Be sure to check out TextureArchive.com. “TextureArchive.com is devoted to providing a site which is useful for all types artists.”

Free is good... "good" free is even better.

I saw this very cool product at Macworld Expo called Flow. It is a revolutionary workflow management technology designed to work with Adobe and Apple software. The product took Best of Show (and for good reason). You can see it in action in a video demo on their site. 

"Flow is a revolutionary approach to digital content management that dramatically simplifies the design process for creative professionals working on graphic design, web and video projects. Flow automatically tracks your work from idea to end result and manages your assets and applications for your most complex projects- all without changing the way you work."

Flow isn't shipping for a while, but GridIron is accepting sign-ups for beta testing.

Lot of bugs lately with QuickTime (especially in pro video applications). We've personally seen issues in both Final Cut Pro and After Effects.

Apple has released a new update to QuickTime... lets hope it's elusive “improves compatibility with third-party applications” actually means something.
Visit http://www.apple.com/support/quicktime/ for more information.

Looking for a better way to show your images on the web? Adobe has boosted Bridge with new web galleries.

"Adobe® Media Gallery (AMG) for Adobe Bridge adds quick, powerful Web gallery creation to Adobe Photoshop® CS3, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended and the Adobe Creative Suite®. AMG makes it possible to create HTML or Flash-based galleries from any of the file formats supported by Bridge; adjust the galleries using the built-in preview; and export the results or upload them via FTP."

The add-on is free... and works great with easy preview and FTP options. You can download the free plug-in at http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Adobe_Media_Gallery.

I've launched a new resource site called Final Cut Help to offer you more news on Final Cut Studio as well as centralize all of my Final Cut resources and training products. Here are a few things you may like.

• Tip of the Week – Thanks to Focal Press

• Podcasts – Back Episodes and New Subscriptions
• Forums – In partnership with Creative Cow
• Conferences – New Events and Notes from previous classes
• Blog – For all the latest news

As always... comments and requests are very welcome.

Thanks to Scott Kelby for releasing his very cool guide to gift shopping (for geeks and photographers at least).
“It’s here: the long awaited, unabated, triangulated, amalgamated, 2nd annual edition of Scott’s Gonzo Holiday Gear Guide!

This year’s expanded in-depth guide includes nothing but the coolest, personally hand-picked gear for the photography and Photoshop freak on your holiday list.”

I just got done with a full-blown review on Strata 3D plug-ins for Photoshop CS3 Extended for Layers Magazine. I can't spill all the beans (my full review will appear in next month's issue). But I couldn't wait to point out a great new tool. Be sure to check out Strata Design 3D In. This very cool plug-in lets you bring in 3D models to your Photoshop projects. Sure. you're thinking doesn't PSCS3 Extended do that already? Nope... not this well. This plug-in ties into Vanishing Point and lets you match the models and lights to the perspective of your photo. Plus you get even greater control over rendering out lights and reflections. This tool is hot, and I highly recommend you try the demo out.

Adobe's Russell Brown has produced a great new collection of FREE workflow scripts for Photoshop CS3 & CS3 Extended. Be sure to check out Dr. Brown's Services 1.9.2 which offer some great features for video.
"Background Remover," "Interpret Video," "Fit Video to Audio," and "Slide Show" scripts take advantage of Photoshop CS3 Extended's new video capabilities.

If you want to save time, download Dr. Brown's Services 1.9.2

Adobe is offering a free class that you can take on using Photoshop with their video products. It's a live online seminar and I highly encourage you to sign up in advance.

EVENT DESCRIPTION: Working with Photoshop Extended to use with Premiere Pro and After Effects
Join Richard Harrington, author of Photoshop for Video and Understanding Adobe Photoshop, contributing author for After Effects On the Spot, After Effects at Work, and Broadcast Graphics on the Spot, to learn how to prepare your digital images for video. Using the best professional techniques, bring your still images to life using Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and Adobe After Effects CS3. Richard is also the host of the weekly show, Photoshop for Video and runs a blog with the same name at www.PhotoshopforVideo.com.
When: Thursday, November 15, 2007 10:30 AM-12:00 PM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada).
Where: online & telephone
Sign Up: www.adobe.com/go/dveseminars

Sci-Fi Network has a very cool series that "re-imagines" the Land of Oz. The show is called Tin Man, and while the show looks fantastic, it is an amazing promo site that deserves mention. They have created a really unique sub-site called The Infinite Oz which offers a virtual reality experience. What I like is how immersive and creative the website is. It also features the work of several up and coming 3D artists. Go take a look... really!

I have personally experienced harassment first hand when it comes to urban photography. In DC, one routinely gets threatened or chased off in the spirit of 'national security.' So it was with great joy that I came across this entry over at Stu Maschwitz blog. I also found another helpful post at John Nack's prolific blog on the same topic.

You can find a great PDF here that describes the rights of photographers (and videographers) within the U.S. Print this out and place it into your gear bag for the next time you get harassed.

If you need to try out different color combinations, be sure to try Kuler from Adobe labs. This flash-based application lets you browse a wide variety of designer created color schemes as well as create your own. It supports all the major rules from Analogous to Shades. The controls are beautifully designed and the entire application really inspires creativity. In order to access it, you are supposed to have a live connection to the Internet. You'll need to be online to take advantage of the shared and highest rated features, but I've found a work-around for those times when an Internet connection isn't an option. I was able to save a web archive in Safari (File > Save As) which can then be opened up when I am not on the Net. Be sure to check this very cool application out.

There are two great gift guides for the holiday season (both published by friends). If you need to find something for the digital geek in your life (or even just want something to give others ideas) then check these two out.

First, you have Scott Kelby's “Gonzo Holiday Gadget Guide.” This free PDF features a ton of cool digital photography and photoshop related goodies. All the products have been tested by Scott himself, which is cool as he certainly knows his stuff. You can download it from http://www.planetphotoshop.com.

The other guide is from Terry White (who is a true road warrior who works for Adobe). The 2006 Holiday Gadget Gift Guide is an interactive PDF links to some of the coolest gizmos out there. Terry covers everything from digital video to frequent traveler to music lover. His choice are really very good.

I've posted some new items online to help spice up your projects and make your digital life a little easier.

• Background Textures from Digital Anarchy
• NTSC Test Image (For use with Photoshop's Video Actions)
• Power Window/Vignette to enhance Film Look
• Over The Shoulder Data Sets Template

I hope you enjoy. If you spot any problems, please let me know.

If you need to put together a storyboard, you have lots of options. But the process of laying out the pages and dealing with changes to shot order or selection can get tedious. Fortunately there is a free solution called Directors Boards which alleviates most of the challenges (no, it won't draw for you).

This great program is based on Filemaker, but doesn't need you to have the full program installed in order to run. You essentially load in information regarding the shots including the audio and video columns, shot number, and a thumbnail image. Directors Boards then allows you to organize the shots as well as create a sldieshow presentation or print out professional looking storyboards. The product is cross-platform and free... what more do you need? Well there is a more robust version called Directors Notebook, which we are putting through its paces and will have a detailed review soon.

We've added a brand new page to our Resources section. Come search for “free” images at various government agency sites. Several websites offer images that are either public domain or have very generous usage rights. Be sure to read usage terms at each site.

We call them “free” as they were paid for with U.S. tax dollars (which means they are now free to use). Start to