Join Mark Wallace May 18-20, 2012 as he heads back to Seattle to teach another workshop at creativeLIVE. At “Speedlights 101” Mark walks you through everything you wanted to know about Canon and Nikon speed lights. Mark says, “Once you know what’s happening with your camera and flash you can do almost anything.”

Day One is all about understanding the principles of flash photography. Mark will give you a solid foundation for working with your speed light so you can worry less about the technical stuff and more about creating stellar pictures. Learn how to control the ambient light exposure independent of the flash exposure. You’ll learn how your speedlight meters light so you can get the exact result you imagine.

Day Two Mark shows you how to get the flash off your camera to open a whole new realm of lighting possibilities. From flash modes to modifiers, you’ll learn how to control the light in nearly any shooting situation. There will be plenty of live demonstrations and lots of time for questions from live audience members. High speed sync, rear curtain synce, bouncing the flash, controlling groups of flashes and more!

Day Three is nearly six hours of shooting demonstrations with speedlights. Mark will show you how to shoot some of the most common scenarios: portraits, indoor events, outdoor nighttime events, and group portraits. Mark will be shooting inside, outside, in bright sun and in dark rooms. Learn how to put what you learned in day one and two into practice.

Want to be in Seattle with Mark as a part of the live audience? Make a 60-second(ish) video explaining why YOU should be in the audience and post the link on twitter to @creativeLIVE with the hashtag #WallaceLIVE. Creativity is always a plus!

Even if you’re not in the Seattle audience, you can tune in live from your computer. It’s free, you can ask Mark questions and interact with a huge, worldwide community of photographers just like you.

If you can’t join us live you can pre-order a recorded version of the course for just $99! This is a steal for 3 full days of speedlight training. The price goes up to $149 at 9am May 18, so buy early to save!

See you May 18-20, 2012 at creativeLIVE!

Scott Kelby, author of The Digital Photography Book (the best-selling digital photography book of all time), is back with another follow-up to his smash best-seller, with an entirely new book that picks up right where volume 3 left off. It’s even more of that “Ah ha, so that’ s how they do it,” straight-to-the-point, skip-the-techno-jargon stuff people can really use today, and that made volume 1 the world’s best-selling book on digital photography.

This book truly has a brilliant premise, and here’s how Scott describes it: “If you and I were out on a shoot and you asked me, ‘Hey Scott, I want the light for this portrait to look really soft and flattering. How far back should I put this softbox?’ I wouldn’t give you a lecture about lighting ratios, or flash modifiers. In real life, I’d just turn to you and say, ‘Move it in as close to your subject as you possibly can, without it actually showing up in the shot.’ Well, that’s what this book is all about: you and I out shooting where I answer questions, give you advice, and share the secrets I’ve learned, just like I would with a friend–without all the technical explanations and techie photo speak.”

Each page covers a single concept on how to make your photography better. Every time you turn the page, you’ll learn another pro setting, tool, or trick to transform your work from snapshots into gallery prints. If you’re tired of taking shots that look “okay,” and if you’re tired of looking in photography magazines and thinking, “Why don’t my shots look like that?” then this is the book for you.

This isn’t a book of theory, full of confusing jargon and detailed concepts. This is a book on which button to push, which setting to use, and when to use it. With another 200 of the most closely guarded photographic “tricks of the trade,” this book gets you shooting dramatically better-looking, sharper, more colorful, more professional-looking photos every time.

Buy it now on Amazon!

See larger image The Digital Photography Book, Part 4 (Paperback) By (author) Scott Kelby List Price: $24.99 USD New From: $12.47 In Stock Used from: $15.02 In Stock

This is from Canon themselves , easy and lighthearted information about your canon flash;

http://web.canon.jp/imaging/flashwork/

And another website from the Canon learning-center an article in 3 parts about the speedlight.

http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2011/speedlite_tip_pt1_article.shtml

A MUST HAVE book about Canon flash-photograhy from Amazon:

See larger image Speedliter's Handbook: Learning to Craft Light with Canon Speedlites (Paperback) By (author) Syl Arena List Price: $49.99 USD New From: $25.98 In Stock Used from: $25.95 In Stock

The great surprise is the price, just $139 for one transceiver! (Trigger and receiver in one device)

B&H link: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

This is a NON TTL transceiver (A trigger and receiver in one unit)

Some details from the B&H website:

32 Channels

Featuring 16 standard and 16 Quad-Zone Triggering channels, finding an open channel to use is simplified and efficient. Switching between channels is accomplished with one-touch operation.

Quad-Zone Triggering

You can program up to 4 working zones for remote control of flashes. This allows you the ability to wirelessly activate and deactivate your flashes, enabling you to remain in camera position without having to manually adjust lighting setups. This is ideal for using multiple lighting setups and managing remote cameras as needed.

Auto-Sensing Transceiver

When set in TxRx mode, the transceiver is able to instantly switch between transmitter and receiver modes for the greatest amount of flexibility. You can also manually override this and choose to have it act as a dedicated transmitter or receiver.

Auto-Relay Mode

When using 3 PocketWizard radios; you can remotely trigger a camera to fire and trigger a flash simultaneously. Utilizing the Auto-Sensing technology, the transceiver mounted to the camera can instantly receive a signal from an auxiliary transceiver, and then instantly convey the transmission to a remote flash. This provides a simplistic and highly efficient remote workflow.

Long Range Capability

When used in ideal conditions, this transceiver is capable of producing and receiving a signal up to 1640′ / 500m away. When conditions are not ideal for a long range transmission, Long Range mode can be used to nearly double the effective range of the signal. There is also Repeater mode, which will repeat the signal several times, increasing the possibility of a successful transmission at long range.

High Speed Capability

When in High Speed Receive mode, this transceiver is capable of triggering cameras or flashes up to 14.5 fps. Normal performance also permits triggering up to 12 fps. It is also capable of sync speeds up to 1/250 sec. for focal plane shutters and 1/500 sec. for leaf shutters.

Simplified User Interface and Design

Clearly displayed on a 1″ / 2.5cm backlit LCD, all of the channels, zones, and modes can be configured using a soft-touch keypad. The design of the transceiver also incorporates a side-view LCD for easier viewing and an internal antenna for a less obtrusive appearance.

Wide Compatibility and Connect-ability

The transceiver is easily attached to most cameras through the hot shoe, with no extraneous cables required. For attaching to remotes and lights, there is an all-in-one sync port for wide compatibility. Cables are included for attaching from miniphone to miniphone, miniphone to phono, and miniphone to PC sync for cameras without a hot shoe. It is also compatible with all PocketWizard transmitters and receivers (of the same frequency) as well as PocketWizard-enabled lighting and metering equipment. The Plus III is powered by 2 x AA batteries and can be kept up to date with firmware updates utilizing the USB port.

NIKONCLS.COM

Looks like a very easy explanation of the NIKON CLS system with a step by step procedure and screen shots of how to set your Nikon speedlight in master or slave mode.

AMAZON has a nice book about the NIKON CLS too;

See larger image The Nikon Creative Lighting System: Using the SB-600, SB-800, SB-900, and R1C1 Flashes (Paperback) By (author) Mike Hagen List Price: $34.95 USD New From: $20.95 In Stock Used from: $14.99 In Stock

Don Giannattiâ™s on-line workshop is for the photographer who is working to find their vision and their own perspective. With attention to lighting from a Subject Centric approach to breaking through the creative blocks and working with talent, this workshop is a non-stop, hands-on weekend.

Make sure you sign up for this 3 day workshop here:  http://www.creativelive.com/courses/lighting-essentials-don-giannatti

More about Don Giannatti;

See larger image Lighting Essentials: A Subject-Centric Approach for Digital Photographers (Paperback) By (author) Don Giannatti List Price: $34.95 USD New From: $20.82 In Stock Used from: $20.82 In Stock

I am pleased to announce that I have officially started working on my next book. Light and Lighting will be published in June by Peachpit Press (the publisher of my Speedliterâ™s Handbook). As part of Peachpit From Snapshots to Great Shots series, it will present fundamental concepts about light and various techniques of photographic lighting at a level accessible to novice shooters.

This is exciting news. If Syl does the same amazing job as with his previous book , Speedliters™  Handbook , then it is again a must have for photographers. His book will be published in June and is available for pre-order at my favorite place Amazon.com. (Click the link below)

Read more here:

http://speedliting.com/how-to/syl-arena-light-and-lighting-from-snapshots-to-great-shots/

See larger image Light and Lighting: From Snapshots to Great Shots (Paperback) By (author) Syl Arena List Price: $24.99 USD New From: $14.48 In Stock

All this can be corrected if you have one of the camera’s mentioned on the list on the bottom of this post. If your camera is not on the list you can still measure it and pay attention to where you focus.

To figure out how your lens is focusing you can use some DIY solutions or a system that is ready to go. I’m in the middle of getting the lensalign pictured here.

We will use that in our meetup-group to calibrate lenses from different brand. I will post an update with the experience.

The following camera’s can be adjusted;

These camera’s have lens focus adjustment in the setup;

Canon

• 1Dx
• 1DsMkIII
• 1DMkIII
• 1DMkIV
• 5DMkII
• 7D
• 50D

Nikon

• D4
• D3
• D3x
• D3s
• D300
• D300s
• D700
• D7000

Sony

• A900
• A850
• SLT-A77

Olympus

• E-30
• E-620
• E-5

Pentax

• K20D
• K2000
• K200D
• K-5
• K7D
• 645D

See larger image LensAlign MkII Focus Calibration System (Electronics) New From: $79.95 In Stock

Most of my readers know that I’m a big fan of Photoshop Elements. There are so many things that you can do with it. It is also very extensible. For an amateur PSE is the best image editor option on the market specially now Amazon sells it for a a low price of  $49.99 (Photoshop Elements 10 Nov/Dec 2011)

To get some instructional video’s and tutorials there are a lot of websites that are offering that. This website is owned by Rick who does a great shop breaking down some basic tasks for day to day use.

Check it out here: http://www.essential-photoshop-elements.com

From his website;

Hi. My name is Rick Peterson. Thank you for visiting my website. I’m passionate about Photoshop and have worked with it in my job for several years.

I work for the largest privately owned printing company in the world. My job has allowed me to work on some of the most high-end publications and catalogs in the country and to use Photoshop to its fullest. So it’s with that experience that I started this website for users of Photoshop Elements which is an amazingly powerful program geared toward the home user.

Most of the image editing results you can get from the full version of Photoshop are achievable in Elements if you know how. I try to show you how on this website.

A sample video here;

Click here to view the embedded video.

Another great website is MCPactions.com

On Jodi’s mainpage it says;

MCP Actions helps professional and hobbyist photographers improve their photography. Our innovative Photoshop Actions and Lightroom Presets make photo editing and retouching quick and easy. MCP Actions provides interactive online training classes and free Photoshop video tutorials. See how we can help your photography stand out while saving you time.

On Jodi’s site you can find a lot of actions to speed up your process. Some are paid and others are free.

An action I found very valuable is the free Facebook Fix actions.

This set includes 11* powerful Photoshop actions to resize, sharpen, watermark and brand your images for Facebook or the web. They are optimized for Facebook’s 960 pixels on the longest side, but can be reduced if your blog is smaller.

Whether you are displaying before and after examples, two side by side, or just single photos, they will look better and protect your photos instantly.

Download it here: http://www.mcpactions.com/facebook-fix-actions.html

And if you want to buy Photoshop Elements 10 click on the Amazon link here;

See larger image Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (Software) List Price: $99.99 USD New From: $52.97 In Stock Release date October 3, 2011.