Welcome to the October issue of the CAFÉ cup!
Wow, so much travel this month! It was great to travel and meet many of you around the country. Its also great to be home!
I just returned home from a week in New York City. We were based at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. I had the opportunity to teach a seminar at the Apple SoHo store. The presentation was a teaser for DL Expo which went of without a hitch. You can read more about it in this newsletter.
Montana was great where I spent 2 days teaching the students at Rocky Mountain School of Photography. It was nice to get out and see the Rocky Mountains. This month we have a new tutorial and several new tips. If you are in the San Diego area, check out the free event I will be presenting at this Saturday.
Look for my article in the upcoming Computer Arts Projects magazine where I take you on a 6 page tutorial for creating a photo realistic interface in Photoshop. Also remember my regular columns in Photoshop User Magazine and the NAPP members site.
Tell your friends and get them to sign up on the list, they may just win a prize! As always this list will never be shared or sold to slimy spammers.
Tip: Smaller jpg's in Save for web. |
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I have been asked this same question many times. As a freelancer, how much should I charge?
I don't believe there is one answer to this, but here is some advice. (This applies to Designers, illustrators and Photographers)
At the beginning of you career, you cannot charge what people are charging who have been doing this for years, because you won't get the jobs. It takes time to build your reputation and demand for your services. If you are just starting out than your selling point is price. The way you will get work is to be cheap and then you will get the clients who are looking for a cheap job that will get them by. In time you will develop a style that people are willing to pay for. When that happens, you are able to up your price and begin to compete on other factors such as reliability, turnaround, (You should offer these right off the bat) style and skill. Having a computer and Photoshop will not automatically make you a professional designer any more than having a stethoscope will make you a doctor. They are the tools and then there is the business. I encourage you to read some books on the business of designing. Its one thing to make a few bucks on the side, but its a totally different matter to make a living from your designs.
Now I hope this doesn't discourage you when you are starting out. Unless you get a lucky break, you will have to slowly climb the mountain and pay your dues like the rest of us. The good news is this... the climb will weed out the designers for the wanabees. If design is your passion, you will love every minute of it, you will endure the hardships and look to the rewards. You get to do what you love (How many people can say that?) you get to be creative, you create designs all day. Bill what you are comfortable with, that is what you feel is fair. Don't rip anyone off ever! If you can look the client in the eye and you know the price is fair that this is the right price. If that's $100 for you or $30,000. Be warned, if you undercharge, you will find yourself resenting the client as you are working and be tempted to take short-cuts. If you cannot do your best work, you are not charging enough. If you feel guilty, you are charging too much at this point in your career.
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English Tea Can / China Painting effect |
Is it possible to get quality Royalty free stock photos for $1.50? Sure is, check out istockphoto
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RMSP
Montana was great where I spent 2 days teaching the students at Rocky Mountain School of Photography. The classes were on building a digital Portfolio and sharing your images electronically. It was nice to get out and see the Rocky Mountains.
Digital Lifestyle Expo.
Last Sunday, something was going down in Times Square, New York. It was DL Expo! David Pogue, Andy Ihnatko and myself among others presented everything from Digital Photography to Video, itunes to imovie and more. This was the second in a series of shows. Check out the DL expo site for the 05 schedule. Check out my interview on Your Maclife Radio with Shawn King.
Apple SoHo Store - New York, NY
I had a blast at the big apple. While there I went to a different kind of Apple. It was the SoHo Apple store where I presented a one hour Photoshop Secrets For Digital Photographers seminar. In the state of the art theater, I presented everything from working with Camera raw to creating hollywood style retouches with Photoshop CS.
Coming UP:
San Diego PSUG this Coming weekend
Macfair - LA
PIDE San Diego
More to come...
Now is the Time to Join Action FX. |
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If you are familiar with the hugely popular Super Tutorial on building a web site with Photoshop and Dreamweaver, or my book "From Photoshop to Dreamweaver", you will LOVE this book. This is all the stuff I wish I had put in the previous book such as Expanded explanation of slices and tables, frames and iframes, liquid sites, e-commerce, drop down menus and more. This is a simple to follow guide that will take you through concept to upload of the DreamweaverCAFE site. It is also flexible enough that you can apply the lessons to any site! I wrote this as the book I wish I had when I started designing web sites.
This full color book will give you a solid understanding of not only the tools of Photoshop but how to accomplish different tasks. You will master paths, channels and layers. No stone is unturned. From Retouching Photographs to Web sites and collages and more, you will learn some cool tips and the best way of doing things. This is the perfect book for the beginner>Intermediate user. More than a manual replacement! Even the experienced user will learn something. Check it out here
Q: I've been using the color samplers to set my color cast, but recently my Light eyedropper turns my image a dark beige.In curves when I click the light eyedropper on the white sample, my entire image turns a dark beige. How do I reset my defaults for this?
A: Double Click the eyedropper tool in the curves or Levels Dialog box and you will see a color swatch (Square). Double click on the Swatch to open the color picker. Change the black point to 95% black (5% White). Repeat for the white point (Right eyedropper) Set the White to 95% White.
Q: When using the type tool in photoshop cs, is there a way to view what the font looks like in the pull down menu?
A: You cannot display a font preview in the Drop down menu, but you can preview on screen. With some text highlighted, Click in the font menu. The current font should now be highlighted. Press the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard to preview the fonts onscreen
If you have a question please submit it the CAFE. It may just be featured in the next newsletter.
| Tip:
Making adjustments while preserving color. When you apply an adjustment, run a filter or sharpen a photo, the color can shift a little. To restore the original color choose Edit>Fade (name of filter) and change the mode to Luminosity. This will apply the filter without any color change. |
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Thanks for tuning into the CAFE Cup and remember: Create don't Steal! See you at the cafe
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