I have a real treat for you today, a wonderful way to end the week. I have written several times recently about the new look for photo gallery site 1x. In my opinion it has surpassed 500px due to the beautiful manner in which photos are displayed and the sheer quality of the images chosen for publication. Don’t get me wrong … I still check 500px regularly and there are some quality images to be found there. But for my money, 1x is the best site going right now. Click here to check out what I mean (and be prepared to be impressed).

And I have repeatedly urged you to check out the fantastic photos of my good friend Richard Small. He is truly a master photographer. And Richard just recently began to post over on 1x, putting together a very small number of exceptional images. Now, there are not a lot of photos there, but the ones that he has chosen just jump off the page at you. Click here to see what I mean … and definitely prepare to be impressed!

What a great way to end the week, with incredible images displayed to perfection on a fine website. Thank you, Richard, and thank you, 1x!

I’ve written it; you’ve read it elsewhere; you’ve probably muttered it yourself a time or two. Adobe just doesn’t care whether or not you like their new Photoshop CC policy. At all. A wee bit. Nada. None. Zero. Less than zero. And you and I have pretty much figured out why, what their reasoning is. But Thom Hogan over at byThom has written it out with supporting data, making a case that Adobe will not lift a finger to refute. Because they can’t; what Thom has written is true.

Adobe knows they are going to lose customers in the short run, but they figure to pick all of us back up again in a (to them) relatively short period of time because we have no where else to go. At least that seems to be their bottom line thinking. But Thom isn’t so sure … and Adobe would do well not to take us for granted. Click here to visit his site , and then scroll down to the article “The Financial Side of Cloud From Adobe’s Perspective.” ‘Nuff said (I keep writing that, but Adobe keeps driving us crazy with their arrogance and disregard).

Read the article and make a decision of what to do with this Adobe monster of ours.

So Glyn has been kind enough to again share his considerable talent with the rest of us. Below is a new video he produced demonstrating in detail (but in simple terms) how he achieves that black background when he needs to … without a backdrop or stands or studio or anything that needs to be hauled around and put in place. And this techniques works indoors or outdoors – wherever you happen to find yourself. Thank you, Glyn! Not only is he a true expert at what he does, with a rare sense of artistry, Glyn also is generous to a fault. Watch this one and commit to the memory bank. It is truly a technique to carry everywhere, all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO9Zy8m3cxw

Remember entering MCP Action’s contest back on May 15th? The one with the Tamron 24-70 lens as the prize? The first 24-70 on the market to be stabilized? Worth a cool $1300? I thought you would remember that part …. Unfortunately, MCP Actions has this post for all us losers: “The lucky winner of this incredible $1,299 Tamron lens is: #2367 – Mira Crisp.” So, unless Mira is a reader of my blog, we all lost this one. But, never fear, loyal readers. We still are in the running for that second, identical lens from the good folks over at Steve’s Digicams. That giveaway doesn’t end until May 31st, so you still have time to enter. Just click here and follow the simple instructions. And good luck! Again!

And something today for all you Canon fans (I know, you have been rather neglected lately). My good friend Jeff Schemmer told me about Magic Lantern, the Canon firmware folks. After he told me that he had downloaded the latest firmware for his particular Canon camera and what it added (how about the ability to now shoot nine bracketed images where three was the absolute limit previously?) I was really glad for him (and bummed that there wasn’t a similar Magic Lantern for us Nikon users). Jeff went through the menu of add-ons offered (this works sort of like a plug-in; you have to take a look at the site to see all that is offered), and it was an impressive list. The big thing is that he installed the firmware and it works! It works well, in fact. And it was like giving his Canon DLSR an upgrade. For FREE, no less! Jeff knows his camera and he knows photography. He spent time testing the firmware and using it in his camera. That testimonial is good enough for me to recommend it to you. If you are a Canon user, check out the site by clicking here and see what it may do for you. (Hey, enterprising software geniuses … anybody got one of these for the Nikon D600?)

Good luck on the lens. And a real tip of the hat to Magic Lantern and what they do for Canon cameras.

Friday’s post was the announcement by onOne Labs of a new blog, designed to give us notice (I believe) that there are contenders out there for Adobe’s former lock on the photo-finishing market (click here for that post, complete with link to onOne). Well, we (you and I) are not the only ones figuring that Adobe has opened the door to its competition. The good folks over at dp review have done a very nice job of rounding up 10 photo-editing-programs-that-aren’t-Photoshop (click here for all ten and a description of each). Yep; ten contenders for your hard-earned dollars that perhaps prior to last month you wouldn’t have bothered researching at all. But Adobe’s announcement has caught everyone’s attention … possibly for our good and Photoshop’s bad. Keep an eye on onOne and on these 10 programs.

And an announcement that Adobe has a Camera Raw beta (version 8.1) ready for you to download (if you are into beta software). And, as promised, it will update our current versions of Photoshop CS6. But … only as far as adding new camera models to its database. Any new features are reserved for you Photoshop CC users. And, so …. Adobe’s strategy and tactics begin. If you are a beta kind of user you may click here for a link to the new download.

Well, new week … same subject. And you can join these discussions all over the web. I can’t help but wonder if sometime a year or two down the line we may be asking Adobe … “Hey, how’s that Photoshop CC working out for you?” (My apologies to Dr. Phil).

Common wisdom is that some savvy software company out there is going to go after dis-affected Adobe users, now that Photoshop CC (the cloud) is a reality. Adobe has looked around and not seen any real competitors, so they seem pretty confident that all current Photoshop users have nowhere else to go. Time is going to show us the definitive answer. But I think we may be seeing an opening salvo. Or at least an opening shot. And it is liable not to be the last.

Click here to visit a new website (one I am going to bookmark) from the good (and talented) folks over at onOne Software. It is called onOne Labs, and it promises to keep us up-to-date on their latest projects. Take a look and scroll down the page to see the features that are under development. Am I way off base? Or do I see a pattern developing that says onOne has their eye on all of us who are looking around at other photo processing programs? Thom Hogan recently wrote an article opining that Adobe may have unintentionally opened the door of unintended consequences with the whole CC thing. His take on the matter (among other recent things he has written) was that virtually every Adobe user was at least taking a look around to see what else is out there. And that they will continue to do so. Which is something that almost none of us had thought of previously. Hmmmmmm ……

I am going to keep an eye on onOne (they make some pretty darned good products already). And DxO Labs. And whoever else out there offers me more choices and more freedom than Adobe and its cloud.

Yesterday’s post offered you the opportunity to win a very nice Tamron lens (the 24-70 f/2.8 VC worth a cool $1300). I trust you entered and will be waiting anxiously on May 9th to see if that new lens will be shipping to your home address. But if that day comes and goes without an email from Tamron or MCP Actions – never fear. For today you have another chance to win a twin Tamron lens.

Click here to visit the good, good folks over at Steve’s Digicams. They and Tamron have teamed up to offer you a FREE second opportunity to win that 24-70 beauty, the stabilized one. Follow the very simple instructions to enter, then sit back and wait for the UPS man to arrive at your doorstep sometime after the contest closes on May 31st.

Entering is easy; the lens is a very good one. So enter today. What do you have to lose?

Click here to visit MCP Actions and enter for yourself. And good luck.

I am sure that Adobe is sitting back and waiting for all us petulant children to get over our tantrums and throw in the towel (sign up for their cloud version of whatever). They knew there would be a backlash against this move, but they had to figure it would all go away sooner or later (and they undoubtedly figured it would be sooner). So a few clients threaten to jump ship … they will come crawling back once the reality of the cloud becomes established in this pay-me world of ours. ‘Cause, hey! Where else are they gonna go?

Well, we are going over to Thom Hogan to read more of his common sense advice and predictions on what Adobe is doing and where it may someday end up (you can do so with us by clicking here). Be sure to scroll down to read the first few articles on Photoshop; Thom knows his stuff. And he isn’t becoming any more pleased as time goes by than when this announcement was first made. From all the comments and feedback I am receiving, Thom has his finger on the pulse of the photo community much more accurately than does Adobe.

And speaking of comments …. I have received plenty of them about last week’s post concerning the contract you are forced to sign with Adobe if you want the subscription they are pushing. And those comments mirror what Thom is hearing and writing to a large degree. Photographers are not happy with Adobe. They are more than not happy, as a matter of fact. There are going to be more than a few of us who choose to stay with our current versions of Photoshop no matter what, rather than give Adobe any more of our hard-earned dollars. The search is on out there for a Photoshop replacement – and with the drive and talent out there in the photo software world today Adobe should not be overly complacent that one isn’t in the works. In any event, I received several pieces of advice to run that contract story again so that all of us are perfectly clear that it very well may be the proverbial straw that breaks our backs. I’m going to reprint it below. It really does unintentionally sum up Adobe’s attitude these days – take us or leave us, we don’t really care. After all, we are Adobe!

My good friend Howard Owen alerted me to a nice little article from the website Mac Performance Guide regarding the agreement you have to sign with Adobe before receiving your new Photoshop CC (Cloud) goodies. The author outlines some actual text from the agreement that he (and many others) feel is over-the-top. And it was rather daunting that he reported that the agreement is so long and so detailed that actually reading the entire document caused his Adobe login to time out on him. That is one heckuva complete set of conditions! Click here to read the abridged version for yourself and consider whether has decided to add insult to injury with this new subscription idea. Thank you, Howard, for passing this one along.

And then just one more quick set of anecdotes regarding said subscription policy. Today I spoke with two of my best friends out on the West Coast, both fantastic photographers. Both also are astute businessmen and independent thinkers. I wanted their take on Adobe’s latest. Suffice it to say that their reactions were less than favorable, completely along the lines of what all of us here have been saying. There is real outrage all over the country among dedicated photographers (Adobe’s loyal and valued clients) concerning this switchover. And there are real concerns about what happens to our images and our abilities down the road, not just in the very near term. The feeling of betrayal and of complete disregard for any of us small, dedicated amateurs is rampant. And not apparently dying down any time soon. We are far from alone in our feelings here in the Midwest, the conservative region of our country. And I am willing to bet that these same feelings are being felt and expressed all over the world.

Debate the various aspects of Adobe’s decision all you want as far as features and fine points and all that. The feeling of betrayal is what will ultimately cause Adobe to wonder if down the road this was such a great business decision.

Recently I posted on why I feel the photo-featuring site 1x has surpassed 500px in terms of selection and presentation (that post can be seen by clicking here. It features a link to my portfolio on their website, a portfolio I am trying to be very picky with). 1x has the best viewing platform online right now (in my humble opinion), and they claim only 3% of the thousands upon thousands of images submitted to them are published there. 500px still is a site I check regularly (a couple of times a day, actually), but 1x has become my go-to site. So I was quite pleased to receive an email from them advising one of my photos has been selected for publication (I have submitted three for judging in the past three weeks).

The image of the Percheron Hitch is one of my all-time favorites. It represents the beauty and pride and spirit of many of the farming communities across our country, the type of community in which I was raised and in which my brothers still live. To have it be featured on 1x in the New and Popular Today and Documentary galleries is something I just didn’t expect. There is still a thrill to be had by most of us when some feedback comes our way – feedback that says one of those images turned out pretty good.

The image can be viewed on 1x by clicking here (it is the big version of the image at the top of this post). 1x itself can be checked out by clicking here. It is a site I highly recommend.