New Discount For BlackMagic Design ATEM Mini Pro Line

BlackMagic Design is now offering $100 discount on its ATEM Mini Pro and ATEM Mini Pro ISO. These devices are quite popular in the world of video production and became even more popular with the 2020 pandemic as more people were creating content remotely.

More about the ATEM Mini Pro and ATEM Mini Pro ISO

The ATEM Mini line of products is a cool piece of hardware offered by BlackMagic Design to be used for video switching. Well, that’s the simplistic explanation. The ATEM Mini line has a couple of different SKUs. You have the ATEM Mini, the ATEM Mini Pro , ATEM Mini Pro ISO, ATEM Mini Extreme and ATEM Mini Extreme ISO. Whew that’s a lot. Thing is, they’re pretty useful for whatever level of video production you need.

The ATEM Mini Pro and Pro ISO are popular because of their livestreaming integration as well as the isolated track recording. Not something everyone needs, but still useful. I usually recommend the base ATEM Mini as it’s useful for most anyone.

The discount is $100 off on the ATEM Mini Pro and the Pro ISO on Amazon and Adorama , which are my affiliate links.

image by BlackMagic Design

I'm Trying The NFT World

Ok so I FINALLY created something to put into the NFT market. What is NFT, you ask? Well it’s basically a way to create digital art/items for the world of crypto. A better explanation is found here at the 3min45sec mark on the show. Explanation was offered up by Mr Trey Ratcliff, one of my favorite photographers.

Why try NFT?

My answer to this question is a question. Why not? I have a couple crypto wallets with some assets just sitting there. No I’m not rich on crypto, but it was just sitting there. I figured I could use it to invest in myself and see if I could earn a few more dollars with my work.

Creating an NFT wasn’t too difficult for me, but creating an NFT account was a little bit more challenging. At least, I can see why it would be challenging. I had to move crypto assets around into an Ethereum (ETH) currency, figure out an NFT marketplace to utilize, create a profile said marketplace, upload my content, connect a crypto wallet to the NFT market and see what happens.

Over on Twitter, Miss Roxanne has a very nice thread to help walk you through selling NFTs. She did a lot of the leg work for you. You just have to follow the steps. The thread is here. Be sure to give her a follow and thank her for this aide.

View my NFT (UPDATE: The below NFT has sold, but I added more)

You can get a look at my NFT on the official market on this link. Here’s a watermarked screenshot of it. If you can afford to take a look at creating your own NFT work, I say do it. It’s a bet on yourself. I’m listing this initially for just a few days. If it doesn’t sell, I’ll re-list it later for a longer duration. Either way, I’m happy to be trying this out as a digital content creator.

Big Updates Coming for LumaFusion on iPad

So earlier this week Apple had its Spring Loaded event announcing a lot of new product offerings and tech for the masses. This included updates to the iPad. The tablet that I have a love-hate relationship with.

The iPad hardware is clearly a technological wonder when it comes to consumer tech. It’s beautifully designed and has a fairly intuitive interface. Fairly. (Don’t get me started on the iOS “file system.” ) With this update, app developers are able to offer tools to harness the power of the iPad. LumaTouch is one of those companies set to make a lot of noise in this space.

LumaFusion 3.0 coming soon

If you don’t know, LumaFusion is notably the premiere video editing app on iOS. This isn’t your typical touch-based app that allows you to just do cuts and a few overlays on your video file. This is a full-fledge creative tool offering video editors options to make their art shine. Just as if they were within a NLE app such as Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro.

image credit LumaTouch

LumaTouch announced version 3.0 for its LumaFusion app. The update is set to have a “feature pack” aimed directly at harnessing the power of the newest iPad Pro. These feature packs will be part of in-app purchases. Some of the features offered will be real time scopes for both SDR and HDR color spaces as well as multicam sync.

LumaFusion 3.0 will be available in “summer 2021.” I guess that’s fine considering the new iPad won’t be shipping until then.

On-the-Go Design Is Here To Stay and This Adobe Mobile Bundle Proves It

I remember a few years ago when I attended Adobe Max and “Lightroom CC” was announced. I also remember, at the time, Adobe renaming the Lightroom most already had to “Lightroom Classic.” A lot of uproar came from this. Some from me as I didn’t like the idea of putting all of my creative workflow into the mobile space. Turns out, it’s ok and works well for many creative artists. Not all, but many. Today Adobe continues its double-down approach to on-the-go creativity with its mobile design offering for iPad users.

Image source: Adobe

Creating No Matter Where You Are

If you’re an iPad user that happens to be a graphic designer/artist, getting Adobe Illustrator on the iPad was BIG. Now, the mobile-first initiative is in full swing as Adobe is now bundling Photoshop, Illustrator, Fresco, Spark and Creative Cloud apps in what it’s calling the “Design Mobile” package for iPad.

As usual, the pricing structure from Adobe creative products are based on a subscription model. You can pay an annual subscription fee of $149.99 or monthly at $14.99 per month. Adobe discusses it more on its blog post here.

Signing up for this service has to be done via the Apple App Store. At least at the time of creating this post. Here’s the link for that if you’re reading this on your iPad. Sounds like a nice deal.

Are you signing up? Or are you in the camp that already has the full suite of Adobe creative apps? I’m curious to know how this may affect the full suite subscribers. I pay for the full suite and use a good bit of the apps, but not all of them. So it is definitely a good value for me? What about you? Thoughts?

I'm Teaching at the Wanderers Photography Workshop

Coming this fall, October 10-14 2021, I’ll be an instructor at the Wanderers Photographic Cultural Experience. I must say, I’m honored to have this opportunity and look forward to being there.

The workshop will take place in New Orleans and will be a hands-on workshop as myself and three other great photographers will work with attendees on certain photography styles. My focus will be more on street photography and cityscapes. Other styles include food/beverage photography and concert photography. Each instructor is truly passionate about their craft and do a great job sharing resources to help make you a better photographer.

Go on over to the website and check out the details. The space is limited and we’ve already had a few spots claimed. The website is here. I look forward to working with Freddy Clark, Steve Brazill and Andrew Scrivani. This event will be full of hard work, but also fun. As photography SHOULD be. Register today and/or share this with someone you think may be interested in the workshop. THANKS.

Image by Ant Pruitt. All rights reserved.

I Made Some FREE Lightroom and Capture One Presets

In between working on my shows and shooting, I’ve dabbled with creating some presets for my Lightroom* workflow. Now understand that using presets doesn’t mean your photo post-processing is finished. A preset should be considered a good starting point 90% of the time. I hate that many beginner photographers assume presets are a quick-fix for photo editing. But anyway. . . .

I’ve put together three different presets that I use fairly regularly because I tend to have certain looks and lighting in mind when I shoot. So here are three different presets for you to download and try for yourself. I’m not charging for these presets, but if you’d like to buy me a beer, I won’t turn it down. ;)

Cozy Morning

The Cozy Morning preset was created with the mind of a person that’s dragging a little in the morning and trying to get going. Exposure is dimmed, clarity and texture increased and the color temperature is moderately warm. Think of warm, Earth tones far as the color grading.

Image by Ant Pruitt. All rights reserved

Cigar and Whisky

With the Cigar and Whisky preset, I was shooting some test portrait shots. At the time, I was testing the Canon R6 and R5 for work. While shooting, I was wishing I had poured myself a whisky and grabbed a cigar. This is just a guilty pleasure of mine while I shoot or process photos. When I think whisky and cigars, I think of warm, soft images. The images aren’t as crisp, but still look good. Also, the color tones are warm.

Image by Ant Pruitt. All rights reserved.

Biscuit

The Biscuit preset was developed after shooting a couple shots of our dog named Biscuit. A few weeks after we got the dog, he spent a lot of time resting in window lighting. This lighting worked well with his white coat and really captured the “puppy” mood. The preset will increase exposure without clipping the highlights. It will also soften the middle frequency and slightly increase the higher frequency to enhance details where areas should be sharp, but soft where the areas of the image should be soft.

Image by Ant Pruitt. All rights reserved.

Use These in Lightroom or Capture One

These preset were created in Lightroom, but you can also use these in Capture One. I’ve not tried to do so yet, but apparently it’s pretty easy to import Lightroom presets into Capture One. Just follow the steps on this DIY Photography blog post here.

*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Adobe Announces More Creative Collaboration Between Its Apps

At the time of this post, I can easily say that I’m a happy Adobe Creative cloud customer. I enjoy using the ecosystem because things work well together in my workflow. I’ll jump from Lightroom to Photoshop easily while working on a photo. I’ll jump from Premiere Pro to Audition when working on a video’s audio within a few clicks. It just works for me.

Today Adobe announced more cohesion and document collaboration options between its apps. This time it’s for Photoshop, Illustrator and Fresco. And quite frankly, this is a total “DUH’ moment. Why wouldn’t have this capability between these apps. Each are graphics-based apps that should easily work hand in hand? And yes this is year 2021, but we’re not out of the woods regarding the global pandemic and working in shared office spaces. We’re still on the remote work type of life. Online collaboration is critical these days.

Image credit: Adobe

I’m not an Adobe Illustrator user, nor am I a Fresco user, but I do think these apps are pretty dadgum cool for digital artists. Especially for those wanting to be mobile and use their iPad for creativity. I do enjoy using Photoshop for my photo post-processing and manipulation. Especially the ability to use custom brushes to enhance the look and mood of my images. Speaking of, have you all tried the Winter Brush Pack from the one and only Kyle Webster?

In other news from the Adobe space, Adobe is offering a discount through February 14th on the Creative Cloud suite. Get it here with my affiliate link. Anyway, I thought this would be a good bit of news for creative artists like my man Adam Eargle. Thanks for checking it out.

Capturing Beautiful Macro Photos of Snowflakes With Don Komarechka

I’ve previously talked about shooting macro photography on my show at work. I enojyed sharing the bit of info I know about it, but I will not claim to be any good at it. Ha! Macro photography can be quite easy for anyone to do, but the “next level” maco photographers have some amazing skills and understand the science/physics behind getting the GREAT macro photograph. Hence, my man Don Komarechka. He’s known as the “Mad Scientist” with regards to his outstanding photography. So talented and skilled.

Prior to the pandemic lockdown, he shot a segment for DPReview showing off his process of creating beautiful macro photos of snowflakes. It’s a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at his workflow. Check out the video below. Also, below the video, check out his podcast. I was recently a guest on his show where we had a bit of philosophical chatter as well as nerdy chatter around the world of photography. I’m truly honored to have been a guest on his show.

VIDEO

Image credit Don Komarechka and DPReview

Photo Geek Weekly Podcast Episode

Compare Yourself To YOURSELF: My Chat on SmugMug Live with Alastair Jolly

A couple weeks ago I had the honor and pleasure of being interviewed by Alastair Jolly and the team at SmugMug. If you haven’t subscribed to the SmugMug YouTube channel, I highly recommend it. Lots of great discussions with photographers from all over the world.

In my chat, I shared a bit about personal growth in the world of photography, content creation and how I continue to work at this craft. Thing is, this message can apply to pretty much any endeavor.

Thank you to SmugMug for having me and thank you all for watching the video.

There's NO Point in Buying $1000 Smartphones

I'm pretty tired of phones of today being $1000. I don't think they're worth it. Please know that there are other options out there for less money, yet still have flagship performance. Here's the TCL 10 5G smartphone. And it's NOT for $1000. Click the photo below to check out my video where I take a look at this phone. Order it here if you’re interested.