News, news, news..

Photoshop World Tech Expo - Sept. 5-6, 2008 - Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino - South Convention Center

Press Release: TAMPA, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A free Tech Expo pass (valued at $20 per person) is now available online athttp://www.photoshopworld.com/freepass.html for the largest gathering of Adobe® Photoshop®, digital imaging, and graphic design technology by the biggest names in the industry at the upcoming Photoshop® World Tech Expo in Las Vegas, Sept. 5-6 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

New Photoshop.com Membership Boosts Capabilities of Desktop Experience

Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. — Aug. 26, 2008 —

 Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 7 software with new Photoshop.com membership, a milestone release of the No. 1 selling consumer photo-editing software*. Available for Windows®, Photoshop Elements 7 makes it quick and easy to organize, edit, create and share amazing photos with others by leveraging the editing power of Photoshop software, the professional standard for image editing. For the first time, Photoshop Elements 7 customers will have the option to sign-up for one year of membership on Photoshop.com, extending the capabilities of the software by providing helpful templates and creative tutorials delivered on a regular basis. Other benefits include: automatic online backup and storage of photos and videos, access to photos and videos from virtually anywhere, and interactive options to share memories with great impact.

In addition, Adobe today announced Adobe Premiere® Elements 7 software, a complete video-editing solution (see separate press release). Available separately or together in a single retail bundle package, Adobe Photoshop Elements & Adobe Premiere Elements bundle give photo and video enthusiasts everything they need for a complete digital imaging experience.

“With Photoshop Elements our ultimate goal is to give people the ability to tell personal and high-impact stories with their photos,” said Doug Mack, vice president and general manager of Consumer and Hosted Solutions at Adobe. “We strike a balance between editing punch and ease, so a user doesn’t have to be a pro to produce impressive results. The new Photoshop.com membership takes Photoshop Elements to the next level - extending beyond the desktop - by giving our customers access to their photos and videos from virtually anywhere, providing secure backup, delivering inspiration to fuel creativity and enabling users to keep the photos and creations they share fresh and exciting.”

Create Picture-perfect Photos with Powerful yet Intuitive Editing Tricks

Photoshop Elements makes it easy to tell amazing stories through memorable photos. The new Scene Cleaner, based on Adobe’

s innovative Photomerge® technology, creates the ideal photo by letting users simply brush away unwanted subjects, such as tourists in a vacation shot who may be impacting the main subject of the photo. The new Smart Brush helps users apply incredible effects to a specific area of a photo with a single stroke, making it a snap to improve lighting and add rich textures with access to more than fifty sophisticated effects. Common editing tasks, such as whitening teeth or brightening blue skies, are a breeze to fix with the one-step Quick Fix tools. Surfaces can be softened while retaining edges and details crisp with a new filter ideal for portrait shots. Also, a new selection of Online Albums, based on Adobe Flash® technology, offers users a richer interactive experience.

New Membership on Photoshop.com Inspires Users and Keeps Them Connected

Users can push their creativity even further with Photoshop.com membership, offered in two levels, Basic1 and Plus2. For those who want fresh, creative project ideas delivered straight to the desktop, the option to purchase an annual Photoshop.com Plus membership guarantees inspiration will come on a regular basis in the form of new tutorials, seasonal artwork, themed templates and more. In addition, Photoshop.com Plus membership provides 20GB of storage - enough for 15,000 photos, four hours of DVD-quality videos or a combination of both. Online back-up keeps memories safe from computer failure or natural disaster, with access from anywhere, via a personal account linked to the software. Photoshop.com Basic membership can be experienced for free, providing 5GB of storage, access to photos and videos virtually anywhere and online photo sharing in a fun interactive environment.

Photoshop.com members also will be able to upload photos directly from a mobile phone. The addition of Photoshop.com Mobile beta, a rich Adobe Flash® based mobile application, offers camera phone users the easiest way to upload, share and access photos using their Photoshop.com account. Photoshop.com Mobile runs in the background and allows consumers to take photos, send messages and run other applications while pictures are being uploaded to their Photoshop.com account. To learn more about Photoshop.com Mobile and for a list of supported phones, visit mobile.photoshop.com

More information about Photoshop.com membership can be found at:
www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/membership/ .

Pricing and Availability

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and Adobe Premiere Elements 7 for Windows will be available in local retail outlets such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Costco (Photoshop Elements 7 only), Office Depot, Office Max and Staples in October 2008. Consumers can pre-order the products at www.adobe.com , www.amazon.com ,www.bestbuy.com and www.costco.com . The products will be available separately for US$99.99. Photoshop Elements 7 & Premiere Elements 7 bundle also will be available for US$149.99.

Photoshop.com Plus membership will be available for purchase from within the products for US$49.99 and Basic membership can be experienced for free. Information about other language versions, as well as pricing, upgrade and support policies for other countries is available at www.adobe.com/go/photoshopelements . Photoshop.com membership is available in the U.S. only.

*Source: The NPD Group / Retail Tracking Service (April 2002 to April 2008) based on units sold (North America).

1. Photoshop.com Basic membership does not require the purchase of any Adobe product, including Photoshop Elements 7 and Premiere Elements 7.

2. With Photoshop.com Plus membership, annual membership terms apply.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information - anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

Image by Ken Kokotek (aka Picasso)

Ken Kokotek mocked his superiors on the Internet. Now he’s paying for it.

Source: creative loafing.com
Written by Alex Picket

On May 5, around 6 p.m., St. Petersburg police officer Ken Kokotek walked into SPPD headquarters carrying a bundle of homemade invitation cards. The cards announced his retirement party, something he had been looking forward to after 25 years with the police force. He stayed only 20 minutes, just enough time to stuff about 65 invitations into the second-floor mailboxes of fellow police officers.

But these weren’t ordinary Hallmark party invitations. The card’s front showed the famously bumbling silent film characters the Keystone Cops, onto which Kokotek had superimposed the faces of Mayor Rick Baker, Police Chief Chuck Harmon, Assistant Chief Luke Williams, Major Melanie Bevan and other SPPD supervisors.

Inside, after the invite and map to his home, Kokotek revealed a secret he had hidden for six years: He was “Picasso,” the screen name he had used to post doctored images lampooning SPPD’s command staff on the police message board website, LEOaffairs.com.

For the top brass at the SPPD, the party was over for Picasso. After learning of the invitations, they immediately began an Internal Affairs investigation that concluded late last month. According to IA files, if Kokotek had not retired, he would have been fired for posting “denigrating” and “discriminatory” images of his co-workers. And now, the SPPD is seeking to take away his law enforcement certification, which would prevent him from ever being hired again as a Florida police officer.

The decision has worried some police officers on and off the Internet. Don’t officers have the right to criticize their superiors? Or did Kokotek’s attacks — which targeted both white and black administrators — aggravate racial tensions in a department where morale is already notoriously low?

“If what I was doing is directly affecting morale or that I cause the morale problem, I’d see that,” says Kokotek. “I didn’t tarnish the reputation St. Pete had. St. Pete did that itself.”

Read entire article

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

Image by Ken Kokotek (aka Picasso)

Ken Kokotek mocked his superiors on the Internet. Now he’s paying for it.

Source: creative loafing.com
Written by Alex Picket

On May 5, around 6 p.m., St. Petersburg police officer Ken Kokotek walked into SPPD headquarters carrying a bundle of homemade invitation cards. The cards announced his retirement party, something he had been looking forward to after 25 years with the police force. He stayed only 20 minutes, just enough time to stuff about 65 invitations into the second-floor mailboxes of fellow police officers.

But these weren’t ordinary Hallmark party invitations. The card’s front showed the famously bumbling silent film characters the Keystone Cops, onto which Kokotek had superimposed the faces of Mayor Rick Baker, Police Chief Chuck Harmon, Assistant Chief Luke Williams, Major Melanie Bevan and other SPPD supervisors.

Inside, after the invite and map to his home, Kokotek revealed a secret he had hidden for six years: He was “Picasso,” the screen name he had used to post doctored images lampooning SPPD’s command staff on the police message board website, LEOaffairs.com.

For the top brass at the SPPD, the party was over for Picasso. After learning of the invitations, they immediately began an Internal Affairs investigation that concluded late last month. According to IA files, if Kokotek had not retired, he would have been fired for posting “denigrating” and “discriminatory” images of his co-workers. And now, the SPPD is seeking to take away his law enforcement certification, which would prevent him from ever being hired again as a Florida police officer.

The decision has worried some police officers on and off the Internet. Don’t officers have the right to criticize their superiors? Or did Kokotek’s attacks — which targeted both white and black administrators — aggravate racial tensions in a department where morale is already notoriously low?

“If what I was doing is directly affecting morale or that I cause the morale problem, I’d see that,” says Kokotek. “I didn’t tarnish the reputation St. Pete had. St. Pete did that itself.”

Read entire article

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

Press Release: BERKELEY, CALIF. (Aug. 25, 2008)— Peachpit today announced the publication of Lessons in DSLR Workflow with Lightroom and Photoshop , by seasoned photographer Jerry Courvoisier. This detailed guide, loaded with tips and techniques, delivers a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera workflow that allows readers to spend less time at their computer and more time behind the camera capturing great images. 

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

Been there, done that, want the tee shirt? Now you can…offered through Cafe Press. Here’s the link.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

John Nack, the Senior Product Manage of Photoshop noted a new web site on his blog recently. It’s called Dear Adobe and it’s devoted to, well, providing a place for people to post rants and raves. Viewers can submit their own gripes and vote on the gripes of others.

You can see what John thinks about this at this link. (or at least his “public reaction”)

(It’s good that John has a sense of humor)

Original post by Jeff Schewe

On Scott’s blog, Photoshop Insider, Scott has announced that all the book sales of his new Lightroom 2 book for Digital Photographers from today will be donated to the Spring of Hope organization that runs is building a care center for orphans in Kenya.

Now Scott isn’t just donating a portion of the proceeds, he’s donating the entire purchase price of all Lightroom 2 books sold today. Here’s a link to the story and a link to purchase the book from Kelby Training.

IMPORTANT: This opportunity to help out is available only today, Monday August 25th, 2008. Scott’s book is scheduled for delivery in early September. Not available with any other discounts. As always, Shipping & Handing is extra.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

I’m off for a short visit with TK in Ann Arbor (I’m going to get to meet Eric Chan) and then off to Toronto to tape some stuff with Michael Reichmann. So, I’ll be off-line till the end of the week.

Original post by Jeff Schewe

FOUR’S A CROWD After her divorce, Laura Horn, second from right, decided to have her ex-husband (guess who?) removed from the picture with Photoshop.

Source: The New York Times
Written by Alex Williams

REMOVING her ex-husband from more than a decade of memories may take a lifetime for Laura Horn, a police emergency dispatcher in Rochester. But removing him from a dozen years of vacation photographs took only hours, with some deft mouse work from a willing friend who was proficient in Photoshop, the popular digital-image editing program.

Like a Stalin-era technician in the Kremlin removing all traces of an out-of-favor official from state photos, the friend erased the husband from numerous cherished pictures taken on cruises and at Caribbean cottages, where he had been standing alongside Ms. Horn, now 50, and other traveling companions.

“In my own reality, I know that these things did happen,” Ms. Horn said. But “without him in them, I can display them. I can look at those pictures and think of the laughter we were sharing, the places we went to.”
“This new reality,” she added, “is a lot more pleasant.”

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Original post by PSN Editorial Staff