Wacom Tablet and Photoshop Brush size

Quick Tip: Do you use a Wacom tablet with Photoshop to edit your images? Have you setup one of the touch ring functions to allow you to adjust brush or tool size? Does the brush display only as a cross-hair instead of the circle that you expect?  If so make sure the CAPS LOCK is not set on the keyboard, turn it off and the brush interface should return to normal.

Trash the Dress Alternative.

 One of the hot trends these days with wedding photography is something called "Trash the Dress" where the bride dressed in her wedding frock is photographed as she basically destroys the gown. After spending a small fortune and hours/days searching out the gown of her dreams, the bride decides instead of storing it in a box up in the attic she will "Trash" it. She will wear the dress down to the beach and roll in the surf and sand as she is photographed. Is there a better option... of course there is.

  The Brides Project is a social enterprise who take in used wedding gowns donated by brides and resell them to new brides at a fraction of the cost, but the best part is that the profits are donated to cancer charities. A volunteer group who provide a memorable day to new brides and fund cancer charities in the process.. as they say "Fighting Cancer one Dress at a time". Win Win without the TRASH.

Canon 7D MkII coming?

Rumor has it Canon is about to update their pronsumer APS-C sized DSLR,  EOS 7D released way back in 2009. They updated the firmware last year to breath new life into this older model DSLR and it was remarkable what this firmware update provided. Increasing the buffer from 15 to 25 Raw images before things start to slow down. Allowing users to set a maximum ISO so they can comfortably use the auto ISO feature and for the video user they corrected the audio level nightmare that many complained about.
 The new 7D MKII  as it's been referred too is rumored to have the following specs:

• 20 - 24mp APS-C Sensor
• Dual DIGIC V
• 61 AF Points
• 10fps
• Dual Memory Card Slots (Unknown configuration)
• 3.2″ LCD
• Build quality like 5D3
• GPS & Wifi
• ISO Performance to get close to the 5D3

I hope the reference to better ISO performance is true, my only real complaint with the current 7D. Rumored release dates on late spring to late summer have been swirling around, and again the whole thing is rumor so we will have to wait and see.

Last days for Photoshop CS6 upgrade offer

There was a lot of backlash when Adobe announced the launch of their CS6 versions of their creative suite applications, they were only going offer reduced upgrade pricing to owners of their current product line CS5. So if you were using an older version you would have to pay full price to upgrade to CS6. The PR nightmare that erupted prompted Adobe to modify their policy and offer a limited time special upgrade path for users of CS3 and CS4. Well that "limited time" frame is about to run out, you have just a few more days (until 31-Dec-2012) to purchase their CS6 version or you will have to pay full price.

Toronto International Film Festival 2012

Just completed my tenth year photographing the Toronto Film Festival, things have changed over the years. The length of the festival has grown to more than a week, the number of films screened each year has increased and fan participation has become insane. Most if not all festival events have moved south from Yorkville to the entertainment district centered around the Bell TIFF Lightbox now in it's second year. More of the stars are staying in the new luxury hotels located in the area also so Yorkville is playing no real part in TIFF anymore. The crowd of fans has changed also, more people have been showing up to the gala red carpet events and realize that to get a prime location in the fan area you must show up earlier then ever before.
The schedule was terrible this year, most of the movies with bigger names attending the galas all premiered the first weekend leaving the middle of the week empty. The weather that first weekend was filled with rain so one had to pick their locations wisely, opting for smaller but dryer gala locations. Breaking from tradition the festival opened with a Hollywood action flick "Looper" instead of a Canadian content film.
With the schedule being front end loaded with bigger galas, the mid week Hollywood Foreign Press "InStyle" party which I skipped this year was a bust. Most of the attendees were local talent who were in town filming TV series, Rookie Blue etc.. The action picked up again Thursday with the premiers of Billy Bob Thorton's "Jayne Mansfield’s Car" and the premier of "Twice Born" starring Penélope Cruz it then petered out with the closing gala of "Song for Marion" attend by only Terence Stamp and the director other expected talent pulled out at the last minute.
Due to weather and venue locations I missed seeing some of the bigger stars like Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and John Goodman but did manage to see some other new names for me Johnny Depp, Christopher Walken and Will Smith. The Prince of Wales Theater was used more this year and for fans this venue is terrible. I only spent one day at this location and the carpet is so short and the fan area so small that taking pictures is a real challenge. Even Tom Hanks complained that the venue was more like a cattle run, he felt like he was being lead to the slaughter. Hopefully the TIFF organizers re think scheduling next year or redesign the layout of the carpet for this venue.


Security became an issue this year with the autograph collectors. I've been dealing with professional autograph seekers for years but they seemed to be more aggressive this year. The "hounds" as we call them often show up minutes before the talent arrives at a venue, they often hang back and eye the crowd looking for opportunities to push their way to the front to obtain autographs. If the crowd isn't too large that works to their advantage they can easily move up and down the rail getting multiple items signed. A new tactic this year was an accordion style piece of cardboard that they could deploy over the heads of the front rows in the crowd putting their items in front of all others and blocking our cameras. I have no idea how these people make a living, and looking at them the obviously don't make a very good one... Their hourly rate must be very little since they travel to galas, press conferences and hotels all day and looking at them they don't have a dental plan. Late in the week some of them booed a young actress because they didn't get their items signed, real classless group of individuals. The TIFF organizers hired extra paid duty officers to combat the hounds late in the week, posting them in the rear of the crowd, the hounds disappeared completely. Hopefully this is the new norm for security in the future.
Because I picked smaller but dryer venues this year I saw some younger talent that I've never seen before but I did manage to see some more Oscar winning talent too. Repeats from previous years were Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim Robbins, Robert Duval, Marisa Tomei and Penélope Cruz. New Oscar winners for me this year were Billy Bob Thorton and Christopher Walken.

Posted with Blogsy

Peregrine Banding - Toronto Sheraton Centre

 Peregrine Falcons Rhea Mae and Tiago have nested at the Toronto Sheraton Centre Hotel for the past 7 years and have returned again this year to the hustle and bustle of the downtown core to raise their young. This year's eyases were banded by the MNR and the Canadian Peregrine Fundation on Wed May the 23rd. There were four chicks  Marlee a 595g male, Journey an 850g female , Cosmo the runt at 535g male and finally Fef a 815g female. The sex of the young are determined by weight and you can see that the females weigh a lot more than the males.

 Two bands are installed one on each leg, one from the Canadian Wildlife Services the other from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services from south of the border. A temporary piece of  tape, a different color for each chick is applied over the US tag which allows the fledge watchers an easy way to identify each bird and keep track as they leave the nest usually 40days after hatching. Fledge watch starts this week 04-Jun-2012.

 I've attended this event twice now and this year was special as I was able to see the chicks being extracted from the nest. A small access panel located at one of the 43rd floor ledge allows the MNR biologist to snatch the chicks from their protective parents. The technician had to use a broom with one hand to hold back mom, while using the other to collect the better than handful sized bundles of beaks and claws. I managed to shoot over the shoulder of the MNR tech and watched through the Hotel's mechanical room window as the parents circle looking for their family. I was told that this is the only site that allows the chicks to be banded without a tech being left behind to distract the parents. The banding is rather quick and the stress on the young is controlled by spraying water into their mouths, which happens to be the only water they consume for the rest of the life.

I must thank the Canadian Peregrine Foundation and the Sheraton Centre Hotel for allowing us access and for their hospitality to witness this very special event. I recommend this event to anyone who is interested in birds or nature, and I hope to witness Rhea Mae and Tiago's young being banded again next year...

Joe McNally comes to Canada July 2012

Joe McNally is bring his One Light / Two Light Seminar to Canada with stops in Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Montreal and here in Toronto on July 7th at the Toronto Congress Center , 650 Dixon Rd (in the Leonard Cohen room). I've seen Joe before and he is a genius when it comes to lighting with flash big or small units and makes learning fun with his humor.

from Kelby Training:
"The One Light, Two Light Tour, with Joe McNally is all about creating great lighting! All day, lighting problems, solutions, tactics and strategies will be demonstrated, live, using simple gear and small flashes. It's about producing stunning results that will thrill clients without tugging an eighteen-wheeler full of gear around with you. For over five hours, Joe will be shooting onstage with every frame shown immediately on screen, and he’ll mix in short video clips of lighting lessons in the field, all designed to show you how to get great results every time, with a minimum of gear."


If you are interested in lighting or using flash this is one guy who is a must see... remember NAPP members can attend at a discounted fee of $79.

Aftermath Update : Joe amazing as usual, making it look so easy. This is the second time I've attended a McNally seminar and he is a very informative and humorous instructor. He broke the sessions up with videos and images from some of his recent jobs. Interesting to hear what happens to guys that are making a living or trying to in the business. Shooting a wedding the McNally way, 330 Gig worth of images... cant imagine sorting through that amount of work.