DIGITAL INFRARED PHOTO FROM THE GRAND CANYON

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I’m
getting kind of caught up on downloading images from our trip – and
there were a lot of them.  I thought I’d share them with
you.  These were done from an EcoStar Helicopter shooting a Nikon
Coolpix 990 converted to IR mode and it is SO cool!

I like how the water is black.  IR gets totally absorbed by the
water and it doesn’t matter if there are reflections or not, it’s still
pitch black.  Cool.

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LESSON ON BICUBIC INTERPOLATION

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Bicubic Interpolation is amazing.  When I did this demo image at my program at WPPI:

I
shot it at 1 megapixel because these were just demo images.  But I
forgot the guy’s name between Tamara and Nicole (I’m awful with
names).  So I tried to zoom in tight to see what his nametag said, but I couldn’t read it!

So using Adobe Photoshop and resampling the image using Bicubic Interpolation:

I took the image up to 67 megapixels (LOL)
and now I was able to read the name tag!  Here’s the before/after:

Bicubic Interpolation is amazing.  It can bring back detail that
doesn’t look like is even there from the original blocky JPG. 
Isn’t that cool?

 

LESSON ON COMPOSITING

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Composites are a super fun way of
creating virtual images by sandwiching subjects with backgrounds. 
This is one of the most fun things to do with Photoshop, but there are
a few additional techniques you can do to really crank up the
realism.  I’d like to show you how you can take a skiier laying on
the snow:

and put it on a background so it looks like an actual action photo:

to see the lesson, click here

THE QUADRUPLE DVD – DIGITAL INTENSIVE SET IS NOW ON THE CART!

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Idon’t
think there’s a better deal for what you get, four DVD’s of anintense
sixteen hour workshop… one whole day on digital
photographytechniques, another day on Photoshop/Album design and
marketing piecesplus color management and workflow… plus a fully
illustrated colormanual and a CD with sample reference images,
flowchart paperwork andactual files from eight of the leading digital
cameras for yourcomparison, and we priced it under $300.  This
will be sold retailin the camera stores for an MSRP of $299, but if you
get it on my cart,it’s $249 and we will begin shipping on 3/27. 
Please note, if youare going to WPPI, you may want to see what we
decide to do as a showspecial – I am bringing only 700 units to my
tradeshow booth so we areanticipating a fast sellout.   
This is as many as wecould stamp at the factory so once we are sold
out, we’re soldout!  There will be only 2,500 units on this run
and last Ichecked after this mailing we were selling about five per
hour… soif you want to be the first to get one… click here!

FINALLY FOUND A SOURCE FOR NIKON COOLPIX IR CONVERSION

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I have had a lot of people ask where to get the Nikon COOLPIX conversion
for IR done, and for that I always refer to my stepby step guide on the
DPN Infrared Forums on how to tear yours apart (it looks scary because
it IS scary).  Anyway, my buddy Brody Dezember, one of my DI Grads
from DI Denver is now doing  these conversions for only
$100.  NIKON Coolpix is my favorite IR source because unlike some
of the others (D30/60 Conversion, etc) you don’t get live video in the
LCD.    But very few people have the cajones to take a
990 apart, so this guy will do it for you and you will have a freaking
crazy joy toy.  Click here to order.

CHECK OUT MY NEW LIVE VIDEO LIGHTSPHERE EXPLANATION!

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See how to shoot it with sample images… click here

A NEW RECORD – 180 LIGHTSPHERES SHIPPED IN ONE DAY
and WHY WE NO LONGER OFFER UPS SHIPPING since USPS is BETTER

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Wow
everybody, thank you for all the orders!  We are getting them out
thanks to my dad who came out of retirement to help with the shipments
of lightspheres.  We also are hiring back one of our production
workers to work in the warehouse to help keep things going.  But this
is bizarre, when I first met Rocky Gunn’s dad, it was because he worked
in Rocky’s warehouse shipping products?  How much of a parallel is
that? (if you read my IMterview, you’ll see why this is kinda spooky). 
I had so many parallels with Rock that I had the heebie jeebies when I
turned 42 because that’s when he died… anyway…

We totally stopped offering UPS – they are AWFUL!  Missed
deliveries – 2nd day or NDA not arriving on time, so now we use USPS
with Endicia software and they offer signature confirmation, tracking
and a lower cost.  PLUS you can have NDA deliveries by using
Express Mail.

I never thought we’d like the government’s offerings over free
enterprise, but so far USPS is doing better for us than UPS of FEDEX.

If you remember in an early post, we were all freaking out because we
had 300 LS2 orders to fill, and we took over the entire office filled
with boxes, I flew my Canadian P.A. down to help with the shipping – it
took a team of like five of us to get the 300 out in one weekend… and
now we got 180 out in one day!  The software is working!  My
dad has the system down – it’s great!  Only thing is we are trying
to keep a fat stock but we may have some backorders because we order
these 1,000 at a time.  Also, we’re in talks with a distributor in
the U.K. so we may be able to have LS2′s go through the U.K. without
too much going on in shipping costs.  If anyone knows any
distributors in the E.U. who is interested in carrying the LS2, please
email me at garyf@garyfong.com

DENIS REGGIE’S WORKSHOP COMING
SOON IN ATLANTA

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When I took Denis’s
workshop at
his studio in Atlanta, it changed my business instantly that
week.  Until that point, I was pretty much a journeyman
wedding
photographer – charging a moderate fee and doing great by pre-designing
my books.  Doing the workshop with Denis completely opened my
eyes.  Back then, he was charging $28,500 for a wedding (this
was
about 15 years ago) – it’s over $40,000 now… Anyway I never saw
professionalism and marketing ideas like I did with him.  In
fact,
when I went to that workshop I was pretty much a nobody – Montage
hadn’t launched yet and single-handedly Denis gave me the ideas that
made my studio successful beyond my ability to imagine.

His March workshop is going to include a tour of his massive Atlanta
Mansion (compound actually). 
He has an incredible studio facility in his multi-building compound -
just seeing the amount
of wealth this guy could amass as a wedding photographer was insane
inspiration for me.  He has constantly raised the bar on what
dreams were possible and I can honestly say I wouldn’t have had the
success in my studio without his workshop.

You will find that Denis is far too humble about his success, and loves to share and help others to do well.

If you are a wedding photographer and you haven’t been to Denis’s
workshop, you really need to go.  The opportunity to spend an
entire week with the world’s most influential wedding photographer is a
huge deal… click HERE to find more info from Denis’s
website… 

HERE’S A REALLY COOL EXAMPLE OF AN INSTANTMOVIE

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(click on the image to see the movie)  We
are getting so many cool movies activated since we did the formal
launch.  Like everything else, a product takes a form and shape of
its own.  Like I thought people were going to promote just
weddings, but duh, we have been seeing some really cool movies that
have nothing to do with weddings.  Anyway every once in a while I get
an email from support@instantmoviesonline.com with a cool example of an
instantmovieonline.  I really think that this will help a lot of people
get a lot of biz.  It’s been my experience that the super important
thing in being successful is to be on people’s minds – and it’s fastest
and easiest to do this on the internet.

THE NEW DIGITAL INTENSIVE QUADRUPLE DVD SET IS IN PRODUCTION!

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The
Videotaping of the DVD workshop had so much content that even after
extensive editing, the final package wound up being FOUR DVD’s of live
workshop!

FOUR DVD’s - taping sixteen hours of intense digital instruction
including specialized photographic techniques for Digital, including
Digital Infrared, Cross-processing look, flash techniques and a lot of
Photoshop instruction on expanding your creativity with digital post
production…

ONE IMAGE/DATA CD – with color calibration images, actual high resolution comparison files from eight different digital cameras, PDF format documents of control sheets.

FULLY ILLUSTRATED COMPANION BOOK – showing Photography and Photoshop techniques, camera comparisons, methods, histogram theory – tons and tons more…

I don’t yet know the price for the kit – I’ve had a lot of suggestions
that it be in the $2XX.  range – We are aiming for that target.  I’m
only making 2,500 units in the first run so keep your eyes peeled for
the announcement that we are shipping… I definitely plan to have them
in stock at WPPI.