lbōbi : the Little Blog of Big Ideas

Join lbobi for a live blog of the Super Bowl commercials

2012-02-04T18:32:31Z

Welcome to the first annual lbobi Super Bowl live chat.

Hosts: Jeff and Allison Rodgers

TIme: 4:45pm

I love watching the Super Bowl solely for the commercials. I know this may shock some and alienate most of the male readers but I don't like sports. There, I said it. I am hoping I am not alone in this and you would like to chat about the commercials as they are being aired. So please join me and my bride Allison Rodgers as we live blog during the game today.

How it works:

I have a live chat embedded here on the site for you to view while the game is on. Allison and I will critique the commercials and I will also be pulling in any interesting commentary from @AdAge (Advertising Age Magazine) and any relevant tweets from the #brandbowl hashtag.

What will make this extra special cool is for you to make comments as well. Either post them right here in the blog or tweet and include the #lbobiparty hashtag.

lbobi Super Bowl 26

Would you like to watch the SuperBowl commercials with me?

2012-02-01T16:22:42Z

A lbobi open Invitation to all my non-sports friends who watch the SuperBowl only for the commercials. The die hard sports friends are invited as well, but don't expect insightful comments about Roger Staubachs best play of the day.

This Sunday I will post a CoverItLive live stream here on the blog. This will allow everyone to talk as a group in real time as we critique the commercials. Ideally we will keep the commentary of the game to a minimum and focus on the real reason I watch the SuperBowl, the commercials. The half time show is also a great source of derision usually.

Are you going to join me?

A CoverItLive example I posted during the Apple iPhone4s announcement. It works really well and even works on the iPad.

Jeff "The Seeker of Seekers" Rodgers

3 time Quidditch World Cup Champion

P.S.

A teaser for Volkswagens new spot. Seriously now, what is cooler than dogs barking Darth Vaders theme song??

The follow up Vader Volkswagen commercial. Be sure to watch the end segment.

lbobi Radio Ep. #33: What I learned at ImagingUSA 2012

2012-01-26T17:46:01Z

In this episode of lbobi Radio, Brian and I discuss the trip to ImagingUSA that Allison and I made last week. We went down early for Allison to teach the 3 day pre-con class for PPA's Studio Management Services. I also go over what I took away from the convention and Brian and I brainstorm about new lbobi community projects we can start over the next year.

Music by: Jeremy Horn

Jump over to facebook and say hey!

Jeff the Rodgers

https://twitter.com/#!/JeffRodgers

Star Wars - Uncut

2012-01-24T18:34:03Z

My kids, 2 & 6, are hooked on the original Star Wars trilogy. They can't get enough of it. I'm going to have to cut their consumption because I don't want them growing up to be nerds. They don't just sit and watch through the whole trilogy. They watch an episode each weekend, once Saturday and once Sunday.

Anyways, I found an uncut version of Episode IV that I think you'll like. It's crowdsourced and uses 15 second clips from fans around the globe to create a feature length film. Enjoy.

Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

Love,

Todd

Steve Jobs was a thief (you should be too).

2012-01-23T15:06:07Z

I'm currently in the midst of reading the best selling book "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson. Before I go any further, let me advocate you taking the money and time to read it yourself. I'm only 100 pages into the 600+ book, but I've highlighted several passages already.

Early on in the development of Apple as a company, Apple was at a turning point. The Apple II had been released to much fanfare, and helped put Apple on the map. At the time it was released, Apple II was the "future" of computers. Jobs was intent on finding the future of the future, but he wasn't making much progress. Xerox, on the other hand, had discovered the future. In a way that it seems only Steve Jobs could do, he coerced the Xerox higher-ups to show he and his team a demonstration of this new product - the Xerox PARC. Never heard of it? There's a reason. Jobs and Apple stole the idea and made it better.

Jobs said this about this and similar situations, "Picasso had a saying -- 'good artists copy, great artists steal' -- and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas." Creatives hate the thought of copying or stealing (especially when they are the ones being stolen from), but Jobs realized that he was doing more than creating a product, even more than creating a GREAT product. Jobs was building a business. To make a successful business, Jobs determined to build great ideas into great products.

What does this mean for you? What does it mean for a creative business person?

First, get over it. People are going to copy, take and steal from you...if you are doing something worth copying or stealing from. Yes, be careful who and when you share information with, but realize eventually if it's any good you will be copied. Most likely you'll be copied by your competition. It's going to happen.

Second, steal. Yep, I said it (actually wrote it...). Here's the stipulation - steal from outside your industry. Anyone can steal from the photographer, designer or musician down the street (literally and figuratively). Look outside your industry to find inspiration. Find it in magazines, travel, books, nature, music, architecture, etc, etc, etc. Okay, stipulation #2, because this is really what Jobs did. If you see a GREAT idea in your industry, steal it IF you can take it further. Xerox had a wonderful product, but tried to sell it for over $15,000 to businesses. Jobs took the same concept and made it available to every home in America for under $2000.

So there it is. Steve Jobs was a thief, and you should be too.

Andy

https://twitter.com/#!/andybondurant

http://www.photo-collective.com

Textures: From Image to Artwork

2012-01-16T16:10:39Z

As you may have noticed, we have lots of textures for sale in our lbobi shop. These textures are useful for adding depth and a more unique feel to your images. In fact, we use textures on all of our gallery wraps (which is why we sell them with our Gallery Wrap action). When used appropriately, textures and patterns can really enhance the beauty of your image.

Oh, and clients love seeing that extra bit of work transform their image into something truly special.

You can find lots of tutorials across the web on how to use textures and patterns in your images, but to save you some time I'll hit the most important points in this post.

1. Pick a good image. You want to compliment an image that is already good, not try to cover up places in an image that is bad.

2. Blending Mode and Layer Masks: In the image below, you'll see two screenshots of the layers palette. On the left, the Blending Mode is underlined in red. Choose one that you like (my favorites are Overlay and Soft Light). Next are layer masks. These allow you to use the Brush tool to "brush away" the texture in spots you don't want it (like skin). Get to know these two features, they'll take you far.

3. Experiment. Use just one texture to compliment a vignette. Use seven textures and three flourishes. Use one hundred and thirty-seven layer masks. It's all about practice and seeing what feel you want your images to have. And most importantly, it's about subtlety (so maybe don't use that many layer masks). But experimenting is really the best way to get these techniques down, because the more you practice the faster you get. And the faster you get, the more money you make.

Here's a little inspiration from texture wrangler Jeff Rodgers:

Alright lbobians, go forth and conquer textured finishes. But before embarking on that adventure, check out the Texture Packs in our shop. The Imaging show special is still available, so you can get the biggest texture pack we offer for 40% off. Just enter discount code IUSA2012 before checking out to get the deal.

Be sure to leave any questions or tips you have about using textures in the comments!

- Calvin

Even my Twitter account has texture.

No Easy Button...

2012-01-15T08:30:01Z

As said so eloquently by Mayor Jeff in this post, there is no Easy Button in the photography business. But that doesn't mean that everything has to be done the hard way.

We've created these shortcut actions for you loyal lbobians because there's just no sense in wasting your precious retouching time by clicking a million times. A friend of mine recently tracked his clicks for a whole day at work, and he managed to amass 10,500 clicks. That's a lot of work for your fingers, when they could just be pressing a couple of shortcut buttons.

Here's a list of my top five favorite shortcuts that we offer:

1. Flatten - This one does exactly what it says: it grabs all of your layers and flattens them. That may seem like a strange first choice, but it's just so handy. I add a slight vignette, then flatten. Adjust a dark area with a layer mask, then flatten. Add our Cocoa Butter finish, then flatten. It's pretty wonderful.

2. Soda Pop! - Instead of toggling those levels, hue/saturation, and color balances until you're heart is content (or your eyes are shot), just run Soda Pop and adjust the opacity of the group. I usually go with somewhere between 45% - 60%. It's like magic.

3. Facebook Me - This one just arrived on the scene in the shop, but I've been using it for awhile now. Facebook is difficult to work with when it comes to image quality, but this action helps me keep the uploads looking sharp and my file size down.

4. Good vs Evil - This is part of our lbobify me action pack. It's one of my favorites because it reduces the difficulty of Dodging and Burning to practically doodling. Just lower your brush opacity way down, and brush some light (or some darkness) onto those trouble spots in your portraits.

5. Gallery Wrap - It's nice to know that no parts of the image I'm working on will be lost on a canvas wrap. This one is simple: after you crop your image, it will give you a 2" border around it that you can fill with a flat color or a nice texture. Saves mucho clicks. Check out this video of it in action (pun way intended):

You should definitely grab these actions now while we're giving everyone the IUSA discount. In case you didn't see yesterday's post, the code is IUSA2012 and it will take 40% off your cart total. Go get 'em!

Living on easy street,
Calvin

Save a click for this link to my Twitter.

Creative Actions from lbobi

2012-01-14T08:30:01Z

This is the first in a series of posts highlighting the time-saving tools and products in our shop here at lbobi. Remember, you can get a 40% discount on everything in your cart until January 17th at midnight. Just enter the discount code IUSA2012 before checkout.

We have 33 actions in our shop to help streamline your retouching process, and 26 actions to help make your workflow more efficient. Today I want to focus on the retouching actions, and show you guys a few examples of our favorite custom finishes. We use these actions at ARP every day, and our clients really dig them. In fact, we have a few clients that are so in love with a certain finish that they request it by name for all of their prints.

Here are some of our favorite images from a recent session at our new studio to show off how unique and useful these finishes can be.

Head on over to the Action Shop and grab these packs before the discount expires! And check back tomorrow for a post about our shortcut packs (I'll have a couple of tips on how to use those most effectively as well).

Facebook Me: A new action from lbobi

2012-01-12T19:30:02Z

We've got a handy little action to introduce today: Facebook Me. This action will help those images that you upload for clients to your Facebook page look a little more crisp online. It will also make them look a good bit worse if someone tries to download and print them... but who would do such a thing?

Here's the best way to use this action:

Open Photoshop and go to File > Scripts > Image Processor

In the first section of Image Processor, make sure Select Folder is selected. Click the Select Folder button to find your files.

In the second section, make sure Save in Same Location is selected. This will create a subfolder of processed images in the folder you selected earlier.

In the third section, enter 1000 in both boxes labeled Width and Height.

In the fourth section, make sure that Run Action is checked. The two boxes beside it need to have Facebookin and FBme in them, respectively.

Make sure Include ICC Profile is checked, and then click Run at the top right.

That's it! And if this is all you use Image Processor for, then you won't have to do these steps every time.

The Facebook Me action is available in our Action Shop for $1.99. Just click the image of the cute baby below to go grab a copy.

And don't forget about the 40% discount on everything you buy in the shop! Just enter IUSA2012 before you check out, and then update your cart.

P.S. I also recommend watermarking your images in some way if they're going online. There's a super easy way to do this in Lightroom 3, respond in the comments or hit me up on Twitter if you'd like to see a tutorial on automating your watermark process and I'll get right on it!

Your man of Action,
Calvin

Speaking of Facebook, you should follow me on Twitter.

Imaging USA 2012 is here!

2012-01-12T18:20:38Z

To celebrate this week of teaching and learning, we're giving our loyal lbobi readers a 40% discount on anything they want in our shop. In case you haven't been to our shop in awhile, we're going to be posting about some of our favorite products on the blog each day.

Here's what you'll need to do to get the discount:
   •   Add as many items as you want to your cart
   •   Before you click Check Out, enter the discount code IUSA2012
   •   Click Update Cart. A 40% discount will be applied to your cart total.
   •   Click Check Out and enjoy your downloads!

Be sure to spread the word on Twitter and Facebook. Don't forget to use the #imagingUSA and #lbobi hashtags, and we'll be sure to give you a friendly retweet when you do!

Here's what you can be expecting from Allison and Jeff this week at imaging:

This year at IUSA, Allison is teaching a three day pre-con class for PPA's Studio Management Services. She might even tweet a few tips while she's there, so you should make sure that you don't miss out on those by following her.

Jeff's only responsibility this week is to learn, so if you aren't going to Imaging it'd probably be a good idea to learn vicariously through him. If nothing else his Twitter timeline will be full of awesome photos from the conference.

We'll be posting each day of Imaging about different items in the shop , so check back often to see how you can use lbobi products to get the most out of your images.

Imaging USA free iPhone app

2012-01-11T19:10:33Z

Hey guys!

Who is going to ImagingUSA in New Orleans this week? We will be there all week (we being Allison and myself). Allison is teaching a three day pre-con class for PPA's Studio Management Services. We are not doing a platform talk or lbobi trade show booth this year so I get to wander the trade show floor to my hearts content.

I may actually get to see other speakers this year! To this end I have loaded the new IUSA iPhone app. It works very well. You can see a map of the trade show, what classes are being taught and by whom. Then you can star what you want to see and just look at the starred list.

This will make planning much easier and since I don't plan or even keep up with a map I will be very happy with this app.

Jeff the Rodgers

https://twitter.com/#!/JeffRodgers

Josh Garrels - Love & War - Free Music

2012-01-06T14:00:33Z

Jeff chastised me for not posting anything in a long while, so here's something, or someone, I found today. I'd never heard of this cat, but his music is pretty spectacular. His name is Josh Garrels and his latest album, Love & War & the Sea in Between, is a free download. I hope you enjoy it.

Love,

Todd

my twitter is not better than jeff's

The Hobbit and 30 RED EPIC cameras

2012-01-05T20:31:13Z

Surely by now you have heard that Peter Jackson is revisiting the world of Middle Earth to film a two part prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit. If you have NOT and you are not half the geek I am, then you would have missed these very informative production videos from the set.

There have been 5 videos so far but I really wanted to focus on the 4th one for you. It shows that Jackson purchased 30 RED EPIC cameras at $58,000 a piece. That's close to $2 million dollars if my math is correct.

Why does he need so many cameras? He is shooting the film in 3D at 48fps. Watch this video for the full scoop. If you are not cool and Hobbits don't hold your interest then scroll to the 2:50 mark and watch Jackson take the audience on a tour of the camera rigs.

Gandalf's favorite nephew,

Jeff

My tweets have been clinically proven to promote moxie.

https://twitter.com/#!/JeffRodgers

lbobi Radio Ep. #32: The App-Internet

2011-12-23T21:25:26Z

What is the App-Internet?

Well I am glad you asked. Simply put, it is the future of the internet.

In this episode Brian and I discuss what the internet of tomorrow, will look like and tell you what you should be looking for. The idea for this episode was inspired by the talk I posted last week by George Colony from Le Web 2011.

Music by the talented Jeremy Horn

Merry Christmas and happy all the other holidays (for Brian).

Jeff,
My twitter has clinically been shown to not cause anxiety.

Light Photons at 1 Trillion Frames Per Second

2011-12-16T17:42:23Z

Researchers at MIT have developed a camera (using an array of 500 sensors) to record images of light passing (that's right you see light as it PASSES) through a scene. Check out the video to see it in action and hear the explanation of how the technology works. The idea of being able to track light as it moves sounds like the beginning of some amazing ideas to carry us into the future of photography.

You can also read the full Popsci article here: http://bit.ly/vVhxHU

What do you think of the future of images at 1 Trillion frames per second?

Christopher

https://twitter.com/#!/christopherdfox

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