dekeBlog

So, here's a question that's been coming up a lot this week. How do the majority of people manage their photos? Does your system work, or do you scramble? It all started when I got an announcment that last spring's division-winning All-Star team was finally going to celebrate their victory, and did I have photos for a slideshow. Um... yeah, somewhere, organized by one of the draft versions of Lightroom I was using. Or still stuck on a card because I've been, uh, less-than-diligent and more-than-hella-busy.

Where did I stash those photos of yesteryear (or even last July?) Read more » 

The other day, Deke called asking if I knew how to erase the contents of the "Open a Recent Item" list that appears on the Welcome Screen of InDesign. Here's how my thought process unfolded:

Thought 1) Basking in the dubious glory of the master thinking I know something he doesn't.

Thought 2) Supressing speculation on what exactly he was doing in InDesign that he wants to hide. (What, you were writing detailed stories to go with your pictures?)

Thought 3) Noticing that the only questionable thing my Welcome Screen reveals is that I've been working on things other than dekeBooks.

Read more » 

Sometimes, my job totally rules. I spent a chunk of time yesterday editing wonderful photos for a new Photoshop book by Derrick Story. (No worries, dekeFaithful, this one will be a terrific compliment to Deke's work, a concentrated handbook focusing on the specific Photoshop needs of photographers.) Derrick just got back from assignment (for Apple) in Beijing, helping other photographers in the Main Press Center get their images of the events processed and posted. I've already watched Derrick overcome jetlag to regale more than one audience with the tales of his Olympic adventure. He graciously said we could show some of his photos and the stories behind them here, and I think you'll enjoy this Friday treat.

(All photos in this post are copyright ©2008 Derrick Story. Click an image to see it at higher res. No reproducing please.)

Yeah, I told you Derrick knew a thing or two about shooting fireworks. This shot was captured during the opening ceremonies. Derrick was positioned right outside the Bird's Nest with a fast 50mm f/1.4 lens. (By the way, Derrick has more photos and stories on his site, The Digital Story, so I've linked those up where appropriate.) Read more » 

Is that victory I smell? Smells like the waxy goodness of a 96-color box of Crayola crayons dumped out on my dining room table.

Which one of these chapter opener pages would you call "purple?" What's that? You can't quite read the label, here let me help: Read more » 

So, I know it's hard to believe, but sometimes Deke and I don't agree. I realize that I'm revealing the discordant underbelly of dekeDom, but I thought you should know. And I thought you should have the opportunity to hear both sides and align with me. So here's the first of our most recent debates, surrounding the definition of the color "purple."

As you know, or you should know if you're a true fan, the lessons in Deke's One-on-One books each have a different color scheme, rotating between four colors throughout the book, as follows:

The Photoshop CS3 book was created in InDesign CS2, and I was trying to bring the lessons up to InDesign CS3-compliance in case we ever needed them for a revision, doing all the tedious formatting drudgery so that Deke's genius mind and delicate fingers could concentrate on his brilliant content. I needed a purple chapter from the InDesign CS3 book (our current template gold standard), and called Deke to see if he could post if for me. The conversation went something like this. Read more »