Apollo Hosting- Company Blog

I suppose I'll follow the pack and do what everyone else does- blog about that last "conference" I attended. The quotes are there because it was more of a training session than a conference, but I'll take what I can get as far as topics go. I do find it dreadfully unoriginal, but then again, it's not like I'm typing this up in the conference room during lunch. It's over a week later. Have to give all those new skills time to percolate.

This particular "conference" was a Photoshop training session by the fine folks at CompuMaster, who apparently weren't fast enough to snag that ".com". A true testament to the quality of the higher level instruction is that I did pick up a few new tricks. Photoshop is a 5000 pound gorilla with a lot of tiny little hairs, so it's very easy not to know everything about it. There are also lots of things you can do five different ways. Finding a sixth one is fun.

Despite having to traverse the entirety of the town during morning rush hour, I still managed to make it early. I've always been one of those "thoughtful" people who like to show up to appointments and movies 20 minutes early, even though I know I'd only be listening to Muzak in the dark while staring at the curtains for 20 minutes. For those of you scratching your heads, wondering what I'm talking about, then you have to be 10 or 15 years old. Before "The Twenty" there were just ad slide-shows, and before the slide-shows, they just piped music into the blissful darkness while the curtain was drawn.

I would like to briefly take a moment to point out that Wikipedia has an entry for "The Twenty." Best encyclopedia ever...

Who's Who At Photoshop Training

There was no Twenty before the conference so I made due with a comp USA Today from the hotel lobby whilst amusing myself observing my future classmates. I was easily identifiable as one of only a few geeks in attendance, due to my being overweight, of receding hairline, and wearing shorts with my collared company shirt tail un-tucked. I'm of the rarer "middle aged geek" variety, if you're wondering about the receding hairline part, or haven't been paying attention to previous blog entries making repeated reference to early 80's cartoons.

I, along with a couple of the more common, younger variety of geek, was one of the few who regularly raised my hand at the "has anyone used this" questions the instructor regularly threw out. I'm happy to report I was too embarrassed to raise my hand when she asked about the Calculations dialog. Really, people, that's just showboating...

The rest of the assemblage varied between business types, arty/natural media types, and "old people". "Old people" attending this kind of thing always makes me wonder. I am member of the first generation (X, so they say), to have really grown up with computers. I have no doubt, in my twilight years, that these conferences will and should be populated by geezers like me trying to keep up with the software of our youth. What surprises me is how many show up these days. Maybe they're just retired and bored.

Oh Yeah, I Did Learn Something...

I learned a good way to change colors using HSB values to get a natural fit without just "eyeballing" it. There was the standard nod toward "special effects" that was, fortunately, brief and not belabored. I'm sympathetic to the "wow" factor stuff like that elicits, but as far a being "useful" goes... It just really isn't most of the time. I think "metallic" text looks just as spiffy as the next guy, but those stuffy suits who run most places generally consider such excess "unprofessional."

Many moons ago, I worked at a place where the boss thought 1-point bevels were "unprofessional". I didn't even broach the subject of a "drop shadow..."

As the "advanced track" progressed during the day, the instructor became aware of the blank-eyed wonder settling into the faces of many of her charges. This was probably why at various times she made subtle hints at just how useful the "beginner" track might be. Like the conscientious student I always was, I sat up front, so I'm not sure if we lost anybody over the course of the day. I do remember the muted expressions of amazement drifting up from the rows behind me over the Patch Tool. Valiantly I give them the benefit of the doubt and assumed they were using V6.

My favorite trick was using the dodge/burn tool with highlights/shadows to firm up a good, complex mask, after having used that pesky calculations dialog to do a little channel mixing. Selected hair very nicely. I realize that photo-realistic women don't have the meticulously drawn, clean lines of, for instance, Carol Desbiens rotoscoped, cell-shaded doppelganger (upon whom was built many a fantasy for geeks around my age bracket), but c'mon... All you ladies out there with your big, frizzy hair-dos have been a bane of the photo retouching community for years. On the other hand, without all those untamed loose ends, there would be no drive to innovate in the creation of masking techniques.

Wait... No Wikipedia link for Carol? I'm regretting that earlier statement already. So, figure it out for yourself. Post the nature of Carol Desbiens' contribution to film history in the comments section before some jerks fills it up with ED med spam.