For me, the highlight of this year’s event was the Big Freeze a 360˚ Photo Booth provided by You+Dallas. The setup uses roughly 48 DSLR cameras simultaneously triggered to render the 360 animated effect. I chatted briefly with one of the operators, and much of the tech used was designed by You+Dallas. After watching all the sample images from Comic Con participants I had to give it a try.

Despite some mileage, I still manage to have a little spring in my step. *chuckle* The 360 animated view of my split kick is on the You+Comic Con page. I wasn’t the only one that had fun, click the image thumbnails below to view more 360 animated images:

Just wanted to let you know about some great Adobe webinars coming up in the spring. Imagine having not one but FIVE Adobe professionals on hand to answer your questions. Learn some cool tips & tricks you can use right away in Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign. I’ve been invited by Pariah Burke to join him and some of the best in the industry to give you a webinar unlike anything out there. Here’s a breakdown of the events:

The Photoshop 3×5 panel consists of Pariah Burke, April Clark, Shellie Hall & yours truly.

The InDesign 3×5 panel consists of Pariah Burke, April Clark, Bob Levine, Claudia McCue & myself.

The Illustrator 3×5 panel consists of Pariah Burke, Sandee Cohen, Von Glitschka, Sharon Steuer & Jean-Claude Tremblay

Early bird pricing is just $49 until March 15th. Regular ticket price is $99, and groups of five or more can receive a $20 discount on the regular ticket price. It’s easily the best deal for online training happening right now so go sign up for your favorites–Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign–before the webinars sell out.

Today kicks off the pre-con workshops for D2WC, and I joined Kevin Stohlmeyer for a quick interview with the local Kansas City NBC affiliate. Dallas/Fort Worth are you listening? Let’s get our creative community fired up!!!

As much as I enjoy being on the road, it will be great to get home to the family this weekend. Hope your day is rockin’!

The conference season is upon us. Less than ten days away is the D2W Conference in Kansas City, MO scheduled July 14-16. This annual event has quickly become a sought after source of designer & developer workflow goodness. That being said, here are the Top Five Reasons to attend D2W:

1. InDesign to iPad, Portfolios in WordPress, Get to Know JQuery – we’re only in the PreCon people and there’s still more kickass sessions coming.
2. Photoshop workflow, Android apps in under 10 minutes, and I’m even giving a session on InDesign techniques.
3. Networking as a social experiment. See what happens when people actually interact in real time with beer.
4. Speakers. No, not the ones made by Marshall, the people who will be speaking at D2W. Some of the most entertaining creatives in our industry, e.g., Pariah Burke, Justin Seeley, Kevin Stohlmeyer, Rob Huddleston… and the infamous Tom Green.
5. You’ll learn something. Aside, from meeting great people, watching some AWESOME presentations, the purpose is to leave a little bit smarter than when you arrived. That will happen at D2W.

Dee Sadler was kind enough to extend a discount code for loyal Adobe enthusiasts. Use adobeComm when registering to get a discount off the conference passes.

1. Ten More Things About Photoshop posted on TipSquirrel. Part of my Top Ten series, you can never have enough Photoshop tips.

2. Working with Nested Styles in InDesign posted on Layers Magazine. InDesign is definitely a “must know” app for designers, especially now in the era of ebooks & tablet computing.

3. Learning Digital Photography Podcast #59 posted on Canon Blogger. YES! It finally happened, I’m actually talking in real time LIVE with none other than Mr. Jason Anderson. I try to get serious, he makes me laugh, you won’t see any of it because it’s an audio podcast.

4. I’ve been helping Sonya Bowser with her children’s book “The Adventures of Zolie Z“. It’s been a fun project that I can share with my daughter.

5. I am VERY EXCITED to have written the featured Lightroom article in the June issue of Photoshop User magazine. I have to give credit to Mike Mackenzie whose editing expertise really makes my writing exemplary. It’s an honor to write for a magazine that I actually read each month and work with the outstanding folks at NAPP. Remember, as your NAPP Evangelist, you can use my name “ajwood” when you join NAPP to receive a free DVD & discount off your membership. NAPP has also been gracious enough to let me post a PDF of my article here are the website. Download A.J.’s Lightroom Article from PSU Magazine.

5. Changes to my YouTube channel. Starting next Monday, I’ll be posting videos three times a week on Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Tutorials will continue but future videos will include interviews, product/service reviews, and a few surprises for YOU my loyal viewers.

Well, that’s been my crazy week. Enjoy your weekend and I’ll catch you next week!

We’re beginning to hit the summer swing, and conference season is upon us. Next month July 14-16 is the annual Big(D)esign Conference. If you’ve never attended AND you’re a creative in Dallas/Fort Worth–WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!?!? I know, I can be a little too enthusiastic. Here are the Top Five reasons to attend BigD:

1. Pick a topic of interest: Mobile, Usability, Content Strategy, Career Development, Design, Gaming, Development. BigD’s schedule has you covered.
2. Ignite Dallas! Wait… you don’t know what that is? OMG! Come out and experience the fun of IQ points rising.
3. Networking as a social experiment. See what happens when people actually interact in real time.
4. Speakers. No, not the ones made by Bose, the people who will be speaking at BigD. Some of the best & brightest in our industry, e.g., Dave Curlee, Brian Sullivan, John P, Cali Lewis, will astound you with their brilliance.
5. You’ll learn something. Aside, from meeting great people, watching some AWESOME presentations, the purpose is to leave a little bit smarter than when you arrived. That will happen at BigD.

Brian Sullivan was kind enough to extend a discount code for loyal Adobe enthusiasts. Use adobe2011 when registering to get 25% off the conference passes.

Thanks to the DFWAUG & DFWUPA you can catch these discounted Lightroom & Photoshop workshops this month:

Sept 22nd – Lightroom Core Series (Part 1) – This three part series kicks off on Wednesday evening, and will run weekly until Oct 6th. Part 1 covers Importing Photos & the Library module, Part 2 is all about Developing your images, and Part 3 brings us home with how to output from Lightroom. Cost for each session is $39 advance or $49 at the door.

(RESCHEDULED to Oct 23rd) Sept 25th – Photoshop Beginners Workshop – This one day event has a ton of information for those that want to get started with Photoshop. Topics covered include Image Sizing for Print & Screen, Brushes-Menus-Layers, Output of Files and Basic Image Enhancement techniques. Cost is $79.

For those that are wondering about this week’s Tip Tuesday, my apologies as I’m still having some hardware/tech issues. I’m working to resolve them as quickly as possible amongst my other daily duties. Don’t worry though, I managed to post a quick Lightroom 3 tuning guide over at TipSquirrel this morning.

Imagine my surprise when I sat down to catch up on GeekBeat.tv this morning, and I received a shout-out from Cali Lewis! I’m mentioned in the same breadth as Trey Ratcliff, which is a huge honor because HE is simply incredible. Thanks to all the folks who dropped in on the blog this week, and THANK YOU CALI! for including me in Episode #14 on Monday.

If you haven’t already registered, you need to checkout OpenCamp scheduled next month August 27-29. It will be the best open source developer/media conference of its kind anywhere, not just here in the metroplex. There’s something for everyone who creates web content. Seriously, just look at the list of speakers and you’ll agree it’s going to be the event of the summer.

Scott Kelby’s 3rd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk is less than two weeks away on Saturday, July 24th. I’m excited to be leading a photo walk again this year, and we’ll be meeting in the Dallas uptown area. For those unfamiliar with the photo walk, it is one of the largest global photography events, with over 1000 cities and nearly 25,000 photographers & photo enthusiasts shooting in a single day. Each walk is limited to 50 participants, so sign up for the Dallas walk now. Our walk will take place Saturday morning, and feel free to contact me with any questions.

The photo walk is open to anyone regardless of skill level OR camera type. (Cell phone cameras are welcome!) We’ll have plenty of mentors on hand that day for all your photography & Photoshop/Lightroom questions. Be sure to register before all the spots are filled.

Photo by John Hays, Photoshop by Yours Truly

I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent in Orlando, and it was great to meet so many Twitter & Facebook folks in person for the first time. Chatted with Adobe folks at the Tweetup, and celebrated my 40+ birthday during the NAPP forum party. I met the genius that is @ErikBernskiold, chatted with fab designer @Firgs, hung out with the likes of @Elorg, @EGower, @AprilAndrews & the infamous @Vanelli. Caught up with friends Dawn, Terry & Heather, had a chance to chat some with David Ziser and his lovely wife LaDawn. I have been through most of the classes at PSW, so I was really looking forward to seeing new presentations. Zack Arias DID NOT disappoint. Walked away humbled, and excited at the possibilities. Of course, you can’t go wrong watching Joe McNally, and I enjoyed catching RC talk about websites for photographers & Rod Harlan share his knowledge of social media. Missed Alan Hess Precon, but had a chance to catch his session, and chat with him after the After Party. Some amazing talent at PSW, met Michael Green at the NAPP forum party (he’s featured in the Westcott catalog don’t ya know), Joey Wright at BB Kings (designers who photograph have an edge), chance encounter with Sandy Foster (from Dallas) at the NAPP forum party the day before she won the Vinny–CONGRATS AGAIN!!!

People ask me why I attend over & over–how could you not want to be around the best in the world as often as possible? I can’t emphasize this enough Photoshop World is THE learning conference to attend if you are a creative. I’ve been to Imaging USA, MacWorld & other events. Other conferences serve as infomercials for their presenters & vendors. PSW is not only a fun place to network with other creatives, THIS conference provides classes that educate, inspire & motivate the artist in all of us.

In summary:

Scott Kelby tells you what you missed at Photoshop World.

Terry Reinert has some ideas on what to do now that Photoshop World is over.

Here’s a quick Flickr gallery of snaps from PSW.