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Greetings,
 Not a whole lot of news this month. I’m just getting ready to head to New Mexico for a pair of workshops with Cliff Zenor.
I have been spending some time with the new making abilities of Lightroom though. See below!
Running errands today I saw the first bit of snow in the area. Just a bit by the side of the road. But it reminded me that it's on its way. And it reminded me of having some fun with the snow too. I made this image in our backyard just a couple of months after we moved into our house some 21 years ago. I'm old.
The tulips came from a local grocery store. The snow came from nature, with a little help from me.
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Lightroom Masks
Have any of you tried out the new masking capabilities in Lightroom Classic? I’m really impressed with them. You can now select just the sky or just a subject. You can invert those selections and add to or subtract from them using any of the available masking tools.
The Color Range and Luminance Range masks are now available without the need for first creating a Gradient or Radial mask. And you can intersect masks too.
Above I've used a Luminance Range mask to select the white water (but not the whitest water). Since some of that range included the sky, I subtracted a Sky Mask from the Luminance Mask. I then touched it up a bit further by subtracting any leftovers using a regular old Brush mask.
It didn't take long and I was soon adjusting just that bit of water highlighted with a red overlay in the picture above. I could then brighten it a bit, add some texture and contrast, and generally make the water more dynamic.
It makes one wonder if you even need Photoshop anymore (I know I do). And Sean Bagshaw asks that same question in his overview of the new masking capabilities in Lightroom. Watch his video here. He also includes links to some helpful videos by others.
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2022 workshops
After our two workshops in New Mexico, Cliff and I have some more workshops coming up in 2022. In February we’ve scheduled Death Valley National Park and in April it’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In June we’ve got the Palouse. We’re also talking about Newport on the Oregon Coast. We haven’t nailed down a date on that one yet, possibly early in September. But do let me know if you're interested.
Visit my Workshops site for the most recent schedule.
And don’t forget the early bird special I’m running (for newsletter subscribers only) for my Olympic National Park workshop this coming May. Sign up by December 31st and get $100 off. Just email me to let me know you want to take advantage of this special. I’ll send you a link to the private signup page.
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Happy Thanksgiving
And what goes with Thanksgiving? Black Friday, that's what. And Topaz Labs is having their Black Friday sale with bundles that offer a whole lot of saving from buying the tools individually.
Regular readers know that I use some of the Topaz plugins, like Gigapixel AI, Sharpen AI and my favorite, DeNoise AI. If you’re ready to make the leap into Topaz AI tools, click here to go to the Topaz site.
(Affiliate link. If you buy something, I get a commission. Win-win!)
ThinkTank also has its Black Friday sale going on.
From Nov. 26 to 29, Think Tank is taking up to 40% off three of their most popular bags: PhotoCross 13 & 15 Backpacks, the Essentials Convertible Rolling Backpack, and the Airport Advantage roller.
In addition to the Black Friday savings Nov. 26-29, use my ThinkTank affiliate link and receive a free product and free U.S. shipping on all orders over $50.
As above, a win-win. When you use the link you get a good deal, and I get a little taste!
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Yellowknife Auroras 2022
Just a reminder that there are still spaces available in both aurora tours next September. The last two years have seen the lowest point of the 11 year sun cycle. In fact, the last several years have been at a "solar minimum." The last time I was in Yellowknife was Sept./Oct. of 2019, a "solar minimum" year. And we had spectacular shows.
But we're now in a new solar cycle and things should start picking up even more. But frankly, every year I've been there, starting in the peak year of 2014, has been great. We've always seen auroras and have always captured awesome images.
I'm just hoping that we don't have a 6th, 7th....wave of Covid that keeps us from going in 2022 like it did in 2020 and last September.
Anyway, if you're intrigued, interested, hyped or merely curious about auroras, check out my Auroras Tour page.
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Happy Holidays
Being that this is the December newsletter, it's likely the last one of the year (unless I have any special announcement to tempt you with).
To everyone, thank you for reading! And thanks for responding; I always appreciate it when I hear back from any of you.
To those who've traveled with me this year, an especially huge THANK YOU! You're the ones that make this all possible.
I hope you all have a great holiday season with family and friends. Please take care as you travel and visit. We're not out of the Covid woods yet, but hopefully soon.
Until next year!
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