Tim Ernst workshop had Mountain Dew!

For anyone who might be interested, I thought I might say a word or two about the Photoshop workshop I attended last weekend. First of all, unlike the previous Ernst workshop I attended, the refreshments this time included Mountain Dew, and as someone who has been getting his sugar and caffeine hits from that source for over 40 years, I have to be grateful for that.

$300 is a lot of money to me, as I'm sure it is to most readers of this forum, and I don't let go of a stack of bills that high without squeezing them pretty hard first. But the first Ernst workshop I attended a couple of years ago gave such a boost to my Photoshop skills and the technical quality of my output that I think it's about the best $300 I ever spent for anything photography related. Really, it was a revelation.

I wasn't expecting that kind of boost from this workshop, mainly because I wasn't starting from as deep a hole as I was in the last time, but I decided to attend first of all because I thought it would be a very time effective and cost effective way to zero in on any new CS5 tools that might be helpful to a photographer. I also thought it would be good to have a refresher on the whole camera to print process, but especially on some techniques that I had picked up the first time but wasn't very good at, or had actually forgotten how to do, such as blending two images or blending in an adjustment layer, which is a very useful and powerful technique, but one which I needed some additional help with to utilize effectively.

So on those levels the workshop more than met my expectations. The new noise reduction capabilities of ACR 6.1 are pretty astounding, and Photoshop's content aware fill is a great tool and is sure to be a time saver, as will several other assorted gadgets that got covered. And I got some much needed help with layer masks and blending in adjustment layers.

One great thing about the new workshop is that you get a set of Tim's ACR and Photoshop tutorials on video, which I think will prove to be of great value because I'll be able to use them to review what was covered in the workshop. I think it's also good to be able to spend some class time with a photographer as skilled and experienced as Tim because he's so full of useful information on the subject of photography that it just kind of keeps spilling out pretty much non-stop.

Oh, and it was nice to see Aspen again, too, and I got to meed Lucy for the first time as well. They're a couple of pretty good kids.

Ok, so I think it was a good workshop, but then I have to because I spent 300 bucks on it, right? Was there anything I didn't like? Well, I could have used more individual help on layers and blending, but I got enough help to solve the problem I had with the image I was working on; so I guess that was the main thing, and I realize that Tim and Angela had eight or ten other students to take care of, too.

And another thing I didn't like was the drive back home, because just this side of Huntsville I came across a puppy on the highway, and after stopping at a number of houses in the vicinity, I determined that she was homeless. So it looks like I'm stuck with another dog if I can't find a home for her.

So, Tim, it looks like you've got the Mountain Dew thing solved, but you need to work on the drive home part now.

And if anyone might know of someone who could give a great little puppy a good home, please get in touch.

I can only echo what you've said about Tim's workshops, Randy. That $300 investment you made will be more than returned after you sell a few prints of the image that you were having a problem with.

In addition to the artistic and technical sides, one thing I've always liked about his workshops (been to three now) is that you get straight talk from someone who knows the difference between sales hype and reality. With so many photography products on the market - from cameras to canvas to plugins - it's difficult at best to know the difference. Knowledge here is another benefit that will save participants hundreds or thousands of dollars. My biggest problem was being able to write everything down as we worked. So the video will be a great help to those folks like me that are a little slow taking notes.

When it comes to photography, or any endeavor for that matter, I think Tim would agree that money spent to broaden one's knowledge and skills is money well spent.

Good luck finding a home for the pup...hey Tim, didn't you take in a couple of beagles awhile back?

Ditto on Randy and Bill's comments about Tim's workshops, the best money I have invested in increasing my knowledge about all aspects of photography.

The content aware fill that Randy mentioned when used in the correct situation is the biggest wow! factor in CS5 in my opinion. It alone is worth the upgrade.

Randy, I had a chance to check out the recent additions to your site and you really have some nice images!

Bill, I think the pup has found a home: mine. I have a bad habit of not wanting to give up a dog that I've had for more than a few days. I hope she gets a good bit bigger, though, so she'll be a better match for a couple of the big dogs I've got. Some of the dogs I've taken in have come from who knows what kind of background and can be pretty rough and half wild.

Thanks, Tom, for coming by the Web site and looking around. I see you have not been idle, either, and have taken many outstanding shots lately, too.

I thought there might be those who might like an update on the puppy I found on the way home from the Tim Ernst workshop on June 26. After knocking on all the doors within a mile or so of where I found her and finding no one who would claim her, I concluded that she must have been dumped and left to fend for herself. There should be a special circle of hell waiting for someone who would do that to a helpless animal, but in this instance I'm happy about how things have turned out.

Katie is the name that I have given her, and we estimate that when I found her she was between 9 and 13 weeks old. In the six weeks since then she has grown from less than 10 lbs. to more than 20, and by the size of her feet it's clear that she has a great deal of growing left to do. It's kind of hard to say right now just what mix of breeds she might be, but she might have some hound in her, and she's a beautiful girl with a short-haired black coat with a white blaze on her chest and white feet.

Katie is a wonderful dog, happy and confident, very adept socially with the other dogs, and just recently starting to progress from the puppy stage of continually jousting with everyone to occasionally being gentle and sweet. This is normal and bodes well for an adult dog with a good disposition. It has been my experience over many years of taking in abandoned dogs that some of the best dogs ever are those who have been thrown away, if they haven't been ruined first by mistreatment.

Katie apparently was thrown away before she suffered irreparable damage, and I look forward to a long and happy life for her.

Hey Randy - there is also a special place for those wonderful souls who go to great lengths to ensure the survival of the mistreated ones - there is no finer friend than a dog...

Yes, in that number would be your lovely Mrs. and you yourself. Pam was telling me at the workshop that Lucy still freaks out when she sees a young male wearing a baseball cap,or something along those lines; I may have the exact details wrong. No telling what kind of torture she underwent to still have that kind of reaction all these years later. It's hard to imagine any dog having a better life than the one she's leading now, though, and she deserves it.