With my CS4 registration, Adobe gave me one month of a Lynda.com subscription. I didn’t think this would be useful, and was expecting to learn a few things. Turns out, it’s been immensely useful.

I recommend trying it for a month. My current plan is to buy a month subscription one every year or so. Or maybe every six months.

I consider myself reasonably effective with Photoshop and the digital darkroom, yet still learnt many new processes and techniques for producing a completed photograph. The following courses were interesting or inspirational:

• Douglas Kirkland: Creative Inspiration
• Photoshop CS4 Retouching: Fashion Photography Projects
• Beyond Skin: Going Deeper with Photoshop CS3

I also updated a few other Adobe applications, such as InDesign and learnt some Flash basics too:

• Designing a Magazine Layout Hands-On Workshop
• InDesign CS4: 10 Habits of Highly Effective Pros
• Flash CS4 Professional Essential Training

There are other online video learning sites, such as Kelby Training, that are also worth a look. The important bit is to keep updating your skills and improving your workflow.

Dilemma of civilized man; body mobilized, but danger obscure

- page 161

While on holidays I finished Phillip K Dick’s book, The Man in the High Castle, a story of how the world might look if the Allies lost the war. Like all great science fiction, this is a biting commentary on our own culture. Well worth a read.

“Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style” has sold more than 10 million copies since its initial publication in April 1959.

Newsday highlights the 50^th anniversary of the classic text on English grammar and writing style.

This is the book on the subject.

The best book of writing advice I’ve ever read. I read it cover-to-cover about once a year.

– John Gruber

I considered offering my copy out for loan. However, I would not be happy without a copy in my possession. It is a small book, and you owe yourself an edition of it.

It saddens me that writing style seems a fading art. This book is not read enough.

The Orbis Ring flash is a low budget option for using portable strobes to power a ring flash. There are two big advantages to the Orbis: light & cheap. That said, the build quality is very solid and more than I was expecting.

I decided to try mine out at a friend’s housewarming. This was the result:

To shoot with, it was a breeze. My SB-24 mounted snug in the adaptor. An old sync cord linked my 5D2 to the flash and I was away. The results were impressive.

For shooting an event, such as a party or a wedding, the ring flash gives a nice fall off of light without too much in the way of highlights. For candid portraits, it was simply wow.

I’m looking forward to trying it out in a more staged environment. There are a few lighting options I’d like to try, such as using it for fill or using it from off-axis.

The Orbis team has put a few videos on YouTube, and there is a group of Flickr showing what people are doing with it.