Under A Hawk’s Eye View
We go for lots of long walks, especially at weekends. On one such trek we found ourselves under the piercing gaze of one of the local hawks.
If we had been small and lightweight, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Instead we had a great time watching him fly slowly over.
It almost seemed like he was showing off for us.
He swooped down, stayed low, and then, when he figured he’d best be getting on, he was gone.
These great photos were taken by Tony (to see his blog click here on: Song For Jasmine.
I’ve been working hard to learn Adobe Photoshop, color management, the printing process, and how to photograph art originals to produce fine art prints. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I subscribed to Safari Books Online in order to read the books I needed on these subjects.
I did read all the books I mentioned in that post, and then I also worked through another book, which I recommend very highly to anyone who wants a thorough foundation in using Adobe Photoshop and how to build an efficient workflow: “Real World Adobe Photoshop CS3: Industrial-Strength Production Techniques” by David Blatner, Conrad Chavez, and Bruce Fraser.
I continued to take notes, as I described before, so that in the future I can go back to my notebook to see how to do specific tasks. I set myself a tight schedule and was very relieved when I finally finished this area of study, and I’m very pleased with the information I learned. It has enabled me to find out what equipment is necessary, and how to use it, in order to be able to produce reproductions of the artwork as prints.
At Safari Books Online, I also discovered and watched all of Ron Lemen’s video lessons on how to draw and paint, using both traditional mediums and Photoshop. I thought the videos were fantastic. I learned loads from them. This YouTube video below, shows excerpts from the videos: 
So I studied a large number of books, watched videos, gained access to books that were not yet published, for timely information, and was able to look into a much larger number of books to see if I was interested in reading them in more detail: all for a $42 month subscription. Safari Books Online allows you to deactivate your account, so that it will not continue to be billed into the next month. Later, you can reactivate your account at any time. There are no penalties or fees for activating/deactivating the account.
I had the subscription for one month, and was able to fully complete my research and studies in that time. It was a very pleasant experience, though it was hard work. I was almost sad to deactivate the account; it felt like I was saying goodbye to an old friend. In the future, when I have another research project I won’t bother going to bookstores in search of books, I’ll go straight to their site.
I’m enthusiastic about the Safari Books Online service, and have mentioned it again on DweezelJazz Art blog, just because I found it so useful and thought you might too. I’m very cautious with subscribing to services on the web, and it’s great to find something that has been well thought out and is a pleasure to use and, very importantly, easy and hassle-free to stop when you want to.
Gradually I’m bringing together all the facets of creating art that I need in order to go forward with my aspirations. Now, enough of the studying! It’s fun, but I much prefer to draw and paint. And that’s what’s next on the agenda. My goal is to produce art and beautiful pictures that make me, and hopefully others, feel good, adding a little bit more fun and joy into the world, maybe just a tiny spark of that thrill that comes with watching a hawk effortlessly glide on the air currents.
Related posts:
- Why I’m thrilled to have a Total Training Online Subscription for Adobe Software
- Using Safari Books Online To Learn How To Produce Fine Art Prints
- How To Make Digital Paintings and Sketches
Tags: Adobe Photoshop, Bruce Fraser, Conrad Chavez, David Blatner, hawk flying, Ron Lemen, Safari Books Online, Song For Jasmine
May 24th, 2009 at 06:05
I’ve tried to learn how to use Photoshop but I never manage to be “friends” with it, probably because I started out using PaintShop and that’s what I’m used to. It’s really amazing what people can do with Photoshop when they know how to use it properly.
I love the photos of the hawk. =) This year we’ve found the nest of the Kestrel we’ve been following since last year and I hope that I’ll have a few good days so that I can stalk it and see them before they chicks leave the nest.
Hope all is well with you and yours! =)
May 24th, 2009 at 07:16
Hello Sanna,
It’s very nice to hear from you. Yes I know what you mean about Photoshop; I’ve invested many hours studying it and still feel very much an amateur. But I’ve decided it’s time to start using it in earnest and see what happens. Hopefully I’ve learned enough that I can understand more as I become more accustomed to using it. My recent studying has already paid off in a few things I’ve tried in the recent days.
I sure hope you do get a few good days, and hopefully lots of good days. I look forward to seeing the photos on your blog if you do see the nest before they fly. All is well here, and I wish you and your family well too. Many best wishes