Our local supermarket has Halloween candy and scary witches on display, so that can mean only one thing in New Jersey—school is about to open. Annually, each and every elementary school student produces, on average, 331* metric tons of precious artwork; add another 11* tons if they attend summer camp. Some of the items are small enough to fit on the refrigerator door, and all of them are worth keeping forever. Short of renting offsite storage space to house and curate their youngsters’ souvenirs of academia, how do sentimental parents cope?

[ *Author’s estimate based on absolutely nothing. ]

We’ll get to the aforementioned solution in a minute. It’s called Scribble and you’re going to like it. First, however, we talk supermarkets.

Halloween at the Supermarket
I don’t fault grocers for getting a 60+ day head start on All Hallows’ Eve or any holiday for that matter. They have only a few weeks to push out several tons of cavity makers. Once November 1st arrives, leftover holiday-themed candy is as unwanted as an unwrapped Tootsie Pop.

Black-and-orange candy and ghost caricatures abound where I shop. Thankfully, most of the scary witches have been replaced by self-checkout scanning stations, but there are still a couple who appear out of nowhere when the scanner squawks, “Unexpected item found in bagging area.”

After a quick pat down and a severe dose of stink eye, the witches fade back into the bread aisle.

Old Bags
I see dozens of old bags at the grocery every week. In New Jersey, retailers are forbidden from providing bags for their customers; shoppers must bring their own. Consequently, you see old bags everywhere. Ostensibly the law was enacted to protect the environment. If they really want to have an impact, the state should issue every citizen a war surplus canteen and totally eliminate plastic water bottles.

This is happening in a state where by law we are not allowed to dispense gasoline into our own cars. Don’t ask me why.

Who Wants in On This?
I’m vaguely considering opening a chain of supermarkets called “Singles,” stores where everything is sold in portion sizes suitable for one person. We’ll sell solo-size packages of frozen fish sticks and Dove bars and Kraft Singles Cheese Slices, and all the rest, and have a combination martini and latte bar, where single people buying single portions can meet and mingle and work on becoming a couple, after which they are no longer allowed to shop therein. Want in? Message me on our Facebook page.

The Solution for Your Kiddo’s School Art Collection
Instead of 437 Rubbermaid Clearvestore plastic tubs with lids and a few dozen miscellaneous containers, trailers and boxcars filled with priceless child art, use Scribble to create a stunning hardcover photo book that you’ll treasure forever.

It’s easy because Scribble takes all the work out of it.

1. Start by snapping a picture of said artwork. Include 3D items like decorated coffee cans and clay figurines. The images don’t have to be perfect. In fact, you might want to have your child do the photography. Scribble will straighten the images and remove unwanted backgrounds.

2. Upload the images to Scribble.

3. Scribble uses proprietary “Automagic Book Creation” algorithms to enhance the pics. Then it creates a photo book. Books are printed on 100# premium matte paper.

4. Several collaborators can work on a Scribble book, so its benefits are fully available to those who are coparenting.

You must publish at least 24 images, but you don’t have to upload them all at the same time; you can handle the inflow as it arrives. And of course you can add more pages. Each page displays one piece of artwork. You can add captions and descriptions if you want.

Price for a 24-page 8.5 x 8.5 inch book is $39.99. For a book that’s 8.5 x 11, it’s $49.99. Optionally you may add additional pages at 30¢ per page; that means you can enjoy a 50-page book for just an additional $7.20. Maximum page count is 200 per book. Shipping to the lower 48 states is free.

Cost includes a FREE digital version you can share with grandparents, teachers and jealous cousins.

Imagine how wonderful it could be to revisit your child’s collection of Scribble books when your kids are suddenly 20-somethings. Everyone tells you how fast your offspring grow up. Scribble won’t slow the experience down but it does provide something to cherish in a timeless fashion.

Year-round…
Off topic again. On a very serious note, reduce your speed in School Zones. If you live in New Jersey, reduce your speed period. And watch out for kids because they seldom watch out for cars.

…and On Halloween
Don’t let children under 30 trick-or-treat alone. When someone leaves a full bowl of candy on their porch, don’t assume it’s all for you. Never buy the kind of candy you like for Halloween—and take all the surplus sweets to work the next day so everyone can fatten up equally. If you wear dentures or have fillings, avoid Tootsie Rolls and Kraft Caramels (don’t say I didn’t warn you). Never try to chew a Jolly Rancher. If you want to skip the holiday hoopla but not be a spoilsport, turn off all your lights on October 31st and instead mail a $100 check to the American Cancer Society or St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Halloween candy is expensive but children are priceless.

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Adobe is constantly at work updating Photoshop and Lightroom with effective new features. Some familiar tools may fall by the wayside, but as you’ll see in today’s tutorial from the Photoshop Café YouTube channel, these are usually replaced with more powerful options.

Instructor Colin Smith is an image-editing expert whose advice we often solicit when it comes to understand new processing capabilities. In this Photoshop episode he explains that we recently lost a popular lighting-effects filter, that was replaced with a new Gradients feature that can be adapted to handle the same task and works even better.

This new feature is currently only available in the Beta version of Photoshop, and Smith explains how to download it if you haven’t done so already. Smith wants to work with a darker view of his demonstration image which is easily created by going to the Photoshop’s Adjustment Layers panel and using the Exposure slider.

His goal is to also add a spotlight effect and add a bit of texture. He begins with the spotlight and employs a Layer mask by first setting the foreground to black so that as  he paints over the image the mask will be hidden—allowing the light to show through. Then he grabs a Radial Gradient and chooses the Foreground to Background option, which is black to white.

You’ll quickly see how this method differs from using the Lighting Effect filter that was recently retired. Now you can easily drag the gradient around the image and watch how light changes in different areas of the photo until you see the effect you like. So here’s the new feature: you’ll notice a small red dot that enables you to pull the gradient down to create sophisticated directional light that Smith says, “changes everything.”

It’s also possible to grab the midpoint and modify light falloff to suit your needs. Now it’s time to add the texture, which is quickly accomplished within the Channels panel. Smith selects the red channel using the keyboard shortcut he provides, and now you’ll notice “marching ants” on the barrel that’s hit by the light he created earlier. Resetting the channels is as easy as clicking on the RGB tab in the panel.

Next, Smith chooses the background layer and copies the previously selected pixels. This enables him to further accentuate the texture. He then chooses a High Pass filter to further refine the texture by dragging the Radius slider. Everything else in the image that wasn’t selected in the red channel remains unaffected.

Check out Smith’s before/after images and you’ll be very impressed by this simple and effective transformation. You can find more simple solutions like this on Smith’s popular YouTube channel so be sure to visit often.

We also recommend watching a  tutorial we posted recently, in which another respected pro explains why, “Photoshop’s Generative Fill won’t replace you just yet.”

A week ago we featured a tutorial explaining why minimalism is the key to clutter-free outdoor photos, and that lesson touched on the concept of negative space as one way to get the job done. Today we’re taking a deeper dive into that specific technique as a means of capturing unique images that really grab attention.

Instructor Mike Smith is a skilled British landscape photographer who is very generous about sharing the secrets to his success. In this six-minute episode he demonstrates why less is often more when it comes to making great outdoor images that stand out from the crowd.

In basic terms this technique involves surrounding a main subject with a large area that lacks texture or distracting color changes. Smith says that by doing this you’ll be able to create photos that convey a sense of loneliness and a mood of isolation. And, of course, the main subject of the image will really stand out.

This is all about simplification and eliminating unnecessary elements from the frame. Smith equates this type of photography to the peace and solitude you feel in a quiet room after spending time in a frantic, bustling city. You’re able to concentrate and focus on what’s important.

It can be difficult to find scenes with abundant negative space while shooting in the field. Smith says a great place to start is on the beach with open water in the background, especially when there’s a featureless sky. Long exposures help by smoothing out the water, and a long lens makes it easy to get in tight on a key subject while cutting out nearby distractions.

Smith demonstrates why texture, even in distant clouds, can spoil this effect, and why he tries to surround his subjects with plain colors that don’t clash. He provides the example of a boat surrounded by an otherwise empty and lonely sea. There’s nowhere for the eye to go except to the boat.

As you’ll see, this powerful technique transcends landscape photography and works well for other genres too. Here Smith pulls up his image of a sky skyscraper shot against a plain blue sky. He shot the same image as a few clouds blew across the frame, and this one isn’t nearly as effective in focusing attention on the building.

There are several other examples of how to put this method to use, and there’s nothing difficult involved. All it takes is thoughtful mindset, and the understanding that sometimes less is more and negative can be positive.

There’s much more to learn on Smith’s instructional YouTube channel, so don’t forget to take a look when you have time.

We also recommend watching the tutorial mentioned above, explaining why minimalism is the key to clutter-free landscape and wildlife photos.

The first thing most landscape photographers do upon arriving at a location is pull a trusty wide-angle lens out of their bag. It’s true that telephoto lenses are growing in popularity for this purpose, but today’s tutorial is all about making the most of whatever wide-angle prime or zoom that you own.

Oliver Whone is a professional landscape photographer based on Australia’s beautiful southern island of Tasmania. He’s also a popular educator whose videos are intended to encourage other to increase their appreciation of the great outdoors and shoot better photos of whatever they encounter in the field.

Whone says that in this episode, “I’m sharing my four essential techniques for achieving impactful photos with your wide-angle lens.” He’s shooting at the short end of a 16-35mm zoom for this demonstration, but his advice is appropriate for all lenses with a short focal length.

Despite the popularity of wide-angle lenses, Whone notes that “they come with a unique set of challenges” that must be overcome if you want to achieve optimum results. Expansive landscape scenes are often quite complicated with numerous objects in the frame, making effective composition difficult.

Whone’s first technique in this regard is to identify a prime subject and then find leading lines that will direct a viewer’s eyes to that area within the frame. His first image is of a rocky outcrop just off the coast, and Whone explains his thinking as he composes the shot. This one is particularly easy because there are leading lines just about everywhere you look.

Another effective approach Whone uses frequently with wide-angle lenses is shooting from a low perspective while tilting his camera down towards the ground. He demonstrates why doing this can really add impact to a photo, especially when shooting in portrait orientation. This method also helps exclude distracting elements in the background of the scene.

Technique #3 is related to the first two above and involves what Whone calls “filling the frame with value.” This can be difficult given all the information captured by wide-angle lenses, and Whone’s tips involve composing in a way that maximum space is devoted to key components within the frame. It’s also important to coordinate how other objects interact with one another.

Whone’s last bit of advice is remember to focus-stack your images, especially when dealing with key elements that are very close to the camera position. The reason for this step is simple: it provides maximum depth of field in the foreground, mid-range, and the background of the shot. Whone provides a quick demonstration of how this works.

We encourage you to visit Whone’s popular YouTube channel for more helpful tips and tricks for photographing the great outdoors.

On a related note, you’ll also want to watch a tutorial we posted earlier, with several foolproof tips for shooting better outdoor photos by controlling depth of field, lens magnification, and field of view.