Featured Photographers: Suzanne Teresa and Alec Watson

We'd like to introduce you to Suzanne Teresa and Alec Watson, a husband and wife photography team based in the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Suzanne started her career in photography about 5 years ago while she was finishing up her Fine Arts degree at Malaspina University. During her studies she worked as a waitress and a model to make ends meet. At that time she started taking small photography jobs for corporate and family photo shoots which she used to build her portfolio. She quickly began receiving call-backs from clients to do product shoots for their businesses.

Alec Watson worked extensively in the music industry prior to switching full-time to photography. Alec was a producer and sound engineer in Nashville before he moved to Canada, where he continued to work in the music industry before switching full time to photography. Despite his successful career in music, he had always had a love of photography, and it soon became clear he wanted to make photography the new focus of his professional life.

Alec and Suzanne's photography is primarily commercial - that is, for catalogs, fine art, and the music industry. Recently Suzanne has added infra-red photography to her repertoire - and the response has been nothing short of fantastic. Her work in infra-red photography won her the Afga Photography Award for Visual Arts in 2003 and 2005.

Both Suzanne and Alec shoot with a converted Nikon D100 camera that they sent to the States to have permanently converted into an infra-red camera. A large part of Suzanne's photos are of landscapes, which she prints in black and white. Their current project is the very exciting task of documenting Vancouver Island using infra-red photography.

Over the years Suzanne and Alec have tried a lot of different photo software, looking for the best one to view, organize, select, print, and back up their photos. The search eventually led them to discover ACDSee, which they quickly chose as hands-down the best photo management tool on the market. They use it regularly to create HTML web albums that they then use to quickly provide proofs to their current and potential clients via a secure link on their website.

Alec and Suzanne also shoot regularly using a Nikon D2X. Recently, Alec has started experimenting with panoramics using Panorama Factory stitching software, and has recently Purchased an Epson 9800 for in house printing which works seamlessly with ACDSee. Alec's work is currently being featured in hotels and gift shops in various locations across North America.

Visit Suzanne's site at http://www.stphotoworks.com/.

Stay current with the latest camera models and formats.

ACDSee Pro's recent Beta RAW update is FREE to registered users and delivers RAW format support for more than 30 new cameras from major manufacturers including:

• Canon EOS 400D / Rebel XTi
• Sony DSLR-A100
• Nikon D80 and D2Xs
• Pentax K100D and K110D
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50

The beta RAW update also includes support for cameras from Creo Leaf, Olympus, Leica, Samsung, and Fujifilm. For the complete list, see below or at: http://www.acdsee.com/products/
acdseepro/rawformats.

**The RAW format beta update for ACDSee is available as a FREE UPDATE to registered users of ACDSee Pro at http://www.acdsee.com/support/
downloads/index.aspx.

Software Tip: Batch Text Overlay and Watermarking Photos with ACDSee Pro

Batch text overlay and watermarking helps you add proprietary and descriptive information to lots of photos at once, giving you more control over your workflow and saving you valuable time.

In ACDSee Pro you can do this in just a few simple steps:

1. Select some photos in the file list pane.
2. Select Tools, then select Batch Processor.
3. Place a check mark next to Text Overlay and then click on Text Overlay to display the settings.
4. In the text box, remove the words sample text and click on the arrow to insert the symbol Copyright ©.
5. Now type your name in the text box and adjust the size, color, opacity and alignment.
6. Move your mouse over the preview window and re-locate the text box to the desired location.
7. Now place a check mark next to Watermark, and click on Watermark to display the settings.
8. Click on browse and find an appropriate watermark graphic, e.g. your company logo.
9. Move your mouse over the preview window and re-locate the box to the desired location.
10. You can also adjust the opacity by clicking on the "Position & Blending" tab and moving the opacity slider to a lower setting
11. Click on Next, set the output folder and renaming options and next to start the operation.

Events

PhotoPlus Expo 2006 Wrap-Up

The ACDSee team recently attended Photoplus in New York City, a two-day show held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. The show was a great success, with over 200 leading manufacturers and suppliers and over 25,000 attendees including Professional Photographers, Advanced Amateurs, and photography students.

Our featured product at the show was ACDSee Pro Photo Manager. At the show we announced the availability of a Pro Public Beta RAW Update of 30 new camera RAW formats. Visitors to the booth came to hear about how ACDSee Pro Photo Manager can help streamline their digital photography workflow.

ACDSee hosted several professional photographers in our booth: Onne van der Wal, Nautical Photographer; Neal Clipper, Wedding & Event Photographer; and Serge Timacheff, Official FIE (International Fencing Federation) Photographer. They were able to give booth visitors valuable tips and advice on how to take control of their workflow.

Photokina 2006 Wrap-Up

We recently showcased our new ACDSee 9 Photo Manager and ACDSee Photo Editor products at Photokina in Germany. There were over 4,000 visitors to our booth, and more than 68 reporters attended the ACD press conference eager to hear about the new products and witness the live demos. All in all, the show was a tremendous success. Visitors were amazed by how fast and easy ACDSee makes it to organize, browse, and view photos, while Photo Editor lets everyday photo lovers to be creative with their collections.

Photokina had an astounding turnout this year, with 1,600 suppliers exhibiting from 50 countries, and 160,000 visitors from 140 countries. The show, which ran from September 26th to October 1st, was held in Cologne in the new exhibition center there, which is one of Europe's most modern trade fair locations. Hundreds of new products including cameras, lenses, software, and other accessories were on display throughout the week.

For all the juicy details visit the Photokina blog at: http://www.photographyblog.com/photokina_2006.php.