Our star guest on Tuesday 20th September was no less than imaging expert Guy Gowan. Guy has a worldwide reputation and has worked as a consultant for Adobe, Apple, Canon, Nikon and Epson among others. It was a huge privilege to have him give a presentation to the CCG.
And, as expected, he delivered. Our meetings normally last for two hours – 8 pm to 10 pm – but Guy spoke from about 8:10 pm to 10:40 pm with only a 5 minute break. Usually, if a guest goes over the 10 pm mark some members start to quietly slip away but not on this occasion: Guy had the full attention of the entire (full house) audience throughout.
This was down to a combination of an excellent delivery style and his demonstration of radically new (to most of us at least) post-processing techniques.
In particular, his use of Photoshop Channels for contrast and sharpening was a revelation and he went into the technique in detail. The one big takeaway from his presentation was: LEARN CHANNELS. (And sorry, Lightroom users, you can only use Channels with Photoshop.)
He urged us to forget about getting hung up on having the latest camera gear. Instead, we should change our behaviour with the tools we have. The Channels sharpening technique for instance would result in a radical improvement on an image taken with even a humble kit lens – you don’t have to spend a fortune on hardware.
His whole approach is to achieve the highest quality image in the least amount of time with the least amount of steps.
Guy’s presentation was eye-opening and hugely entertaining and no doubt has left some of us with the need to re-think many of our cherished post-processing techniques. The presentation exceeded expectations and was one of the best guest slots that the CCG has hosted. Thanks to Guy for making his way to Cork and anyone wishing to learn more should head over to his website: guygowan.com