National Association of Photoshop Professionals

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) is a dynamic trade association and the world's leading resource for Adobe® Photoshop® education, training, and news. It is led by a world-class team of Photoshop experts, authors, consultants, trainers, and educators whose focus is to ensure that NAPP members stay on the cutting edge of Adobe Photoshop techniques and ahead of their competition.

The idea for forming NAPP grew out of feedback received by instructors on the Adobe Photoshop Seminar Tour (which we founded in 1993). Students asked for direction on continuing education but at that time there was no central resource for Photoshop instruction. It became apparent that there was a tremendous need for this type of association, and with the urging and input of industry leaders, the groundwork was developed for what would become NAPP.

With Adobe System's help, NAPP made its debut at Seybold New York in April of 1998, along with the premiere of the first issue of Photoshop User magazine. The organization was met with an immediate flood of support. Within just a few months NAPP had already enrolled thousands of members and quickly grew beyond the borders of the U.S. to become a truly international organization that now has 70,000 members in 107 countries around the world.

Today NAPP maintains its focus on its members so that it can continue to address the techniques, issues, and concerns that Photoshop users share. It is this relationship that has propelled NAPP to become one of the largest, most respected organizations of its kind, and the worldwide central resource for Adobe Photoshop training, education and news.

Click here to visit NAPP's website.

Photoshop World

Photoshop World 2008 in Las Vegas is just around the corner... I'm excited to see what new classes they have scheduled for this year. I believe it's going to be bigger and better than last year...

Photoshop World is a great time to explore new ideas...and I always enjoy the opportunity to talk to people about the creative and technical challenges they face on a day-to-day basis. This is just incredibly rewarding because I know it makes a big difference in how much people enjoy their jobs. - Richard Harrington, Photoshop World instructor

Below are a list of some of the instructors that will be at this year's Photoshop World & Expo.

Scott Kelby
Editor, Photoshop User magazine

Scott is editor and publisher of Photoshop User magazine and Layers magazine (the how-to magazine for everything Adobe). He also is the president and co-founder of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and president of the software training, education, and publishing firm Kelby Media Group.

Scott is a photographer, designer, and an award-winning author of more than 40 books, including Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers, The Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers, The 7-Point System, The Photoshop Channels Book, Photoshop Classic Effects, and The Digital Photography Book.

Since 2004, Scott has been awarded the distinction of being the world’s #1 best-selling author of all computer and technology books, across all categories. His books have been translated into dozens of different languages, including Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Korean, Polish, Taiwanese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Swedish, Turkish, and Portuguese, among others, and he is a recipient of the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Award.

In addition, Scott is training director for Kelby Training and technical chair for the Photoshop World Conference & Expo. He’s featured in a series of Adobe Photoshop training DVDs and has been training Adobe Photoshop users since 1993. For more information on Scott, visit scottkelby.com.

Richard Harrington
Editor and Motion Graphic Artist

Richard Harrington is a certified Project Management Professional, Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop and After Effects, and Apple Certified Trainer in Final Cut Pro. Additionally, he has completed Avid's Master Editor Workshop and the Avid Certified Instructor program. His visual communications consultancy, RHED Pixel, creates motion graphics and produces video and multimedia projects. He is the author of Photoshop for Video and Understanding Adobe Photoshop as well as a moderator of DV Magazine’s Photoshop for Video forum. You can find out more about Richard and his blogs at http://www.rastervector.com/ and http://www.photoshopforvideo.com/.

Matt Kloskowski
Author and Educator

Matt Kloskowski is the Education and Curriculum Developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. He has authored and co-authored 5 books on Photoshop and Illustrator and teaches an advanced Photoshop course for Sessions.edu. In addition to being an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop, and Macromedia Flash Certified Developer, Matt is a regular contributor to Photoshop User and Layers magazines and writes weekly columns for several digital imaging websites. Check out Matt's Blog by clicking here.

Bert Monroy
Author and Contributing Columnist

Bert Monroy is considered one of the pioneers of digital art. His work has been seen in many magazines and scores of books. He has served on the faculty of many well known institutions, lectured around the world, written many books and appeared on hundreds of TV shows. Bert hosts a weekly podcast called Pixel Perfect for Revision3.com.

He co-authored The Official Adobe Photoshop Handbook, the first book on Photoshop plus many other books since. His latest books, Photoshop Studio with Bert Monroy: Digital Painting has gotten critical acclaim around the world. Bert writes a column for Photoshop User and Layers magazines.

Bert serves a client list that includes Apple Computer, Adobe Systems, AT&T, American Express, Pixar Animation, Disney Animation and Lockheed/Martin. Bert has also worked in the motion picture industry for Industrial Light and Magic, Pacific Data Images, and R/Greenberg.

In 2004, Bert was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame. Visit his website, http://www.bertmonroy.com/.

Moose Peterson
Wildlife Photographer, Author, and Educator

A Nikon Legend Behind the Lens, Lexar Elite Photographer, recipient of the John Muir Conservation Award, Research Associate with the Endangered Species Recovery Program, published in over 130 magazines worldwide, author of 23 books, and lecturing across the country to thousands upon thousands of photographers barely covers the work and goals of wildlife photographer Moose Peterson. One of the original Nikon shooters to receive the D1 in 1999, Moose embraced this new technology becoming the only wildlife photographer in the world to shoot strictly digital in the early years. A beta site for all the major hardware and software manufacturers, Moose continues his main goal of photographing the life history of North America's endangered wildlife and wild places using the latest tools. Creative innovation of new techniques, both behind the camera and the computer, is the driving force behind his photography and goals. Visit his website, http://www.moosepeterson.com/.

Taz Tally
Author, Teacher, Consultant, and Contributing Columnist

Dr. Taz Tally is President of Taz Tally Seminars, a computer publishing, consulting, and training company. Taz is the author of numerous books including his most recent book Acrobat and PDF Solutions, as well as Electronic Publishing: Avoiding The Output Blues a textbook on electronic publishing fundamentals and Postscript file preparation, and Avoiding The Scanning Blues a comprehensive guide to desktop scanning, which was chosen as a featured selection of the DoubleDay book club. In addition, Taz has published the UMAX MagicScan Manual, and SilverFast: The Official Guide, which are distributed worldwide. Visit his website, http://www.tazseminars.com/.

Ben Willmore
Author, and Instructor

Ben Willmore is author of the award-winning, best-selling book, Adobe Photoshop Studio Techniques and co-author of another bestseller, How to Wow: Photoshop for Photography. His hit seminars, "Photoshop Mastery" and "Photoshop for Photographers", have established Ben as one of America's favorite Photoshop instructors. He has personally helped over 30,000 design and photography professionals make the transition from blindly following step-by-step techniques, to "Aha! I finally GET Photoshop!" His breakthrough teaching style of "not-just-how-but-why," has made Ben the in-house instructor of choice for companies such as Mercedes Benz, Adobe Systems, America Online, and Fisher-Price. He's a member of the Dream Team for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), a featured speaker at design and photography conferences in America, England ,and Australia, and writes for numerous digital imaging publications, including a monthly column for Photoshop User magazine. In 2004, Ben was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame. Ben has several different websites: http://whereisben.com/, http://www.digitalmastery.com/, http://www.thebestofben.com/.

For more information on how to register, visit our website by clicking here.

They Say, "You Get What You Pay For!"

As a web designer and a website company, I'm constently looking on the internet for fresh ideas, new things going on in the "web" world, tools for the web designer, and various other things.

So last night in the early hours of the morning, I decided to see what other competition in my market was out there and how we compare to them.

I couldn't believe some of the companies I came across and how they can actually call themselves "web designers". What I couldn't believe even more is that businesses have actually paid these companies to design their websites. How can they call themselves "Web Designers" or even a "Website Company"? How can they even charge the rates they are charging? and How can a business owner use their services?

I believe that your "website" is an extension of your business and who you are as a company. So, therefore, I believe it should be "clean" looking, easy to navigate and informational.

If I'm looking for a particular product or service on the Internet, and I come across a businesses website that I cannot find information quickly and easily, I'm gone.

Now, I might be a bit "impartial" since I am a web designer, but I have to say again, "Your website is a reflection of who you are as a business."

I can remember when we first started our company... We were "cheap"... I mean really "cheap"... and we kept thinking, "How come we are not getting any clients"... We knew we were good at what we did... We had the design eye and the creativity and the resourses to give businesses what they were looking for in a website, but we couldn't understand why we were not getting clients... After a very short time, we figured out that they were not wanting our services because we were "too cheap." So we raised our prices... and it worked...

So, if you're a business and are looking for a website, search around, see what the best company will be to make your website a reflection on your business... and if you can find a company that will meet your needs at a reasonable price, then you have yourself a great "Web Design Firm!"

Sometimes cheap is NOT better and as they say, "You Get What You Pay For"...