Tricks and Tips, and windsurfing
A brief word about “Tricks and Tips”. I hate ‘em. No, seriously.
Tricks and tips are more about “see what I can do” than creating a solid, professional working process. (I’m even having issues with the word “workflow” lately, because it’s become such a catchphrase.)
There is a place for learning little things that can, integrated into a coherent process, speed that and simplify it, and this is what we need to focus on. Start by building a framework for your process, and, as you’ve probably figured out, the framework I’ve decided is the best for me is the “Layers/Masks” strategy. I am getting fairly strident about it now, because, as the Smart Object workflow shows, it is a basic structure which is not destructive, as “archival” as is possible, and is so flexible and powerful I have yet to find an application where I can’t use it.
Now, show me a tip, or a trick, (like, for example, copying Smart Filter layers perhaps. or setting up Keyboard Shortcuts) that speeds and amps my processing within that framework and I’m listening, but so often the “Tips and Tricks” approach does just the opposite- it sends you down a rabbit hole that forces you to abandon a good, well thought-out and proven strategy for the sake of, well, what feels like a gimmick. The best examples I can give you are some of the sharpening processes that people tout with almost religious fervor.
I remember this surfer/windsurfer who was just incredible, Doug Peacock. His favorite spot was “The Zone”, a crosshatch of currents and winds in Buzzards Bay that looked more like the churn in a washing machine than the ocean. (“…I didn’t see you in The Zone on Saturday, Doug.” “You weren’t looking UP!”, says Doug.) This guy who thought he was a lot better than he really was had a new move, and Doug’s comment was, “Tricks are for kids”, and folks, I think of that comment every time I go to one of those seminars, or read one of those books.
Show me a professional structure, and then give me something that can make it better. Tricks are for kids.
Tricks and tips are more about “see what I can do” than creating a solid, professional working process. (I’m even having issues with the word “workflow” lately, because it’s become such a catchphrase.)
There is a place for learning little things that can, integrated into a coherent process, speed that and simplify it, and this is what we need to focus on. Start by building a framework for your process, and, as you’ve probably figured out, the framework I’ve decided is the best for me is the “Layers/Masks” strategy. I am getting fairly strident about it now, because, as the Smart Object workflow shows, it is a basic structure which is not destructive, as “archival” as is possible, and is so flexible and powerful I have yet to find an application where I can’t use it.
Now, show me a tip, or a trick, (like, for example, copying Smart Filter layers perhaps. or setting up Keyboard Shortcuts) that speeds and amps my processing within that framework and I’m listening, but so often the “Tips and Tricks” approach does just the opposite- it sends you down a rabbit hole that forces you to abandon a good, well thought-out and proven strategy for the sake of, well, what feels like a gimmick. The best examples I can give you are some of the sharpening processes that people tout with almost religious fervor.
I remember this surfer/windsurfer who was just incredible, Doug Peacock. His favorite spot was “The Zone”, a crosshatch of currents and winds in Buzzards Bay that looked more like the churn in a washing machine than the ocean. (“…I didn’t see you in The Zone on Saturday, Doug.” “You weren’t looking UP!”, says Doug.) This guy who thought he was a lot better than he really was had a new move, and Doug’s comment was, “Tricks are for kids”, and folks, I think of that comment every time I go to one of those seminars, or read one of those books.
Show me a professional structure, and then give me something that can make it better. Tricks are for kids.
posted by Ted Dillard at
6:31 AM
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