Doug Boutwell the occasional odd thought or image
Totally Rad Actions
Totally Rad! Dirty Pictures Sneak Peek
Since we’re getting close to having all the gremlins ironed out, I thought it would be a nice time to post a little update on just what the hell I’ve been up to for the past couple months…
New TRA Recipes Site
The best thing to happen to the Totally Rad Actions in nearly a year just went online at www.trarecipes.com. We’ve showcased over 160 awesome ways to use the Totally Rad Actions (and counting!) with before and after examples, step-by-step recipes and instructions. Browse recipes by the actions used, by genre, or by the action set [...]
TRA Recipe Contest Winners
First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who entered our TRA Recipe Contest this past March! We received way more entries than I thought we would, and to the extent that it’s taken a while to pick winners, that’s my excuse (well, that and a 2 month old baby boy and a hacked [...]
Vegas Boneyard Contest Winner
Congrats to Jenny Smith of Alders Photography in L.A., who is the winner of a photo contest we sponsored back in February – Christpher Bartelski hosted the shoot during this year’s WPPI convention, at the Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas, and lots of [b] schoolers showed up to produce some killer images. You can check [...]
Totally Rad Recipe Contest
We want to see your raddest images. Your eye-popping, jaw-dropping photo magic. That kind of stuff. We want to see before and after shots that show off the Totally Rad Actions. Show us how you’ve transformed your photos, and tell us how you did it. All genres and styles of photography are welcome and encouraged. [...]
Get Schooled at Imaging USA
Are you going to Imaging USA in Phoenix this year (next week)? Then stop by booth 1453 (that’s us!) for free mini-seminars on the Totally Rad Actions! Doug Boutwell, creator of the Totally Rad Actions (that’s me!) will be presenting live demonstrations of how you can use the Totally Rad Actions to get the most [...]
Help Needed at Imaging USA
Hey Rad peeps – are you planning on going to Imaging USA in Phoenix next January? Do you want to help out at our booth? We need people to help run our Totally Rad tradeshow booth, and this is the open casting call… you have to be friendly, love our actions, and be willing to [...]
Black Friday Sale!
Once again, we’re joining in the post-Thanksgiving madness by offering all our Totally Rad Actions for sale on 11/28/08. Save $25 on TRA1 and the Mega-Mix. Save $29 on TRA2. It’s all for only 24 hours, and only on the day after Thanksgiving. Read all about it here: If this is news to you, then [...]
TRA Update – Version 1.2
Today we are happy to announce an update for all of our Totally Rad Actions, bringing both TRA1 and TRA2 to version 1.2. Update emails are being sent out with new download links throughout the day, and if you don’t get an email by Wednesday, 11/26/08, contact us at www.gettotallyrad.com and we’ll help you out. [...]
Please Welcome Our New TRA Ambassador!
First of all, a great big thanks to everyone who expressed interest in the position – there was a lot of interest from people who would have made great additions to our team, and I was spoiled for choice. So thanks to everyone for being excellent. That said, I’m pleased to introduce Kristen Kalp, who [...]
TRA Videos Up On Vimeo
Alright – I COULD blog about Barack Obama’s historic campaign victory, and continue on about how this is a milestone for America. I COULD tell you how excited I am at the prospect of having someone in the White House that I don’t absolutely loathe, and how I’m SO ready for someone to give me [...]
Infa-Red Without All The Hassle
The latest in our blitz of new video tutorials features two actions from TRA2 – The Revenge that do a damned good job of emulating infa-red film… which is a good thing, since they don’t make Kodak HIE anymore, and the images from digital body conversions still require plenty of tweaking in post anyway. So [...]
New Sample Actions + TRA Sale
So, in case you didn’t get the email (why aren’t you on our mailing list?), there are a couple pieces of TRA news to pass along… first, we have updated (as of a couple weeks ago) the sample set of actions to include 5 actions from TRA2, making the total EIGHT free actions for you [...]
Fake Front Swings And Tilts With f/zero
So here’s another video tutorial I’ve been busy working on, this time on the very confusing f/zero family of actions from TRA2 – The Revenge. f/zero was so named for two reasons – one, it’s meant to give you a set of tools to isolate your subject using selective focus… if f/1.2 makes everything but [...]
3 Actions That Are Meant For Each Other – No Brain Required!
Just finished a really quick little video on using “Orange You Glad You Didn’t Say Banana”, “Greetings From Paradise”, and “Wish You Were Here” from TRA2. Now that I figured out how to workaround the weird artifacts that Compressor was producing on the left side of the video, I’ll be finishing up with the other [...]
The Little Things Count…
I was working with an image today, testing out some very rough ideas for a future TRA product, and decided to go ahead and finish out the treatment on the image I was working on, since I really liked how it was looking. I do truly believe that our stuff rocks, but sometimes I surprise [...]
Where The Hell Have You Been?
So it’s beginning to get a bit pathetic just how infrequently I post on my own blog anymore… chalk it up to being really, really busy with the things I’m about to tell you about. Prepare yourself for the abridged version of all the cool stuff that’s been going on in my life for the [...]
Quick Q&A About TRA2
I’ve been getting a lot of email from excited photographers about our next set of actions, set to debut in mid-June, and I thought I’d take a little time to answer some of the questions people had. So from my hotel room in Chicago, here are some things that you might want to know (or [...]
The Future Of Actions
I’ve been busy for a while now working on a new set of Photoshop actions, and as we’re getting closer and closer to having a polished, complete sets of tools, I’m beginning to get really, really excited. I really think that we’ve completely out-done ourselves this time, and I’m pretty darned proud of what we’ve [...]
New TRA Video Tutorial
Head on over to the site to check out the latest video tutorial for the Totally Rad Action Mix. This time, we’re dealing with how to use Yin / Yang, Big Blue, and Green With Envy on your photos to control contrast, shape tones, and make your color scream. The video is a departure from [...]
Save $20 On The Totally Rad Action Mix! Win Free Apple Stuff!
That’s right! To celebrate the launch of our new website, we’ll give you $20 off the Totally Rad Action Mix through this Friday 5/9/08 with the coupon code totallyrad5508. Just enter that at checkout and save! Also, we’re giving away $500 in Apple gift certificates to one Rad Photographer in a drawing this week. To [...]
The Dawn Of A New Age
Perhaps that’s a bit lofty a title, but it sure feels like it for me… Today we finally launch the brand-new Totally Rad Stuff For Photographers site at www.gettotallyrad.com. Some new goodies, and a super-bitchin flash interface. Head on over and check it out!
Having issues with the TRAs? Try The Totally Rad Forum!
There’s yet another great new resource for getting the most out of the Totally Rad Actions (well, it’s a small one right now, but it’s a start). Go to www.gettotallyrad.com/forum for a whole slew of troubleshooting tips, quoted from emails I’ve answered in the past. I don’t have any plans for making this an active [...]