Good until Saturday (May 20), it is Photoshop Week at CreativeLive with lots of Photoshop-related classes streaming live. It is FREE to watch any of the classes that are streaming/recording for the first time ever, so if you have flexibility with your time, you can watch a LOT of Photoshop classes this week!
FREE OPTIC 2017 Conference (New York, June 4-7 (2017)
If you are going to be near New York City or near a computer with a broadband connection between June 4-7 in 2017, that’s when the B&H Photo OPTIC 2017 Conference will take place. You can attend in person or stream it online. There are four days of events planned, the scheduled of which you can find at the aforelinked page. Registration is FREE! Brook Jensen and Art Wolfe are among those scheduled to speak.
The first two days will have two parallel tracks of speakers. The other two days will have a mix of portfolio reviews/critiques, photo walks in the outside world, and such. Check the website for all the details.
Free 2-Hour Night Photography Critique Session (Video Class)
FREE time! CreativeLIVE is offering a 2-Hour Night Photography Video Class. This is a critique session with photographers Matt Hill and Gabriel Biderman. Once you claim it for free, you have lifetime access to the class! You can watch classes with a desktop/laptop, or with a mobile browser (as long as your mobile device can handle it) or using their iOS app.
Day #3 of Joe McNally Lighting Class Streaming at 12pm ET
Day #3 (the last day) of Joe McNally’s Lightning Class “Lighting, Logistics, and Strategies for a Life in Photography” will begin streaming LIVE at 12pm eastern on Friday and will be free for all to watch while it is recording live.
CreativeLIVE uses a different model when it comes to online classes. Each class streams live online as it is recorded (in other words, classes are recorded live) and everyone can watch it without paying. After the original live stream is over, then you have to pay to watch or rewatch it. So if you have a flexible schedule and fast-enough internet access you can watch a LOT of content for free.
For more details, check CreativeLive’s Free On-Air Classes page. Other upcoming classes include Lindsay Adler, Jeremy Cowart, Ben Willmore, and more.
Watch FREE LIVE: starts Wednesday 12pm ET: Joe McNally 3-Day Lighting Class
Starting on Wednesday at 12pm Eastern, and continuing on Thursday and Friday, there will be a 3-day class live-streaming for FREE for everyone to watch at CreativeLIVE by the one and only Joe McNally, “Lighting, Logistics, and Strategies for a Life in Photography”. Look under “Class Materials” for the topics that will be covered. The stream will take place 12pm to 7pm eastern during each day.
CreativeLIVE uses a different model when it comes to online classes. Each class streams live online as it is recorded (in other words, classes are recorded live) and everyone can watch it without paying. After the original live stream is over, then you have to pay to watch or rewatch it. So if you have a flexible schedule and fast-enough internet access you can watch a LOT of content for free.
For more details, check CreativeLive’s Free On-Air Classes page. Other upcoming classes include Lindsay Adler, Jeremy Cowart, Ben Willmore, and more.
FREE Live Streaming Classes this week include Joe McNally
CreativeLIVE has a different model to most online classes. When the class streams live online, everyone can watch it without paying. Once the original live stream is over, then you have to pay to watch or rewatch it. So if you have flexible schedule and fast-enough internet access you can watch a LOT of content for free. This week is particularly of interest because the one and only Joe McNally will be offering a class April 5-7, “Lighting, Logistics, and Strategies for a Life in Photography”. Look under “Class Materials” for the topics that will be covered.
For more details, check CreativeLive’s Free On-Air Classes page. Other upcoming classes include Lindsay Adler, Jeremy Cowart, Ben Willmore, and many more!
FREE (iOS): Paint FX Photo Effects Editor by Sprite Labs
Free photo app time for iOS users! The Paint FX Photo Effects Editor by Sprite Labs is currently FREE to grab at the iTunes store, good for compatible iPhones and iPads. The latest version of the app is early March 2017, 218 MB big, and requires iOS 6.0 or later, so it should work with older i-devices.
FREE for iOS: ACDSee PRO app
For a limited time, ACDSee is offering their “ACDSee PRO” app for FREE for iOS devices (iPhones, iPads, iPods with compatible hardware/specs) in the iTunes store. No coupon code is needed, it is marked as FREE over there while this promotion is running.
FREE ACDSee Photo Studio Beta for MacOS
If you like to boldly go and try new beta digital imaging software, AND if you have a MacOS computer (Intel, at least 1GB RAM, 100MB+ free space, OS X 10.11 or 10.12), you can sign up for a free beta of ACDSee’s Photo Studio Beta. You enter name and email address to get access to the beta. Download begins automatically after you enter that information. I don’t have a MacOS device, so I can’t test this any further.
Heads Up (January 16) No Entrace Fee National Parks
This is a heads-up / plan-ahead type of an alert. As before, National Parks that typically collect entrance-fees waive them on select National Holidays. January 16 (2017) is Martin Luther King day and the parks are entrance-fee free. These may be busier than usual, which may help or hinder the potential of photo-ops depending on what the preferred subjects are. But the winter weather may discourage some of the “casuals”, so you never know 🙂
Prime Members: read Nov issue of Pop Photo for FREE
If you are a Prime member, one of your benefits is Prime Reading. For the month of November 2016, you can borrow a selection of single Magazine issues, including the November 2016 issue of Popular Photography and Imaging. Magazines count as one of your “ten out” selections but you can return them at any time to free up the slot. You don’t own these, they are digitally borrowed. As far as I can tell, these digital magazine issues can only be read on iOS and Android, not Windows.
Prime Only: 50 4×6″ Photo Prints FREE with Coupon
If you have an Amazon Prime membership, here’s another benefit, coupon code OCT50PRINTS gets you 50 4×6 inch prints for FREE at the new AmazonPrints service. You can sign in to the service using your standard Amazon account. Free shipping for Prime members. Additional prints are 9c each (4×6″). They also offer 5×7 and 8×10 inch prints along with custom photo books (starting at $20) and double-sided cards (starting at 79c). The coupon is only good for 4×6 inch prints. This is a limited time offer (specific expiration date is not mentioned there).
(ENDED) Tuesday (T-Mobile Customers only): Free 10 4×6 Printicular/Walgreens prints
This freebie expired… If you are a T-Mobile customer, you are eligible for the Tuesday T-Mobile Freebies and for this Tuesday (10/18/19) you can get ten 4×6 photo prints through the Printicular/Walgreens combination. Prints can only picked up at a Walgreens store. Check their website for more details.
FREE on iTunes: ACDSee PRO (iPhone/iPad)
Free app time! The ACDSee PRO app is currently FREE to get at the iTunes app store. Even if you don’t currently have an active iPhone or iPad device, you can still get it using iTunes on Windows or Mac, and install it in the future if/when you get a compatible iPhone/iPad. Free is free 🙂 With iPads getting bigger and more powerful, networks faster and cloud storage cheaper, mobile photography is getting easier and more powerful than before.
August 25-28: Free Admission to all 412 National Parks
If you need an excuse to go out and take pictures, the National Parks are celebrating their 100 year birthday and as part of the festivities they are offering FREE ADMISSION to all 412 National Parks between August 25-28 in 2016. Normally fees vary by park and situation, some parks do not charge any entry fees. A list of fees at the National Parks blog (fan blog, not official).
You can start another Free Trial of Adobe’s Creative Cloud
In an email probably written by a committee or by a high ranking executive who is out of touch with the plebs, Adobe is announcing that you can start another free trial of their Creative Cloud products, even if you had previously started free trials. Their email “explaining” this:
PS1: I don’t know if this applies to everyone or a subset of former free-trial users
PS2: speaking of which, good until 3am ET on Wednesday, Amazon is offering as either a Key Card or a digital download a 1-Year PrePaid Subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan (LightRoom and Photoshop CC) for $95.
Free Online Photography class at Stacksocial with Social Sharing
It’s freebie time at Stacksocial, but as with all their previous freebies, it requires social media activity. Namely you have to follow them on Twitter or Facebook or Google+ and share the offer on one of those places. This freebie is a 10-session Photography Class in a five week period. You can watch it LIVE or On-Demand later. Details on the class at Shaw Academy.
(ENDED) Free Access to Consumer Reports (ends 5/20/16 8am ET)
This limited time “tear down the paywall” promotion ended, but if they did it once, it is possible they may do it again in the future…
Free Photoshop Graphic Design course at Udemy with Coupon
It’s freebie time! Online course site Udemy is offering, for a limited time, the “Photoshop in Ease: Create World Amazing Graphic Designs” video course for FREE when you enter coupon code MASTERDESIGN over there. The course runs 3 hours long with 26 lectures. It offers lifetime access, and you can watch in a web browser or using their iOS and Android apps. You don’t have to enter a credit card or billing address unless you are going to pay for something.
If you are not familiar with Udemy, you have to enter the coupon code first, then add to the shopping cart. Annotated screenshot crop below:
FREE 8×10″ Walgreens Photo print with coupon
There is a new promotion from Walgreens Photo, coupon code FREEGIFTPIC gets you one free 8×10 inch print. Limit one print per customer. Free store pickup. Shipping to your own address has a S&H fee (unless they are running any online promotion). Coupon expires at 11:59pm Central on Saturday 5/7/16.
Canon CarePAK Offer extended until 7/31/16
Canon’s free 13-month CarePAK (free accidental damage protection for select registered products) has been extended until the end of July 2016. You can learn about the plan at Canon’s website and you can see a list of eligible Canon DSLRs and Lenses for this promotion at B&H Photo. Eligible items include the full frame DSLRs, the 7D Mark II, and a few lenses. You have to manually register for the promotion after purchase though, it does not activate automatically.
Nik Collection now FREE for ALL (Win/Mac)
Google decided today to make the Nik Collection (seven different items) FREE for all. Infact it’s so free you can just click on the download button, select Mac or Windows, and download the files. On Windows, it is a 429MB .EXE file. I am downloading it as I write this. Will update with what happens next.
You don’t even need a Google account to download ~ just hit the download button (top right corner of the page).
If you purchased the software earlier in 2016, Google will automatically send you a refund in the next few days.
This was announced at the Nik Collections Google+. Thanks to one of our readers for the email alert!
Lightroom now FREE on Google Play (no sign-up, no subscription)
Adobe was rather late to the mobile photography app party, so now they have to be more aggressive to recapture lost ground. Which perhaps explains their latest move, Lightroom is now free for all to use on Google Play. You don’t need an Adobe ID, you don’t need a subscription. Just install it on your device and start using it locally.
I played with it for a few minutes. On an 8-inch Android tablet, the screen feels rather small for the UI, readability is not ideal, and in general it has more of a downsized desktop app feel to it. But it’s free and it works! It will probably feel a lot better on 10+ inch tablets. Perhaps a new excuse for photographers to buy the new Google Pixel C Android 2-in-1 creature? Or that 18-inch Samsung Galaxy Viewstrocity?
If you want to sync with your desktop, then an Adobe ID and subscription is needed. They are not giving everything away 🙂
Free Premium Apps: Photo Lab Pro by VicmanLLC and more
The Amazon Android/FireOS app-store is having a Halloween Free Apps promotion. A total of 29 premium apps are participating, and you can get as many of them as you want for free, including photography-app PhotoLab Pro by Vicman LLC. Other famous apps included are AVG AntiVirus Pro, Splashtop Remote Desktop, and lots of games.
These are Amazon’s regular apps, not the “Underground apps” that are free but your data usage is the price you pay for the free-ness. Offer ends 10/31/15.
Lightroom (iOS) now FREE for ALL
If you have an iOS 8.1 or later Apple device, and do not have a Creative Cloud subscription or a desktop Lightroom, you too now can use the iOS version of Lightroom for free without the prior restrictions. Adobe finally discovered they can use it as a “gateway software drug” instead of frustrating users and driving them into the arms of many of the thousands of other iOS photography apps 🙂
Lightroom has two versions available, one for the iPhone/iPod and for the iPads. With the new bigger and more powerful iPad Pro, things may get more interesting worfklow-wise.
More via Apple Insider et al.
Free (iOS 8+): Hipstamatic Camera app
The Hipstamatic Camera app is celebrating version 300 (already on version 301), and as part of the festivities, the app is currently FREE to get at the iTunes Store. It supports devices running iOS 8 or later. Version 300 was a major update, adding more features including manual controls and more editing options.
Free CreativeLive Online Conference
CreativeLIVE is having a FREE online conference running between September 18-25 in 2015. A variety of classes are planned. You can see the schedule by day over there.
Ten premium Photography Apps FREE (with free in-app purchases) as part of the new Amazon Underground
The Amazon free premium Android-y app of the day is DEAD. But it has a more user-friendly replacement. It is called the Amazon Underground. Hundreds of premium (normally for pay) Android apps are available for you to download and use for FREE. In-app purchases are free too. No ads. Amazon will pay the developers for use of the apps using the experimental scheme they launched with Kindle Unlimited earlier in the year. You must get the Underground version of the app, not the regular one. Amazon estimates a value of over $10,000 if you get them all.
Of those Underground apps, there are ten under Photography at the moment, including PhotoSuitePro 4, Perfectly Clear, pFolio, FlickFolio, etc. The Underground apps have a distinctive logo in their thumbnail as you can see below:
(…this turned into a long post, more after the jump…)
Next Free Entrance at National Parks is September 26
Ooops, I am definitely not Doctor Who – time confusion, August 25 was yesterday. But the next free day is about a month away, September 26 in 2015 (National Public Lands Day), plenty of time to plan ahead, since planning ahead for -1 days (August 25) is slightly difficult without the use of a Tardis…
If you live near one of the 127 national parks (out of 408 total) that charge admission/entrance, on specific days every year (MLK, Prez weekend, Park Week, National Park Service Birthday, Public Lands Day, Veterans Day), you can get FREE admission. Details, restrictions, list of parks, and days/dates that offer free admission for all can be found at the National Park Service website.
TIP: great way to build a large library of “busy day at national park” stock photos 🙂
Free Photo Book for first time MyPublisher customers
First time customers at MyPublisher.com can receive a free photo book. You have to enter your email (nothing else) at the promotional prompt (top right corner of their page or the tape-delayed email pester-nudge window). You will receive an email with the promo code and the long terms and conditions are linked to through the email. I do not know if shipping is free.
NOTE: after you enter your email, their website automatically tries to start downloading their book creation software on your computers. On Windows, this is http://assets.mypublisher.com/software/win/MyPublishersetup-USD-en-US.exe. As a minimum they should be _clearly_ warning people ahead of time this is about to happen because many and more these days are spooked by surprise downloads of things. Or just not start automatic downloads. Grumpy mode ends 🙂
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