We were privileged to have Lisa Rohrick stay with us this past weekend. She's a missionary who works in Niger, Africa and was in town speaking at several churches about her work there.

It's hard to believe it was only 10 months ago that we were walking through the villages where she's made many friends, teaching about health and spiritual wellness, and distributing much-needed mosquito nets.

So what's our Africa connection? You can find out more here.

One of the perks of working from home and having a great cappuccino machine around is being able to indulge in my favorite drink several times a day (now you know why I talk so fast ;)).

But you didn't think just *any* espresso machine would do, did you?

My geekiness doesn't stop with QuiKeys; it's a sickness that runs deep in all I do. Just ask Quin.

Camera: Canon G9 (RAW)
Software: Lightroom 2.1
Hardware: QuiKeys RAW and Album Modules (RAW conversion and montage)

Did I research which machine to buy? Seek far and wide for the best grinder, beans and tamper to invest in?

But of course.

I even Frankensteined our espresso machine and placed a thermometer in the group head with surgical precision to ensure we're pulling shots at just the right temp (too high a temp: espresso gets bitter. too low: sour).

I soaked up everything I could find out about everything espresso from water filtration, packing the puck to pouring latte art.

Yes folks: I'm a Geek with a capital G and proud of it!

But this is my confession: after doing all that research, and even being the one who initially taught Quin the proper rules and techniques, Quin is still ultimately a better barista than I.

*sigh*

Her shots are rich and thick with chocolaty and nutty overtones. Just look at that espresso falling into that cup! Amazing shot technique.

And did I mention her latte art prowess?

My 6-year old likes to look at our latte art right after we pour and always finds something encouraging to say. When he saw my last one he excitedly said, "Wow! Looks like a caterpillar and his poo!"

This is kinda like QuiKeys too: even though I'm waaay geekier and develop much of the hardware and software, she's a faster retouching artist than I, averaging over 100 images an hour!!

*SIGH*

Thankfully, she loves me and makes me a capp pretty much anytime I ask :) Am I blessed or what?

Quiz time: Extra Espresso Geek points for those that can match the term to the corresponding pic above:

1. Naked portafilter (get your mind outta the gutter)
2. Macap
3. E61
4. Stretching
5. P.I.D.
6. Pulling

QuiKeys' Album Module isn't just for Albums. Any time you want to place two or more images in a layout, the Album Module is your best choice for workflow speed and ease.

I like placing multiple images in a blog montage so I can walk the viewer through a storyboard of sorts. I'm also not very html or blog savvy, and love uploading a single montage image vs 8-10 pics per blog. YYMV, but with a little creativity, the Album Module can be your new best friend for creating visual presentations which best represent your images.

Below's tutorial is a walk-through of how we use QuiKeys' Album Module to quickly create our neato blog montages.

Software: Photoshop CS4
Hardware: QuiKeys' Album Module (alpha test version: features subject to change)

Six new tutorials are online, giving guidance for every step of QuiKeys installation.

From Photoshop setup, troubleshooting, to hardware LED layers explained, there's a whole new suite of tutes to help all QuiKeys users new and old learn a new trick or two.

To the entire QuiKeys user family: don't wanna spam ya, so if you want to take a peak at them, just ping me an email and I'll forward you the links and password info.

Happy QuiKeying :)

Many of you know what a great photographer Quin is. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see she's not only talented, but gorgeous too. Did I mention she's a straight 9 business grad AND a great Mommy to our boyz?

What can I say? I married up ... BIGtime ;)

But wait: There's more!

Little known fact #532: She's also a GREAT barista.

We were having our our good friends Parm and Manj over when I decided to crack out our Canon G9 and taped her barista skills in action.

Can she pull it off under pressure?? Watch the video and find out!

While pimping QuiKeys at the PhotoPlus Expo, it was great to see a few (really) familiar faces.

Jessica Claire stopped by our booth with her own camera crew in tow! I was busy doing demos on the big screen, but Quin and Sam made the cut with a nice dance cameo in her uber-cool and funny video recap:

Becker also took the time to check out all things QuiKeys and, go figure, had his OWN video crew with him. You can view his show recap here.

Be sure to checkout Jessica's innovative ShootSac and Becker's B-School too.

Thanks for stopping by guys!

It's kind of a love-hate relationship I have with new software releases.

On one hand, I'm eager to see what new goodies they've added which will help my creativity or productivity. On the other, I wonder what's broke or worse: what features they took away.

I'm glad to say the latest Photoshop CS4 update isn't to be feared. We're still putting it through its paces, but Bridge seems to be more robust and several new features like content-aware scaling and non-modal curves seem worthy of exploration.

Non-modal what? Have no fear: below is a quick tutorial featuring the new non-modal curves layers.

We're blown away by the warm reception we had at our first ever PhotoPlus Expo in NY. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth and for the kind words. We're eager to get this beast into every photographer's hands and look forward to turning the industry on its ear with our revolutionary new products.

A shout out of thanks to Mike and Sam who helped out at our booth.

An extra-special "THANK YOU!" to our friends, Ken, Cherie and the adorable Miss Olivia for spoiling us with food, shopping and the "culture" of NY.

Karaoke anyone? :)

Why blog?

Despite being possibly the WWB*, we're making an attempt at keeping you in the loop with all things QuiKeys.

Content will include tips, tricks, tutorials and workflow, and other info not available anywhere else. It's your one-stop info dump on where we're at and where we're headed.

I also hope QuiKeys users past, present and future, will take advantage of the comments section of this blog. From "What were you thinking!?" to "Will you marry me?" we promise to read every one. And who knows: your comment might just spark the next Big Idea that will benefit us all.

Thanks for stopping by. We're planning on adding new content regularly, so come back often and add us to your favorite reader to keep up on what's new with all things QuiKeys.

dq

(*Worlds Worst Blogger)