EverydayHDR is no more and here is why…

Well it has been over 5 years with EverydayHDR and while I loved it, it is time for a change, welcome f64 Academy.  It is bitter sweet talking about my website now with friends, I catch myself saying “every…f64 Academy is my site” .  There are a plethora of reasons for the re-brand of EverydayHDR.  All of these reasons are spelled out in this 14 minute video today.

If you are the reading type you can skip down to the toggles below to understand more about the rebrand to f64 Academy.

Why the Re-brand to f64 Academy?

I was almost turned down for a speaking engagement at a seminar.

I recently reached out to a highly reputable seminar to be a speaker during the event.  The response I received made my heart shrink into my chest as I was being clumped into an HDR only educator.  I thought, “I am much more than an HDR guy…. but wait a minute my website is EverydayHDR”.  To the masses I would be considered an HDR Guy, not necessarily a well-rounded Photography and Photoshop Guy.

This made me realize that the impending rebrand needed to happen sooner than later.  Instead of a year end rebrand, I had to speed it up before I lost more contacts and quite possibly my business as a whole.

Camera sensors are diminishing the need for tone mapping.

New camera sensors have been killing the need for tone mapping for some time.  The new Sony Cameras have so much dynamic range in a single raw file that tone mapping is becoming a thing of the past.  I have shown this time and time again and last month I compared Sony’s Compressed Raw files to Uncompressed and the results were truly breathtaking!

I was writing about HDR for the sake of my brand.

This is unfortunate and may be one of the best reasons for me to rebrand.  I found myself trying to relate all of my writings and video tutorials to HDR Photography.  At first I found this to be a challenge and really quite fun.  However, as time has progressed I have stop relating it to HDR and just been creating content about Photography and Photoshop in general.

Surely I will still write about HDR, I will even create video content pertaining to HDR.  Now that the bubble has burst and I have made the transition to f64 Academy I feel like I can breathe again!

Why the name f64 Academy?

Let's break down the name: f.64 and Academy.

Why f64 Academy?  Well in order to answer this let’s breakdown the name.

f64 is a very small aperture setting found on large format cameras.  This setting would yield tack sharp focus with incredible depth of field.  That is the type of photo education I want to bring to you.  Tack sharp education delivered in a clear and concise manner free of secrets and hidden agendas.

An academy is a place of higher learning.  This isn’t a High School or a College, it is a place you go to to innovate on a trade.  It is a place filled with knowledgeable instructors who have devoted their life to the progression of the Arts and Sciences.

This is the f64 Academy Mission Statement:

“It is our goal to bring you the finest Photoshop and Photography education.  As the aperture (f.64) implies, we deliver tack sharp, clear and concise education with a transparent mindset free of agendas and secrets.  As an Academy we distinguish ourselves as scholars called to a higher standard to continually innovate on the art of Photography.  We pledge to leave no photographer of any skill level behind in the process!”

There is some historical relevance behind the name.

In the early 1930’s Ansel Adams (my favorite Photography Mentor) created a group along with 1 other photographers.  They called this gathering, Group f.64.  It was their goal to make Photography a legitimate art form.  At the time the thought was that Photography was not art because it was created by a machine.  Group f.64 is the reason photography is considered an art form today.

If you have been following my educational material for the last year you know that I have been talking about Photographers Artists quite a bit.  I even devoted a whole 3 hours of education to it with:  The Artist’s Eye.  All too often I hear, “I am a Photographer, I could never be an artist”.  Why on Earth do we still have those terms separate?

Our founding fathers of Photography have worked so hard to have themselves considered artists.  When was the last time you heard someone say “I am a Painter, not an Artist”?  Never!  Because the two words are used in harmony all the time!

I am not saying I am picking up where Ansel left off, because those are huge shoes to fill.  f64 Academy is an homage to those who walked before us in hopes that we never forget what they have done for Photographers throughout the ages.

What can you expect from f64 Academy?

What to expect

Let’s make this one easy…  The same great taste, just a new package.

I intend to deliver content that was just as good, if not better, than the content on EverydayHDR.  Notice that EverydayHDR still kind of exists.  You will still see the bumpers on the old content and even references to EverydayHDR on older posts.  All of those posts will redirect to the f64 Academy equivalent.

While it may only look like a name change, there is so much more to come in the future.  I have big dreams for f64 Academy and this is just the stepping stone to get there!

Blake Rudis
f.64 Academy and f.64 Elite are the brainchildren of Blake Rudis. While he is a landscape photographer, he is most passionate about post-processing images in Photoshop and mentoring others.

For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
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