If you are a Photoshop user looking to add to your skill-set, or ever need to produce professional vector graphics (logos, maps etc…) – Illustrator is a very powerful addition to your tool kit.
Illustrator Training Course Review
Stephen Whitehead – Competition Winner
I’ve been using Adobe Photoshop professionally for over ten years now – and Adobe Illustrator is a package that I’ve wanted to train in for some time – but could never justify the budget.
However having now taken the Silicon Beach two day Illustrator introduction course I would recommend anyone who is a frequent user of Photoshop or has ever been interested in creating digital art and identities to consider taking this course.
Now that I am able to work with vector graphics – I feel as though I’ve found a missing piece in my understanding of digital design.
For me this was without doubt the most creative and downright fun training course I’ve ever been on; not only for discovering the tools and functions of the software but also for the wonderful trainer David who led the course.
He was animated, funny and with years of industry knowledge – was extremely knowledgeable.
David encouraged questions and took a real interest in demonstrating how Illustrator could help all of the delegates who came from a wide degree of backgrounds – across print, education, marketing and digital sectors.
He helpfully offered some mnemonics to help us to remember the various tools in the package.
I came away with a real buzz and feeling of accomplishment afterwards.
So thanks to Silicon Beach and MyTrainingManager for this wonderful prize!
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We’re really pleased Stephen was so happy with his course. If you’re interested in attending any of our Adobe Training Courses – feel free to call us on 01273 622272 for more details.
We run regular competitions – so be sure to keep checking the competitions section of this blog for future opportunities to win free courses and other great prizes.
We’ve been really pleased to see that loads of you are downloading the template and pimping up your Google Plus profiles with some really creative uses of the images.
The Lifestyle Photography Competition is NOW CLOSED!!! Thank you to all that have entered, watch this space for the winner! We have however now launched our NEW Summer Photography Competition.
Grandad’s Wall by Heather Buckley
Enter our Lifestyle Photography Competition for a chance to win Two beautiful Classic Aluminium Mounted prints of images of your choice, courtesy of Anne Herbert Photo Artistry, The Aluminium mounted prints are finished with a pair of wooden battens giving the effect of floating panels when hung on the wall.
Of course we at Silicon Beach Training being social media heavyweights will make sure you will gain great exposure for your images when the winner is announced.
The theme for our competition this time is ‘Lifestyle‘.
“Lifestyle” is open to wide interpretation. We are looking for images that describe the way that people live. If you want to see the winners of our last competition to judge the standard of entries click here.
To keep up-to-date the competition head over to Flickr, our Facebook page, and also follow our RSS Feed. The winner will also be announced on this blog and also on Twitter so don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @SBTtraining.
Competition Prize – Win two classic prints on aluminium mounts that look like floating panels when hung
Many thanks to Anne Herbert www.anneherbert.com for sponsoring the prize. The prize on offer is two Classic Aluminium Mounts, image and size of your choice. The lightweight aluminium panels provide a modern and contemporary display giving the effect of floating panels when hung on the wall..
Images are printed onto high grade inkjet paper as a giclee print, sealed with a ‘metallic’ texture-effect laminate for an authentic look and feel, and then mounted onto a 3mm rigid aluminium panel.
The mount is finished at the back with a pair of 2″x1″ wooden battens giving the illusion of a floating panel when hung.
‘Lifestyle‘ Photography Competition Judge
Nicole Young is a full-time photographer and author currently living in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah. She specialises in food and lifestyle photography and licenses her images through iStockphoto and Getty Images.
Nicole is an accredited Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) in Photoshop CS5 and is a “Help Desk Specialist” with the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. She is author of the books Canon 7D: From Snapshots to Great Shots, Canon EOS 60D: From Snapshots to Great Shots and Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots published by Peachpit Press.
How to Enter the ‘Lifestyle‘ Photography Competition
You can email your entry to photocomp@siliconbeachtraining.co.uk with “Lifestyle” as the subject of the email. Attachments should be no larger than 3MB.
For email entries: the file name must state the title of the image and the photographer, e.g. Heather Buckley’s image above could be named as “Grandads Wall by Heather Buckley“, and the email message should also state the photographer’s full name.
A maximum of ONE photograph entry per entrant will be accepted.
If you don’t already have a Flickr account it’s easy and free to set one up, then you need to join the group and add your image (you can only enter 1 image) to the Silicon Beach Training Flickr Page.
When is the Photography Competition Closing Date?
The deadline was Friday 2nd September at 5pm.
We run quarterly photography competitions so keep in touch, let us know if you have any suggestions for the next competition theme or if you want to sponsor future competitions.
Our next competition is now live – the theme is “Summer Photography” – click for more information on how to enter and what you can win.
Thank you to everyone that entered our Environment Photography Competition – as ever the standard of entries was exceptional and our judge Martin Bailey spent an agonising weekend judging them all for us.
So – the moment you’ve all been waiting for! The winner and honorable mentions are revealed in the video below:
Winners to be announced by 3rd June – watch this space!
Our next photography competition has been announced. The theme is be “Summer” and you can win free Adobe training.
Photography Competition – ‘Environment’
northern lights by www.heatherbuckley.co.uk
The theme for our competition this time is ‘Environment’ so no matter where you live, or what you do, you can get out there and get snapping. You can photograph your own environment or others, just post your entries on Flickr to be in with a chance of winning our fantastic prize! If you don’t already have a Flickr account it’s easy and free to set one up, then you need to join the group, then just add your image/s (you can enter up to 2 images) to the Silicon Beach Training Flickr group.
To follow this competition head to Flickr, our Facebook page, and also follow our RSS Feed. The winner will also be announced on this blog and also on Twitter so don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @SBTtraining. We run regular photography competitions so keep in touch and let us know if you have any suggestions for the next competition theme.
The prize for the winning photographer is your choice of any public one or two day training course here at Silicon Beach Training in Brighton. You could try something creative like Illustrator Training, something practical like a Management Training Course, brush up on something more technical like HTML5 Training or expand on your social media expertise with a WordPress,Blogging or Social Media course. A full list of public courses can be found on our training dates page (only public courses in Brighton with a maximum duration of two days can be claimed as your prize).
The prize is for the training course only and winners will be responsible for any travel or accommodation costs incurred.
Winning will also result in exposure across our website and various social networking sites (namely Twitter, Facebook and our blog) – excellent free promotion if you want to build your profile online.
Good luck to all those that entered, now over to Leigh Caraccioli to decide the winners!
The Theme for our competition this time is ‘Black and White‘ so get out there and set your camera to Black and White (or filter them in Photoshop later!), you could even scan your old black and white photographs and enter those too.
To follow this competition head to Flickr, our Facebook page and also follow our RSS Feed. The winner will also be announced on this blog and also on Twitter so don’t forget to follow us @SBTtraining. We run regular photography competitions so keep in touch and let us know if you have any suggestions for the next theme.
1st Place Winner will receive an Alien Skin Photo Bundle software package. The Photo Bundle gives you all five of Alien Skin’s award-winning photography plug-ins: Blow Up, Bokeh, Exposure, Image Doctor, and Snap Art. Each of these products enhances work-flow, saves time and provides creative freedom. Combining these products together is even more effective.
2nd Place Runner-Up will receive a £50 Park Cameras Gift Voucher. You could put it towards a nice new shiny camera, lens, tripod or anything else that Park Cameras have to offer. Read below for more information on Park Cameras and what they have to offer.
The winning entries will be announced on our Blog, Twitter and Facebook as well as other social media platforms – an excellent way to generate online exposure and increase traffic to your website! So if you’re an aspiring amateur photographer and like the sound of these fantastic prizes, then get snapping!
A big thank you to all of those who entered our ‘Mood’ Photography Competition
We had almost 1000 photographs entered and the standard was very high. Jack Hollingsworth has done a fantastic job judging the winners and has come up with his 1st, 2nd and 3rd place photographs.
So, without further ado, drum roll please…
Our 1st Place winner is –
Congratulations to Buchachon Petthanya with ‘Faith’
“Amazing photograph. Amazing emotion. Photographer makes you feel like you are there, participating. Probing B/W treatment too. Awesome image. Love it. Great job!” Jack Hollingsworth.
Buchachon Petthanya has won a Pantone Huey Pro and a Mini ColorChecker, courtesy of X-rite Photo and 250 Greeting Cards with their choice of photo on, thanks to Facemediagroup.
Back in March we ran a short (but very popular) Re-Tweet Competition in conjunction with the training advice service MyTraining Manager.
The prize for the winning photographer is your choice of any public one or two day training course here at Silicon Beach Training in Brighton. You could try something creative like 
