Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/11/24

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Subject: Re: Digital Darkroom/Off topic
From: Donal Philby <donalphilby@earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 16:03:33 -0800

Jim Brick wrote:
> 
> At 07:17 AM 11/24/97 -0800, you wrote:
> >> Jim Brick wrote,
> >>
> >> >>"Photoshop 4 Artistry"....this is the greatest Photoshop book<<
> >>
> >
> >Hey, take a look at the Photoshop WOW book, latest edition.  It has one
> >of my composite images in it!  But you don't have to buy it, since I
> >received no compensation.
> >
> >Donal Philby
> >San Diego
> >
> 
> What page?

Don't know.  And author and publisher weren't even courteous enough to
send a contributor's copy.  But it is image of Tax form and keyboard
emerging from a computer screen.  It was used for the TurboTax  (and
MacnTax) packaging two years ago.  We did similar for the next years and
last year's, but a little more complex and warmer light each year--even
used the same hand model, but got him married the next year with a ring. 

 And I just found out this weekend that they have taken the design
;project in-house this year, so I won't get that job.  

The irony is:   For the first edition we did about 8 versions taken all
the way to final art that were mall tested for popularily.  Some of the
versions required me shooting everything from a credit card (had made in
Hollywood prop house) to a real house (where I could get property
release) and all (one version had 15 items) had to have same lighting so
they looked good when composited.  The one you'll see won hands down. 
So the next year we tried again to do other versions but a slightly
modified original won by a landslide.  Of course, the designer is
worried, feeling that he'll get fired because we can't come up with
something new.  The third year they used it as is, since further mall
testing established that the image exactly communicated what the program
did.  So this year, having dominated the market, gotten rave reviews
from testing of the packaging and especially my image and having printed
now 21 million boxes and untold numbers of manual, ads, catalogues etc.
with the (very similar) images, they decide they have to abandon it and
get "creative."  I forgot in my invoice to specify One Year useage (an
unusual slip up) for the second edition, so they refused to pay me
anything additional for last year's useage.  May be Intuit couldn't
afford it.

And all YOU wanted, Jim,  was a page number!

Donal Philby
San Diego