I will be on vacation this week. I'm leaving tomorrow for Manchester NH. Tomorrow night, I expect to be at a B&B near Conwy, NH. Three days of landscape photography along the Kancamagus Scenic Byway and around the White Mountains and Lake District of NH. Since I'll be in a country B&B, I'll leave the subnotebook computer at home. I don't even know if they have much cell phone coverage up there. I'll be back in Tallahassee late on Sat. This is my first time to go to New England to see autumn colors.

There are a lot of theories that people argue about in photography forums like DPReview, Luminous Landscape, Photo.net, etc. Some examples you'll read about a lot:

• Always shoot RAW, never shoot JPEG;
• Always edit in 16-bits, not in 8-bits;
• Avoid going to L*a*b because it means a trip through the color engine.

These are just some of the issues that people have very strong feelings about and are willing to argue. Sometimes, the arguments get personal and really nasty.

I'm going to cancel my GoToMeeting account. But that's because I have an even better solution!

Benefactor will go online this week for the video series Color: It's All Relative. Everyone can watch the videos. Benefactors will have access to the Powerpoint presentations and the source files.

I purchased a new Canon HD digital video recorder this weekend. I'm considering the idea of TLR TV. Brief HD videos for the iPod, PC, and Mac that can highlight interesting items off the site and around the Web.

It's coming. I recorded the video yesterday. Almost 50 Powerpoint slides related to saturation. Raw video is 30 minutes. Finished video will probably be just a few seconds plus or minus 10 minutes.

. . . Have Been Great Exaggerated

The site has not quite been dormant. Close, I know. I'm sorry.

I'll beg for a bit of understanding.

Back in October, things turned completely upside down for me at the University of South Florida. I was burned out. I felt trapped. The new regime cared only about grants and contracts -- which my team has always been good at -- and not at all about teaching or scholarship.

Ok, up front, this is a bit narcissistic. Not entirely, though, since you're almost certain to see the results in future tutorials and videos.

I know. I know. I've been rather quiet lately. I can now explain.

Work got crazy for me in October. I mentioned this a few weeks ago. So crazy, I've been taking medication for anxiety and depression. I've pretty well adjusted to the medication. I am likely to be extremely distracted for a few more weeks, however.

Dan Margulis wrote a book several years ago, "Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace," that advocates L*a*b conversion for many basic photographic adjustments.