Our improved site search feature makes it easier than ever to find the video training you are looking for. Begin by typing a term into the search bar. Press Enter or Return, or click the search button. Our search engine looks through every course name, movie name, description, and transcript to find your search term. By default, search results are sorted by movie name. Narrow down the list of movies by clicking filter terms under the Category, Software, Vendor, and Author headings.

Under each heading, you will see terms listed in order of how many matches there are. Click on view more to see a full list of results, and click on any term to narrow down your results. You can then further refine your results by clicking on another term, or if you are looking for results from a particular year, you can click on an option under Release Year. You can also choose Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and/or Appropriate for All under Learning Level. Remove any filter by clicking on the X next to it.

You also have the option of only showing results for courses with a DVD version or with Closed Captioning, indicated by the icons next to the movie name. Click any of the column headings to sort the results by that heading, or use the sort by drop-down menu. If you’re currently signed in to your account, clicking a movie name will immediately open and play the movie. Click on the Courses tab to display search results by course name, or click on the Site tab to show results for other lynda.com pages, such as author bios and blog entries. We hope the improved search function enhances your learning experience at lynda.com.

Cinema Redux of Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock), by Brendan Dawes.

An excerpt from the new book from James Ball and Matt Gottshalk, and lynda.com authors Robbie Carman and Richard Harrington, From Still to Motion is available for a sneak peek. lynda.com author Ian Robinson and his wife Lisa shot most of the photography for this fascinating book on creating video with your Digital SLR. This book is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Drupal instructor Tom Geller is giving an online, all-day Drupal workshop on March 29th from 9am-5PM (CT). For more information, check out Tom’s blog, or sign up here—lynda.com blog readers get 10% off!

Join Anne Marie Concepcion for her InDesignSecrets seminar on Thursday March 25th in Secaucus, NJ at 9am (EST). If you can’t make the New Jersey date, check out the rest of the North American tour dates.

When he first created it, Lynda initially thought Bruce’s illustration for the lynda.com logo made her look like Mary See, the elderly lady who graces every box from the well-known West coast confectioner, See’s Candy. Bruce sought to embody the company’s essence in his hand-drawn logo design: Education, instruction, and learning. Has Lynda come to love it?

I shot this with my new Nikon D3S using an ISO speed of 8000. Shooting with high ISO speeds puts photos at risk for a bit of digital noise, but they allowed me to capture this fast-moving performer without blur, without flash, and without a tripod. Dreamy.

I bought a new camera recently: a Nikon D3S. I’d been reading all about the D3S and similar cameras, and decided that I had to experience their capabilities for myself. It would be good for my job as a photography content manager here at lynda.com, I reasoned, and it would be more fun than paying my mortgage.

It turns out I was right on both counts, though my mortgage holder has yet to weigh in.

There are two major trends in digital SLRs. Now that every camera provides enough resolution to make ginormous prints, manufacturers are no longer fighting the megapixel wars, out-doing each other with resolution numbers that look impressive in ads but contribute little to image quality. The Nikon D3S is a 12.1-megapixel cam—just like the D3 that it replaced.

No, today’s digital SLR trends go deeper and wider. One major trend is toward greater light sensitivity. Instead of developing new sensors that pack more pixels, manufacturers are creating sensors that are more sensitive to light. The D3S can shoot at ISO speeds of up to 12,800 with minimal digital noise—and if you’re willing to tolerate a grainy look—at up to ISO 102,400. To put these numbers in perspective, most digital SLRs start producing unacceptable noise at ISO speeds of 1000 or so, and at speeds of 2000 and more, their photos start looking like sand paintings.

Not so with the latest cameras. Shortly after getting my D3S, I tried it out at a local variety show. I’ve posted some photos that I shot at ISO speeds of 8000 and 10000. There’s a bit of digital noise, sure, but those high speeds allowed me to capture fast-moving performers without blur, without flash, and without a tripod. Dreamy.

So the “deep” trend in digital SLRs is toward cat-like night vision. What’s the “wide” trend? Video. The Nikon D3S can shoot high-definition video with stereo audio. The D3S’s major competitor, Canon’s EOS-1D Mark IV, goes even further, shooting higher-resolution HD video (1080p instead of the Nikon’s 720p).

Combine HD video with low-light capabilities and season with superb lenses, and you get an entirely new way for photographers to express themselves. Photographer Vincent Laforet created a short film using Canon’s Mark IV, shot entirely at night with no supplemental lighting. Photographer Peter Prevec has posted comparisons between Canon and Nikon low-light video.

With change comes the need to learn new things. Photographers wanting to expand their creative and business options need to learn about video and audio. Videographers wanting to diversify need to learn about photographic workflow concepts. What about you? What kinds of courses would you like to see that address this convergence?

Use the comment box below to let us know. And if you see my mortgage holder on the street, tell them the check’s in the mail.

Photoshop doesn’t sharpen focus, it sharpens detail using any of three remarkable filters: Unsharp Mask, Smart Sharpen, and High Pass. Apply them as smart filters, and you’re ready for any output scenario.

This Wednesday, lynda.com author and Google expert, Susan Cline is offering a free one-hour webinar on Google Forms on behalf of the Google apps solutions company Dito. Topics will include creating new forms, designing form questions, analyzing responses with Google Spreadsheets and more. Register today.

In honor of St. Patrick’s day, lynda.com author Jeff Foster has released a sneak peak video promo of his book, The Green Screen Handbook. Green indeed! Check out his trailer.

Join author Mordy Golding weekly for his new Adobe Illustrator webinar series, Fridays with Mordy. Each week Mordy will pick a different topic based on the user feedback he receives through his Twitter account. At 2 pm Eastern, each Friday, you can sit in and watch Mordy demo various Illustrator topics, and answer questions in a live webinar. For more information, and to check out his new weekly seminar, check out his blog.

I first got to know Scott a number of months back when he and I started to work out the details of the Logic Pro 9 Essential Training course. Up until the time that he came out to our studios, we had never met in person. Phone, instant message, and email was it.

During this time, it quickly became apparent that Scott was not new to training. In fact, he’s been teaching on audio/DAW subjects for 10 years now. He’s extremely adept at conveying the essentials as well as putting them into practical applications.

I’m happy to announce that the Logic Pro 9 Essential Training course that Scott was recording in February is now live.

After the production was over, and the course went live, I asked Scott some questions that I thought would be fun to share with you.

Q: What makes Logic Pro such a great DAW in your workflow?

A: I love Logic Pro for its strength as a compositional tool. When I need some great sounds and an easy, straightforward MIDI environment to try out some ideas, I open Logic 9. Eight times out of ten, I end up using some, if not all of the sounds from Logic’s deep arsenal of instruments and samplers.

Q: What do you hope people who watch the Logic Pro 9 course will take away from it?

A: With Logic Pro 9, Apple makes it easy to get up and running very quickly, however, Logic is also an extremely complex professional tool. I hope my tutorials take newcomers past any initial learning curve so that working with the interface becomes second nature. After that, its time to get creative.

My main goal is to move past all of the technical barriers as quickly as possible so people can use the program for what it is intended for: Recording and composing awesome music. People just starting out, as well as Logic users who have been dabbling for some time in previous versions, should gain a great deal out of the course. I go through all of the basics, but I intentionally put enough bite in there so that it will keep people on their toes learning real-world techniques and tools.

Q: Top 5 reason that makes Logic Pro 9 a great DAW?

A: Not in any particular order:

1. MIDI capabilities are very powerful;
2. Amazing sounding instruments and plug-ins that ship with the program;
3. New features of Loigc 9, like Guitar Amp and pedal simulators are awesome;
4. Nine DVDs of great sounding royalty free loops and samples;
5. Works with any external soundcard, and is surround capable out of the box.

Q: This was your first time doing a title for lynda.com. How was your experience, and were there any stand-out moments?

A: Everyone I met at lynda.com was very supportive and positive. I’d have to say “the people”!

Q: What’s next for Scott Hirsch?

A: I have a very busy few months ahead. I am finishing several short films. I will be releasing two records (both will be available on vinyl) with Family Band (familybandfamily.com) and Hiss Golden Messenger (heavenandearthmagic.com), two bands I play in and record. After that, I am finishing my Masters thesis at NYU on alternative surround mixing strategies. Then I’m getting hitched in June.  Finally, I’m hoping to record more awesome lynda.com courses!

We look forward to working with Scott again, too.

In this segment of the lynda.com story, Lynda shares some of the tenets she and Bruce use to guide the company: Love what you do, put customers first, quality above all, create indisputable value, treat everyone with dignity, always strive to be better, and many others. She and Bruce also disclose some of the stumbling blocks they’ve faced that have taught them valuable business lessons, from being unfocused, waiting to bring in professional management, and lack of budgets and limits.

We invite you to view the entire lynda.com story on lynda.com.