Up Late

Hey all,


I guess eating a bunch of dry roasted peanuts is not the thing to do when you have had gall bladder surgery...   So, since it after 1 A. M. and  to make time and other things pass, I thought I would share a couple of images I made, and put on canvas this afternoon.  It all took place very quickly, but it made the day complete for me,

I had just finished cutting the grass and was relaxin with a glass of grape cool aid when I realizes the white and pink tulips out in the photo-garden were about gone and I had not make any images of them this year.

So, into the house and to my office.   Grabbed the Nikon 700 with the 60 macro.  Then, out to the storage garage to pick up the 5x5 foot , white shower curtain on PVC frame to use as a background.

Five minutes later I was back in the house at the computer downloading the 6 images.

From start to finish.  Printed wall size on canvas, it took less than 40 minutes until is was done with both images that I will share.

It is truly strange how creativity strikes.  One minute your bouncing on a lawn tractor doing everyday life things, and then BAM, the next thing you are looking at someting that did not exist in the world.
That is what I love about photography in any form.  I know it sounds over simplified, but once you have internalized the functions of your craft, creation becomes easy and the best part, it is just plain fun..

I hope you enjoy these two images, and if interested how the PS manipulation was done, let me know..I will be happy to hold class here at the ranch.

"Hey Guys, Wait Up!"

=====================================

Not sure what to title this one.........

"Pink Three"

or

"I Just Don't Feel ALL Here !"

I like the second title, and after eating all those the peanuts, I sure don't either.....LOL

Now where did I put the Pepto-Bismol?

Have a great day tomorrow or today,
whatever time it is now.....CU

Bruce

Water, water everywhere

Now I know how Noah felt.

We came to Southern Indiana on Saturday night and it has not stopped raining here since.

 

This is not the flood waters, but many of the places I saw today  looked like this.

We went to Brown County State Park today to check on things and plans for Winona School.  It was like traveling the Inter Coastal waterway.  And, it is still raining as I write this.  I can hear it hitting the corrugated covering on the garage port. 

The real bad part is that in looking at the radar map, it is raining from here to Arkansas, so that means it will rain all day tomorrow and tomorrow night which will make things well over flood stage from here to the Ohio River.  Farm fields are under several feet of water, not only inches but feet.  It will be June before they will be able to work and plant those fields. They have no control over - rain, and flooding of the fields .

As photographers, we still have some controls even when as we are flooded, as we are now with untrained and incompetent people thinking they are photographers because they can make an image.
You can't hold them back any better than the farmer can keep the water inside the banks of the stream or river.  But, you can continue to present professional images outwardly to the public in every opportunity you can create. Even if you have to pay a location to put up images for "your potential customers to see".  Don't put them up just for the sake of  hanging some images someplace.  Make sure it is a venue that is visited by folks that ARE YOUR POSSIBLE CLIENTS.
That is not in fast food locations, or any place that is visited by average Americana.  Your customer is now the UPPER, UPPER middle class and beyond.  Think of some places.  

 Along with the professional images, an accompanied  promo sheet stating WHY these are professional images.

They are not.....FLAT, flash on camera which adds 5 lbs to every face but made with controlled lighting that flatters the subject.  It is composed in an artistic way by varying the heads proper composition by using placement of  triangles and not in a totem pole fashion.  YOU CAN Keep listing all the reasons why "This Is Portrait Done in the Proper manner.  It is called educating your customer base.

It is time we start attempting to educate our customers, and our customers friends as to WHY a professional photographer is of a High Value.  If we don't, then what John Q or Betty Q creates with the help of the modern digital technology will become even more acceptable in their minds.  Because, THEY DID IT, and pride takes over and they will become satisfied with average.

It is NOT the time to stay dorment. Speak out when you see bad photography.

It will come around.  I have seen it happening is small ways.  As they try and fail to make images as we can, they will come to learn and appeciate more what can be achieved by the true artistic photographer.

To those that can't, then they need to get the education.  And with the fact that there is many more things to learn with digital photography than with conventional film photography, we should win out in the end.  But, only if we don't throw in the towel and set back and watch the flood waters overflow our crops.

The farmer can replant, or get some crop insurance.  There is no crop insurance for our floods.

Stay dry, and keep to the higher ground,

Bruce

April 22

I see I have been hacked on my Yahoo accnt..  Just got an Email from myself selling some sort of business enhancement..

This did not come from me.

I have changed password and added second level security to that account.

Sorry if this has caused any inconvenience, but this should take care of it.  I hope.

BDR

April 19th

Man!  Will it ever warm up?  Judy and I are off to do Easter Bunny pixs with a 6 ft rabbit.  I almost wish I could fit in the suit.  It is cuddly and warm.

More about this gig later.   Just wanted to get something out on this gray looking day.

BDR

Back Home Again In Indiana

Man oh Man!   

Good to be home, but it is cool and rainy which after two months of sunshine 80 degree temps and only three days of rain the whole time, this is the pits.  

We have been working in the Photo garden yard area since we got here.
The pond needed much clean up and I think the fish survived the winter.

There were two trips to the dump to get rid of the 30 some big bags of leaves.  And, yesterday I picked up a trailer load of top soil to fill in the ruts made by the new well installation last fall.  

Judy of on the Easter Bunny shoot, and today I am working on the new web site for me.  When done I will post a link and hope you all will give me a critique or suggestions.  

Hope this finds everyone's buisness picking up after the winter slow months.  If you have never figured your fixed overhead, I am now selling the spreadsheet I created for $10 bucks.  It is easy to use, and the results it provides can be staggering when it comes to what it costs you per hour without even doing photography.  Soon PayPal will be in effect, that still is to be done, so just contact me and we can work out arrangements.

Once you determine your TV, (Time Value), your pricing of services and product will become much clearer.  This can be a real enlightening project for those thinking or just starting a photography business.

It is Monday

Well it started raining buckets about 4:00 A. M...and the awning on the RV was banging up and down so out we went to take off the screen and then roll up the side awning.  It has rained ever since and it is now 3:40 PM.
Since there had been no rain for four weeks everyone seemed to welcome the rain.  We went to Orlando to an outlet mall and it was packed.  We also picked up an inflatable mattress for when we have visitors.  That starts in two days.  Went to a flea market while there, bought nothing..a new record.  Stopped a Wally World for some milk, and wound up spending 30 bucks.  Man!  you just cannot get out of there with out spontaneousness purchases.  Don't we wish we could sell photography like that?

Sure Glad I got Herb's car photographed on Saturday night.  It was perfect conditions to do automobiles.
I had a cloud cover above and behind me at the camera, and a clear sky behind the trees behind the car.

There were a lot of exposures make from various angles while I waited for the light to balance between what was coming from the West and the bounce fill from the clouds from the East.  That finally arrived about 30 to 40 minutes AFTER sun set when the direct rays no longer are there, but the soft light is still in the sky for reflections into the car shapes.

Finding the exact, correct angle so the chrome would show and the upper curves showed their shapes.
My final exposure was 4 seconds at F 5.6 with the 70-300 set at ab out 105mm.

Once in Photoshop there was some burning and dodging using Layer Adjustment Masks both on the car and the back ground to add separation and leading visual lines.  If I would have had lights available there could have been a lot more done, but I am happy with the shot, and I know the owner will be too.

A few little points for you to see and think about.  Notice the placement of the antenna.  Also, the highlight on the curve of the rear fender?  That was the reflection of the white house on the corner.  I did work the chrome on the windshield with a layer adjustment mask to lighten and make even as possible.
The drivers side, where the scoop is, was lightened slightly to capture the shape better.  Again with a layer adjustment mask.
Burning and dodging in the foliage behind the car creates the light drawing you from .upper left to the car.and the dark tree stops you visually.

And here is a collage that I also put together using this shot and some CU details of this vintage and "very cherry" corvette.

One of these days, I am going to hang a big muslin from the awning of the RV and see if I can get a car in a 3/4 front view on a plain background.  That is what I see for my future,, maybe.

You all play nice now, and let me hear from some of you out there.  Judy and I will be back in Indiana by the second week in April, and that is no April Fool's joke.  We have a cpl of gigs plus several high school seniors booked to do in the garden when we get there.   So turn up the Spring!

B&J

Layer Adjustment masking 2 Spot color Correction

Happy Friday to all you busy Photographers.  Don't forget to set your clock up one hour on Saturday Night...It is time to Spring Forward.  It is Time to Spring Anything....tired of the cold damp nasties.....

Last issue on the Blog,  I did a burning and dodging with Layer Adjustment Masking layers.

Today I am going to show the advantages of using LAM in Color Balance mode to spot correct balance in an image.

When would I want to do this?

Maybe an outdoor portrait that has green in the shadows, or a sunny day snow picture that has blue shadows?
  Or  any other time you have a stray or color that is wrong, bad, yucky, distracting, or you just want to change for the sake of change.

Let's learn how to fix things like that very quickly with just a few clicks and strokes of a brush.


Here we have a duck swimming in some pretty green water that does not look good, and we want to change.

In the Layers Pallet, select the Layer Adjustment Mask symbol...the black and white circle to get the menu.

Select Color Balance and slide the magenta / green slider to the magenta and the blue slider as shown below.

Next...Select a soft edge Brush.

Make sure Black and White are your colors with Black on top.

Click  Edit> Fill> Forground Color.

Now your image looks just like the first image here.  The mask has been removed.  ON the layer, the mask is now black and you can see though to the layer below.

But here is the fun part.  Change the foreground color to White,

With your soft edge brush at 100%, start painting at the bottom of the water, and work your way up painting in better looking water.

Around the bird, you may switch back and forth from white to black and back again as you paint around the bird.  To look like this.....

I over did the magenta abit here so I went back with another LAM and added some green and did the same thing again.

Then I added a new thing I learned from Michael Barton last weekend to get the final image.

this is Pencil Sketch Sharpening.

Cool huh?  I will pass this along next week.....

remember the original

Learn how to use the many other tools in Layer Adjustment Masks...They sure can come in handy.

PS.. On my monitor I still see a bit to much magenta and/or blue  in the low densities..so I should have lowered the opacity of the LAYER MASK....

That is another total control options that this technique gives you.

Thanks for hangin around, and have a great weekend.  I will sign on again from Florida on Monday.

Remember too, I do work in your studio, one on one as a studio consultant, not only in Photoshop, but in many other areas too.  If interested, contact me in your best way...

bdroberts@bdroberts.com 

Have a great day!

Bruce