Exit 101... again

For those of you who know, and for those of you who don't know, and probably don't care, I am helping film a movie being produced by a local company, BlackFlight Studios. I act primarily as the behind the scenes photographer, but I also helped with the minor edits of the script, the pre-production promoting, and also on the set setting up lights and being a general flunky. Yesterday I worked at Wal-Mart for 8 hours and left straight over to the set. I stayed there filming until 5am, when I had to go back to work. I went back to work till 2, when I finally got home I had worked a full 27 straight hours. I only took a couple hour nap so that I would be able to sleep tonight to get back up in the morning. So this will not be a long post.

Some pics from the set last night. The newest stuff is on page 3 and 4. Most of last nights behind the scene shots were taken with a Speedlite flash, because of the wider shots for the movie, the lights were further away from the actors, and I wasn't getting crisp enough photos.

This photo was cropped down slightly from the original. I burned the lenses of his glasses because the flash made his eyes visible. I then leveled, curved, darkened a bit, and then increased the contrast a smidgen. I thought that looked pretty good, but looked too simlar to another photo I had already corrected. So I turned on an OptikVerve Filter program called Virtual Photographer. I played with the various filters, and I used one called "spice" because it gave the picture a slightly aged look. This plug-in is one of my favorites, because it has so many different filters, and while you may not find the right look for a photo, it has multiple times inspired me to create my own look.

Only 6 days left to get your picks in for the Office Oscar Pool.

Be my friend on Facebook.

Good Night.

David Hasselhoff uses Google Chrome

Can you guess the secret meaning behind the title?

I am on a 5 day sale streak at iStock. Dreamstime has been the best for me the last couple months. Shutterstock sales this February have been some of the worst probably in the last year.

In other photo news, I can't stand the photo of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter on the cover of EW. Something about it is incredibly unnerving.

Blog news, welcome back to my international readers. Other then Luis, I have had very few internationals visiting the past few weeks. Yesterday's blog was my most read ever, totally unexpected. Only 10% of the visitors yesterday were returning visitors. Guess everyone wanted to see what I had to say about Google Chrome. Well, you can quote me now:

"I do not know Al Gore personally, but I am 2 degrees of him, according to Kevin Bacon. I am an avid user of his invention, Global Warming.... er... I mean the internet. I find Google Chrome to be the most exciting thing to happen to the 'net since Candy Mountain. It's very fast, like I was in that dream I had this morning where I ran a stop sign and was trying to escape the cops. So far, it has made the internet exciting again, like seeing it all for the first time. I highly recommend this product, and Castle too."

There. Now I have a new secret word or phrase to slip in to get more readers, I don't have to keep mentioning Jeanell Norvell.

Speaking of EW, they just published their predictions so you all can copy them in the contest.

Going to do my taxes so I will end it here.

Google Chrome

I finally dropped Internet Explorer. When I first started surfing 15 years ago, I used Netscape. Then when I bought a new computer, it came with Internet Explorer and I just never bothered to switch. Just comfortable with it I guess. But lately I have had some problems with IE that I just couldn't ignore anymore. Couldn't visit Netflix without an error prompt. Dreamstime had to double-load before I could log in. Yahoo mail took forever. Shutterstock introduced their Facebook app and I couldn't load it.

So somewhere on Twitter I saw someone mention Google Chrome, so I checked out their little "comic book" that told all about it. But I still didn't want to just jump into it. So I studied up on Firefox, and that sounded pretty good, too. But I asked around on Facebook, and it seemed everyone was using Chrome and recommending it. So I became a Chrome user, and I am happy. I can now check all my sales on all my submitted sites in the same time it took my Yahoo Mail to load before.

Frasier: Season 2. Some of the funniest sitcom episodes.

I am craving pasta salad.

If you are a Castle fan, they are having a chat session with a cast member Monday, March 1st. They are keeping it secret who, hoping it's Stana Katic or Nathan Fillion.

Added a Dragan section to my SmugMug, haven't had time to separate main gallery into more organized sections.

Well, time to go to sleep. Add me as your Facebook friend.

And Heavy on the Butter....

English muffins, just browned. Heavily buttered so it melts into the nooks and crannies. Smothered in orange marmalade. 'Nuff said.

I plan on updating my SmugMug site. Going to break it up into categories. Haven't decided which ones yet, I work best without plans and on the fly.

A few years ago, I attended my first photographer get together at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. At this point, I had never really shot people before, so I spent most of my time standing back and watching how the other photographers dealt with the models. I don't remember exactly where I got this concept, but I was up on a ladder. They did several versions. I didn't care for the shots with Nick reacting to Megan's yelling. And this one of Megan was the best, but Nick had a strange expression on his face, so I removed his head and replaced it with one from another photo. It seems to give him a "yeah... whatever" kind of look.

11 days left to get in your Oscar picks. I still think Hurt Locker is going to take the top prize. I firmly believe Star Trek should win in both sound categories. Up is a freebie. Free to play, and I never get junk mail from them. They have other pools for Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars, and Survivor. So don't forget to make your picks and win a free framed 8x10. After you register, if it re-asks for the name of the pool it is WMI Photography Oscar Pool.

My mind is fuzzy from lack of sleep so I am not going to write anymore today. Oh, and my sister commented the other day about all the tuna cans I have. She said make tuna with barbeque sauce versus mayonnaise. Hmmm... interesting, may try it just to see. I usually use honey mustard dressing myself.

I am so tired.

I am currently working overnights at my real job. Makes me look forward to the day where photography is my real job. But for now I remain a zone merchandiser for Wal-Mart. The area I am over is being reset, so I am overnight to prevent disruption to the customer flow. Of course, I will reset the area, get it looking awesome and fresh feeling, and then when I go back to days next week, I am being transferred into a new area, so I will have to start from ground zero as the new area is in horrible condition.

So needless to say, with working overnight, and the horrible sleep I do manage to get in the day, I am quite tired. So my blogging this week may be scattered.

New Recipe Tuesday, or as Jon calls it "Happy Fat Tuesday". Today was Angela's turn, and after a week of being disgruntled at it being her week, she settled on a theme and found "Angela's Awesome Enchiladas". After that, she was excited and talked nonstop the last few days about her dinner night. She started the dinner with a spicy bean salad and I made a dessert of empanadas. For her enchiladas, she slowcooked the chicken with the spices and onion overnight, which allowed the chicken to soak up the spices, and also made it incredibly easy to shred. Probably the top meal of our "New Recipe" series.

Here is a photo of a scientist from our movie "Exit 101". I Draganized him and I will give my opinion, this is the best Draganization that I have done. A few things I did differently, I made the brush smaller when I was burning and took my time at 100% view going around his face "filling" in the wrinkles. Also, when I was erasing to lighten I used a softer brush and only hit the areas the sun actually was hitting.

On to my next subject (my blog should be called 500 Subjects instead of 500 Photos). Jon had borrowed my Star Wars and the new Star Trek dvds. He watched the Star Wars but decided not to watch the Star Trek, because he was never a fan of the series, so he skipped it. I told him he needed to watch the first 12 minutes and then decide. I popped it in after dinner and he decided he wanted to borrow it again. See... I know my movies. Here is a great little short film by Spy Films.

Don't forget to fill out your Oscar picks (link to your right). Only a few days left.

Anyways, I want to go get a little nap before going to work.

Let's Talk Movies

Ok, not a lot of movies, just a few I've watched in the past couple days. First, there is Star Trek (2009). In my humble opinion, the first 12 minutes is one of the greatest segments in movie history. The rest of the movie is pretty awesome too. Next is Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Anyone who hads read my blog for awhile now knows I am a Nathan Fillion fan. Firefly, Serenity, Castle, Waitress. And now Capt. Hammer in Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. It'll be available to watch streaming on Netflix starting Tuesday. And the third movie I watched was (500) Days of Summer. I've seen it before, I have raved over it, and I watched it now 3 times since receiving it again yesterday. The music, the cinematography, the dialog.... it's all great. And after you watch it, go to youtube and watch the Bank Dance, a little music video they made to test lighting for the movie and such. If you've ever had you heart broken, you'll see and understand the pain. This isn't a love story, it's a story about love. Speaking of love... how do you define it? I think it is when you have one last Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and instead of eating it, or splitting it, you allow her to have it.

And by now you should know my other favorites. 300, LOTR, Slumdog Millionaire, Notebook.

Back to photography. The Piedmont Park shoot has now been officially relocated to Hilton Head. I am broke, but I am going to be getting a couple payments from photo sites and I am going to use that money to sponsor my portion. Going to try for three locations. There is an old cemetary just before you get on the island, revolutionary war era headstones (if I remember correctly... old anyway). Then some of the tropical style foresty areas, probably a state park. Then I will finish it off on the beach (even though Angela said all the women must be fully clothed). Details to come with a link to the right.

Anywho, going to watch Pysch with the missy, later y'all.

HuckleBerry

Added new link box to the right over there ---->

But I forgot to add a couple links, like the Hilton Head Photoshoot link, and a link to my "Exit 101" movie photos. Speaking of, I do not have the proper authority to do this, but I am going to try anyway. Anyone that can make a movie poster (that we actually use) from the photos on my "Exit 101" photo page will receive a Art Designer credit at the end of the film. This is a non-paying gig, just a chance to get your name on the big screen. I will be shooting the main cast on the 27th, so hopefully by the 28th, you will have a large crop of photos to work with. Anyone interested can email me for a general synopsis of the film so you can get a general idea of what the film is about.

But anywho. New Recipe Tuesday, Thursday Style. It was moved to Thursday to accommodate a work schedule. Jon made a Swiss cheese and stuffing coated chicken that was very moist and tender. He also tried to make some bread in the breadmaker, the crust was a little stiff, but the innards was good. For dessert he made banana pudding, but the difference was he added cream cheese to the mixture, very tasty. Angela's turn is next. Our cupboard contains 15 cans of tuna, some kidney beans, a can of pineapple, a huge can of tomato sauce, and several boxes of Mini Shredded Wheat cereal. Can't wait to see what she whips up.

Going to work on some photos for the actors I worked with this past weekend. I took them outside and got some shots. I had them stand with the sun to their side, and I was using my flash as a fill, but I didn't realize until later that my batteries in my flash were wearing down and it wasn't going off but maybe every 5th or 6th photo. So they are brightly lit on one side, and very shadowy on the other. The LCD was too difficult to see outdoors so I wasn't checking it and failed to catch the problem.

I don't normally read Field and Stream, as I am not that outdoorsy, but the cover shot has caught my eye everytime I go to Jon and Michelle's house (Michelle is apparently an avid reader, as her name is on the label). You can see the cover shot here, and an article about the lead story (but you will have to get the magazine to read the article). The shot is of an Alaska backcountry trapper. The shot on the cover is of Marty, the sun to his back, two lights to either side, and the camera at about waist high. Is gives him a bigger then life look, and a general toughness that seems to fit his profession. I am only half way through the article, about a columnist who trails Marty for a week and finds himself lost in the vast emptiness of Alaska. Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because 1- I think the article and photos are pretty cool and I think you should buy a copy to help support great writing and photography. 2- Something about that photo makes me want to duplicate it. And that is what I will try to accomplish at this next shoot. I'll have the 350 watt bulbs up and to the side in the rear, and my 400 watt bulbs in soft boxes towards the front and to the side. I will shoot from about waist high and see how it goes. I will get the group, then get them individually. I will also try the one light style that was prominent in the first group of shots.

Don't have anything else to say. If you have a photographer or blog you think I would like, or would like me to pass on, let me know. Sometimes the best stuff comes word of mouth.

Until next time, HuckleBerry

Ya miss me?

Ok, didn't feel like blogging yesterday, and to be honest, kinda tired right now. Thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday and pooey on the ones who didn't. Happy belated birthday to Luis, who mentioned it a few posts back but I kept forgetting to mention it.

All ten of my shutterstock photos were rejected, which I find strange. All for lighting, and some for cropping. The cropping ones I can't do anything about, but I'll test the color balance on a couple of the lighting ones and see if I can "fix" the problem. All the others sites have been accepting without problem.

I plan on adding a link box over to the right there so I don't have to keep bugging you about stuff like the Oscar Challenge, which looks like I am going to win simply because only two people have made picks and she doesn't know anything about these movies.

The movie shoot went great. Even got a model release back from one of the actors, so I will take a closer look at his pics.

Not really much else to say, don't have a photographer page or blog to refer you to. I guess I can talk about a pic. How about one from the shoot? (you can see the rest of the pics here)

This (to me) is one of the coolest behind the scene shots from the movie. This next photo is where I started when Doug was setting up. Daniel (the actor) of course decided to smile for the camera, but I was looking for a more candid type shot.

Doug had the camera level with the desk, panning up and down as Daniel pretended to write in the ledger. I didn't care for the lighting from this side, so when Doug switched angles, it allowed me space to swing around to the other side and get a profile shot with the light behind him. I kept the photo kind of yellow, because the photo was supposed to be a scientist in the 60's writing in a blog, and the yellow kind of set the mood right. I did not even notice the light switch just on the edge in the back until after I had posted on SmugMug. I'll correct at some point. One line error someone can "intelligently" point out while watching the film with friends. The barcode on his badge may have been invented in 1949 by Wallace Flint, but it did not receive commercial use until 1974. The government first started using barcodes in 1981. So here in 1969, the chance that this scientist really had a barcode on his badge was very, very slim (but hey, they are supposed to super advanced and intelligent scientists).

Ok, used up my nerd knowledge for the day. Not shooting the movie this weekend, but will pick it back up next weekend. The shoot I had planned for Piedmont Park will be switched to Hilton Head Island on April 10th, weather permitting. We will hit an old cemetary with Revolutionary War graves (if I remember correctly). Then will hit some of the tropical style trees that the island is covered with. And for a finally, we will hit the beaches and get some bikini shots, girlfriend permitting.

Ok, going to watch a movie and fold laundry. "Serious Moonlight".

Happy Birthday to Me

A look back at my first 34 years. Hey, it's my blog and my birthday will only roll around once in this one. So I will ramble while you read and decide what you want to get me. I posted my wish list a few posts back, I can't remember which day so you'll just have to find it yourself. HA.

Some of the jobs I've held: retail manager, butcher, cashier, bagboy, disaster relief, prison guard, phone operator, phone sales, quality control, photographer, movie maker, mechanic, technician, photo lab tech, security, loss prevention, blogger, website designer.

I have three children. I have one ex-wife. I have one brother, one sister, and 5 half-brothers and sisters. I have one niece, two nephews. I have had numerous girlfriends (I love Angela more then all the other combined).

I like snickers bars, hamburgers, lasagna and chili. When I was real young I liked liver and black olives. I have eaten frog and alligator.

I have met Bill Cosby, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, former President Carter, Erin Gray, Jeremy Sisto. I have seen Brad Paisley, Josh Turner, Rascal Flatts, Howie Mandel, and Brooks and Dunn concerts. I was an extra in a movie.

I have been to four countries and to every state east of the Mississippi River (except Vermont) and a few west of. I've been to Disney World several times. I have owned two vehicles. I've cruised in a boat, flown in a plane, riden a horse, driven a car. I have been to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and I have stood on the roof of the World Trade Center. I have been to the Smithsonian, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and the Capitol.

I attended 14 different schools. Moved 28 times. Went to college twice.

Things I want to accomplish in my next 34: Skydive. Retire. Travel to all 7 continents. Write a novel. Climb a mountain. Have my script produced. Travel to San Fransico, Las Vegas, Paris, Tokyo and London. Have two more children.

Anyways, I uploaded ten photos last night, three I am pretty sure will be accepted. three that more then likely will be rejected, and the other four are tossups. Here is the behind the scene photos of the movie "Exit 101".
It's raining again. I have to get ready for work. So happy birthday to me and all that fun stuff.

Exit 101

Here's the scene. Standing in front of a Titan missile. Located next to a Krystal's Restaurant. It's below freezing. The mic stopped working. Having to kneel holding a metal studio mic in front of actors. Actor one says "I never want to hear about this again. Is that clear?" Actor two on first take says "Krystals" and struggles to keep from laughing. I can laugh quietly because I am below frame. We shot that take probably 15-20 times and I cracked up everytime. Of course, the colder it got, the less funny it was.

Maybe you had to be there...

Here are the behind the scene photos. I explained in the last post how much waiting you do. It is so true. We shot for over 11 hours yesterday. Got maybe 4-5 minutes of the movie out of it. Of course yesterday was for the opening montage, and some possible flashbacks, so a lot of shooting. Thanks to Helena Industries for the use of their lab.

Managed to get some stock photos out of it. Haven't had a chance to work on them yet, so hopefully they came out okay.

Hey Look, It's George Lucas!!!

Yeah... right.

Movie making. What can I say? It's long periods of sitting around waiting followed by brief moments of sitting around very quietly waiting. We shot for 6 hours last night. Well, we shot about 20 seconds of film during a 6 hour period last night. I got a little experience slate-boarding, a lot of experience lighting, and more experience then I could ever use being really quiet. Pretty much you hold the board in front of the focal point of the shot, when the director calls "slate" you drop the clacker and pull out of the scene and stand very quietly until the scene is over. You then erase the take number, increase by one and continue over and over. The lighting is pretty much the same as photography, you play with it until you get what you want. The sound guy keeps saying that the sound is amazing, but I am deaf in one ear, so that doesn't mean much to me. Did get a few behind the scenes shots. Not as many as I wanted, since I was helping with the production.

This is Joseph Lavender. The writer/ former director/ producer/ actor of our production "Exit 101". We shot with him what we like to affectionately call "scene 7" and "scene 8". Or reshoot, rather, since last weeks was rendered useless by unseen dust on the lenses.

We spent the first few hours trying to get everything set up, with a large chunk of that time spent looking at a computer trying to figure the sound out. And we probably would have shot a little longer last night, but someone (not me) forgot the power cable to the camera so when the battery died, so did the production for the night. I will be leaving here in a few to shot for today at a chemical lab with three actors. Hoping to get some great shots here.

Anywho, has two more photos accepted at Shutterstock, bringing my total to 221, with 320 something days to go.

Don't forget to sign up for Oscar Challenge.

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For $500 per day, I'll title my post anyway you want. Just send it safely to my Paypal address.

In the meantime... I HAD A PHOTO ACCEPTED. You're thinking, big whoop, I get 20 accepted a day. Well, you're not as lazy as I am. I have also submitted 5 more today. Yesterday I was off, so I read and practiced some tutorials. Manly dealing with glowing and brush sets.

I never installed brush sets before, so it was all new to me. I had the basic concept that I wanted him to be holding a glowing orb that was oozing with colors streaming out into the air. The cropping of the original photo limited where I could place him in the photo. I started by extracting him from the original photo. I then placed him on a black background and enlarged the canvas. I played with the levels, curves and contrast to make him to appear to be in a dark room. I then added a soft white glow on the floor to make it appear he was actually somewhere and not just pasted there. I started with a rainbow of colors streaming from his fingers via brush and streaming upward, but it blocked his face so I backed off and decided to go with just a glowing orb. I read some tutorials about glowing orbs and I read about roman.de and his free brush sets. I downloaded the first eight and I then had to learn about installing them. After that I started trying to create my orb. Still wasn't looking like I wanted, soon then I found a tutorial that I cannot refind about creating a new layer of black, hit filter/render/lens flare and change to 105mm prime lens. Use a gradient adjustment (radial) to reduce it to the size you need. Change to hard light, and alter the hue as desired. I then went back and erased the layer on this side of his fingers to make it look more like he was holding it.

The text was just a basic text, with a emboss layer style and an outer glow. I tried to get it to look like it was streaming from the orb, but made it hard to read, so I just straightened it back out and raised it up. That's when I decided to make it look like a sign. I downloaded some chain brushes and created a chain. I realized the text was crooked, but kept it that way because it added a little something. The only other photo was a request from a friend...

For some great tutorials, try Photoshop Lady. They have various levels of skill, and they also give a time that a certain effect would take. I RSS the feed on my homepage, which is my.yahoo.com.

Nothing else to say, except to please join my Oscar Pool. Only 23 days left to get your picks in.

Oh, and shop my Zazzle.

Oh and for your enjoyment....

Jeanell Norvell

Jeanell Norvell. I spoke about her once before, but Jeanell Norvell is worth mentioning again, since whenever I mention Jeanell Norvell I end up with a lot of people finding my blog by searching for Jeanell Norvell. So Jeanell Norvell is a photographer. Jeanell Norvell is also a professional counselor. What else can I say about Jeanell Norvell? Jeanell Norvell also likes to run with her iPhone. Jeanell Norvell likes to make David Hasselhoff Potatoes (maybe...?). Jeanell Norvell is a great person and a true friend.

Enough about Jeanell Norvell. Yesterday was New Recipe Tuesday, but due to a unforeseen circumcision....I mean circumstance, Jon had to run to Albany with Michelle. So it's been held off to today, and I am bursting at the seams to eat this stuff. And yes, I may attempt a photo once I get the cornbread made.

Speaking of photos, I uploaded a photo last night... HOORAY. Shutterstock is running a little slow so I haven't seen whether or not it's accepted yet. I was playing with some photos last night, draganizing, avataring and marbleizing...

I was playing with another of Tyron's photos for an effect when I desaturated and played with the contrast and suddenly realized I needed to save at that point and submit before I continued. It looked pretty good. We'll see any minute now. I am hoping they decide before I finish writing this post. So if I start to ramble it's because I am waiting.

The marble effect on Jon is decent. Originally the clothes were marble too, but it didn't look right, so I erased that part of the layer. I was supposed to marbleize his hair too, but that looked really weird, so I back off on that. Looking at it with fresh eyes this morning I see that I should have darkened the eyes a bit. If I had the time, I would have found a pigeon to add to it.

Tyron's Avatar look pretty good, getting better with the striping, the ears match pretty well. Had trouble around the hairline, because his hair and skin were so closely toned, that it was a long project I didn't want to do for a fun picture. If I was being paid for it, I'd spend days if I had to.

Will be doing behind the scenes shots this coming weekend for the movie being shot here in Cordele, "Exit 101". I've had a little opportunity to help in the pre-production, with promoting in the papers and advising on the script. I will also be an extra in the film, playing a federal agent. Originally I was supposed to shoot someone, but now I am just in a boardroom. I am also writing a script that may be their second production, but I've hit a writers block. A scene that changes the flow of the film, but I feel is important for the progression of the character. I have been trying to work it out.

Found this little item called a LookBook that I want to add to my birthday list. One of my big issues when working with models, I can pose them basically, but then I just get stumped with a stupid look on my face. This little swatch book has various posing ideas to help inspire you.

Well, got to do a little cleaning, and restart the crockpot. Shutterstock has not looked at it yet, so y'all won't find out till tomorrow. (thinking about deep-fried Oreos for dessert)

New Recipe Tuesday

Ok, today is the day. My day for New Recipe Tuesday. Last time I made garlic rubbed porkchops with garlic corn on the cob. For today, I have made a sweet pork chili. I made it Sunday night to slow cook overnight, then I let it set in the fridge till just a few moments ago and I am slowly reheating. I am giving the flavors a chance to meld. Chili and lasagna are two things that are better a day later. The chili has 8 cubed pork chops, corn, black beans, kidney beans, onion, garlic, sage, red pepper, cinnamon, brown sugar, honey, diced tomatoes and pineapple. After I first cooked it, it was a little bland, so I kicked it up a notch... BAM... with a few teaspoons of chili powder and it is out of this world. And now that it has had time to set and meld, I am hoping that it retains it's awesomeness. Smells great. Going to be making some honey cornbread to go with it.

I see the 44th Super Bowl is now the most watched TV show ever. Which is pretty amazing if you think of the reason why. Watching the scores, I wished I could have seen it. But anyway, back in th 70's when MASH was on, there was only three stations, so the chance of someone watching your show was pretty good. So when MASH ended with 105 million or so watchers, that was great. But with the hundreds of stations competing now, the chance of a show getting close is pretty slim, even with an event like the Super Bowl. So when 106 million people tuned in, that is a big deal. As always, watched the commercials on Youtube the day after, and here is my favorite...

Someone actually downloaded my photo of my desk...  Probably trying to find the nail clippers.... if you look between the Christmas cookie container and the glass of cola, you'll see the green handle of the nail clippers. They're on their side so a little hard to see.

Got my second contestant in the Oscar Pool. She admitted that she really tried on the bigger point categories, but just picked cute names on the lesser valued ones.

Was going to work on the Jax photo this morning, so if you read this, come back later and I will edit this post with that pic right there ---->(if anyone has come back to check on it, my CD has a scratch on it and I am trying to recover some photos, so it may take longer then expected)

Joe McNally. You just have to check it out. Excellent work. Someone to look up to.

Off to work on the photo. Ta ta

My Desk in HDR

Ok, not a pretty picture, the HDR or the desk. I'll give you a tour of my little work area. Starting with the ripped fake leather chair from Wal-Mart, that was handed down to me from my brother (the guy in blue shirt on mantle). On the left of the main section of desk, a bottle and a sippy cup courtesy of my daughters. Slightly in front of them, a stack of unpaid bills. Over to the right a bit, an empty bag of Cheetos on a stack of photo books. In front of that, a ziploc bag of no-bake cookies Angela made me. My mouse. Empty cookie container from Christmas. Another stack of bills. On the monitor level, left to right. My diffuser bulb, stack of unpaid bills, photo book, nearly empty box of tissues. Above, a triple photo of Jean Guichard's wave splashing on a lighthouse.

A blog point to whoever can locate the nail clippers.

Yes, this photo was done in HDR, a set of 6 different exposure frames. My Photoshop would not process due to error, which I think was the problem with my Jacksonville shot. I just downloaded a freeware program so I'll try that with Jacksonville.

My birthday is coming up and here is what I want.

1. To attend a OneLight Workshop

2. a 50mm f 1.8 lens

3. Firefly and Serenity DVDs

4. Heavy Rain PS3 game

5. Michelle's Lasagna

6. Calvin and Hobbes books

7. a car

8. (500) Days of Summer DVD

9. Waitress DVD

10. A Firefly keychain

11. A vacation from work

12. A hug from my daughters

Can't think of anything else, so off to bed. I had something else I wanted to say, but I can't remember. Maybe tomorrow.

Oh... is the Superbowl Today?

I don't watch TV, so I don't really pay attention to things like the Super Bowl. I'll watch the commercials on youtube or myspace tomorrow. I am routing for the Saints though. I visited New Orleans years ago and has been one of my favorite locations. Too bad it was before I started doing photography because I would have a ton of awesome photos from there. Loved the haunted tours. It was also the only time I have ever been in a casino.

As of this moment, Indy 17, NO 16, NO has the ball.

Anyway, just watched a great film with my favorite actor, Nathan Fillion. It was called "Waitress". A cute little rom-com with some pretty good laughs. We watched the making of and other documentaries on it after watching the film and found that the writer/director/supporting actress Adrienne Shelley was murdered just after filming was complete. A robbery gone wrong. It's too bad because this was a great story and I would have loved to have seen more of her films. There is one at the top of my Netflix list called "Serious Moonlight" with Meg Ryan that she wrote.

Indy has the ball now.

Here is a blog called Stuck in Customs from HDR photographer, Trey Ratcliff. For those who don't know, HDR stands for High Dynamic Range.

It is an awesome techinique, one I would love to master, but have never been really able to get right for some reason. Here is a little article about it.

My latest try was on my Jacksonville trip of the skyline, but at the moment I can't remember why it didn't come out right. Maybe I'll go back and play with it some more.

So anyway, Fred wasn't calling me out for bashing Obama, he was trying to keep me focused on photography. So, my apologies to Fred. And to make it up to you, I researched your name on UrbanDictionary.com and here is the defintion of Fred: A person who does stupid, annoying, or idiotic things. (don't believe me? look it up for yourself. "William" is a dead ringer for me.)

So anyway. Going to hit the shower and go to bed. I know it's early, but I am tired.

NO 22, Indy 17

*sigh*

Got the house to myself at the moment, so I should be enjoying the time. However, I am studying up on chili, since it will be the main dish for my "New Recipe Tuesday". And if I find something I like quick enough, I'll sit back and touch up on my book Low Key Portrait Photography by Norman Phillips.

I've been promoting the Oscar Contest at work, so I am expecting a pretty good crowd. Entertainment Weekly  has their choices, which I will admit, only match my picks around 50%. And anywhere you go you can find help if you are Oscar knowledge-less. If I had my pick of a free framed and matted 8x10 from my Shutterstock portfolio, I think I would go with this...

simply because I love the colors. Your picks are due in 28 or 29 days, I can't remember. But it's free, and it could be fun, and you could win something. Why are you hesitating?

Now for my brownie point section of my blog. Things about Angela I love. Her dimple when she smiles. When she gets her mind on something, it's going to be done. She's beautiful. She's a pretty great mom. She talks in her sleep on occasion. She likes rest areas. She a pretty good at sewing. She's beautiful. She likes being around family. She loves chocolate milk. She steals the covers and blames it on me. She's beautiful. Here is a photo of her...

That's her, looking out into the ocean. This is my best selling photo of her.

And just for Fred.... (because apparantly Obama can do no harm and the freedom of speech is safe as long as you don't speak about him)

eCards

The Three Amigos (spanish for a lot of rugrats)

Had my son over for the evening so I thought I would take a chance and get a photo of them. This may be the only photo ever of the three of them smiling at the same time.

As for me, I am feeling mentally drained. Now that I have a little health insurance, no thanks to Obama, I think I might find a psycholigist and figure out what's wrong with me. Afraid of making phone calls, don't like talking to people I don't know, don't like confrontation... seems like a classic case of anxiety to me. It interferes with my work, my photography and my personal life. Where's Jeanell Norvell when you need her? Someone bring me a bucket of Prozac.

But anyways, enough about me... just kidding. You can never talk too much about me. I have changed direction with the Oscar contest. I have found a site that handles everything for me. It has a chart that will keep track of everyone's points and whose in the lead and so forth. Fun Office Pools. I was able to change the point values of certain categories, such as Best Picture weighing in for 10 points, while Sound Editing only got 3. It's free to sign up, and you can win a prize. What could be better?

I have found myself watching Alton Brown's Good Eats alot lately. He's from Atlanta. So two of my heroes reside only a couple hours from me in the A-T-L.

Anyways, going to get a shower and off to bed so I can get up and work hard all day so I can come home and feel like doing nothing.

The Crying Wife

The Crying Wife. Ok, I'll be the first to admit, I love a good tear-jerker. And yes, I do spill a few tears. The very first time this happened to me (and I am not making this up) is when Han Solo is frozen in carbonite in Empire Strikes Back. He looks at her. She looks at him. She says "I love you". He says "...I know". I just watched a great film with Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart called "Love Happens". Reviews were horrible for it, but I liked it. The side story with Walter is where most of the tears happen.

Here is what makes a great film for me.
1. Rewatchability. I can watch "300" over and over again. "9" also. "You've Got Mail." All these movies have the rewatchability aspect I look for. Either visually, or funny, or something that makes me want to sit and watch it over and over again. "Transformers 2" horrible. I'll probably never watch again. "Chicago" had a couple great songs, but I don't want to rewatch.
2. Clean Language. I prefer my films clean, "Lord of the Rings", "Star Wars", "9", etc. Angela says I block out the language and never notice it, and she is partialy correct. I worked in a prison, and I guess I learned to tune out certain words. But I do catch the language, especially when it's out of place. A bank thief getting caught by police, I probably tune out. A mother making dinner cussing up a storm, out of place and I catch every word. I really hate the "F" and "G.D." A good example, "Avatar" I thought was clean of language, was going to take my son to see it. Angela made a point that it did in fact have language and I tuned it out. After reading a review, the language was by the marines and the corporate boss dude, which the language (to me) fit the characters so for them to say something didn't seem out of place.
3. Emotional. I want to care about the characters. And yes, I want to have my tears jerked.
4. Cinematography. "Lord of the Rings", "300", "The English Patient", "Brokeback Mountain". Stunning landscapes. Fluid camera movement. Bright colors or dark and contrasty.
5. Pixar. Shouldn't have to say much here. If it's made by Pixar, it's gonna be good. Feature length films and short films, it's all good.

Oops, slipped into movie blogging mode again. Ok, I did take a few photos tonight. Mostly just to refamiliarize myself with my lighting again. It has been awhile since I used it. So tonight was more of a fun with Eliana night then a shooting for submission night.

She was getting tired and was losing interest. But I am going to try some more in the morning after a great night's (hopefully) sleep.

Don't forget to enter Oscar contest.

Wow, it's late. Night night.

Jon's Oreo Cake

Ok, I had to mention it again, it was just plain awesome.

Fred commented on the fact that I haven't been putting my Shutterstock link on my posts, which is a good point. When I think of a good reason why I haven't, I'll let you know, in the meantime, here it is. He also wondered about my food pics. I don't have any, but that is an idea. Back in my early early days, I tried some food pics, and the pics looked so bad I ended up going on a diet. David Smith is a great food photographer. (ignore the naked pic of him playing guitar).

I tell you what Fred, I will attempt some great food shots next Tuesday... which should be good because it's my Tuesday to cook and I can "spiff" it up a little bit. Speaking of, I need to find a recipe.....

Next order of business. I cannot find a decent survey/questionnaire to use for the Oscar contest, so I may have to have a page with the nominees and you simply write an email with your pics. If you want to go ahead and pick here are the nominees and my email. Remember you can win a framed 8x10 from my Shutterstock gallery if you guess the most correct out of all the entrants. Ties will be broken by who guessed the Best Picture correctly, if tied there also, then Best Director, then Best Costume. If you are still tied after that, all tied entrants will win an 8x10. I'll give you a heads up and let you know "Up" will win Best Animated Film.

Not going to spend much time writing, I have some photos to take (what's that? I'm a photographer? Who woulda thunk it?) And I am making dinner. Split Pea Soup, but didn't have any ham, so I baked some porkchops, cubed it up and added some bacon, too.

Here is a photo I took back in the days when I had a couple spare dollars to shoot. Gas being nearly $5 a gallon here was very inspiring, too.

Well, adios.

(BTW I have already made my Oscar choices)

Oscar Nomination Day

Four things for me to be happy about today.
1. Got to keep the kids with me at work for a little while today. Felt great showing off my cuties to the workforce.
2. Oscar Nomination Day. Sure, I don't have an all out favorite like I did last year,Slumdog Millionaire, but I do have my favorites, and also the ones who most likely will win. Contest will be announced soon.
3. "New Recipe Tuesday", Michelle. She made a Italian Chicken Roll, which was basically ham, bacon, and cheese rolled up inside a breaded and baked piece of chicken. Excellent. She also made a tri-color pasta salad, which had pieces of pepperoni and parmasen cheese. Excellent-er. And she made potato wedges with bake-encrusted parmasen cheese and other seasonings. Excellent-est. The surprise of the day was Jon and his Oreo cake, which was just... A.W.E.S.O.M.E. ... Why his cooking still surprises us we'll never know, because he really outdoes himself everytime. (read his blog to find out about Michelle and the possum)
4. I wrote a little blurb style post in my blog last night about the splendor that is Zack Arias and he responded. Which totally floored and excited me at the same time. Almost wet myself. You may not care, but it's like you writing a blog about NASCAR and Jeff Gordon comments on it. He is currently holding a One Light Workshop up in Columbus, Ohio.

With that said, I have nothing else really to say. My 8-day streak at Shutterstock is about to fail for lack of sales today. Angela changed her mind on who will play her, now it's Amy Adams, and if that's the case I'll play myself in the movie. If you have Wii fitness, I scored 811 on the super hula hoop. Michelle recommended a blog, but for the life of me I can't remember the name. It was by Holly from Phoenix and she did newborn baby pics.

Here is a pic of the statues leading down the pathway on the mountain in Arkansas. Full story here. Ok, I have to go find a way to create a contest.

Zack Arias... 365

I've been so excited about this find, that I just had to write my Tuesday post a day early. BTW, if you missed yesterday's post, or this morning's post I guess, you can see Jon as an Avatar with a link to the tutorial. I will probably post again tomorrow anyway because it is "New Recipe Tuesday" (Michelle's Day) and also Oscar nomination day. Don't forget to choose your pics for the Oscars to win a framed 8x10 from my Shutterstock gallery. I'll post a link as soon as I design the survey on my website.

Back to Zack. Since I discovered Zack about a year ago, he has been the photographer I strive to be. Jason Q Tran may be a creative wedding photographer, but to me when it comes to sheer genius, Zack wins.

Here are some of his links:
http://www.zarias.com/
http://www.zackarias.com/#/client/template.xml?aaa=home&bbb=
http://onelightworkshop.com/
http://zackarias.blip.tv/
http://www.usedfilm.com/
http://dedpxl.com/

But what I am most excited about is his 365 project. He's bloggin'. Just like me. He feels like he needs a creative boost, so he started a daily blog to share his trials, frustrations, and successes. I would probably attempt to talk to him but if I did he would probably end up critiquing my website, and I ain't prepared for that kind of rejection. Someday I'll attend his One Light Workshop and he can learn me something.

Just south of where I live is a little AZA credited zoo, The Parks at Chehaw. Some of my best shots came from this little zoo. Their animals aren't caged up like some zoos, most animals are in larger pens where you can get some great shots without fences or wall in the shots. The lemurs are free roaming, they roam freely throughout the zoo. I haven't been there in years, though. This shot was just a random snapshot. When I was editing photos later, I submitted it, expecting a reject. But, to my surprise, is still a top 20 seller in my port. I did find this one in use by a school textbook, but I can't find the link now.

Here are a few others from the zoo....

Don't forget tomorrow... Oscars!!!

Avatar, the Tutorial

I am so glad I have this photo of Jon to play around with. He has been everything from a Spartan to an Avatar, big-headed to draganized. I found an awesome little tutorial for the 300 effect, and as an added bonus they had a tutorial for Avatar. I only spent a little time with this photo last night, so the ears aren't perfectly blended in, and I didn't convert his nose, and with the striping I just did a rough burn. The instructions also did most of the work on a single layer, so next time I'll break it into multiple layers so I can easily correct issues I find.

Got my backgrounds back from the church yesterday, so I'll start with a few photo ideas I had with Eliana. It's been awhile since I've had any accepted.

Also, Angela said she would rather be played by Rachel Leigh Cook. If that's how she wants to play then I'll just change who is playing me to John Cena.

Well, I want to get some dishes done before I go to work.