VisionMongers

Was just watching a live interview with Zack Arias, and this was a book he recommended reading. I have not read it, but with my BigStock payment I should receive in the next couple days I plan on getting it. The interview can be found at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/danesanders-tv, I believe he should have the replay up by the time you read this. Zack talks about finding your niche, overcoming fears, and what equipment he would use if this was his first day ever shooting. Lot of great questions, and a lot of great insight from a guy I highly respect. He mentions a few blogs you should read on a daily basis (mine did not make the cut), as well as some books to read.

I am feeling better, as well as Eliana. The little one and now Angela are getting hit hard with it. So far, I think Larissa got the worst end of it, she managed to get every symptom while the rest of us just got a couple. Thanks for prayers and well-wishes.

Starting to get pumped for the Hilton Head shoot. Hope to get plenty of great shots, and model releases so I can start uploading to get back on track to 500.

One thing Zack said that kind of made me kind. He said the reason he has a studio is to separate his work from his home life. When he is at the studio, he is at work, when he is at home, he is off the clock. When I am at home, I am with the kids, so I am playing parent, so any photography comes second. But when I go off to shoot a band, or shoot the movie, I take hundreds of photos, because I am business. What I need is a spot to call my own, that I can separate my home and photography. I guess I can dream.

I am actually listening to the interview again as I write this. I am pausing to take notes. Most of you ignore my links, but I really suggest this one, especially if you have not really gotten your photography business off the ground. Might even link over on the right there... just that good.

Here's a great pic from Zack that he twittered a couple days ago.... (I hope he doesn't mind me posting)

Illness

Myself and my youngest daughter ended up with chills, slight fever and bad, bad diarrhea. My oldest daughter had a fever that went as high as 102.8. Angela had tummy troubles, but refused to acknowledge them as she was trying to take care of the rest of us.

As far as photos go, I have prepared to take some more dice photos. Had a couple ideas and I thought I would try them out. I am hoping this will help inspire me to take other photos, because I have crossed the threshold of needing an average of one photo a day to complete my goal. So now, I need to try to focus.

The Hilton Head photo shoot is not cancelled, but has been scaled back, due to lack of photographers wanting to take part. I have plenty that seemed interested, and a couple who signed up, but in the end, they backed out, so now I have 6 models and only myself to shoot them. So I will let them know what the deal is, and let them know that I will still shoot them if they like. I will probably do it one on one and vary the locations.

Got a payout from Dreamstime last night. Which is awesome, because that will help pay for this adventure. I am two sales from a payout on Shutterstock, and if I don't get them by the end of tomorrow, then I have to wait a month to get it, and I need the money for the trip. iStock is off the chain this month. I'll have to go back and check, but I believe this is one of the best months I have ever had with them.

Like the new layout? I am hoping that eventually I can put one of my own photos back there.

So anyway, check out my SmugMug pics. Watch Castle. They just got picked up for a full third season. Awesome news. If you haven't watched it yet, get season 1 and enjoy. 

Bad Memory

This sucks, because the other day I found a really cool link, and like an idiot, I did not bookmark it, and now for the life of me I cannot remember it when I am ready to share. Hopefully it will come to me by the end of this posting.

One of the biggest successes that came out of New Recipe Tuesday was Angela's Awesome Enchiladas. She made them again today, and they are still AWESOME!!! As I sit here, I am contemplating warming up the leftovers and eating them now instead of saving them for work tomorrow.

My NCAA bracket was one of the worst I have ever played. But, oddly enough, I can still end up in second place if Duke wins their next game, and loses the finals.

Listening to Sparatica as I write this, or type this I guess. They are currently in the studio laying out their debut album. Kinda excited. Maybe I'll have some of the photos I took appear as an album cover. And if their tour hits Hawaii, I get to tag along as official photographer. Of course I'll probably have to pay my own way, but I'd do it.

Ok, did some more Exit 101 pics last night. It's the Hitchhiker meets the Pizza Guy scene and also the Main Cast meets the Hitchhiker scene. Here is a sample pic:

My memory is still blotchy, but I think it had something to do with a photo I was working on the other day. Speaking of, I have been using the pen tool, after years of ignoring it, I have decided to give it a try, and I am pretty happy with the results. Little time consuming with the finer details, like hair, but worth it.

Here is a comp of a Spartica pic. Was just playing around with a photo and came up with a decent look for the lead vocalist, so I decided to make a "poster" pic of each member of the band. Here is my favorite:

Learned the "glowing orb" trick with a Tyron Coachman photo I did a couple months ago. Added streaks of green lightning. The rest is pretty basic, cloud filter over black, text with gradient. A gradient overlay layer over the entire photo, but just under the guy. Another member I did in a corny way of looking like he is fading into being from lava. The female I will go back and add music notes to the background. The other guy I could not for the life of me think of a concept, so just started playing around and ended up with the flying ninja-like star.

Ok, this is going to bug me all night. I will try to think of it and post it tomorrow (most likely Tuesday, to give you warning, Fred). Here is a post to a photoshop magazine subscription. Isn't ridiculous how expensive these things are? Ok, well, good night.

One Light Workshop

OneLight Workshop Dvd Set! Camera Just thought I would promote Zack Arias a little bit here. He is a speaker down at Photoshop World in Orlando. If I had known that I might have attempted to go down there, but alas, I am broke and can't do that. Maybe he'll stop at exit 101 Cordele, Ga on his way back through and I'll treat him and his family to lunch.

I will also take a moment to promote Sparatica. They have one song recorded so far, they hit the mic next month for the vocals to finish off their first album. I am hoping I can get a few pics of them when they go on tour.

And I will promote the movie Exit 101. I will be shooting some more pics tomorrow night, so keep checking back for new stuff.

And the last of my promotional links here will be for Redeeming Love which is currently being made into a movie. I have been watching the process, and they are just about to start casting. I think Hugh Jackman and Keira Knightley should star, but that's just my opinion. Angela agrees with me. Possibly Rachel McAdams though. But anyway, read the book. I really liked it. I read it a couple times and even highlighted my favorite parts.















Ok, I am going out to the car now to get my photo equipment so I can shoot a couple pictures. So until tomorrow or so, read a book.

CS5!! I WANT IT I WANT IT I WANT IT

Ok, for those of you who are too busy photographing and working to sit around and read the 'net like I do, there is a new item coming out called CS5. It's a good motivator to save my money.

With the "success" of my Sparatica pics, I now have 3 more bands to shoot when I hit Hilton Head on the 10th. So I will shoot models in the morning, head off to another location, and shoot band after band. I have a feeling I'll need more memory. And speaking of Sparatica, here is their MySpace page. Love their first song, Burning Walls. Here is a couple more pics I did, not special, but decent.

I now have the link for Amazon Associates, so now when I recommend a book like Photoshop Restoration and Retouching by Katrin Eismann, you can link straight to it. Cool, eh? This is one of my favorite books, by the way.  Now if I were to recommend a movie... say "Slumdog Millionaire", that'll pop up , too. Don't ya just love it? Another way for me to annoy you. Well, time to go to bed, gotta be back at work tomorrow.

Sparatica

The other day I had the opportunity to shoot a band, not just any band, but a great group called Sparatica, who traveled down from South Carolina to get their picture taken. Ok, they were traveling to meet a friend, but I was begged to do a session with them while they were here. They had one concept in mind, and they wanted to be shot on green screen so they could be placed on the moon. I am not a big fan of green screen photography, but I did it anyway. I created a scene using it, but someone else was going to use the photos for the moonshot, so that was alright with me. Some things I did know about shooting on green screen, the screen needed to be brightly lit, and it needed to be flat with no wrinkles. I got as close as possible with both. I used spotlights to light the screen, and I used flash bulbs to light the band.

The hardest part for me is to pose people, or rather direct them into a pose. I let them know that up front, and let them do their own thing, and I got some pretty decent photos as a result. I then put up a black background and did some low key shots, which I am more comfortable with. When we wrapped up, they had gone outside and I went out to show them a couple of the good shots, and noticed how great the sun was outside, so we went to a neighboring field and got some shots.

Here are some of the final results:

The first is one of the outdoor shots (obviously). I used my favorite filter, Melancholytron from Flaming Pear. The second I filtered with VirtualPhotographer. The third is a comp of five photos. The first is a planet landscape I created a couple months ago. It was curved so I flattened the ground. I then pulled each member off the green screen and placed them in the scene. I added a shadow, and then darkened their right sides to make it fit a little more into the scene.

Sparatica photos on SmugMug.
Sparatica MySpace page.

Lazy Blogger

First I was a lazy photographer, now I'm a lazy blogger, too. Actually, I have been somewhat busy and incredibly tired, and I have just not had the energy to sit back and create my masterpiece of the day.

First, I am now read in 34 countries and 5 continents.

Second, y'all are probably tired of me promoting Exit 101 the movie, but since I am the official behind the scenes photographer, every second I get to promote the film I will. So go to SmugMug and see some of the photos. After all, the bigger the movie gets, the better payoff it has for me in the end. I'm not talking monetary, but in terms of contacts and experience.

This is one of the "rednecks", Buddy, who, as you can see here, does not fare well against his foe. I leveled and curved, and then adjusted brightness down a tad while increasing contrast. I created a second version that you see here that I applied a HDR action to.

Speaking of Exit 101 and popularity, since I have a Exit 101 page on my website, I can see the visitor info (city, country) and there are a LOT of people searching for the movie and finding my website. Not just here in the USA, but England, Australia, Asia. The word of mouth on this movie is starting to gain some international support. It may never reach the levels of Paranormal Activity or Blair Witch, but just to know that people out there are excited and anticipating the movie I am helping to create makes me feel good.

In a March Madness bracket pool. Currently in 4th out of the 12 people playing. Georgetown's loss really hurt me, but as long as Syracuse can make it to the finals I am ok.

The photo shoot on Hilton Head Island is starting to finally come together. I have 3 of the 5 photogs lined up, with 1 pending. 3 of the 8 models are confirmed with 3 pending. Go here for more details.

New Recipe Tuesday has dropped by the wayside. I hoped it inspired some of you to try new stuff and cook outside your comfort zone on occasion. A couple of the recipes I learned I am still using. I will be attempting homemade pierogies tomorrow. Pretty simple, 16oz sour cream, mix with 3 cups flour and roll out. Cut out 3 inch circles, fill with mashed potatoes and other stuff such as cheese, bacon, chives, onions, or whatever you like. Fold over into moon shape and pinch edges together. Boil 4 minutes, then pan fry to brown.

I am suddenly getting a lot of requests for photo sessions. I have a headshot session, a band, and a mother and daughter session. Here is a headshot I took of myself. I like it, but because I was self-photographing, the focus is just off slightly. Couldn't seem to get it spot-on.

Ain't I a handsome bugger? Calm down ladies... I'm taken.

Well, I will try to do better with my blogging. I feel better about doing it since I started writing todays blog. Until next time, it's time for so long.

Exit 101, yet again

Sorry, been busy with new pics from Exit 101 the movie. Here are some new pics.

Photographing

Sorry to the regular readers, which is usually Fred, who checks my blog at about 7:39am everyday. I am sure he probably has a regular morning routing like I do. I get up 1/2 hour before I need to, shower, brush teeth, put in contacts, put on deodorant and then hop on the internet to check my sales for the night. I usually skip CanStock and 123RF because of their slow sales. I never check Fotolia unless I get an email about a sale. I start with BigStock, Dreams, iStock and finally Shutterstock. I'll add sales to my spreadsheet and then move on to Facebook, emails, Twitter and finally my.yahoo.com to check the news and blogs of the day. By then it's time to iron a shirt, get dressed, get the girls ready and go. When I get home, the same routine, except I'll check CanStock and 123RF at that point. And for those of you who chat with me on Facebook, I usually have multiple tabs open, and one is usually Facebook, so it may look like I spend all day on their, but I am actually doing something else.

Today I am off from work. I am actually about to clean off the porch, then I will try setting up the lights out there and get some self portraits. I have the back door cracked a bit, since the weather is warmer outside then in. The kids are out playing in some old flower pots and the cat is even trying to muster up some courage to step out there. Then I might start packing some boxes.

Watched "The Time Traveler's Wife" last night and I enjoyed it. It was a rental from Netflix so it didn't have the bonus features. When I really enjoy a film, I usually watch the features it comes with, but lately I have been getting a lot of rental discs that only have the movies.

Job Opening I heard about on facebook "Writer and a photographer, but writing primarily and perhaps do a bit of media escort here in sunny Iraq for 6 months or a year. They get a 70% pay increase and three two week breaks (for the 1 year gig). Um, they can have all the food they can eat, a free clean bed, free laundry service, a front seat to history...tell me what else...their own desk, free internet...hmm I can be reached at martin.downie@us.army.mi"


I would be tempted if I didn't have family. 


Going to help shoot some b-roll for the movie tonight, and help set up lighting for the shots tomorrow, so the actors won't be standing around bored while waiting for us to get ready. 


New Recipe Tuesday was cancelled this week, and rumor has it that it may be cancelled all together. Which I don't like, because not only do I look forward to it, but the people I talk to at work look forward to hearing the tale of the Tuesday meal. 


Well, going to get started. I may post a pic here later if I get one I like, or else it'll wait till tomorrow. 

Stupid Hurt Locker

Despite the bad selection by the Academy, I did win the Oscar Blog, so no photo for you. What disappointed me more was that Star Trek did not win sound. If you own higher quality headphones, put 'em on and watch Trek, you'll be stunned with the amazing sound.

In the middle of inventory for work. It sucks. I am tired. Good night. I'll be back Wednesday with some tips and a couple other blogs I read.

Avatar vs. Hurt Locker

And the winner is.......

Ok, I don't know who the winner is at this moment, but in about 24 hours I will know. I just finished watching The Hurt Locker, and I must say, I was slightly disappointed. Yes, it was edited great to increase the tension. Yes, the handheld camera gave some realism and made it feel documentary style. But there was a couple moments I felt like getting up and checking my email. So, despite the rave reviews the critics gave it, I will only give it a 4 out of 5 stars. Avatar will get my vote for Best Picture, along with James Cameron, and I will change my editing from Avatar to Hurt Locker. I won't mention any other changes I have made, or my other votes, because I don't want to influence all the other players. Good luck to everyone playing, and if you haven't signed up to play, as of this moment you only have 21 hours left. The picks lock down at 8pm eastern tomorrow. Hit the Oscar pick link to the right to play.

Ok, on to the bloggy part of this blog. I actually did write a blog yesterday, but I noticed I was just rambling and wasn't really making any sense so I just deleted it.

On the movie front, we will be shooting a favorite scene of mine in the movie Exit 101 next weekend. I won't give away any details, but I am hoping to get some great photos out of it.

MythBusters. It's great. Watch it. I am working my way through their collections DVDs and I love watching the chemistry between Jamie and Adam. Jamie will snap someday, just hope he ain't near me when he does it.

Some sales stats. Just passed 4,500 total sales. Just about to hit 1,000 on iStock. iStock is off the chain for me at the moment. I've had more sales the last few days then the entire month of January. And it's old photos too, not even the new stuff.

Got another female model for the April 10 shoot at Hilton Head. So, I have all the females I need, but I don't have a single male model. My two "regulars" won't be there. One got transferred with his job to West Virginia, the other is busy. Maybe I can find some on Model Mayhem.

Well, this is definitely not as rambly as the last post. And yes, I do plan on uploading some photos, which I really need to get on pace, because I am coming down to only 300 days to go.

And I can't remember if I've had an Iranian reader before, but if I haven't then سلام otherwise خوش آمدید.

Google Chrome Update

Ok, I've been running it for a few days, and I have found only one little problem with it. My website is on Windows Live, and that page does not support Google Chrome. I can read my email there, but I currently cannot edit my page without switching over to Internet Explorer. Also, I am starting to get used to the tabs along the top. With Explorer I just opened a new window, but with Chrome I am tabbing it.

I see BigStock photo and 123RoyaltyFree have changed their sites. 123 so far is truly annoying. Bigstock is not bad, kinda the same but with a little nicer look. I like their "hotness" rating on their photos now. My "hottest" photo is...

with a hotness of 26. A photo inspired by this blog. And just so you know, I feel like I may take some photos tonight.

If you haven't checked out my Smugmug site lately, I have new photos from the Exit 101 shoot on there.

Only four days left to get your picks for the Oscar contest. Wonder if that producer from Hurt Locker that sent negative emails against Avatar will affect their winning or not... I chose Hurt Locker, but the race is so close, I feel that Avatar may have the edge now. And that is a 10 point category in my pool, so I only have a couple days to change my mind.

Ok, something I've wanted to do for a couple weeks now but I kept forgetting. Here are some of the photos I have found of mine is use thanks to Tineye. Tineye is a great little search engine that actually searches photos. Put in a photo of yours (or a thumbnail from your stock sites) and it will find it in their catalog of 1.3+ billion photos. Here are the ones I have found:

HowStuffWorks "Crape Myrtle: Profile of a Tree"
Latest Yankees news -- (10-25-05)
Tahoe Bear Awareness Program - Stash Your Trash
amazon.com Down-to-Earth Guide To Global Warming Laurie David and Cambria Gordon Books
boulder Angsthasenklettern mit Tradition, ohne Berg
Petit Jean Foothills Nursery - Pricing and Ordering your Crape Myrtles
Scout.com: Scout TV: Austin Vincent
Whoopi Goldberg Wants to Know: What Simple Common Sense Thing DON'T People Do That Makes You Nuts? | wowOwow
Are you in a bad relationship? | zoestreet.com
National Infant & Toddler Child Care Initiative -- NITCCI

There were a couple others, but they either changed their photos or their page doesn't work anymore.

The other day I mentioned how I was getting 1400 hits on my SmugMug page, and not quite as many here. So I created a "photo" with all my info and websites, including this one, uploaded it to the Exit 101 gallery, and I will see if that makes any effect.

Put out a casting call on ModelMayhem for the April 10th shoot on Hilton Head Island. 

Nothing else. I'm going to make some sweet tea (three regular tea bags and one Lipton Pyramid teabag).

A Day Off

How cool is that? (and I got two in a row). My phone is broken so they can't call me. Life is good.

Speaking of good. Still trying to warm up from that long night of shooting again in sub-freezing temperatures. Got 1400 hits on my Exit 101 photo page. That makes it 6300% more popular then my blog. Maybe I should write my blog, paste it onto a jpg and post it over there. Let me find a pic to talk about.... how about this one...

Tried to create a movie poster, and you can see how well that worked. And the regular readers should know, I am by no means a graphic artist. I might be able to manipulate a photo a little with a 2% chance of it looking good, but designing posters is not my thing. So here you go, anyone that can create a usable movie poster from the photos on the Exit 101 photo page, and we decide to use that poster, will get a credit in the movie. You can even be an extra if you provide your own lodging and transportation and meals and are willing to lie on the ground pretending to be dead for 10-12 hours in sub-freezing temps. 

Oscars only a few days away, hit the link to the right to make your pics and win a prize. 

On a personal note, I have never really listened to my sister, but she made a comment on the number of tuna cans in my cupboard, and noted I should try making it with barbecue sauce instead of mayonnaise. I tried it last night, not because she said it, but because I opened the cans and realized I was out of honey mustard dressing (mayonnaise allergy in the house). So I tried the barbecue, and it was actually pretty good. In fact, Angela didn't even know it was tuna, she thought it was pulled pork. 

Let's see...mentioned the movie... the Oscars... posted a pic.... made a personal comment... guess that about wraps it up. Oh, wait. New Recipe Tuesday has been delayed for a week due to Michelle being out-of-town, it's her turn to cook and she can't get off that easy.

Guess I should mention the photos sites... Shutterstock sales for me were incredibly horrible for the month of February... and it's not looking good for March, either. Dreamstime and iStock remain atop the list as I had some of my best months ever with them, especially Dreamstime. BigStock has been a BigDisappointment since they were purchased by Shutterstock. Usually a good seller for me, I have now sold only 10 photos since the purchase, even CanStock is outselling them. 

Well, it's time for me to shove stuff into closets to make it look like I cleaned today. Until tomorrow, make a poster, make your pics, and make a comment.