Had a great time shooting the concert. Only shot a few of SCC since we were going to spend some time with David Carr after Third Day played which was during his part of the show. Always great to spend time with him and see the guys. Tech info: Shot with two bodies... 5D III with 24-70mm and a 1DX with 70-200. Processed in Lightroom and Macphun's Tonality Pro.
Hey Gang, don't forget about the Worldwide Photowalk this weekend... if you haven't signed up, make sure to go the website and see if there are walks in your area that still have space. Or maybe think about a road trip to a walk in a place that you always wanted to visit. Join in the fun on Saturday!
I have been trying to come up with a good usable illustration to help teach folks about the balance between ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture. After a bit of work and collaboration with Larry Becker, I am happy with the end product. Feel free to use and share it, but please make sure to give credit. Thanks
I think the next step will be to turn this into an animation to show the working parts and the balance... but one thing at a time.
Here is a gallery of some of my shots and then some thoughts from the Workshop that we put on last week in Miami. Big thanks and hugs to my partners in crime... Steve Gustafson, Brooke Logue Gomberg, and Tonya Poitevint!
Instead of focusing on what to do, we focus on how to think. Of course we have loads of technical training, but the most important area that we talk about is about how to think, feel and be real... and how that will affect your photography and hopefully your life. We try to build a sense of community and creativity and I think I am safe to say that everyone including the instructors have been blown away by the times we have shared and the images created.
One of Steven's favorite quotes is "The mind cannot use what it does not possess - Santayana." We try to get the students to see what they are not seeing and how that can affect their images. It is amazing what we don't notice until someone comes along and hopefully lovingly points it out. I teach folks about Photoshop and Photography all the while making random comments about my having a virus (I have a mono like virus Epstein-Barr that has been beating me up for a couple of months...) and singing 80's songs at the drop of a hat. At the end of the day, there is real fun and real learning going on, and it is a joy to be part of this group. We are already getting ready to do another one in April or May that is still TBA. But if you would like to be part of the this great madness... give me a holler and I will let you know more. We intentionally keep these groups small so the spots tend to go pretty quickly.
The Models
Brooke always has some of the most amazing models come be part of the workshop and this time was awesome. The girls were incredible and little Henry was a show stealer. One aspect that we try to teach our students is to honor the children and be ready to value the child over getting "the perfect shot." Often we get focused on making a pretty picture and we miss out on the precious life that is right in front of us. To steal a line from Peter Hurley... we need to be ten percent photographer and ninety percent therapist. Knowing how to interact with your models is so important and especially when dealing with kids. Our focus is to reach their heart and their true beauty will emerge.
This is becoming a tradition at the workshops. The kids love it and we get some amazing shots. Steve Gustafson and I are a tag team... he is the spinner and I am the shooter. The kids give some of the best smiles and the slight dizziness and aching back are worth it.
I have had a lot of positive response about the spin shots so here is a little guide and then a video to help you...
There is so much more to write about, but if you have made it this far, you are probably tired of me already... I will be talking more about some of this stuff on Photography Tips N Tricks, the Grid and KelbyOne... so be on the look there and feel free to shoot me any questions.
For those of you who missed PSW Vegas... here is the keynote on Youtube. You will get to see us being "Piratey" and then wait for Scott Kelby to show the blooper reel. They cover the first 12 minutes of the video.
Enjoy!
Arena Tribute were the innocent victims of outing after Photoshop World Vegas. They are a great band and we had about 15 big cameras blasting away at them. Of course I felt pretty good about my shots until I looked at Alan Hess who does this stuff for a living and teaches concert photography. :D Great time hanging out with all the honorary Snapdragons down on Freemont... and you know who you are! (what that means is I am too lazy to remember and type everybody that was there...:D) I may play with some of these in Tonality Pro or Alien Skin, but for now, just a simple black and white conversion in Lightroom.
Files to download... if you can get past Jack.
Capt. Jack hanging out with us on the set for the Keynote.
After getting home and sleeping for 17 hours straight, I am now back in the office and starting to compile files to help add to the classes I taught there. I told certain classes that I would put some stuff up for them. Let me know if you are wanting any other that I may have forgotten.
This file is a zip file with 4 .psd files for my students that took my pre-conference class.
File to go with my brushes class showing the different strokes you may encounter
Shows how the three main blending modes interact with black white gray and what order
good tip to get you started... here are my setting suggestions and then you can experiment from there...
Size Jitter 100% Angle Jitter 100% Roundness Jitter 25% Min. Roundness 25%
Scatter 45% (Control off) Count 2 Count Jitter 70%
Transfer checked on
Here is a fairly long write up of some of our time in Alaska... Just like a vacation, I started out strong with lots of details and got tired towards the end. The good news is that I wrote up most of my photography info first even though it is at the bottom, so if you don't care about me blathering about the stuff we did, which I don't blame you, just look at the pictures in the album and then skip down to the bottom to see my thoughts on gear and shooting. enjoy!
Our family was giving a gracious Christmas present by my In-laws of this trip to Alaska. We spent 11 days there and it was an amazing time. I will try to give you some of my thoughts about the trip along with my gear and how that went, but I realize the most of you just want to look at the pictures, so there will be plenty of those as well.
Flew into Anchorage and stayed downtown-ish the first night. Nothing special to write about that except we went to the REI store with the kids and they loved it. The boys were able to get a mounting plate for their GoPro… which then lead to us hearing the name GoPro mentioned about a million times… “Hey dad! I just Gopro’ed that…” or “Hey Nate… get the GoPro out!” Also thanks to my super-sleuth wife when it comes to food, we ate at this great place called the Moose’s tooth. Be warned there is a pretty decent waiting line if you don’t got at a weird time like we did. Great atmosphere and food, and the hats and shirt will make you look like a tourist… I mean cool.
On to Seward, Alaska by way of Costco! As a family of 6, with two of those being 15 year old boys… the amount of food consumed is astronomical. Costco to the rescue! The down side of this is trying to fit all the crap we bought into the van while still leaving room for our kids to have a place to sit. Then it was a four-hour trip down the coast to Seward. Great views long the way and the kids actually put down the ipads for a while to spot moose and look for bears and whales. We got out at one scenic spot to be greeted with 30mph winds that let us know we were not in Florida any more.
Seward was our favorite place in Alaska. Picturesque views of the harbor and the snowcapped mountains with sea life swimming around, it was amazing. Shannon did a great job of renting and apartment for 4 days that was on the top floor with great views and most importantly a full kitchen and washer and dryer.
The boat ride of death! One of the first days we got up early and jumped on a boat to go out to see the glaciers and do some kayaking around the icy bay. The weather had been a little rough and so we had changed our schedule around a bit, but this day looked really promising. I had pictured a fairly large boat taking us out and carrying the kayaks. Nope… about an 18 foot vessel that basically had a forward deck area and a steering cabin. Since I get motion sick, I needed to be out in the open air while everyone else was nice and comfortable in the cabin. The waves were choppy and I was turning green. We stopped by a rock out cropping where sea-lions were, but I was busy laying on the deck trying not to die. Shortly thereafter I was able to test out the puke resistance of the awesome coat that Canon had given me a while back and I was just getting to wear for the first time since I live in Florida. Nothing like the CPS logo surrounded by a field on green! (Ok that may have been TMI… sorry about that!) My kids thought it was hilarious, and I would have killed them all if I could have worked up the energy, but being my kids that knew exactly how to kick a man when he is down and run away before he gets up. I asked the captain if he could drop me ashore and let me hike back over the mountains, he said I might be able to make it if it weren’t for the bears. So I suffered on until we reached the bay. I must say, even in my weakened and grumpy condition, the bay was incredible. The glacier was calving with sounds like gunshots and thunder. Bus sized icebergs and ice all in the bay with seals popping up and following the boys around in their kayaks. (The boys in the kayaks, not the seals… that would have been weird… and cool at the same time.) The wind picked up for a bit and the boys paddled in the same spot for about twenty minutes going nowhere, but then the wind died and we all enjoyed a little tour around the bay in the boats. Then the words I dreaded to hear came out of the captain’s mouth. “Time to head back.” I asked him if I could kayak back… it should only take me about two days… and he told me to stop being a baby and get back in the boat. (Not really, but it makes the story better…) I figured out that I could negate my motion sickness by standing in the front of the boat while holding on to one of the ropes and riding the boat like I was surfing or skiing. Something about interacting with the deck and the waves allowed me to feel completely fine for the whole ride back. Unfortunately it was a 2 ½ hour trip, so by the time we made it back into the harbor, I couldn’t feel my legs. We spotted several whale on the way back and the scenery was absolutely awesome… especially when seen through non-nauseated eyes. I think I spotted Sig Hansen out there but it could have been me making things up. :D
I took one afternoon/evening to break away from the family to go explore and shoot. I found a great little area where folks were fishing and bald eagles would come to scavenge the fish guts. So I went and got the kids and Shannon and we went back and checked out the birds and the fishing and the kids played in the rocks. I think next time I will just take the kids to a quarry. If you need kid entertainment… just add rocks. Well, so I asked one of the locals when the sun dipped below the mountain, thinking I needed to hurry and ditch my family again to be able to shoot during golden hour. He told me it should start to get dark around 11:30pm. So I took the family back to the apartment and then proceeded to go out and shot for the next four hours until almost midnight. I now have less respect for Alaska photographers, because that is just cheating in my book! But, man did I love it!
As I am shooting boats in the harbor… it is 11:30 and I am starting to think about wrapping up. You know in situations like this your mind can start to creep yourself out as you think about the surreal settings and that you are all by yourself. Right about that moment I hear out of nowhere this heavy breathing that sounds like and old man that is trying to catch his breath. I look down in the water and four feet away from me is a least a six-foot sea lion that held his breath just a bit too long. I don’t’ tend to think about animals messing up and being out of breath, but this guy was panting and trying to recover like an old man with six pack a day habit, and he had no clue I was stand right above him. I started laughing and said to him “Stayed down a bit too long huh?” he spun around looked at me with a sense of surprise and dove back under water probably to die of lack of oxygen. It was a pretty cool encounter. :D
Seward has a great Aquatics center and marine life rehabilitation facility. I took the two youngest there one day and had a great time seeing all of the animals. The highlight of the experience was that Woody the 2400lb sea lion was swimming behind the glass and pooped right in front of Sarah and Sam. I mean how can you not like seeing a big animal drop that big of a load and muddy the water right in front of you. They didn’t stop talking about that for quite a while. A couple of days later I took Sarah back for a special father daughter treat… went got to spend an hour doing a mammal encounter talking to one of the trainers and seeing the behind the scenes of the sea lions and seals. Woody… aka Mr. Poopers was excited about it being mating season, and sees every male both sea lion and human as a threat… so he was not happy to see me back there hanging with his ladies. He was giving me the stink eye and making some wonderful sounds. I of course remained polite and in no way started dancing and egging him on…’cause that would have been wrong. We finished up by getting to go into the seal enclosure while the feed the seals and had one of the main guys come up and touch Sarah’s shoe with his nose. That was so cool for Sarah, since we are pretty sure she is going to be a vet or biologist.
After leaving Seward we headed back towards Anchorage and stopped in a town called Girdwood. We spent the day at a Gold Mining camp and everyone got to try to strike it rich. I figure it out… After spending the entrance fee and renting all the gear and finding about five bucks in gold… the Gold Mine refers to what the owners of the place have. :D On a side note, it seemed like every place we went, we ran into folks from Tampa or the surrounding area. I went down stream to try to get a picture of the waterfall and came across a great guy that was a retired fireman from St. Pete. It seems like that is an Alaska – Tampa connection, that is being kept on the down low… but know you know.
Yep, Denali and Mt. McKinley are one and the same. Only took me a couple days to figure that one out. :D The scenery is great and the older boys and Shannon love hiking so they had a great time out there. Unfortunately to do much in the park, you have to ride the buses… and I already had such a great time on boats! I asked one of the bus drivers if I could drive her bus since I get motion sick, but she just looked at me funny and told me to stay away from her! Not to miss out, we signed up for an 8 hour bus ride that I thought was going to be the end of me, but turned out to be pretty neat since the bus goes so slow and stops a lot to see animals. We saw just about everything… bears, fox, moose, caribou, bald eagle, mountain goats, etc… It was definitely a worthwhile time. We spent several days in Denali and it was good, but if we had a chance to redo it, we would go back to Seward and spend more time there.
There was obviously a lot more stuff that happened, but I don’t want to bore you, and I have typed way too much already. Feel free to ask me any specific questions and I will be happy to shoot you an answer. Now below is a little bit about the gear I used.
Think Tank International camera back
Canon 1DX
2 SanDisk 64gb Compact flash cards
16-35 f/2.8
24-70 f/2.8
70-200 f/2.8
100-400 f/4.5-5.6
1.4x teleconverter
Neutral Density Filters
Spider Holster
Gtec external hard drive
Wacom Intuos medium
Ipad
Cables and chargers
Canon 600ex flash
4 Nalgene insulated bottle bags
Manfrotto tripod with ball head
Thoughts about what to take:
I had room for one checked bag and one carry on. My carry on is always loaded with my camera gear and computer, and my checked bag gets anything that I can live without or is too bulky or heavy for my carry on. I put my tripod, Spider Holster, extra batteries and chargers, the Wacom Tablet and cables in the big bag, and then everything else when in the Think Tank carry on. I took out the dividers and put my insulated coat in the bottom to act as extra padding, and then I put all my lenses in the padded Nalgene bottle carriers and tucked the extra gear around them. This let me pack more stuff and still keep everything secure. The computer and Ipad fit in the front pocket for quick access and let me keep an eye on them.
Normally if I was going to go on a trip for the purpose of shooting, I will try to take two camera bodies… One full frame for the wide shots and a crop sensor for zooming in on wildlife etc… Since I was going on a family trip, photography was secondary to time with the family so I opted for just one body. My main reason for choosing the 1DX besides it being just an amazing camera is its weather-proofing. I knew that we would be taking boats and kayaking as well as being in wet areas with rain potential and so I wanted to make sure that the camera could handle it. This body just laughed at the weather.
Since the 1DX is full-frame I added a 1.4x teleconverter coupled with the 100-400mm for getting as much reach as I could. The good news is that the 1DX still allowed for autofocus with that lens because it can handle apertures up to f/8. So I was able to shoot at a 560mm equivalent with the teleconverter on the long end. This lens stayed on most of the time so I was ready if any critters appeared, but then if a picturesce scene popped up I generally had time to switch to a wider lens. It is not a fast lens, but I was shooting generally in well lit times and my priority was to get close, so it did great. The Noise handling of the 1DX also let me shoot higher ISO. When I had this lens on, at first I made the mistake of shooting AV (aperture priority) and ended up missing shots because the shutter speed dropped too low and I had lots of blurry animals because of them moving and camera movement. (They all looked crisp in the view-finder! :D) I then changed over to TV (shutter priority) and set it to at least 1/640 and set the ISO to Auto so that it would deal with the changing lighting situations as we travelled by boat or by bus. That worked out much better and my keeper to miss ratio improved.
I found myself mainly shooting with the 100-400 or the 24-70 most of the time, and they were always on my Spider holster belt. I only used the 16-35 and the 70-200 for certain situations. I used the 70-200 for a few shots in the aquarium area and for a couple of portraits of the kids, but on the whole I could have left that one behind… even though it is my go to lens for just about everything back home. The 16-35 was great for landscapes and I was glad I had it, but if I had to cut back on lenses and weight even more, that one could have been left behind. When I was going around with my family I wouldn’t pull out the tripod and the neutral density filters, but when I went off on my own one afternoon/evening I brought them out for some great landscape shooting. I stacked a couple of filters to allow for at least at 5 – 10 sec shutter speed and cranked my aperture up to 22 to get some nice starburst (when I remembered…) This helped to smooth out the water and give a much nicer presentation of the bay.
Spider Holster is the way to go once you get where you are going. We rented a minivan, so I had the luxury of having my Think Tank hold my gear and then I could “suit up” according to the situation. I loved being able to walk around hands free with my gear on my hip and ready to go at a moments notice. This was great for hiking up to a glacier and riding on the boat. (It also left me hands free for holding on to the railing while I was throwing up. :D) Even on the bus ride I looped the belt around the railing in front of me and had the camera hanging right there ready for action, but completely secure when I was using it. If you haven’t checked out the Spider system, I can assure you it is a great system.
Things I would do differently…
I had grand plans to edit and play with my photos on the trip, so I brought my Medium Wacom tablet and it just sat there and taunted me for being lazy on the trip and it was right. So I would have left it behind and felt better about myself. :D I should have uploaded photos from the first day when I got back to the room, so that I would have seen my mistake about shutter speed with the 100-400, but I was tired and had some big memory cards so I waited two days before looking at my shots. Missed some good stuff because of the simple oversight. I would have had less kids… ok that was a joke I threw in here just to see if my wife actually reads this far. Probably not. :D I would stay in Seward longer than Denali and finally I would have opted for the rocket launchers on the minivan to blowup the slow drivers who refuse to pull over to let the crowd of cars behind them pass. No I don’t have issues… why do you ask? :D
So there is my take on our trip, I hope that gives you some insight to travelling that beautiful place and maybe will give you some thoughts about shooting and gear and help you prepare. Thanks for reading.
For those of you who have been around a bit... wait that sounds like I am saying you are old... For those of you who have follow some of my stuff for the last year will remember that I shot a golf tournament with a couple of guys. One of the guys was Steve Gustafson who then invited me to shoot the Chickamauga Civil War Re-enactment with him. Both of these can be found in past blog posts. Steve and I have become good friends with similar vision and values and I was honored when he asked me to be part of a kid's portrait photography workshop called the "Sense of Wonder Workshop."
Emma's dad and I stole the horse from an Ice Cream shop
Now the unfortunate side of this story is that I had two other speaking engagements right before this event. The ISAP symposium... all about airplanes. Then this little thing called Photoshop World in Atlanta. I literally left the first one and travelled to the second and so I was wiped out as this workshop approached. If you are like me, you tend to get nervous and start to think of ways you might be able to get out of your commitments as time draws near... and that couch looks so much more comfortable than going forth into the unknown.
We have all felt that way at the beginning of something. You are not sure what is going to happen and pretty sure it will not be worth it or you will screw up and life as you know it will end. Besides there is probably a Mythbusters or Dexter marathon going on somewhere this weekend! But then you get a little whisper of hope and God manages to get you off of the couch... you show up and it turns out to be one of the best workshops you have ever been a part of. And that is where we join the story already in progress...
Fun at the barn
Brooke Logue, Tonya Poitenvint, Steve and myself went out to dinner to get to know one another since only Brooke and Steve had done a workshop together. And as Forrest Gump said... "We got along like peas and carrots." Each one of us brought something special to the table... not the dinner table... I mean the collective group...:D I brought my wit and sarcasm and the others brought their ability to put up with my wit and sarcasm.
I love to see kids laugh
We opened up the workshop by talking about being real and seeking out the realness in ourselves and our models. My talk dealt with the idea of "Lives over Likes" and how we need to be more invested in the people around us over chasing after more likes on our photography page. I used my Masks example of how our fake persona that we try to show the world ends up isolating us and leaving us lonely. We emphasized that we are responsible to drawing out the expressions and interactions of our models and that can only really happen if we engage with them. I love using Peter Hurley's line that he is 10% Photographer and 90% Psychologist. So much of what is being taught out there these days is all about the technical, but so much of what holds us back is not technique, but rather fear and insecurities. So at the workshop we address both and saw folks really come alive.
The first evening we went to a great barn location and had a great time and got some wonderful images... but we also had a great time interacting with the kids and making them feel valuable and safe with us, and the expressions and real emotions are palpable in our photos. Basically we were free enough to be goof balls with the kids and they kids responded with smiles and hugs that we will never forget. You know it is a good time when one of the models cries because we have to go home. The mom's said this was the best experience they had with photographers and their kids. That is when you know you are on to something.
Hugging Steve around the waist while he spins the girls... I got dizzy!
We dealt with the technical... I showed them Photoshop and Lightroom workflows and tricks and helped with cameras and lenses and Steve blew all of us out of the water with his talk on Composition, but the real treat was seeing Brooke and Tonya interacting with the students and kids. they had this passion and energy that was contagious and we all grew through this experience. To a person each student came away saying it was the best workshop they had been to, and they weren't just saying that because I had them in a headlock... we have already got several of the students signed up for the next one 30 minutes after we announced it... so that is pretty cool.
Good friends
I am so glad I didn't let the couch win and I can't wait to be part of the next one in September in Miami. Let me know if you are interested in going... spaces are going quick.
Press...Press... Pull.... (See who gets this reference.:D)
Sense of Wonder workshop
Wardrobe Fleur and Dot
Floral Halos Hippie Headwear
Floral Petite Headbands Couture Phantasies
Concept Brooke Logue Photography
Saturday Morning
Concept, styling and wardrobe Tonya Poitevint Photography
Threads Little Boats (just the coffee shop images)
Saturday Night.
Styling and Wardrobe Koko Blush & Co
Concept Brooke Logue Photography
So I had another request to post the partner illustration that I created for talking about blend modes. This one shows how the main three modes look according to what element is in front and how light or dark it is. (Blending modes operate off of a complex algorithm that takes into account the darkness or lightness of each layer and gives a more emphasis to what is going on in the lower layer...) All you really need to know is that it makes a difference, so try switching the layers around if you are not getting the right look you want. Hope that helps. Feel free to use but remember to attribute where applicable.
Notice the change especially in screen mode
I had a request for the blending mode chart that I did for one of my Photoshop Classes so here it is. Feel free to use it, but don't clone out my name if you repurpose it... 'cause that would be naughty. :D
Main modes: Multiply darkens... Screen lightens... Overlay and Soft Light add Contrast.
view larger for a better appreciation of changes
Here is an image that I shot and processed in Photoshop 5 years ago next to the same image processed yesterday. I have started to go back and revisit some of my images of the past and comparing how I would process them now as opposed to then. Why? Couple of reasons... first of all, the programs have changed... Radial filters, better algorithms and better ways to do things have come along. Secondly, my visual library has increased and my understanding and awareness of what helps and hurts an image has grown. I have learned to see things that can improve my image from just 5 years ago... and that is a good thing.
I was talking to a friend the other day about seeing... and having our eyes learn what to look for. He is early in his photographic journey and as we looked at his photos I was able to point out a few things that he just didn't see. Once I spoke to him about paying attention to the background and the corners of his image, he said... "I never thought of that before... but now I see where I have missed that in a lot of my photos."
Our visual library is like that... we have to constantly teach our eyes what to look for in order to see more and more deeply through our own journey. That is why it is so important to look at other's work especially the masters and let folks who "see" more help inform and train your eye. Just being able to sit and talk with folks like Jay Maisel who has is own Encyclopedia Brittanica Visual Library... changes how I look at the world and my images. Shows like the Grid with photo critiques challenge my eyes to see more clearly and to understand what makes a better image.
What I thought was a good image 5 years ago is not at the same level as it is today. I was amazed that I left wrinkles and marks and spots in the frame that I could have taken out... and that I didn't bring a little more focus to the face and work the color balance a little better. My eyes 5 years ago didn't see those things. And that gets me wondering what my eyes aren't seeing today. What will this image look like 5 years from now when technology and my visual library have evolved even more. It is kind of a neat way to track your growth and give new life to old images, along with challenging yourself to really "see" and not get stuck being content with the same visual library that you had yesterday. So grab some old images and give them new life and get encourage by the growth that has happened in your life.
Actually if I was being forth coming... He was probably wanting to say Butt-dad instead. Ah the tears of your children... they can either rip your heart out or bring you to laughter depending on the situation... and the level of acting of you child trying to manipulate you. I am sure your children have never faked tears over something...
I can't remember what this was about, but as a dad I am pretty sure it involved the cruel restriction of video games, sweets or weapons... and that was just him being jealous that I was hogging all of them at once. :D
Cookies? Halo? Shotgun?
Why do you get all the fun stuff?
Here is the before and after of the image and I just wanted to talk about using post processing to guide the eye and help tell the story. You are crafting the image as soon as you bring it into Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw or Photoshop... so think about how you can make it better. Adding a little vignette to the edges and adding color pop and brightening the eyes (just a touch... not nuclear eyes) really helps bring those crocodile tears front and center. So remember when you sit down to process, understand what your viewers eyes are drawn to and try to craft your image for the best impact.
Give them some pop, but don't make them explode.
So remember when working with eyes to give them a boost but don't overdo it. Most folks will start out discovering that they can whiten and add contrast and then they go crazy. Subtle will win the day, most of the time.
I was ruminating about creativity and inspiration and this kind of is where my mind went... I wonder if old Shakespeare ever felt like this? :D
To sink or not to sink... that is the question!
Every image used was from Fotolia.com except for the clouds that I used my handy-dandy cloud brushes for. I really enjoy combining vector and raster images together to give it a fun feeling, even when being serious. :D One of the things I really like doing these days is taking the final image and bringing it back into Camera Raw as a filter in Photoshop and giving it one final global tweak. If you haven't played with that feature, I would highly recommend it.
Now where did I put that Acme hole repair kit?
Here is a chart of the default brushes that come with Photoshop so that you can have an easy reference of what the brushes look like. This is a CS6 version with some CC updates, but I did this a while back so I may have missed a couple. This is also a good way to create a chart for any of your brushes that you have created as well... saves a lot of loading and deleting of brushes.
Photoshop Brush Chart
Gear-a-palooza!
Here are links to a lot of the stuff Larry and I talked about on the Grid, you can obviously find some of this stuff other places, but this will get you started in the right direction.
Quantum light http://www.walmart.com/ip/Generic-Brinkmann-Max-Million-II-Rechargeable-Spotlight/2069533
Knee pads http://www.lowes.com/Safety/Jobsite-Safety/Knee-Pads/_/N-1z0x59c/pl#!
o ring http://www.lowes.com/Plumbing-Parts-Repair/Faucet-Parts-Repair/Faucet-O-Rings/_/N-1z0x13r/pl#!
wedding umbrella http://golfumbrella.com/view/21
velcro http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/velcro-and-hook-and-loop.php?gclid=COD-q4mwjb0CFcli7AodV1AAkw
clamp http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bessey-Clamps-4-Ratcheting-Spring-Clamp-XCR-4PC/15787929
multiple flash aluminum stock http://www.lowes.com/pd_215976-37672-11315_0__?productId=3053631&Ntt=aluminum+bar&pl=1¤tURL=%3FNtt%3Daluminum%2Bbar&facetInfo=
spider holster http://spiderholster.com/
battery case http://dx.com/p/4-x-aa-battery-case-holder-3-pack-3558#.UyCDceddUQ4
ankle weights http://www.walmart.com/ip/Gold-s-Gym-10-lb.-Pair-Adjustable-Ankle-Wrist-Weights/14894523
Ollo clip http://www.olloclip.com/
Bungee cords http://www.walmart.com/ip/Keeper-06344-10-Piece-Toggle-Ball-Bungee-Set/19869349
Lumiquest softbox 3 http://store.lumiquest.com/lumiquest-softbox-iii/
ladder cart http://www.amazon.com/Conair-TS31LHT-Ladderkart-Contractor-Combination/dp/B000Z4V168
gaffers tape http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?sku=20008&Q=&O=&gclid=CLHXkuSxjb0CFTFk7Aod_lsAUQ&is=REG&A=details
mini led light http://www.amazon.com/22000MCD-Flashlight-Torch-Light-Keychain/dp/B009WJR89Q
Hoodman Loupe - http://www.hoodmanusa.com/
Westcott Apollo series - http://fjwestcott.com/product-category/westcott/light-modifiers/apollo-and-halo/
Lens Pen - https://www.lenspen.com/
Spider Holster & Arca Swiss plate adapter - http://www.spiderholster.com/
MeFoto Tripod - http://www.mefoto.com/
RRS ballhead - http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/
Manfrotto NeoTec tripod legs - http://www.manfrotto.com/neotec-pro-photo-tripod
Rogue Flashbenders - http://www.expoimaging.com/product-detail.php?cat_id=13&product_id=21
Flash Zebra - http://flashzebra.com/
So I was at a great conference last weekend down in Ft. Lauderdale at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. On Saturday I had some free time and was going to out and shoot with Scotty Smith... Awesome pastor and overall good guy. While I was waiting to meet up with him, I went across the street and took a quick shot of the church using the Canon 1DX and the 16-35 f2.8 lens. I mean the steeple on this thing is amazing! In a 1970's Florida church kinda way. So I found the best angle to be standing in the median of the road and I snapped a few photos. I knew I was going to have to clean up the powerlines. So I first straightened and cropped the image using Upright in Lightroom and then I took it into the Superheal plugin from Macphun to knock out the powerlines. (I had just recently done a video with Macphun showing how well the healing works, so I thought I would play with it... and it did a great job.) Next I brought it back into Photoshop and good rid of the flags, and cleaned up some other areas and added some extra clouds with cloud brushes I have for just such an occasion. So now you can see the before and after. Overall playing around time, about two hours.
Cleaner, Leaner and cloudier
After this shot, I went with Scotty to do some shooting and we ran across a random iguana, and if you want to see shots of that, you can check that out over on Facebook or my Gplus account. petegplus.com
Here is another image from my continuing aero-series. These two planes were shot by Larry Grace as mentioned before in the previous posts, and they are helping me get ready for the ISAP symposium next month. So I am playing with planes. I have had a lot of good response and I will be coming up with some tutorials in the future. But for the moment, just some more pics. Enjoy!
Taking to the skies and I didn't even need to leave the ground
starting photos from Larry... cutting them out with the Pen Tool and using a little PS magic.
*Flights of Fancy*
So I have been talking with +Larry Grace president of ISAP... http://aviationphoto.org/ about the upcoming symposium next month and I have been working on different plane imagery to share with the photographers... I asked Larry if he had any images that he would like me to play with and this is one of them. Here I am taking your ubiquitous parked plane shot and making it fly once again, plus adding some extra stuff to make it purty. :D Hope you like it.
PS. for you Airplane experts... yes I should have raised the back flap tail thingy... but I just noticed it... so I will fix it later... maybe. :P
*Update... ok...ok...ok... I fixed the tail...sheesh! just because the sucker would crash! :D
