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Game Box

Our final project for my graphics class was to create a PC Game box. The game either had to be made up or not released yet. I chose the TV Series Spartacus -- Blood and Sand for my project. At the time I picked it there was no video games for the show. Since then they have came out with a game for the Apple iPhone. That's where I got the in-game screen shots for the back cover.



This is the 11" X 17" template I used for my design. I had a small panic attack when Staples refused to print it because of Copyright issues. Fortunately I was able to get it printed and put together by other means.

Fiction Photography II

I have a small show of pictures of War of War Craft Figures coming up for the month of June. The pictures will be on display at the Edison Community College Library. The Night Elf pictured here is one of two figures that will be featured in the display.



As with all new things I try with photography there are things I learn in the process. Here are some of the High Lights:

While a tripod is handy in the studio, for landscapes etc it is pretty much useless for this type of outdoor photography. I used a combination table top Tripod and Beanbags. The beanbags were the most helpful.

The best lighting is still Early Morning or Late Afternoon. These pictures were taken just over an hour before sunset.

Clean, Clean and Clean some more. These things have a habit of picking up dust and cobwebs that may not be all that apparent until your looking at it blown up on your monitor.

Bean Bags are HEAVY but portable. They fit easy in my bag but added a noticeable amount of weight. Not an issue this time as I did not have far to walk.



It was a fun shoot and I am looking forward to doing some more sessions.

Sloppy Joe's Bar

There is no shortage of nightlife in Key West. Sloppy Joe's Bar is just one of many on the main drag called Duval Street. The bar has several claims to fame, one being the home of the original Sloppy Joe sandwich. My wife and I ate lunch there to give the Original Sloppy Joe a try. The sandwich wasn't anything to brag about but the Sloppy Joe Loaded Fries and Barbecued Shrimp were fantastic.

Arr, Keep Out

While wondering around the island of Key West Florida I found this beautiful home. It not only appealed to my eye with all its beauty but my sense of humor as well. Check out this link for more on How to Talk Like a Pirate.

Click on the picture for a larger view to find the Pirate reference.

Our First Tulip

I found this tulip in full bloom in our front flower bed today when I came home from work. It is in a bad spot, right up against the side of the concrete porch. The flower was facing west and it was around 7:00 PM when I got around to taking the picture. I wanted to try and make the shadows a secondary subject to the flower so I stuck a white mat board behind for a better background and to give more definition to the shadows. I used the Rough Pastels Filter in PhotoShop to give it more of an artsy feel.

Long Neck Cats and Sun Flowers

While wondering around in Mallory Square in Key West Florida shopping, I came across these two pictures. I am not sure what the significance of the Long Neck Cats is but I actually saw someone trucking one of these around downtown.



I just liked all the different expressions on the faces of the suns.

Key West (Off Beat)

I recently got to visit Key West Florida with my wife. Of course I took all the standard tourist shots, but thought I'd post something a little different here. Pictured here is a Bronze sculpture of the Sun and Moon that I really liked. If I were rich I would have shipped this baby home, but all I could afford was to take its picture. I tweaked the colors and made the collage effect to make it more of my own.

I am reading a book by Bryan Peterson "Understanding Shutter Speed". I wanted to practice some of the slow shutter techniques he covered in the book but didn't have a 4 stop ND filter to slow my shutter down enough. So I had to do a little creative adjustment in PhotoShop to get the effect I was looking for in this shot.



I found what looked to be a sanctioned graffiti wall on my way to check out the piers. I took several shots of different artist work. This one titled "What About" was one of my favorites.



There was this guy on the dock cutting up what I think was bait. Occasionally he would throw a piece of scrap to this group of pelicans in the water. I thought it made for a comical composition. I call this one "Pelican Buffet".



This shot could of benefited from a polarizer but I was shooting with my 50mm and do not have one that fits that lens.

Check out all my other online outlets for more pictures from the trip.

WOW Tauren

A friend of mine plays and collects War Of Warcraft figures. He had this one--a Tauren above his desk and I thought it would make for a great picture opportunity. And yes I spent sometime with it in PhotoShop. The figure is plastic and reflects light like you would think plastic does.

I used a little ambient light to help keep the exposure under 8 seconds to reduce noise. The rest of the light came from a small Mag flashlight. I painted the figure with it during the exposure.

The following is from the WOW website on just what a Tauren is:

The Tauren are huge, bestial creatures who live in the grassy, open barrens of central Kalimdor. They live to serve nature and maintain the balance between the wild things of the land and the restless spirit of the elements. Despite their enormous size and brute strength, the remarkably peaceful Tauren cultivate a quiet, tribal society. However, when roused by conflict, Tauren are implacable enemies who will use every ounce of their strength to smash their enemies under hoof. Under the leadership of their ancient chief, Cairne Bloodhoof, the Tauren allied themselves with the Orcs during the invasion of the Burning Legion. The two races have remained steadfast allies ever since. Like the Orcs, the Tauren struggle to retain their sense of tradition and noble identity.

Ball in Watercolor

My wife came home after Easter shopping with two clear bounce balls. One had gold glitter and the other silver. I thought it would be cool to try and capture the swirling glitter with a slow exposure. I setup a black backdrop and recruited my family to shake and place the ball. The resulting shots were okay but this one that I used the Watercolor filter on plus a few other tweaks was my shot of the day.

Fun With Curves

I was playing around in PhotoShop with this image I captured while touring Chateau Laroche (Loveland Castle in Loveland, Ohio). The second image came from just going crazy with the Curves Adjustment Tool



Not sure if I'd ever hang it on my wall but it sure gave the image a new look.

I plan on doing a major post covering my visit in my My Hometown Ohio blog.

Zephyr Dancers I

Every time I take pictures I have a great time. However, add six Belly Dancers and you go from having a great time to having a blast. The girls were great to work with and they had a fun time as well. They plan on using the pictures to help promote their dance troupe. This picture is my favorite from the bunch so far. I had to Photoshop in the black background. The lighting is a little flat because she was dancing and moving around and was not where I had the lighting setup for. I won't share how much time I spent in Photoshop on this but lets just say it took some time.

This one I've titled Orange Crush.



I will share one more. This dancer wanted to go for the more serious look. I wasn't sure how it was going to come out but, I think she pulled it off well.



I will post pictures of the other three in my next post.

Net 105 Graphics Class II

The class assignment was to create a chalk board with photoshop. You were not required to come up with this on your own. You were free to use Internet resources. So with a little help from Google I found a tutorial to do just that. It took me about an hour but I was very happy with the result. Following the tutorial not only reinforced what I had already learned in class but introduced me to some new tools and techniques. The more I learn about Photoshop the more amazed I become at the power of what this software can do. Check out the link below to see how it was done.

Design a realistic chalkboard in Photoshop

Net 105 Graphics Class I

I am taking a computer graphics class and this is a before and after of one of our assignments. I am having trouble adapting the work-flow but I am learning more about PhotoShop.



This was a combination of learning New Adjustment Layers, Layer and Channel Adjustments, Brightness and Contrast, Masking and Drop shadow.

Stained Glass Reflection

I was in this church when I noticed the light from the stained glass reflecting off the wall. Well by itself it did not make for a very interesting image. So I played around with it in PhotoShop.

Big Four Bridge Challenge

Last Sunday morning the trees were wearing white coats of heavy frost. So I just had to go out and take some pictures in the freezing single digit weather. One of my subjects of choice was the Big Four Bridge in Sidney. Shooting from the top of the hill of Children's Home Road gave me the angle and the composition that I wanted but as you can see there was a bit of fog/mist in the air that gave me this shot. I even tried using a UV and Polarize filter to no avail. I decided to take the picture anyway and see what I could do in post processing. This is what I started with.



Using Levels, Curves and a host of other tweaks I was surprised to get this.



After further review I decided upon this narrow crop for the final image.



PhotoShop is proving to be an amazing tool.