Photo Restoration

A request from a friend to scan and restore an old photograph, featuring her son, posed an interesting challenge.  I scanned the photo, which was printed on what appears to be regular 81/2" x 11" paper that was folded for years.  It was intriguing to see how well my Photoshop skills would stand up to this project.  I must admit that it was far more laborious than I had envisioned.  However, I believe that the final result is a vast improvement over the original. Take a look.

Before and After

It feels like forever since my last post. Been busy will lots of stuff and lots of nothing. Anyway, I have still been shooting and had the pleasure of shooting a friend and his dog a few weeks ago. The dog, Boris, a red doberman pincer, was recently diagnosed with a heart problem and I thought it would be cool to get some shots of them together. Boris is about 9 years old and his age shows a bit in his fur which has a few bald patches. The night of the shoot he was looking and feeling good as the new medication was doing its thing. However, his bald spots betrayed him. Determined to turn back the clock and show Boris at his best, I used Photoshop to do some creative editing on these shots!  I am happy to see Boris is doing better and look forward to another fun shoot with him in the future!

Before

After

Creativity!

Creativity is defined as the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.  For me creativity takes a non-traditional route - it happens to me.  When I create I have no specific outcome in mind all I have is a direction in which to start.  The process evolves and takes on a life of its own.  Many times, the results surprise me - I am not sure how it happens but I absolutely enjoy it!  When I create I feel free; losing sense of time and space I become transfixed by the process and have to peel myself away to take the occasional break.  As my biggest fan and biggest critic I am constantly working on new approaches and new pieces and digital media has made it possible to unleash my creativity in the most liberating ways!


In the series "Light's Ballet" digital photography is merged with abstract painting in a unique way (unique to me at least) and I am satisfied with the results.  Check out the slide show below and let me know what you think!

Abstract Smoke Art!

Thanks God for creativity, art, Nikon and photography because I would have gone insane by now without them.  Still not feeling well I have been house bound for the past few days but with my trusty camera and creative mind I have been able to come up with some shoots. Today's shoot was intended to be the first in a series of abstract smoke art pieces - let me tell you that it isn't easy - at least not to me.  Here are two finished pieces from the first run.

LiGhT pAiNtInG! How I shot this one!

The beauty in this shot isn't the composition, nor is it the subject.  The beauty lies in the technique.  I had the hair brained scheme for the composition - leaves on a plate with a knife and fork as if to imply this was a meal but when I went outside I could only find a few awful specimens.  Hardly any color at all -  fall color would have made the subject more interesting.  Since I had to settle for what I had (it was cold and dark) I decided to try a long exposure and paint the subject using a single LED flash light.  I placed the camera on a tripod, set the exposure for 25 secs, ISO 400, the aperture to f22 and used a 50mm lens (the room was completely dark).  I triggered the camera with a remote and walked around the table pointing the LED at the subject and here is the result after 4 attempts.

I have seen other photographers use a flash light to create dramatic lighting effects with long exposures but this is my first attempt and I have to say that I like this approach.  It is perfect for still life but would be a bitch with a model.  Click the image for full view!

Sleepy Kitties!

I have been a bit under the weather for the last few days and still have the need to shoot, so once again my cats are the subjects.  I know, I know - they are way too many cat photos out there but I can't help myself.  Today I caught these two sleepy cats and here are the results!