R...

Sometimes a window light is all you need.

Hope your day is going well.

Spike gets Spiked

Juzno: Nice Haircut.

Spike Dee:  I have a photo op with Helmut Newton.  He said he can use an assistant.  Wanna come?

Juzno:  Nah, I'm doing the Dalai Lama.  I heard he wanted to show off his new perm.

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Shot with Original Lensbaby. Hope your day is going great.

Featured Comments:

Glenn:  I recently saw a Helmut Newton exhibit at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City.  It was a bit awkward seeing some of his photos with my daughter, but in was interesting for her nonetheless.  I like how the spikes appear out of the bluish blur in the photo... some more Photoshopping magic?

Juzno:  Cheers, Glenn...  I know what you mean about Helmut Newton.  I simply used that reference because he was the first that came to mind when it came to glamour photography.  Interestingly I read that he never used artificial light in his photo op.  Just available light and that was it.  For the longest time I tried that approach and learned a lot about lighting.  But I felt there are situation when artificial light can improve the shot.

The spiky plant is the one near the district library.  I shot it last Friday after talking with you.  Actually my last shot for the day - which tends to be the best because I already warmed up.  No photo manipulation.  Just changed the white balance for cooler temperature and played with the saturation in post processing. Some dodge and burn on the corners to create vignette.  The blurry effect is in-camera using the Lensbaby.  Real simple approach.  Too simple that it surprises some people who think I spent hours in post-processing when it only took a few minutes.

Lily Gaga

Juzno: Your arrival is kind of late.  It's already Fall Season.

Lily:  I'm dressing up as Miley Cyrus for Halloween.

Hope your day is getting better.

In over Jerry's head

Juzno:  How does it feel to play Mr. Mistoffelees every week in Cats?

Jerry:  Actually I'm quitting that gig.  I have a job offer to be the Vice-President of Marketing for a Fortune Top 20 company.

Juzno:  Neat.  What are the perks?

Jerry:  I speak truth to the powerless.

Hope your day is going well.

Techie Notes:  Both eyes are green in his real life.  I added a graduated color defined filter to warm the right side of his head - just to make it a bit interesting.  The blur is created by making a duplicate layer in Photoshop.  From it, I just clicked on the default motion blur preset in PS. Erased the middle part so the original layer underneath shows up un-blurred.

Rosa on Raising Children

Juzno: A penny for your thought?

Rosa: It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.

Juzno: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry?

Rosa:  No, my tax preparer.

Hope your day is going well.

Featured Comments:

Glenn:  I suppose tax preparers have lots to say about wasted time.

Anne:  Very nice.  I love roses.  Perfect lighting.  How do you make the background dark?

May I keep this one for a card later if I need to make one for emergency?

Juzno:  Thanks.  You can use this for your card, Anne.

There are a number of ways to make the background dark.  I used to just shoot as-is, and burn and dodge in post processing.  But usually the result is artificial.  The best way is to do it on-camera.

The trick is to be able to find the right background so the red on the rose would pop out.  I just keep looking on the view finder until the lighting on the background looks good.  I shot this on manual exposure: f4 at 1/200.  On auto, my camera wants to shoot at f4, 1/80 but I decided to underexpose it so I can get the background dark.  In Photoshop, I selected the red channel and pushed the red back up in the Curves Overlay.  This way only the reds are affected.  It’s really easier to show it than it sounds.

Golden Years

Not much of a story here except that they were once little orphans who were left to fend for themselves because their parents were uprooted and taken to fight against the evil Lord Tutu.  Fortuitously, the parents left them with a hefty tax-free inheritance through a Federal Program called Uniform Gift to Minors.  As we can see, they are now enjoying their golden years.

Have a great weekend.

Techie Notes:  Pretty much on a plateau with Street Photography right now.  Even looking at other people's SP work does not seem to inspire me much.  So yea, you could say I'm taking a break from SP.

This is really an old photo I dug from the grave (my archives).  Rose saw this and suggested I shoot with the Lensbaby (the lens I used for this sot) again.  The halo and blurry effect is on-camera.  Was not done in post-processing.

Probably shot around 2010 when I used the LB exclusively.  When I saw the file name it suggested to me that I used the original LB.  Since then, the lens manufacturer has come up with different versions.

I just reprocessed this using better tools and fresher vision.  I've been doing that nowadays - revisiting my old work and see how I can improve them: either re-shooting or re-processing.

I'm going for a new look

Juzno:  New hairdo?

Rosalee:  I asked for a trim but my hair dresser thought I would look good with this style.

Juzno:  Goes well with the season.  Reminds me of Audrey Hepburn meets Sinead O'Connor.

Rosalee:  Agree.  Now I need to try a new wardrobe to go with it.  I'm thinking earthy rust color.