“Causes this is Thriller! Thriller night!” Yeah it had to be done. I could totally this as a new updated version of the classic MJ video.
AAAAHH! ZOMBIES!
Tag Archives: Fun
Fun With Words
No Meta
Looking for something to take pictures of can get difficult. Especially when you are sitting around staring off into space. Two days ago I played with my camera phone to test some of the effects. It turned out the original image (touched up) looked better than the image with effects. Today, I think I have a proper example of an original photo turned into something pretty cool. With Camera 360 and Photoshop Express, and then Lightroom on my laptop, I achieved the final result.
Everyone reading this has probably seen these things before. They are the magnet words you get in a package. Just so happens we have some teacher/student ones in the workroom here. Not sure why we have math ones, because this is the humanities building, but they are there. A few weeks ago, I was sitting around waiting for some food to heat up when I started playing around. I wanted to do something ironic with these words, because quite frankly, they are a little too cheery for me. I tried my best to make two phrases that used these words against themselves. It was rather difficult. Now, don’t take from this that I hate my students or anything. I think teachers worldwide can sympathize with this and know that sometimes they get under your skin in some fashion. So this one goes out to my peeps.
The original image is taken off a grey filing cabinet. The words are all white with different color lettering. I really liked the effect I picked on Camera 360. It is Black and White Sketch. It looked pretty cool to start, but I wanted a little bit of color and clarity. When all was said and done the image above was born. I think I got this pretty far away from a photography and it looks like a cartoon drawing.
The moral of the story is that staring off into space isn’t such a bad thing, especially if you are paranoid about asteroids heading to Earth.
Until tomorrow.
Just Some Playful Banter
1/500 50mm f/1.8 3200 ISO
Today I was very close to using some ducks as my photo. Yeah, I know, it seems like a common theme every day. It is just so easy to pick them as a subject because they are always in the lake. I sat outside for a few minutes just snapping shot after shot to see if I could get an action shot in there. I managed to find one and I was going to go with it, until I was getting ready for work and something happened.
For some reason I find it fun to blow short bursts of air into my dog’s face. She flinches a little bit, freezes, and then gives me a glare from the same position. If I continue to pester her, she eventually brings up her paw to her snout and wipes away my annoyance. This incident happened this very morning when I was leaving the bathroom, and that was when the idea popped in my head. I need to capture this on camera. It would be a test of my patience, my ability to hold the camera steady, and to work with an annoyed, but loving subject.
I quickly took out my camera and switched out my telephoto lens for my 50mm. I like using this lens because it is supposed to be the “real eye” lens. In choosing this lens I gave myself a bigger headache than I thought. You never realize how far away you need to be from your target with this lens until you have an energetic dog in your sights. I started off with a few attacks to her snout. I made a couple of ‘pff’ sounds. She started to flinch and then gave me the death stare. Then she started her growl and followed it up with some loud barks. Oh yeah, she hates me right now. I snapped a few shots while this was going on, only to find out I missed most of her body. I either shot a small radius around her eye, or around her collar, or around her back. My aim was horrible. Along with that I needed to get back further. If you have ever done this with your dog you know that to make these little bursts of air work, you need to be pretty close.
I am glad no one else was watching me do this because I looked ridiculous. The camera was in my right hand behind me, trying to aim with some weird sense of vision, while I was closer to Rogue, trying to get a reaction. The one small action I was looking for just wasn’t happening. It was like she knew what was going on and was just so annoyed by my incessant nagging that she decided to not do anything. I needed a new plan.
Rogue likes to give you her paw. You say, “Paw,” and she lifts it up and puts it in your hand. Nothing special in the dog world, but still always fun to see. Rogue can also give high fives. It’s a much more complex action, where instead of putting her paw on your hand at a low angle, she stretches up and hits your hand above her head. Very technical stuff here. I had my new action, but again I had the problem of distance. She won’t give “five” on command if you are standing too far away; you need to have your hand close enough for her to hit. Yet again, I found myself in a weird position trying to hold the camera behind me, with my body stretched out with my hand close enough…all the while trying to stay out of the shot. Those of you reading this might be thinking, “Get a tripod and use a remote.” I have a tripod, but no such remote. I wasn’t doing too much planning with this, and my time was running out. After a few takes I finally managed to capture her action, mostly in frame.
I’m sticking with this photo today because Rogue is awesome, and this was more for practicing being an action photographer. Next thing you know I’m going to be pissing off some goose just to get a few shots of it chasing me. I think I’ll stick with house hold pets for now. Have fun with your pets today and use them as your subjects. Give them the recognition they deserve.
Until tomorrow.
Cloudy Days
Clouds rolling across the sky.
With the warm weather we have been having it was foreseeable the clouds were going to come rolling in. Today started off sort of cloudy and a little bit of moisture fell to the ground by lunch time, but like I’ve talked about before the rain pretty much comes and goes. Completely disappears. Everything dries up and we all move on. This picture was taken a little bit after mid day, just as a new round of clouds was coming into view.
Clouds are fun to take pictures of; they add a pretty unique dynamic to the skies. They are constantly moving and so images created by the marshmallows are constantly changing. I guess that is the definition of dynamic… Needless to say, this picture will never, and can never exist again. Reminds me of the part in Garden State, with Natalie Portman, when she makes that weird noise in her bedroom. She made a noise and an action that will never happen again because it can never happen the same way in that same spot in that same place in time. Isn’t that a fascinating thing…Natalie Portman.
Being new to the photography scene I am trying to find things to take pictures of that add a little more challenge. I usually work on the ‘M’ setting with my Canon (that’s the manual settings for you non-pro’s). With this setting I have to manipulate every setting the camera uses. It’s a great tool when you know what you are doing, but for a newbie it tends to come down to a lot of trial and error. This picture is by no means an awesome shot of the sky, but an attempt to capture a bunch of different spectrums of light.
With the sun to the right a bit, and the natural filters created by the condensation an interesting juxtaposition of white and black is created. The sides facing to the sun are overexposed, and the underside is underexposed. It is a photographer’s nightmare, I think, to try and make sure every portion of the picture is given the same amount of love. It’s hard to focus on just one area too. I have been keeping my pictures to single subject and haven’t really ventured into too much landscape, or panoramic. I will eventually, and I guess the sky is a good place to start. As long as that sky has some clouds in it and the rain is staying up there where it belongs.
I did alter the image a bit because the blue in the sky was pretty dull today, and I wanted to enhance the detail a bit to make up for it. Maybe one day I can get a picture of those killer shots where the sky is painted with reds, oranges, yellows, and even purples. Until then, I’ll keep looking to the skies, dream of those days to come, when I become an awesome photographer and my writing becomes more polished, and I land a big job with a great company and I can do this for a living. Oops, sorry, head was stuck in the clouds (I know).
Thanks for taking this ride with me so far on this start of a long journey. If you are new, please, keep coming back.
Until tomorrow.
A Special Tribute to Today’s Hero, the Hose Nozzle.
The Barnacle Hose
Today was a pretty awesome day for a few reasons. Historically speaking, we get to celebrate an awesome man (if you don’t know who I am talking about then read a book), we get the day off to celebrate this awesome man, and I got my car detailed. Yes, I know the detailing of one’s car shouldn’t be on the level of say MLK Jr. Day (again, pick up that book, please), but it did make me feel pretty darn good. This leads me into today’s photo.
I love the irony with this hose nozzle. Not only is this bad boy caked with dirt, but barnacles decided to nest on its plastic body. I don’t know what it is about barnacles, but they really intrigue me; another story for another time. This little guy here is meant for cleaning away such dirt and debris, yet it has succumb to the forces which it works to diligently to wash away. I mean this nozzle—this image—is so powerful you could even pick out the social implications behind it. Think about all those who protect us: the firefighters, the police officers, the soldiers, the medical professionals. We put our lives in the hands of these individuals on a daily basis, but whose hands do they fall into. Fortunate for you, my humble reader, I don’t really get into social implications too much, so we don’t have to talk about it. We will, however, continue to personify this guardian of clean.
This picture is just one image of a common yard tool that just got away from its owner long enough to voyage into unknown territory. Will it ever take its rightful place, attached to a rubbery tube, projecting water from its spout? I don’t know, but for today, it remains a little bit of irony that this novice photographer felt would make a pretty cool subject.
I hope you all had a wonderful day off today, if you were granted one, and find the strength to get back to work and have a good, official start to the work week.
Until tomorrow.
