Ornate Tattoos on Exhibit

23 Comments November 9, 2015 dogear6

Through November 29, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art has an exhibit on “Japanese Tattoo: Perseverance, Art, and Tradition“.

To say they’re ornate is an understatement. They are fantastic. I’m not a big fan of tattoos, but the artistry is incredible. This enormous picture shows a variety of tattoos, some of which are still in progress. In the exhibit, you’ll see that it’s mostly men. There are a few women – the picture below has a female on each end, but I’m pretty certain the rest are men (the other side does not show their faces).

20151004-12 Blog

Japanese tattoos have a long history. Its perseverance is from its long history of old rules and new ones. Mainstream Japan is not very accepting of it, regarding it as part of an underground or criminal activity. Even in the art world it’s not fully accepted.

Topaz Labs Free Trial

5 Comments November 7, 2015 dogear6

If you’re considering buying or using Topaz Labs products, I suggest you download a free trial now. Topaz often runs a sale of some sort on Black Friday (i.e., the day after Thanksgiving when the Christmas shopping bargains happen). I don’t know if they are this year, but they have in the past. This way – with less than three weeks left until Black Friday – you’ll know for sure if you want to buy it in the event there is a sale.

At this time, when their software is upgraded, owners receive a free update (note that is always subject to change).

To find out more about downloading Topaz Labs, click here. You’ll receive a $20 coupon and supposedly I get one too. I’m not a Topaz representative nor do they offer me anything for doing this. I’m merely sending around a reminder since so many of you have commented on thinking about trying it out.

More about my post processing can be found here.

Here are some examples of things I’ve done using Topaz Labs. Most of the frames around the pictures are from a different software, onOne Effects. They also offer a free trial (click here), but I don’t know if they offer any sales on Black Friday.

The beagle, Vizsla and miniature pinscher. Do you have a treat?

Final Version! Topaz Labs Impressions, with a dark vignette

The finalist! This used Topaz Glow, “Whiskers and Fur 1”, with an antique border from onOne.

Self-Portrait Using Topaz Adjust “Pop” Filter

I love my Momma!

Topaz Impressions “Swirly Strokes”

Pumpkins taken in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Post processed using Topaz Impressions, “Rembrandt 2” and on1 border, “Black Key”.

Beagle in the backyard. The file is not opening correctly for me to tell how I processed this.

Final Version – Topaz Impressions “Painterly 1” on Brick, With onOne Dynamic Contrast

Playing with my favorite toy – the squeaky soccer ball

Topaz Glow Using Dream 2

9th Street over the James River in Richmond, Virginia

After Before Friday – Final Choice, Using Topaz Effects “Grunge Me” and Topaz Simplify “Painting”

Brown’s Island from the bridge over to the island, in Richmond Virginia. The photo is processed using Topaz labs Impressions.

Greenhouse at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens; processed using Topaz Labs Black and White Filters

ABFriday – November 2015

31 Comments November 6, 2015 dogear6

Another month has gone by and it’s time again for the ABFriday One Photo Focus, sponsored by Stacy Fisher over at Visual Venturing. A number of us take the same picture and post process it with our own interpretation. It’s always fun to see what everyone does! This month’s entries can be found here and was provided by Helen Chen.

The original photo is on the left. I applied a few standard adjustments to improve clarity, contrast and exposure. I did some minor cloning of the inside doorway to get rid of the red object and some of the speckles in the upper half of the doorway. After some debate, I also cropped it down. The wall on the left was interesting, but I found it hard to figure out where I wanted to look! After that, the brick wall to the left was burned out and I used a masking brush to darken it down more. I also darkened the inside of the doorway. Since it was a bit junky, I felt a darker look made it more mysterious.

Original Photo

Picture after Lightroom edit

I Am An Author

31 Comments November 1, 2015 dogear6

Last weekend, I attended the Igniting Souls Conference in Columbus, Ohio. I’m a member of this because earlier this summer, I enrolled in one of their mentoring programs, “Authors Academy Elite”. At the end of the program, I will be a published author and they are providing me with the tools and knowledge to do it. I also participate in weekly coaching calls and a Facebook group where I can ask questions.

The conference was great! There was good teaching on identifying our vision and coming up with a plan for it. We then moved into building a social media platform, covering topics such as advertising on Facebook and how to build or borrow a platform. There were also speeches by people who published their books in the last year. We got to hear about their books, their passions and values, and who they were (click here to listen for yourself).

The networking was even better. We started on Friday night with a dinner for just the authors. Over 40 of us showed up, including quite a few from my summer start date. Several authors were published just that week!

The guy waving his arms over my head is Kary Oberbrunner, one of the founders of Igniting Souls. His partner, David Branderhorst, is in the far left corner

Myself and a fellow author

Talking with the one husband of one of the authors

All the authors at dinner the night before

The High Probability of a Low Probability Event

44 Comments September 28, 2015 dogear6

In his book, Triggers, Marshall Goldsmith talks about how when we want to change ourselves, there is a statistically proven high probability that a low probability event will happen and derail our plans.

We’ve had ours for this year.

While taking sunrise pictures in Acadia National Park, my favorite boy toy slipped on some loose gravel and fell backwards, destroying his camera and lens, and tearing his tricep.

The button right below the start / stop is totally gone. Canon put that little glass slide on the back to keep glass fragments from getting all over while they determined the camera was not fixable.

Thankfully, the camera and his backpack of lenses broke his fall. But it hasn’t been fun.

ABFriday: Street Art

34 Comments September 4, 2015 dogear6

Welcome to another month of After-Before Friday, where participants take a photo and each renders their own interpretation of it. The other photos are hosted at Visual Venturing by Stacy Fischer. This month, Ben Rowe, of Aperture64, volunteered a photo of the Pendennis Castle in Cornwall, England. I encourage you to visit both blogs – Stacy’s to see what other people did (and it’s always a wide variety) and Ben, because he does such a superb job of explaining how he edited his version.

So here’s the original photo. The red marks are some things I cloned out to slightly declutter the picture. This included two benches, a sign, a small amount of roof, and a blip in the sky. I also did some pipes up the side of the building (just to the left of the center), but missed one in the middle of the tower, where the arrow is.

Original Photo Before Lightroom Adjustments; Red Shows What I Cloned Out

I lightly edited the photo in Lightroom and cropped it down to reduce the sky and grass. I felt the castle was better seen when it filled the frame and the Lightroom adjustments brought out the colors and perked up the picture.

ABFriday: Stone, Water and Sky

38 Comments August 7, 2015 dogear6

It’s once again time for After-Before Friday, hosted as always by Stacy Fisher over at Visual Venturing. To see other pictures from ABFriday, click here. It’s always fun to check and see the many variations that happen each month!

On the left is the original photo; on the right is how the photo looked after I enhanced it in Lightroom. The colors and textures have improved and there is more variation between the sky and water.

The original photo.

The original photo after I enhanced it in Lightroom.

This was the finalist, using Topaz Glow “Whiskers and Fur 1”. Topaz Glow uses “energetic sparks of neon lights” (per their advertising) “to create beautiful and vibrant images”.

I’ve found it difficult to find anything I like when using it, so my challenge this month was to see if I couldn’t figure it out. It took some experimenting, but I finally found a look that after some adjustment, I thought showed off the textures and colors in a way that was pleasing. To finish it, I used a border called “antique” from onOne Software to give it a vintage look.

The finalist! This used Topaz Glow, “Whiskers and Fur 1”, with an antique border from onOne.

I didn’t clone out the people. On the other experiments, I thought it helped give perspective to the photo and they were clearly recognized as people. For the Topaz Glow, it’s harder to tell what they are and if I were to redo the picture, I’d try it with and without the people to see how it looked.