This was shot at the Berkeley Kite Festival this past weekend. I was trying out my new 16-35mm 2.8L II, which is terrific for landscapes, but also hilarious for portraits. I didn’t have too much time to spend photoshopping the image, so I used a technique I discovered a couple years back. It involves lightening the lights and darkening the darks by using two Curves layers—one for each extreme. It’s best to push both a good amount, then use the paintbrush at 5% or 10% opacity to unmask the areas you want to reveal.

This accident happened just a few minutes ago on our street in Mt. Vernon. I heard the crash from my office on the other side of the apartment, but Jen woke up to the screams of the woman from the sedan. Apparently, she was the only survivor.

I felt a bit sluggish today due to a late start this morning and the dead weather here in Baltimore. As a pick-me-up, I messed around with a few of Photoshop CS5′s new features. One of the more useful tools I came across is the Mixer Brush, which is like the Smudge tool but smarter and more painterly. After a few minutes of use, I could tell this will be huge with the touch-up crowd. If you’ve seen some of my photography on DestroyEveryday, you know I’m more drawn to emphasizing details however gruesome they may be, but I thought I’d try the reverse with the photo above. The Mixer Brush was used on the right side while the other side was left untouched.

On another note, I’m considering a weekly Photoshop post to keep me active with it since I’ve been pretty neglectful lately—”Photoshop Friday” has a catchy sound to it. And if I start this and keep it going, should I include the process?

On Sunday, I fly to San Francisco to spend a couple days at the Adobe mothership before heading to Salt Lake City for the Omniture Summit. With each trip to the west coast, I try to learn from the experience, so the next time is smoother. For example, I will never again fly with a suit bag. Of course, “pack light” is a given, but there are other things, like essential pocket occupants, that are a necessity (see travel tissues, Burt’s Beeswax, black Bic pen).

Wherever I fly, I make sure to bring my camera. And, depending on the location, I have a number of decisions to make—which lenses to bring, whether or not I’ll need a tripod, etc. The first time to San Francisco, I brought my tripod—an 11 ft Gitzo with carbon fiber legs. It was obvious afterwords that this was a big mistake, so the next time I packed my Gorillapod. With a height of about a foot, this was pretty limiting, so I rarely used it.

This time, I’m prepared. On Monday, I placed an order on B&H for a Gitzo carbon fiber monopod. It weighs less than a pound and supports 26.4 lbs!—making it the perfect travel companion. It arrived today and I noticed something I wasn’t expecting. Instead of using the ballhead from my tripod and nullifying the lightweight aspect of the monopod, I thought I’d use the quick release system from my DIY steadycam. Unfortunately, the lock on the quick release interferes with the monopod’s base.

To correct this issue, I ordered a swivel/tilt head. It provides one-axis movement to quickly switch between landscape and portrait—perfect for monopods. It’s expected to arrive on Friday, just in time for the trip. I’m excited to see how it performs, so look forward to a follow-up post after the trip.

My good friend, Luke Williams, finally launched his weblog—yes, I used the full word. Even though it has only been live for a short time, he already has a solid amount of fresh content. I know Luke is determined to keep this one active—as opposed to his first attempt, which ended up being comment-spammed by myself impersonating some of the more interesting people from MICA. Check it out and let him know what you think.

I have a number of new DestroyFramework classes ready to document and check-in over the next few days. I plan to get back into sharing interesting and useful things I come across, regarding both programming and design. And, now that I’ve been introduced to MVC(S) and RobotLegs, I have a lot more to talk about—expect a tutorial in the near future.

To add some imagery to this post, below is yesterday’s Destroy Everyday post featuring Andy Mangold. I also included a detail shot because the web-sized image really doesn’t do it justice.

It’s the new year and the best day to start anything. In my search for a hobby off the computer, I compromised and found a semi-off-the-computer challenge. Jen led me to the “Make Something Cool Every Day” concept. It’s a great motivation to consistently produce work while strengthening creativity. The best example I’ve seen yet is Brock Davis’s portfolio on Behance. Surely, I don’t expect to think up ideas as original as his, but I plan to use this as a stimulus to return to photography, print, and any other physical mediums I’ve neglected over the years.

The daily creations will reside on destroyeveryday.com as a Tumblr blog. The service provides a dozen different ways to post content, so “I didn’t have access to a computer” won’t be an excuse for missing a day—believe it or not, you can post content via a 1-800 number. Here’s to the new year and the beginning of a new venture.

Yesterday, Jen asked if we would still be able to go out today because of the snow forecast. I said, “I don’t see why not. It’s probably going to flurry.” Two feet of snow later, we decided to take the camera out for a walk. It was a lot colder than expected, so we didn’t stay out very long. At f/2.8 with my new 50mm f/1.2, I was able to snag a few beauties of Jen.

Jen and I recently went home to PA for a weekend visit with my newly acquired Canon 50mm 1.2L. When I had the Canon 30D, my 35mm 1.4L had the perfect focal length, but after upgrading to full frame with the Canon 5D MKII, it became too wide. Since the 35mm on the 30D’s 1.6x crop body is the equivalent to 55mm on full frame, I decided to take the plunge and pick up the Canon 50mm 1.2L. I couldn’t be happier with the lens—its bokeh makes butter feel like concrete. While in PA, Jen, her sister, and I stopped at the Linvilla Orchards for some test shots and fresh apples. Check out the photos on Flickr.

This is a great photo by Jim Lind. I really appreciate the balance of raw photography and subtle retouching. There was certainly a solid amount of time put into the composite, but it doesn’t scream photoshop like his other images.

via ShareSomeCandy »