We made a quick trip up to the Boerner Botanic Garden in lovely Hales Corners, Wisconsin and I thought maybe I should take a few friends along. You know, just to get them out of the apartment and stretch a little.
While I was talking to April and lamenting the sad state of my Plastic 52 project (I started the project on June 27th, 2008) when from behind me I heard, "Camerasman! Hey Camerasman! HEY!"
I whipped around and there stood Hugg, Wage's apron hastily draped over his shoulder. "Camerasman! Take my picture!"
Wondering what happened to Wage, I knelt down and started lining up my shot. From the corner of my viewfinder I saw this naked orange streak run into the frame shouting, "Give me back my clothes!"
Click.
Be good,
-Dave
|
One of my favorite things to do with Wage is have him in the garden. I'm not entirely sure why, but that's where he seems to fit the best.
Straight out of camera.
My Secret EXIF:
| Camera: | Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi |
| Exposure: | 0.006 sec (1/160) |
| Aperture: | f/3.5 |
| Focal Length: | 50 mm |
| ISO Speed: | 400 |
| Exposure Bias: | 0 EV |
| Flash: | Off |
| File Size: | 2.7 MB |
| File Type: | JPEG |
| MIME Type: | image/jpeg |
| Image Width: | 3888 |
| Image Height: | 2592 |
| Encoding Process: | Baseline DCT, Huffman coding |
| Bits Per Sample: | 8 |
| Color Components: | 3 |
| Orientation: | Horizontal (normal) |
| X-Resolution: | 72 dpi |
| Y-Resolution: | 72 dpi |
| Date and Time (Modified): | 2009:03:18 08:47:02 |
| YCbCr Positioning: | Co-sited |
| Exposure Program: | Aperture-priority AE |
| Date and Time (Original): | 2009:03:18 08:47:02 |
| Date and Time (Digitized): | 2009:03:18 08:47:02 |
| Metering Mode: | Multi-segment |
| Color Space: | sRGB |
| Focal Plane X-Resolution: | 4433.295325 dpi |
| Focal Plane Y-Resolution: | 4453.608247 dpi |
| Custom Rendered: | Normal |
| Exposure Mode: | Auto |
| White Balance: | Manual |
| Scene Capture Type: | Standard |
| Macro Mode: | Normal |
| Self Timer: | Off |
| Quality: | Fine |
| Canon Flash Mode: | Off |
| Continuous Drive: | Single |
| Focus Mode: | One-shot AF |
| Record Mode: | JPEG |
| Canon Image Size: | Large |
| Easy Mode: | Manual |
| Digital Zoom: | None |
| Contrast: | Normal |
| Saturation: | Normal |
| Sharpness: | 3 |
| Metering Mode: | Evaluative |
| Focus Range: | Not Known |
| Canon Exposure Mode: | Aperture-priority AE |
| Lens Type: | Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro or Sigma Lens |
| Long Focal: | 50 mm |
| Short Focal: | 50 mm |
| Focal Units: | 1 |
| Max Aperture: | 2.5 |
| Min Aperture: | 32 |
| Flash Activity: | 0 |
| Flash Bits: | (none) |
| Focus Continuous: | Single |
| Zoom Source Width: | 0 |
| Zoom Target Width: | 0 |
| Photo Effect: | Off |
| Manual Flash Output: | n/a |
| Color Tone: | Normal |
| Focal Type: | Fixed |
| Focal Plane XSize: | 23.04 mm |
| Focal Plane YSize: | 15.37 mm |
| Auto ISO: | 100 |
| Base ISO: | 400 |
| Measured EV: | 3.88 |
| Target Aperture: | 3.6 |
| Target Exposure Time: | 1/161 |
| White Balance: | Cloudy |
| Slow Shutter: | None |
| Sequence Number: | 0 |
| Optical Zoom Code: | n/a |
| Flash Guide Number: | 0 |
| Flash Exposure Comp: | 0 |
| Auto Exposure Bracketing: | Off |
| AEBBracket Value: | 0 |
| Control Mode: | Camera Local Control |
| Bulb Duration: | 0 |
| Camera Type: | EOS Mid-range |
| Auto Rotate: | None |
| NDFilter: | Unknown (-1) |
| Self Timer2: | 0 |
| Flash Output: | 0 |
| Canon Firmware Version: | Firmware 1.1.1 |
| Serial Number: | 1220842575 |
| Canon Model ID: | EOS Digital Rebel XTi / 400D / Kiss Digital X (and rare K236) |
| Num AFPoints: | 9 |
| Valid AFPoints: | 9 |
| AFArea Width: | 78 |
| AFArea Height: | 78 |
| Original Decision Data Offset: | 0 |
| File Number: | 125-9704 |
| Bracket Mode: | Off |
| Bracket Value: | 0 |
| Bracket Shot Number: | 0 |
| Noise Reduction: | Off |
| WBBracket Mode: | Off |
| WBBracket Value AB: | 0 |
| WBBracket Value GM: | 0 |
| Filter Effect: | None |
| Toning Effect: | None |
| Lens Model: | EF50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro |
| Internal Serial Number: | H1858035 |
| Dust Removal Data: | (Binary data 1024 bytes) |
| Tone Curve: | Standard |
| Sharpness Frequency: | n/a |
| Sensor Red Level: | 0 |
| Sensor Blue Level: | 0 |
| White Balance Red: | 0 |
| White Balance Blue: | 0 |
| Color Temperature: | 5200 |
| Picture Style: | Standard |
| Digital Gain: | 0 |
| WBShift AB: | 0 |
| WBShift GM: | 0 |
| Color Space: | sRGB |
| VRDOffset: | 0 |
| Sensor Width: | 3948 (52-3939 used) |
| Sensor Height: | 2622 (23-2614 used) |
| Black Mask Left Border: | 0 |
| Black Mask Top Border: | 0 |
| Black Mask Right Border: | 0 |
| Black Mask Bottom Border: | 0 |
| White Balance RGGB Levels: | 2461 1024 1024 1382 |
| Color Temperature: | 6000 |
| WB_ RGGBLevels Measured: | 2083 1025 1022 1703 |
| Color Temp Measured: | 4559 |
| WB_ RGGBLevels Custom: | 1910 1024 1024 1594 |
| Color Temp Custom: | 4535 |
| Set Button Cross Keys Func: | Set: Picture Style |
| Long Exposure Noise Reduction: | Off |
| Flash Sync Speed Av: | Auto |
| Shutter- AELock: | AF/AE lock |
| AFAssist Beam: | Emits |
| Exposure Level Increments: | 1/3 Stop |
| Mirror Lockup: | Disable |
| ETTLII: | Evaluative |
| Shutter Curtain Sync: | 1st-curtain sync |
| Magnified View: | Image playback only |
| LCDDisplay At Power On: | Display |
| Compression: | JPEG (old-style) |
Be good,
-Dave
|
This photo is my first exposure (no pun intended) to Adobe Lightroom, and... I'm still not sure about it. I can see how it would be useful, especially in a studio setting or when you are shooting a portrait setting and need to apply the same post processing to several pictures. As for one off shots like this? I'm not so sure I need it. There's nothing there I can't accomplish in Photoshop, and, to be honest, I like having the extra controls that Photoshop provides.
I don't know, maybe I'll have to play with it more. Although look how much more EXIF data it spits out! Wall of Text, ahoy!
100% USDA-Approved EXIF:
| Camera: | Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi |
| Exposure: | 0.067 sec (1/15) |
| Aperture: | f/8.0 |
| Focal Length: | 50 mm |
| Exposure: | +0.95 |
| ISO Speed: | 400 |
| Exposure Bias: | 0 EV |
| Flash: | Off |
| File Size: | 5.8 MB |
| File Type: | JPEG |
| MIME Type: | image/jpeg |
| Image Width: | 2592 |
| Image Height: | 3888 |
| Encoding Process: | Baseline DCT, Huffman coding |
| Bits Per Sample: | 8 |
| Color Components: | 3 |
| X-Resolution: | 240 dpi |
| Y-Resolution: | 240 dpi |
| Software: | Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows |
| Date and Time (Modified): | 2009:03:04 08:50:23 |
| Exposure Program: | Aperture-priority AE |
| Date and Time (Original): | 2009:03:04 09:10:44-06:00 |
| Date and Time (Digitized): | 2009:03:04 09:10:44 |
| Metering Mode: | Multi-segment |
| Focal Plane X-Resolution: | 4433.29532497149 dpi |
| Focal Plane Y-Resolution: | 4453.60824742268 dpi |
| Custom Rendered: | Normal |
| Exposure Mode: | Auto |
| White Balance: | Auto |
| Scene Capture Type: | Standard |
| Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type: | D50 |
| Measurement Observer: | CIE 1931 |
| Measurement Flare: | 0.999% |
| Measurement Illuminant: | D65 |
| XMPToolkit: | Adobe XMP Core 4.2-c020 1.124078, Tue Sep 11 2007 23:21:40 |
| YCbCr Positioning: | Co-sited |
| Metadata Date: | 2009:03:04 08:32:38-06:00 |
| Creator Tool: | Adobe Photoshop Lightroom |
| Format: | image/jpeg |
| White Balance: | Custom |
| Incremental Temperature: | +5 |
| Incremental Tint: | -100 |
| Shadows: | 20 |
| Brightness: | 0 |
| Contrast: | +25 |
| Saturation: | -74 |
| Sharpness: | 25 |
| Luminance Smoothing: | 0 |
| Color Noise Reduction: | 5 |
| Chromatic Aberration R: | 0 |
| Chromatic Aberration B: | 0 |
| Vignette Amount: | -100 |
| Vignette Midpoint: | 25 |
| Shadow Tint: | +100 |
| Red Hue: | -100 |
| Red Saturation: | +100 |
| Green Hue: | -100 |
| Green Saturation: | -100 |
| Blue Hue: | -100 |
| Blue Saturation: | -67 |
| Fill Light: | 40 |
| Vibrance: | 0 |
| Highlight Recovery: | 10 |
| Clarity: | +25 |
| Defringe: | 2 |
| Hue Adjustment Red: | 0 |
| Hue Adjustment Orange: | -31 |
| Hue Adjustment Yellow: | -38 |
| Hue Adjustment Green: | 0 |
| Hue Adjustment Aqua: | 0 |
| Hue Adjustment Blue: | 0 |
| Hue Adjustment Purple: | 0 |
| Hue Adjustment Magenta: | 0 |
| Saturation Adjustment Red: | 0 |
| Saturation Adjustment Orange: | 0 |
| Saturation Adjustment Yellow: | -2 |
| Saturation Adjustment Green: | -45 |
| Saturation Adjustment Aqua: | -12 |
| Saturation Adjustment Blue: | -100 |
| Saturation Adjustment Purple: | 0 |
| Saturation Adjustment Magenta: | 0 |
| Luminance Adjustment Red: | -2 |
| Luminance Adjustment Orange: | +10 |
| Luminance Adjustment Yellow: | +21 |
| Luminance Adjustment Green: | +19 |
| Luminance Adjustment Aqua: | 0 |
| Luminance Adjustment Blue: | -7 |
| Luminance Adjustment Purple: | 0 |
| Luminance Adjustment Magenta: | 0 |
| Split Toning Shadow Hue: | 249 |
| Split Toning Shadow Saturation: | 7 |
| Split Toning Highlight Hue: | 39 |
| Split Toning Highlight Saturation: | 58 |
| Split Toning Balance: | -5 |
| Parametric Shadows: | +30 |
| Parametric Darks: | +20 |
| Parametric Lights: | 0 |
| Parametric Highlights: | 0 |
| Parametric Shadow Split: | 25 |
| Parametric Midtone Split: | 50 |
| Parametric Highlight Split: | 75 |
| Sharpen Radius: | +1.0 |
| Sharpen Detail: | 25 |
| Sharpen Edge Masking: | 0 |
| Post Crop Vignette Amount: | 0 |
| Convert To Grayscale: | False |
| Tone Curve Name: | Strong Contrast |
| Camera Profile: | ACR 2.4 |
| Has Settings: | True |
| Has Crop: | False |
| Already Applied: | True |
| Tone Curve: | 0, 0 |
| Color Transform: | YCbCr |
| Color Space: | sRGB |
| Flash Return: | No return detection |
| Flash Mode: | Off |
| Flash Function: | False |
| Flash Red Eye Mode: | False |
Be good,
-Dave
|
It's Wednesday and that means it's time for Wage to do his thing. This week, it's bath time for Reflector! Not that he likes it, of course.
As I've mentioned before, we live under an approach lane for O'Hare Airport, so it's a constant struggle to keep everything dusted and our lenses clean. One of the ways I've found helps keep things clean is to use the cleaning pen Wage is holding, another is to keep the lens caps on (who would've thought? Not me), and the third, and perhaps most effective is to pick up a camera bag. For Davemass, April ordered me a Canon camera bag and this thing is a lifesaver. Not only can I carry/store my camera, lenses, filters, batteries, and memory cards, but it still has room left over for toys!
What? Don't look at me like that.
Moving on, let's talk about the setup. All I had to do was balance the cleaning pen in Wage's arms, pose Reflector in anguished humiliation and click. Thanks to one of Chicago's rare sunny days, I didn't need any lights, sparks, or fires.
Going into Photoshop, I have to confess that I wasn't really thrilled with this one. It was flat and kind of boring, so I picked at it, but it wasn't going anywhere. Finally, it stuck me to try and trim this into a Polaroid-type shot, since this looks like so many awkward family moments captured by generations of polariod cameras. Come on, be honest. There are polaroids of most of you in the bath. How I got the look was surprisingly simple. First I duplicated my background layer and ran a Charcoal Filter, with #AC4A23 as my foreground color and #FBE87E as the background. Then I played with the opacity until I was happy with the scratchiness, then, in a new Image, I created a canvas that was a few inches wider and several inches taller than the image I was going to paste in (this is the Polaroid frame). Going back to my original image, I used the Rectangular Marquee Tool to trim my image down to a square, then cut and pasted it into my Polaroid frame. I then duplicated my photo and applied a Plastic Wrap filter and lowered the Opacity until it looked nice. All that was left was to add some shadows around the photo with the Burn tool and we're done!
Not the prettiest or most professional Polaroid imitation, but not bad for a first, blind attempt.
This episode is brought to you by the letters E, X, I, and F:
| Camera: | Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi |
| Exposure: | 0.167 sec (1/6) |
| Aperture: | f/8 |
| Focal Length: | 50 mm |
| ISO Speed: | 800 |
| Exposure Bias: | 0/3 EV |
| Flash: | Flash did not fire |
| Orientation: | Horizontal (normal) |
| X-Resolution: | 72 dpi |
| Y-Resolution: | 72 dpi |
| Date and Time: | 2009:01:21 12:01:14 |
| YCbCr Positioning: | Co-Sited |
| Exposure Program: | Aperture priority |
| Date and Time (Original): | 2009:01:21 12:43:07 |
| Date and Time (Digitized): | 2009:01:21 12:43:07 |
| Shutter Speed: | 169408/65536 |
| Metering Mode: | Pattern |
| Color Space: | sRGB |
| Focal Plane X-Resolution: | 4433.295 dpi |
| Focal Plane Y-Resolution: | 4453.608 dpi |
| White Balance: | Manual |
| Compression: | JPEG |
| Image Type: | Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi |
| Owner Name: | ( |
| Camera Serial Number: | 1220842575 |
| Custom Functions: | 24, 0, 256, 512, 768, 1024, 1280, 1536, 1792, 2048, 2304, 2560 |
| Model ID: | 2147484214 |
| Tag::Canon::0x0013: | 0, 159, 7, 112 |
| Lens Type: | EF50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro |
| Internal Serial Number: | H1858035 |
| Tag::Canon::0x0098: | 0, 0, 0, 0 |
| Tag::Canon::0x00AA: | 10, 615, 1024, 1024, 598 |
| Color Space: | 1 |
| Tag::Canon::0x4008: | 129, 129, 129 |
| Tag::Canon::0x4009: | 0, 0, 0 |
| Image Width: | 3888 pixels |
| Image Height: | 2592 pixels |
| Macro Mode: | Normal |
| Image Quality: | Fine |
| Continuous Drive: | Single |
| Focus Mode: | One-shot AF |
| Canon Image Size: | Large |
| Easy Mode: | Manual |
| Contrast: | Normal |
| Saturation: | Normal |
| Metering Mode: | Evaluative |
| Focus Range: | Not Known |
| Canon Exposure Mode: | Aperture-Priority AE |
| Lens Type: | Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro or Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX or 28mm f/1.8 |
| Lens: | 50mm |
| Max Aperture: | 85 |
| Min Aperture: | 320 |
| Flash Activity: | Flash did not fire |
| Photo Effect: | Off |
| Color Tone: | 0 |
| Focal Type: | Fixed |
| Scaled Focal Length: | 50 |
| Focal Plane Size: | 907 x 605 |
| Flash Guide Number: | 100 |
| ISO: | 800 |
| Measured LV: | 20 |
| Target Aperture: | 16 |
| Target Exposure Time: | 0.15749013123686 |
| White Balance: | Daylight |
| F Number: | 8 |
| Camera Type: | EOS Low-end |
| Auto Rotate: | None |
| Image Width: | 3888 |
| Image Height: | 2592 |
| Image Width (As shot): | 3504 |
| Image Height (As shot): | 2336 |
| Shutter Count: | 63024 |
| Color Temperature: | 5200°K |
| Picture Style: | Portrait |
| Sensor Width: | 3948 (52-3939 used) |
| Sensor Height: | 2622 (23-2614 used) |
Be good,
-Dave
You can order your copy of my book, Life in Plastic, Vol. 1, directly from Lulu: 
|
Welcome to the Future! I am well rested (and a year older) after the Davemass Festivities, and we have lots to talk about today, so let's get right into it.
1) Where is the book, Dave? You promised us a book.
-- The proof copy has left the printers and, as soon as I get to look over it, I'll be posting the link here and there will also be a link in the sidebar. It is titled Life in Plastic and weighs in at 41 pages, with almost 80 photos printed on 8 1/2 x 11" full color paper. You can get all that (plus a foreward by the ever-talented David Price himself) for just $35!
I am more than a little excited.
2) New Years Resolution #1
-- Now that the book is coming and the blog is getting some consistent traffic, I would like to be a little more active in finding some work as a photographer. I think my work is solid enough technically and exciting enough to help move some toys. For this resolution, I will also be enlisting you, dear reader. If you know someone who makes toys that would be interested in having my kind of photos for advertisements/flyers/whatever, please direct them here! I also plan on using venues like Wizard World Chicago to get in touch with toy companies, where I can bring a copy of the book with me and show off a little.
3) New Years Resolution #2
-- Another goal I have for this year is to double the average number of pageviews I have here. Google Adsense may not pay much right now, but having twice as many hits means twice the payout, and every little bit helps. Besides, the more money I make on adsense, the more toys I can buy! To accomplish this one, I want to introduce a few new things here on the blog. The Wall-E Tutorial has been incredibly popular and I think some step-by-step guides on the basics of photography might be helpful. Thinks like explaining what the different modes are, setting up your shots, the rule of thirds, etc.
4) New Years Resolution #3
-- Build a storefront on Artfire (you can see the link on the sidebar) where I can sell prints of my photos. I used to have an Etsy shop, but I never really pushed it and it fell into obscurity. The few photos I do have on Artfire get good traffic, and I just need to stay focused and keep working on it.
5) Wage's New Years Resolution
-- Be naked more often.
For auld lang synEXIF:
| Camera: | Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi |
| Exposure: | 0.2 sec (1/5) |
| Aperture: | f/5.6 |
| Focal Length: | 42 mm |
| ISO Speed: | 100 |
| Exposure Bias: | 0/3 EV |
| Flash: | Flash did not fire |
| Orientation: | Horizontal (normal) |
| X-Resolution: | 72 dpi |
| Y-Resolution: | 72 dpi |
| Software: | Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows |
| Date and Time: | 2008:12:29 08:55:13 |
| YCbCr Positioning: | Co-Sited |
| Exposure Program: | Aperture priority |
| Date and Time (Original): | 2008:12:28 15:36:13 |
| Date and Time (Digitized): | 2008:12:28 15:36:13 |
| Shutter Speed: | 152170/65536 |
| Metering Mode: | Pattern |
| Color Space: | sRGB |
| Focal Plane X-Resolution: | 4433.295 dpi |
| Focal Plane Y-Resolution: | 4453.608 dpi |
| Compression: | JPEG |
| Image Width: | 3888 pixels |
| Image Height: | 2592 pixels |
Be good,
-Dave
|
