cool video

I just watched such a cool video- I had never seen it before- hope you haven't either.

I found the link on Toni Marano's blog.

Click here for the video and let me know what you thought of it.

newly discovered trick

Hey there, a new trick I just discovered... as usual, out of necessity.

Any PS guru will tell you that layers are the most powerful tool in PS- especially adjustment layers. I think layers were first introduced in version 2.0???

Find adjustment layers by clicking the small half black, half white circle at the bottom of the layers pallet.

My problem: my assistant is in the way.... again!! just playin'. We only had the small diffusion panel at the time and I accidentally got him in the shot:). I didn't want to crop the image to get rid of him... not sure why! I have a tough time cropping an image- I crop in the camera exactly what I want in the frame so..... I might crop .001% of my images.

Beginning image:
I use the healing tool most often (press J) but I find that when I need to get rid of something that touches the edge of the image the healer doesn't work so great- you can never really get rid of traces of the intruding object... so I use the rubber stamp tool (S) to cover it up then heal it to smooth the sharp edge if there is one.

I did the stamping part and was trying to heal out the uneven lines and shapes.... wasn't working?? It was hard to see the areas that weren't smoothing so I created a levels adjustment layer (click the black and white circle thingy I spoke of earlier and choose levels from the drop down menu). As adjustment layers don't effect the underlying image, I can do whatever I want without jacking up the image I want. I slid the blacks triangle toward the middle and the whites triangle too. This increased contrast so I could see exactly what areas were not smooth (see the clumpiness on the right?).

I then selected my image layer and did the healing.... when done, trash the adj. layer and you're all set!!
Happy turkey killin'. Or are you going soft and plan on buying a pre-killed one? Argh, Argh, Argh!!

surf contest

It's been awhile, but I have seen my Godson Nick at a surf contest or two. It's been a looonnnngg time- he's totally pro- and taller than me I think! He's surfed his whole life- lives a block from the beach in Sunset. He is now on the legendary Huntington High Surf Team- he's in his Junior year.

It is just crazy what a man he has become- I left a high school party (yes, I was in high school at the time) at 3am to see him in the hospital after he was born- I had to borrow an old beater VW bug to get there, but I got there!

When he was just two or three I actually lived with he and his mom and dad for a bit- we used to wrestle around and play all the time all over the house. He was the only child I was ever really close to besides my own. I remember when he said my name for the first time: "By uncle Dole!" when I was leaving one day- that was the coolest!

So here's this guy I knew better as a little baby, kickin' butt on the waves. See for yourself:

He is the coolest guy- respectful and humble- I am so proud and honored to be his Goddad!

See a slideshow here.

a new way to tell a story

I saw this in NY a couple of weeks ago at the Photo Plus Expo. Brian Storm showed it along with others in his lecture.

Check it out here.

The photographer, Ed Kashi, must've planned this beforehand to shoot the sequences as he did. Very cool idea!!

Leave a comment if you have seen or have thought of other cool ways to tell a story with photos.

update

UPDATE: Courtney and Bryan just sent me an email after seeing their slideshow:

JOEL!!!!

The photos are beyond amazing!!! We cannot wait to see the rest!!!

with many, many thanks,
Courtney and Bryan

LOVE IT!!!
.........I love my job.

Courtney and Brian

Such a cool wedding on Saturday- the couple was so great to work with, the coordinator was great as always (Jill Watson), the guests were all so cool, and the location (Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niquel) and the weather were perfect too. Courtney looked amazing- thanks to Mom and Dad's genes but also to Richard Dalton (hair) and Liza Coggins (makeup). Richard was Princess Di's personal daily stylist for 10 years! I love this shot and had to get it out to share:
Courtney was waiting in the crying room in the church. She was watching guests being seated and anticipating the upcoming ceremony.

Tip: This was practically in the dark. This is actually brighter than what I saw with with my eyes at the time..... You might be tempted to use a flash because it was so dark but that would totally spoil the mood.

I used my 50mm 1.4 lens because it is the fastest lens I have. It is the least expensive in my arsenal but I seem to use it the most! I used it at f1.4 to get as much light as possible. Also, I had to use 640ISO to make the shot- yep, it may be a bit noisy but I would rather have the noise than no shot at all. Anyway, in a moody shot like this the noise adds to the feel.

Another rule broken: I shot handheld at 1/20th of a second: a couple other shots were blurry due to camera shake but I got a couple that were tack sharp. Also, I shot in manual exposure- all the dark area would fool the camera into over-exposing her face..... manual is key.

See a slideshow of the first half (the whole wedding show will be up soon) of the wedding at www.emausphoto.com/slideshows, enter dudley.

NEW YORK CITY!

I am having a great time in NYC. I got in last night and took my first ever NYC taxi ride from JFK to Manhattan- at rush hour!! If you have never been- everything they say about them is true.... and I thought Italians were crazy!! I got to the hotel and talked to my friend Victor and we planned to meet at an art show opening in SOHO. I then took my first subway ride- solo- down to the party. We then met up with some people from GraphiStudio (my album company) at a bar then went to a party at another photographer's studio... then we crashed.
Today was the first day of the show- very cool. I love seeing world class photographers talk about their work- Steve McCurry was the last guy I saw today (you know, he shot the Afghan lady with super green eyes and a brown hood on... it was on the cover of Natl. Geographic about 20 years ago), his travel stuff is just amazing! I sat next to his assistant and intern.. they were young but so into photo- I love it!!
I then went to the largest photo store on the planet- B&H- but only spent $7.50!!!
After that I just walked around the city for a few hours- Times Square, 5th Avenue, Rockefeller Center... and back. Probably about 5 miles...
This was right outside the convention center between seminars:

What, the pigeons in NY can't read!:

Of course I've got to shoot the bikes- there are so may cool older bikes and the messengers are awesome!!:

Rockefeller center is just beautiful at night!:

I saw this at an old church right on 5th Avenue. I was alone on my walkabout so this really made me ponder life, politics, and the war. Each ribbon has the name of a fallen soldier in Iraq... this was only half of them!!