The Digital Photo Guy

Adding Catchlights to Eyes

When we left off last week, Tylor’s pupils had been darkened and the iris lightened with color restored. But, as anyone can see (below), there’s still something missing. That “something” is catchlights, those sparkles in the eyes that add life to otherwise dull photos.

In this video, we’ll add not one but two catchlights in each eye. When you see how this works, you’ll agree that it’s much better than a single catchlight.

Sadly, Tylor, my favorite pin-up model, has moved to Washington DC to live with her Dad so I won’t have anymore opportunities to work with her. Best wishes to you, Tylor. I know you’ll do well wherever you are and whatever you do.

Anyone wanting to contact her for paid modeling work, shoot me an e-mail. Click to read more

Finding a Good Workshop

As mentioned in a previous article, one of my entries to the 2010 San Diego Fair won the Panasonic Digital Photo Academy Sponsor’s Award. The prize was a $150 gift certificate for one of their advanced classes. I used it this past weekend to attend a field workshop led by Fred Greaves, a San Diego based photojournalist who has covered many major San Diego news stories including the devastating wildfires of 2003 and 2005. Fred had just returned from Afghanistan so it was also interesting to hear how today’s wars are so different, yet so similar, to Vietnam.

Fred’s field workshop was along Sunrise Highway in the Laguna Mountains. It was probably the hottest day in many years. On the same day, 4 hikers and their dog were rescued by the Sheriffs Dept while a 2nd dog died in the 110°F heat. We met in Pine Valley, a wide spot on Old Route 80, just 2 miles from the southern terminus of Sunrise Highway, at 6:30AM but the actual workshop didn’t start until 9AM.

The photos above were made while it was still relatively cool. The first two were from a rest area I had passed dozens of times but never stopped to photograph. I liked the way the slopes overlapped each other as they receded into the distance. The third was simply an old tree trunk that reminded me of space aliens.   Click to read more

Close but No Cigar

Once again, not all of my entries were accepted for the San Diego Fair. This year, 4 of 5 entries were accepted and the fifth was rejected. See if you agree with the judges. Here are my entries. Post your guess as to which was rejected in the comments section (below).

On the other hand, the number of entries were up slightly from last year. I believe there were 4000 entries this year, up from 3800 last year. About 1/3 were accepted so I guess I’m ahead of the odds. Based on random chance, only 1 or 2 would have been accepted. Of course, being accepted is just the beginning. Now, I wait until June 11 for the results. Someday, I’d like to think I may be in the running for Best of Show.

Click to read more

The Digital Photo Guy Blog Gets a Facelift

This is the 6th year for this site. During the first 4 years, it was a static site that was rarely updated because making changes was excruciatingly slow, complex and costly. In 2008, I resolved to fix the problem and commissioned a web developer to develop a new site that I could easily and quickly update myself. He recommended WordPress and the initial implementation took just 6 weeks. As soon as he was done, I started making changes and quickly learned how to do just about everything by myself. I’m no rocket scientist but WordPress makes everything simple and straightforward.

Now, a year after the initial launch, a new static home page has replaced the previous dynamic home page. A dynamic home page was fine in the beginning but, now, with so many articles and posts, it was quickly becoming unwieldly. Readers couldn’t easily find the information they sought. A static home page can act as ”street signs” to help point readers in the right direction. As you can see, some of the signs are still not working. That’s because all the MMTs, posts and articles weren’t always correctly or fully tagged.

Tagging the material at this time would be counter productive because each update would generate an e-mail notification of an update and readers wuld be innundated with e-mails.

Starting in 2010, I’ll be more careful about tagging each MMT, post and article so readers can quickly find all material pertaining to Cameras/Lenses/Gear, Photo Editing and Photography.

In the meantime, the existing tags (right side of main blog) can help you find specific articles or MMTs. You can also use the Seach box along the right side of the main blog.

A website is a never-ending process. If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment here. Good light, good memories and good luck in 2010.

Monday Morning Tip – 12/07/09

If you’ve ever tried to cut a person or pet out of a photo and found it to be an exercise in frustration, you need to watch today’s Video MMT. Topaz Labs has released ReMask2 and it is an order of magnitude improved over the first version. Here’s a quick example of what ReMask2 can do for you.

The initial pass took about 3 minutes and I spent another 3 minutes cleaning up the edges. It’s still not perfect but much, much better and faster than previous manual methods. Click here to read the rest of this MMT