New Macros
Posted under: In my continuing series of found macro images, I’ve just uploaded a new batch. This time, a trip around the kitchen and office yielded some interesting results.
Catch the entire series here.
Alicia ONeill – Coloratura Soprano
I recently had the absolute pleasure to photograph Ms. Alicia ONeill. She’s a Coloratura Soprano based in Vienna. Not only is her voice simply extraordinary, but you’ll see from the photos, she’s also a natural in front of the camera.
View the entire gallery here.
LEGO launches Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture sets
In conjunction with the Frank Lloyd Wright foundation, LEGO has just released two of a planned six sets of an ‘Architecture‘ series, celebrating the work of the architecture great.
OMG RLY???? Nice!
The release of the LEGO structures coincides with the real Guggenheim Museum’s “From Within Outward” exhibition, which is a celebration of 50 years of Wright’s continued influence after his passing.
The first of the sets was released on the 15th to coincide with the opening of the exhibition, and are part of LEGO’s LEGO Architecture line of sets, made to “inspire future architects, engineers and designers as well as architecture fans around the world with the LEGO brick as a medium.
[via designbloom]
Holy crap! Please file this under DO WANT! I haven’t pulled out the LEGO collection in years, but something like this just might do the trick. Throw some Charles Renie Mackintosh furniture sets in there, and I’m more than sold.
Speaking of tricks, this reminds me of a clever one I managed to pull while in college.
I managed to get myself a private tour of the Edward E. Boynton house in Rochester, NY, by way of convincing a real-estate agent that I was a photography major at RIT. While I was in school (mid to late 90′s) the house was for sale. Being a huge lover of all things FLW, I hatched a plan to not only get in, but to spend some time with the spirit of Frank.
I casually called the real-estate agency representing the property, told the folks that I was a student at RIT and was traveling to the Pennsylvania that summer to shoot Falling Water, had already shot the Darwin D. Martin house in Buffalo, and wanted to shoot the Boynton house. I remember them apologizing that the house was empty, but if I’d be fine with shooting a bare structure, they’d arrange for it to happen. We set a time and date and I snagged an ID from a friend at RIT that looked absolutley nothing like me. Luckily, they never asked for credentials, and I spent almost 3 hours shooting the entire house. Needless to say, these are in the days before digital (well, at least on a college student’s budget), but I still have the prints and negatives…maybe it’s time to get them scanned?
Back to basics
For quite some time now, I’ve deviated from how this humble blog started out: a collection of my interests, thoughts, etc. Granted, a lot has changed since I started this thing way back when (I’m looking at you twitter – and oh, who’s laughing now Altchiler?), but unfortunately so did the way I ran this thing. There are plenty of folks that I know that make money from their blog, running advertising, using affiliate links, paid blogs, etc. but to be completely honest, non of that really interests me. I’ve spent a lot of time fiddling with fancy templates, changing this code, altering those links, and yes, it’s taught me a lot about how css and xhtml work, but I think I’ve lost sight of the prize: to put my opinions out there. And yes, I did do a few alterations to this newest template – but no where even close to some chop jobs I’ve done with past templates.
Maybe it has something to do with one of the things I do for a living, where it’s my job to write in a way that reports the news, covers recent developments in the field, etc., but that’s not really what a personal blog should be about. That’s not to say that if I find something interesting, I’m not going to write about it, even if it is a press release, but rather, I want this platform to stand as a location where I can simply put my thoughts out there. If anyone is listening, great, if not…well, in the end, that’s fine too. I’m tired of trying to be the ‘expert’ on any one specific topic, because at the end of the day, I AM one of those rare people that have a lot of interests, and luckily for me, I tend to be halfway decent at whatever I put my mind to. With that said, this can also be a blessing and a curse, as I often feel a ‘jack of all trades’ but a master of none. I’ll never forget the day that my high school music teacher Connie Zweifel said to me, “You’re going to have a really hard time in the future, because you’re so good at so many things, you’ll never be happy to settle on just one.” Can I get an amen to Connie?
So I make this promise now, both to myself, and to anyone out there reading: I’m getting back on track with turnthescrew. This blog will no longer be about just social media topics. It will no longer be about video. It will no longer be about photography. It will no longer be about design. It will be about all of them – and more!
To those of you that have had a regular read over the years, thanks. To those of you that may just be tuning in – welcome.
6 tips to shooting better fall photos
Autumn is truly one of my most favorite times of the year. Especially for photography. Mother nature puts on her best display, and exchanges her normally green canvas for a vibrant red, orange, and yellow display. Applying visual and color theory to this new palette reveals that red, orange and yellow are advancing colors. This means that if you look at a variety of colors all from the same distance, reds, oranges, and yellows will appear to be closer to you. Hence the reason autumnal photos tend to pop right out of the screen while viewing them. Taking advantage of this visual phenomenon, fall foliage provides us with an opportunity to produce some truly striking images. Let’s look at 6 ways to make your fall photos even better.
Les Feuilles magiques by darkpatator
1. Shutter Speed
Leaves are a part of nature, which means they’ve a natural tendency to be in motion. We’ll get to framing a picture perfect still in a moment, but let’s look at leaves in motion first. Playing with the shutter speed on your camera is a great way to capture ‘in action’ shots. For leaves in motion, you’ll need to crank that speed up to at least 1/500. This is a particularly useful and effective technique while shooting a subject that is behind or blocked by the falling leaves. While there is the alternate option, setting a slow shutter speed to emphasize the motion and movement, I’ve found that this only works well when your background is relatively plain and subject free.
2. Put a filter on it
If you’ve not yet started playing around with filters, Autumn is a great time to start. Warming filters will add a slight warm glow to your image and add a shade of orange to the leaves. A circular polarizing filter will cut the glare from any mid-day foliage you might be snapping. It will also improve the visual range of all colors, and can be particularly handy when using levels and saturation in Photoshop. A polarizer will also kill any glare bouncing back from water you may have in the foreground (think reflections). The Autumnal workhorse filter is a B+W 491 Enhancing filter. An enhancer will really push those red, orange, and yellow tonal ranges and improve your fall foliage shots 10 fold.
Leaf in grass by Jeff Kubina
3. Get down baby
While out on a leaf peep you’re bound to get a number of great shots of tree lines, groups of trees, leaves in motion, leaves on the ground, leaves on the rocks etc. Most of these shots your took with a tripod, standing, or taking a knee. But how about taking a stomach? A what? Right. One of the most interesting ways I’ve found to shoot foliage is to get right down to it. Literally. By changing your perspective and associated lens angles, you’re right in the thick of the action: on the ground. Try shooting a solitary leaf or groups while lying on the ground with them. Conversely, lying on your back and shooting straight up into a red, orange, and yellow canopy can produce excellent results. Just be sure to meter off the leaves and not the sky to avoid overexposure and poor white balance.
Stages by Clearly Ambiguous
4. Paint with Mother Natures’ brushes
Mama Nature may put on one heckuva display, but that doesn’t mean that you always have to settle for her arrangement of the canvas. Luckily, she’s left us countless swatches of colors to make our own arrangements with. Try collecting a variety of leaves and different shades and colors and lay them out in an arrangement of your choosing. Play with light and exposure along with different angles. Raising a leaf up to the sun and shooting through it can produce some stunning leave structure images. When arranging different leave and colors, keep your background in mind as well. The green of grass is too similar to the original color of the leaves, so think about something in a neutral color with naturally occurring patterns. Stones for example make a great setting.
Water Droplets on Leaf by Jason Means
5. Give that man a drink
Leaves and water can be one of the best combinations for outstanding pictures. If you’ve got access to a body of water surrounded by trees, chances are you’ve already got 3 or 4 outstanding pictures on your hands. Play with different locations around the bottom of water, but also keep in mind your position in relation to the sun. Shooting into the sun can be tricky, so be sure to use a bayonet and meter not once, but twice before opening the shutter. If the sun is at your back, be sure to check your entire frame and make sure there aren’t any distracting shadows in the foreground (i.e., make sure YOU’RE not the distracting shadow).
In addition to photographing landscapes with great reflective colors, don’t overlook the leaf already in the water. For some reason, I find bright colored leaves floating on water to be a form of zen meditation, and are always great images in my mind. Capturing the solitude and sense of peace can be quite a challenging task, but the benefits are well worth it. On the opposite site of the coin, shooting a leaf on water with a few ripples surrounding it can add a feeling of motion.
Another trick I use is watering leaves down. Carry a common household plant mister with you when out on a shoot, and give those reds, oranges, and yellows a spritz. Water is a natural magnifier, and when combined with some close up shots, a splash of H2O can lead to some highly creative results.
Autumn Cycle by moriza
6. Leaves and the City
Shooting fall foliage isn’t just an ideal setting for those living somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. In the concrete jungles that I’ve called home, most were decorated in a variety of non-ceremonial shades of grey. Cast against this drab background, Autumnal reds, oranges, and yellows can stand out even more than next to a green field and blue sky. When shooting in urban environments don’t just simply head to the local park, but take advantage of this unique setting. Freeze some leaves in motion blowing across a busy intersection. Look for leaves floating in small puddles on the street, and try to capture interesting reflections in the water. Fall colors that have been caught in a rainstorm and find themselves stuck to unexpected objects can also provide some great shots.
Autumn is one of the best times to get out there and get shooting. By applying some of these tips, your fall photographs are going to make the leap from snapshot to artistic work. Enjoy and keep shooting!
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Top 14 websites of 2008
Are you the über cool one who bogarts other’s lighters, had the iPod before Steve Jobs, and knows just about every cool site on the internets? Yeah me neither. But what I do have is an excellent list of the Top 100 undiscovered sites of 2008 recently round up at PC Mag on my hands.
Not just a simple directory, editors really dug deep for some of these gems, and the results are outstanding. I decided to give each one of these sites a fair go, and devoted a minimum of 20 minutes/site and then select a category winner. Categories include: Apps and Services, Fun, Health and Science, Info, Search and Reference, Lifestyle, Money and Real Estate, Music, News, Photography, Shopping, Social Networking, Technology, and Travel and Maps.
Without further dieu….the winners please!
Apps and Services
Here’s a really nice, all in one (er). To sum it all up, pageonce will wrap an enigma inside a riddle inside a….no wait…that’s for another topic altogether. Pageonce is a one stop shop to manage all your online profiles. Feed it your info, and this baby will present you with your stock portfolio results, myspace updates, facebook pokes, and youtube subscription updates. Oh, and it looks mighty slick on an iPhone as well. Finally…I just saved at least 17.6 minutes of wasted office time with this baby. Be that good or bad.
Fun
I’ve personally used this one before finding this collection, and it validated my cool factor (ok, I haven’t yet obtained über level, but I do get points for have the two dot umlaut over the u, no?). We’ve all received the ecard from someone, or better yet, forgot her birthday with that “oh crap…i know…send an ecard,” moment. Well now someecards will let you send just the right card for just the right occassion.
Health and Science
From a pure practical point of view, this might be the winner of the collection. In NYC for business and need a doc asap? Maybe you’ve moved out to the island and need to do the necessaries, including finding a new doctor. Zocdoc to the rescue. Using a mashup of google maps, zocdoc lets you search for doctors and dentists by insurance plan, location, or even available appointments. Zocdoc also features user reviews of doctors. While zocdoc only works in the greater New York metro area for now, here’s to hoping this brilliant idea spreads like the plague (Oh wait….plagues are bad….mmmmmkay?)
Info, Search and Reference
If you know me, you know I like it clean (have I said too much?). As George Carlin says said, “A house is nothing more than a place to keep your stuff,” and chances are, you’ve got stuff. So why not keep it clean? In addition to the standards of LCD screens, White wall tires, and golf balls, howtocleanstuff also has methods of de-skunking, both human and animal, and features perhaps the best post on the internets ever: How to Polish a Turd
Lifestyle
Ok, score another one on my cool chart, as I knew about this one as well. To be fair, I can’t take credit on this one, as Brian has sent me a few links from here that truly boggled my mind. Not only is inhabitat an outstanding example of what web design could and should look like, they stay true to the golden rule, and deliver fresh, relevant, and in depth coverage of all things ‘OMFG, r u srus?’. I’m not even sure if you’re cool enough to read about what they write about here. Go visit them. Now. Do it!
Money and Real Estate
First off, great URL (I can only wonder what they paid for it). Stockhouse is for the pro investor AND the plain ol’ Joe that’s workin’ on gettin’ that boat when he retires. It’s also an information source for the financial world. The site functions as a quasi investment portal/social networking tool. Users can track stock prices, swap trading tips and advice, and make connections with other investors for possible joint ventures. Ah…the power of social networking…monetized (of sorts).
Music
You can get music on the internets? Ok, all kidding aside, music and video are two of the highest ranking search terms on the net today. When wading through the mp3 sea, there are bound to be a few choppy waves, and certainly a tropical island unto it self. Enter songza.com. While last.fm will let you select an artist and then generate a related playlist, songza lets you narrow that search down one further and stream the actual song you want to hear (by that artist). Legal? Pssssshh….who knows, let’s not ask, eh?
News
Ok…citizen journalism, nothing new to see here people, move along. Unless of course, YOU wrote an artilce that got published on orato.com. One of the better of it’s brand out there, orato covers a wide range of topics, and get outta town, some of them are actually f#&*ing awesome!
Photo
A rather difficult choice for me as my love of all things damn good lookin’ runs deep, but squareamerica struck a particualr chord. Perhaps it’s my current fascination with Madmen, and the behind the scenes look at 1960 America, but squareamerica is the web/photographic equivalent. Featuring mostly black and white photos of yesteryear, viewers are presented with an interesting cross section of times gone by. Uncle George and Aunt Minnie on the boat, Clara opening that big present on christmas morning, and every so often, the Kodachrome splendor of Uncle Don’s shiny new car. Squareamerica.com, go over to songza.com, pull up ‘Moon River’ and start flipping.
Shopping
*cough* early adopters regret *cough* Did you hear something? For those people, unlike myself of course, that may be a bit trigger happy with the credit card when it comes to all things gadgety, I give you…gazelle.com. Not that I would have any experience in the realm of bought it last month, and two months later they came out with the magnesium bodied one that has the remote lens feature, gazelle is a selling point for all your previous silicon wafer goodness. Plunk in the make and model of said gadget, and you’ll bet a price quote on the spot (or rather almost instantly, as there is no real physical ‘spot’). You’ll get a return box sent to you in the mail, pack it, ship it, call it sold. Gazelle accepts cameras, laptops, mp3 players, mobile phone and much more.
Social Networking
Is this thing on? Social networking has been the largest growth sector of the….bla bla bla. I know what you’re thinking, christ, another social networking site? I’m ripping my hair out already. I know, I know. Calm down, and have some dip. While sosauce IS a definate niche site, the concept and interactivity are outstanding. Sosauce is a travel and photo enthusiasts dream come true. If this had been around during my ‘tour’ days this would have been…then again, perhaps it’s better some of those pictures never see the light of day. While most social networks are built on a profle-based mechanism, sosauce is clearly about showing off sharing your photos and travel experiences. Users can interact with others, create travel plans together, schedule meet ups, and even play multiplayer games online together during ‘down time’ (read: flight delay)
Technology
ohgizmo.com
Technology and humor? Get out. No really, such a thing exists. Technology is a huge field, and yeah, you’re probably thinking, Gizmodo v Techcrunch v Mashable v who gives a f#*(&? Fair enough, with an overly saturated market of ‘gizmo’ blogs, just another entry wouldn’t break more wind than a fart in church. But what about frontpage coverage about mp3 players devoted to Journey? Or Louis Vuitton trash bags? The KOR ONE hydration module (sounds alot like water bottle to me) is a must see!
Travel and Maps
Google maps and Earth are hot shit. No joke, they’re the industry standard in online mapping. But what if you’re cool with where your hotel is, the street view looks nice, you’ve cross checked your room and counted floors in the pic, and pretty much know where your room will be? You still have no idea what the hotel looks like on the inside (hotel website photos don’t count). everyscape takes you right inside the building. As with the Google project, lots of photogs are snapping shutters everywhere as the database begins to grow. Let’s just hope they catch some of the silliness that Mountain View’s boys caught.
So there we have it. Creme de la creme. A great collection of 2008 up and comers. Now stop reading this and get clicking above!
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Snapter makes scanners a thing of the past
Take a look on your desk right now. Got a digital camera somewhere? If not on the desk, how about your purse/bag that you carry with you everyday? With the diminished price of digital cameras, their ease of use and flexibility, and general overall fun-ness, it’s hard to imagine anyone without a digital camera these days (or at least access to one).
Not that it comes up everyday, but there are a few occassions when you’ve got a page, a document, a passport, etc. that you want to digitize either for archival purposes or sharing. These are the times when I say to myself, “Hmmm…now who do I know that has a scanner, or where is ther nearest place where I can get this scanned”? Sound familiar? So I do what most of you out there have done, which is grab ye old digicam set the focus to near objects, turn the flash off, try to frame the doc to the best of my ability, and then chop the rest off in photoshop. Good, but not great.
Enter Snapter.
Snapter is a tool that converts your snapped documents into readable PDFs. It will automagically resize, crop, stretch, flatten and process documents of any kind. But what about other info that you might not have in hand? Think about the whiteboard at the front of a business seminar workshop, or college lecture hall. With Snapter, you can take a picture of this data, process it, and have a fully portable PDF to take with you and store for the archives.
Snapter comes in a variety of pricing options and includes a timed Trial Version, a Lite Version, and a Full Version. If you’re archiving a lot of material, and still don’t want to commit to a full blown flatbed scanner, even at $50 for the full version, it’s a great deal.
Sadly, Snapter is currently available for overly bloated and more or less useless operating systems, but hopefully as the product develops and evolves we’ll see a Mac OS version soon.
I shot Rudolf’s Home!
The Wacom Tablet has really got me enjoying photoshop a LOT more these days. I went for an hour long walk through my neighborhood yesterday, camera in hand, and shot a few images. And while it’s yet another sunny day here in Vienna, I’m off to the farm this weekend, so I ix nay’d the walk down to Schönbrunn this morning to grab some images of the Royal Castle.
I live in the 15th district of Vienna, otherwise known as Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus. It’s really a combination of two small districts, and while I’ve never found the official border between the two, something tells me it’s the train tracks the head west from the Westbahnhof. It’s literally the case of depending on which side of the tracks you live on, you either live in Rudolfsheim or Funfhouse.
All of these images were taken in Rudolfsheim, as I didn’t have the time to cross the bridge and get some shots from Fünfhaus. I’ve had the idea of magazine layouts in my head for the past few days, and as you look at these images, try to imagine text filling in the blank blue areas.
Favorite image from the shoot:
with a close second:
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