february 15, 2011
felicia day, elven assassin
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i loved felicia day in dr horrible's sing-along blog.. who am i kidding, i loved dr horrible's sing-along blog *period* (view act one, act two, and act three online). so when i saw this picture on kotaku of f.d. as an elven assassin, i knew i must turn it into an epic wallpaper.
after firing up photoshop, i altered the mood of the image by enhancing the colors (blues greens); selectively softening and blurring (the grasses and weeds are too sharp and distracting in the original picture); brightening the skin (also known as dodging) and giving it more glow; adding noise (a little durtiness pls!); and umm, falling in love.
that's post processing for you..
and here's the wallpaper (2000x1333 jpg, 970k)
if i did more work on it, i would try to create even more of a painterly look. also, i hope the colors and contrast are alright.. my laptop monitor has a strange display profile.
after firing up photoshop, i altered the mood of the image by enhancing the colors (blues greens); selectively softening and blurring (the grasses and weeds are too sharp and distracting in the original picture); brightening the skin (also known as dodging) and giving it more glow; adding noise (a little durtiness pls!); and umm, falling in love.
that's post processing for you..
and here's the wallpaper (2000x1333 jpg, 970k)
if i did more work on it, i would try to create even more of a painterly look. also, i hope the colors and contrast are alright.. my laptop monitor has a strange display profile.
february 15, 2011
post-processing stacy's headshots
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i was very happy to see stacy again (i had shot their family portraits early last year). she has an awesome and very positive outlook on life which is refreshing. we took more family pictures and some headshots for her new career as a life coach.
i post-process the images to create the freshest version of ourselves that we would like to remember years from now. it is the us that we are to our loved ones. i love the b/w version too..
i post-process the images to create the freshest version of ourselves that we would like to remember years from now. it is the us that we are to our loved ones. i love the b/w version too..
february 11, 2011
life magical redesign.. the hawtness!!
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it is everything i could ever want! clean, elegant, simple, playful.. and beautiful!! now to flesh out the rest of the pages and then to actually implement it.. this is so exciting!
the polaroid logo design has made it onto the website redesign, though it may undergo a few stylistic changes before final approval. the header background is by squidfingers, who has some other awesome patterns available as well.
the polaroid logo design has made it onto the website redesign, though it may undergo a few stylistic changes before final approval. the header background is by squidfingers, who has some other awesome patterns available as well.
february 10, 2011
more logo designs
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i still have a few more pages of logo sketches in my notebook to mock up.. but i'm sort of loving #6. it's pretty clear and straightforward, but has a cute playfulness as well. i tried de-polaroid-ing the design (#7), but in the end i like the polaroid shape more. #8 just makes me want to vomit.. please don't ever be my logo.
is it absolute cheese to integrate a polaroid shape into the logo? should this be avoided at all costs? maybe #7 is more universal.. maybe in five years, polaroids will be either totally forgotten or completely reviled as a dead and archaic symbol of the past.
is it absolute cheese to integrate a polaroid shape into the logo? should this be avoided at all costs? maybe #7 is more universal.. maybe in five years, polaroids will be either totally forgotten or completely reviled as a dead and archaic symbol of the past.
february 6, 2011
new life magical logo designs
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happy new year. 2011, year of the metal rabbit.
"Metal gives Rabbits a more resilient demeanor than the other more quiet Rabbit. These Rabbits are very ambitious and can be quite crafty in their dealings with others." [link]
it's time to breathe new life into life magical.. i've been meaning to for awhile now. these last few years have just been so much about working, and trying to find balance. and i appreciate my privacy more in these days of constant facebook and twitter sharing, so i've been updating the website much less often. but now it's sharing time..
these are new logo tryouts for life magical. basic layouts taken from pen&paper sketches. there are a handful more concepts i have to set down. the core thought or feeling i'm trying to express with the logo is "capturing (discovering) the unexpected", as well as "playful" or "whimsical".
i like 3 and 4 because the idea is very playful to me. the shapes can take on different meanings depending on how you see things. i'm not sure how it communicates "life magical" specifically, but perhaps the logo doesn't need to have the l+m letters in them.. think about the nike swoosh.
1 and 2 are like 3 and 4, except i try to incorporate the l+m letter shapes into the design. i know, it's hard to see all that.
and yes, i totally hate the ekg monitor logo (10 and 11), but it's good to at least see ideas in a more formal presentation before you kill them off.
i'll be posting more as work on the logo develops. i'll also be looking to rework the website, as well as start introducing wedding albums for the first time (exciting yes). i know i've said this to myself before, so i'll hold off on the celebrations until we're much further along (less excited but still excited).. :)
as incentive, i'll be looking to post walk-thrus or guides that show my working process in order to help my nieces and nephew understand these processes. they're super intelligent and quite handy with their laptops nowadays. with a little guidance and some pointers, they'll be well on their way to world domination.
hey, life magical is more than just photography didn't you know?
"Metal gives Rabbits a more resilient demeanor than the other more quiet Rabbit. These Rabbits are very ambitious and can be quite crafty in their dealings with others." [link]
it's time to breathe new life into life magical.. i've been meaning to for awhile now. these last few years have just been so much about working, and trying to find balance. and i appreciate my privacy more in these days of constant facebook and twitter sharing, so i've been updating the website much less often. but now it's sharing time..
these are new logo tryouts for life magical. basic layouts taken from pen&paper sketches. there are a handful more concepts i have to set down. the core thought or feeling i'm trying to express with the logo is "capturing (discovering) the unexpected", as well as "playful" or "whimsical".
i like 3 and 4 because the idea is very playful to me. the shapes can take on different meanings depending on how you see things. i'm not sure how it communicates "life magical" specifically, but perhaps the logo doesn't need to have the l+m letters in them.. think about the nike swoosh.
1 and 2 are like 3 and 4, except i try to incorporate the l+m letter shapes into the design. i know, it's hard to see all that.
and yes, i totally hate the ekg monitor logo (10 and 11), but it's good to at least see ideas in a more formal presentation before you kill them off.
i'll be posting more as work on the logo develops. i'll also be looking to rework the website, as well as start introducing wedding albums for the first time (exciting yes). i know i've said this to myself before, so i'll hold off on the celebrations until we're much further along (less excited but still excited).. :)
as incentive, i'll be looking to post walk-thrus or guides that show my working process in order to help my nieces and nephew understand these processes. they're super intelligent and quite handy with their laptops nowadays. with a little guidance and some pointers, they'll be well on their way to world domination.
hey, life magical is more than just photography didn't you know?
february 6, 2011
philly-ohio
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i absolutely love love loved some of the youtube video interviews with photographers done by marc silber studios, which i happily stumbled across on my most recent philly-ohio drive (such a long drive).
while the video production may be a little 1980's (hey, my website is a little 2000, so i ain't gonna throw rocks in glass houses) and marc silber does seem to be shilling for sandisk, the overall quality of advice from some of the photographers is top-notch. i especially liked anna kuperberg and bambi cantrell's interviews, though there are gems of thought in other interviews as well.
while i've generally read or known that lighting is the foundation of photography, the way in which they talk about it really helps hammer it home for me. i'll be thinking much more intrinsically about lighting on my shoots now.
"i think it's really important to remember the spirit and the excitement that you had when you first started photography and to hold on to that and to always approach everything from that place. and it's the same enthusiasm and curiosity you have as a kid approaching anything."
--anna kuperberg
(for some reason, the video blanks out from 0:56 to 1:12. don't freak out.)
"expression beats perfection any day of the week. and if you have the most perfect photograph in the universe, it's a zero if you have no expression from your subjects."
--bambi cantrell
while the video production may be a little 1980's (hey, my website is a little 2000, so i ain't gonna throw rocks in glass houses) and marc silber does seem to be shilling for sandisk, the overall quality of advice from some of the photographers is top-notch. i especially liked anna kuperberg and bambi cantrell's interviews, though there are gems of thought in other interviews as well.
while i've generally read or known that lighting is the foundation of photography, the way in which they talk about it really helps hammer it home for me. i'll be thinking much more intrinsically about lighting on my shoots now.
"i think it's really important to remember the spirit and the excitement that you had when you first started photography and to hold on to that and to always approach everything from that place. and it's the same enthusiasm and curiosity you have as a kid approaching anything."
--anna kuperberg
(for some reason, the video blanks out from 0:56 to 1:12. don't freak out.)
"expression beats perfection any day of the week. and if you have the most perfect photograph in the universe, it's a zero if you have no expression from your subjects."
--bambi cantrell