Emily and Alex

These guys are so easy to photograph and fun to be around.  We met them at the botanical gardens for their engagement session and enjoyed every minute there.   Can't wait to photograph their wedding.

Art Walk

One of the coolest things to do in B'ham is go to Art Walk.  Each year the city hosts an art exhibit in an old part of town.  Artists set up their wares in several old stores and on the sidewalk and the public has a chance to just walk and browse and buy.  I love it!  We went today and, naturally, I took my camera.  There was so much to see so these are just  few images made with my little point-and-shoot camera and edited in Lightroom. 

Playing with Panos in the Park

Sometimes you just need to look at things differently to see them in a whole new way.  I love hike and just be in the woods and I'm fortunate to have very close to me Oak Mountain State Park with about 30 miles of trails.  This is wonderful except that about all 30 miles of the trails looks pretty much the same.  It's a southern forest with lots of green trees and creeks and moss -- not many vistas or cool overlooks.  But, it's in my backyard, only about a ten minute drive,  and I can get away for half a day and spend some quality time with Sophie, my dog.

So today, I decided to try some panoramic images to see if things would look different.  I like these.  A couple are of the road I walked today. I stuck the easy trail, and the last one is the old CCC camp that is about three miles back in the woods.  The cabins were built in about 1937.  Several are still standing but many have just collapsed and are slowing being reclaimed by nature.

Black Jacket Symphony

A good friend, Allen Barlow, plays with a group called the Black Jacket Symphony. Among other things these guys recreate classic albums by great old groups. A few days ago they performed the Rolling Stones album, "Let it Bleed" at the local Birmingham venue, Work Play.

Wow, these guys are good and I had a blast.

I'm sharing my blog with my young assistant.

These photos were made by my six-year old granddaughter on one of our photo outings. Although I did the editing, I did it according to her specifications.
(See the earlier post:  Me and My Shadow)

Now for her commentary:

I took these photos by myself with no help. My name is Hallie and I love peace signs and stuff.  I also like taking pictures I love to help grandpa edit them. I also like color/black and white whichever, I don't care.

My favorite color is magenta I have a cousin named Sadie my other cousin’s name is Madelyn. Grandpa let’s me use one of his cameras to take pictures. I love to take photos with Sadie but I’ve never done it before that’s why I’m waiting for that day to come. My favorite animal is a horse well I have more favorite animals then that. There’s this painting thing on the computer I love but I wish I could do.  I like this close up thing on the camera that when you’re far away from something and you want to get a picture of it you can zoom in. Oh my grandpa’s a photographer. I live in North Carolina

The end.   

Restoring Old Photos

I love old photographs and I love restoring them when I can.  And digital imaging has made the process of restoring damaged photos much easier than it was in the old days. It's still a time-consuming process and requires a fair amount of skill, though.  Recently one of my wedding professional colleagues, MaryLou at Bama Balloons, brought in a 100 year old family photo that had been broken into three pieces.  Her mother had recently re-discovered it and wanted to have it restored and copies made for the family.

When I work on any photo, I zoom in very close and really get to know the people in the picture.  Especially with old photos I find myself studying the faces and wondering who they were and what their lives were like.  As you can see by these faces this is a very good looking and interesting family.  I'm sure they are all passed on now which adds even more mystery to the image.

Below is the finished image I printed for the family.

Although the family only wanted a monochrome reproduction, I want to see what they would look like in color.  I didn't spend much time in hand tinting this, meaning I didn't stay within the lines very well.  Even though, the color seems to add a bit of life to the people.

 

Hand Tinting - my way:

I am a big fan of layer masks in Photoshop.  ( I don't believe this option is available in Elements).  I add a solid color layer mask for each color in the photo (skin, hair, shoes, etc.)  With each layer, I use the "color" blend mode.  Then I reverse the mask using control-I.  Then, using a white paint brush applied to the black mask, I can apply the color just where I want it.  

This method of using layer masks allows me to fine tune each color even after they have all been applied.  I can even change a color completely just by clicking on the mask and re-assigning a new color.  For example, I could click on the layer for the green blouse and change it to blue, or yellow, or whatever.  I could even vary the intensity of the color if needed.  Layer masks also allow me to go to each layer a refine the edges if a color spills over where it's not wanted.

Me and My Shadow

If you know me, you know there are a few things that I absolutely love.  Naturally, one is photography.  The other, and more important,  is my family.  I have a wonderful wife, two great children and four of the best grandchildren one could ever hope for.  And each is different.

Today, I'm going to talk a bit about Hallie who is almost seven years old.  When she visits we like to spend at least one morning on a photo excursion, just the two of us. (click to see our other excursion)  We get in my old Ford F150, with no air conditioner, and head to the park.  She likes the truck because it has no passenger airbag and she gets to ride in the front seat with the window down.  She uses my Canon G11 and I use my Cannon 5D Mark II and we just walk around and take photos.  She's pretty good at it too. (click to see some of her work from and earlier outing).

These are some photos I made of her today.  As you can see, it's not all work.  We had to take a break at the playground and swing a bit.  Then it was back to the truck.