Ugg, forget about it

Wow, what a lousy program! It didn't include any of the labels I added, I'm not sure where the image was loaded, and the links are not the right color. So I decided to uninstall it, and it took forever to unload. Never mind. I'll stick with Blogger's write application for now.

Trying a new blogging application

I was scanning through coolest-gadgets.com today and I found out about some free blogging software offered by Microsoft.  Windows Live Writer is the name of the software.  It will work (supposedly) with Blogger, and will allow me to write my entry in a WYSIWYG format as I write.  I'm going to play around with it tonight, and post this test entry, just to see how well it works. So far, it seems a little buggy.  It occasionally freezes, and when I added the hyperlinks above, it gave me an error message before it went ahead and inserted the links.  Hmm  But it does have some decent image features (the pic above was modified with a quickie filter the software offers), and I do like the ability to see what my entry will look like as I am typing.

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Rose #2

I played some more with the image, and found a graffiti pic that I took last year at Sandy Hook. It seemed to work. Then I tweaked the color using a Selective Color layer.

I've noticed that I use flowers for my image subjects quite often. There's a scene in the movie "The Four Seasons" when a woman takes up photography as a hobby, but all she ever photographs is vegetables. I'm not that bad, but I think I need to expand on my photo subjects so that my Photoshop images will have a little more variety.

A rose is a rose

I've been tinkering with a new image for the last day or two. It's one of the pics I took the other day of a late growing rosebud that I found in the yard. I snipped it and took it inside and tried a few macro shots, and liked this one. I've found a decent background for it, but I haven't found anyway to give it some punch. Right now, it's just a simple rosebud. There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose. Still, it just looks unfinished, so I keep plugging away. I'll scan through my files, and hopefully something will inspire me.

Meanwhile, I realized today that Thanksgiving is next week. That came out of nowhere! I'm still in Halloween mode. Strangely though, I managed to start my Christmas shopping last weekend. I decided to get a PS3 for Chris and me. I didn't know if the stock would be picked out after Thanksgiving. I'd originally thought I'd get a Wii, but the stores seem to be incapable of getting them in stock, so maybe a lot of folks will opt for the PS3 and Xbox instead. Anyway, the PS3 more or less covers the gifts at home, and that's most of what I need to get.

If a blog entry is posted in the woods

My title means, I'm wondering if anyone will ever read any of my blog entries. The traffic to my site has been pretty anemic lately. I guess some of my audience drifted away after a while. When you consider that I didn't post new images on the site for two years, I can't blame them for going away.

Meanwhile, I'll keep writing and keep posting new pics and images. My head cold is finally starting to shake off, so I felt good enough to step outside with my camera again. I found a few interesting subjects (posting three shots here). It should give me some fodder for images to work on during the week. The yard is really looking sloppy. I have to do some raking next weekend. By then I'll feel more up to it. I've gotta start exercising again too. It's been a few weeks since I did anything physically demanding. Luckily I haven't had much of an appetite while I've been sick, so I haven't gained any weight. But I know when I climb on the elliptical machine again, It's going to be a little harder to push myself.

More Sureal Digital Photography

I just got my copy of More Surreal Digital Photography. I had two contributions to the book, Invasion and Bear. I didn't think either of those was such a great image, but the editor of the book requested those two specific images from all my others, so I assume those appealed to him the most, so I provided the walk-throughs on how I created the images (I didn't mention how many variations I went through before I ended up with the final versions--giving a walk-through is almost like saying "I meant to do that"). One slight disappointment I have with the end product is that the publisher was supposed to provide a web site with hi-res versions of the original unmanipulated pics, so people who buy the book can download the pics and then try using the walk-throughs on their own to recreate the images. I checked the web site with the files, and they only supplied lo res pics. To me, that seems to make it a pretty useless gesture, because it's pretty tough workiing with lo-res files. But then again, it might keep someone from copying my image into a full-resolution image. I don't know if I'd really care if someone stole either of those images, but I suppose it's still a good thing. Another minor gripe is that they called me "Tony VenGraitis" on the Invasion walk-through, and "Anthony VenGraitis" on Bear. What's up with that?

Anyway, check out the book if you get a chance. It's good stuff.

Apparition

I'm really REALLY glad it's Friday. The week has been a drag on my system, and my head cold has refused to let go. I plan to sleep in tomorrow, and since the weather will be rainy, I have an excuse to stay inside and be extra lazy.

I took a little time tonight to play with some old pics. I'm not sure if I'm happy with the image I made, but it seemed to have an interesting look, so I posted it.

Grrrrr

I haven't done anything today with my pics. I'm still feeling really crappy. I hate head colds that overstay their welcome.

Being ill makes me feel like complaining, so I'll vent a little about this Blogger template. If the top of this web page is just a big black box with text, then you aren't seeing my designed header. I used the old "Pixel Sandwich" opening page graphic (which is an image of a glowing piece of white bread on a paper plate). Way back when I made my first site, I took some multicolored breakfast cereal (Fruity Kicks, or something like that) and piled it on top of a piece of bread, took a pic, and then did a little Photoshopping. I liked the way it came out, so I decided to make it my web site's official logo. So when I switched to this new site, I wanted to integrate the image in the new design. The Blogger template I chose has the option to embed a graphic in the header. The problem is, it occasionally drops the embedded image, leaving a big black box with Pixel Sandwich floating in the middle. Every time I make a change to the site, such as adding a post, it drops the header image. But it also just spontaneously drops the header image on its own, so I need to check my site throughout the day. Pretty irritating. I may need to consider a new template. The good thing about Blogger is that switching templates is easy, and should keep most of my settings. I may try it tonight (since I ain't got no new pics to show).

New image--Invitation

I was up late last night, and early this AM, because my head cold is back in full swing. It's hard to sleep when you're having a coughing fit every few minutes. So, an upside to all this is I had time to make another new image. I started with my dead mouse picture from the other day, and then went a little haywire. After using the halftone pattern filter and radial blur, I started adding gradient layers to the image, thinking I'd try a new Abstraction-style image, but then on a whim, I added an old flower pic I had on file, and started blending the edges into the background. I think it gave it an alien sort of feeling. So anyway, it was a quick and painless image to make. If only I could say the same thing for my cough.

Silence

I made a few changes to the image. Mostly, I adjusted the color in the leaves, and toned back the statue so only the face can be seen clearly. Better, I think.

And I'm noticing the Google ad I set up in the sidebar must be reading the subject lines in my blog entry, because there is an ad for seasonal allergy medication. Great, I'll need to be careful with my titles now, otherwise it'll start showing ads for lawn fertilizer and ear-wax remover.

Still in the woods

I'm still in the Wood Sprite mode, I think. Last night I started a new image, and it's turning out to be another figure in the woods kind of thing. Yesterday I took a pic of some plants that are growing in my goldfish pond outside, and I was playing a little with one of them. I found a pic I took years ago of a buddha statue. I was never able to find a suitable image to use it in, and just on a whim I put it inside the tangle of the plants. It has some potential, I think, but I need to play around with it a little more.

Back in the backyard again

I was supposed to be raking leaves today, but the head cold that I've been fighting with for the past week seemed to flare up this morning, so I stayed inside for most of the day. I did venture out around 4:30PM with my camera, because goddammit I promised myself I would take pictures! So I went into my backyard tool shed, thinking that maybe I'd be inspired by an interesting yard tool, but instead I found a dead mouse sitting in the middle of the floor. I won't pretend that I felt bad when I found him, because these critters have been chewing up anything that isn't metal or glass that I keep stored in there. Between the mouse turds, the hundreds of acorn shells, and the shredded bags and straps, I felt no sorrow. So anyway, I thought I'd take a few shots of him before I tossed his carcass away. Meanwhile, Simon was waiting patiently outside the shed. He might have caught a wiff of the dead mouse.

One problem I seem to be having lately, besides getting out and about with the camera, is the sun. I suppose if I went out earlier I would have had more luck, but today there wasn't very good light, so the mouse shots, and a few leaf shots I took, came out pretty noisy. I played with the settings but it wasn't helping. On a positive note, I took a few good shots of the bottom of my outdoor fireplace. The pattern of the ash was nice, and I think the pics will be useful to enhance some image later. So all the shots will be filed for now.

Recycling--Melt #2

I was scanning through some old files last night, and came upon an early version of Nova #2 that I decided was not worth keeping. I didn't delete the image, though. I started playing a little with it, and it wound up having a very interesting look. It's sort of reminiscent of the Melt pic I made with my cat, Shadow, hence the title Melt #2. So I'm posting it in the Gallery. But I feel like I cheated with this image, because it reuses something I've already featured in another image. I'm probably just being anal, because it's not uncommon for digital artists (or even traditional artists such as painters or musicians) to reuse their work in other pieces.

I'm also trying a new method of posting an image. The links above, as well as the embedded image, are from Picasa. It'll save me a little storage space by handing the pics this way, but hopefully it won't affect the load time.

Fixed the latest pic

I played around a little more with Wood Sprite 2 to soften the edges, and to blur the background behind the figure to give it some more depth. It looks better to me now, I think. Anyway, I will leave it alone now. The first version is still in my last post, so you can compare it to the revised version in the Gallery if you'd like to see the difference.

Wood Sprite #2

I found a pic of a marble bust that I'd taken last summer at the Met that works nicely as a focal point for the image I'd been working on last night. I tried a few blending options, and found one that gave it a spirit-like feeling. If you flip through my Gallery, you'll find my first "Wood Sprite", and this image feels similar to me, so I named it the same.

I also took away the pine needle blend over the leaves, but kept it behind the bust. It makes it seem as if the figure is changing the woods where it stands. Anyway, click for a closer look. Sorry it isn't full size, because some of the finer details are nice to see too. I may go back to tweak it later, because some of the edges of the figure look too strong to me now. Hmm...

Meanwhile, back at the Photoshop

I'm starting to play around with the photos I took yesterday, and I got to a stopping point. Normally I get an image started on one day, bring it to a settling point, and then save it to be finished on another day. Here's what I've started. I like the shape and texture of the leaves, and I layered the pine branches on top of them to give it some additional texture, but it's lacking a focal point. A real subject. As a pattern it's OK, but as a picture, it'll need more work.

This week at work has been pretty busy, so this blog has been a chore. I have a lot to do after work as it is, so spending a few hours a day with this blog, or getting back to imaging, will be tough to do.

Warming up

Now that the web site's been revitalized, my next step has to be to start picking up the camera more often. So today I took a quick break from lunch to go in my backyard and take a few snapshots of the Fall decay. The weather is finally toeing the seasonal line, so the temperature dropped, and so have a bunch of the leaves. Plants are starting to whither, and all the bright greens are turning dull and brown. I felt like I may have been forcing myself to find a decent subject to take a picture of, but as soon as I started walking around the backyard, I found a few worthwhile things. I took about a dozen pictures. Here are a few of the shots I liked. They may be lackluster images, but there's some Photoshop-able material here. I can think of a few ways these would work as background or texture images.

So the trick now is to get away from the house and start finding new shooting grounds. I used to take short drives around the town, and could find interesting things to shoot. But those photosafari trips required some time, and good weather. And both may be in short supply in the coming months.