Thanks to Family and FrontRunner

To all the people that alerted me regarding the traffic jam today, I salute you. An oversize load truck dumped its load blocking both I-15 and I-215. The freeway is closed for 6 to 8 hours! I left my car at work, got a ride to Trax on Winchester St., connected to FrontRunner where I am now posting this message and making great time.

Foto Friday - Vintage Baby

It has been requested that for Foto Friday we show a "before" and "after" shot so you can better see what we are talking about when we explain the editing that has been done on the photo.

This week I wanted to show an example of how the look of a simple snapshot can be changed with just a few tweaks to make it look more like a portrait. This shot of Madeleine was taken about 2 months ago on a whim. She was in her church dress, laying on the floor, and in a good mood so we decided to just take a few cute snaps. Unfortunately, a baby laying flat on her back on brown carpet isn't exactly the best look. I decided to experiment and came up with this "vintage" feel. It reminds me of old photographs I've seen in parents' photo albums.

Here's what I did: Even though the picture looks a little darker, her face is lit up more by upping the "fill light" and "brightness." I darkened the shadows, and changed the saturation of the greens, aquas, and blues. I added sharpening, a vignette for depth, and a blue "split-tone" to the highlights.

Wow! That makes me sound really amazing!! Actually, all I did was move the sliders until I liked how it looked. Rob helped me write about what I actually did. :)

But about this photo of my daughter...the other night I was at yoga and was in the Savasanah phase of the class (the relaxing cool down at the end. It's supposed to give your body the opportunity to refresh and restore itself). This is actually the hardest part of yoga for me. You're supposed to relax and just focus on breathing, not thinking about anything. Yeah, right! That's so hard! My mind always wanders to what I'm going to do when I get home, family issues, etc. So there I am trying to focus on not focusing and Madeleine's beautiful little lit-up face enters my mind...and it made me really feel great. She's so innocent and pure and I love her like crazy. So for one moment, I experienced Savasanah.

Rantophelia

I'm a pretty mellow guy regarding many things and I even try to hold my tongue when something is getting to me or I disagree (I said try). Despite my best efforts, there are some things in the world that bug me and I am forced to take a stand against them. The following items are listed in inverted quantum order.

Northbound traffic on I-15 in Davis County (the guy I carpool with is calling for a plague). Why do I live in Layton? Hopefully it will be much better this fall (Legacy & new lane on I-15 finally open - thanks for screwing Legacy up x-governor Leavitt).

When people set their blogs up so music plays back automatically and the controller is at the bottom of the freaking page! (some of my friends do this, yikes!, thank heaven for rss). The controller should be located at the top of the page and set so the visitor can decide to listen or not to listen to the music. I'm already listening to music! I don't want to listen to yours.

Myspace.com. Ugly, ugly, ugly. The user interface is reminiscent of a giant bag of crap. Did I mention ugly?

Reckless drivers. These people believe that their amusement or schedule is more important that the life and safety of other PEOPLE (children, husbands, wives, friends, etc). Be safe!

The U.S. Customary System of Units. This one deserves its own post.

When my gym (Clearfield Aquatic Center) doesn't hold spinning classes after 7:30 (this happens all summer). Grrrrr.

Always losing my sunglasses. After about two months I think Julie hides each pair while planning to make some kind of modern art when she collects an adequate number. Enough already, can't we use sporks instead?

Cities that don't have a good recycling plan. This means you Layton City! At least do curbside! Murray city sorts through all the trash and separates recyclable materials. That is awesome!

Red Eye in digital photographs. Come on, it really isn't that hard to remove red eye.  Try Picasa or Photoshop Express (both are free).

Email forwards are also quite a problem for me. I take great pains to keep my email addresses free from spam. Here is the scenario that I worry about. A message is sent with all the sender and all the addressee (friend, parent, sibling) information attached. Eventually this message comes to a sketchy individual that decides to sell the email addresses to a spammer. That is a really good way to get spam and as a sender you have every right to do so, but please spare us, your poor addressees. I don't mind getting the forewords as some of them are quite funny; however, please add the addressee information to the bcc: field instead of the to: field.

This really irks me. So I often need to park on the street of our little townhome community. The other morning I found a large dent in me car near the fuel portal. I have a pretty good idea who did it because of where I was parked (across from the person's driveway) and due to the presence of a mysterious dent in this persons bumper (this just happens to be at the right elevation too). So I'm trying to give the benefit of doubt but find it pretty tough. Regardless who is specifically responsible it really pisses me off the no one came forward to talk with me. I wasn't parked at the mall, it was in my freaking neighborhood!

Well, this has been fun, please join me next time for another episode of rantophelia.

Snapshots Upon Snapshots

We finally had time yesterday to upload our backlog of photos. They include:

• Bowling at FatCats for Rob's 28th birthday.
• Some shots of Madeleine and Nathan.
• Playing in the fountain at Lagoon.
• Pineview Reservoir on the 4th of July.

Don't worry, there aren't a million to look through. Have fun!

Rob's Thesis

I've had a few people ask to read my thesis so I thought I would just post it here in case you are one of those people.  The title is...

"Comparison of nonlinear and equivalent-linear site response analysis for soft-soil sites along the Wasatch Front and site-specific response predictions for the Legacy Parkway." 

I'm not including the 14 MB of data in the appendix but if any of you happen to be interested in that data please let me know and I'll send you a link to it.  Download the text here.

Foto Friday - Otiose

Taken with Nikon D40 in San Francisco on January 26, 2008. Aperture Priority Exposure, 34mm, 1/60 sec, f/4.5, ISO 800, SB-600 Flash unit, Nikon Raw Format. Edited in Lightroom 2.0 Beta.

See Otiose on a black background

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed Julie's work last week on the flower collage.  Julie did a great job expressing a message that is so needed at this time.  My selection for the week is somewhat of a departure from last weeks' theme, but hey, I need to change it up around here right?

Otiose comes to you from deep inside the Rock located in San Francisco Bay.  In January of this year, Julie and I spent an evening on the Island of Alcatraz.  Visiting and photographing the prison at night was an experience that I will never forget (great idea Julie!).  Near the beginning of the tour, I was waiting for Julie to return from the restroom (she was seven months pregnant after all) so I unleashed my imagination on everything nearby.  A radiant heater on the outside wall of (Michigan Avenue) caught my eye.  The heater showed its age and struck me as something that the prisoners may have appreciated on the winter nights in the bay.  The heater was not located close to the cells and was probably not very effective when the cold winds racked the prison (I understand that this is especially true in cell block D (maximum security, solitary confinement)).  Alcatraz wasn't inhumane yet its amenities to accommodate the basic needs of the prisoners were harsh, cold, and ineffective.

To prepare this exposure for presentation and printing I made a slight adjustment to the white balance (4850K, Tint -5) and exposure (+0.17 stops).  I got the main effect that I was after by kicking up the blacks (38/100) to really drop the photo into a dark mood then adding a lot of fill light (100/100) to bring back some of the detail that I lost in the shadows when turning up the blacks. I brought up the brightness and contrast a little to add some more edge and show the texture of the radiator and wall surface (I really love that texture). The next step was to add some sharpening to the mid-tones and remove all color from the image.  I needed to take all the color out of the image to prepare for the rough sepia look.  I used the split-toning controls to add the slight amount of color back into the image and create the sepia tone.  I followed this work up with a square crop which seems very appropriate for this subject and added a vignette to darken the edges a little more. 

In the print module I added our logo and a black stroke border and exported the photo as a high quality sRBG jpg file for optimal web viewing.  Enjoy.

Magic and Marionettes

In honor of the birthday of Julie's brother Brian (7-16-1976), we feel it appropriate to share the following.  On April 17th of this year I was privileged to witness a significant act of kindness on behalf of Julie's nephews, niece, and another child in their ward. Long time readers of this blog know that a tragedy befell Julie's brother late last year. Sadly, the other boy in the ward suffers from brain cancer. Julie's father (Jim) had two marionettes and wanted to put on a puppet show that would teach the children about eternal principles. Chris David, a friend of the family, took matters into his own hands after learning what these children were going through and what Jim was planning. 

Chris has successfully put on numerous puppet shows for children in the past.  This experience allowed him to quickly organize the show, write the script, cast and train the marionetteers, and even compose a song. Chris also arranged for a good friend of his, Master Magician David Jenkins, to perform for the kids.  I asked Chris why he went through so much effort to put this show on for the kids and he expressed to me his great desire to make children smile. 

It was so much fun to see David interact with the children during the magic show.  He took time to interact with the children and brought a magical and joyful atmosphere into their home. Chris and his helpers put together a great show that taught the importance of prayer and kindness.  Candy and treats were provided for the children.  What a great night!  I can speak for the family in saying that the efforts of Chris, David, and their helpers were immensely appreciated.  Indeed we are grateful for the smiles and happiness that were visible on the children's' faces that night. 

Thank you.

photos slideshow

Foto Friday - There Is Beauty

Click here to see a large version.

I thought it was a great idea of Rob's to do a weekly post of a photo that we have taken and talk about it. As you all saw, his "Alive" photo is fabulous. Some of you may not know, but he just picked up this hobby a year ago. Such talent!

I decided to post one (well, three) of my photos this week and talk about the collection a little. I won't go into it much technically, because that's my weak spot. But I basically just turned up the "blacks" all the way in order to make the background disappear. Then I added some "Fill Light" in order to make the color pop. That's about it. As far as getting all three shots together, I used a "Lightroom Template" in the "Print" module and added an "Identity Plate".

I decided to call this work "There Is Beauty" because lately I've been so discouraged with the world around me. The never ending to-do lists, thoughtless and immoral people, bad economy, and sadness everywhere. I've almost gone on a news fast in order to help shut out all the crap we're bombarded with. But when I look at these close-up shots of a simple flower, all that bad stuff fades away and all I can think about is how much our Heavenly Father loves us. His creations are so intricate and amazing. It reminds me to be really thankful to Him for the beauty around us.

Best Gift

I think everyone can agree with me when I say I have the BEST husband in the world! The loving tribute he paid to me the other day was unbelievably sweet and thoughtful. It truly was one of the best gifts I have EVER received. Thanks, Rob! I love you!!

The Hymas Family

A couple of weeks ago Rob and I took portraits for my little sister, Karen. She and her husband, Jake, are happy new parents of a pretty little girl named Jordin Taylor. We're excited to see them experience brand-new parenthood in all its glory. hehehe. We love you guys!

Foto Friday - Alive

Taken in Chicago on October 29, 2007. Manual Exposure, 1/80 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200, Nikon Raw Format. Edited in Lightroom 2.0 Beta.
See Alive on Black Mat Background

While walking from the Sears Tower to Millennium Park last year in Chicago we came across this piece of modern art located in a square of considerable size. I took a few exposures but really like this one with the ledge, birds, and people eating in the foreground. I found this scene incredible interesting and would have loved to spend more time there. The color of this piece really sets it apart from its surroundings which gave me the idea for the shot.

I brought this shot into the develop module of Adobe Lightroom 2.0 Beta and removed all color from the photo except red and orange (using the color channel saturation sliders). I increased the saturation of red and orange until the piece really jumped out of the shot. Their wasn't much red left in the shot at this point but a lot of orange in the leaves, people, and in reflections on the building. To remove these colors I used the retouch tool (amazing). To do this I activated the tool and selected options to remove color wherever I painted. Using this method it didn't take long for me to remove the rest of the color from the scene.

The buildings on the left side were much brighter than the rest of the shot so I darkened those slightly by painting on them using the exposure setting of the retouch tool. I followed these edits by adding contrast, a little sharpening, and some keywords or tags.

In the print module I added our Snow Photography logo and a 4 pixel stroke border (you can see this better if you click the link above to see the photo on a black background) then exported the photo as a high quality sRGB jpg file. The adjustments I made to this photo really accentuated the "living" quality of the piece. I'm a little worried that this will come alive and become the next super villain ("Blade", the mutated Gillette Mach 5 Razor).

Fhoto Friday

Every Friday starting tomorrow we'll be doing a segment on the blog about our photographs.  Julie or I will select a photograph and provide additional details on how it was shot, what software was used, and what techniques we used to get the right effect.  I hope this turns out to be fun.  Please leave us some feedback as to what we can do to make the segment as fun, informative, and interesting as possible.