Learn Photoshop Fast and Easy! blog by David Thiel
Thinking About the Big Easy - November 18, 2008
This morning I wrote an article on "The Difference in New Orleans after Katrina." Since this blog is about travel, photography AND Photoshop, I want to share it with you.The sun is warm on my skin and the air is ripe with the exotic scents of the Big Easy: green growing things, cigarette smoke and spilled beer.We are in the French Quarter, watching the sun come up. I am seized by the notion that the atmosphere surrounding me is an odd blend of things manufactured for the tourists who choke these ...
Funeral Images... - November 17, 2008
Photography and Photoshop are wonderful ways to reach out to other people and touch lives you never know about. Sometimes the projects they inspire bring completely unexpected news.Take the image to the left. I took it two summers ago. The man was a conductor on a streetcar we were riding with our grandchildren. He oozed life. He teased the kids and laughed out loud and made the brief trip so very memorable that I wanted to say thank you in a very direct way.I used the image and worked on it us ...
"Where have you BEEN?" - November 13, 2008
This image is for the funeral for a biker I never knew. It was commissioned by a student of my wife, who actually took the pictures. I just did the post processing. But I am pleased with the way it turned out. This was the cover to the funeral service. Cool, huh?I look at the blog and I think: what should we cover today?All conventional blog wisdom says that you really need to post something every day so that you develop committed readers that come back over and over again. This makes sense. I ...
Wander Lust, Photoshop CS4 and Some Excellent Bloggers - October 27, 2008
When my grandson lived with us, we packed him along on many of the trips we made. I still have this crystal clear image: this little three year old body waddling up to me, pulling on my pant leg until he had my complete attention, and then pointing off to the side.
“I think we should go havealook,” he’d say making very direct eye contact.
That’s not a typo, by the way. “Havealook” was all one word to Perrin. It meant: “There’s something over there I think we should see. Let’ ...
Making Junk Into Beautiful "Junque" - October 21, 2008
We were driving down a back road in Spruce Grove on an impromptu "photo safari" when my wife spun around and made an undignified squawking sound. This usually signals the fact that we have just driven by something that will make an awesome picture.I was looking the other way, as is my custom.“Did you see that?” she exclaimed.“Ummm…” I began.“There was a metal castle over there!”“Were there flying monkeys circling the turrets?” I asked.She didn’t respond to this extremely witt ...
HDR For Dummies...Like Me - October 16, 2008
HDR stands for “High Dynamic Range.” People are excited about this process, even though most aren’t entirely sure what it is. Here’s an over-simplified definition: HDR combines the best of three or more exposures to give you a picture you could not possibly get otherwise.Your camera “sees” the world one way. Take this farm shot, as an example. If you focus on the sky, you’ll get a great exposure of the sky. If you want the buildings, you’ll get a great shot of the buildings but ...
Sometimes Dreams Turn Out This Way... - October 15, 2008
We take a break from the presentation of these great flickr artists to show you this sad little image. You’re probably looking at it thinking “What the heck is that?”Geez. Haven’t you ever seen a black horned unicorn skull mask before?Now let me presume upon your valuable time to explain how a black horned unicorn skull mask wound up in my garbage can this past weekend.If you’re a regular reader of this blog (and who isn’t?) you know that I own a special events company. We do mediev ...
Over the Fence and Into the Woods... - October 14, 2008
Photographers are in a unique position to share their views of the world. They can choose to show you a blood red sunset…or a portrait of someone they think you should know. If you’re English novelist, Matt Whyman, you want each one of your images to tell a story.“A book can take nine months to write, and is hugely rewarding to see in print,” says Whyman. “But a photograph is just that little bit quicker. In some ways, it’s the same process – it’s just that I can go from idea to ...
Yell Into the Darkness - October 14, 2008
“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.” The second witch speaks that line in Shakespeare’s masterwork, Macbeth. Creepy, huh? Think about the scene: Three old crones rocking and whispering together in dim light. You can’t make out features, you can’t quite see their faces. The “something wicked” in question is Macbeth himself. It is, indeed, a disturbing vision.But on flickr, you’d be hard pressed to find more disturbing visions that ...
Ted Myers Sings the Song of the Street in San Diego - October 10, 2008
“My wife died,” remembers Ted Myers. “I’d always been into photography and curious about the homeless. I decided to combine both of them. Even though I still had three kids to raise on my own and a painting business, I still needed something to do with my time.”What do you do when you see a homeless person? Dig into your pocket for a buck or two? Maybe you look the other way. (My life changing encounter with a homeless person in NYC is here: http://photoshopbasicsin6hours.blogspot.com ...
Fabio's Fabulous Roma - October 10, 2008
I’d been in Rome about two hours and I was learning what “jet lag” truly means.My wife and I dropped our suitcases off at the hotel, grabbed our cameras and headed out. When we get to a new city, we try to find one of those double-decker busses that take tourists around to see all the sites. We’ve found this to be a great way to get oriented and plan the places we are going back to.On this particular morning (which was the middle of the night as far as my body was concerned) I admit tha ...
Tuscany MAGIC from Alessandro Ornelli - October 10, 2008
I spent a day in Tuscany. When I left, part of my heart stayed behind. We are planning a trip back to that wonderful region because a handful of hours simply wasn’t enough. Actually, I don’t think a year…a decade...or even a lifetime would be enough.Tuscany is everything you imagined it to be and much more. The countryside is a perfect canvas for all artists. It inspired the artist, Michelangelo and birthed the incomparable singer Andrea Bocelli. It’s where you will see vineyards and his ...
"flickering" Thoughts - October 6, 2008
I’ve been playing around on flickr for the past while. For those who don’t know, flickr is a photo sharing website with teeming millions of photographers.Some are scary good. I’ve seen utterly remarkable Photoshop and Photography work.I’ve also seen some really awful stuff: snapshots of vacations, "cute pet" pics, endless wedding and family reunion photos.(My photostream, loaded with travel and Photoshopped stuff is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41659872@N00/ in case you want to go ...
See you later, Sundance - September 28, 2008
Paul Leonard Newman Death of Paul Newman Pictures of Paul Newman Memories of Paul Newman Paul Newman Tributes to Paul Newman Meeting Paul Newman Paul Newman dies Graffiti Secret Worlds HDR Abandoned Buildings Travel Photography Merry Go Round Horse Travel Photoshop San Antonio Amusement Park Photographing at Night Travel Photography Travel Photoshop San Antonio Missions Photographing at Sunset San Antonio Churches San Antonio Bob's Bar-B-Q Travel Photography Travel Photoshop Rural Texas Texas Bar-B-Q Travel Photography Travel Photoshop Taking Pictures in Churches San Antonio Texas San Antonio Travel Photography Astronauts Houston Travel Photoshop Texas NASA Gustav Trapped in the Gulf Photoshop for travel Travel Plans Dodging Hurricane Travel Photography Adobe Photoshop Shooting the great outdoors camping peeing outside Em Te Town Abandoned House Farm House adventure exploration Photographing abandoned houses Em Te Town Travel Photography Blending Modes Blending Options Travel Photoshop Opacity Lord of the Rings Building magic into graphics New Zealand Photo Filter Parade Desaturate Combining color with Black and White St. Patrick's Day NYC Accent with Color
(January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) It's a rare and wonderful thing to catch a glimpse of Hollywood royalty. And it's even better to have the opportunity to photograph them.It makes me sad to hear of the death of Paul Newman.My sympathies go out to his family, his friends and his fans. My encounter with this man was brief...but memorable.In the very short time that our life paths intersected, I found him to have Sundance's smi ...
Secret Worlds - September 18, 2008
There’s a secret out there. You can find it if you simply take a second to look over an occasional hill. Usually it’s in a place the rest of the world is only marginally aware of, the kind of place people cease to see after a while.But it’s there.There are people in these secret worlds as well – but they are the kind of people you only see only out of the corner of your eye as they melt into the background. The years have made them experts at disappearing, and the selective perceptions ...
Bob's Magic Horse - September 11, 2008
Take a second and click on the picture to the left. Look at this merry go round horse. Look at the fracture running down his neck. Look a the amazing detail in the hand carved flowers. (Click on the "Back" arrow when you've finished looking at it and I'll meet you back here.)Here's how that San Antonio horse came to be here in front of your eyes.Doug, one of our two traveling companions, did most of the driving on our San Antonio / Houston trip. He’s a little guy who reminded me of a bantam ro ...
The Missions of San Antonio - September 10, 2008
I have a picture in my mind: there’s this little Franciscan monk wearing a black robe. He has a fringe of hair around an odd-looking bald spot. The sun is hot, maybe a hundred and ten degrees. This guy is lugging fifty and sixty pound rocks across an empty clearing and piling them carefully one on top of the other. Maybe he pauses to take a drink of tepid water. Maybe he takes a second to wipe his brow. Maybe he prays.As my “eye camera” draws back from a perspective in the clouds somewher ...
Peering Near-Sightedly at the REAL Texas - September 8, 2008
What is it about Texas?Something gets under your skin here. It’s an infection you want to get. Maybe it’s the wide open spaces. It could be the casual beauty of the cities or the pleasing Tex Mex blending of pastel colors. It might even be all the history you can touch at the Alamo, the Missions – all the famous faces and all the legendary places.But I think the real secret of Texas isn’t the people. It’s not the history.It’s the Bar-B-Q.Texas Bar-B-Q is one of man’s great creatio ...
Picturing Faith - September 5, 2008
I am a Catholic in recovery. When I was a kid, people thought Mass had to be said in Latin. (Apparently God spoke only one language back then.) I sat through many a Latin Mass on insufferably hot afternoons, looking out the window, tugging at my collar and telling myself stories set far, far away in lands where things were much more interesting. I was only ten, but I clearly remember wondering how it could possibly be worship to God if I didn’t know what I was saying, what the priest was talk ...
Houston? We Have A Problem... - September 4, 2008
If you want to get out of Houston (and believe me, this morning we were MOTIVATED) you have a couple of options. You can either take a really expensive bus tour to NASA…or you get on a city bus, take a fifty minute ride and get there for about a buck and a half each way.We opted for the bus. We nearly always opt for the bus. Yup. It’s a whole lot less expensive. But it’s also a great way to see the “real” city. When we get there we aren’t tied to some tour director’s schedule. (Sh ...
Dodging Hurricanes in the Gulf - September 2, 2008
It's been really difficult to get online these past few days. The reason? We started our trip in Houston. Our plan was to go onto San Antonio and finish up in New Orleans. We were intitially slated to arrive in NOLA the same day Hurricane Gustav was. We'd planned to travel between these places on the Amtrak. First Amtrak cancelled our reservations and then we lost our hotel reservation. We know now that Gustav didn't do anywhere near the devastation we'd been exepecting. But we didn't know that ...
A Time When Men Were Men and Women...ummm...Weren't...Men - August 24, 2008
I hate camping. To tell the truth, I have always hated camping. I've just never grasped the concept: you leave a perfectly good house with all your stuff and on purpose go to a place where you have to haul your own water, endure ferocious insects and pee outside.Don't get me wrong: I find the idea of squatting around a campfire bristling with male outdoorsyness at the end of a long day riding herd on a gaggle of cattle, sipping cowboy coffee and trading tales of loves lost and conquests made q ...
A Real Haunted House - August 22, 2008
You can see the old farm house from the highway. Every window has been smashed and panels on the front door have been kicked in. It looks brutalized by time and people and years of neglect.Seeing this house, I get the same feeling that overtakes me when I look at cars in a wrecking yard. Once they were brand new. Once someone drove each one of them off the lot...maybe on a hot summer afternoon with great tunes playing on the radio. Now they're here, ready to be crushed and melted and re-made i ...
Lord of the Image: Building Magic Into Your Graphic - August 14, 2008
It's January in Edmonton. Freezing. Sheree and I are just recovering from the Christmas season, but we are getting onto a plane and going to New Zealand. We expect one of the highlights to be a tour we've booked that goes to some of the Lord of the Rings film sites.But as the day grows closer, we start getting more and more unhappy with the prospect because each day off the ship (it was a 12 day trip into NZ and Australia) is precious and you hate to waste even a single moment on land.So it was ...
Accenting with Color - August 13, 2008
I love the picture of this NYC cop about to tell someone off. The shot was taken at the St. Patrick's Day Parade last year. Sheree and I were up very early, staking out our places on the parade route...because no one knows how to throw parades like New Yorkers do.I wanted the treatment of the cop to be in very sharp focus. I wanted the gaffing tape repair to his radio to be sharp. But the picture simply refused to pop until I allowed the only thing in color to be that "way out of focus flag" in ...
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