Just Because I Can

Shopped a pic of the eclipse, just because i can. It turns out we may be keeping it after all.

Enjoy.

Old Wall, Old Banner

As always, uploading the previous banner and wallpaper before i apply the new ones.

... 

Still really haven't thought of what those new ones might be; maybe car related? We'll see.

As for these photos, the banner is of the arches at the very top of Coit Tower in San Francisco. Did some vibrance to the sky, a curves to the shadows on the right side. Nothing too fancy.

The Wallpaper is of some running shoes on a telephone line in San Bruno, California. This had some shopping done. Changed the exposure/levels/curves on the soles of the shoes. Crunched the blacks in the clouds and added vibrance to the little patches of blue sky you see.

The lights on the pole got touched up; as in all of them. Enhanced some colors in the wood of the pole too. Overall i think it turned out well. It almost looks like a painting in my eyes (as in a painting on a canvas using paint, not in the "artsy fartsy-it's so DEEP it's GOOD" sense of the phrase). 

In other news, school starts on Monday. Had some issues with financial aid; as a result i'm only taking two classes this semester. Bad news in terms of graduating "that" much slower, good news in terms of i might be able to upload more photos/videos.  So we'll see how that goes.

Till next time.

Dat Banner...

Well well well, lookie here.

Decided to upload the old banner. Added a new banner, changed the background and color scheme.

Enjoy

Not Dead, New Backgrounds

Yeah yeah yeah i know i know. I didn't put up a new background or change the color scheme. Doing that now.

Here's the old background. Very, very little Photoshop done to this one, just a global curve adjustment layer. Shot of California Highway 35 South, the famous Skyline Boulevard down near Woodside. Awesome road to drive on. This day it was so empty on the roads (it usually is, but this day was especially traffic-free) that i stood on this spot in the middle of the road, with my tripod for a good 5 minutes snapping away before i could HEAR the car coming behind me a good 5 curves away. it is THAT peaceful and quiet. 

This is also the road that was shot for the banner at the top of the page. After the car i heard passed, i walked back to the side of the road where my car was parked, and made a wiiiide angle stretchy stitch. 

Speaking of this road, i'll probably be taking the GoPro out in a week or two (or if the weather warms up a bit) and shoot a video of the drive from the left turn on 92 all the way to 4 corners. it's a 12.5 mile drive; but i hope the drive is "interesting" enough not to warrant a time lapse. the video won't be longer than 15 minutes, i can promise you that though.

So, after this, i'll be putting up a new banner, background image, and color scheme. I may or may not upload the banner, i'll make a decision after i have Ps open.

Be Right Back.

Merry Christmas and whatnot...

So i had holiday duties for the past few days. Sue me. Sorry i couldn't pump out these crazy awesome pictures you all love to look at (it's funny because it looks like there hasn't bee many page views ;_; am i talking to myself here?) on a daily basis.

Moving on, I hope the few (or none...probably none) of you who look at this blog had a happy holiday for whatever festive event you celebrate this time of year. Nowadays we all have to be "politically correct" and we can't just say "Merry Christmas" like we used to when we were younger in fear of 1st amendment lawsuits being thrown at you or whatever business/company employs you.

 And yet you go into cities and towns and it looks like Santa Claus and his merry elves had a giant gang-bang up and down every block and splooged Christmas jizz all over the windows, street poles, and doors. So even if you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus (bro-fist if you got the reference) or what have you; you have to swallow that load of crap "happy holidays" every time you go to the store when all you have to do is look at the Santa hat the cashier/teller/etc wears on their head to know what they're really saying to you. 

I'm not trying to bash other religious beliefs here; i'm not even practicing one myself. I was raised in a Catholic family, but I myself find no interest in any sort of religious belief. If you happen to sway towards any religion, i'm completely fine with it. Just don't make a point to shove said belief in my face.

However, Christmas today (or at least in the U.S.A) has become synonymous with Santa Claus, the Christmas Tree, gift-giving (and receiving), Egg-Nog, and Ugly Sweaters. There is quite more to it that i could go in depth about regarding corporations influencing the psyche of the people during this time of year, but even for a blog, i won't subjugate you to statistical facts/theories and the like. There is little to no hint of the original Catholic celebration of Jesus Christ being born on that day. And if it is there, it's always 2nd potato to the aforementioned gift-wrap and stocking stuffers.

And that's what I celebrate. Not because I was raised in a Catholic family, but because we all love to decorate the house and tree, wrap up presents and tear them open and stuff ourselves silly with good grub, and hum (or sing, if you're into that sort of thing) along with classic Christmas songs.

....

Okay, /religious talk. About these pictures. Surely you noticed them in between all the religious babble i was spouting. First one is of Pescadaro Beach. Foggy, wet, and yes, touched up. Very rarely will i ever publish a RAW file just because it looks so bland without some shooping (or at least in my eye).

Second on down is all Pebble Beach (no, not THAT Pebble Beach). The second is a panoramic stitch of an awesome wave crashing and the cliffs to the left make a nice contrast. Even had to put my watermark on the left side because it would get wiped out (no pun intended) on the right side. Light editing to all of these, if you haven't gotten that point drilled into your skull yet.

Third is a bit further down the trail on Pebble Beach. Wide-angle stitch. LOTS of Photoshop went into this one. Curves, vibrance, multiple uses of masks, layer modes, a vignette. Looks really pretty.

The fourth is a bridge that i actually shot the 3rd one from. A wide angle stitch, but not as wide as the third. Very gentle editing. One curve adjustment layer for the foreground and a vibrance adjustment layer for the sky. Oh, and a H/S adjustment layer for the blue in the itty bitty piece of ocean you see to the right.

And speaking of Christmas, (like i haven't done it enough already) lookie what i got (please excuse the sharpened up cell phone photo, my SD card was inside the gopro)!

i didn't even ask for anything this year because jobless lifeless burden to my folks and whatnot, but this truly shocked me. I've been entering that win everything we make contest of theirs for months now and lo and behold, my parents come out of nowhere and give this to me all wrapped up for x-mas. Really thankful for them giving this to me even though they've been putting up with the way i've been for so long. So plan on looking forward to bumper/dash cam videos of me driving through some pretty roads sometime in the near future.

Maybe when the weather isn't as cold or wet, so like in a few months lol.

okay, i'm out. going to get a new background set up tomorrow and a change in font color and stuff.

"Happy Holidays".

Beaches. Beaches Everywhere.

What better way to waste your time with in this cold, cold December than looking at images of beaches wishing you were there?

Granted, this is no tropical island beach photography but still, it was warmer when i took these photos earlier in the summer than it is now. 

Remember what i said in my earlier post regarding that railroad track in Santa Cruz? the next few images i will be posting are in walking distance (literally, less than FIVE minutes. I spelled it out just so there aren't any typo inquires) of that shot. 

Immediately to the right of the tracks, there is a rocky path that leads up into this cliff that juts out of the coast. Beautiful views. Let me make clear that all of these shots aren't as touched up as the railroad shot, but they've all had light editing done to them to brighten them up a bit. The RAWS are always kind of dull looking before Photoshop has a go at them.

Walking along the edges of the cliff like a boss. (not really)

On to the left side. Neat little beach that you can actually get to if you keep walking along those tracks i mentioned earlier until you come to a path. You can't really see it in this low res, but there are about a dozen people enjoying the warm weather. Despite the overcast in the sky, it was in the 70's and a bit humid this day.

And now for an artsy-fartsy wide angle stitch.

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of another beach. 

another day, another photo...

Sorry about yesterday, folks. wasn't able to do much on the computer. So, here. have a heavily photoshopped shot of a railroad track.

Took this down in beautiful Santa Cruz, California earlier this year. This wasn't shot in the morning, or in evening. I totally changed the sky up so i could get that effect though. I'll put up some more images i took of the immediate surrounding area in the coming days. Might have to touch a few of them up before then, but i'll try to keep a steady stream of them coming along every day. 

Also, you may have noticed the new banner i have up. that's not a crop, it's a panoramic i took a few steps to the side of the background image you see on the site. I'll put up some more "stretchy" pano's in the coming weeks after i've touched them up and added the watermark. 

Enjoy.

Time for Baby to go Bye Bye...

So I've shopped some pics of the Eclipse. Going to be put up for sale soon, so i might as well make it look pretty for the ad. Commencing dump.

Engine bay is pretty plain. No crazy "mawds" and no fancy wire tucks. Even the intake is stock.

Played around with Layer modes. Technically this is an HDR image as i bracketed 3 shots. I just didn't use Ps proprietary HDR Pro function and instead used a different opacity on each layer, and used aforementioned layer modes on select layers. Gave it this warm, juicy, contrast-y effect.

A pretty simple 3/4 shot. darkened up background as it was waay too hot for my liking.

Low setting Front profile. Used distortion a bit to give the car a longer, wider look. Definitely doesn't look as flat as the RAW.  Used curves and a photo filter to increase the color contrast between the red of the car and the blue/green of the sky/pavement.


Going to be asking 3500 or best offer, hope to get no less than 2750.

Also, tomorrow i will add a new background image to the site and change the color scheme to compliment it.  I'll upload a watermarked version of the previous background before i change it to the new one.