I went to Barnes & Noble on Tuesday to check out the new Watchmen book and in addition to the art book, two other books came out as well. I bought two of them- the Film Companion and the Portrait Book. I just started reading the film companion and so far so good. I'll let you know more when I get through it all. The portrait book is just amazing. Still photographer Clay Enos who was responsible for taking ALL still photography on the set, which included promo shots and even imagery used in props (such as newspapers and framed photos), released a book of black and white portraits of cast, crew and a few props. No text or copy- just oversized photos. It's not so much an insight into the movie's plot or structure like the film companion is but rather just a great collection of photographs. Clay is the guy who took the iconic Minutemen photo I posted a little while back. The photos are great although I assumed there would be more photos of the main ensemble. Check out these photos I took...of the photo book.
Watchmen Portrait Book
Who Photoshops the Photoshoppers?
Well it's been awhile since my last post and all of you (Dan) have been bugging me to update this thing more often, so I will try. A lot has happened in the past few months. I've played a few new games including Assassin's Creed, Far Cry 2, and Left 4 Dead and have watched numerous movies. For instance, last night I movie hopped and saw Defiance and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. I've also switched jobs. Previously, I was working at an automotive company doing graphic design in the marketing department and now I'm working at an advertising agency doing design work for multiple clients. I've also upgraded to Adobe CS4. On the photography side, I've recently purchased a speedlight and new lens and have been having a blast playing with those. Perhaps I'll blog in more detail on these topics sometime soon.
In the meantime, today as I was keeping tabs on the most anticipated movie in my world these days, The Watchmen, it inspired me to do some Photoshop work on a photo I took of myself recently. So as an homage to the Watchmen, I introduce you to myself as Dr. Manhattan. The original photo can be found on my Flickr here.
Photoshop World Conference & Expo
Coming up September 4-6 is Photoshop World Conference & Expo in Las Vegas and I will be there! Hotel is booked and registration is paid for. I just need to buy my plane ticket. 3 days of Photoshop and design classes taught by industry greats such as Scott Kelby, Dave Cross, and Matt Kloskowski. In between classes there will be a tech expo with exhibitors such as Canon, Nikon, and Adobe where I can see all the latest gadgets and software. (image above taken from the Photoshop World website. Check it out)
In preparation for my trip I recently purchased a new camera/laptop backpack- the Kata DR-467. A friend of mine has the model below this one, the only difference being that the one I bought holds up to a 17" laptop. It looks bad ass and is ergonomically comfortable. When not carrying your camera, the dividers can be taken out and the entire bag can be used as a simple backpack. It also has a built in rain cover in case the worst happens. I should be getting it this week. It will make things easier in the airport and trekking through the expo keeping my laptop, camera and other digital devices with me in one bag instead of bringing a separate bag for my laptop and camera. Most bags I was checking out were well over $100 to get the laptop option but I got this baby for an even $66 from Amazon. B&H and Adorama lists it $79.95 but if you buy it from Amazon who goes through Adorama (don't ask me why it's cheaper) it's only $66 bucks. No tax. Free shipping. Boom bam.
Why So Serious? Because That's What It Takes.
It's been awhile since my last post but I've been eerily occupied watching the highly addictive X-Files. See previous post. So I must apologize to myself and my fiance (the only people who read this blog) for not giving us gripping journalistic endeavors to embark on. So let's see if I can catch us up shall we? I've heard something about some movie called The Dark Knight that has been doing reasonably well at the box office. I guess I should check that one out sometime... Obviously I am being a douchebag because I have seen it twice already with a third time on my schedule of things to do. I was there for the midnight screening with 500 other people playing board games and ordering pizza in the lobby waiting to be let in. The movie was unbelievable. I'm hesitant to call it a movie- The film was unbelievable. I don't even want to call it a comic book movie. It's really just a film making masterpiece. The storyline moved along like a freight train fleshing out these characters that make you believe in a world where a man dressed as a bat and a psycho dressed as a clown really exist. Heath's performance was spectacular as everyone already knows. I can't wait to watch it again, but next time it will be in IMAX. I'm sure I will be scared shitless to see Harvey Dent's grotesque face revealed on a 6 story screen.
The joker poster above now graces the wall of my room framed behind glass. It's quite creepy because it looks as though he is writing on the frame. Below are some shots from that studio shoot. I love seeing how graphic artists turn raw studio/photography into awesome works of art. I hope to be doing projects like this someday.
Sigma 70-300mm for D60 Review
Colors are great although the image quality is a little soft, but research into the matter seems to indicate this occurs at 300mm at 5.6. The sweet spot of this lens seems to be 250 or below at about 7.1. It's not bad enough to not recommend it.
The lens also has a macro mode that you can activate between 200 and 300mm. When switched on, the lens can focus on objects much closer but I find myself shooting instead in manual focus during macro situations. The autofocus just takes too long.
Since this is a 4-5.6 lens, I find myself having to bump the ISO up to about 400 to even 800 in daylight to get sharp images since I need to shoot at 1/320 or faster when not using a tripod. This is my major gripe, but hey for $250 I can live with it. Highly recommend it for a first lens or a telephoto on the cheap.
I've Discovered The Light
Since I got my new camera I've been taking a crap load of pictures. At first I was using Adobe Bridge to organize and edit my RAW files but then remembered about Adobe Lightroom. I think I am in love. Lightroom is specifically made for the photographer, whether amateur or professional. The workflow is surprisingly simple from importing, tagging, organizing, and editing (or otherwise known in Lightroom terms as Developing). It treats files as InDesign does. All photos are linked to Lightroom and not actually moved or changed as you move and change them. All editing is non-destructible. Cropping, spot removal, straightening, color and exposure correction is not permanent even after you close the program. You can go back anytime and start from scratch or adjust your settings at a later time.
On top of this, Lightroom is capable of shooting tethered which means you can hook your camera up to you computer, take a picture, and it will automatically show up in Lightroom a few seconds later. As they import you can adjust settings to tag the photos and go into a certain folder. The photos are not stored on your camera but instead are stored directly to your hard drive. The software that comes with Canon cameras include software that makes this possible. Nikon owners like me need to buy a program called Camera Control Pro 2 ($160) or Bibble Pro ($130) which blows. I downloaded the trial version of Camera Control Pro 2 and it works like a charm. When the trial is up I am going to try this out which costs $0.
Attack of the Tripods
f/5 @ 10 seconds
f/5.6 @ 1/5 second
A composite made in PhotoshopThe Nikon DSexy
My latest purchase... the Nikon D60. The successor to the D40x, the D60 adds a few new features such as vibration reduction (VR) and other minor upgrades. If I owned the D40x, I don't think the price tag would be worth the upgrade, but since I don't, I do! This baby is awesome. 10.2 megapixels. 18-55mm lens. 2.5" LCD. This is my first DSLR and from what I hear it's a perfect entry level camera. I've read through the 190 page manual about two times learning how to set all the various functions. Of course now I have to buy all the necessary accessories to go with it: UV filter, tripod, and camera bag. My buddy Mike recently bought the Rebel XTi and the camera bag he bought is just awesome so I chose to buy the same one but instead of gray trim I'm going with the camo.
Below are a few pictures I took experimenting with depth of field. Check them out.
