Shez Photography » Bryan

Diva Dash San Diego 1-21-2012

Bryan — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:21:19 +0000

Shez Photography took the photographs for the SHAPE Diva Dash on the morning of Janurary 21, 2012. If you have arrived at this page looking for your photos then you are in the right place. As soon as the photos are posted you will find the link to the gallery here in this post.

(Update 22JAN2012) Thanks to everybody who braved the rain and showed up to race. We have thousands of great shots and will be posting them shortly.

(Update24JAN2012) The majority of the photos have been posted. Check out the GALLERY to see your race photos and keep coming back to see more as we continue to upload.

Pasadena Marathon Bike Tour 2011

Bryan — Mon, 23 May 2011 04:45:34 +0000

As the first of the three alarms I set for myself the night before started beeping, I immediately knew I was going to need coffee and a lot of it. It was 5AM and I was standing in a dark hotel room trying to force my eyes to open. Why do they have to have these events so early in the morning? As I readied myself by dressing and downing a full cup of coffee, Jamie asked if I was going to wear a jacket. “Probably not” was my reply as I looked out the front door just in case. “Ok, yes” was my new answer as I saw it was softly raining. My hotel room was two and a half blocks from the start but I still needed about 5 minutes between getting my bike out of the car and riding down there. I finally get my biking shoes on and head to the car. I had patched the inner tubes on both tires the day before and when I left the bike the night before, both were holding pressure. Both were flat now though. I quickly put 100 PSI in both and hoped for the best. I clipped in and rode down the slick roads to the road block and proceeded to join the group just as the ride began.

If you have ever been in a bike tour, you will know that these things start more with a whimper then with a roar. In other words, more often then not you end up walking your bike across the start because of the traffic and lack of width at the starting line. This day was no exception and it was fine because by the starting line, my front tire had gone from 100 PSI to 1 PSI. I rode anyways carefully around the first corner and to the first clearing of grass on the side of the road. I then proceeded to change my flat inner tube. This let every last person in the pack pass me while I worked to change the tube as quickly as possible. Fortunately the rear held pressure because I only had one tube.

I know I should carry CO2 but I don’t so I could only put about 40 PSI in the front tire. This I did and then I was off. The course was flat with a few slight inclines and then a pretty quick decline to a narrow right hand more than ninety degree turn. I was actually glad I was still back in the thin crowd at this point of the ride. Some more incline and I took a small break. By this time I had passed some riders on the uphills but I wanted to make sure my body had plenty of fuel so I stopped to eat some Honey Stinger Energy Chews. This was one of the best ideas of my life because this fueled me for a long time.

Next the course headed toward the Rose Bowl where it had a large out and back section. This is also where the half marathon runners would split from the full length course. Now bike riders like to ride on the right side of the road for some reason even if the cones tell them otherwise. This led to some confusion but nothing major. Besides the course confusion, this is also where I happened to be when the skies opened up and a torrent of water fell on top of me and the other riders. It had been raining up to this point already but now it was a downpour and to make matters worse, bikes kick up a lot of spray straight up the riders backside. To make matters even worse, my glasses started fogging.

All of these things happened, but I rode on. At least my inner tubes didn’t give me any more headaches. I was up with the main pack by now and passing a good amount of riders on both the uphills and downhills. The second half of the course had some nice big dips in it but it also has some of the straightest and widest streets. This allowed me to pass a lot of people. Some people I passed multiple times because they started cutting the course. I don’t know why you would do that but that is their choice. I chose to ride the whole length and put up with the torrential downpour. Another thing that happened to me is I had to belch a lot. This brought up the smell of the beer I had consumed the day before from Lucky Baldwins. This is the Pub within walking distance of the hotel we stayed in.

The rain slackened slightly before I finally rolled across the finish. Jamie was there to take my photo and I got my finishers medal. Jamie took a few more shots while I was wet and covered in road grime. I proceeded to head back to my room and take a nice hot shower before driving home. It was a fun ride but next year hopefully it does not rain and my tires stay inflated.

Blackthorn's Dry Apple Cider and Fuller's London Pride

Lucky Baldwins assortment of beers

Kasteel

Even with Live View mode on the waiter couldn't get a good photo

Marathon Start

Crossing the finish

Soaking wet

Bike Tour Complete

Top Ten Reasons To Avoid the Nikon Coolpix P500 – Bryan’s Review

Bryan — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:32:24 +0000

To see more test shots from the Nikon P500 check out the GALLERY.

Occasionally a company known for quality of build as well as design will unveil a product that is so ill conceived and even more poorly implemented that it casts a shadow on the entire reputation of the company. For Nikon, that product is the Coolpix P500. What follows is born from my time owning this contraption and experiencing first hand just how wrong a product can get.

1)The Nikon Coolpix P500 tries to do everything but does not do anything well. This camera is packed with more features then I care to list. The manual is electronic only, most likely because if they printed it, it wouldn’t fit in the box. The features all sound nice but in reality are almost universally so poorly implemented to be useless.

Photo is unedited. F6.3 at 1/30 of a second. ISO 200

2) The camera is based around a sensor usually found on much cheaper cameras. This is major because without a solid sensor, everything else falls apart. At an MSRP of $399, the fact that this camera has a 12 megapixel sensor is puzzling. However megapixels are not what this sensors lacks the most. My old Canon SD550 has only 7.1 megapixels and takes better photos. The problem is the sensor only really works at ISO 100. Anything above that introduces strong noise reduction and above 400 the noise reduction is so strong that people will look at your photo and ask why you did not try to focus it.

Photo is unedited. F5 at 1/80 of a second. ISO 200

3) Manual focus feature is welcome but so poorly implemented that it is useless. Remember, this camera is a superzoom with an electronic viewfinder and an LCD screen as your only two options for focusing with. The EV is so small and low resolution that it might as well not exist. When using the LCD, manual focus brings up a zoom of the center of the frame so you can more easily focus. The problem is even with this zoom, pulling focus is an exercise in frustration. I was glad the feature was there but wish it was implemented in a useful way.

Photo is unedited. F6.3 at 1/100 of a second. ISO 200

4) Aperture Priority mode ignores your aperture settings if you zoom out. This is major once again and became a deal breaker. I am sure Nikon can fix this with a firmware update but I have a feeling they have no intention to based on the response from their customer service saying there is nothing wrong. Basically it works like this. The lens is not a fixed aperture lens. This means that when zoomed in, it cannot retain the most wide open F-stop. That’s fine. However if you zoom in and set the f-stop to 8.0 and then zoom back out, the camera opens up the aperture to f-stop 3.5. It does not need to do this and it is counter-intuitive when shooting in aperture priority.

Photo is unedited. F4 at 1/640 of a second. ISO 200

5) The superzoom lens has too much distortion and distorts in a non-common way. I’m used to barrel and pincushion distortion on superzoom lenses. The distortion from this lens defies classification. Its not that it just has barrel distortion at full wide; it also has stretching and pulling and other oddly shaped distortion that I’ve never seen before. In addition, the lens is just not very sharp. An unsharp lens combined with a poor sensor is a recipe for disaster.

Photo is unedited. F3.7 at 1/1500 of a second. ISO 200

6) The auto-focus is slow and dumb. If you set the auto-focus to center point, it is slightly faster. However your only two options are the whole frame or center point. Neither works all that well but the whole frame auto-focus is a disaster. It will routinely choose 5-6 points to focus on; none of which are what is actually the subject of the photo.

Photo is unedited. F3.4 at 1/200 of a second. ISO 200

7) Battery life is poor and the camera does not come with a charger in the box. Enough said.

Photo is unedited. F4.2 at 1/1250 of a second. ISO 200

8 ) When you turn on the camera with the lens cap on, it tries to move the lens into the ready position even though it is obstructed. This is a very annoying design feature. The lens should not even need to protrude to work at full wide. Nikon could have extended the shroud or designed the cap differently. Instead they left this design flaw fully intact. It is the little things like this that make me wonder if Nikon even cares if this camera is good or not.

Photo is unedited. F5 at 1/100 of a second. ISO 200

9) Auto White Balance varies wildly between shots of the same scene. This combined with the fact that this camera only takes jpeg files makes for a very annoying time doing post production.

Photo is unedited. F4.2 at 1/320 of a second. ISO 200

10) The images this camera takes just look weird. I cannot place my finger on it but even in a bright sunny day photograph, the images just look flat and lacking. By flat, I don’t mean low contrast. I instead mean that they lack dimensionality. I have a feeling that this camera has a lower dynamic range than most and so captures images accordingly and then compensates with in camera processing to make the image look “normal”. This is just a theory but it is the only thing I can think of to explain the weirdness of the images.

Photo is unedited. F3.4 at 1/1250 of a second. ISO 200

In conclusion, stay away from the Nikon Coolpix P500 like a medieval peasant would avoid the plague. I know for a fact that Nikon is more than capable of making fine cameras that produce wonderful photos. This is not one of those cameras. I would go so far as to say that this camera is single-handedly destroying Nikon’s reputation around the world and they would be best served by taking it off the market.

Jamie and I dumped this contraption and picked up the Canon T2i instead. This is mostly because we already have a collection of fine Canon lenses. We both love the camera and coincidentally the camera fits in the same case we picked up for the P500. If you can afford the price difference, get that camera instead because you will not regret it.

Cars and Coffee Irvine

Bryan — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 17:14:03 +0000

Hello friends and Facebook fans. Jamie and I are finally posting more photo goodness. We purchased another camera which still has not arrived yet and I will be reviewing it once we have it in our hands. We also have events coming in the next month so look for more frequent updates.

Yesterday Jamie and I somehow dragged ourselves out of bed at a much too early hour for a Saturday and went to the weekly Cars and Coffee™ Irvine event. This gathering is a spectacle of car performance and history that anybody who loves cars will enjoy. The best part of this weekly gathering is that it is free to attend (you don’t even pay for parking) and the only thing being sold is coffee.

On any given Saturday, you will find at least five decades of automobile history covered in addition to seeing multiple supercars and at least a few race cars. Yesterday also got a special visit by the new McLaren MP4-12C. When we arrived, there was a crowd around this car and when we left, there was still a crowd around this car. Another car that carries the supercar status is the Saleen S7. Yes, an example of one of these cars was present as well. My favorite car out of those present would have to be the Lotus Evora because it is a Lotus with back seats.

Along with the production supercars and historical automobiles were of course professionally modified cars as well. Hennessey had about four or five vehicles present including a Camaro and a Ford GT.

Jamie took a lot of photos and you can find full resolution versions of all the photos shown here and more at the GALLERY.

Ford GT40

Saleen S7 Twin Turbo

Lotus Evora

Lotus Exige

Chevy Bel Air

Morgan AeroMax

McLaren MP4-12C

Lotus Evora

Ferrari and Nissan GTR

Lamborghini Countach

Miramar Air Show 2010

Bryan — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 04:13:19 +0000

Thunder storms off the coast subside to reveal the quiet entrance of thousands of cars. The hustle of packing everything and moving it over the trek to the destination. Kids, chairs, umbrellas, LOTS of cameras. The silence of the morning is contrasted with the obvious drive in everybody to get where they are going. The sun breaks the sky and the Air Show Starts!

The show starts with R/C planes flying off in the distance. There are highly maneuverable and from some of the photos can be confused with the real thing. Our vantage point only allows us glimpses of these planes so we wait and apply sun screen in preparation for the long day. Soon the wait is rewarded with the morning performance of Sean Tucker in the Oracle Challenger III. During this performance Sean will perform tricks that no other performer can replicate. He also pulls the most negative-g maneuvers I have seen. Sean can put the plane in a hover, fly it backwards, do a myriad of other things that boggle the mind. The air show is worth it just to see him perform.

The next aircraft to perform was a stand in since one of the AT-6 planes had mechanical problems. So instead the audience got to see the slowest plane at the air show, an Antonov An-2 biplane. This plane is massive for a single engine aircraft and yet it can take off from distance as short as 170 meters (558 feet). The design is old but it continues to be produced in some countries even today because it is reliable and safe.

The very next powered craft to fly was John Collver in his “Wardog” AT-6 “Texan”. The AT-6 was used as a trainer and so John flies in the smooth and simple maneuvers that pilots would have learned back when this airplane was used. The AT-6 is massive and powerful for a single engine trainer.

The show turns a page and the military exhibitions begin with the afternoon portion of the show. In quick succession the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team take flight along with a whole slew of military aircraft from Cobras to Osprey to Falcons and Hornets. These all fly off and the Golden Knights parachute out while the National Anthem plays. The last jumper has the American Flag flying off of the back of his parachute. Immediately after he lands, the most exciting part of the air show gets under way; MAGTF!

The Marine Air Ground Task Force demonstration shows in quick succession a coordinated air and land effort to take an important strategical asset. AV-8B Harriers do mock strafing runs while F/A 18 F Super Hornets go on mock bombing runs. UH-1 Huey helicopters bring in ground troops to fast rope in and secure the landing zone. MV-22 Osprey fly in using airplane mode for quick arrival and then transition to helicopter mode to drop off their troops. AH-1Z Cobras secure the area for the ground troops while CH-53E Super Stallions air drop light vehicles in the distance. Soon after the armored vehicles arrive including armored personnel carriers and M1A2 Main Battle Tanks. The whole time the ground troops seek cover and cover each other’s movements as they advance. The Hornets and Harriers fly by doing a mock mid-air refueling run. Finally the troops reach the stands and the demonstration is over.

The tanks and the troops travel along the flight line to leave and shake the hands of the audience on the way. That concludes MAGTF! Next up the Super Hornet does a legacy flight with an F4U corsair. After that Sean Tucker performs again is his Oracle Challenger III. Then the audience gets to see a Semi-Truck tractor fitted with a jet engine on the back do afterburner runs down the runway. They call this Shockey’s “ShockWave” Jet Truck. Then the same AV-8B Harrier which was in the MAGTF demonstrates vertical landing and take off.

Second only to the MAGTF demonstration in excitement is the demonstration which comes up next. This is of course the F-22 Raptor; the premier air superiority fighter in the world. The F-22 demonstrates its unclassified maneuvers for the audience like low altitude recovery from a complete stall, flying with a negative air speed (flying backwards), power loops, and turns in a radius that outclasses any other fighter at the show. Because the F-22 has thrust vectoring, it can fly with an angle of attack higher then even the Super Hornet and turn tighter as well as achieve Supercruise speeds of breaking the sound barrier without using afterburners.

While the Raptor stayed in the air it was joined by an F-16 and a P-51 Mustang for a legacy flight. This provided excellent photo opportunities to the crowd below as they all had to fly at the speed of the Mustang.

The afternoon show finished out with a demo by the Red Bull Helo which can fly upside down in loops and the Canadian Snow Birds which do just about every formation flying trick that the Blue Angels do. The last performers of the afternoon were of course the Blue Angels who make their flights always appear completely effortless while flying in ridiculously close proximity to each other. All in all it was a good day and worth it if you can ever make it out.

600mm F4 Lens

Antonov An-2

Shockey’s “ShockWave” Jet Truck

Sean Tucker in the Oracle Challenger III

AV-8B Harriers

F/A 18 F Super Hornet

MV-22 Osprey

Marine Air Ground Task Force

F-22 Raptor

P-51 Mustang

Legacy Flight

Canadian Snow Birds

To see more photos from the 2010 Miramar Air Show check out our Zenfolio Gallery. http://shezphoto.zenfolio.com/p289669307

Sensor Cleaning Tutorial

Bryan — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:29:38 +0000

Sensor Cleaning for Interchangeable Lens Cameras

It would be nice if camera bodies with interchangeable lenses sealed themselves during lens changes. Since they do not yet do this, there is always some dust or fibers which may sneak into the camera body during a lens change. The dust and fibers are then attracted to your sensor like a magnet because of the charge the sensor carries when it captures light. Dust which is not on the focal plane is usually not noticeable in photographs. So for instance a little dust on the end of your lens or dust in the camera body but not on the sensor will not be noticeable. However as soon as that dust or fiber sticks to your sensor then it will for sure show up on your photos as a dark spot.

This is a solved problem right?

The short answer is no. Many new cameras incorporate either a system to shake the sensor or to electrically push the dust off the sensor. The dust and fibers however are still in your camera body where they can re-attach at a later time.

How do I know if I have dust on the sensor?

You might already know you do have dust but if you want to find out for sure then take a photo of the clear blue sky. Then download the photo and zoom in to 50-100%. If you see dark spots where there should be none, then you have dust on your sensor.

What do I need to do now?

These instructions are specific to the Canon 5D Mark II but can be used on any DSLR or even any camera with an interchangeable lens. However you will need to read your cameras manual to find out how to put it in “cleaning mode” and follow the instructions for that mode. Make sure your battery is fully charged before doing this.

What tools do I need?

You will need at least three things and a few more optional items. The three mandatory items are:
1) A good blower
I like the Giotto Rocket Air Blower which you can pick up for about $15 including shipping. Note: do not use canned air as it has propellant which can leave residue. Also be wary of CO2 as some canisters have lubricant.

2) Photographic Solutions Sensor Swabs for your sensor size. This is the most expensive part at $35-40 per 12-pack.

3) Eclipse Optic Cleaning System Cleaning Fluid Note: This stuff is extremely flammable so you can only buy it in person in the store. If you don’t live in New York then you’ll have to find it at a local camera store. One bottle lasts a long time.

4) Optional: Sensor scope or magnifying loupe. These can get pricey and this one is $75. It does help in visualizing the problem though so you know where to concentrate the blower.

A Primer on sensors

It does not matter if you have a CCD or a CMOS sensor. The sensor always has a protective glass over it and it is this glass that you will be cleaning. Canon incorporates a low-pass filter in this as well to remove infrared light. Other manufacturers don’t do this. However the cleaning method remains the same regardless. While the glass is not delicate, it can be scratched so that is why care needs to be taken to prevent contamination anytime you will be physically contacting the sensor glass. Since it rests on the focal plane, any markings will be visible. If your sensor glass is damaged already, it is possible to repair although it is expensive. Contact the service department for your specific manufacturer to find out your options.

Let’s get started already!

The first thing I will say about this process is that it is best done in a clean room. If you take your camera to the manufacturers service center then this is what they do. Since most people I know don’t own clean rooms then a closed off room will have to do. If you have an air filter, turn it on high for about an hour ahead of time and then turn it off right before to let the air calm and the dust settle. If you have pets, kick them out. The last thing you need is your dog wagging his tail and some fur flying into your camera body.

1) Detach your lens and cap the end and temporarily put your body cap on the camera. Then put your camera in “Cleaning Mode”. Note: This is different from “clean the sensor now”. Like I mentioned before, every camera is different but to see how to do it for the Canon 5D Mark II just watch the video below. Lastly take off the body cap. You should notice that the mirror is now out of the way (if your camera has a mirror).

2) Grab your blower and proceed with blowing any dust and fibers out of the camera body. It is possible that you can clean the sensor only using the blower but if you cannot, it is still a good step to include. Blow as much out as you can while being careful not to touch the blower tip to anything in the camera including the sensor or the mirror.

3) Take one sensor swab and the sensor fluid and place it next to the camera. Now carefully open the sensor swab making sure not to touch the end with the swab on it. Apply a drop of liquid on each side of the sensor swab. Now firmly but gently swipe the swab from the left to the right of the sensor glass. Then make one swipe from the right to the left using the clean side of the swab. Now the swab is used and cannot be used again so just put it down anywhere. Once you put the body cap or your lens back on then you can take your camera out of “cleaning mode”.

Time to test the results

Place a wide angle lens on the camera if you have one and go outside. Aim at a clear blue sky up at about 75 degrees and opposite from the sun. Take several photos at the widest angle and then download them and look at them between 50-100%. You should not notice any dust but if you do you can repeat the steps. Sometimes just using the blower again can fix the problem.

Enjoy!

Use your newly cleaned camera often. It may get dirty again but you now know how to clean it. This should lead to a much more enjoyable experience. If you end up with an impossibly to clean sensor then you might want to take it to the manufacturers service center.

Photo 191: Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction with CS5 Tutorial

Bryan — Mon, 24 May 2010 01:55:14 +0000

Jamie and I have been pushed to do more creative work in our latest class then any of the previous classes we have taken. The most recent example being our “Truth is Stranger than Fiction” assignment. We each had creative blocks for a fairly long time before we came up with the ideas for our individual projects. Once we each decided on what to do the next challenge was taking the photos and editing them in the amount of time left. I personally was limited in that I didn’t have access to a pickup truck and so I relied heavily on the abilities of Photoshop for post production work. In the paragraphs to follow I will take you through the steps I took to make just one of my images. I will also tell you what I would have done (and may still do) to correct some of the less successful images.

The Premise:

My idea for the project was to take photos of myself on a couch that I am in the process of disassembling in my garage in various locations where you would not expect to find a couch. In addition I would be staring off into something out of the frame and have a gaming controller in my hands and a headset on. Seeing as I was crunched for time and didn’t have a truck I decided to take the background shots separately from the subject shots of me on the couch and then merge the two into a composite image in post production. This proved to be a difficult task as you can imagine.

The Execution:

The first step was for me to take the photos for the background settings. I wanted to choose settings where it would be strange for a couch to be sitting in the foreground. In addition I needed photos which had an empty space for me to place the subject. I took two such shots and then went into my massive library of images to find the other four. Fortunately I had many images with empty ground in the foreground. Why I have these photos, I don’t know but it worked out. Next I needed to take the shots of the subjects.

I dragged my old couch out of the garage and set up the shots. I put it in direct sun but didn’t worry about the background. I set up the shots but I had Jamie help with actually pressing the shutter while I posed. How the shots were composed did not matter as much as getting the couch in the frame. Once we got the shots of myself I posed the dog and stood behind him while holding his leash. The next step was post-production where all the magic happens.

Post-Production:

The first step was to mask just the subject out of the photo so it could be placed in the background shot. I started this in Photoshop CS4 trial and during the process the trial ran out. I purchased Photoshop CS5 Extended and downloaded the trial to get me through the time between when I ordered it and when it arrived. This was actually good because the “quick selection” tool and “refine edge” dialog box became even better in CS5.

Something you can see in the photo is the new “Mini Bridge” which lets you browse as you would in Bridge except within Photoshop. One note is that if Bridge is not already running then it will need to start in order to show “Mini Bridge”.

Step 1: Open Image

I used the quick selection tool to select the subject. There are a few tricks to using this tool successfully. The first is to understand the two means of controlling how much it selects. These means are: 1) reduce or enlarge the brush size and 2) zoom in and move the tool more slowly. Another tip is to remember that it is called “Quick Selection” for a reason. There are times when you need to fix things with the lasso tool or other times when the magic wand works better. You should remember though that by default the quick select tool adds to your selection but you can just as easily use it to remove from your selection.

Step 2: Quick Selection

The next step I took was “Refine Edge”. You can access this by going to Select–> Refine edge or by clicking the “Refine Edge” button which is visible when using the quick selection tool. You can use this tool to expand the area of edge detection, smooth the edges of a selection, feather the transition of the selection edge, or adjust the contrast of the selection edge. The most useful part of this tool for me is the ability to expand the radius of edge detection as it is a really easy way to get a good selection of hair, fur or other uneven edges.

Step 3: Refine Edge

There are a few new options in this dialog box in the CS5 version. These include the “Smart Radius” check box, the ability to paint to expand the refine edge radius in certain areas, and the “Decontaminate Color” check box and slider. The “Smart Radius” check box will contract the maximum radius of the edge detection in areas where it does not need to be so large. If you need more control, you can now paint in to add to or remove areas of edge refinement. Lastly, “Decontaminate Color” will actually change the color of pixels to get rid of background color seeping through or light from a nearby object which reflected onto the edge of your selection. If you use this option then you are forced to output to a new layer as some of the original image information is destroyed/changed.

Step 4: Placement in Layer

Once I completed masking out the subject (myself and the couch) I simply copied the image information and pasted it into the background of the new image as a new layer. This results in the object in the new layer being much too large in this context. In order to re-size the subject you can go to edit–> Transform–> Scale. Then hold shift as you change the size of the object. Holding shift maintains the aspect ratio as your re-size. You can also drag the object around while in this mode.

Step 5: Scale

For this image this completed everything I did. Now the success of the image at this point depends on the quality of your selection as well as the way the lighting on each image matches or contrasts with each other. For instance this is how my image would look if I flipped the subject horizontally. You can do that from Edit–>Transform–>Flip Horizontally. Now the shadows are heading in the same direction, however I didn’t like this as much compositionally so I left it.

Step 6: Flip

Depth of Field, Lighting, Shadows, and other challenges:

Some things which I needed to take into account in the project included lighting, shadows and depth of field. In this image I applied a blur to the subject because if it was completely sharp it would not make sense. This landscape shot had a focus point approximately at the hyper focal distance. This means things in the foreground have various levels of being out of focus. Still even with this applied this image appears just slightly unbelievable. To add to the realism I made a selection of just the foreground and pasted it in place on a new layer on top of the subject layer. Then I moved the subject so that it was sitting behind the foreground.

Step 7: Foreground depth of field

I realize that in order to fix all my shots I should have shot it in such a way as to eliminate shadows completely. Then the images where there was a shadow could be manipulated to reduce the contrast and exposure of the subject to match the background. Oh well, next time.

The final step that I could have taken to blend my images more convincingly would be to apply adjustments to the whole image. Here is what it would look like converted to Black and White with noise added.

Step 8: Black & White with Noise

What does it mean?

You might ask what does my project mean or what is it trying to convey. I guess it’s trying to convey that games transport you places. It could also be said to convey that people get sucked into gaming so deeply that they forget what is going on around them.

Jamie did the same project with a little bit different approach. She took multiple shots from the same angle and merged them together and then used layer masks to bring out the different locations of the subject. She also combined multiple images of the background at different exposures to create HDR (High Dynamic Range). Below is my completed project followed by hers.

Jamie’s Project

Gallery Search Tips

Bryan — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:36:01 +0000

If you are reading this it is because you want more tips on searching the gallery. The gallery is organized into albums and you can of course navigate to an album and browse through the images. Some albums however have hundreds of images and this become tiresome. You just want your photo so here is how you find it. Click “search” at the top. By default it will search the title, the description and the keywords. Also by default it will match only images which contain all the words you search on. This is great for most searches. However sometimes you need to change things up.

For instance let’s say your bib number is 2009. Well a keyword on all events from 2009 is (yes you guessed it) 2009. However the number is not in the title of the image so you can search on only the title to find your photo.

Occasionally you may also want to change the operator from “AND” to “OR” to be more inclusive and find images containing any of the words you type. I can’t think of an example at this moment but you might want to do it.

Lastly, experiment. If you can’t find what you are looking for just experiment. As a final resort you can email me at bryan@shezphoto.com and I will search the actual image archive for the photo you are looking for.

Good searching!

Trail of Torment III

Bryan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:04:09 +0000

Update 10-6-2009 @ 9:11 PM: The photos are posted and tagged now. You can search for them by typing “Trail of Torment III” without the quotes followed by your bib number. If you think you are missing a shot you can also search for “Trail of Torment III no bib” without the quotes and you will see all the photos with obscured or missing bib numbers. For more tips and tricks see the page on searching the gallery.

Special Note: If you were the one wearing the “I’ve got the Runs” shirt and no bib you can find your photos by typing “got the runs from the Trail of Torment III in 2009″ without the quotes.

You can access the gallery here. From here click on the search link at the top. Search always searches the entire gallery which is why it is important to include the event name.

All photos are posted uncropped. If you want to purchase a photo then click the “i” information icon for the image to get the file name and email your order to orders@shezphoto.com or bryan@shezphoto.com and we will respond back with a money request through Paypal. Alternately you may mail a check however this will delay your order until the check is received.

If you want the image cropped or adjusted prior to us sending it to you let us know. We will send you the unaltered photo and throw in the cropped image with the sale for free.

Remember, you can access the gallery here and find out search tips here.

END UPDATE

On Sunday, October 4, 2009 @ 7:00 AM PST the Trail of Torment III race kicks off. With three different distances the event caters to just about every endurance athlete out there. If you are participating then you are in luck because this is the place where all of the race photography will be posted and sold.

Check back on this page after the event to see the photos as they are posted. All photos posted in the event gallery are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License which means they are free to use however you like so long as you give credit ONLY at the resolution posted and no higher. If you really want to own your photo outright with no restrictions and at Hi-Res then you can purchase the digital file for $5. We can send it to you in RAW, jpeg, tiff, psd, png, xcf, or almost any other format you like.

All photos will be shot with either a Canon 5D Mark II which features a 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor or the Canon 50D which features an APS-C sized 15.1-megapixel CMOS sensor. Both will be paired with “L” lenses for superb image quality.
Make sure to check back here early and often for new information, updates, and of course your photos.

Vivian Creek Adventure Hike

Bryan — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:21:31 +0000

A good friend of mine, Jay recently started what he terms “Adventure Friday”. See, he works Saturday but always gets Friday off. He already completed one major hike about a month ago and was looking to go on another. I took him up and we applied for a permit to hike the Vivian Creek trail which leads eventually to Mount San Gorgonio. As we set out on the trail I was excited and about as prepared as I thought I should be. I carried two liters of water plus an 8 oz chocolate Silk soy drink. Jamie made me two sandwiches and packed me trail mix, dried fruit, Shot Bloks, and Gu. Jay was even more prepared. He packed a full U.S. gallon of water plus he had trekking poles and a water filtration pump. More importantly, Jay is in much better shape then I am.

So we set out on our hike at a few minutes past 7AM. The trail starts flat, crosses a riverbed for Mill Creek and then shoots up into seriously steep switchbacks and loose rocky terrain. Jay and I were both feeling great as we crossed Vivian Creek and continued on a slight uphill. As we were going I mentioned to Jay that I smelled smoke but he couldn’t smell it at the time. We kept going and even though it was some seriously steep and technical hiking I was feeling great. We passed Half Way Creek feeling good. We continued up to another switchback which took us around to a great view of the valley. It was then that we could see the typical thermal inversion layer in the atmosphere and below it this cloud of thick black and orange smoke. This spooked Jay and concerned me as well. My first though was “let’s get away from the smoke”. I wanted to summit and then decide which side of the mountain to come down. If there was fire nearby we would see it and we could go down the other side. Jay reminded me that this would make it a 23 mile hike. “Good Point” I said and so we went down. We got about a mile and a half down or almost 1200 vertical feet and we happened across the first hikers we had seen on the trail so far. They didn’t know where the smoke came from but were not concerned. Then another couple came up and continued on. Jay and I decided it must be safe to continue so we went back up.

Smoke from the Santa Barbara County fires

Jay looking worried

The second time doing that ascent took it’s toll on me. We went slightly above where we turned around the first time and stopped to eat lunch. Then we continued on past High Creek. By this time I was really feeling it. We got a few hundred feet vertically above High Creek when I decided to call it quits. We could have reached the summit but we would have gotten back to the car around 7PM and I had no cell service to tell Jamie I would be late.

It felt really good to be going downhill and we made great time. Then my body just hit a wall and every step was a major effort. I had forgotten how steep the switchbacks above Mill Creek were. Jay lent me his trekking poles and that helped me get down. Then we crossed the creek and made it to the car. I was never happier to see a car in my life and I thought for a moment about kissing it’s steel skin; then I decided not to.

Be sure to check out my GPS information and the photos I took. Also make sure to check out Jay’s Adventure Friday blog here. Oh, by the way the fire was all the way up in Santa Barbara County and nowhere near us.