Tim’s Ramblings

The best camera is the one you have with you. In today’s case it was my camera on my blackberry and my friend Shelly as a subject :)

:)

Practicing different styles of digital editing. This is the original out of the camera with only basic editing.

Ignore the fact that the above photo is pretty crappy… I just needed a starting point and wine bottles make such great models :)

Next up, straight RAW editing. 100% clarity, adjusting vibrance, some curves, makes it look more “ad” like kinda. Exaggerates the contrasts and such.

Texture work and some RAW work using the original image.

Black and white and curves adjustment. All done in RAW.

Textures! I like this. More aged and old time-y and looks like it was printed on metal. Done with the above B&W version of the image. With this type of editing, the edges of the bottles get even softer than it already was giving a feeling of a shallower depth of field.

A form of sepia but with some reds showing through a tiny bit. Curves adjusted to bring out the black. Some lens correction as well. Most coloring done using split toning with a subtle difference in hue between the highlights and the shadows. All done in RAW.

Finally, my favorite. Used the above sepia shot as a base. Layered, I think, 4 different textures in Photoshop using various blending modes to get the effect I want. I know I do this type of editing a lot. For some reason I really like this “look”

:)

2 days ago I was saying how it’s weird to have December with no snow. Ha. Last night it started to snow and it’s still snowing. Not as bad as back home in East Aurora but still, the plows are slow and it’s too cold for salt. Fun times out there…

I wanted to post how it really looked in my backyard but I wanted to do some creative editing too so this is my “cold” version of today’s photo :)

Lazy Sunday. Spent it with my friend Michele who was in town for the holidays. We WERE going to go see U2 in 3D but with the Browns game AND the Cavs game, it’ll have to be another time.

So we basically just lounged around to watch both games with quesadillas for dinner in between. But during the browns game I pulled out this little snack.

Trader Joe’s has scallops wrapped in glazed bacon in their freezer section. And I gotta tell you. They are awesome. Michele came over today to hang out so I made a batch. Mmmmmm…can anything tast bad wrapped in bacon??

Here is the wine cabinet my sister and Dennis got me for Xmas. It’s very nice. I didn’t realize I had so much wine. Huh. The cabinet part has my wine opener and other stuff. I think I’ll keep the 2 wine racks up top for some of the nicer wines. :)

It’s a nice wine cabinet though it was a bit of a pain to put together. Thanks guys!!

:)

Ok. I lied. One more. I happened to look out the window and saw the moon so I decided to take a shot :)

Today’s photo is very minimalist. Very little editing. Very little setup. I like to title this “THIS is Cleveland on 12/26?????” I’m not complaining of course. No snow. Blue skies. It’s cold but beautiful out there. …unfortunately the former Buffalonian and current Clevelander in me just keeps saying “…this just means we are due for a nasty blizzard soon…”

:)

Well, it’s Xmas. Or at least it was. It was a nice day. 9 pics from the day today :)

Went to my sister’s for Xmas today. When I came in, as usual, The Christmas Story 24 hour marathon was on TBS. This is pretty much an American tradition now… I love this scene :) I remember seeing this in 5th or 6th grade. Never thought I’d still be watching it now and still enjoying it :)

Dennis made breakfast with pancakes as well as bacon and eggs and such.

Then we opened gifts. Here’s Dennis trying on the new hat from Tomoka…

The aftermath of opening presents :)

This is one very comfy puppy.

By the afternoon, we started playing the new Super Mario Brothers Wii that I got them for Xmas. My sister giving World 1 a try as Forest looks on.

Dennis also tried as well. …we never got past World 3…

Then Tomoka made dinner. A chicken rice veggie cheese casserole. Quite tasty.

Oh, and I finally…FINALLY…got a nice photo of their new puppy!!

:) Hope everyone had a good day.

So. I’ve tried to ask via Facebook but so far no luck… Someone signed me up for at least a month, though I don’t know for sure how long, to a wine of the month club! It was a hell of a surprise being woken up by the Fed Ex guy this morning! And the wines I got are some good good stuff. 2005 Cantina Del Mandrolisai Rosso from Italy and a 2007 Vasse River Verdelho from Australia.

All that was in the box was the two fliers in the photo and the wine. I wish the person who gave me this gift will come forward because I want to officially say “THANK YOU!!!” to them!!

Also today we went to my brother in law’s parent’s house for Christmas Eve dinner. His mom makes some great cookies. :)

:)

I must be pretty tired. I just had the last of the tiny tiny bit of 2006 Educated Guess Cabernet Sauvignon I had left and I’m already feeling a bit sleepy… Off to bed I think!

I only took a photo from the parking garage at Crocker Park while doing some last minute shopping. It was a boring shot so I played around with it to make it look old. I wanted to give it the look of those “past and present” photos that you see now and again.

:)

Not much snow here in the west side. Just some white on the ground and it’s mostly ice rather than snow. It’s odd really since usually by now it’s pretty white. Though I’m not one to really wish for a white Christmas. This is juuuust fine.

:)