Took a random drive through the mountains today basically just looking for good roads for future photo workshops.  I managed to shoot up a couple hundred photos and these are the day’s winners.  My particular favorite are the rams and the bubble girl.  How about you?

My original destinations were still covered in deep deep snow.  But I took a brand new road (new to me) hwy 28 which goes from West Vail, through Minturn, Redcliff , Leadville and then I jumped 91 back to Copper.

Did you know that you can actually “paint” smoke into your photos and graphic designs with special “smoke” brushes in Photoshop?  Well you can.  So think of all the cool images you have that would look even cooler if there had been smoke pouring out of the house, the car, the building, or your brother’s ears.    Ok, so maybe you don’t want to make fake fires in your photographs, but smoke has other uses as well.  Just because it is called smoke doesn’t mean it cannot be used for any number of other cool effects.  Fog, stylized texture, insanely cool masking options, and more.  Just get creative.

Here is a long list of websites which give away various brush sets based on the “smoke” theme.

Looking to create some “cool” grunge type graphics from your photography?  Well, there’s a lot of ways to do it and a lot of styles to choose from.  So to get your started, here’s a long list of tutorials from various websites which you can use to jump start yourself.  These tutorials all work with Photoshop to give your artwork some textured, aged and uneven look with rusting metal signs, dirty spots, scorched borders, or overall distressed accents.  Have fun.

Just a few quick pointers to help improve your portrait photographs.

• If you use strobes instead of continuous hot lights, you will get larger pupils from your subject.  Nearly always this is considered more attractive and engaging.  (note: if you can’t get the large pupils naturally you can still get them in Photoshop.)
• Try and get a “catch light” in the person’s eyes.  That is the little cresent shape highlight caused by reflections of lights in a person’s eye.  (once again, this can be done in post, but looks better if you can do it on location.)
• Use your subject’s far cheek as a background for the nose.  By this I mean don’t let the outline of a person’s nose extend beyond the cheek.  That draws lots of attention to the nose and exaggerates any imperfections.
• When shooting a full figure.  Shooting from belly button level instead of standing level will make the person look taller.

Today I checked out the Colorado Railroad Museum here in Golden.  I was super impressed.  Lots of fun things to point your camera at.  It has me very pumped about the upcoming photography workshops I’ll be holding there this summer.  It’s a perfect location to work on all the basics my students will need.   Below are a few of my favorites from todays shoot.

Great news!  Big Sun is offering HDR (high dynamic range) photography classes all summer long.  Classes are going to take place at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden (which is why I have an HDR photo of a church right?) , which will give us very very cool subject matter to shoot, perfect for making use of HDR’s unique qualities.  There will be both “in the field” classes offered and also tutoring (on seperate dates) for those who wish to get better with the software used during HDR post production.   It’s going to be a lot of fun, so be sure to come join a class this summer.  (Museum admission is included in the price.  That’s an $8 savings right there).

It’s not news to any photographer but today was a perfect example why you should always carry your camera. I went hiking this afternoon. Thought about taking the camera but then decided I did not feel like lugging it with me (as if that extra three pounds is such a big deal). 20 minutes into the hike I saw a cayottee, he looked to be stalking something. Then i see a deer about 200 yards in front of him. Oh cool!!! wish I had my camera… But no, it gets worse. Then I see two more cayottes also stalking… Then the three take off at once for the attack.. The deer runs. Wow! so cool.. Then two more appear from the weeds. The deer ran fast across the valley,, the coyotes ran fast after him… then they all disappeared over the ridge… About a minute later we could see the deer still running on the the next hill over about a mile away… and the coyotes were still chasing but way far behind… then they stopped…it was cool. And do I have any photos of this amazing sight? No,, because three pounds is just too much to carry.

Tonight I took the first step toward my goal of leading a 2012 Photography Tour to Tibet.  I had the good fortune to be contacted by a group of Tibetan tourism delegates for a meet and greet  presentation in Boulder CO.   The group consisted of a dozen private tour operators and cultural preservation activist (all Tibetan national).   I was able to talk one on one with group members over a nice dinner at Boulder’s “Tibetan cuisine restaurant” (I don’t know if our visitors thought the Tibetan food was very authentic or not.  Guess I should have asked).  We discuss some of the wonderful travel options available through their operations and general information about the country.

The operators represented are unique in that they are native born and privately owned operations.  No foreign ownership, no Chinese ownership.  The money goes to the Tibetan people and Tibetan employees.  In addition all the operators are

So now you have Adobe Lightroom and it’s time to print out your new artwork.   Hmmmm, what is all this stuff in here?  There’s a lot in the print module to figure out.  Well here’s my notes on the subject which should clear up most of your questions.  This outline will not cover every single option in the Adobe Lightroom Print Module. Some stuff should just be self explainatory. But if there is any question about what a feature might be used for, I’ll try and fit it in.

Fun news everybody.  I’ll be showing some of my favorite travel imagery at the “Second Saturday Open Studio” event held in Downtown Denver May 14th.  This is a monthly event sponsored by the Wazee Union Creative Community.  Held inside a huge warehouse (actually two of them), visitors can view over 50 artist studios plus dozens more artists (like myself) who will be showing on the walls between studios.

There will be bands, drinks and artist demonstrations all evening.  The fun starts at 6:30.  Entry is $5 at the door, but I have spare tickets if anyone wants them.  Just give me a call and I’ll leave them at the door for you.  For more information go to http://wazeeunion.com/events/ .