A Christmas Card Too Late

I had the best of intentions this year to create my own Christmas card. A shot I took a year ago of our dog Hurley laying beneath the tree looked to be the perfect choice for a holiday greeting card image. With plenty of on-line choices for printing services, all I needed to do was order up the photo cards - sign 'em and send 'em. Ahh ... but one problem - a little too much procrastination on my part. Here we are heading into the final week before Christmas and those cards still haven't been ordered. Out of time again. Oh well, I guess I'll keep the image on system - there is always next year. But for now ... A Merry Christmas To All.

Classic Mustang

Perhaps it is the cold weather keeping me inside that I seem to be spending more time lately working at the computer on my photo illustration projects. The latest completed piece entitled MustangClassic is up on my Cars gallery at imagekind.com Unlike many of my other images I did very little work on the car itself. The original 1964 Mustang is such an iconic vehicle I felt it was best presented with minimal retouching. Instead I focused on the background which was picked up from a different photo and merged with the Mustang shot(the actual background was much too busy). I wanted the car to really pop, so I de-saturated and softened the background with Photoshop filters to subdue it and help the sheet metal to really shine.

The 1964 Mustang along with the 2+2 fastback model that followed a couple of years later and the early Seventies "Boss" model are among my all time favorite automobiles. The Mustang is truly a classic.

Point and Shoot a Dying Breed?

Yahoo Finance ran an article the other day about how some people are turning more and more to their camera phone for picture taking. They opine that this will bring about the death of the point and shoot camera. I realize I'm a purist, but still you cannot get the same quality of image from the crappy lens of a phone compared to what you achieve with the lens of a stand alone camera, be it a point and shoot or an SLR. Yes, camera phones are convenient, people have them on their person at all times, so they can grab a quick photo when the opportunity arises and post it on Facebook or elsewhere on the internet. But if you are interested in quality images and actually printing photographs, a dedicated camera is still the best way to go.

A Camera for Christmas?

According to a story posted today on Yahoo, sales of digital SLR cameras rose by 29 percent since 2009 in spite of the recession. If you are considering buying a camera for yourself or for someone on your Christmas list, I highly recommend checking out PC World's camera reviews http://www.pcworld.com/products/cameras.html . The site offers a highly comprehensive listing of cameras sorted by manufacturer, model, price and other detailed criteria. They also have an archive of older reviews in case you find a deal on a model produced in years past. Their reviews are objective and realistic, unlike some of the photo dedicated sites that are always touting the latest and greatest (and ever more expensive) cameras. A little research prior to spending your hard earned dough is always a good idea - take advantage of this helpful on-line source to insure you that you don't experience buyer's remorse.

Photography For Your Christmas Giving Needs

If you are a photographer you may already have Christmas gifts ready to go in the My Pictures folder on your computer. If there is someone on your Christmas list who appreciates your fine photographic skills, why not present them with one of your images as a gift? Personally, I hate shopping, especially as the month of December wears on and stores become increasingly crowded. Fortunately, I can take care of at least one gift without leaving the comfort of home. My wife is an avid gardener and each summer I take several photos of her backyard handiwork. Come November, I sort through and pick out four of the best shots and work up a photo collage of her garden. I then have it printed as an 11x14 to fit the frame given as a gift a couple of years ago. On Christmas Eve I sneakily remove the frame from the living room, swap last years collage photo for the new version, box it, wrap it and place it under the tree. One less trip to the mall!

More Wintery Thoughts

When I posted previously on winter photography I honestly thought we had a couple more weeks of fall weather in front of us. No sooner had I set the last bag of leaves out at the curb for pick up than the snow flakes started falling. Looking at the weather forecast for the week ahead, our temperatures will hover in the mid-thirties. Sounds like winter, eh?

For a bit of wintertime photographic inspiration check out this link
http://www.popphoto.com/Features/How-To/Where-to-Shoot-in-December
Even if you can't find your way to the locations mentioned, you may be inspired to search out similar types of December photo ops in and around your own home town.