What a year

Wow, my last blog for 2020. What a year it has been, but I don’t have to tell you. So many negative out there that I thought I would share the positives for me. My goal for the year was to get more creative and learn more about Adobe Suites. I practiced more at home on both my photography and took the time to learn Adobe, Premiere, Rush, After Effects, Illustrator, Indesign, and Dimension. While I am still learning, as you can see, I am looking at getting into videography. Video is so much different than still, but you guess it, you need to practice, and I have been doing this. I will be interested to see what my videos look like today compared to tomorrow.

My love is still photography. Even in this area, I am looking at making some changes. I am looking at staying in some area’s and getting out of others. Commercial, Product, and Travel photography will be my more focus area for 2021. Photoshop has still been a learning process for me, and with the help of some professionals, I have learned a ton about what I can do in Photoshop.

Winter Truck in Fog

Take this picture. One thing I learned in 2020 is imagination before the picture. While in Nashville, I saw this truck at night time and thought to myself, I think this would make an exciting winter picture. In photoshop, I wanted to add lights and make them on. Lights need to be on. With the lights on, I thought winter is usually dreary. With that in mind, added fog. Cleaned up some of the distraction and now I have a photo that I will be making a canvas of.

2021 will be coming in less than a week, and I have so many goals in my photography and look forward to sharing with you next year. Thank you for being a part of me every week. I hope that you have a great New Year and that your dreams come true.

I Love Christmas Movies

I recently went down to Nashville and stayed at the Gaylord Hotel in Nashville. What a place to see during Christmas time. While we were there, my wife and I decided to “I Love Christmas Movies.”

We enjoyed seeing the different scene that was used in some of our favorite Christmas Movies. For me, It’s the Polar Express.

Here is a quick video of a few of the things that I saw. I am also learning how to use Adobe Premier and look forward to getting better next year. A fun program, but just like anything, you need to practice.

Here is the video. Enjoy and Merry Christmas

Christmas at Nashville

My wife and I were recently in Nashville, Tn. We usually go to Michigan this time of the year, but because the restaurants close, we wanted to see Nashville at Christmas Time.

I. have been learning and playing with video. Using Go Pro and iPhone for video and using my Canon R for the stills. Fun project, fun place, and the Gaylord Hotel did not let us down. Here is the video.

Imagination

It's not a photo because you use photoshop. That is what we read and hear, which is fine; that's someone's opinion and not mine. What photoshop did for me is use my imagination that I could never draw or make. With my recent travels to Youngstown, Ohio, I went to visit the Lanterman's Mill. I was here a few years ago, and this time I wanted to create something different—a different version of the Mill that no one else has. I wanted a nighttime version that had this winter feeling. It was late afternoon, and like always, I look at where the light was coming. I saw it, and in my head, this will be my moonlight. I wanted the sky in the picture, and with it being mostly cloudy, this will be easy to change out the clouds to stars in Photoshop with sky replacement. Next was to look at the angles and find what will work the best. I came up with this.

Lanterman Mill Youngstown,Ohio

Now time to work with this idea in Photoshop and make it look a little more real. I thought to myself; I think I will use this picture as my greeting for Christmas. I did some dodge and burn, and if this were an accurate exposure at nighttime, the water would have been blurred. I added this in my final picture.

Some call this cheating; some call this fake. I call it art and using my imagination that Photoshop allows me to do. I like it, and that is what matters when it comes to Photography. Please get out and use your imagination and do it the way you want to do it. Merry Christmas Everyone