Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween: Creating A Monster

Zombie Photographer
Question: What's the difference between a Photoshop makeup job and a real makeup job for Halloween? Answer A: About five hours and forty minutes. Answer B: You can't wear Photoshop to a Halloween Party.

The above image took roughly 20 minutes to put together.

The actual costume I wore to Saturday night's Halloween party took considerably more time. The steps were as follows:


Mastering Blood Spatter
Step 1: Start with clothes: Getting the right amount of blood in accurate splatter patterns is important to a truly scary costume. Using a combination of two different spray bottles, misting and streaming sprays, and a paint brush gives a nice variety of blood spatter patterns.

This is where being a fan of shows like CSI and Dexter come in handy. They are educational in art of creating accurate blood spatter.

Also included in this process was rubbing dirt and grass stains into the clothes as well as ripping and shredding the clothes to age them appropriately.

Total time 1 hour.



Drying the Blood
Step 2: Let the clothes dry.

This is a big deal that can take a day or more.






Mange Look

Step 3:  Hair.

This takes some willingness to sacrifice your ego, as the image on the right dictates.

And while you won't be making a fashion statement, you will make an impact to the effectiveness of the entire costume.

This included messing with the chin-pubes as well.

Of course, after the cutting of the hair you need to a shower.

Total Time: 1 Hour






Merely a flesh wound
Step 4: The facial makeup.

My thanks go to my lovely, understanding and uber-creative wife who created this process of wound generation from tissue paper, liquid latex and makeup.

This whole wound took about a half an hour to make. There was an additional ten minutes in makeup following to blend the wound into my real skin.

The initial preview of this image generated some visceral reactions from my friends on Facebook.

Exactly the reaction I was looking for.




Head Wound

The head wound was a risky choice, but one that paid off big time.

The risk was this: Liquid Latex is like gum, especially when it gets in your hair. But, look at the wound... it is simply amazing!

My wife rocked this makeup application.

This wound took about an another half an hour plus ten minutes for the makeup.

Gruesome as it looks, the application was painless.

I wish the same could be said about its removal.

After this, there was a thirty minute break because I was getting monkey-butt from sitting in the chair for so long.


Looks like it hurts
The final, most complicated wound was the head to neck gash on the left side of my face.

A similar process was used, but was one continuous stream of latex and tissue paper.

This took nearly 40 minutes to apply, plus the makeup time.

Then came the rest of the makeup.

Blood around the mouth; blood in the bald spots on my head; shadowing and general blending took another 20 minutes.

Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes




The Bite
Of course after all that work, some photos were needed.

Bitten
The Attack
Incoming
Total time of application was four and half hours, plus a half an hour for Kim's bite.

Then we headed off to the party.

Total time of removal of the makeup and the latex, which definitely got in my hair, painfully in my hair, was a half an hour plus a shower for a total time of a one hour. Also, I had to finish shaving my head on Sunday for another hour, if the shower is included.

Total time: Six hours of makeup application and cleanup after the party.

Was it worth it? Completely! Because again, you can't wear Photoshop to a Halloween party.

By the way, in case you didn't guess it, I went to the party as a corporate zombie.

Happy Halloween from Creative Monkey Studios!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Photography Retreat Part 3

Amy - Camp Staffer
The Salem Digital Photo Group held their first annual photography retreat this fall. The retreat was held on the beautiful Oregon coast at the wonderful Camp Magruder, near Rockaway Beach, Oregon.

To recap, the first day started down on the beach for some beach scenes followed by an amazing sunset. Then late at night we went out to attempt a one hour exposure, which ended in a bust a little before 1:00 AM.

We were up at 6:00 AM on day two and headed down to the lake for some early morning light photography followed by breakfast with the Camp Staff.



The Campers
 After breakfast we posed for a couple of group shots. A motley crew we were, but everyone was in such a good mood following breakfast. It was time for some of us to head into the woods, while a few headed to the beach.







I chose the woods...
Dream


As we headed into the woods a light mist was hanging in the trees allowing for strong sunbeams to creep in through the trees.

I shot a few frames here to capture the image on the left.


Then I moved on, shot a frame or two, moved on again, rinse and repeat.









Enchantment
Beams
Strength

Beach Grass
 As we made our ways through the woods we took time to shoot things other than Sunbeams.

My friend and fellow photographer even let me use his 60mm Macro Lens. This is one of the additional benefits of shooting with friends outside of the wonderful company; sharing equipment.

The world of macros is always ripe with opportunity for you and your camera.






Blade
Pine Cone
Miniature World 

Tune in next week for part four of this blog series. It was a beautiful weekend.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Free Texture Friday - Surreal Brushes


This week's free texture is surreal brush stroke patterns.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at Minto-Brown Park in Salem, Oregon.





Download the full res image here.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Photography Retreat Part 2

Paint Strokes
The Salem Digital Photo Group held their first annual photography retreat this fall. The retreat was held on the beautiful Oregon coast at the wonderful Camp Magruder, near Rockaway Beach, Oregon.

To recap, the first day started down on the beach for some beach scenes followed by an amazing sunset. Then late at night we went out to attempt a one hour exposure, which ended in a bust a little before 1:00 AM.

But that didn't stop the happy campers from rising early and heading down to the private lake for some early morning light and water shots.

Purple Morning Light
The water on the lake was glass-smooth and created a perfect mirror-like reflection. I played with some motion, and some abstract reflection work with the scene.

The Paint Strokes image above was done with a slight shift while the shutter was open.

The Purple Morning Light image to the right is an flipped reflection photography of the reflection that was on the lake with two gradient purple filters  to make it pop.


Rainbow of Colors
Once the light became a little brighter, I moved back up to the boathouse to capture some images I have wanted to do for a while.

To the left is a photograph of four kayaks. I was really wanting the colors and patterns of the boats for a simple, yet colorful image that is aesthetically pleasing to my eyes. I was definitely successful there.



The old canoe
The other image I really wanted was an old, and obviously unused canoe/kayak/boat. I found that in this image of the canoe. Land-bound and aged with time and lack of use this made the perfect subject.

The Old Canoe, on the right, was an attempt to combine the elements of a path, indicating time and the old canoe to indicate the effect of time.

The overall message of the image is that time moves on with or without us.

I was happy with the results of the image. I achieved my goal, from my perspective and I was able to revel in the success of a pre-visualized image successfully captured.



I then turned my camera on the others at the retreat to capture what they were doing and seeing.

After shooting at the lake and other various fun things, it was time for breakfast! I must say, they provided a ton of food that was tasty, filling and a welcome fuel for the day that was to come. We had omletes, sausage, hashbrowns, cereal, oatmeal with all the fixing, milk, coffee, juices and apples or oranges. We left stuffed and ready for a nap, but there was no rest for the wicked.
Next week I will post part three of the series... so stay tuned!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Free Texture Friday - Passion Waves

This week's free texture is waves of greens and blues with a slight touch of yellow.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at Minto-Brown Park in Salem, Oregon.





Download the full res image here.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Photography Retreat Part 1


Footprints in the Sand
The Salem Digital Photo Group held their first annual photography retreat this fall. The retreat was held on the beautiful Oregon coast at the wonderful Camp Magruder, near Rockaway Beach, Oregon.

The first day of the retreat was filled with the excitement of getting settled in to the cabin, getting some grocery shopping done to provide snacks for the Retreat-goers between the marvelous and overly abundant food served by the camp and of course a little scouting of the location. As people arrived, the excitement built. Needless to say, everyone had itchy trigger fingers and were ready to get out snapping.

We soon headed out to the beach to for the sunset, arriving an hour early to capture some beach scenes as well.
Beach Fodder
Mini-Dune
Sunset

Long Exposure on the Beach with Star Trails
The first day concluded with an 11:00 PM trip back out to the beach to attempt a 1 hour long exposure. This attempt was plagued with issues, beginning with the the fact that the moon rose at 11:15 PM washing the sand, sky and sea out with its pesky light. Then, 12 minutes into the exposure some yahoo decided he heard voices and shines his flashlight not once, not twice, but three times in our direction, hence the UFO on the beach in the image on the right.

So I scrapped that exposure and decided to try again. Clicked my shutter and waited.

13 minutes into that exposure my batteries died.



I change the batteries, and started again. About  12 minutes into that exposure another photographer stopped his hour long exposure and found a pure white image thanks to the moon. I stopped my third attempt at an exposure. We made the decision to call it a night a little after 12:00 AM and packed up and headed back to the warmth of our cabin and the wood stove heat within. We would try again the next night.

The first day came to a close. People wandered into their beds, exhausted... tomorrow was going to be an early morning full of wonderful opportunities.

Watch for Part Two of this four part blog next week...

Friday, October 12, 2012

Free Texture Friday - Green Crush

Green Crush
This week's free texture is crushing green tones with waves of light.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at Bush Park in Salem, Oregon.





Download the full res image here.


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Abstractions

Still Life
What can I say, I love abstracting. I love oil paint-like effects of my style of abstraction.

The image to the left is what I consider my masterpiece, two years in the making, and is actually for sale in my store. The image is a still life and is meant to represent a painting. And to answer everyone's burning questions; there was no "Photoshop" involved and this is not a photo of a painting.

This is an out of camera photograph of bowl of fruits, grains and vegetables.

Below are a few more examples of my abstractions.

Motion is your friend
Lose the Tripod
Pause with a vertical shift
Pure Vertical Shift
Pause with slight diagonal shift

Friday, October 5, 2012

Free Texture Friday - Diagonal Earth Tones


This week's free texture is diagonal earth tone patterns.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at Bush Park in Salem, Oregon.





Download the full res image here.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

One Piece at a Time


The Tree is Topped
Let me introduce one of the craziest, albeit friendliest, people I have had the honor of getting to know. In the tree is Brian Villanueva, one part man, one part primate. His is truly a sight to see when he heads up a tree.

He does a whole lot more than just tree removal as well. He also performs the following:

- Tree Pruning and Removal
- Lot Clearing - berry vines, ivy and poison oak
- Pressure Washing
- Sheet Rock and Painting
- Deck Repair and Sealing
- Roofing and Patching - moss removal
- Landscape Architecture/Maintenance
- Most other labor type tasks


Buzz of the Saw

Kind of looks like Vin Diesel from Pitch Black


















Cut and Drop, Cut and Drop
The tree in these photographs was the last of four trees Brian climbed that day. He removed an entire dead tree from our back yard, then climbed two others in our yard to remove dead branches that would likely come down on us this winter, then climbed this last tree for our neighbor and removed it completely.

Even after all of that climbing, cutting and tossing Brian had the energy to run over to me, literally, to talk to me about the photos I had taken of him. His energy seems limitless, though I expect he has little trouble sleeping at night.







20' Remaining
One of the main challenges of photographing this man at work was timing. He moves fast. Just how fast? From him standing on the ground lashing his harness to the tree to the forty-feet of tree being down and stacked, he finished the job in about thirty minutes with the help of person on the ground stacking the wood for him as he dropped it.

It was important to have fast shutter speed first and foremost. So my ISO was at 400 and my Aperture was at f/3.5.

I had to have a high vantage point so I wasn't shooting up at him like so many bird photos are taken. So I was about a hundred feet away from the tree on my porch which is about 15' above the road.

I had to put my camera in burst mode to allow multiple frames to run to capture the action. It is a lot like sports photography. Blast a series off and then keep the one that captures what you were going for.

I had to use a 200mm lens to reach out far enough to capture him. If I would have used a 50mm lens Brian would have been but an element in the scene rather than the subject.

Brian was grateful for the photos, which I provided to him free of charge. He handed me his business card and went on his merry way, I think to climb more trees. I have a great deal of respect for men that work that hard and seem to absolutely love it.

Thanks Brian for being a good sport and putting on a great show, even though you had no idea at the time that I was photographing you.

If you are needing some work done around the house, you can contact Brian at IWMDKU@gmail.com and in case you are wondering, I have no kickback agreement with Brian. I simply value his kick-ass work ethic!