Blog Marco

Here is a hilarious and extreme example of how much of a difference smart cropping can make. Here's a quick tutorial on how to crop your photos for your facebook or myspace profile album - no retouching required. First grab your camera. Then have someone else take your picture while you contort your body to reveal your best assets all the while "hiding" your worst features. Keep in mind on where you will crop the photo. Upload your photo and open in your favourite photo editor.

Get the crop tool and choose the area you want to keep and save. Upload to Facebook or MySpace. On a more realistic note - photographers do this all the time. They either frame the photo above the waist, or if you have a double chin, the photographer may take the photo on a higher plane so your neck won't appear as big. The most common technique is "the twist" where the subject stands side-on to the camera while facing the camera direct. Click "Read More" to see the crop below...

The last supper was a meal depicted in the bible and a scene depicted by Leonardo Da Vinci. It is said that the scene portrays the reaction by each apostle at the moment when Jesus had said that one of them will betray him that night. You will notice that the 12 apostles have different reactions and are grouped into threes... The first group of three: Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus and Andrew are all are surprised. The next group of three are Judas Iscariot, Peter and John and have very varied expressions. Judas is the one carrying the small bag which may be the sack of silver given to him as a reward for the betrayal or a symbol for his position as treasurer of the group. Also to note is that he is the only one with an elbow on the table which traditionally us a sign of bad manners. Peter looks angry and is holding a knife pointed away from Christ, perhaps a preview to his violent reaction in Gethsemane during Jesus' arrest (he cuts a guards ear). The youngest apostle, John, appears to swoon. After Jesus (the centre of attention) there is another group of three: Thomas, James the Greater and Philip. Thomas is upset, James is stunned and Philip appears to ask for an explanation. Finally, Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot are in discussion, probably to ask if Simon has any answers.

Check out this kid holding a gun. You're looking at a future army recruit right there. That isn't a gun that the kid is holding isn't it? I think its more like a rocket or a grenade launcher or something.

Here's a photo of two men watching news on live TV - when the real action is happening in the distance. Live Action TV when the Action happens right in front of you

Nudie Juice - Blueberry, Blackberry & More - The higher price for this juice isn't worth the price.

Nudie Juice - Fire Fighter Nudie - That taste isn't worth the price.

Have a read of the First Superman Comic Issue from 1938. "In June, 1938 Action Comics comes out with the first issue of Superman. Here you can see it in 15 pictures. Rare and fabulous." Superman has been around forever now... perhaps one of the world's most loved superheroes. After the comics he had a string of movies, then cartoons, then a few TV series then another movie  to be released in a month or so.

You can view a high resolution photo of the International Space Station (ISS) here. "The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest human-made object
ever to orbit the Earth. After departing the ISS, the crew of Discovery
captured this spectacular vista of the orbiting space city high above
the Caspian Sea." Enjoy!

Julian Beever 3D Street Chalk Art seems like a digital manipulation? Well it isn't. From Wikipedia:

Julian Beever is a British chalk artist who creates chalk drawings on pavement that create the illusion of three dimensions when viewed from the right location. These Trompe-l'oeil drawings are created using a projection called anamorphism and appear to defy the laws of perspective.

Besides the 3D art, Beever paints murals and replicas of the works of masters. He is often hired as a performance artist and to create murals for companies. Beever is interested in advertising and marketing, as well. He has worked in the UK, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the USA and Australia.

Since 2004 a chain letter containing his art (sometimes mixed with similar art by Kurt Wenner) has been circulating the Internet.

Happy Eater everyone! Have a look at Blitzcat's photo series on Flickr. An interesting photo setup... "This was for my midterm photography assignment at UNCG. Once the bunnies stuck they didn't want to come off, most tearing apart and leaving sticky marshmallow crust behind." Blitzcat comments on the website. I wonder what they did about the "sticky marshmallow crust".

Source:BoingBoing

I found this anime photoshop of Kristen Kreuk on boing-boing - which referred me to a Worth 1000 website. Doesn't Kristen Kreuk look Cute? (Interesting but Ugly) Worth1000 is a photoshopping contest... The challenge is converting normal human faces into manga characters with large eyes, large foreheads and weak chins. There's more where this came from.

This set of two portrait photos were taken in the summer of last year at a local park. The first photo is a black and white portrait of my family seated on a wall of rocks - which looks good IMHO.

The second photo in colour was taken with a polariser attachment to the Nikon D70 kit lens. So the sky in this photo is not photoshopped and is totally natural. I

photoshopped the grass though. The grass was yellowish - but I photoshopped it so it would look more of a goldish hue. If you are aware of the Qantas commercials "I call Australia Home" - yes that was a model that I followed in this photograph. I guess one problem in this set up is depth of field issues as well as the clarity of other family members (!) - due to the distance of the furthest subjects. I guess it can't be helped in this setup - I needed the spread out effect - otherwise it would be just another two dimensional family portrait.

Taken with a Nikon D70 camera with kit lens.

I took this photo when I was in New York City a few years ago. I was in the subway when I noticed a train heading right for us - I think the train I was on was crossing the tracks to head towards another platform. So I whipped out my handy Sony Cybershot (first Digital Camera) and took the shot.

This photo just goes to prove that you can get pretty decent photos with a 3.2 megapixel (MP) camera. Anyway 3.2 MP is all you need if you only want to print to a 6" x 4" print. Although a higher megapixel count allows you to crop images and still get a decent quality print.

Taken with a Sony cybershot 3.2 megapixel P-7 model camera

These two photos were taken earlier this year. It was taken in front of a mirror - effectively shooting a reflection of myself for the portrait - duh! (I'm just writing this so the search engines can find the post)

Anyway portrait I flipped the photo so it would appear as someone else took it and the other I left as reflected because I thought it looked a bit 'odd' when flipped.

I've blown the highlights on my hands - not good technique but I think it frames the picture - the eye focuses on the camera then my face... best practise for the future is I guess to first meter the camera on any highlights of a subject then switch it over to manual and work from there.

(Either by using program mode, shutter priority or aperture priority - depending on what effect you want - for this shot probably aperture priority as I wanted the blur effect).

Natural lighting was used in this photographic setup. Taken with a Nikon D70 camera f1.4 lens.

This was taken in the Winter a few months ago.

I basically set the camera on timer mode set it on a shelf to get this self-portrait. I used no flash. The scene - namely my face was lighted with a normal 60 watt incandecent light. White Balance was adjusted to accomodate that fact.

Taken with a Nikon D70 camera f1.4 lens.