Merlin, hanging around. You'd never guess I have 3 cats by the number of Mer pictures I have, but what can I say. He's the photogenic one. Or the ham.

Project 365: April 28, 2008

How I spent my week.

Project 365: April 27, 2008

My Zenfolio

Purchase select prints at http://photos.purplepenguins.com :)

Project 365: April 26, 2008

Flowers on a tree at work. I'm sooo excited to see flowers! Of course, the way the camera phone chose to focus, you'd think I was excited about the dandelions. Hey, I'm excited about them, too!

Project 365: April 25, 2008

For a brief few moments this afternoon, I got to see a rainbow. It wasn't very intense, and it only lasted maybe 2 minutes - just long enough for me to snap a shot. Too bad I only had my beat up old point-n-shoot with me. Still, it was nice. I haven't seen a rainbow in a while.

Project 365: April 24, 2008

These bloomed at my front door a few days ago. I was wondering what they were, as an early frost killed them before they bloomed last spring, and I didn't live here the spring before that!

Here are a couple variations. I was messing around with Lightroom.

Project 365: April 23, 2008

The first of the spring flowers... just bloomed a few days ago. Thanks to Kari for the on-location shoot!

Project 365: April 21, 2008

Low red moon. Except that it looked a lot lower and a lot redder and a lot bigger with my eyeballs than with my Blackberry camera.

Project 365: April 20, 2008

I spent 4-20 getting high on new birds!!

Sighted a red tailed hawk near Tampier Lake, then headed over to Renwick Nature Preserve to see the rookery, where herons and other wading birds nest. I saw Great Blue Herons and Double-crested Cormorants - new to my life list. I rounded out the afternoon with a stop at Lockport Prairie, where I saw these blue-winged teals.

The Great Blue Herons were pretty cool looking, so I'll share one more photo for their coolness:


These were digiscoped with my Canon PowerShot A570IS. I'm still working on getting the hang of focusing between the scope and the camera, and I had forgotten the attachment to put my Rebel on the scope, which undoubtedly yields better results - though it is handy to be able to pop the camera off and look through the scope by itself at will.

Project 365: April 19, 2008

You know what they say - April showers...

Project 365: April 18, 2008

Tonight's bedtime wind-down activity: Ultima Online. I love this "bitter black" theme for the custom UI. Good stuff!

Project 365: April 17, 2008

Two of my favorite things: chocobos and Apple.

Project 365: April 16, 2008

A budding leaf on a tree! We hit 70 degrees for the first time today since last October - over a month later than usual!!! Sucky camera phone pic, but you'll have to deal. Had to work all day!

Project 365: April 15, 2008

Artsy Maverick. Who knew he had it in him?

He can relax. He doesn't pay taxes.

Project 365: April 14, 2008

The first signs of spring around here (mighty late, I think!)

Dandelions that "bloomed" at work over the weekend!

Project 365: April 13, 2008

There's something comforting about mourning doves. Maybe it's their cooing. But I even enjoy watching them.

Project 365: April 12, 2008

The product of the lab in my meteorology class today. (We had to draw a warm front, and a cartoon strip to illustrate the effects).

Project 365: April 11, 2008

What I do before bed

(or at least, what I select from to read before bed)

Why Film is Still Relevant

Adorama: Why Film is Still Relevant

1. Latitude
2. Scan it
3. Grain
4. Cameras are dirt cheap

Read on for the details!

BW, Grayscale, and Sepia

see more crazy cat pics

Project 365: April 10, 2008

A lizard, taken today at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

I'm really happy with how the 50mm f/1.8 prime lens I have worked today... extraordinarily so, really. I did not expect to be so happy with the results! Not bad for an $80 lens. Nifty Fifty, indeed!

Here are the rest of the photos, if you're curious: Shedd Aquarium Photos

Project 365: April 9, 2008

Bunny nose.

Took this on 4-6 at the Sheep Shear at the Children's Farm at The Center in Palos, but since I printed it today, I'm using it for my project photo :)

This picture just cracks me up!

Hey there, rabbit!

Project 365: April 8, 2008

It's not a photograph, but it's what I Photoshopped today! :)

This is a signature for one of my characters that I play in Ultima Online. I use this graphic as a signature file on UO-related discussion boards.

Project 365: April 7, 2008

When ya gotta go, ya gotta go...

As seen on the side of a "special waste removal" truck while driving down Halsted on the way to Pepe's for lunch. Mmmmm burrito... maybe I should call oui oui...

Project 365: April 6, 2008

Horses... fighting? In love? Who can tell the difference these days? At the 2008 Sheep Shear at the Children's Farm, The Center, Palos

Project 365: April 5, 2008

A fallen log on the north trail at Messenger Woods in Will County. I went hiking and looking for birds today.

Project 365: April 4, 2008

Head-shot of a common grackle. Shiny!

Instal

Here's a way to save yourself a few clicks when installing Photoshop brushes in OS X:

Cmd-Click on your Photoshop icon in the dock. This should bring you right to the Photoshop application folder.

Open the Presets folder and drag your brushes into the appropriate subfolder (Brushes, in this case).

Voila!

Project 365: April 3, 2008

Tracy and I hit up the local watering hole Thursday night. We are striving to become the most loved jukebox overlords in the place. Next time, I'll have to get a picture of the jukebox.

Project 365: March 2008

1. Westbound I-80, 2. First Red-winged Blackbird of 2008, 3. The First Robins of 2008, 4. Hard Time, 5. What I did today, 6. First 50+ of 2008!, 7. Lone Ranger, 8. Winding Through, 9. The Ducks are Back!, 10. Springfield's State Capital, 11. The Mutant Sickness: Art Deco Rendition, 12. Julie's 4th Birthday Dirt Cake, 13. Learning about supercell t-storms, 14. Red-tailed hawk, 15. A monkey for the monkey, 16. Easter 2008, 17. Corner Pocket, 18. Tuesday's Sunset, 19. Common Grackle, 20. Ouch., 21. Downy Woodpecker, 22. My Darkroom, 23. Song Sparrow

Project 365: April 2, 2008

Because I haven't posted a pic of Mer in a while!

Food Photography

Because food came up in conversation in today's photography class... amongst other places!

Big and Tasty Food Photography Tips by Photodoto

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Beta 2.0

Test drive the latest version of Lightroom for free (and risk-free - it runs alongside your current Lightroom installation and does not touch your existing Lightroom catalog):
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Beta 2.0

I absolutely love Lightroom, and am looking forward to checking out the new features:

• Localized corrections — Enhance specific areas of an image for unsurpassed nondestructive flexibility and control reminiscent of the traditional darkroom dodge and burn experience.
• Improved organizational tools — Find the images you need quickly and easily.
• Multiple monitor support — Add an additional monitor to efficiently manage photographic workflow and presentation.
• Flexible print package functionality — Create custom layouts containing multiple sizes of a photograph on a single page.
• 64-bit support — Lightroom 2.0 now takes advantage of the latest hardware architectures with improved memory handling and performance.

Project 365: April 1, 2008

Late afternoon, originally uploaded by phlyersphan.

Late Afternoon