Crepe Myrtle Pixels (formerly mis-labeled as dogwood)

I was wandering around looking for pixels to store on my 4 gigabyte compact flash memory card when I came across these trees. I framed several shots, and this one jumped out when I was reviewing them. Actually, I know this is not a dogwood, but I can't identify this tree (or shrub).

Portrait Pose

Baby bird (Tweetie) decided it was time to sit still for a portrait. It was bright outside and dark inside, but the flash wasn't used. Taken with my Canon 400D and a nifty-fifty lens. ISO 200, F5, if memory serves me. Not as sharp as I would have liked, but eventually I'll get a better shot. Click the image to see a larger version... this tiny blog image doesn't do it justice.

Macro Photographer

A rare glimpse of the elusive macro photographer in his natural environment. I call this one Roy. Notice how his keen sense of balance helps prevent him from toppling camera first into the pond. The Canon 30D SLR, with a Canon EF 100mm F2.8 macro lens attached would be an unbearable loss if he had fallen. A macro photographer stalks his subject ever so slowly. His timed and controlled movements are subtle by design. Often seeking to move within inches of his subject before releasing his shutter, any sudden movements could result in blurred pixels, or worse, a missed shot. Fortunately, this one remained still long enough for me to bring my Canon 400D Digital Rebel XTi into focus. I heard the telltale sound of continuous drive shutter releases before he moved on. As he walked away, it was clear to me that he was smiling as he reviewed his shots. This particular macro photographer left with an ample supply of pixels on his compact flash memory card. His images can be seen at The Motley Pixel.

Blurred Understanding

(Click the image to see a larger version)
One of these images is a fabrication of the truth. On one of the two images above, I selected the subject's surroundings, and applied a motion blur filter, creating the illusion that the subject was in motion.

Here's how I did it. Using the polygon lasso tool in Adobe Fireworks, I traced out the subject of the image. The edges of the selected area were then feathered (blended with the outlying region) at 2 pixels. Because the intention is to blur the background, and not the subject, you must invert the selection. To invert the selected region, hit CTRL+SHIFT+i. The background is now selected, and you can use the Filters menu to activate the Motion Blur Filter. Select Filters>Blur>Motion Blur...



The motion blur dialog box appears, and it's sole purpose in life is to ask you to give the direction the motion blur should move, and the distance to shift the blur. Obviously, the larger the distance, the more pronounced the blur will appear.

But how about the true motion blur... this happened because the f-number was at 5 when the image was taken, and I was actually tracking Devin as he moved by. We'll discuss f-number (f-stop, aperture) in another post.

Pixel Splash

Aperture Priority Mode on the Canon Digital Rebel XTi pulled these soaked pixels from the air with an exposure time of 1/50th of a second. ISO 200 and the flash didn't fire since it was turned off. Three kids hit the pool, and all three came up for air. This is one of those accidental/incidental images that turned out to be interesting because of the mistakes I made, rather than the intentions I had when I asked the kids to jump on three.

Red and Green

Un-retouched pixels in vivid strawberry and sour lime. We spent the morning and afternoon at Huntsville State Park. Many of the photo's taken today were less than what I had hoped for. The kids did their part, but I didn't manage well with the light changing so frequently. I came home with a FULL 4 gigabyte compact flash card and less than 30% of the images were worth looking at. This one was ISO 200 through a nifty-fifty lens. I don't recall the f-stop, but I can tell you, that strawberry snow-cone was great! My daughter shared a bite or two...

Big Air at 3 FPS

His friends called him "Danga", but he didn't look to be in any as he launched into some big air above the pool at Bear Branch Park. My Digital Rebel Xti caught these pixels in motion. No editing today, other than to combine two of the 5 shots into one image.



Johnny ollied off a short but sharp transition near the pool. I cropped out the excess and combined 3 frames that were shot in about a second.


More acrobatics in the air (above). Below is Casey, skating vert at the edge of the coping.

Absece of Saturation

Drastically over exposed, and about to be deleted from my hard drive, these pixels deserved a second chance. I used the polygon lasso tool in Adobe Fireworks and carefully selected the background, leaving the blossom un-selected. I selected Filters>Adjust Color>Hue/Saturation and dropped the color saturation to -100. The background color was now grey, and the blossom stood out. But I wasn't done yet. Still over-exposed, the flower remained washed out. A quick LEVELS adjustment really made the colors in the flower come to life. Against the monochromatic background, the contrast was brilliant, and the pixels were saved from oblivion's call.

Sepia Tone

I was trying to get a picture of Syndi, and after getting several great shots of the palm of her hand, I surreptitiously selected the 2 second timer on my Canon Digital Rebel XTi and lowered the camera body to hang by the strap around my neck. Timing is everything, and for this one, I was very lucky. I knew right away when I saw the image in the LCD screen that this picture would be a great addition to my personal favorites collection... and I knew it would be a sepia tone (or perhaps a black and white). For sepia tone alterations, I usually use the hue and saturation filter in Adobe Fireworks. This is instead of the pre-set sepia tone filter provided by Fireworks. Why? Because it allows me to test and correct the hue and saturation, of course! Ok, so technically, the Sepia Tone Filter does utilize the hue/saturation filter to do it's work... It's preset value is Hue: 27, Saturation: 20, Lightness: 0. It's a good starting point. Adjust your saturation up or down SLIGHTLY and examine your results. When you've got it where you like it, get up and go in the kitchen for at least 30 seconds. Return and view the image again. Still like the Sepia Tone you chose?

Save the pixels

In the United States, Billions of Trillions of pixels are being ignored, unappreciated and undervalued. It's a sad fact that almost no one sees a pixel for what it is. We go through our days blindly seeing the big picture, and overlook each tiny pixel. The tree's are lost in the forest, and unless something is done, pixels will go on being undervalued. Stand up for pixels everywhere. Look closely at your printouts, your monitors, your televisions and know that these precious little picture elements are working diligently to bring the news, the reruns, the games and even the photographs into your mind through the windows of your eyes.

Fireworks Pen Tool Magic

The pen tool is useful for much more than mere drawing! Today I used the pen tool to trace out the background from a photo of my kids. This tool is much easier to use than the lasso tool (IMHO) because the pen is less obtrusive, at least visually. Using this tool, I can better see what I'm doing, and therefor be more precise in my work.

After tracing out the background, the area is filled in with whatever color is currently selected. By changing the blend mode to ERASE, the background magically vanishes. Technically, it's still there... it's simply covered up, yet blending into an invisible image. To make the change permanent (once the knock-out is perfected), you need only flatten the image!

The image sample shown also includes a bit of a drop shadow, to help the picture stand out a bit more.

Pixel Kick Start

I have so many things I want to discuss, talk about, show, ask and otherwise make public that it's hard to know where to start. But this is the Kick Start of the PixelKick blog! PixelKick.com might not even be ready yet, but the blog is where I wanted to begin.

You'll endure images of bugs, plants, kids, my bird and my sweetheart (if she says it's OK!), and I'll be highlighting or giving links to things I find interesting... all with an open invitation for your comments!