Leslie

Self-Portrait 090303

testing out the new 85mm.

Intel i7 Photoshop/Lightroom Workstation – Part Three “The Juice”

So I waited at my place all day for UPS to deliver the two fans that will complete my machine and let me close up the side and make all of the wires pretty, but alas it was on a truck for delivery from 4am this morning and yet at 8PM they claimed they couldn’t deliver due to the weather.  Sounds like a “Dog ate my homework” to me.

Anyway. In The Girl Next Door one of the characters says “Make sure the juice is worth the squeeze”.  I did get a chance to actually USE the computer since the last post and so far so yummy. Seriously, it’s delightful. For example, in photoshop (which launches in half the time), if you were using a healing brush to remove a hair across someones face, on my old machine the computer would take a second or so to calculate before refreshing.  Now it’s instantaneous. When I lift the pen off the tablet, it’s done.  Super.  It’s like drawing on paper instead of a computer, it’s become that much more transparent. The same goes for most of the filters that I use, much improvement. I plan to do some real shooting tomorrow, so we’ll see how it holds up with that kind of abuse. So far I’m very happy with the upgrade. Definitely worth the squeeze.

Here’s the result from a raw file I took a couple weeks ago:

Melissa and Kevin

Subway floor

Self-Portrait 090222

I’m working on my Karsh lighting chops.  No one but myself to shoot in my cold apartment.

POZ – Chodo

A couple months ago I got shot a Buddhist monk named Chodo for Poz magazine. I just got my hands on the latest issue with the portraits.  Quick photos of the magazine, but you get the idea.  Also below is my favorite shot from the session, which they used in the table of contents. Would have made a nice cover in my opinion

Window Light

I’ve been addicted to window light the past couple days (see yesterday’s images).  I think it’s funny the lengths we go to just to recreate artificially something that most of us have ready access to.  And for some reason, the fake stuff never ‘quite’ looks like the real thing to me.  Sometimes I try to trick my mind into thinking it’s one or the other to see if it’s all in my head.  Kind of like listening to broadband static and trying to trick yourself into thinking it’s a waterfall you’re listening to (by the way, it works the other way around too, next time you’re near a waterfall, close your eyes and try to imagine it’s just static on your stereo. Fun stuff).  

Anyway, I need to do more of this.  I’d love to have a natural light studio with skylights like all the guys in Paris from the turn of the last century.  Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ studio is crazy cool too.  Sigh.  A guy can dream, can’t he?

I’ve got more to say on this subject, but I’ve got to mull it over a bit.  In the meantime, here’s a shot from a portrait commission I shot today. A bit cheesy I’ll admit, but the light is nice.
Oh, and for those into such things, I’ve started messing around with twitter, so add me:  follow billwadman

Megan

9th Street at Night