Self Portrait Sunday - Shrek

Tomorrow is Halloween, there is so much I have planned for j.crabbit, but the day job seems to have exploded at the same time. here is a fun pic for the season.

The Time Bandit

I am sorry... I know I said I would tell you about the tunnel and what I found there... and I will! But that walk that day, inspired me to explore some other uninhabited areas around town, and today at lunch I found the Time Bandit.

I have found a lot of cool stuff on the beach. seaglass, boat parts, a few weeks ago I actually found an old playstation. But, the time bandit takes the cake.

This is some sort of platform on top of styrofoam, with a chair attached, and a hand painted deck. I can't help but wonder what it once was. Was it a tool used to access boats, a parade on the water, a side project?

I will likely never know, as it was just casually floating here in this cove, far from everything, and with no one but me and my camera to find it.

This town is proving to have so many interesting parts that you wont read about at the museaum, or historical society. I am excited to keep learning.

Wordless Wednesday - Tunnel Tracks

Lies

Just for fun today...

Why over editing is ok.

In my real or fake post, I commented about the importance of realistic portrayal in a photograph of something you are selling.

Since not every photo is sales related, I wanted to touch on another aspect of photo editing, which is simply over editing for style purposed.

This first photo is of the local school. it was taken this week, October 2011.
it is an example of realistic editing, Where yes, the photo is edited, but not a lot. some minor color adjustments, and glare reduction.

An untrained eye could say that this photo is unedited, because there are no obvious editing effects in use.




If that is all you wanted that would be fine, and I dont think anyone would or could accuse you of over editing.

Over editing in my mind, is trying too hard to make a photo look natural but in ab obviously different way.

The solution to over editing in my opinion, is not to hide it.

This summer, I know that the vintage 1060 /1970 looking picture was really popular. Those that executed it well made it look like it was taken with a camera from that era. Those who didnt (like me) added a 1970's effect, and 12 others making is just plain look fake.

So choose the look you are going for when over editing. This next one is the same photo, but I wanted it to look like something that was taken in the early 1900's rather than the early this week's.



by making intentional choices, you can clearly tell the photo is edited, but without mixing too many different styles together. The black and white, matches the missing edges.

The same black edge on a color photo could easily have looked not only fake, but cheesy, which is likely never what you are going for.

So What then can we do with color photos? Well the first one showed keeping it real, here is an example of pushing the colors without going too overboard. this photo, is so far, the most obviously edited, and exemplifies my point.

I like this picture! I like the warmth and the way it feels. and that is what is realy important. If over editing a photo can make you feel differently about it (in a positive way) then it is a good thing.



Example: Where would you rather go to school? The first picture, or the third?

Last but not least is the extreem over editing, to just plain add a cool factor. Again same photograph, but with tons of effects, modifications and the like. it is to the point wehre it is barely still a photograph.

Again though, if it is what you are going for, it is hard to argue.




So here it is layed out. Do what you will with your photos, but ask yourself..."Is there a camera in the world that could have made the picture look like this without editing?" If the answer is no, you have likely over edited. To make sure that the over editing is a good thing, (even thought it is an obviously modified photo at this point) make sure that the changes you made added something to the photo, something that took it from "Some photo I shot" to " I shot SOME photo!"

I Saw The Sign

Signs are pretty cool. They tell us, where to go, how to get there, what is around, how far we are from something, costs, warnings, and general information. I had fun looking at signs in Portland Maine yesterday. I haven't ever done a black and white compilation, but I liked the way they all looked this way.

Wordless Wednesday - Bricks and Leaves

Lady Pumpkin

I started talking about the "Wish I had my camera" series a few weeks ago, and last night it happened again. We have several gourds on our kitchen table... Yes they are gourds, not "mini pumpkins"

They do look cool, but looked even cooler with the visitor that was just hanging out, getting his orange on.

Fall Farms

I absolutely love that the farmers market here in town doesnt shut down in the fall but rather just switches gears. Gone are the days of tomatoes, and cucumbers, and here are the days of pumpkins, corn, and potatoes. (yikes this is almost a folk song)

I had to walk through and see all the great stuff. I actually love how all the pumpkins and apples look on the brick courtyard.













I am slowly accepting that summer is over, and trying to take on a fall style with colors and pictures that will compliment the new season.

Better After

This is a really cool site that I just saw recently after my Mom told me about it. I then found out she had recently submitted my floor project to be featured, today it was!!!

I was very excited http://betterafter.blogspot.com/2011/10/plan-b-for-beautiful.html

have you made something better after lately?

Wordless Wednesday - Clouds

Who will it be?

You know you want to be my 100th follower... get your Nike on, and just do it!

Wordless Wednesday - Picnic Spot

Extreme Makeover: Floor Edition

As you can read in a recent article about me, all my creations and designs are the brainchild of my wife. She has an amazing sense of style and ability to think outside the box.

When we moved to Kennebunk this summer, the landlord had the place almost completely made over. The previous tenants had trashed it completely, so there was new carpet, and paint, and some walls repaired.

The only place she didn’t get to was the stairwell hallway on the second floor. This is a high traffic area as it is where the bedrooms reside, as well as the way to get to the third floor.

It was left as is, with an old worn stained carpet, that had seem way more feet and substances than a carpet should before being replaced.

I have ripped up carpet before, as you may remember from our old apartment. Well at the last place there were beautiful hardwood floors underneath the carpet giving the whole area a new look and great feel.


I ripped away, and there was wood underneath, but not beautiful hardwood finished floors. Rather a mish mash of uneven wooden pieces.



I told my wife that I thought we should paint it, and she had a great idea. Let’s stencil it too. She had heard of using a rubber door mat as a stamp, so I thought hey, why not. I primed the floor and painted it a light cream color. (You can add a burnt orange to white to make cream… pretty cool)



I then took a roller to the back of the mat and pushed it down… It looked horrible; I tried a few more times… not any better.



So I thought, maybe we should use an actual stencil that we had. We got it for a different project entirely, but I thought it was worth a try.

As it turned out the squares I was making were actually forming into diamonds, and it started to look really cool.



The best part is when my wife told me that it looked exactly how she envisioned it. (I sometimes try but do not succeed at accomplishing the design)



The boys had a blast picking out faces and animals that they found in the pattern. It is now all dry, and I love how it came out.

Real or Fake?

How was your weekend? Yeah, mine too.

Quick Plug: you can enter to win one of my Frames here.

So yesterday I finished the Floor that I will post about tomorrow. Wow that is a lot of Day references. But that is beside the point. Why I am telling you today that the floor is done is because of what happened after.

I sat to watch football, and obviously channel surfed on the commercials. I found a very interesting program on the greatest Viral Videos, and whether they were real or fake.

It was very interesting to see the elaborate work some put into the hoax ones, but every time that there was a massive and expensive hoax revealed, they all seemed to have a similar motive…MARKETING.

Get millions to see it and talk about it, then release the fact that is wasn’t real. Bad press is still press, and to a massive clothing chain, or a celebrity on tour, it can be beneficial.

This got me thinking a lot about the photo editing, and product descriptions that we sometimes use, on Etsy or other marketplaces where the consumer doesn’t see anything more than a picture before deciding to purchase.

We all want to display the most realistic portrayal of the item, but at the same time often editing is necessary to make the photo itself look better.

Here is a gauge you can use. If in looking at the final photo you can ask “is this a real photo or not” you probably edited it well. If you look at it and it is clearly edited with effects, it should be noted in the listing that actual color may vary from the image.

I created this and posted it to facebook yesterday. Multiple friends said they didn’t realize that I could draw so well.



I cant.


See you tomorrow.