The Lay's® Happiness Exhibit

Yesterday while I was on flickr, I found a flickr add that linked you to the “Lay’s® Happiness Exhibit.” This web site caught my attention, not because it was part of flickr, but, because I love the way this web site looks and works. The front page is laid out so simply, but is has a lot going on. I do find it interesting that they are partnered up with flickr. If you look in the lower right corner you will notice it says “Powered by flickr.”

I have been looking at a lot of web sites lately because I would like to upgrade my personal website and make it more functional or photography. My problem is that I am very technical and have a tendency to make things more complicated then it needs to be. I am trying to teach myself how to keep it simple (stupid). It is not as easy as it sounds for someone that is not artsy, but technical. So I keep looking and making notes and adding them to my list of web sites I  like. This sight has been added to my list because of it’s simplicity and that is was made with flash.

If you know how they built this site or have an expertise in this type of web design, I would be interested in hearing from you. Also, i would like any suggestions of clases I can take to learn how to make this type of site. You can place your comments and suggestions in the comment section below.

Now on with the Lay’s® Happiness Exhibit. When you look inside, you first notice that the images submitted are not by pro’s, but by the average point and shoot photographers. As you dig deeper you will find some very exceptional photos. It’s is easy to join and add photos. If you have a flickr account just go to the upper left corner of the frames, and you will see UPLOAD YOUR HAPPY PHOTOS and click on the Start Here. This will link you to your Yahoo or Flickr sign on. Sign-in and the follow the instructions to accept the API. Next when you go back to the Lay’s® Happiness Exhibit it will ask you to accept and a few other instructions to follow. When you are done you will be able to add images directly to the flickr group Lay’s® Happiness Exhibit flickr group or directly to the Lay’s® Happiness Exhibit.

If you don’t have a flickr sign-on you can follow the above instructions and create a new flickr account.

Adobe released Lightroom 2.7, Camera Raw and DNG Converter 5.7. According to Adobe version 2.6 was the final update to Lightroom 2.0. Adobe Lightroom 3.0 was going to be the next release but I guess they either miss calculated the release of Lightroom 3.0 or the need for bug fixes couldn’t wait.

Known Issues

New in Lightroom 2.7

The goal of this release is to address bugs that were introduced in previous releases of Lightroom 2 and provide additional camera raw support. A comprehensive list of issues fixed in this release is included below:

Lightroom 2.7 and Camera Raw 5.7 are now available as final releases on Adobe.comand through the update mechanisms available in Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2. These updates include camera support for the following models:

• Canon EOS 550D (Digital Rebel T2i/ EOS Kiss X4 Digital)
• Kodak Z981
• Leaf Aptus-II 8
• Leaf Aptus-II 10R
• Mamiya DM40
• Olympus E-PL1
• Panasonic G2
• Panasonic G10
• Sony A450

Release Notes:

• Camera Raw 5.7 includes an updated demosaic algorithm designed to provide compatibility with settings applied in Lightroom 3 beta 2.
• Lightroom 2.7 also includes the same updated demosaic algorithm. The updated demosaic algorithm will appear as a subtle shift in noise characteristics at default values.
• By default Camera Raw will display the image adjustments exactly as performed in the Lightroom 3 beta 2 develop module.  However, at this time Camera Raw 5.7 is unable to support further adjustments to the following settings or tools:
  • Highlight Priority and Color Priority post-crop vignette
  • Enhanced Luminance and Color Noise Reduction
  • Grain effects
  • Process Version

There’s more to this update than I saw at first. According to Lightroom product manager Tom Hogarty, Lightroom 2.7 and version 5.7 of the Photoshop plug-in adds Lightroom 3 beta 2′s new “demosaicing” technology for processing raw images.
Specifically, Hogarty said:
• Camera Raw 5.7 includes an updated demosaic algorithm designed to provide compatibility with settings applied in Lightroom 3 beta 2.
• Lightroom 2.7 also includes the same updated demosaic algorithm. The updated demosaic algorithm will appear as a subtle shift in noise characteristics at default values.
• By default, Camera Raw will display the image adjustments exactly as performed in the Lightroom 3 beta 2 develop module. However, at this time Camera Raw 5.7 is unable to support further adjustments to the following settings or tools: Highlight Priority and Color Priority post-crop vignette; Enhanced Luminance and Color Noise Reduction; Grain effects; [and] Process Version.

Here is a creative suite 5 video of the new content aware functions offered by Adobe. The author goes through several examples of how content aware feature will really speed up your daily workflow.

The Wrong WB, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

As you can imagine from the title I was using the wrong White Balance (WB). I kinda liked the look of the extreme blue in the sky and in the ocean. I was distracted with talking to a photographer and his wife that were shooting with a Fuji 617 or a 6×17 film camera.

At one point during the day I remember saying to myself that my images looked really blue and washed out? Duh! One of the big rules of thumb, before you take your ist shot, check your camera settings and reset your settings in the camera.

I shoot RAW so it’s that that big of a deal to correct my Oh $#!t moments, and I have alot of those… Shooting RAW is so forgiving that it helps when making a mistake like this. Plus you should always shot it right in the camera first so you don’t have to spend a ton of time in post processing.

I think they should have that warning message in your camera that says “You sure you want to take this image with these setting Dummy?” Ahhhh no, but I’m just a dork fish…

All this week I have been preparing for a trip to Orange County. I am traveling to OC in the next week for a series of Job interviews. No, it’s not for a photography job, it’s for my chosen profession of a Financial Services Professional (Equity Trader). Anyone that knows  me personally, knows that I was laid-off from my job over a year ago. Yes, it was a huge disappointment, however I never thought I would be unemployed for this long. The job market has been very bleak at best.

In preparing for my upcoming interviews I realized that I didn’t have a business card. I have cards that I made for photography, but nothing for my profession. Last night I rectified this little issue. I spent a few hours before I went to bed, and made some financial business cards. I had some ideas of how I wanted my business cards to look like. I didn’t want to just use the free templates that vistaprints.com offers. I wanted to have a personal touch.

A fes days ago I was fooling around with Wordle and created a couple Wordle graphics and posted to my blog here Financial Buzz Word Bingo . I mentioned that I was going to use them for a project. I decided to use them for my financial business cards. I downloaded the photoshop .psd layout file from vistaprints.com. I used photoshop to put my business card layout together. Next, I uploaded the finished file to vistaprints.com and added the text. The next step and most important step, I had my wife prof the card before I finished. This is what my business card looks like. If you notice I didn’t add an address, because I am looking for a job in the Greater Bay Area and in Orange County. I didn’t feel that the address was as important. My wife had made the suggestion of putting my Securities Licences on the card instead. I agreed that this was more important since I worked so hard to get them during my career.

Tomorrow is the official coming out Party for the New Adobe CS5. It is been something I have looked forward to foe a few weeks now. I have posted on a blog  few times Countdown to Abobe Creative Suite 5 Release and Adobe Creative Suite 5 Rumor. Now, tomorrow is the release date and all hell will break loose in the photo and graphic blogoshpers.

I imagine that everyone that has the opportunity to have a sneak peak will be giving the pros and con’s of the newest Creative Suite. I know that NAPP and Scott Kelby will be blogging and setting up new training at Kelby Media and Kelby Training as soon as the announcement has been made.

One blogger and Photographer has already taken a look under the hood and likes what he sees. Thomas Hawk, friend and former co-worker of mine, posted on his blog a little bit of what he likes and some new features that he has played with. Take a look here and see what Thomas Hawk says about what he saw. Here is the link to his post ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS5 BOLDLY EMPOWERS THE DIGITAL ARTIST

A few weeks ago I blogged about rumors of the release on Adobe Creative Suite 5 release. I have been on the fence of purchasing the CS4 because their has been a rumor on CS5.org about the a April release of CS5.

Well the rumors have now been confirmed. While I was reading my twitter feed I read a tweet from Sean McCormack at Lightroom-blog. He provided a link to the countdown to the release of Adobe CS5. Here is the link to the Count down. You can register to get emails and more information as it becomes available. Also, they have videos of sneak peeks and a live Buzz to see what everyone is saying about the release.

Here it the link to the previous post: Adobe Creative Suite 5 Rumor

42/365 Teething Ring, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

Image 42/365

This is my neighbors 8 month old son. My neighbor wanted me to shoot her son for a Valentine’s gift for her husband.

I thought this was a unusual shot. While trying to keep this little guy happy and focused, I picked up his teething ring and shot through it.

I shot this in my home studio:

Studio Setup:
2 Calumet Genesis 200 Strobes
Calumet NOVA 32 softbox
45″ Calumet Shoot thru Umbrella
Pocket Wizard II
107″ White Seamless Backdrop

The 32″ Softbox was set low to the ground. The Umbrella was pointed at the backdrop for the High-Key.