Pastels Day Photo Challenge Judging Criteria

Everybody ready, get set, baby blue...seafoam green...lemon chiffon...go!





To tally the votes judges Suzanne Gonzalez and Ramiro Ortega will rate the photos on a scale from 1 to 10.
They'll consider composition, lighting, exposure and communication of subject.

Each category will be rated from 1 to 10, added and averaged, then the person with the highest score wins.

This is an anything-goes contest in that Photoshop is allowed and any kind tweaking is permitted.

Steps to enter contest:

1. Snap away!!!
2. Publish in your photos journal.
3. Link to any of the comment section on this site.

I'll notify the winner on my site by the end of next week.

Good luck!

After you shoot, check out Betty's comfort foods and cook up yourself a big reward for entering.

Digital vs Film: Some of My Observations

Here's a great topic that's hardly ever shared on the Internet--your observations about the differences between digital and film.

Here are some of mine (note that these are only my observations, others may have different notions of the differences):

1. A picture of a picture (shown above) taken with a digital camera comes out clearer than one taken a film camera.

2. Nighttime neon photos are easier to photograph with film than with a digital camera.

Generally, I have found using 400 ISO 35mm film when shooting neon sign at night without a flash is easy and produces a clear result when the camera is set to the Av setting using an f-stop of about f/8. Do the same with a digital and the neon comes out too bright to be read.

3. Black and white film photographs taken with film are far more realistic than those taken with a digital camera.

Digital cameras set to the black and white mode take pictures that can look like plastic model.

4. Scanned film photographs sometimes show lines from the material in it whereas digital photographs do not.

I found that this happens when the film is overexposed. These type of pictures are a bear to work with in Photoshop.

5. Film is more sensitive to light at lower ISOs.

If you take a picture hand held picture with 400 ISO film in a film camera and then take the same picture with a digital camera set at 400 ISO, the film picture will come out better (clearer and with less blur).

Digital Art Photography for Dummies is the book. Click to buy a copy now!

Photo Challenge Reminder

Join the fun, February 1. Be a part of Matthew Bamberg's Pastel Day photo challenge. Snap your photos, add your link to the comments section of my blog (any of the entries I have has a comment section, feel free to post wherever it says "comments") as I automatically will get an email when you do.

On the Radio, ISO, Exposure Compensation

Today I was on the radio. I think I remembered everything I needed to communicate to the listeners.

First let me mention the host, Carey Parker , who was sharp and her show, well...just really cool.

On the set, I put on earphones and tried not to cough and go "huh um."

We covered a lot of territory, letting real estate agents know not to photograph "just beds," as Carey said and my suggestion to "turn off the flash" when photographing inside during the day when there is ample light.

We also went over ISO speeds, or how the camera's sensor reacts to light (higher numbers indicate the sensor is set to be more sensitive and requires less light for a proper exposure). Brief mention was made of exposure compensation. For more about how to use these settings in real estate photos, go here.

Great morning! Thanks, Carey, for having me on KPSI.

Book Signing Report

Not a bad day at the book signing in Rancho Mirage, California on Saturday at Borders, I sat for nearly for two hours and sold nearly 20 books.

I did everything minus dancing on the top of the table to get people to come over. Lines such as "How's your digital photography going?" and "Do you have a digital camera?" got some people to notice.

The store was only moderately busy. I brought a sample of the final digital art piece product with me and set it in front of the table so everyone could see. First, I'd break the ice with potential book buyers by letting them know I was a local and that there were pictures of Palm Springs in the book, not to mention, also, that I travel a lot. Then pointing the picture of the buddah boys in school, the subject automatically changed with people asking where the picture was taken.

After that about half the group bought the book.

Who knows where I'll sign next.

Back to Brokeback

Now that I'm back home in Palm Springs, I'm back to my business of recording and researching historical articles and events related to history around this place.

Of course it wasn't the cowboys who first lived in this place, it was the Indians (okay, Native Americans, or whatever is politically correct nowadays) who raised the cattle and rode the horses.

The Cahuilla tribe still owns a good part of the land in the city.

Hollywood particpated in developing the area from the time Hollywood cowboys Charlie Farrell and Ralph Bellamy (“Rosemary’s Baby,” 1968) spotted some land from the top of their horses that they later built into a resort on the north end of the city.

Since it's obvious that I like photography, I collect photos too. I ended up with cowboy on this page through meeting the author of Palm Springs Weekend.

Tip: If you like photos, start collecting them too, from old postcards to stuff your friends and relatives give you.

The photo was taken in the early 90s in Billings, Montana.

Is that close to Brokeback? Come to think of it, I can't recall exactly where Brokeback is?
Anyone know?

Free Digital Art Photography Book and Pastels Day

Yes, folks it's photo challenge, right here on this blog. The event will be judged by Suzanne Gonzalez.

The Feb. 1st event is yet another blast of color fun.

Coming up to celebrate the arrival of February is Pastels Day. Come celebrate photographs where the softenss of the primaries melt into white.

Plan on using any one or more of these colors for the primary objects in your photos.

Don't forget to mark Feb. 1st as Pastels Day on your calendar.

For more about shooting for color and combining colors in your art photos, pick up a copy of "Digital Art Photography for Dummies".

Digital Art Photography for Dummies Book Signing and Radio Show Weekend

Saturday

Book Signing

A Dummies book signing? Yep, but the Dummies end up being winners for this one.

If you want great digital art work on your computer screen and on your wall (or someone else's wall) come and join me for a chat about your camera and a signed Digital Art Photography for Dummies book.


Sunday

I'm on radio Sunday morning, Jan. 29th, from 10 am to 11 am with Carey Parker for the Desert's Real Estate, Home and Lifestyle Radio Program on KPSI 920 AM!

Since the real estate market has become competitive, I'm talking about how dynamite photos can help sell a home.

Check out all of the celebrity homes (including Lucy's, Liberace's and Lily's) that are for sale in Palm Springs here. Big market here for people who need great photographs of local architecture (and celebrities).

James Frey--Oprah Meets Scandal in the Literary World

I wrote earlier this week about the James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" matter...

"No comment on that, except a little Algebraic thought--

New math equation of the literary world--

fiction + nonfiction = fiction

Of late their have been many who have written novels and come up with--

fiction + nonfiction = nonfiction

But we'll leave that for Oprah to handle, at the same time, blessing her heart for getting Americans of every stripe to read in the first place."

Everyone get on board with Oprah, as she's getting people in this country to read books.

I can only wish that she'd recognize a Dummies book, like my Dummies book.

My Dummies Book is here. Come on Oprah, at least buy a copy!

Big Texan Cowboys and Photoshop Smart Sharpen Tools

Howdy cowfolk! Lasso yourself one of these, then read on...

Here at the Digital Traveler we've found a place offering big steaks, Texas style.

Sorry, if I can't get the meat to you, but here's the sign...the first a blurred shot taken about 7 years ago and recently scanned from a 35 mm negative.



The next shot it was run through Photoshop CS2's Smart Sharpen tool (Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen).


Here's the settings I used to get a kinda cool look--

Photograph Old Las Vegas Now

Today's cowboy is from Las Vegas. He's the theme of an old motel sign in Freemont Center.

You see there are lots of old neon signs scattered around the Freemont Center. They're part of an outdoor Neon Museum.

According to American RadioWorks, all pre-Bugsy Siegel Las Vegas used to be was cowboy casinos.

If you want a real cowboy Las Vegas, best to go downtown, cause much of it still remains as it once was. But be warned, it's a bit sleezy.

And there are no cowboys, but there is lots of memorabilia from Vegas' cowboy age.

Tip: Photograph old Las Vegas now, because it's a sure bet it won't be there much longer.

Brokeback Mountain Cowboy Week

Brokeback is hot now. I wanted to take a second (no, make that a week) to give my blog a cowboy look. Therefore I'll be hosting Cowboy Week on my blog.

Here are 10 reasons to have a Cowboy Week in America:

1. To let younger people know that George W. Bush did not invent the cowboy.

2. To teach cowboy history, recognizing that cowboys were not created by Intelligent
Design.

3. To show the people in Dallas that cowboys are not football players (are they)?

4. To learn that there are cowboys live in Blue States like California and that George W. Bush may want to visit some here.

5. To show others in the world that only Americans make great cowboys and great gay cowboy movies.

6. To ask George W. Bush not only has he seen Brokeback Mountain (as did the student in Kansas), but also to ask if he believes that two cowboys can marry.

7. To bring back the 1980s with a bang by having John Travolta as a cowboy in a sequal to Urban Cowboy.

8. To thank the Great One that there's a Cowboy search engine on the Internet.

9. To set up a vaquero amnisty program, permitting vaqueros to cross the border on horseback.

10. To change the expression wassup to How things goin' at the ranch.

In honor of Cowboy Week I present the first of seven cowboy signs that were captured around America.

Tip: When presenting a cowboy as your primary subject, try blurring the background in Photoshop.

I used the Gaussian (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur)in this image, tweaking it only very slighly to get rid of the background noise.

Copyright 2006 Matthew Bamberg

Happy Red Day (Organizing Photo Sets)

To learn how to combine text and image with color, pick up a copy of "Digital Art Photography for Dummies". Happy Red Day!

Happy Blue Day (Organizing Photo Sets)

Happy Yellow Day (Organizing Photo Sets)

Here at the Digital Traveler, I do declare, on behalf of promoting higher thinking about color, Yellow Day.

You see, while I was in an electronics store in Asia, I saw three flat screens, side by side, each one displaying images of one color--one television displayed only things yellow, another only of things red, and the last, only things of blue. So, I'm reformuating the concept for my blog...

Tomorrow will be Blue Day.

And Monday will be Red Day.

I hope you'll join me in these festive days of specific color celebrations.

Tip: Go out and take pictures of things yellow today. Since it's a pretty reflective color, tune down your exposure compenstation a 1/2 stop or two to make your yellow more pure.

Again, best wishes for a Happy Yellow Day!

P.S. Don't forget to comment about your travels finding yellow. For example, I found that of all the primaary colors, this one is the hardest to find in residental and suburban neighborhoods.

Cheeta, Tarzan and Retirees

While I was making some submissions of animal photos to a kid's magazine, I found my photos of Cheeta.

Now Palm Springs, being the groovy place that it is and all (Lucy lived here), bustles at this time of year.

The moon a couple of days ago really shows the peacefulness of the place, one of the primary reasons we get thousands of snowbirds--mostly retirees-- driving down from Alaska, the Canadian prairie provences, and south to South Dakota, not to mention the rainy Pacific Northwest.

Little beknownst to many, the city has animals too, animals of the retired kind. Animal movie stars...

It's home to Cheeta, who'll be 74 in April.

Cheeta acted in the Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller.

A couple of years ago, when a wrote a local newspaper article about the chimp, I caught these pictures on 35 mm film. I scanned these and they now reside inside my computer and are always entertaining when they come up.

War and Art

War has affected art ever since man rubbed two rocks together to make fire.

Here's my interpretation, in an image that contained over twenty Photoshop layers.



Sure, some of my best friends have SUVs and I sometimes ride in them, but that still doesn't make their gas-guzzling existence in the world any less peaceful.

We're All Alone--An Asian Photo Series

At any point of a given day, we find ourselves alone.

On Writing Beinvenido a Miami--A South Beach Time Capsule

Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two...one...blastoff...

Just a few short fortnights ago, I blasted off to the last century at Mamie Van Duren's blonde bombshell extravaganza.

Today, please join me on a climb into a metallic, piano-sized object, the same object, say, that's off to Pluto.

And, where's it going?

To Miami in 1965.

Bienvendio a Miami!

That's the name of my novel, that, I pray, my agent will give me word, hopefully... please higher Jewish power, by the end of the week if it's a go or not.

A quick review in pictures (that's how I wrote the thing, from a bunch of old photos that stimulated my brain cells, not to mention got me a warm seat in the therapist's office).

It started out as a memoir, a loose collection of shorts some seven years ago. Then, it evolved into fiction.

Yes, I admit--I embellished facts, changed names and situations, even adding a fictional Cuban backdrop, up on a mountain top where word was spreading of revolution. (Maybe that part wasn't fictional.) Those are the facts, you decide.

And now for a TIP

Tip: Write from photos, mixing fiction and nonfiction to create a story web.

Scandal in the Literary World

Before we board the spacecraft, let's take a look at James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces"

No comment on that, except a little Algebraic thought--

New math equation of the literary world--

fiction + nonfiction = fiction

Of late their have been many who have written novels and come up with--

fiction + nonfiction = nonfiction

But we'll leave that for Oprah to handle, at the same time, blessing her heart for getting Americans of every stripe to read in the first place.

It's not recommended that one take a space craft without some training.
So, here's the beef of the Bienvenido a Miami trip, my past postings on writing a novel from photos--

Bienvenido a Miami Graffiti

Bienvenido a Miami--50s, 60s or 70s?

Bienvenido a Miami--Character Development using Photos



The door has now opened. You couldn't hear it because technology today is noiseless.

Step inside.

Blastoff...

It's 1965. You're on South Beach. This is what you find...

Check out the dame on the left. She's totally 1965!

Dominant, social butterfly, bell-of-the-South-Beach ball,

could she be...a...Canasta cheat,

who runs to Cuban doctors for that Dr. Feelgood pump?



Those are the facts and photos, you decide.

Or, perhaps, she could she be a bathing beauty?



Naaaaaa, but she's sure to entertain the nostalgia of what grandmas used to be. There was no "Fabulous at Fifty" or "Boomers at Sixty" back then, only Jewish grandmothers on South Beach swimming in chicken soup, which, by now, with today's technology you should be beginning to smell.

Antiquing in Prescott, AZ

TIP: Just ask in most antique stores, to take a picture and, most of the time, the nice people that own them will gladly say, "go ahead!"

And, by the way, Prescott's a great town to go antiquing.

Art Gallery Show at M Modern Gallery, Palm Springs

Mamie Van Doren walked into M Modern Gallery last night with a smile and coyness that only a blonde bombshell can offer.

Many young and middle-aged attendees wondered who this bombshell was.

A refresher:

She's Swedish



She was an usherette at the Pantages

In 1949, she was "Miss Palm Springs"

She said one word, "look," in the RKO movie, "Jet Pilot"

A Hollywood studio decided that she should have the same name as Mamie Eisenhower (She had been named Joan after Joan Crawford)

In 1953, she played a girl from "the other side of the tracks" in "All American"

She's internet savvy with a powerful weblog

The show went on with Atomic dancers




And other Blonde Bombshells





Including, David, whose works were in the show and who works at the gallery.



The gallery run by Jay and MiShell were no less for the wear in hosting such an event. As was son, Matthew.





There were also platinum blondes.




Cherry Capri was there.



And others who came to join in modern art's shot at the Blonde Bombshell.