Quick Hit Monday: Baseball Blues; Furries Everywhere; Wedding Photography Tips; Inspiration; & Photoshop Freebies

Good Afternoon Everybody,

I’m writing this as we are driving back to Kentucky after a wonderful weekend. We've been on a 730 mile round road trip since Friday and it's been a lot of fun.  Hotel rooms were at a premium in Pittsburgh this past weekend with the Boston Red Socks in town playing the Pirates. 

Ball Game Blues In Pittsburgh

I think our hotel was Red Socks headquarters with fans everywhere shouting and cheering for their team. At are hotel you could see it was – to paraphrase - Casey At The Bat… “There was no joy in Mudville — as the mighty Red Socks had lost by 2 runs both Friday and Saturday night. 

The good news for the Socks fans and for those who stuck around was their Sunday win over the Pirates.  I have to tell you, it was fun visiting and chatting with the Socks fans the two days we were at the hotel - they ARE enthusiastic fans.  I sure wish we had a little of that in Cincinnati for our mostly winning Reds.

The Furries Were In Town Too – Yikes!!!

The other event that had the city booked up was the Furries Convention taking place in downtown Pittsburgh [link]. OK, it's officially called the AnthroCon Convention [link], but it still comes down to over 4,500 folks hitting town dressed up as animals - think amusement park mascots - wandering he streets of Pittsburgh and surrounds. 

It's quite the site and Pittsburgh has been the host city for 6 six years in a row for this national convention. You know – I guess it’s what makes the world go ‘round.

Visiting With Old An Old Friend

Although the original intent was to visit a good friend who had moved to Pittsburgh a number of years ago and be part of her 50th birthday celebration, when I realized my good buddy Terry Deglau was only another hour away, we gave Terry a call to see if we could stop by and visit.  He gladly obliged and we had a great time reminiscing over a long and enjoyable lunch on Saturday.

Terry is from a family who ran a studio for over 75 years in the Pittsburgh area.  He told us it was his grandfather that started the business.  Terry left the family business to go to work for Eastman Kodak Company and was with them for 20 years.  During that time Terry was very supportive for many years of my early growing photographic and teaching career.  Since his leaving Kodak, we have always tried to stay in touch.

Because of the experience in his family's 75 year old photography business and his many years at Eastman Kodak, he has become a wealth of photographic information.  I encouraged Terry to start a blog many months ago which he did. Here is the link to his blog – A Creative Mind Is A Moving Target again right here.  He contributes to it on a weekly basis with stories and experiences that you simply won't read anywhere else.

I like to think that Terry, as he continues to write his blog, will become one of our indispensable photographic historians.  I sure hope so.  We all get so wrapped up in the "here and now" we easily lose sight of those whose shoulders the rest of us stand on for our continued success.  THANKS Terry for all your doing - "live long and prosper," and continue blogging as I look forward to your posts. And, good to see you again.  Until the next time Terry, All our best,  David.

Hey gang, I've got the rest of the posts devised into sections for your easy reference.  Lots of good information today, so please take time to enjoy the reads.

Wedding Photography Links You Need to Read

Every week I try to present a few good links helpful to our wedding photographers reading this blog.  This week I found a slew of them that are full of information and advice that is practical, informative, and important to your successful business building.  Every one is a great read.

1. 10 Common Compositions In Wedding Photography – Great! [link]
2. Wedding Photography Tips : How To Photograph People [link]
3. 5 Fastest Ways To Fail At Wedding Photography – Must Read [link]
4. What I Learned from Jasmine Star – Always good advice [link]

Inspirational Photography and Design

Quick Hit Monday has become my favorite day for offering you links to posts that offer photographic, technical, and compositional inspiration to help you get your week started off on the right foot.  Sometimes the links are a bit eclectic but they are the kinds of things that tickle my fancy and I hope you enjoy them too.  Here is this week's list - Enjoy!

1. 140 Great HDR Images [link]
2. 40 Random High Quality Photo Worth Seeing [link]
3. Fascination Digital Works Of Art [link]
4. iPhone Photography – pretty cool images [link]

Photography News, Tips, and Techniques

It's been quite a week with me finding lots of great instructional content for your reading pleasure….Enjoy.

Some News You Can Use

1. Doug Box’s Flash Photography: On- and Off- Camera Techniques for Digital Photographers [link]
2. Digital photography trumping film for good? [link]
3. A "Baker's Dozen" of Studio Lighting Tips Added to My Flagship iPad App: 24/7 Photo Buffet [link]

 A Few Photo Tips

1. Understanding the Factors that Affect Depth of Field [link]
2. Tips To Reduce Noise In Your Images [link]

Photoshop Tutorials, Techniques, and Freebies

Once again gang, here is this weeks list of links to my favorite tutorials, techniques, and freebies.  Over the last several weeks there have been quite a few links that I've posted at DPT.  I'm trying to figure how to categorize all these links for future reference - stay tuned.  In the mean time, enjoy this week's offerings.

Tutorials & Techniques

1. Photo Restoration – very good [link]
2. High-Pass Filter vs. Unsharp Mask Sharpening [link]

The Photoshop Freebies

1. 51 High Quality Texture Packs [link]
2. 25 Free Brushes and Patterns [link]
3. 60 Fresh High Quality PSD Files and Templates [link]

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  We've got a lighter week than usual around here, I think I said that last Monday as well, and we are really looking forward to a stress free work week.  How about I see everyone back here tomorrow for another Technique Tuesday. 

See ya' tomorrow,  David