My attempt at Photoshop...

Hey Everyone,

Hope your week is good. Thank god it is Friday. So this is my attempt at photoshop. The real basic skills I think I am ok at but when you try and do the Brad Myers/Brian Bastinelli photoshop ADVANCED level..I still need lots of practice on.

This is actually a model of the Philadelphia Fire Department Fire Boat 2. I was trying to recreate a look from the 70's during Philly's war years. The model is actually on a display stand with the photo in the background.

I cropped in as much as I could but still had some of the stand exposed. So I tried to add the water in the areas where the stand was and tried to blend it together but it did not go as well as I planned.

I really did not have anything else today, so I thought I would throw this out there and see what you good people in blogger world really think.


If you were curious as to how I got the idea, Brian Bastinelli had a photograph of a piece of fire apparatus that actually turned out to be a toy. Looking at the photo right away, you could not tell. That's what I was trying for, I'll need to keep practicing some more...


Have a great weekend!

I'm back for the moment...

Hey everyone..

I hope you all have been well. In the busytime of packing and doing everything else while trying to move. I did have just a little downtime and I wanted to get your feedback on this.

The other day I went to Borders and bought Photoshop User Magazine. In that I read an article about poorman's HDR and how to create an HDR photo.

So I decided to attempt it and see what I could do. What you see is the result.

I've attached the original and the one I did in photoshop.

The image I worked on, I think is ok but I don't think I was able to get it quite to where I wanted it.

Sooo...I would love any feedback from the people much smarter at this stuff then I am..

Please feel free to leave anytype of feedback..Good or Bad...

Have a great week folks and I'll be back fulltime soon!!


Woody

Another space filler...

I know, I'm sorry. I just havent had time to get out and shoot anything yet..This is from a fire last summer..


Have a great day!!

Special Operations Engine...

Hey everyone,

Well due to the ice down my way. I have not been able to get out and shoot anything. Hopefully this weekend I can get out and shoot some new stuff.

This photo I worked up quite a bit in photoshop practicing with blending and texture and doing layers. This is Engine 6-4-5 from the Lancaster City Bureau of Fire. This used to be Engine 3 till it got bumped to reserve status and is now Engine 5. This engine also functions as the Hazardous Materials Special Ops Engine to backup the county hazmat team. The Hazmat team and City fire have an agreement where the city will supply techs to the hazmat team if needed for a incident.

That is all for now, Have a great week!!


Woody

Fire Apparatus...

Hey everyone,

Hope you had a great weekend. This is one from the archives. This is the front of Truck 5-7(Quarryville Fire Company) operating at a barn fire over the summer.

That is all I have for today..

Have a great day!

Woody

Merry Christmas again!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

I hope you all are having a great day today. I have to work for a few hours today but I hope it is quiet.

Today's post are of a photo I did in photoshop. Sometime ago, Brian Bastinelli had posted about the new ladder truck Harrisburg City received. Here is the link to it;

http://brianbastinelliphotography.blogspot.com/2008/12/step-in-right-direction.html

I really liked the post processing that he did and decided to challenge myself to see If I could come close to recreate it If I had the chance. Well, the other day I was out on a call and saw Roherstown's ladder truck and thought it was a good photo op so I shot the photo and spent about an hour in photoshop.

I've enclosed the before and after shot, so I hope Brian gets to see it and lets me know what he thinks. If any of you have any feedback, feel free to post it.

I hope you all have a great day and be safe with your families!!

Woody

Center City Lancaster...

Hey Everyone,

Hope your week is going good. These photos were taken right at the heart of Lancaster City in the historic area.

The first photo is of Central Market. I believe it's one of the oldest operating markets today.

The second photo is of the Solders and Sailors Monument. One of the more historic moments that I know of is John F Kennedy spoke in front of the monument giving a campaign speech and Lancaster was one of his stops in this area. The famed facade of the Watt and Shand building is in the background.


The third photo is of the controversial Lancaster Convention Center. It was held up in court for many years before it was finally cleared to start construction. They are now in the finishing stages and it is due to open I belive in March.

With the new things I learned from Brad Myers, I worked on these photos for about an hour applying what I learned in photoshop. I was pretty happy with the results..


Hope your week is going well!


Woody

Another attempt at making a photo appear aged..

Hey everyone,

Hope you had a great weekend. So I decided to attempt another shot at aging a photo and I would love for some feedback. At first glance, would you be able to tell that this is really just a model from the railroad museum with photoshop work or would you think it appears to be an actual photo??


I saw a photo that Brian Bastinelli did of a older style of fire apparatus. At first glance, I thought it was an actual rig, but I was then informed it was just a toy sitting in Brian's house.

I thought that was a really cool photo so I am trying to see If I can recreate that look, but trying something different...


Have a great week!!


Woody

How can I have made this photo better??

Hey all,

Well I have to apologize for the technical error that my blog has seemed to experiance. I have no idea what happened to the last two posts that I had on here..


So anyway, Sorry this post is late. Remember when I said I was taking care of my little guy because he was under the weather?? Well now, I'm taking care of my wife and myself and my little guy as we are all now sick...UGH! Oh well...

So anyway, this photo. I am throwing this out to the people alot more smarter then me with this. How could I have made this photo better?? This is one of the photos shot at the recent rowhome fire. I shot it manuel.

My goal was to try and get the fire venting out the window a little bit more visible then what it is. I wanted to try and get more of the color of the fire in particular.

When I worked this photo up, I sharpened it and changed the contrast abit. Unfortunatley, If I remember a lesson from Brian B. I can't do anything about the yellow in the background with the smoke. I also added some fill light to the photo and that's about it. Without cluttering the photo with noise, I don't think there is anything much more I can do.

Please feel free to comments...Good or Bad..

Have a great day and GO PHILS!!!!


Woody

Back to Harrisburg...

 

Hey all,

Hope you are all enjoying the holiday!. I know I am, I do have to work tonight on OT but it's only for four hours and at triple time. I'm not complaning.

Today's photo I spent about 30 minutes trying to recreate it. If you go to Brad Myers Blog and click on Harrisburg. There is a shot very similar to this one. I really liked that shot and when I was up in Harrisburg a few weeks ago. I took this photo from about the same spot and worked it up in photoshop to try and come as close as I could to it. It's not quite where I want it, but I think it looks pretty good overall.

This photo was taken at the top of the Capital Steps looking west towards the river.

Hope you all have a great week.

Stay Safe,


Woody

More from the boardwalk...

Day 3 of photoshop week, this is a different part of the same water ride. Major cropping was done to alot of the photos. I cropped in to what I thought was the best parts or coolest to look at...

Thanks for the feedback so far, keep it coming!!

Boardwalk at Hershey...

Hey everyone,

Day 2 of photoshop week. These photos were taken just this past Saturday at HersheyPark. The county held it's annual picnic up there this year. So I decided to go up for the day. Out of the 5/12-6 hours, I was there, I only got on two rides and both were roller coasters. I really wanted to get on a few of the water rides since thats what I enjoy the most, but the lines were just nuts and I refused to stand in line for an hour to wait for a locker to secure my things(camera included) I had the camera with me, so I had fun just walking around shooting things.

This is in the Boardwalk section of Hershey, they have two very large buckets in some water ride contraption, not really sure what it was. Once they fill, they tip and dump the water down onto you.


Let me just say, that people watching up there is almost as enjoyable at times. There were some rather interesting folks up there thats for sure.

Hope you all are having a great week. I want to say thanks also to Brad Myers and HFD60 for their feedback yesterday. That is what I am looking for, so please feel free to comment and not hold back..


Stay Safe,

Woody

PhotoShop Week...

Hi All,

Hope you had a good weekend. So I decided to try and do something a little different this week. I am going to post two photos, one as a before photoshop and one as after photoshop work was done. I been trying to practice my photoshop as time allows, so I would like you guys to be the judge. Tell If you like it, hate it, Don't ever touch photoshop again...etc..You get the point..

Today's first two photos are of Willow Street Fire Company(5-12) Rescue 5-12. A before and after shot...

Let me know what you think...


Have a great week!!

Woody

Beer Anyone?....

Good Morning All,

Well, I really did not have a clue as to which photo I was going to post today. I decided to post one of a mural on a building right down from my work which happens to be a local beer distributor. I always thought buildings that have paintings or designs on them like this were cool to look at and check out.


While I was working this photo up in photoshop, I decided to try an aged look on the photo. So I played around with it and this is what I came up with. I tried to put a canvas on the photo, but that decided not to work for me tonight...


So, let me know what you think..

Hope all are having a good week...

Stay Safe,

Woody

Ducks out of water

Hey everyone,

I hope you all had a good weekend. After talking with Brad Myers about the importance of cropping. I decided to head out and do a little practice. The above two photos were taken at the Lititz Springs Park. The bottom photo is the before shot. I had Wyatt with me and we were sitting watching the ducks walk towards us, the above photo is the after shot, after I cropped it and did some minor photoshop work to bring out the colors more. I was pleased with the results. I know the photos are reversed, but it took me awhile to get them posted this morning as blogger was acting up and I could not get on to my site or anyone else's for that matter.

Let me know what you guys think...

Enjoy your day..