Religious Contrast in Paris Graveyard

Christian

Jewish

Today I'm back at the Paris graveyard. I'm thinking how I'd love to be there peering at the freshly fallen snow on the cemetery plots. I've written about this place before in all its starkness.

It's the Pere-Lachaise Cemetry. Jim Morrison's buried here, among others whose names you'd probably recognize.

To walk here at any time of year is to take yourself into another dimension--literally, to go to a twilight zone.

There are more contrasting shapes and forms and symbols here than anywhere else in Paris.

Solitary Figure

This candid shot is a great example of the power of the solitary figure. The shot has some motion blur, that could be substantiated by the woman's movement forward (some would probably argue with me on that one).

The element that stands out the most is subtle. It's the shape and form of the figure; it's an hour glass. The woman's dress is tapered just right to accentuate her great figure and it shows up well in the photograph. Also, the contrasting shapes of the umbrella and the handbag make for an interesting sideline.

How fun it is to critique your own photos! You may want to take a look at my other post about photo critiquing.

Disney Hall in the Afternoon

It's the Disney Hall!

The Disney Hall houses the Los Angeles Music Center.

In 1987, Lillian Disney gave the city of LA 50 million dollars. The city had no stipulations on what to do with it. She just hoped that the money would serve the people of the city.

The hall was completed four years ago this October. It seats 2,265.

Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the hall is made of 22 million pounds of steel and built to look like a ship.

To go inside is to sail away into a concert that sounds so good, you'll think you're in heaven.

Font Fun

Ever want to get that typeface in your photograph or graphic image just right?

Look no further than the signs in your community. The old ones from the 60s and 70s are classics.

Catch the Western style manuscript letters in the word "FIRST" in the image above.

Also take a look at the cursive "State Bank--" true mid-century style.

While you're at it, check out a variety of font styles here.

For a some mid-century fonts check out houseind.com

Texture

When we take photos we think about a lot of subject/object subject matter. We think about framing, composition, color and perspective. Any one or all of these, if done right, will result in a dynamite photograph. But what about texture? It alone can lure eyes into new dimensions.

Hanoi Bridge

Hanoi, Vietnam is a charming place. There are many lakes. The streets have few cars as most people ride motorbikes. Vietnam is part of Indochina, which, at one time, was French. Croissants and pastries are everywhere as is French colonial architecture.

And, yes, there is Asian culture here too as in the picture above.

Quiz--Putin or Sarkozy

Quick, I snapped this from a poster in ???

Does it remind you more of President Putin or President Sarkozy

Time Machine Travels Back to 1939

Today I thought a trip in a time machine back to 1939 would be good. Getting tired of the war in Iraq. I think the Civil War's outcome was much better (freed slaves).

Image is from the last trip I took to Arizona where a man in Winslow gave me a tour of his small museum and held up a copy of Hollywood magazine to take a picture of.

Enjoy the YouTube video also as I've never quite seen one like it before--a music video of Gone with the Wind.

You go girl, Scarlett.

Getty Villa

Yesterday it was off to the Getty Villa in Malibu, not to be confused with the Getty Center in LA.

If you want to learn (or relearn) about Greek and Roman civilization, this is the place to go. With antiquities and maps and diagrams, everything you wanted to know about these exotic locales is explained here.

The grounds are lovely as well.

The Getty Villa is (literally) one or two steps north of the LA border, and getting there is easy as it's located on the Pacific Coast Highway. You have to get tickets in advance to go, but the good news is that they are free.

Parking is $8.

These Boots are Made for Walking

...and that's just what they'll do.

Did you know that Oct 25th is St. Crispins Day? St. Crispins Day began in medieval times and celebrates the shoemaker and his craft.

Here's ten other facts about shoes, and more specifically the boot.

1. The above picture was taken in Guadalajara, Mexico.
2. In the 1500s boots were part of a hunting uniform.
3. The heel is a symbol of nobility. When we describe someone as "well-heeled," we speak of a well-to-do person.
4. The history of the Western boot can be found in the Northhampton Museum in the UK.
5. In Britain, boots were all the rage during the 1600s
6. In the early 1800s boots became extremely popular among women
7. Some boots in the U.S. in the 1920s had laces and were worn by ranch hands.
8. As hemlines rose, boots added focus to the bare legs.
9. The sports boot came about from an army boot.
10. In the 60s, Nancy Sinatra, the daughter of Frank Sinatra, sang "These Boots are Made for Walking," which became a Top 40 hit.

Color Wheel Test

Building in Old Town Cartagena, Columbia



Color Wheel

Look at the picture at the top. There's two different colors in it. I believe the colors match.

Write in the comment section how they match with reference to the color wheel.

Bonnie and Clyde

Check out the similarities between this car and the car above.

The car above was taken at a Pasadena car show a few months ago. I think it might be the same model as the infamous car Bonnie and Clyde used as a get-a-way after they robbed banks.

Speaking of Bonnie and Clyde, the gangsters (part of the Barrow gang) who violently robbed banks in the 1930s, wasn't a movie made about these people.

Indeed there was; and it's 40 years old this month. NPR did a great piece about the anniversary of the Academy Award winning film a couple of days ago.

As for me, I can remember playing "Bonnie and Clyde" when I was 11 with friends. We memorized the lines and played out all of the parts. Of course that was after seeing the film over and over again.

Happy Anniversary, Barrow gang!

Cutest Sign

This has got to be one of the cutest signs I've ever seen.

The Art Theater

Way back when all theaters were art theaters--grand palaces that treated movie-goers as if they were royalty.

In Cleveland, Ohio as in the rest of the country the grand movie palaces, or "art" theaters as they are known today, sprung up like dandelions all across the big cities of Europe and the United States.

Today, some are closing, like the Ellen in Bozeman, Montana, while others are thriving not only as art theaters, but grand movie palaces showing the latest Hollywood features.

The grand Rex in Paris shows a variety of films from French comedies to American thrillers.

Many "art" theaters nowadays screen "art" films, offbeat indies, many of which come from other countries.

dmoz has some great links to all kinds of art theater history.

Making Money with Photography

The Digital Traveler's my main gig...but I have three other blogs...

Making Money with Photography
Want to make money with your photography? This site tells you how. From a daily job board to articles about how to sell your craft, this blog has it all.

Palm Springs Daily Photo
A photo a day keeps the palms at bay...anything and everything that's in Palm Springs, CA.

Book of Signs
Retro signage and weird and wild text from all over the world.

Come visit!

The Threads that Bind Us

The threads that bind us.

What are the threads that bind one country to another all over the world?

Please comment.

Paint Running Effect

Now this is no ordinary graffiti (picture taken on the side streets of Quito, Ecuador). If you'll notice, the paint runs in various places, adding to an already weird image.
The repitition is cool here too.

You can see my other post about graffiti here.

Making Money with Photography

Come check out my new blog "Making Money with Photography."

Knock, Knock

Nothing like a doorknob from Paris to get some knock, knock jokes going...

Too stupid knock knocks for kids.
Brits do it better.
Stupid still.

One of the better ones I found...
knock knock.
who's there?
Atch.
Atch who?
Sorry, I didn`t know you had a cold.

Canon 5D--Great shots at High ISO Speeds

Wize.com, a new consumer product rating site, rates the Canon 5D an "88" (88/100), not an item you'd "buy with confidence" according to the site, but one that "might meet your needs."

One doesn't need to go far to get some commentary about the 5D.

To Buy or Not to Buy

Over at Photojunkie, the decision on the 5D turns out to be a waiting game. He is waiting for either Canon to announce a newer model full frame sensor (sensor is 35 mm, like film) camera or for the prices of the 5D to drop.

No Noise at High ISOs; but Blur at Low Depths of Field

The story at "The Image is Found" photoblog reads like an equipment lust tale. The guy's got everything--low f-stop, fixed focal length lenses with a couple of tilt-shift lenses, coming along with his Canon 5D body.

His test results with the 5D and all those fine lenses:

1. No noise at high ISO speeds.
Images taken at ISO 3200 look like those taken on a Nikon D2X at ISO 800.
2. Inaccurate focus system at hairthin depths of field (f/1.2 and f/1.8), at least compared to the Nikon D2X.

An Image from a 5D

No commentary on a camera would be complete without an image taken with one. This image was taken with a 5D with a Canon 24-105 f/4 mm lens attached at a shutter speed of 1/60 second, f-stop of f/9 and ISO 50 speed.

Inverse Selections on Hillary

Here's a Photoshop tip about inverse selections (Selection>Inverse) in Photshop CS any version.

1. Find a pic of Hillary.
2. Find a pic of an old televisions set (this is one that I found and took myself).
3. Open the pic of the television set at full resolution (say 4X6 at 300 ppi).
4. Open the pic of Hillary.
5. Click on the move tool in the Tools palette.
6. Click and drag the picture of Hillary over the picture of the television set.
7. Select the pic of the Hillary with a selection tool.
8. Choose Edit>Transform>Scale.
9. Click and drag the picture of Hillary outward so it covers the screen (don't worry if you go over we'll take that off later).
10. Open the Layers palette and click on the layer with the pic of Hillary in it.
11. Slide the opacity slider down to about 20.
12. Click on a selection tool and then type in 2 for the feathering value at the top of the window.
13. Click and drag your selection tool so that Hillary fits nicely into it and the television screen.
14. Click on Selection>Inverse.
15. Press the Delete key.

You're done. Hillary now fits into the television set!

mannequin

Take a look at the angle I got this woman at. You'd have thought she would have poked me with the back of the cue stick while she was taking a shot.

She didn't. She's not even real.

She's a mannequin.

I'm going to do an Andy Rooney here. Every so often I like to do image searches on words. I like to Google various words by typing them into the Google image search.

Just as Andy finds weird things about life, I do too.

I decided to Google the word "mannequin" to see what kind of images come up.

What came up might be rated PG, or even R, so watch your children.

Playing Around With Stock Photography

This photo was accepted by the stock agency, Dreamstime.com

The folks over at dreamstime.com want you.

They want you to submit your photography to be evaluated for use as stock photography.

No bad images need apply.

Stock photography is a tough business.

You have to:

1. have a clear photograph while looking at it onscreen at 100 percent resolution (that means you must blow it up very large on your screen so much so that only a portion of the photo will show up on most screens at 100 percent resolution).
2. have engaging subject matter.
3. not infringe on any copyrights.
4. submit large files.

There are many more stipulations also, just check them out on the Web site.

Use Dreamstime as a photography teacher...

That's right you can use Dreamstime to critique each and every photo that you have taken.
Just submit the photo and their staff looks at it and tells you what's wrong with it in an email.
So...if you want to improve your photography, register and get started...

Oh, and as far as making money, the time you'll have to put in for the amount of money you make probably isn't worth it.

Human Signage Tricks

Suitcase Flair, the Chicken Wing and the Dislocator are three sign spinning tricks invented by a 20 year-old guy whose job is to spin signs, to be human signage.

It's ubiquitous, this human signage, as well as being very photogenic.

Especially in this case where a little sexiness probably sells.

Whether it's a temporary tattoo stuck on a shirtless guy (or girl if you want to really get bold) or a trickster who can stop traffic, this new advertising is coming into its own. Just read the Vegas paper about it.

Reflection, Color, Shape and Form

Franklin D. Roosevelt Subway Station

The Paris subway system:

• runs on-time
• has frequent trains
• is clean and comfortable
  
• has easy access to anywhere in the city

Anywhere you go in Paris you're probably not more than four or five blocks from a subway station.

It's gotta be the best in the world.

Here you'll see the Franklin D. Roosevelt station. There's a great map of the Paris subway system here.
You'll see a twirling windmill, marking the Roosevelt station on the map. Roosevelt station is one stop southeast of the Champs-Elysees - Clemenceau station, the station that takes you to the ritzy boulevard so well-known in movies.

To photograph inside the subway (yes, I've never been told not to) set your camera to a high ISO and turn off your flash. Grab funnelling tube-like images with dashes of light and shadows everywhere.

The inside of the subway station is one of my favorite scenes to photograph.

Photography Basics

Since this is a travel photography blog, let's go with the guts of the craft...

Whether you’re an experienced photographer with the best equipment or an amateur with a point and shoot camera, you can always make your photographs better.

Cameras:
Let's assume you want to upgrade from a point-and-shoot, to something a little more advanced. Your choices are will vary according to whether you want a Nikon or Canon SLR (single lens reflex, or a camera that you’re able to switch lenses for different purposes).

Other brands are good, too, just depends how far you want to go with your photography. You can shoot for the stars by creating images fit for People magazine or US Weekly, or shoot in the field for landscapes as breathtaking as those in National Geographic.

Here’s some guidelines to your dream camera/lenses you may want to get (if you haven’t already done so).

1. A good DSLR camera
2. A good wide angle lens (18-22 mm with low f-stops)
3. A good telephoto lens (28-300 mm with low f-stops)

Shooting Basics
Photography is all about light. To get the correct exposure for the photo you want, you need to know what will happen at the various settings on your SLR camera. The only way to do that, I believe is try all the different settings and see what you get. Read the following first as it will show you what you're getting into...

ISO—ISO settings have to do with light sensitivity.

• When you shoot at a low ISO (less sensitive) you get a clear, crisp image
• When you shoot at a high ISO, you can capture fast moving objects better as well as take pictures at night without a tripod.

f-stop—Think of the f-stop as how wide the aperture of your camera opens. The values can range from f /1.6 to f/32 on many cameras. Lower values means that the aperture opens wider and higher values means it opens narrowly (think of a narrow opening as a pin hole)

Note: When you buy a lens, note the f-stop value at which the lens is calibrated as they can vary from a single value to a range of values. Some lenses can have an f-stop values that are stated on the package as being in the range of f/3.5 to f/5.6. Here, the f/3.5 is the maximum aperture (lowest f-stop) on the wide end of the zoom range, and the f/5.6 is the maximum aperture (lowest f-stop) on the tele end of your zoom.

This simply means, the maximum aperture isn't constant, but it's depending on focal length.) More expensive zooms often have a constant maximum aperture.

Av Setting—This setting enables you to control the aperture (f-stop) while your camera determines the shutter speed.
Shutter Speed—Shutter speed is the time that your camera’s shutter stays open. Shutter speeds can be anything from 1/4000 second to 30 seconds and more.
Tv Setting—This setting enables you to control the shutter speed while the camera controls the aperture.

Ev—Exposure compensation is kind of a meter with plus and minus values that lets you darken or lighten your image. It can be used to enhance color, say, by setting it in the negative zone on objects facing the sun to bring out color.
Flash—Flash is tricky, but if you shut it off most of the time you’ll be better off. If you do shut off your flash and the light is a bit muted, try raising your ISO. A 1600 ISO will take clear pictures without a flash in the dark Notre Dam Cathedral in Paris.

Knowing these things helps you create a better image. If you want to get started using some of these settings here’s some tips as where to begin.

Try This:
• Take picture using the Av setting, setting your aperture anywhere from 4.5 to 8 and you’ll get pretty good depth of field (part of your image that’s not blurred) at the same time as getting a well-exposed image.
• Turn off your flash except where there’s a lot of shadow on your subject during the daytime.
• Use a tripod at night and practice taking pictures in Tv mode. If it’s really dark use longer shutter speed. If it’s not so dark, use a faster shutter speed.

Tip: Take pictures so that the Ev is a little in the minus column. It’s easy to bring back color and clarity in a darker image (in Photoshop) than it is in a lighter image.
If you haven’t time to fool around with the settings use an auto mode setting. The general auto setting works well with street photography and the sports mode (running man on camera) works well to snap images while either you or the subject is moving.
Find a place to set your camera that it is steady. Use a tripod if you have one. Set your camera to Tv mode. Take a picture setting the shutter speed to 1 second, then repeat with 3 seconds 5 seconds and 15 seconds.

Repeating Objects

These stone artifacts are on the grounds of a temple just outside Tokyo.