Kevin L. Kitchens is the editor and developer of photographyvoice.com. When not doing photography and website development, he likes to spend time with his family, four cats, and one dog. His online photo gallery can be viewed HERE.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Archer is a finalist on DogPixandFlix.com!
A photos I took of our beautiful dog Archer is a finalist on the canine-loving "DogPixAndFlix.com" website. Some other really beautiful shots there too -- and some recognizable names.
Click HERE and check the bottom left shot.
Cool.
posted at: 9:45 AM
0 comments
Friday, April 13, 2007
Rest in Peace: Larissa Marie Stickles
Thanks to all who are reading this. In my WPD entry, I mentioned my nieces and their mother were in a car wreck last Thursday April 5. Today (April 12) the oldest and seemingly best recovering, 14 year old "Lacey" passed away in Atlanta Medical Center. She apparently had a heart attack or coronary something or other. Since this hospital is right near my office, I stopped there each morning including today. She was speaking and complaining as any teenager would in the hospital. And now she's gone.
Her sister Kadee is still in ICU at a different hospital while she heals, but she is still in critical condition. Kadee looks older, but she's only 13 herself.
These pictures were taken this past December.
I know Lacey is in a better place, as she was not only my niece, but my sister in the Lord.
Thanks for indulging me this.
posted at: 2:10 AM
4 comments
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Thank you Michael Orton...
If you've never seen or heard of the (Michael Orton) technique, prepare for a treat. It works best on nature or landscape photos more than people shots... but who knows. The digital darkroom is all about creativity, so learn the tools and apply them as you see fit.
First, some before and after shots:
 
 
 
Essentially what you're doing is taking your original (or post-processed) photo, creating a brighter version, then merging that with a gaussian blurred version.
Thanks to NaturePhotographers.net for the article and nudging me in the right direction. The instructions there are for PhotoShop, so I had to adapt to PSPXI, but I think the results are still pretty darn similar.
For PSPXI:
- Duplicate your original image, SHIFT-D so no harm comes to the original.
- On the layers pallette, select Duplicate Layer. Change the mode of this new layer to "Screen". Leave opacity at 100.
- Merge the layers (flatten).
- SHIFT-D to duplicate the new, brighter image.
- On this image, do Adjust | Blur | Gaussian Blur... Set the Radius to between 25 and 50. I use the Preview on Image option to see what looks best. Close this dialog.
- CTRL-A to select the entire new, blurred image. CTRL-C copies to clipboard.
- Click on the bright, non blurred image. CTRL-L to paste as new layer.
- In the layers pallette, select the second layer and set the mode to multiply.
- Merge the layers (flatten).
- Save your new image (if you like it).
What a great technique that produces some really nice effects.
posted at: 4:35 PM
1 comments
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Operation Christmas Child 2006
This year I had the opportunity to assist the Operation Christmas Child effort in our city. Atlanta is one of 11 processing centers in the USA and my son volunteered (us) to help with the church youth group.
For those of you that don't know, OCC is an effort started by Franklin Graham (Billy and Ruth's son) about 10 years ago -- each year churches and groups prepare "shoebox" gifts for a boy or girl in three different age groups. These shoeboxes are then processed and shipped worldwide where they are given to children at Christmastime -- for some this will be the only gift they may ever receive in their lifetime.
The Atlanta center has been processing gifts that get shipped to India for the past several years -- this year is no different. Here's a few shots showing the process...
A wide shot showing the processing facility. There are about 8 "lines" working the boxes -- all staffed by volunteers. Each "line" is grouped by age category.
Shoebox gifts in the presort location -- Thousands of them must be inspected before delivery.
Volunteers inspect the shoeboxes for propriety. Certain items are taboo in the destination country. For example OCC does not want to send even "fun" things with a military theme -- a lot of these kids see violence every day and this should be free of that.
After the inspection, the boxes are placed on an overhead track and rolled do the sorting station. Boxes for girls (shown here) to the left, boys to the right.
Here my son works at "cartonizing" the shoeboxes. For maximum efficiency, they try to get 14 shoeboxes per carton. Believe me, this is NOT a simple task. However, you learn quickly what combinations yield the best results. I managed to get 16 in a couple of cartons. My son hit 21!!! twice and 20 once, plus many 16s.
Finally the cartons of completed and ready shoebox gifts sit on pallets awaiting final delivery to the destination country (India). There are thousands of these cartons stacked around the warehouse.
Hope you enjoyed this guided tour. I was worn out and was not looking forward to doing this four hour shift -- but afterwards, I was pumped -- albeit sore. But this is an annual event whereby Christians can take a little time and money to share Christ's love with those very far away.
posted at: 9:18 AM
0 comments
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Full Frontal Shmoopy
Here's three more shots for those who wanted to see the "before" pictures. These are from 11/28...
You can see how frail she looks -- but it's just being emaciated from poor nourishment and illness.
From the other side...
Finally, like I said, she's starting to eat very well. Here she's chewing on one of Archer's big boy pig bones.
BTW, that toy dog to the left? Destroyed by Archer already. He just loves to get out the noisemakers from his toys. :)
And one more of Archer from the same day to see how big he's gotten from earlier shots... he's up to 30-35 lbs now. About 18-22" at the shoulder.
Thanks for all the kind words. Will keep everyone posted!
posted at: 1:13 AM
0 comments
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Here's Shmoopie!
Meet Shmoopie... she was from a litter of three. One was adopted, the other didn't make it. Shmoopie is right now skin and bones, literally. She was malnourished and dehydrated when they found her -- and then she contracted pneumonia as well and lost even more weight. We've had her about a week now and she's getting friskier, eating well, and starting to put on weight. She's a beagle/hound mix, similar to Archer. Will post more shots for a good before/after compare.
posted at: 9:12 AM
1 comments
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving (USA)
Not a worldwide observance, but here in the USA it's Thankgiving Day -- a day for family, turkey, football, and rest before the Christmas shopping season begins. At some point today we hopefully give dedicated time to think of all we have to be thankful for -- and for most of us, it's a very great deal -- no matter our circumstances.
I'm with the in-laws this year, so I'm not in the kitchen cooking all day (bittersweet). I did manage to sneak in and make mashed potatoes and iced tea, but my turkey is thawing to cook on Saturday. But I'll leave you with this bird of mine from a previous year.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! (or if you're politically correct, Happy Holiday -- hey, if we cannot say Merry Christmas, why should we name any holiday?)
posted at: 9:37 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
What Am I?
So here's another one... a brain teaser if you will. What is this a picture of? It's a common household object... To find out the answer, highlight the area between the asterisks below.
The answer is: *Paint brush bristles!
My wife was trimming down a new paint brush for a faux wall treatment and I walk in and find this neat pile of bristles just sitting on the kitchen counter. So I took them to another room where there was a lot of natural daylight and took several different shots. Some "action" shots with me dropping them from above, etc.*
You never know what is going to make a good picture.
posted at: 11:05 PM
0 comments
Flower power...
Ok... so this is supposed to be a blog, where I, as photographer, get to post and share some of my own images as well as discuss the process behind them. But in the course of developing this website as well as real-life issues, time has not been my friend. But finally I've gotten a moment to dig through my stash. And this flower is the result:
Nothing really spectacular, just a nice purple flower, perhaps even a weed? I'd love if someone could tell me what it is. It was growing at my in-laws' new house and I took some a few weeks ago that came out pretty poor because flash was required. I was back with some time during daylight and tried again. Hearty little bugger, since the other flowers in the vicinity were starting to dethrive from the cold.
As for the processing, used my normal PSP routines. One thing I've learned however, is that in post-processing, your routines must be variable. (Does that make them still routine?) But you have to gauge each step by the photo and the result. Don't just assume the what works for one image will work with every one. You have to assess and reassess. I've seen some great shots come in on the POTD contest where the photographers are forgetting this... and apply the same sharpening levels to each photo. It may work great on an landscape, but those animals and flowers look really bad.
Sorry, that's my deep thought for the day.
posted at: 3:51 PM
3 comments
Annoying PSP Photo XI bug...
Have been working with PSP Photo XI for awhile now and just noticed a VERY annoying bug that of course wouldn't be so obvious. When you duplicate an image in version X, the EXIF data is properly carried over to the copy -- so you can always preserve your originals. In version XI, however, the EXIF data is simply discarded in the copy.
Now a painful, but simple workaround, is to either work on your original directly and then remember to Save As... a new filename or do a Save As... right off the bat. Neither option is very convenient. In the former, you have to be careful of hitting Save (CTRL-S) during the editing process and overwriting the file accidentally (setting the read-only flag here would be helpful). In the latter, you have to commit to keeping the edited version prior to any edits -- such that if you find the photo isn't going to work, you have to remember to delete the working copy.
Word is that a patch from Corel is due in December. I think JASC used to be a lot faster at getting quick fixes out the door.Labels: PSP, SOFTWARE
posted at: 11:23 AM
0 comments
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Back to the Falls
Had the occasion to go back to Whitewater Falls last weekend -- we were up in NC for a family reunion. So since we were there, I wanted to get a shot of the falls with the "fall" color surrounding them. However, it seems things have not quite turned so much as I was hoping, this weekend was probably better I think.
Anyway, here's a shot I got of Whitewater.
It does appear the water level is down from a month ago (see below).
Still beautiful.
posted at: 6:38 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Still here...
Getting new features added to the site, plus the addition of our new puppy have really drained the time for photography. I have a few shots, but no time to process them from the camera. Oh well. Time flies and all that.
Here's a picture of Archer from SEVEN WEEKS AGO! Ah, when he was that small. This was at 10 weeks of age. He's now 17 weeks old and just over 25 pounds. So estimates are he'll be about 50 pounds when all is said and done. But he probably won't get much taller than 18-24 inches at the shoulder, so a medium-sized stocky dog.
posted at: 8:56 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
After 40 years...
No, this isn't a post about my recent birthday... it's even more interesting than that.
This man went back with a photo taken of his house 40 years ago and documented the house from almost the exact same spot in 2006.
Found this browsing the alt.photography newsgroup (yes, some people still use newsgroups to communicate more than GIRLZ, WAREZ, and PILLZ.
Gary Edstrom's 40 Years Comparison.
posted at: 4:30 PM
0 comments
Monday, September 18, 2006
Waterfall trip to NC
This past Saturday was one of those days that never starts like it was supposed to. We'd planned to visit Western North Carolina for my birthday for a waterfall shooting and hiking trip. To get an early start my lovely family did the celebration thing on Friday night. Lots of cool stuff and excellent dinner, but then as I was putting my Atlanta Falcons (Go Birds!) license plate frame on the car (Thanks, son), I realized that I had not paid our car tags fees for the year!
In Georgia, you pay by the birthday of the first person listed on the title. Moi! And the next day was my birthday. Since it was now well after 7:00, there was no chance of getting the emissions done. Fortunately we can pay online, but I would have to wait until Saturday to get our emissions tested on the two cars. Which of course led to other delays.
After a late lunch (and expert driving by my learners permit holding daughter) we get to the mountains about 4:30 or so and start following directions given to me by CliffB from onlinephotographers.com (excellent forum, highly recommended). He's shot some great waterfalls and knew the good spots. We made it to Silver Run Falls, but I forgot my tripod in the car, so those shots aren't nearly so good. Silver Run you can get right up to the falls as well. I'll get to some of those shots soon. As we were in the woods however, we turned around and someone else had sorta snuck up on his. Felt very creepy as he was just standing there looking at the falls. But he turned out to be a nice guy so all was good.
After Silver Run, we headed to Whitewater Falls, a "can't miss" according to Cliff. He was right, they are gorgeous. But with the good comes the bad. The viewing sites are in a public park and while that's good, it means there are limited places to get shots. The first point is up a 1/2 mile trail. So you can console yourself with "it's all downhill back to the car". But no. To get to the second (and best) observation deck, you have to head down 174 steps. Not too bad getting down, but will wind you coming up -- especially if you just turned 40 and aren't in great shape. The other "bad" is that this is a shot everyone can get to -- so as beautiful as the 400'+ cascade is, it's not so special as hiking through the woods to "boldly go where noone has gone before." But it was still a great site to see.
I'll let you all decide if the view was worth it.
By this point, the sun was fading fast. Fortunately this is only about two hours from home and we love it up there. So we will be back more often.
posted at: 10:52 PM
0 comments
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