Victory Family Church Everything performed

The 20 something group from Victory Family Church in Cranberry 'performed' the "Everything"Drama and as always, I cried like a baby. If you never saw the video, please check it out on GodTube.com. It is an amazing demonstration of the spiritual battle we all face on a day to day basis. The drama and truth is so powerful and when I watch it through the lens of a camera, it is even more intense. I cried almost the entire time. Below is the original video from GodTube.com.






These were shot with the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 @ 1600 ISO 1/8 - 1/10th of a second. Hence, the motion blur and the intent to create drama in the image.

The 'skit' portrays the intense spiritual battle we face daily. The drama begins with our amazing walk of fellowship with the Lord and how Satan throws the cares of the world between us and God. However, though we decide to walk away from God, He is always there for us and if you look close you will see in the second image the spiritual wickedness behind the Lord who is protecting us.

The 'skit' takes the viewer through to the victory and daily walk and fellowship with God.

The images below were taken on Sunday with a 50mm lens, f/1.8 and various shutter speeds. For more images from the event, watch this page over the next few days.

Photographers rights - orphan works act & more

Even if you are not serious about pursuing photography as a career or for additional income, I suggest you listen to a great podcast [round table] by professional photographers who provide both the pros and cons of the orphan works act.

A second item I suggest you do is print off and read a copy of "The Photographer's Right" available from

The excerpt is from his book "Legal Handbook for Photographers" (Amherst Media, 2006) which could prove to be a valuable resource.

Have fun and enjoy the beauty of life!

I took this picture in November 07, while on a business trip to Florida [Someone had to make the trip to southern Florida in November when it was cold in the north. :-) ]. The settings are 50 mm f/16 1/500 second, ISO 400. This was taken on a Nikon D50. I used a table top tripod I carry with me when I travel. It is small and will fit in most bags. It works well for low beach shots because I can put it into the sand without worrying about ruining a tripod that has expandable legs.

A few folks asked about the framing I use in some of my photos. This one is a frame I automated in Photoshop via an action.

My workflow:

1. Lightroom [right click on image > edit in Photoshop
   
2. Photoshop opens the image as a TIFF file
3. In the layers pallet, double click on the image and rename it
4. Create a new layer below your image layer
5. Edit the Canvas size: Image>canvas size
6. While in the canvas size dialogue box select ensure relative is selected and modify the canvas size by 10% for both width and height. Below the relative check box their is a small diagram which indicates where your image will remain. For this step ensure the image is in the middle.
   
7. Step 6 will increase your canvas size by 10% all around the image.
8. Fill the layer you made in step 4 with white [or whatever color you like]
9. Create a second layer below the layer you made in step 4
10. Edit the canvas size again: Image>canvas size
11. This step is a little different than step 6. Only modify the height [15%] and ensure you click on the anchor point in the middle of the top row. This step increases the bottom part of the matting around your image but does nothing to the width or the top portion.
    
12. Select the image layer and modify the layer style [lower left hand side of the layer pallet is a small f] Click on it and add a drop shadow and a bevel to the image. In this image the bevel was 10 pixels. Play with this until you find a look you like.
13. Add the text below the image. I use Papyrus font.
14. Once you get a look you like, create an action. It will cut this step down to seconds.

Get out and enjoy the beauty of life!