PS UPS

Photoshop Book of the Week!

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:47:20 +0000

Yes, I know it’s been quite a while since I mentioned a new photoshop book but they seem so few and far between these days. Anyway this week I want tell you about the new Photoshop Elements 8 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski. This newest edition is loaded with the latest techniques in this newest version of Adobe Photoshop Elements. Whether it’s working with Camera Raw, retouching techniques, sharpening, or just plain cool effects. You’ll find it here and then some! The other really cool about this book is that it shows you the workarounds for many techniques you may have seen done in Photoshop CS4. Also Elements itself includes a number of features not available in full version Photoshop.(There are a few of these I wish were in Photoshop.) It’s a reference manual you will want to keep close by. Find out more and order yours here.

Also check out the new iPod book by Scott Kelby. This new edition cover all the latest model iPods including the new video ipods. This book not only covers all iPods, it also includes chapter on using iTunes. While iTunes is a pretty intuitive application there are alway those little gems that you never knew were there or how they worked. This is loaded with those gems. Check it out here!!

aka CHARO!

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:47:19 +0000

Charo In Concert

Last night I had the pleasure of watching Maria Rosario Pilar Martinez Molina Baeza play guitar. Okay, she also goes by “Charo”, you know, for short. She is every bit the talent as her name is long. She is currently doing a show at the Riviera Casino here in Las Vegas.

I have never been in the Riviera before. Odd, but true. This is the most peculiar casino I have been in in Las Vegas. Once you get through the maze of stores and what-not from the back entrance, it finally opens up into a big, old fashioned casino. While walking through the place, I was thinking about how spectacular this casino must have been in its day. I got an erie feeling that the ghost of Las Vegas past was lurking around in there. It is like walking through a time warp and you’re plopped down in 1965 or something. I expected Sammy Davis to be playing craps or Dean Martin walking around with an iced drink and a dame on each arm.

Charo Singing

The showroom to see Charo is upstairs and there is a short escalator ride up there. The showroom is small and has plenty of zebra striped booths to get comfy in to watch the show in style.

Some ladies lounging in a booth

There are plenty of tables and chairs too. I think they would have a hard time seating 200 people in there; it is a fairly small showroom. All the more cozy!

Charo Dancing

Charo came out shortly after 7:30pm and talked first for a little bit, telling her jokes about her life and about her time in Spain. She speaks English just as well as she did in the 1970s! You need to listen closely to understand what she’s talking about, but that is part of her charm. She sneaks little jokes in here and there to make sure you’re listening and laughing.

And more dancing!

I adored Charo in the 1970s. She was just so cute, perky and so much fun to watch. Today she is every bit the the naughty pixie she was then. It looks like she has not aged a single day in all these years.

During the show she stops between each song to tell a funny story, then goes directly into another song and dance number. She can still dance, but for Charo it is more of a sexy wiggle. And yes, she did Cuchie Cuchie for us. How could she not?!

Charo playing guitar

Many do not know, but Charo is a very accomplished musician. She studied under Andrés Segovia. She plays classical and flamenco guitar. She is an award-winning recording artist and an integral figure of contemporary Latin music. She was recognized with the Female Pop Album of the Year Award at the Billboard International Latin Music Conference for her flamenco inspired platinum album, Guitar Passion. Recently she received a World Dance Music Award nomination for the dance club hit España Cañí.

Flamenco Dancing

She needed to change costumes to play the guitar so while she was backstage dressing, her Flamenco dancers hit the stage. OMG! They really tore it up.

One of the featured dancers

This is an hour and a half of non-stop fun. Charo is better than ever. If you think you’re going to see some half-baked ‘has been’ show, you would be so wrong. If you sit in the front section of the showroom, she will be running around talking to people, singing and having her picture taken with you, so be prepared.

Flamenco Dancer

She’s so funny and so adorable, you just want to grab her and give her a big squeeze and never let her go. I think this would be the perfect show to take date to see. Well, unless you plan on hugging Charo and never letting her go.

Charo taking a bow

My only regret is that both of my cameras had a difficult time in there. The light completely washed out her face on everything I took. It is so easy to see her in the showroom, but my camera did not like the lighting at all. Have I mentioned lately how much I hate my camera? So, I suppose I’m just going to have to buy a better camera and go see her again! And if that doesn’t work, go see her again!!

This video will probably be done processing by 4:15pm Pacific. If it isn’t working yet, try again in a few minutes.

To quote someone who follows me on Twitter: I HEART CHARO!

“Charo in Concert: A Musical Sensation” will run Wednesday through Monday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are priced at $49.99, preferred seating at $59.99 and VIP seating package at $69.99, plus applicable taxes and handling fees. The public may purchase tickets at the Riviera Box Office, on-line at www.rivierahotel.com or toll free at 877-892-7469.

A Special Treat, Charo playing Bolero

A Little Inspiration…

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:47:18 +0000

If you’re a designer, illustrator, or even a photographer you may find yourself in a creative rut at some point. Trust me this does happen. I always find it a good idea to go a spend an hour or two at the bookstore. It’s an amazing source for inspiration, especially the news stands. With hundreds of magazines on virtually every subject, there is always a spark of something creative in there. It’s really interesting to see what other designers are doing and it helps to keep up on current design trends, which is always a good idea. The key here is this: In order to produce something you need the ingredients. Fill your creative mind with the right ingredients and it will all come together.

Planet Hollywood's Deals

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:47:15 +0000

The page to see Planet Hollywood’s special offers is here.

Guide Dogs With New Tricks

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:47:13 +0000

Sometimes two sentences are better than one. Spotted by Steve.

Tags: guide dogs, smoking

Excalibur Promotional Code

admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 05:19:01 +0000

Family Package!

Offer includes:

2-FOR-1 tickets for Tournament of Kings dinner show

2-FOR-1 tickets to Adventuredome at Circus-Circus

2-FOR-1 tickets to our Magic Motion $-D movie ride

10 Free Play passes at the Fantasy Faire midway

20% Off on Bodies, the Exhibition at Luxor

20% off Titanic, the Exhibition at Luxor

Buy one, get the second admission for 50% to Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay

**Additional guests in the same room stay free up to a maximum of four. **

Promotion Runs
June 11, 2009 – March 31, 2010
promotional code: family&__utma
Offer Expires
March 31, 2010
Book online now

Iliotibial Band Syndrome

admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 05:19:01 +0000

Iliotibial Band Syndrome causes pain.
Iliotibial Band Syndrome is thigh gristle running over the bony prominence on the side of the knee.
Iliotibial Band Syndrome only hurts when the knee is moving.
Afflicted knees hurt when you run.
Running is often a pre-requisite for the Great North Run.
Completing the Great North Run is often a pre-requisite for receiving the money pledged by your work colleagues.
Adam got Iliotobial Band Syndrome.
Adam didn’t run the Great North Run.
Adam now has to do a forfeit to get his cash.
LOVE are yet to choose the forfeit.
All forfeit suggestions are welcome.

Suite Stuff!!

admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 05:19:00 +0000

Well for those of you who use other apps in the Adobe Creative Suite other than Photoshop, you will definitely want to check out the Creative Suite podcast by Adobe’s very own Terry White. Terry is the Technical Resources Manager at Adobe and each week he brings you the newest techniques in apps such as InDesign, Illustrator, GoLive and Acrobat. The lessons are straightforward and easy to follow. If you want to really take advantage of the entire suite, it’s a great resource. You can check it out here.

7 Tips for Great Photos in the Dark

admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 05:18:59 +0000

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Follow these seven helpful tips to improve your night photographs.

Shoot During Dusk

Some of the best night photos are taken during dusk; when the sky isn’t completely black. Taking pictures during dusk will show more colors and details in the distance and will let you use a faster shutter speed.

Use High ISO

Use a high ISO if required. It is better to get recognizable photos of your friends that are grainy than blurry photos. You can reduce noise with image editing software but you can’t remove blur.

Keep it Steady

Taking photos at night requires slow shutter speed. To shoot bright pictures without the blur at night, use a tripod or monopod to keep your camera steady.

In addition to using a tripod or monopod, enable your cameras mirror lockup setting and gently press the shutter. If your camera doesn’t have mirror lockup, you can use the self timer mode instead.

If you don’t have a tripod or monopod with you, find some support objects to keep your body and arms stable. For example, you can lean on a wall or place your elbows on a table to keep your arms steady. If there’s nothing to help keep you steady, stand with your legs far apart from each other and hold your breath while taking the picture.

Motion Blurs

Not all blurs are bad. Some blurs such as motion blur can add interest. Try shooting photos of moving objects, or deliberatly move your camera to create a motion blur. Zooming in while the shutter is still open will also add an interesting forward-motion effect.

Freeze your Friends

When taking photos of your friends at night, combine flash with a long exposure. The flash will freeze the foreground and the long exposure will reveal the background. Because people tend to move right after they see the flash, set the shutter curtain sync to the second curtain (Usually in the custom functions settings). This will fire a flash just before the shutter closes instead of in the beginning. Using second curtain sync will also put your friends in front of any motion blur so nothing is covering their faces. Second curtain sync is available in most new digital SLR cameras but rarely seen in point and shoot cameras.

Shoot for High Dynamic Range (HDR)

Place your camera on a tripod and shoot three exposures: one darker, one lighter, and one just in the middle. Your camera may have auto exposure bracketing to help you with this. Load the images into Photoshop and create HDR file out of the three exposures. Now you have a HDR image that you can apply tone mapping to to reveal more details. Tone mapped night photos can give results similar to shooting during twilight with more post-processing control.

Shoot Several and Stack

Sometimes when you shoot long exposures, noise and hot pixels will appear even at the lowest ISO setting. To overcome this problem, shoot the same photo a few times (more is better), and use Photoshop CS3 image stacking to combine the analyze the image to remove noise and hot pixels.

Start Photoshop CS3.
Open the File> Scripts menu and choose Load files into Stack
Click the Browse button and load all the images.
Checkmark the "Create Smart Object after Loading Layers" and click OK.
Open the Layers> Smart Objects> Stack Mode menu and choose Median.