A question of ethics...

... or a question of aesthetics?

Here are "before" and "after" shots of the image I posted a few days ago. The first is the uncorrected JPEG image from the camera. Not quite the same thing as a RAW file (which is exactly what the camera's sensor saw-- no processing at all-- as opposed to JPEG which is processed by the camera before being saved to the card), but without a lot of tweaking. The second is the one I Photoshopped to increase the "pop" of the colors.

My question is this... Is such tweaking an "honest" thing to do? Are the colors presented in the second image "real"?

Few people would argue, I think, that if I completely falsified the colors or placed Air Force One in the image or showed Elvis bungee jumping off the Perrine Bridge that my image would then be a "photo illustration" and not a photograph. Is it, however, ethical, just to enhance what is already there? Or is that simply a matter of aesthetics?

And if this is a matter of aesthetics, why do we (apparently) prefer the latter image?

Do the hustle

Keri and I chaperoned at the disco-themed regional youth dance Saturday night. One of the featured events of the evening was a couple from our ward teaching the kids "The Hustle." Some of the kids got in to it. Others ... um... didn't.

Which of you, dear readers, know what "The Hustle" is without the help of Google? Bonus points of you can DO it. :-)

And no, I did not wear polyester.

Name that movie...

Here are two clues. Bad ones, probably, but...

Clue #1: I put this movie into my Netflix queue without looking carefully at the date or synopsis. The first one I got was not the one I wanted. In other words, this movie shares its title with another movie.

Clue #2:

Okay, a third clue... a really obscure one:

One of the main characters shares its name with a main ACTOR's first name.

Too obscure? Too "B" list?

Color in the canyon

You'd never suspect it, probably, at this time of year, but there is some cool color (or warm, if you want to get technical) in the Snake River Gorge right now. Sure, I enhanced it some in Photoshop, but you can see below that southern Idaho, though she be a high desert plain, is a beautiful place to be. Cold (very cold at the moment, "feels like" -2 at the moment), but beautiful.

I think I'll hang this one on my office wall. What do you think?

1/80s, f4.5, ISO 200, 17.0mm (35mm equivalent=25mm)

Next photo, please

Yesterday's posting said that I'm going to post a few pics to get the year started. Here's another:

This is Caitlin (most of you probably know), ready for Sunday,
new little bracelet made my Aunt Mandi.
Specs: D90, 50mm, 1/60s, f4, ISO 200.
Cropped and color saturation increased slightly in Picasa.

After I posted the picture of Lilly last night, I thought of one of the limitations I could put on myself to motivate myself to get out and take new pictures. Simply enough, I'll only post new pictures during this little experiment-- no digging back into the archives for oldies but goodies. Oldies but goodies can be another project. Maybe next week when I'm already tired of this one ;)

The new semester starts in a few days (in-service anyway), so I better get in my licks while I can.

a few photos to start the year

I was browsing around trying to find a good deal on a new lens when I stumbled upon a guy doing a 365 project. I guess as an exercise in creativity and consistency, some photographers post a pic a day for an entire year-- setting themselves some kinds of limitations or guidelines to stimulate their work. Great idea, I think to myself. Too bad I didn't come across it 5 days ago...

I don't know though. Would I really be able to post a pic EVERY day? My schedule is a bit too crazy for that, I think. It'd take some planning, I suspect. So, no 365 project for me this year-- or at least not right now.

In that spirit, however, I think it'd be fun to post a pic every so often from among my many freaking gigabytes of them... you know, just to spice things up.

So, here's a Dia de los Reyes picture for you (though it has nothing to do with the Day of the Kings (which happens to be today, in case none of this makes any sense)):

This is our little dachshund, Lilly. Click on her to see her in higher resolution.
Specs: Nikon D90, 50mm, 1/15sec, f2.0, ISO 800.
B&W conversion and some selective dodging and burning in Photoshop CS3.

and Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again

You know... the title of this posting isn't quite true. Well-- it is true and it isn't.

If you asked me if I was eager to have kids back in school during some moment when they were squabbling (the perfect word, by the way, for what they do sometimes) over the Wii remote or the last 1/2 ounce of holiday punch, I'd have said YES! without reservation. There are those moments, you know, when parenting seems like a lost cause-- an exercise in futility-- a hopeless, soul-sucking, life-draining, what-was-I-thinking-when-I-said-I-wanted-a-big-family challenge (do I sound a bit jaded?). Of late, when I am telling kids for the nine millionth time not to put their feet on the furniture or to turn off that darned light when you leave the room, you have thought that I wanted nothing more than to put them in boarding school and myself into a monastery (the kind for married folks, of course).

On the other hand (and isn't it good that we have two hands), when I dropped off the older boys at the jr. high (excuse me, the "middle" school), and when Cameron when out the door with a piece of cinnamon toast in one hand and his other hand outstretched in the sign for "I love you," I thought that the break was just too doggone short. We played some games, we rode grandma's four wheeler (and the attached sled) a bunch, we drank many gallons of holiday punch(*), we watched a bunch of fun movies, we stayed up late and talked; we just did all kinds of great family stuff that makes family stuff so great. In short, I was sad to have them go back to the routine. Like our youngest said when we were getting ready to leave grandma's house on New Year's Eve (and he said it with a sigh and a wistful look around grandma's living room), "Christmas is over."

So... Mom and Dad can hardly wait for kids to be home again. Hey... it's family night.

(*) Holiday Punch

1 can frozen OJ concentrate

1 can frozen lemonade concentrate

10 cups water

3/4 C sugar (more or less, depending on how sweet you like things)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond extract (the "secret" ingredient that MAKES this)

1 2-liter bottle of Sprite (not 7UP, not Sierra Mist)

Mix in a large bowl or pot.

Makes about 5 to 5.5 liters. Save your 2-liter bottles from other stuff. Put in the freezer until slushy.

Variation

add a bit of blue food coloring to make a green "Grinch Punch"