This is a new photo technique I'm trying on some portraits. It's called 'one-photo-collage'. Wife and son taken about a year ago just after she got back from Kuwait.
©2005 HotShots Photo

The good stuff
©2005 HotShots Photo

You figure out a caption for this one. There's a lot going on in this photo.
©2005 HotShots Photo

Thursday Night Lights - The traditional thursday night preseason scrimmage marks the start of the season for Texas High School Football. Next week it's Friday under the lights made so famous by the movie 'Friday Night Lights'. Texans take their high school football seriously. The head coach/athletic director can make upwards of $60,000.
©2005 HotShots Photo

Photo taken at the Marble Falls Youth Rodeo 2005. Desaturated the background the 'revealed' the color of the horse and boy.
©2005 HotShots Photo

Some of you have seen this before. It's a photo of our kitty Spooky (thanx to S&P) I submitted to www.mycathatesyou.com this morning. Hopefully they'll add it to their collection. And sorry to spool the illusion, but she was only yawning.
©2005 HotShots Photo

This is a graphic I composed while, as Ken puts it, doodling in Photoshop. It consists of a background photo, a layer of text, some fancy schmancy layer masking, and a bit of doodling. I'll try to put a tutorial together for this method soon.
©2005 HotShots Photo

this is a test in the dg meeting
©2005 HotShots Photo

Self Portrait. Photo was taken in 'natural' light on the last day I was in Nova Scotia. I was having lunch with my friend Shane at a pub that used to be called Alexander's. It's in an old historic pub. Lunch was great, but the view of the waitresses in school girl kilts with NS tartan was better.
©2005 HotShots Photo

This is the original crappy scan of the original faded photo. (See restoration below)
©2005 HotShots Photo

This is a photo of my dad. It's a bad scan from a wallet sized photo that got wet when my Dad capsized a sailboat years and years ago. This is the best restoration I could do of it considering what I had to work with and that I don't specialize in restorations. If I could get a really really good scan of it maybe I could give it to my friend Ken who does some amazing restoration work. I don't know what the story behind my Dad in diving gear is....I think my Dad is the only one that knows for sure. But as far as I know he never dove in this. He just tried it on one day while he was working on the docks. The photo is circa 1960's as far as I know. I don't know the vintage of the gear.
©2005 HotShots Photo

This is a similar techique to the last posting. It took about 10 mins to make. Combined from a photo from an old soldier at a recent airshow and erased around him until the flag showed behind him. Also set the Opacity to about 60% so that the flag shows through the soldier himself. Click on any photo to see fullsize.
©2005 HotShots Photo

This is a composition of a photo you'll see earlier in this blog. I combined it with an image of the US Flag I found doing a google search. Although there are many ways to create this effect, the 'simpliest' way is to put one layer over the other and then take your eraser tool and erase anything on the top layer you don't want in the finished artwork.
©2005 HotShots Photo

I've decided I will no longer support zoo's that merely 'house' animals. (See Photo below). There have been great steps in creating natural habitats for animals in captivity. And, any zoo that does not, or is not, taking steps to upgrade their facilities are merely 'housing' animal for profit, in my opinion. Newer habitats have been created that don't require visible means of containment. I'm tired of going through zoos and seeing bears pacing in cages like some mental patient in a straight-jacket when there is no need. And I'm not just talking a few trees for the cats to climb. I'm talking roamable habits, where the public is seperated by things like moats which are never seen due to optical illusion and good landscaping. Ones where the habitat is constantly changing and animals are not bored to death (literally). Ones where species are intermixed and animals can experience the smells and sounds of the other animals, hunt fish, etc. Watch Animal Planet or Discovery and you'll see what I mean.
©2005 HotShots Photo

This is a photo I took a few years ago at the zoo in Colorado Springs. The scratches on the glass are made by the gorillas scratching rocks against it. The image on the right is retouched. But look at the expression on that gorillas face.
©2005 HotShots Photo

This is a picture I took about 6-7 yrs ago. I've often dreamt of converting it to a home....drive in garage, interior spiral stairs leading up to open living spaces.....photo studio, etc. Maybe I'll have some plans drawn up someday.....probably cheaper to build it. Hmmmm....lots of places for solar panels on the roof.
©2005 HotShots Photo

When you can't find the right webpage it goes here. All 404 Page Not Found errors originate from the 404 Building, located in Pueblo Colorado.
©2005 HotShots Photo

This is a sunset I shot while photographing a baseball game one night in Central Texas a few months back. A funny thing about this is, that on an evening with a similar sunset a few night later we heard a fire call on the scanner. A lady called to report an 'orange glow in the sky unlike any she had seen in 20 yrs' thinking it was a grass fire or something. The dispatcher cancelled the firetrucks about five minutes later with 'Nevermind, she just realized it was the sunset'.
©2005 HotShots Photo

Thought I'd post a photo of our house in Texas. This is just outside of town. Notice that it's fully air-conditioned!
©2005 HotShots Photo

Photo of Shelley and TJ when we first moved to TX. Notice Shelley's short hair. She cut it two months prior, just before heading to Kuwait. It's grown back since. I'm posting this here so I'll remember where I put it. It's her Mom's fav photo of the two.
©2005 HotShots Photo