Quand Photoshop s’emmêle 

Isn’t it everyone’s dream to have a montage? In a way, it’s worth going on Big Brother just so you get one at the end. What would be in your montage? As much as I’d like to think mine would be X-rated, full of half naked men and champagne,  espionage and bitch fights, it’s more likely to be 30 seconds of me crying, doing the puzzles in Chat magazine, stroking people’s dogs in the street, drinking diet coke and eating crisp sandwiches.

The best montages are from the 1980s. Be it the cocaine and wedding ‘Push It To The Limit‘ montage of Scarface, the ‘No Easy Way Out’ montage from Rocky IV or ‘You’re The Best Around‘ from Karate Kid, it’s without a doubt the decade that managed to summarise everything and anything in the space of a few minutes.

I imagine most men would be pleased if their montage was a bit like this but perhaps with more sex, beer and sport.

But face it boys, it’s more likely to be comparable with this. Anyway. Here are some classic montages and a sneaky mp3 of the song so you can shove it on your iPod and start living your every day life like it was a montage. This doesn’t mean we condone you kicking people’s heads in or using weapons.

Rocky IV
Sly used to be seriously fit. Now he looks like a lesbian, but in this film his hot factor smashes the thermometer and sets fire to the ceiling.

Robert Tepper - There’s No Easy Way Out

Bloodsport

Arguably Van Damme’s finest film apart from Double Impact. This is quite a sad montage, but one we can all relate to. I often sit on the bus, wearing too much bronzer and a furrowed brow. The track in the montage is called On My Own – Alone, but I’ve opted to share with you the more upbeat Fight To Survive, which has the catchy ‘kumite’ chanting chorus.

Stan Bush - Fight To Survive (Kumite)

Stan Bush also wrote the soundtrack of the original (and many would say far superior) animated Transformers movie.

Paul Engleman – Push It to the Limit

Joe Esposito - You’re The Best Around

Hey everyone!

I hope all of you out there had a great Thanksgiving.  I got some great feedback for my video Fun Food Friday last week.  I thought it would be a great idea to put together a special Thanksgiving edition of Fun Food Friday.  I tried to get the video done for Friday but unfortunately there are just not enough hours in the day.  But fear not.  The video is now ready.

Rather than just showing a food tutorial, I put together a short little montage of my Thanksgiving day with my family.  I hope everyone likes.  As always, I welcome all feedback.

Enjoy!

yay~~ finally i found this song on some Japanese website,, ^0^
this song titled montage, performed by all of the seiyuu of the main chara from mira-tore~~

i have upload it on media fire~~ douzou~~

MF

actually, i tried to find the link for the miracle train character song too~~ but i couldn’t manage to find it,, T_T
can someone tell me where can i download it??

Deweb’s Tuto

Second tutorial Color. Je suis de plus en plus séduit par les possibilités de ce logiciel difficile d’aspect mais si utile. Cette fois, on adoucit la texture d’une peau grâce à un masque et du blur dans Color, c’est très rapide.

Adoucir une peau

Allez dans la chambre Color FX

Sélectionnez les nodes utiles et posez les au milieu de la chambre :

1. HSL Key ( ce node joue sur des paramètres différents  teinte, luma, saturation_ pour créer une sélection et donc un masque)

2 & 3. Blur (2 fois) (le filtre Blur 1 va flouter le masque donc le visage, le filtre Blur 2 va flouter les limites du masque de manière à le rendre invisible)

4. Alpha Blend ( ce filtre mélange plusieurs sources en fonction de la couche Alpha qui forme le masque et va donc permettre d’ajouter le visage flouté au reste de l’mage)

5. Output ( ce node est l’étape finale de sortie du signal vidéo).

Ensuite, construisez l’arbre des Nodes dans la chambre Color FX

HSL Key vers BLur1 vers Alpha Blend entrée 3

Blur 2 sur Alpha blend entrée 2

Alpha Blend vers Output

Sélectionnez HSL Key et régler au mieux le masque avec la pipette, puis en ajustant tous les paramètre de façon à avoir le meilleur compromis entre la sélection du visage et le moins de chose hors du visage.

Avec la touche Maj enfoncée, on règle un seul côté de chaque paramètre. Sans, on règle les deux côtés à la fois. Pour voir la sélection de façon plus précise, double-clic sur Blur 1 puis clic sur HSL Key. On peut ainsi ajuster les paramètres de HSL Key en voyant le résultat du masque en noir et blanc dans Blur 1 ( plus ergonomique)

Réglez le niveau Blur 2 pour ajuster au mieux les limites (softness) du masque.

Réglez le niveau Blur 1 en double-cliquant d’abord sur Output puis en cliquant ensuite sur Blur 1 de façon a bien doser le flou sur la peau en regardant la sortie finale.

Pour voir l’avant et après, faites un bypass sur l’Alpha Blend ( car c’est le dernier avant la sortie).

Allez dans la chambre Render Queue, faites Add All et Rendez le tout.

Puis renvoyez le projet dans Final Cut, ouvrez la séquence : nom de votre séquence( envoyé Color). Si besoin, superposez-là avec la séquence originale et dosez le flou sur le visage avec l’Opacité dans la fenêtre Animation.

Voici les catégories à utiliser pour organiser vos envois (textes et images jpg à moins d’1 MO) :

UPC1, UPC2, UPC3, UPC4, UPC5, UPC6

Carte, Coupe, Maquette, Montage, Plan

A rose by any other name….

Who puts a stair step at the entrance of a door?!?! Good thing it wasn’t live! Since I can’t keep any secrets away from you, I decided to share with you this small mishap Thanks again for all the support you gave on Twitter (and off, of course), I really enjoyed getting live feedback on the interview I was so worried they would not have cut out this part, and you were all watching… I’m so glad they did Here is the interview to those who missed it! (Notice how the part between entering the door and sitting in the salon is “missing!”)

Part 1:

Part 2:

Thanks to Christine, Nathalie & all the team of the show who made this happen.

Have a lovely long weekend, and happy adha to all concerned!!

P.S. As you see I have been slow in posting, because a lot has been happening the last month, and I am officially tired and REALLY need a break. I do hope you forgive me! Will still keep you updated in all cases, but just at a bit slower rate… Don’t forget that the CCF exhibition will be going until Dec 22.

Sup everyone!

The following photojournal was taken by me in Samara and Montezuma. Click on the images for a larger view.

The Pacific Coast is a wild and beautiful place. The sun blazes from 5 to 18:00 and the tide is either really close or very far away. Palm trees and bushes line the shore front. No building is allowed to be above two storeys. A single hotel smudges the natural beauty of the vista. Humidity approaches 80% during the day and drops to somewhere near 60% in the evening. Around the beach, the jungles grow high and deep.

Tans are requisite accessories. Sunburn is a rite of passage for the paler tribes of the world – the Celts, Anglo-Saxons and Germanic peoples being especially prone. That’s right, this place is full of Yanks, Brits and Germans (incl. Swiss), adding competition to the tanning/burning. Thankfully, I escaped much torment with a combination of prudence and sun cream. Factor 15 served adequately while reapplication was only needed after sufficient intervals in the sun. I did redden up a bit while surfing, only for it to return to normal later. I did not expect my paltry German to be put into use here, but it has served me… adequately.

…Did I just mention the surfing? Oh, yes, there was surfing. It was a beginner’s beach by most standards, the rocks about 2km from shore calming the more violent moods of the Pacific. Surfing is a great way to impress the shore-bound with ones style and physical prowess – important indicators of one’s personal strength. Unfortunately, I was a noob, so the opportunity to show off was replaced by the desire to simply not embarrass oneself too hideously.

On the less showy side, the showers gave us electric shocks, warm water is a luxury, sand in your pants is as bad as it sounds and the fact that we got robbed on Tuesday morning prove that no place is truly perfect. Thankfully, I didn’t lose enything in the robbery, only the American and Cypriot lost their cameras and some money, it could have been worse (I know that’s not really much consolation considering we were pretty damn unlucky to be robbed in the first place, but it’s better than: “yeah, we were very unlucky and a bit stupid, but at least we weren’t really unlucky and really stupid). The American wrote on the form the police gave her that her Cosmopolitan was also stolen, rationalising with “it might not sound important, but it is.”

If one ever gets thirsty and doesn’t wish to pay, one can simply twist a coconut from a tree, smack it against the trunk and drink its milky goodness.

…And In Paradise I Am.

The Pacific sunset over Samara beach allowed the night to slowly darken the sky and let the socialising begin proper.

The local mode of transportation in Samara was primarily this very Dutch bicycle. The perched beauties of the area were thankfully frequent.

Rocky sections often separate charming little coves from each other; the result of millions of years of erosion dominating this coastline made immediately obvious.

A local dog, eyes ruined from years of smoking ganja, sits in the tire tracks in Montezuma. Rastafarian culture extends even to the local wild dog population - probably the most important social movement in recent canine history.

Hammocks line most porches and balconies, adding much colour to the streets. This was one of many souvenir and clothing shops in Montezuma. If you need trinkets, Costa Rica has no shortage of trinkets.

Sweet early morning waves soon change from a pleasant paddle to surfing primes. The beach at Samara curved for several km all the way out to this island, but the bridge disappeared after low tide.

The locals' beach towels, like their clothing, is usually indistinguishable from the tourists' due to lack of vendor choices. It does have the advantage of minimising the clothing differences between the two, but as a result, the tourists in Lacoste and Polo stand out as potential victims of crime.

In Montezuma village, trinkets are the visible goods; ganja is the hidden - but not exactly subtle - primary income source for many street vendors. Considering a necklace sets one back $10-15 max, but a small bag of weed costs $20-30 (and a large amount for a few hundred). Combine that with a tolerant police force that has little reason to aggravate the locals, a quiet atmosphere, sweet reggae and you have a thriving underground economy.

The locals sit, drinking and smoking, on the shorefront rocks in the early evening.

A little rock stack overlooking the Pacific. Close to the sign designating a National Park and about twenty metres away from a turtle conservation project, these little stands sometimes serve as wards and guardians of protected areas.

A little shrine to tranquility garnished with local flora in Montezuma.

This picture speaks a thousand words. Half the fun of a good picture is interpretation, the rest is almost purely aesthetic.

You may have to forgive the pose, but I think I just earned at least ten year's worth of bragging rights.

The Iguana. Man, I still dream of riding a dinosaur, but these iguanas are just far too small to saddle up and tear through the jungle. Where's mad science when you need it? Off inventing cures for AIDS or something equally as useless? Bloody science.

Organicos restaurant offered all the best in local food, but vegan only. The rest of the group refused to eat once they found out it didn't do beer over dinner. I took some Germans there the next day instead. It was still beautiful without beer.

The ATV is the best way to get around in Montezuma. Only the village itself is paved or tarmacced, so a quadbike is almost required for those a short distance out.

A soccer game in the evening. Football and Coca Cola are seemingly infested in most parts of the world.

Montezuma's womenfolk sit on the sidelines as the men stand or play. There weren't many tourists around, so my camera was a dead giveaway.

The locals climbed the sides of waterfalls like we go up stairs. These daredevils did what few dared to do and jumped 25m waterfalls with ease.

This waterfall, coming in somewhere around 10m, was the somewhat easier, but no less entertaining jump. Once we,the gringos, jumped the waterfall and made it clear that survival was indeed possible, we got this group of people crowding round to share in the glory.

Just to clarify that last image.

Victory!

Hier matin elle était debout,l’après- midi écroulée, et ce matin on déblaie.  Ce n’est qu’un début, on a pas fini de voir le foutu engin cat et d’entendre dans tout le village (pardon,”ville” ) les tacatacatac des marteaux piqueurs géants.

I LOVE Thanksgiving. Delicious aromas that waft from the kitchen wrap around me like a warm, Injun blanket (not one infested with Small Pox, please.) Entertainment is provided by board games and football. Family gathers to cook, feast, and be thankful—yes, I actually really enjoy spending time with my family. It all makes me want to tip my headdress and heel-tap my black, buckled boot to the Indians and Pilgrims for building a holiday around an otherwise everyday affair: people eating food.

My favorite day of the year, however, is after Thanksgiving. And I mean right after, as in Friday, The Day After Thanksgiving. Allow me to detail in bullet form why this particular day stands head and shoulders above every other day of the year (except Thanksgiving and Christmas, which it really only has a couple inches on.)

• Black Friday – Probably the least exciting part of the day, but it kicks things off (thanks to those insane stores that open at MIDNIGHT) and can be fun if you’re on a mission for an item that involves strategy and quick entry/exit. Some people actually like navigating the swarms of rabid, cunning, pushy bargain hunters—I am not one of those people. Cyber Monday is much more my style.
• The official start of the Christmas Season – Depending on your personality and your childhood, this could be a con as easily as a pro. I for one love Christmas and it’s easy for me to get into the festive mood, sometimes as early as September, which is why I’m relieved when listening to Christmas carols  is finally socially acceptable.
• Christmas cookies – What better way to usher in this festive season than to bake a veritable smorgasbord of Christmas cookies while listening to those Christmas carols? Krinkle cookies, peanut butter balls, bourbon balls, candy cane cookies, fudge, and white chocolatey Chex mix are all on the menu this year. I’m throwing on my apron, getting psyched, and putting my scale away for the next month.
• Christmas decorations – Deck the halls with boughs of holly. No really, do it now before you are so sick of red and green flair that you give up on the effort completely. Plus, just imagine the sharp fresh scent emanating from your freshly cut, real tree…
• Football – I still don’t really know the rules of this game. What I do know is that it is FUN to sit on the couch, drink beer and yell at the TV.
• Leftovers – The refrigerator is sagging from the remnants of yesterday’s feast. Do your part to lighten its load. Stuffing and eggnog for breakfast? Sure! Christmas cookies and a turkey leg for elevenses? OK! But those who know, know the crème de la crème of leftover utilization is none other than the Thanksgiving Sandwich. In a union that can only be described as alchemy, the entire tabletop of Thanksgiving gets intimate between two slices of quality bread. Check out the “recipe” below (which I believe was roughly hewn into Plymouth Rock after the first Thanksgiving.)

Thanksgiving Sandwich

Toast 2 slices of pumpernickel or rye bread. Spread one slice with mashed potatoes. On top of the mashed potatoes, pile stuffing, leftover turkey (already warmed if you want a hot sandwich) and green beans. Drizzle gravy atop this heap of goodness. Spread cranberry sauce on the other slice of bread. If you had anything else at dinner you’d like to add (black cherry jell-o or sweet potatoes, anyone?) go ahead and add it to the stacked up slice. Squish it down if you need to. When you’re just about ready to burst with excitement and ravenous hunger, put your sandwich together and squash it down as needed to make it fit in your mouth. If you want it cold, sink your teeth in. If you want it warmed up and didn’t warm your leftovers already, stick the whole thing in a toaster oven for a few minutes (just don’t let your bread burn.)

Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving (and Day After)!

<grins>

by sarah louise byrne 2009

I’m really liking these….

and this is a potential christmas card picture – ice skates!!

all images copywrite Sarah Louise Byrne 2009

Deweb’s Tuto

Vous êtes nombreux à me l’avoir demandé, au moins trois. Alors voilà un premier tutorial sur Color, l’outil de colorimétrie intégré dans la suite Final Cut Studio et vraisemblablement le logiciel le plus complexe à aborder dans cette suite.

J’ai longtemps été perplexe devant ce logiciel dont l’aspect est franchement bien moins ergonomique que le reste des Pro Apps d’Apple. Mais côté efficacité, Color ne m’as pas déçu, loin de là. Surtout depuis la dernière mise à jour 1.5,. En fait, je passe systématiquement mes projets dans Color comme je les passe systématiquement dans Soundtrack Pro. Lorsque j’estime que mon montage est fini, je passe d’abord dans Soundtrack Pro pour le mixer, puis dans Color pour l’étalonner.

Avant, l’étalonnage, c’était un truc qu’on faisait quand on était riche, que le docu allait passer sur Arte ou France 2… Maintenant, grâce à Color, j’étalonne tout, même mes films de familles. Et en plus, ça ressemble à quelque chose. Alors je vous invite à découvrir Color. Et pour commencer à découvrir une de ses fonctions les plus géniales : le tracking automatique, ou détection de mouvement dans un plan, une fonction qui permet de flouter le visage d’une personne en plein mouvement dans un plan, ou d’appliquer un filtre de couleur à un objet qui est, lui aussi, en plein mouvement etc….

Comment faire un tracking automatique dans Color

Dans l’onglet Tracking,  faites « New ». Un double rectangle apparait. Le rectangle exterieur est appellé la « zone de recherche » tandis que le rectangle intérieur est la « zone de référence ».

On commence par positionner et ajuster la zone de référence sur l’objet à tracker et faire ensuite ajuster le rectangle zone de recherche, il faut que cette zone couvre toute la zone couverte par l’objet en mouvement. Exemple : une tête qui bouge. Rectangle intérieur sur le nez au centre, gross modo. Rectangle extérieur sur toute la zone de l’image où le nez passe. Sans cela, le tracking ne fonctionne pas bien.

Mais attention, plus la fenêtre de recherche est grande, plus c’est long. Ajuster donc bien, n’ouvrez pas le rectangle orange trop largement ou le tracking sera très long. C’est pour ça qu’il aut mieux prendre le nez que la tête en l’occurrence.

Lancer le  Process, le tracker va chercher tout seul les variations de mouvement de la tête  et enregistrer le mouvement. Le tracking est fini lorsque la barre a côté de Tracker 1 est passée du rouge eu vert. Une ligne bleue marque le mouvement relevé. Les points rouges marquent la localisation image par image. ON peut donner un nom au Tracker 1, exemple “tête“, surtout si on a plusieurs trackings à faire sur le même plan.

On peut adoucir la courbe de tracking avec le curseur Tracking curve smoother.

Pur appliquer un filtre sur la tête,  il faut  dans un second temps aller en chambre secondaire, choisir Vignette, cliquer sur« Use Tracker 1 », regler la vignette : taille, position sur l’image de départ, softness…  et appliquer… (n’oubliez pas qu’il faut être sur le drapeau Rouge/vert/Bleu pour voir l’effet de la correction…)

On peut utiliser le tracking sur une partie du plan seulement. Mettez la tête là où vous souhaitez commencez le tracking et tapez « new »  Les point In et Out apparaissent sous l’image en vert dans la time-line.  Pour déplacer un point de tracking in ou out, placer la tête à l’endroit désiré et cliquez sur « mark In » ou “mark out”.

My bff, Brandon, aka know as “The Furniture Maker” for people who follow this blog… is featured in the December issue of Los Angeles Magazine.

Brandon invited me to tag along to his photoshoot with Art Streiber. I met Art 4 years ago when I interviewed to be his assistant (and wasn’t hired btw… thanks Art!) but I ended up assisiting him inderectly  when I worked as an intern at his agency (Montage) for a little less than a year. I remember one time one of the agents saw my book and she told me that she could tell that seeing Art’s work on a constant basis was influencing my work a little bit.

Art is one of the greats and someone who I know is very inspiring to a lot of emerging photographers. Being at his shoot where he was photographing my friend was a treat and a little bit of a “full circle” moment. The end result is this:

Los Angeles Magazine. December 2009.

A shout-out and thanks to Mr. Streiber!

Diese Woche bestand zweifellos aus aneinandergereihten Montagen und eigentlich geht es mir ziemlich mies.

• Ich vertrage die doofen Antibiotika nicht und mir geht es mit den blöden Dingern hundsmieserabel
• Sollte jemals ein Arzt auf die Idee kommen, dass wir diese OP mit der Nachsorge nochmal machen, dann verhau ich den *grmpf*  Vor der OP ging es mir bedeutend besser!
• Meine Bank will nicht so wie ich… das sind wirklich Traumtänzer…. aber das ist ne längere Geschichte. Vielleicht erzähl ichdie nächste Woche
• Irgendwie drehen die Katzen alle am Rad. Sieht aus als müssten sie jetzt die Rangordnung neu festlegen
• Ich wollte total viel erledigen und bin zu nix gekommen
• Menschen sind komisch
• Die Azubine (das verhuschte Mäuschen) treibt mich in den Wahnsinn
• Hier passieren schon wieder merkwürdige Dinge aber das erzähle ich an anderer Stelle
• Ich bin von mir und der Welt total genervt!

Das alles klingt nach einem guten Zeitpunkt das Säckchen zu schnüren und morgen früh um acht die Grenzen dieser Stadt hinter mir zu lassen und ich auf den Weg nach Berlin zu machen…  und das werde ich dann auch tun. Vielleicht baut mich das ja wieder auf. Vor allem bringt es mich auf andere Gedanken.

Also seid brav und geniesst das Wochenende. Wir lesen uns Montag!!

Christine and Bryan got married this past June at Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa. Their friends at Infrastructure Productions did a fantastic job putting together a unique scrolling slideshow/montage to show to guests after dinner. This 3D Cutout-style piece includes a photo story of their childhoods, relationship and family photos, and a few inside jokes. Check it out here or paste in this url: http://infdv.com/workprint/wed/crosby/mtg-v02/. Definitely worth seeing.

Photo courtesy of TL Squared Photography