Abundance Art Show Images

Here are the two fine art pieces Sanctuary Studios has up at the Abundance Art Show:


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Abundance Art Show Update! - Closing Reception Party

Sanctuary Studios is participating in the Abundance 2008 Art Show at Saramar Studios. If you missed the opening reception, they have showings by appointment. There is also a Closing Reception Party on Friday December 12th from 5-9pm!

By Appointment Only and Fri, Dec 12 from 5pm-9pm
Saramar Studios
3371 Saint Benedict Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21229
410-646-2419


Click here for more Saramar Studios Art Show Information - with photos of the show!

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New Images - A Rabbit Named Newbie

The MacMillan portrait session is now online here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanctuaryphoto/

The furry family member in the photos is an 8 year old rabbit named Newbie.


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Pet Portraits Class with Judy Reisman

On Nov 17th, I took a pet portrait class with photographer, Judy Reisman. Here is a link to her website.
http://www.judyreismanphotography.com/
The class was offered through Washington Photo Safari.
Here are a few photos that I took during the class.
Sorry for the duplicate photo. Blogger has an awkward photo upload interface.
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Credit Cards

Sanctuary Studios will be accepting Credit Cards through September & October.

Upcoming Events

Saturday, September 20, 2008
noon - 4pm
AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Day

Location:
K9 Koncepts
6059 Olsen Road
Brooklyn Park, MD 21225
http://www.k9koncepts.com


Additional Info:
This event is being held as part of AKC's
Responsible Dog Ownership Day Events
http://www.akc.org/clubs/rdod/index.cfm

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Saturday, October 4, 2008
10am-5pm
Pets on Wheels 3rd Annual Dog-a-thon
http://petsonwheels.org/

Location:
Oregon Ridge Park - (in one of the pavilions near The Lodge)
Beaver Dam Road
Cockeysville, MD 21030
http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/recreation/countyparks/oregonridgelodge/index.html

Directions to the Lodge:
1. Take I-695 toward Towson.
2. Take I-83 North (Exit 24).
3. Continue North to Exit 20-B (Shawan Rd. West).
4. At first light make a left. (Beaver Dam Rd.).
5. Follow Beaver Dam Rd. for aprox.1/2 mile.
6. You will see the park entrance on the right.
*The Lodge is the building with the flag in front of it.

Additional Info:
The main activity is a sponsored walk event. The walk is less than a mile.
There is a large parking lot in front of The Lodge.
There is a Honey Festival at the Oregon Ridge Nature Center this same weekend.

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Sunday, October 5, 2008
noon-3pm
The Blessing of the Animals
noon - 3pm

Location:
SS Phillip & James Roman Catholic Church
2801 North Charles St (corner of 28th and Charles)
Baltimore, MD 21218
http://www.geocities.com/stspandj/

Maryland State Fair 2008

The Maryland State Fair photos from August 22, 2008 should be posted on my Flickr site by noon today.

My Flickr Site

More info on the Maryland State Fair

Using Costco's Photo Lab

I like to use the Costco Lab for proofing or quick prints, but I like to do my own image corrections. It is not uncommon for the lab to forget and run their corrections anyway. The staff are usually very pleasant about it and they re-print my files right away, but it is an inconvenience. From talking to the staff at some of the different Costco Warehouses in my area, I have learned a few things which I thought I might share with you.

The above image shows what the code on the back of the photo should look like if the lab turned their image correction off. You only need to worry about the part I marked in red.
The sequence code should be:
N N N N---
(four n's and a set of three dashes)

If their image correction was on at the time of printing, the sequence will be:
N N N N NN
(four n's followed by a double n)

I hope this was helpful.

Cool Feature - Automated Crop & Straighten Photos in CS2

This is a really cool feature in Photoshop CS2. (I would think CS3 has it also?)

I was importing album art into iTunes today for old albums that iTunes cannot find artwork for. I remembered this fun feature and wanted to share it with you.

If you have a bunch of old snapshots (or in my case, old CD album covers) that you want to scan, place them on your scanner bed, leaving gaps between each. Scan as usual. When you have the file inside Photoshop goto:
File -> Automate -> Crop and Straighten Photos
This magic feature does what it says, plus it puts each image into a separate file!

Very cool.

It is a bit quick & dirty, though. My scanner auto calibrates to each scan, so leaving a lot of empty space around the images changes the way the files come out. I ran "auto levels" on the files before saving and that worked well enough for what I wanted.

4th of July Safety Tips: Fireworks Are Not a Dog's Best Friend

4th of July Safety Tips: Fireworks Are Not a Dog's Best Friend

from the ASPCA Website
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=media_newsalert062708&JServSessionIdr009=s2136vetv1.app25b#2

As the country dons its red, white and blue to celebrate Independence Day, nothing says patriotism like a good old-fashioned barbecue with a side of fireworks. But what’s fun for people can often be a downright drag for our furry friends. The ASPCA offers some advice to help you keep your pets singing, “Oh Say Can You See,” all the way to the Fifth.

- Keep your pets on the wagon. Alcohol is potentially poisonous to pets, so place your wine, beer and spirits out of their reach.

- Avoid scraps from the grill. Any change in your pet’s diet can result in stomach upset. Plus, certain foods like onions, avocado, grapes and raisins can be toxic.

- Bugs biting? Avoid lathering your pet with any insect repellent or sunscreen not intended for the four-legged kind.

- Don’t let Spot start the fire. Keep your pet away from matches and lighter fluid, which, if ingested, can be extremely irritating to the stomach, lungs and central nervous system.

As the sun sets on the Fourth, remember that fireworks are not a dog’s best friend. Dr. Pamela Reid, Vice President, ASPCA Animal Behavior Center, recommends that you keep your dog at home, instead of taking him to your neighborhood display. “He’ll be much happier at home listening to classical music,” says Dr. Reid. “Also, be sure to keep him inside, instead of in the backyard, since even the most timid dog can leap a six-foot fence if he’s scared enough.”

If your dog suddenly shows signs of distress from outside noise, “relocate to the basement or another quiet part of the house,” suggests Dr. Reid. “Or try giving him a Kong toy stuffed with peanut butter. The persistent licking should calm his nerves.”

If you anticipate that your pet will be scared on the Fourth, talk to your vet. He may prescribe a mild sedative, which should be administered one hour before the festivities begin. Please read our other holiday tips, and have a safe and saucy Fourth of July!

Wilted Unicorn

This weekend, I worked with Robin Burkett of PawPrints Photography at the Fairfax Pets on Wheels Picnic in Springfield, Virginia. The dogs and cats were so much fun, but it was miserably hot.

Afterwards, I went to the Maryland Fairie Festival in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Unfortunately, the heat index was over 100F, so the resident unicorn was, though still magical, a bit wilted. There were scores of perspiring fae and greenmen , but it was still a poorly attended event compared to last year. Another problem was that the ATM machines broke just before the event began and the site is rather isolated. I felt really bad for the vendors.

Next year the festival will be one month earlier and hopefully the weather will be nicer.

You can see more images from the festival on my Flickr page.

Some Sweetie the Unicorn Facts:

• Sweetie the Unicorn is played by a 25 year old Arabian mare.
• She enjoys the attention she gets while dressed in her costume.
• Sweetie is very sweet and tolerant of everyone. She is not bothered by people dressed in crazy costumes with big, flappy wings.
• Sweetie's favorite snacks are apples, carrots and granola bars.
• She has her own magically decorated trailer.
• She has bright pink accessories for her equine nessessities.
• She is accompanied by her favorite yellow fairy whenever she does public appearances.

Fairfax Pets on Wheels Picnic

Today I will be at the Fairfax Pets on Wheels picnic in Springfield, VA assisting Robin Burkett of PawPrints Photography. We will be creating images for trading cards featuring the amazing dogs that participate in the Pets on Wheels programs. It should be a lot of fun, but it will be very hot.

www.rentphotobooths.com

These are test strips from the gigs I have done for a photobooth rental company based out of North Carolina. You can contact them at: www.rentphotobooths.com.

This past weekend the event was a wedding at Swan Harbor Farm in Havre de Grace, Maryland. It was a fun event and the weather couldn't have been more pleasant. The guests had a great time putting on the props that the bride & groom provided for the guests to wear in the photobooth. These props included: a plastic horned viking cap, two pairs of huge sunglasses, two feather boas (messy!), a pirate patch and earring, a tiny cowboy hat, and a plush moose hat.

Holding a Grouper in Bermuda

This a a photo from my recent trip to Bermuda. It was great fun holding a live fish!

Photoshop - Making 4x6 Proofs

After (finally) processing the 1000+ NEF files from my Bermuda trip into large finished JPEGs, I struggled with a quick and easy way to make 4x6 proof files in Photoshop CS2. I figured that there really was a way to do it, and came up with several ways that would get me close. The final piece of the puzzle arrived in the form of a suggestion from my tech adviser (my DH)!

Here is the way to do it:

Open the files in Bridge
Go to Tools> Photoshop> Image Processor
Under #2 - (Location) - Choose your file folder locations.
Under #3 - Click on "Save as JPEG" or whatever file types you want.
Click "Resize to Fit"
Type "1800"for BOTH height AND width. (A square crop!)

I don't know how long it would have taken me to figure out the square crop! How simple and elegant a solution, but how elusive! Thank you DH!!

Pie

I finally processed and uploaded the photos of the pie we ate last week.

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend. The weather was great here in Maryland.

Rhubarb & Strawberry Pie

New Software

I just purchased an exciting new plug-in for Photoshop! Noise Ninja by PictureCode was recommended to me by fellow photographers Javier Diazgranados and Tiffany KB. It works great and I used it to process the Buckley Portraits before sending in the lab order to WHCC. I anticipate that the prints will look fabulous!

Butterflies at Brookside

Friend Lynn and I went to Brookside Gardens in Silver Spring, Maryland today to see their annual butterfly exhibit. Unsurprisingly, several butterflies landed on Lynn and were happy to hang out on her. In addition to being able to walk around in a greenhouse full of butterflies, Brookside Gardens also provides educational ops in the form of a live egg & caterpillar display, a hatchery, a touch and see table, an identification display and an outdoor garden with examples of butterfly-friendly plants. During the season they may have up to 600-700 live specimens in the greenhouse. You can even purchase your own butterfly identification chart when you buy your tickets.

I will definitely return with camera in hand.
Some info for my fellow photographers:
The butterflies are less active on cool, cloudy days than on warm, sunny ones. Normally the butterflies spend much of their time in the air, so a tripod will not be very useful.
Weekdays may be less crowded than weekends. The winged critters like to hang out on the plates that are filled with ugly rotting fruit and on the less-than beautiful greenhouse walls and ceiling. They do hang out on the plants, but they are usually busy feeding and wiggle around quite a bit. Volunteers move the newly hatched critters out of the hatchery and onto the nearby flowers. We were told that this is normally completed at around noon or 1pm, but today they moved them at about 4pm or 5pm due to the cool temperature and moist conditions. The new butterflies tend to remain very still and will be much easier to shoot.

Also, be aware that last tickets are sold at 4pm and you need to leave the greenhouse by 5pm.

Buttercup Buckley

The current proofs from the Buckley portrait session are up at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanctuaryphoto/sets/72157603983755540/

New Efficiency

I placed an order today for an additional hard drive and additional memory for the main office computer. They will help me to finish processing the photos from my recent Bermuda trip. I took about 1100 photos (RAW, of course!) and they have really slowed down the system. Hopefully my technical advisor (hubby) will be able to install the new hardware soon. I am very excited about this improvement to the system.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog!

Tonight I participated in a webinar on presenting images to clients.