Raji

When I do a photoshoot there are many shots that get captured, but there’s always a select few that stand out; even if it isn’t at first glance.

This was a shot that I almost got rid of because of the angle I took it, but I used Photoshop to fix it and made a composite from it. Just because something isn’t great out of camera doesn’t make it a great shot.

raji_comp

 

Once I opened this in Photoshop, the logical next step was making a selection of the area that wasn’t a part of the background.I basically made a selection and performed a content aware fill, one of the processes that replace an object and mixes the outside area into the selected area. This was the result.

RajiV-4Next, I got rid of the shadow from the lights and decided to add an effect to play off of the pose that Raji made. I was contemplating colors to use for the effect and a design concept that I learned was to use colors from the subject and I thought that the pink in her shirt really stood out so that was the color I used from my brush effect.

RajiLastly I just did some clean up and some general color correction to the image to get the final product. Overall, it was a great lesson to not get rid of an image out of camera even if it isn’t technically or composition-ally idea. Photoshop can sometime save the day.

It was a joy to shoot Raji and I think the photo is a great reflection of that.

Raji

 

 

 

My First Color Run

The Color Run 2014-7

So!… Recently I just volunteered at my first color run…. All I can say is WOW! I don’t see how they do it… Today I witnessed hundreds of people pay money to yell and run miles down the street to have people squirt “tye-dye” color at them.

The Color Run 2014-10

The Organization

Concept aside thougThe Color Run 2014-4h, it was a fluid event and I understand and see how they have so many events around the world. All of the volunteers were assigned to either 1 of the 4 color zones, water detail, or the store. Each of the Color zones had station supplies organized in a packing crate and the volunteers help set up. Basically a few tarps for the color, mustard bottles, about 10 of the 10 ft. promotional flags, archway and a sounds system for music.  Once the last person left the starting line, it was taken down and each zone was disassembled after the last group went through it. When I left my zone and walked to the finished the entire starting area was pretty much non-existent. They definitely have it to a science.

The ExperienceThe Color Run 2014-26

I was blown away at how cheerful and motivated the people were running into the color zones getting color put all over them. I was blown away at some of the costumes and outfits that people enjoyed getting color all over. There was a smile and joy on almost every person. The goal of the run was nothing at all about the run, but getting color squirted at you. I recall in my zone particularly a point to where we were backed up and instead of running right through to finish the race, they basically lined up to make sure they got color on them. Organized chaos were the words that came to mind at that particular moment.The Color Run 2014-20

The Finale

The Color Run 2014-30

Upon finishing the race there were about 4-5 arches with confetti and cheers that accompanied you when you entered it. I am sure that was a moment that you felt accomplished and to top it off, right by the finish line was a stage and open field that turned into a Color Throw Concert. Hundred of people jumping up and down to music with a entertainer counting down and when he gets down to “1”…

Well you know from there…

The Color Run 2014-36

Google & Chicago

Google Top Contributor

IMG_20140923_121026~2

untitled-September 23, 2014-43I have been a Google Top Contributor for a little over a year now for the product Google+. It has been a great experience so far and I am looking forward to the future of the program as well. The Google Top Contributor Program is a collection of faithful people that are the most active and knowledgeable people you’ll find in Google’s Help Forums.IMG_20140924_115506-MOTION Globally, they help millions of people get their questions answered and keep the forums humming with interesting discussions.

Google Chicago Meetup

Google recently invited me to their headquarters in Chicago and I had a blast there. I learned a great deal that will aid in me helping others with other Google products as well as help myself with how I write things to make it easier to organize written content. I currently help in the Google+ Help Community and I got to catch up with some of my fellow Google+ TC’s Like Kim Beasley and Zachary Fair. untitled-September 23, 2014-72The thing that definitely makes it magical and worth the trip are the awesome individuals that you spend it with.

 

I have lived in North Chicago for a few years a while ago and enjoyed my time in the snow, but I never appreciated and even noticed how beautiful downtown Chicago really is. I do see now why Chicago is the Architectural City of the World. There are skyscrapers from many different eras and countries which was just amazing. If you ever go to Chicago make sure you do the Chicago River Boat Tour. I had a field day taking photos.

IMG_20140922_154456

Last updated by at .