Summer is drawing to an end soon, and as a result, I've been faced with the task of removing the collective tan lines from some of the models in my photos recently...

I've had a method for doing this for awhile, but did a quick Google search to see if anyone had any other methods for removing them, but didn't find much - other than suggestions to keep your models indoors, or using the healing brush. While the healing brush might solve the problem, it also seems to involve quite a bit more work, and also replaces the original skin textures in the "healed" area.  This isn't always ideal.

So - here's my method for removing tan lines from your photos, using photoshop.  This example uses a black and white image, but you can use a simlar process with color images.  The only difference I've been faced with is some of the tones might be a bit off, so you may have to add a color correction layer and hand color the re-tanned area using a color sample from a tanned area of skin.  This does work perfectly for black and white images though.

Here's a before and after image -

First, open the photo using photoshop. 

	Using any of the selection tools, select the area that has the lighter skin tones. You'll want to select an area larger than the tan line itself, so that you have room to feather.  Copy the selected area. Next, without removing the selection marquee, paste the area that you have copied.  By not removing the selection marquee, you'll ensure that the area you paste is lined up with the area that you've copied.  Basically, you are creating a new layer, just with the selcted area, properly aligned with the original layer.
	Next, select the new layer in the "Layers" panel. Change the blending mode to "multiply", as shown at left. You'll see that the selected area is now significantly darker.   To correct for this, adjust the opacity of the new layer.  This will just be a rough adjustment initially, and it can be adjusted when everything is complete.
	Using the eraser tool, start erasing the edges of the new layer. It is best to use an eraser brush that has a lower "hardness" value.  This lets you feather your edges, which will result in a much smoother transition between the tanned and untanned areas. Erase all of the darker areas until the skin tones are relatively even. You may have to adjust the opacity at this point to ensure that the skin tones match up.
	This is the end result.  At this point, I'll create a merged copy of the image, either by selecting all, then copying merged, and pasting, or just by merging all layers through the "layers" menu. After doing this, additional minor corrections can be made using Photoshop's "healing brush".  You can see the final result in the first image, above, where I removed some minor skin tone variations around the corrected area.

 Again, with color images, you may find that the multiplied layer might produce too much red or some other color shift in the corrected area.  This can be fixed by creating an additional layer, then selecting "color" as the blending option.  You can then use the eyedropper and choose a similar skin tone, then paint it into the color layer. 

I'm not a morning person.  Not by a long shot.  But we all have to make sacrifices...

Today, I was hoping to wrap up the last of my asylum series, shooting in one of the north / south facing buildings.  It was one of the smaller buildings, but had some features that I found particularly interesting.  The optimal time for most of the shots I wanted was early morning, so, it had to be done. 

Coffee, extra strong.

I knew there was trouble sometime after I got out of bed, and noticed that the sky was cluttered with clouds.  Thunder, rain, and generally dim, overcast indirect unsatisfactory lighting. I arrived at the site, started dragging my equipment in, and was met with a lazy bit of rain.  My model showed up a bit later, and we got to work.

Subdued light is sometimes workable, depending on the situation, but given that we were indoors, exposure times were bordering on extreme, beyond one second each, sometimes as long as four seconds... difficult or impossible to pull off small apertures, overall, at the beginning, the shoot was at whim of the mood of the light.

Sometime a bit before noon, the clouds lifted, and things seemed to accelerate. I shot mainly color, some black and white, and very few infrared.  The few IR that I managed, I like (for now).  I'm the type that will do a shoot, pick some shots, come back later, and pick an entirely different set of shots after the moment of the shoot has subsided. 

My hope was to pull together another 20 usable images to complete this project, but things went very well, and I got at least double what I was hoping for.  I've posted a selection of these to the Asylum Nudes portfolio. 

I'll be posting some info soon on my next exhibit and some other interesting developments very soon... 

I had another opportunity to do some shoots in the asylum this week.

This was a bit of a marathon shoot, starting at 8am, and finishing at 5pm, and using two different models throughout the day.

I've added over 20 new images to the Asylum Nudes portfolio.

The majority of the older photos I had from the same place were shot during the evening light, which provided a lot of interesting direct light, shadows and textures with the peeling paint. 

These new images were shot throughout the day, but also capture the morning light, which is an angle that I didn't have previously.  I also shot in a few sections of the building that I hadn't captured previously with a model. 

Mid-day lighting is particularly difficult in some sections of the building due to the fact that the lighting is often indirect and somewhat dim.  Typical exposures ranged between one and two seconds.  I did a few HDR images to compensate for the variable lighting around mid-day, particularly in the hallways, and was pleased with the results of those images so far. I think this may be my new approach to those situations.  HDR presents a bit of a challenge when working with models, as it requires the model to be perfectly still while I shoot through the range of exposures in each scene.  Those that did turn out, came out quite well.

I will be using these images in an upcoming project, to be announced.  With any luck, I may get one more shoot in up there, I'm hoping.  I am still about 20 images short of my goal.  There is one building which has some great areas, but really is best lit in the morning.  I didn't get a chance to shoot there with a model yet, so if things work out, I might try to use that location in the coming weeks.  Time will tell. 

The 4th Traverse City Film Festival drew to a close on Sunday.

I shot a few events this year, but also took more time to see movies and enjoy the parties.  I've posted some of my photos in the TCFF 08 album.

I tried to get to at least one movie a day this year. One movie that really impressed me was Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind, a film based on Howard Zinn's book, A People's History of the United States, a book that I read a few years ago, which is definitely worth a read.

The film is basically an hour long montage of historical markers and headstones, following many of the figures, movements and protests chronicled in Zinn's book.  The film has no voice overs, no music, simply the ambient sounds of locations where the footage was shot.

I took a couple of things away from this movie.  Given that there was no dialog, the movie really allows the viewer to fill in the blanks, and come up with their own conclusions regarding what is being presented.  This was an aspect of the film that I really enjoyed.

Far too often, much of what we are shown in typical documentaries, even on the news, is laden with some selection of dramatic music, and typically provides far less latitude for the viewer to roam with their own thoughts within what is being presented.  I'm not sure when the trend started, but it seems like many of the major US-based news networks have to have a title and theme song for every catastrophe... (Fox's "america's challenge" - case in point), but that's another topic I suppose.  I've always been one that's believed you should have a well-balanced diet of information sources, if not just for the fact that you're likely to get a more well rounded view by doing so, but also due to the fact that much of what seems to be coming out of the news these days is over dramatized and factually generalized to the point of being benign, and consequently less thought provoking.  There are a few exceptions to this, of course.

The essence of Zinn's book, and the film as well, highlights historical situations where people or groups, typically oppressed in some manner, have exerted influence on government or institutions for the betterment of their living situations or for equal treatment in society, among other things.  The result is a view of history from a grassroots level, rather than one that is viewed from those in positions of power.  It is a good record of what can be accomplished when people unite and drive political progress.

The movie was a thought provoking piece, especially when taking into account the current political atmosphere surrounding the upcoming US elections, in particular the prominent theme of "change", which all of the candidates have latched on to at some point with varying degrees of success.  While there has been a great deal of excitement and momentum surrounding a singular person promising sweeping changes, it's important to remember that change often doesn't come from one person, and that people must have some involvement in the political process to create the kind of momentum needed to chip away at the stagnant perches held by many of the serving politicians.

It is encouraging to see such a recent influx of new voters and people interested in the political process, especially considering (and likely a result of) the course of the past few years.  That said, such momentum should be sustained beyond the general election for that very reason.  Additionally, it would be an utter disappointment in the face of such a renewed political interest if there is no accountability for maintaining and following through on the promises of such changes that are the foundation of a candidate's campaign. 

I had the chance to watch a few other notable films, though in terms of what I was left with at the end of each of them, I would say that this film was the most satisfying.  Sadly, I didn't get to catch any of the later films at The State, and a few of the other headline movies, but there is always next year.  It was good to see this festival from both sides this year. 

As far as my own artwork - I've been fairly busy with a few new things, meditating on some new ideas.  I feel like I'm at some strange point where I require some level of reinvention.  It happens from time to time.  I do have a pretty exciting semi-new project in the works, which I will announce next month.  I have also decided that this project will also be the topic of my December solo show as well.  More to come on that. 

I began my first series of shoots out at the dunes this week.  It is a bit later in the season than I'd planned, but the weather has been working against me, between the rain and the temperatures, but everything was looking up more this week.

I've been out there about three days this week, and did one shoot.  I'm hoping to get out there again today to do a little more scouting.  The area is so vast, and there are really so many hidden gems out there... I'd hate to overlook something. 

The style of photography is a bit different than what I've been doing over the past few months (hybrids, manipulations, digital work), in that it is much more straight forward, less manipulated, and more based on observing a scene, taking in the lighting, shadows, shapes, landscape, and then composing it into a workable photo.  The process is probably, similar to the purity and instinctiveness you'd experience in the "old days" of  working with film.  It is a refreshing change.

Posing is something of a different animal with this type of photography as well, and presents some new challenges.  I found an article a few years ago, which I've hung on to, by Norm La Coe, one of the masters of the environmental nude.  Anyway, his article is on "emotion", posing, and some obvious "rules".  His article, "Emotion", is over here.  A few other masters of this style of photography are Eric Boutilier-Brown, a Canadian photographer who's work I've admired since college, and Gerhardt Thompson, another true master of his trade, and David Swanson.  And of course, there are many more, those just being the top three places I stop by for inspiration.

I began exploring the dunes after college, when I had my first "real" job in the area.  The dunes were only a 20 minute drive from my office, so I'd head over there at least once a week and hike until the park closed.  I shot thousands of frames of film out there, just of the landscape and various things I'd find.  Sometime after this, I came up with the idea of the "bear naked" project.  Perhaps, simply as something entirely different than what you'd see in this area, maybe shake things up, etc.  At the time, my perception of the art scene in Traverse City was limited to freezer magnets and drive-by tourist art - however, since being introduced to such groups and galleries as the Art Center Traverse City, Art Works Alliance, InsideOut Gallery, that perception has shifted somewhat - this was ten years ago, at least and I think the town as a whole had a much more touristy feel to it (the centerpiece restaurant in downtown was Big Boy, at that time).  But I digress...

My biggest hurdle thus far has been finding people to participate.  Having my advertising shut down in the Express more or less cut the legs out of any momentum I had with those efforts, so it's pretty much become a word of mouth thing. I will say that being censored on the basis of artistic content, yet advertising things such as strip clubs seems to have a slight feel of hypocrisy...

Last year I began seriously working on this project, applied for all of the government permits and permission to take on such an endevour, which I felt was necessary since it is government land, I didn't want any problems from "The Man".  Going back again this year, it is interesting to see how much the sands have shifted in just one year - things that were there last year, are not there this year, and other objects and formations have appeared.  I think that one of the evolving themes of this project will be the passage of time, as a result.  There are a few areas which play well into this idea, such as the Oneida ruins, and other similar areas.

Thus far, I've kept all of my images mostly under wraps, hoping to release them all at once when the project is complete.  My goal is to get at least 100 very good images - and I'm being extremely selective about what I choose to go into this project.  My goal is to put this into a book, and also a show featuring the images.  We're probably about a year out at this point.  I may start showing some work in limited form in advance.  I'm debating that still...

More to come.

Posted a new image in the "Observations" series, titled "Beverly at Nine". 

I haven't been shooting much since the last update.

The weather has been on the border of being too cold to shoot at the dunes, or anything outside for that matter, and I haven't got everything setup for the darkwater project. 

I've just felt... no groove lately.  It happens.  Creativity isn't always something that you can command, sometimes it arrives upon you, other times, it feels like you are waiting by the window.

I've also felt the need to reinvent lately.   I think that some of my more recent work has been more about the process than about any particular message. 

I had to drive some of my work downstate this weekend for a show.  It was a good six hour drive round trip.  I had a chance to break away from the regular daily routine, and it gave me time to think.  As a result, I've got a few new directions and some different work that I'm going to begin trying out.  I'm sure an update will follow. 


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I had the chance to do my first shoot with a couple this past week.  While I've had the opportunity to work with female couples in the past, I'd never photographed a male / female couple. 

I've had a number of ideas for such a thing for awhile, and just never had the chance to shoot simple due to the lack of anyone to shoot.  The shoot went well, and I created a new gallery titled "passion" for a few of the images.  I'm hoping to add to this in the future.  Ideally, I'd like to try using these images for a mixed media idea that I've had for awhile now... I think it should be fitting.  I'm sure I'll update with pictures when I get it done...

Additionally I added a new image to the "Observations" series titled "Hands of a Muse", also from the same shoot.  And two more images in the generic bw nudes section, including a BW infrared nude that I'd dug up, which I thought turned out interesting. 

The weather turned cold this week, and I haven't had a chance to get out to the dunes yet (other than a quick hike to check things out last week).  I have a feeling that things will be warming up soon though. 

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I've updated my "model for me" page with information on my spring and summer projects.

I need a couple of models for these projects, and possibly to work with on an ongoing basis.

I began constructing some custom softboxes and other light modifiers this week, which I think will result in some new and interesting directions for some of my work.  So... I could also use someone to help me give this equipment a good testing.  I'm hoping to do this in the next week.  

For whatever reason (perhaps spring cleaning), I've pretty much torn apart my studio, and started redoing some things, partly to make use of the space a bit better, and also so i have 360 degree use of the studio for shooting, rather than just shooting against one wall.  I also found a few really nice stained glass windows this week, which I think I could use for something in the future... some work is still required there to get them mounted and usable.  I suspect I may have lost my security deposit by now. 

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I've been toying with an idea for awhile now.  I had a bit of time over the past week, so I got some things rolling on it. 

I started a new blog, separate from this one, titled "naked creations".  During idle time, I often browse art websites, blogs, and other interesting sources of inspiration.  As a result, I've amassed quite a collection of bookmarks.

So - I thought I'd start sharing my finds through this new website.  It is just in its infancy, but I will try to add to it every day.  Check it out when you've got a minute:



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The Book of Ruins show opened this Friday - and wow, what a great opening.  The turn out was awesome, catering and decoration was beautiful.  A few of my more recent, bigger shows have been lined up by ARTc, a local company that basically helps to promote artists by the artists with public venues which they've negotiated.  I think that some artists, including myself, have some stage fright when it comes to promoting their own work, and this definitely fills that deficit.  I'm very thankful for everything they've done so far... and would really recommend them for any local artist looking to get their name out there a bit more.

I spent the last five days in the hospital, which sucked - it's not something I'd planned for (not that most people could or would).  It did give me a lot of time to do some editing, and I got a few new things in the works.  Though I'm sure it verges on cliche, things like that do put a lot of things into a different perspective, from priorities, to friendships, to family, etc.  I suppose I'll save those thoughts for internal processing though...

I picked up Jan Saudek's new book - which I just love.  I discovered his work about a year ago, and I was instantly drawn to it.  The colors, concepts, and it definitely breaks away into its own vibe.  Though it's probably not for everyone, he's quickly become one of my favorite modern artists.  More of his artwork can be seen here.

I'm lining up a few shoots this week, which I am very excited about.  Stay tuned, I think these new images will be interesting...

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