A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO BLACK FRIDAY

Black Friday seems more of a holiday than Thanksgiving itself. It has the power of Christmas Eve vs Christmas Day. Every media outlet spouts about Black Friday. Forget the family traditions of Thanksgiving.

I mention this because I hate Black Friday. You’ll never catch me standing in line at 10pm to catch a midnight sale that may be a bargain now, but guess what, as Christmas nears, you’ll get pretty much that same bargain (so I’ve found in the past). And the crowd madness? For me, it’s just not worth the savings. Therefore, I stay safely in my home on Black Friday.

Not so this year. My original plans for Black Friday consisted of editing a file of photos and working on the 2012 budget for the Studio. But alas, on Thanksgiving Day, my computer decided to spit and moan and begin its slow death of old age. You see, in computer age, my machine is about 109 years old (that’s six years old in real age). I’ve been putting off updating my machine because I just love XP and have heard mixed reviews on Windows 7. Now, I could convert to a Mac, which is my dream, but when I think about all the programs I’d also have to convert, well, the Mac just isn’t going to happen.

So I spent Thanksgiving Day browsing the Black Friday newspaper ads and the online ads and found a machine or two that I wanted to check out. Thank goodness for office supply stores, because there was no way I was going into Best Buy, etc to battle the masses.

On Black Friday, I had a client appointment and decided to stop at my store of choice and check out the machine (after much discussion with my computer guru about what I needed). On a side note here, my computer guru said my dying machine needs a good cleanout (hey, I blew it out at the first cough) and a format. Well, I started backing up at that first cough so everything was good on that end, but I wasn’t quite ready to wipe it clean. So back to my store of choice. I did find a computer that gave me all the things I needed (except for XP – but that’s okay; so far I like Windows 7). Not a Black Friday advertised special, but it was on sale.

Then the problems began. Loading all the software. It’s the curse of computer buying. What was and wasn’t compatible with Windows 7. Turns out, my lifeblood, Adobe Creative Suite, wasn’t compatible. I have an older version that I planned on upgrading in the 2012 budget. Well, it got slipped into the 2011 budget. Again, thank goodness for Black Friday Specials (and I also got a 

great deal on Norton’s that day).

Now I patiently wait for Amazon to deliver the goods (Adobe). I’m at a mild standstill, but nothing is at the moment classified as URGENT, so by the end of the week, it’ll all be good. In the meantime, I’ll take my Black Friday chore of the 2012 budget and throw it all together while I wait. Seems Office loaded just fine.

As for Black Friday itself, I’ll still opt to stay at home. There’s always Cyber Monday.

EVOLUTION OF A HEAD SHOT

I'm putting myself out there today. Way out there. With a before and after shot. And not just any before and after shot, but the before and after shot of my head shot.

To give you the short run down, I hate having my picture taken (I'll point out the obvious reasons why in the before shot). There's a reason I stay behind the camera. But despite my own dislike at getting my picture taken, I needed a descent head shot. I had been (like most people) relying on random shots taken that were somewhat okay but quite iffy. The obvious shot was hiding my face behind the camera. Not very professional if you ask me and not something I would recommend. Then I tried the self portrait, but I realized that I have no knack for taking self portraits. Just not my thing. Short of hiring a professional, I engaged my assistant (my husband). I set up the tripod, adjusted the settings, told him how to focus, then handed him the remote trigger and told him where to aim. It wasn't too bad.

Though, I did take a deep breath as the pics loaded into the computer. We took a few series of shots and the worst that could happen was to reshoot. But I had to keep in mind that what showed up in the RAW file wasn't going to be the final image.

So with that, let's go to the before shot and I'll be more than happy to show you why I hate having my picture taken.

Okay, so I think that's all pretty valid for not wanting to have my picture taken.


And those are just the major problems. While I also fixed the minor problems, in my eyes, there were too many to list.

I look at this face in the mirror more than once a day (it's not vanity - but rather brushing teeth, make-up, hair styling). I see all these things in the mirror, but the camera, bless its little sensor, tends to show it more obviously than the mirror.

Now, my friends, if you're looking for a Photoshop lesson, you've come to the wrong place. You can find that elsewhere on the web with no problem. This little scenario has more to do with photo fear and how it's best resolved. The resolution? Those wonderful folks at Adobe who invented Photoshop.

If you look at the after picture, you'll see color adjustment, no dark circles (okay, there's still a hint of it under the right eye), the chin scaring is gone, along with the double chin, the highlights are toned down and the blotchy skin is now matched with the other tones. There's also a necklace chain that I took out of the photo as the necklace wasn't really part of the shot. And, I softened the shot to take away some of the hard edges.

Is it perfect? No. Are there still things I would (probably will at some point) change on this shot? You bet. I'd get rid of the watch on the right wrist and I'd do something about the hair (there are a few blending issues that bug me - but when you have natural curl, you never have the same hair day twice). I'd also tone down the highlights a bit more in the sweater. And really, I'd probably reshoot and do something about the left hand (don't ask - I was trying to relax and wasn't paying attention to the hand). As a photographer, there is always something I'll find on a photo that "needs" changing (whether it really does or not). But all in all, the after picture is acceptable. I can live with it.

So there you have it, the evolution of a head shot (and a simple cure for photo fear).