sirfrogsworth

[sirfrogsworth]

Man of Steel had some of the best superhero action scenes I've ever seen.

But if there is one person on this planet that did not understand Superman, it was Zack Snyder.

Superman watched his dad get eaten by a tornado.

The best Superman stories explore the tragedy of being the most powerful being in the universe and still being powerless to save everyone—even those closest to him. In the Christopher Reeve Superman, his father died of a heart attack. It taught him his power has limits. (Though that stupid reverse time scene kind of ruined that message.)

In Man of Steel, Superman learned that humans were so untrustworthy he had to let his dad get eaten by a tornado. Instead of Superman falling in love with humanity and deciding to be their greatest protector, Zack continually had him mope about humans being garbage. Zack created the least hopeful Superman despite inventing that his family crest meant "hope."

Zack Snyder did not respect Superman.

I love Superman.

He is tied with Batman for my favorite superhero ever since the animated series days with Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly.

But I am officially asking you all to punch me in the nose if I ever care this much about super undies.

[sirfrogsworth]

Dinner Date (Restored)

My dad would only wear a suit to impress a girl.

Ron & Diane Hug by a Mansion (Restored)

My parents were pretty cute.

#photo restoration

[sirfrogsworth]

Ron & Diane Hug by a Mansion (Restored)

My parents were pretty cute.

#photo restoration

[sirfrogsworth]

Weirdly, I'm going to let some Libertarian magicians take the lead on this one...

#Youtube

[sirfrogsworth]

I love Superman.

He is tied with Batman for my favorite superhero ever since the animated series days with Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly.

But I am officially asking you all to punch me in the nose if I ever care this much about super undies.

[sirfrogsworth]

Grandma Toni

This is my Grandma Antoinette. She lived to be 97. I took these photos in 2014 when she was a spry 91.

I decided since I am re-editing all of my favorite photos I would tackle these and give prints as a gift to my Aunt Denise. My aunt is the only blood relation that still speaks to me on a regular basis. She has been a lifesaver ever since I lost my parents. And so I wanted to do something nice to show her my appreciation.

#photography

[sirfrogsworth]

I looked at my re-edit on my phone and it looked absolutely awful.

It looks fine on my MacBook.

A bit too red on my TV.

Nuclear red on my phone.

This is one of the most frustrating things about photography. Everyone has a different display. Now I am wondering if every photo I've ever edited on this computer is wildly off.

I'm going to try this version and see how it looks on all my screens.

Top: 2015 edit Bottom: 2024 edit

This was one of my first paid photoshoots. And I feel like I nailed the lighting but I kind of messed up the editing. Well, I messed up the background lighting. The spot is supposed to be around his head. It's possible he was moving around and I didn't notice it was out of alignment. But that is something easily fixed.

I think I was still using my old Dell monitor that was not very color accurate. As I look at some of my old photos they just seem to all be a bit pale. My 2015 just makes him look a like a vampire. Hopefully I didn't push it too far the other way but I'm pretty sure the color is more true to life now. This MacBook Air has a pretty calibrated screen but I wish I had my photography monitor upstairs to check things.

In any case, I am hoping 9 years of knowledge and experience is apparent in my 2024 edit.

[sirfrogsworth]

The most I ever weighed was in the 350s.

Since I was 18 I've only been below 300 twice before. And one of those times was due to severe stomach illness.

The Mounjaro seems to be working and it feels like I have a chance at reducing some health risks. I just hope it isn't too late to mitigate the worst of what is to come. And perhaps I have a chance at lowering this number a bit further.

[sirfrogsworth]

I posted this in the middle of the night but I wanted to make sure I actually improved upon things. I was hoping to give this updated version as a sort of gift.

I'm afraid this young lad's mom passed away a few years ago. She was very kind and gave me my first shot at a paid photoshoot. She was a fan of my tumblr and wanted to support my photography. I was still learning and hadn't really proven myself yet. This was one of my favorite pictures I ever took. The first one that made me feel like, "Hey, maybe I almost know what I'm doing here."

A proper monitor probably would have helped back then, but thankfully screens are getting more accurate every year.

I don't know if it would be weird giving a "re-edit" to the family or not.

Top: 2015 edit Bottom: 2024 edit

This was one of my first paid photoshoots. And I feel like I nailed the lighting but I kind of messed up the editing. Well, I messed up the background lighting. The spot is supposed to be around his head. It's possible he was moving around and I didn't notice it was out of alignment. But that is something easily fixed.

I think I was still using my old Dell monitor that was not very color accurate. As I look at some of my old photos they just seem to all be a bit pale. My 2015 just makes him look a like a vampire. Hopefully I didn't push it too far the other way but I'm pretty sure the color is more true to life now. This MacBook Air has a pretty calibrated screen but I wish I had my photography monitor upstairs to check things.

In any case, I am hoping 9 years of knowledge and experience is apparent in my 2024 edit.

[sirfrogsworth]

I just learned that Justin Timberlake did not actually sing a song about May and it was just an affect when singing the word me.

That might be a personal record for the longest it has taken me to get a joke.

[sirfrogsworth]

Top: 2015 edit Bottom: 2024 edit

This was one of my first paid photoshoots. And I feel like I nailed the lighting but I kind of messed up the editing. Well, I messed up the background lighting. The spot is supposed to be around his head. It's possible he was moving around and I didn't notice it was out of alignment. But that is something easily fixed.

I think I was still using my old Dell monitor that was not very color accurate. As I look at some of my old photos they just seem to all be a bit pale. My 2015 just makes him look a like a vampire. Hopefully I didn't push it too far the other way but I'm pretty sure the color is more true to life now. This MacBook Air has a pretty calibrated screen but I wish I had my photography monitor upstairs to check things.

In any case, I am hoping 9 years of knowledge and experience is apparent in my 2024 edit.

[sirfrogsworth]

Ummmm...

Sooooo...

I think Amaury Guichon is the world's most talented chocolate sculptor.

And almost everything he creates is a stunning work of art.

And while this is technically impressive...

This cursed-ass lion needs to go into the blender.

[sirfrogsworth]

Thanks to everyone who bought popcorn. I really appreciate it.

I bought some crazy flavors. I love trying new things but I don't often get the opportunity. I mean, I didn't discover sushi until I was 40.

But it feels nice I was able to help my friend who is helping me in a circle of help for these theater kiddos.

Hey,

I don't talk a ton about my job, but I teach high school theatre and coordinate the afterschool program.

We are doing a popcorn fundraiser: you buy it online, it ships right to you, and we get half the profits. All funds we receive go straight to putting on productions - just the rights to put on a show are incredibly expensive. We are a title 1 school, which means our budget isn't great to begin with, and that our community doesn't have a ton of disposable income to support us. These kids need theater, especially in our world today - it is a priceless coping skill for them.

I know times are tough for all of us and arguably money should be spent on better causes. But if you could at least share - so it reaches someone who can give, me and my kids would be forever grateful! Sharing on other platforms is also great!

Thanks in advance for any support you can provide!

[sirfrogsworth]

Are they factoring in some sort of nap time or like 12 smoke breaks?

[sirfrogsworth]

Peter McKinnon did a video with a photographer named Garrett King. And he just went on a very long rant about lazy photographers who use Photoshop and "fixing it in post."

He continues... "You can't do that in film. You can't just make a bad decision and say "Oh, I'll fix it in post." (Not true. There was plenty of editing in dark rooms in the past. And now you can scan a film photo and literally manipulate it like a digital photo.) Fix it in post drives me nuts. That statement is so played out. It drives me nuts that people say that. Cuz dude, I don't work that way."

He also says that choosing film is the "hard path" and keeps talking about how lazy photographers who photoshop are.

I love film photography. I have an old Minolta that my mom gave me that I hope to restore and use someday.

But film photographers drive *me* nuts sometimes.

IT'S NOT A COMPETITION!

BOTH THINGS ARE COOL!

This idea that their way of making art is more valid or authentic than my way of making art is just a continuation of an old school mentality that really needs to die. There are still some photographers who will bully people because they use autofocus or aperture priority mode.

I actually think learning to be really good at Photoshop is much more challenging than learning to be good at photography. Sure, there are fields like photographic microscopy and product photography that require years to master, but I've been learning Photoshop for 20 years and I feel like I have barely scratched the surface of what is possible.

I have seen people with near 0 experience take an amazing picture.

I have seen people who barely know how their camera works take consistently good photos. It's the "using only power chords" version of photography.

But I have never seen someone with 0 experience photoshop something artistically impressive.

When people say "that looks Photoshopped" as if that is an insult, it really breaks my heart. Photoshop was a huge reason for my success. My ability to lay in bed and make funny things was essential to building my blog.

My post on Karl Taylor's Clinque photoshoot had so many comments saying his work "looked photoshopped" and it was a little frustrating.

Firstly because he actually sculpts with light and isn't actually very good at Photoshop. When he takes a picture, it pretty much looks like that from the start. The rest is just minor compositing work and blemish removal.

And secondly, because that kind of product photography predates Photoshop. Karl was doing this when Photoshop was just a baby.

In fact, still life photography was inspired by Dutch paintings of fruit and shit.

They were all, "I cannot stand sitting with another yappy model for days on end. I'm sick of people. I'm just going to paint *stuff* but with really amazing lighting."

But it is also frustrating because there is this mentality that digital tools are lesser. As if digital artists just press a few buttons and cheat-code their way into good images.

It's the same mentality people have about CGI. CG artists are the modern day sculpturists. They do the same thing as Michaelangelo or Rodin, just with different tools and in a different medium. Oh, but they also animate their sculptures in thousands of frames in multiple dynamic lighting environments all while maintaining photorealism.

To me, Thanos is just as artistically impressive as the statue of David or The Thinker.

Blair Bunting is a very talented photographer who mixes incredible photographic technique and lighting with his amazing photo manipulation skills.

And while these photos may not be as "authentic" as that film photographer's picture of a dude sitting on a truck...

I can assure you no laziness was involved in Blair's process.

Also, I really didn't want to bring up disability. But it is really difficult for me to do the physical process of photography. Sometimes I do not have the energy to get the perfect "in camera" exposure. Sometimes I won't even check my settings and I will snap a picture knowing that I can make it cool with editing. I just look at the histogram, make sure the data I need is there, and do the rest on my computer.

During my adventure to photograph a bridge in Alton, I was only able to take 6 photos. Usually I will take hundreds in a session. My fatigue got the better of me and I nearly had to go to the hospital after walking up a hill. (I was having a bad day. I'm better now.) I didn't get the photos I wanted to get. And on the way down that hill, as I was out of breath, I pulled out my phone and tried to snap a pic of something cool I saw in front of me. The phone had been set 2 stops underexposed from a previous shot and so the picture was pretty much all in shadow. And because I was walking super slow, I had just missed the sun over the horizon.

But it's a RAW file. And I knew I could probably do something with it. I could "fix it in post." Not because I was being lazy. Mostly because I was trying not to hyperventilate. Apparently, my body can't handle slight inclines any longer.

And this is what I came up with.

I'm not saying this is an amazing photo. And it would have been really cool if I hadn't missed the sun. But this is what my eyes saw as I came down the hill and I was able to recreate that with digital tools.

I think that is pretty cool.

[sirfrogsworth]

Grammarly, you are drunk.

[sirfrogsworth]

This comment gave me the warm fuzzies.

I think this is why teachers don't quit their jobs despite *gestures at everything wrong with US education*

I really like teaching. And I am hoping I can be successful at photography education. I swear once I get my house situation sorted I will have more bandwidth to work on that.