I’m playing with the Totally Rad Photoshop Actions and used quite a few on the image here. I worked on the below image with the Totally Rad and TRA2 – The Revenge actions.
Before:
After:
The recipe for this was the following:
- Can-O-Whoopass (100% with layer masking hiding people)
- Claire-ify (71% with layer making to lighten faces)
- Yin-Yang (Yang 61% with layer masking to bring back some dark clothing)
- Orange You Glad… (40% with layer masking to lessen red on faces)
- Boutwell Magic Glasses (100% with layer masking to hide faces)
- Rusty Cage (40% with layer masking to affect only background)
- Pro Retouch (30% with layer masking to affect faces only) with Eye Bump (19%)
- Slice Like A Ninja (100% with layer masking to affect only a few details – rings, glasses)
- Prettyizer
- Burn-Out
I’ll probably find the image too overcooked in the morning (upon smaller export it looks even more cooked — oh well), but it was an exercise to learn the different actions. I’ve used the OnOne plugins, and they’re good as well, but I see how Actions are a more surgical solution as you have access to many of the steps that make up the action and you can adjust each step independently. Using layer masks to apply the effect only where needed is key as well. Overall, I’m impressed with the range of effects offered by the Totally Rad actions.
, illustrated in the screenshot below:
using a new timer I purchased from 
for this one, so you get a full view of everything.
sitting on the dash attached to a 
. The resulting video was brought into 
and put together with the audio. The G9 was set to timelapse video mode, shooting at 1 second intervals, with the ND filter turned on for the longest exposure possible.
would have probably come in handy with its better low light capabilities.
. The backpack remains awesome and it’s carrying just about everything I need – I don’t know that I’d want to take more or go heavier anyway. The bag ended up approximately 23lbs. in weight. It could be made lighter with a Macbook Air, but you have to show some restraint 
. This is for an upcoming trip to Capetown, South Africa for touring and Botswana for safari. My kit for the trip is listed below. In the video I start with the backpack loaded and unload it an item at a time.
for remote strobing
provides great performance at a high RAM count – see the results on the 
.
looks pretty impressive. Canon has been quickly falling behind Nikon in the upper models, but the 50D looks like it’ll be enough to keep some Canon shooters in the Canon camp for a while. There’s a nice preview up on 
card from Fry’s and put it in the 
, and determined that I couldn’t fit any additional gear inside (perhaps less). The R-103 is a good bag, and provides additional padding and tripod carrying capability on the back, so it could be a decent choice if that’s what you’re looking for.
. Flashes were set to 1/16 power at their widest focal length. Shooting with strobes permits a fast shutter speed which allows you to get a fairly sharp photo without a tripod which speeds up your workflow. The macro lens requires a smaller aperture than you’re used to with a normal lens. f/8 was just starting to provide enough focus throughout the subjects. 
