And today's pinup is.....

More Mars bomber photos. First one shows my house at the bottom of the picture.

A fire has been burning 8km East of Big White ski resort this afternoon. The Mars bomber has been flying directly over Gallaghers Canyon since mid-afternoon on runs between Lake Okanagan and Big White.


Here are some shots taken directly outside my house.

K, who is 3, wanted to go to the store to buy lipstick yesterday. I was so shocked (I don't even wear lipstick myself except rare occasions) that I told her that she wasn't allowed to wear lipstick until she was 15!

Photo: K (lipstick-less), using the Lightroom, New Mexico Road split tone filter. 2 August 2007.

I just found a great pastel forum on Wet Canvas and each month they have a challenge to create a pastel painting from a photo.

This is my first time doing the challenge. Here is my painting:
Painted with NuPastels, Rembrandts and Sennelier on Canson mi-teintes 9x12 paper (dark grey).

If you are a regular reader you'll know that I tried and gave up on Photoshop Lightroom shortly after its release, mainly as it didn't support multiple computers (I use both a laptop and a desktop). Anyway, now that version 1.1 has been released there is some support for multiple computers, namely the ability to export and import/sync you catalogs (i.e. export laptop catalog and import to desktop catalog, repeating this process will keep the two in sync).

But while I was at it I stumbled across some free Lightroom Presets that are worth downloading if you are a Lightroom user. You can pick them up here.

For those of you that aren't familiar with the presets, you will find some basic ones available in the Develop module. A preset is a set of instructions that tell Lightroom how to "develop" that photo. Examples include black and white/sepia conversions as well as white balance, tone, contrast, exposure, curves etc. A preset can have a single or many associated instructions to provide infinite effects. You can create your own presets or import ones that you find online and you can apply them individually or on a group of photos during an import.

Basically you preview the preset by hovering over its name (don't click or you'll apply it) and viewing the preview window. If you like the preset effect then select it and your photo will change (you can always undo if you don't like it).

Hmmm, I'm gonna get a rep' for either disliking Photoshop or the beauty/cosmetics industry, but I am continously amazed at the lengths some people go to edit images of beautiful women to try to sell cosmetics and beauty products.

Here's an eye opening video for ya! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PWdW4BruF4