Have you ever been working on a file and piled up loads of layers, each layer overlapping the others and contributing something to the end result.  A file this complex can be difficult to do something to. Something as simple as cloning an area because that area may be built from several overlapping layers can be a nightmare.  Trying to run a filter, warp, or distort your image can prove frustrating or impossible.  Don’t run away screaming, there is an answer!  There is a shortcut which will create an empty layer then stamp ALL of your visible layers on to that new layer.  Here’s what to do….

1. Make sure all the layers you want included are turned on and the layers you don’t want included are turned off.  That’s the little eyeball thingy to the left of a layer.  If you see the eyeball the layer is on, if you do not see the eyeball the layer is off, see.

2. Next, choose a layer by clicking on it in your layers palate.  For me it is almost always the top layer.  Photoshop will create the new layer directly above the layer you choose.

3. Now for the magic!  Click these four buttons at the same time….

(shift)+(alt)+(command)+(E)

4. You now have a flattened copy of ALL your visible layers which is easily editable, and all of the other layers have been left in tact.

Recently I was asked to photograph “Jazz At The Trout”.

The Trout Museum of Art in Appleton, WI plays host to a number of premier jazz groups.  I was thrilled to be there for a performance from La Chazz, Latin Jazz.  Below are photographs of every member of the group as well as a panoramic sweep of the entire venue.  I hope you enjoy it, I know I had fun getting these images.

Click on this panoramic for a larger version.

Since this is an active art museum, when you come for the music, take the time to view what is on the walls.  You won’t be disappointed.

The cool nights of late summer have given us some magnificent morning fog.  I recorded this scene on a recent ride to work.  Colorful leaves are not the only beauty that autumn brings.

click on photo for a larger version

One of the many reasons I love riding as opposed to driving is that I experience my surroundings more acutely.  Smells are more intense, (not always a good thing ).

I hear natures sounds, my bike is quiet.  I see things I don’t see while in a car, mostly because I take the roads less traveled and I am not in a hurry.  All of my senses are more alive.

I came across this snapping turtle sunning himself on one of those “less traveled roads” while on my way home.  He is BIG!  It took a lot of motivation from the toe of my boot to convince him to leave the road.  He seemed annoyed.  I think he wanted to make me pay for my insolence.  Eventually he gave up and crawled to the shoulder.

This is a quick snap taken at a park in Sheboygan Falls.  The water usually trickles over this dam.  Right now it is a noisy torrent of white froth.  The recent snow and rain can only add to the volume.  If I get a chance I will take another photo this summer and compare to this one.  Oh, who am I kidding.  I am certain I will take a summer cycle trip in this direction.

New Years Eve 2010.  What did you do that evening?  I went for a walk with my daughter.  It was foggy that night.  A dense fog that could be felt on your face as the air wafted by.  My daughter felt is it was creepy.  She is eleven.  I saw a beauty which is only occasionally seen.  The lights on the bridge quickly faded to black in the distance.  Sound was oddly muted in the thick atmosphere.  This photo is my daughter and my dog on that evening.

Hi everybody.  I got a new bike, new to me anyway.  It is a Yamaha Tmax 500cc.  My first few days I piled up 650 miles.  I had it in Door County for four days.  I would like to share some photos.

click any photo for a larger view

Sometimes who you travel with is more important than where you go or what you see.  It was a simple walk on a trail at Mauthe Lake State Park.  I have walked this 2.5 mile trail before, so has Katie.  It was Chips (the dog) first time.  Part way around the lake the trail split and the one we wanted was off limits to dogs.  Chips continued along the dog friendly trail with my wife and other daughter.  Katie and I finished the lake trail together.  We had a wonderful time, stopping to catch every butterfly, study every dragonfly and talk about the ferns and uprooted trees in the bog.  Katie has a real passion to take in every detail.

click on the photo for larger view

Cray Fish Can’t Pitch!

Okay, this one’s kinda’ weird.  We were at a park celebrating the graduation of one of my wife’s coworkers.  This park has a nice boardwalk, as well as a baseball diamond and playground.  We (my family) decided to take a stroll on the boardwalk.  In order to do so we needed to cross the baseball diamond.  Right behind the pitchers mound I nearly stepped on a cray fish.  Yea, in the middle of the baseball diamond.  “What are you doing here?” I asked.  He didn’t answer.  So I picked him up and released him into the pond you can see in the background.  The ungrateful little bugger tried to pinch me too!

I guess he’s lucky I wasn’t a hungry seagull.

This is a lengthy post (for me) so you may need 5 minutes to get through it all.  More if you click the links.

The Client

Fox Cities Visitors And Convention Bureau

The Assignment

Photograph models on white then create a LARGE Twister mat under them.

First of all, thank you to Shane Van Boxtel for providing excellent photographs to work with.  Thinking ahead to the post production work needing to be done, Shane drew evenly spaced marks on the floor for the models to place their hands and feet.  The result of this forethought, when it came time to place the Twister mat under the models, their hands and feet lined up perfectly with the spots on the mat.  Please take the time to click on Shane’s link above to see more of  his awesome work.

Follow this link to Twister in Wikipedia.  It provides a little history and culture of the game.  Well, I found it interesting anyway.

To begin the project I needed a photo of the models.  Note, you can see the marks on the floor.

I then needed to separate the models from the rest of the photo so The Twister mat could be inserted.

That was easy.  Next came the hard part.  I needed to make the mat and have it look real.  It required proper color, and creases to simulate being folded.  After all, the game mat spends the better part of its life scrunched up in a box, shoved to the back of the top shelf in a cramped closet.  The color was easy, red, blue, yellow and green spots against a white background.

Creating the folded texture was more challenging.  To do this I folded and generally mauled an innocent piece of 8.5×11 copier paper.  I taped said paper to a light booth so the light would strike it at a steep angle accentuating the newly created topography.  See my exciting paper photo.

Still reading?  Good!  Lets move on.  I married the Twister spots and the innocent paper using a technique called Displacement Mapping.  This is waaaay too lengthy to cover here.  Trust me, it works, see the next photo for proof.

Click the photo for a larger view, to see the texture better.

Now to place the mat under our models.  A single mat just wasn’t enough, this needed to be Super Twister!  How about three across and three deep, that’s nine mats.  This GIANT Twister mat required a significant amount of distortion and perspective adjustment to attain the receding perspective necessary to create the illusion of a large space.

Not done yet.  The models are still floating over the mat.  Using the real shadows from the original photo I created new shadows and applied them to this file.  With shadows, the models appear to be “grounded” on the Twister mat.

Click the photo for a REALLY BIG impressive version.

That’s about it.  I told you it was long.  If you made it this far, thanks for reading.

Oh, almost forgot.  I had to do this for five photos.  Once the mat was created I reused it, all that other stuff I did, multiply it by five.