Another attempt at a decent calling card

Ok, I've taken some of what I learned from my earlier calling card attempt and tried getting a little creative.  I used one of my photos from a shoot here on the Marbella seafront to add a nice little textured background and played around with the colors a bit.  I'm not sure if the text is quite what I'm after, but I'm just messing about really.  I don't think these cards will ever get to meet the printer so I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it.

One style I did implement from my previous card is the way the lines follow each other from front to back.  I like that effect for a card because I think it gives it a bit of flow.  Makes it a bit more interesting.

See the retouched original here

Squatters

I love this photo.  This Catamaran has been parked off the front of Marbella for the past few days and I keep having to take pics of it.  I know, it's a sickness.

Canon PowerShot S50, ƒ/8, 1/80, ISO 50, focal length 15mm.  Some levels, exposure, highlights and colors in Aperture, then in Photoshop I used a white to transparent gradient color dodge from the ground up on the rocks and a reversed gradient from the sky downward applying a color burn.  These last two steps really brought out the highlights.  I exported from aperture using BorderFX.

HDR

Here's my first real attempt at an HDR image using Photoshop.  I took six images with the PowerShot S50 ranging in shutter time from 1/250 to 1/8 with an aperture of f/8.  I left the ISO on auto and it came in at 50.  Focal length was 7.1 mm.

I know there is some halo effect in some parts of the sand and there is a big blue ring spanning the width of the sky, but all in all I'm quite happy for a first run.  The other massive no no here is the shoreline.  HDR doesn't really work with moving subjects, and the waves crashing left me with some severe chromatic aberration.  I think that's what it is.  Anyway, I won't be doing anymore multiple exposure beach shots.  I think I should add some red to the beach as well.

I have touched it.

I went to El Corte Ingles today in Puerto Banus and looked at the K10D in the flesh.  It is hot.  Almost too hot to touch.

Guess how much it was going for... 999 €.  That's like $1500!!!

I told the sales lady I'd think about it.  HA!  In her dreams.  It's Abe's of Maine for me.  Tax free, free shipping and the $100 factory rebate.  That should leave me some pasta left over for a flash and some SDHC cards.

My Calling Card

Here's my entry for the GoMedia Arsenal Calling Card competition.  The requirement was to use one or more vector art samples from the GoMedia Arsenal vector sample pack to create an original calling card, front and back.  I had some help from the Making a Print-Ready Business Card Using Only Photoshop tutorial @ www.psdtuts.com.

Find the competition at: www.freelanceswitch.com.

Welcome to The Creative Agenda!  As the introduction says, I'm just here to add my two cents.  I'd like to start off by letting anyone interested know that I've finally decided which SLR to get.  Nikon and Canon have got a lot going on, but I guess since I busted my SLR cherry with a Pentax I'm gonna stick with what I know.  Of course, having three K mount lenses and a duplicator sitting around might've had something to do with it.

Here's my beauty... future beauty

Pentax K10D