Spy Journal 3.0 Filtering the web for you

Its been a long time since I last updated my book list on here.

Since then I have read the next three books in the Serrano Series by Elizabeth Moon, Rules of Engagement, Change of Command and Against the Odds.  I have one left to read in this series. I also enjoyed her Vatta's War series having read the first 4 books. One more to read in this series also.

Currently I am reading Janny Wurts Light and Shadow series latest book Stormed Fortress.

I am also reading aloud to the kids a lot. I have finished reading Swallows and Amazons and Swallowdale, two of the awesome Arthur Ransome books to the two eldest girls. They really enjoyed the books. Now I am reading Winnie the Pooh to Erin, The Chronicles of Narnia to Jadeen, and The Lord of the Rings to Miranda. We have finished the Magicians nephew and are into the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with Jadeen Miranda pesters me every night to read the next chapter of the Lord of the Rings. Last night we entered Lothlorien. As we have been reading the series we are also watching the movies. So far she has seen the first disc from the first movie and can't wait to finish the Fellowship of the ring so we can watch the second half together. Its been interesting seeing what was left out of the movies or changed to make the movies work better.

I am sure there are some more I have read and forgotten as well. I have received a large number of books for birthday and Christmas since October, and they are all in my to be read book shelf.

Philipp Kohlschreiber from Germany is playing the underdog game of his life. The 29th seed is arguably beating Andy Roddick, the 6th seed. I am watching one of the best underdog games I have ever seen. I think Roddick severely underestimated his rival, based on his past experience of thrashing him. However Kohlschreiber doesn't seem to know the meaning of ranking. He has lead Roddick all the way, sets, breaks, shotmaking, and has now got to a 5th set.

Roddick has lifted his game big time and is now fighting hard. This is great tennis!

Rich Legg is a photographer from Utah. He recently announced a photo shopping contest on his site. i was lucky quick enough to be selected as one of the 5 to submit results.

I have posted my two separate entries to this site and also to my photo archive and the technical and artistic reasons behind my edits are listed below.

Here's my reasoning and technical data
I looked at the photo and it seemed to be a pretty candid shot snapped mid action, but when I thought about it from the perspective of the couple, there was obviously going to be some memories associated with the event. It was obviously a staged candid shot. The railway tracks and the way they were dressed and walking holding hands suggested that a photographer had set this shot up for them – maybe as a anniversary special photo occasion or something. So while wild fantasies of photo shopping an old fashioned steam train in behind them to make them look as if they were in danger crossed my mind (in fact I even found some suitable photos) I didn't attempt this. Instead I reasoned that the couple would be interested in framing this photo on their wall as a memory of this event or time in their lives. So I created two different looks and borders that would lend themselves to printing on canvas or photo paper and framing with a nice frame.
Technical
Shot 1 – the sepia image. First I tightened the shot by cropping substantially. I then copied this onto a larger white canvas to create a large margin. I then changed the image to black and white using a gradient adjustment layer and then added a colour adjustment layer of sepia. I then created a slightly larger selection in the background and filled this with black to give the old time real photo look of the black edges and sepia tone. I then added the text at the bottom. This would look good in an old wooden frame – probably 2-3 inches in width in an old fashioned style.
Shot 2 – the soft edges. Once again I tightened the shot by cropping the extraneous material. I then create a border inside the edge and feathered this by 170 pixels. I then selected the inverse and deleted to create the soft edges. This would look good on a matt photo paper and framed in a thin metal frame, gold or maybe silver.

Welcome to my Mum and Dad who are now reading this blog using an RSS Reader. Thanks to my brother Jono who set it up for them.