Prints for whatever you want to pay.

For those who were around a long, long time ago, you may remember that I once gave my Pres. Hinckley prints away, and gladly accepted any contributions or donations toward future printings. I have now officially reinstated this deal for both the Pres. Hinckley and Pres. Monson prints. The more you donate, the longer it might last.

~Tom

Reduced Prices!

In an effort to make my LDS prints more widely available (i.e. sell more), I have [substantially] lowered their prices. Tell your friends. It may not be permanent.

www.thomasvirginart.com

~Tom

A lesson from the Obama Administration

"If the Government can achieve reform and progress through greater transparency and accountability via weekly broadcasts and publicizing statistics, so can I," I though to myself. Yes, I actually thought that to myself. Well, no I didn't. At least those were not the exact words that went through my mind. But I'll tell you why it was a bad idea. Now, for the greater good, I have to expose myself and my projects to public scrutiny. It means I will have to post things that are unfinished or imperfect, which will drive me crazy. It ought to be therapeutic. Enjoy it.

I'll be posting statistics, and yes, a weekly broadcast. The statistics will be a description of where I am vs. where I should be on my Marathon training schedule. The broadcast will be a recording of some trombone piece or other that I am working on that week.

So to kick this off:

Week 5

Long Run Expected: 4.4 miles

Long Run Actual: 3.6 miles

And my broadcast (if this works):

Telemann Fantasia No. 9 (a duet I recorded with myself—sorry about the pause at the beginning)

Click Here

My latest creation...

My wonderful wife bought me Corel Painter X for Christmas, and this week I found some time to start using it. It's so cool! It's very organic and responsive, with the ability to tweak the feel of the brushes to your personal taste. However, I've done very little painting in the past. And though Painter X is really an incredible program, it has a bit of a learning curve. This is the first decent thing to come out all week. The fact that I have posted a piece of artwork that I'm not completely happy with is a testament to the progress I've made in suppressing my perfectionistic tendencies... It is, however, close to what I was going for—something fun, colorful, and illustrative.

My Creative Checklist

We're all dying to know the secrets of the creative geniuses around us, so being one myself (cough...), I thought I'd share one. A secret, that is. Well, it isn't really a secret. I just said that to keep you interested. It is a checklist that reminds me of the obvious, but easily forgotten, principles and elements of art. Which I do tend to forget. Hence the list. Here it is:

• Accessible
• Balance
• Clever
• Color Harmony
• Composition
• Continuity
• Contrast
• Curiosity
• Direction
• Fun
• Goal
• Humor
• Inspirational
• Lighting
• Meaning
• Memorable
• New
• Own it!
• Patterns
• Personality
• Quality
• Realism
• Rhyme
• Rhythm
• Simple
• Story
• Subtle
• Texture
• Typography

With these reminders I have avoided more than a few crimes against aesthetics. Remember—it's not about what you know. It's about what you remember. So if you need to, make a list. Or swipe this one...

~Tom

Photoshop Tutorial - Whitening Teeth

Whitening teeth in Photoshop (like most tasks in Photoshop) can be done in more than a dozen ways.  And having done it in at least a dozen ways myself, on many hundreds of photos, I thought I'd describe the quickest and most effective method I've found.  Here goes...

Open your image of hideously yellow teeth (like mine in the photo below).

Open a Hue & Saturation adjustment layer (from the half-black, half-white circle at the bottom of your layers palette. Going to image > adjustments > hue and saturation will not work. You'll see why...).  In the drop-down box that says "Master," select "Yellows."  Slide your lightness all the way to the right.  Click OK.

You can see that the skin looks splotchy where the yellows were both lightened and desaturated.  The teeth are much improved, but overdone.

Invert the adjustment layer mask by clicking on it in the layers palette, and press cmmd/ctrl-i.  This should hide the effect.  With the mask still selected, paint the effect back in over the teeth with a medium-sized, soft, white brush.

Still too strong, so lower the opacity of the adjustment layer to about 50%, and voila.

It's an extremely fast, non-destructive, and effective method of whitening teeth in Photoshop.

~Tom 

Manfrotto 458B Neo Tec Pro Photo Tripod Review

I was a lucky, lucky little boy this Christmas. My father-in-law was kind enough to give me the Manfrotto Neo Tec Tripod and Manfrotto Compact Ballhead with Rapid Connect Plate (to replace my Benro carbon fiber tripod with compact ballhead that was stolen during a flight in September). I've been using it frequently, and hope this brief review will be helpful to those of you who are looking to buy a new tripod.

Price - $365
Rating - 8 out of 10
Pros - Wicked fast. And easy to use. And did I mention fast? It's really as cool a mechanism as it looks/sounds. All you do is pull the legs out, and you're ready to shoot. Push the buttons at the top of each leg, and the whole thing collapses back down. The legs are thick and stable. The biggest complaint I had with my Benro was that the smallest leg section was too small, and pretty flexible, so there was a lot more movement and vibration than I ever get with this tripod. The rubberized carrying strap is nice. The bubble-level is nice. The legs can be positioned so the tripod is almost flat on the ground, which I find useful, since I do that sort of thing. The rubber feet do a good job of keeping the legs from slipping and moving. Another complaint I had with my old tripod was that sand and dirt got into the legs, which made tightening, untightening, and extending them more difficult. The bottom leg section of this tripod is on the outside, rather than the inside, meaning that the first connection between leg sections is about 18 inches off the ground. No more sand problems. Brilliant. And I like the weight. It's not too heavy to carry around (not nearly as bad as studio tripods), but heavy enough to keep your camera very stable even in strong wind. For 30 minute exposures. Perfect.
Cons - The mechanism for positioning the center column horizontally is about the worst idea I've seen since avacado icecream (no offense to you avacado-icecream-lovers out there...maybe you'll like this feature). You actually have to twist the bottom of the center column (for a while) before the head mount comes off. Then you loosten the adjustment knob for the center column, remove the column, and stick it through a different hole in the top mechanism. You then replace the head mount by re-tightening the bottom of the center column. Sound fun? It isn't. At least it can go horizontal... Other than that, I can't think of another complaint I've had with it.

My pet-peave is stupid tripods. I always use a tripod. And a ballhead. And a wireless-shutter release. And mirror lock-up. So if you're also a little neurotic about sharp images, and are in the market for a new tripod, (and have $400 to drop on one) I highly recommend the Manfrotto Neo Tec. And everyone else can go eat avacado icecream.

~Tom