chuckography

The Invisible Man? His car?

No, wearing sunglasses does not make you disappear.

I know, I know, in the movies - and on television - people who want to hide usually put on shades.

They dye their hair (I'd also have to do my 'brows).

Or grow a beard if there is enough time.

Dressing differently is also part of a disguise we see in films.

Some people use plastic surgery to alter their looks. A different nose. Puff up cheeks with injections.

Hmmm. Never have seen a person's ears changed.

They're pretty prominent and unique but usually  not included in a nip & tuck by the surgeon.

But that's all about looking different.

Basically just details.

I'm talking about disappearing.

Like driving a stealth car during a recent road trip up to Charlotte.

When you come up behind a shiny truck, and watch the reflection, you expect to see yourself. Mirror-like.

You and your car looking back. At you and your car. Well, technically, I was in the passenger seat. Kind of creepy when you're NOT there.

It had already been a strange trip.

I went to Charlotte to celebrate the Blues.

To see Eric Clapton in concert. A Legend.

I could tell I was really getting into the music genre when I saw a picture a friend took of me when we got to town.

The Avatar in IMAX 3-D? Poppa Smurf?

The Blue Man Group?

This had happened before.

Changing colors around I mean.

The green was close to March 17 so I can understand that happening. It's an Irish thang.

This whole topic about changes and appearances revolves around the lack of reflection on the back of a milk tank truck.

As I recall instances when "I wasn't myself," these images came to mind.

And there are others.

It all goes back to my love of photography.

And tools that change things when you use them in post-production. That's the time period after you've put down the camera for the day.

In my youth, they were called "darkroom tricks." Now, they are named "Topaz plug-ins" that you use with your computer to change reality or, at least, to enhance it.

Of course I had erased the image of the car from the rear of the shiny truck and I had shifted the whole color spectrum to BLUE, using various plug-ins in combination with my basic photo software called Photoshop Elements 10.

Another example of the fun and diversity of using these creative tools is the treatment I made of a shot of twin oaks.

Here is a BEFORE and AFTER of the beautiful moss-draped twin oaks. With several signs.

I saw and snapped this image during a Photo Walk last Saturday down in Rockville.

About 17 of us went there with our cameras a week before the 123rd annual Rockville Regatta.

I won't say which is which.
(Click on the photos to see more detail.)

I bought a new Topaz enhancement tool today called Camera Lenses. It lets you go back and create effects that could have been done if you had a different set of lenses. A "fisheye" look added later.

A shallow DOF (Depth Of Field) that makes the object in front really separate from the now-blurred background.

This will help me fill the gap between my small digital camera and those biggies that the big boys carry around.

And I still have a camera that fits in my pocket.

Size matters.

Labels: Blue Man Group, Charlotte road trip, King of the Blues, March 17 green, milk tanker truck, mirror-like, nip & tuck, Pappa Smurf, plastic surgeon, reflections, Rockville, S.C., stealth car, Topaz plug-ins

posted by chuckography @ 9:21 PM