Gothygaze

Long time no see! I'm editing some photos that a friend gave me tonight and this is the first one I've finished.

It's my really awesome friend Valerie, from my "going away present" shoot in September. As a final good-bye before I moved to Australia, a group of my friends came down to Texas for a gothic shoot in the woods. Courtney (click for her DA!) was kind enough to give me the photos on disc in January and I'm just now getting around to editing them for online posting!

I thought that this shot of Val was particularly nice and wanted to share it here.

Of Ears and Shells

Shall I Compare Thine Ear to a Shell by ~ironcageskirt on deviantART

Things have been busy in Sydney (surprise!) but I took some time today to clean up some photos I took ages ago while on a break from other things. Mostly, housewarming invitations, job-hunting and blogging about living in Australia. haha

Hope everyone's doing well!

Moving On: New Project, New Goal

Out of the blogs and websites that I read, the Digital Photography School is one of my favorites. They provide really useful tutorials, hints, tips and discussions on a pretty much daily basis. They also have a "theme of the week" where you're encouraged to shoot in accordance to the theme and share your work with the rest of the virtual class in a sort of show and tell via Flickr, Twitter and so on.

I haven't been taking photos much lately (for starters, my main lens is on the fritz and I need to take it to a repair shop to be serviced and checked over; work has also had me busy as can be). However, I've really been wanting to get back into the habit of doing so. As such, I'm going to start taking photos again on a more regular basis--even if it is only a few times a week for the time being--to participate in the weekly themes.

I'm also going to get back on the wagon for a similar group I'm in on Facebook.

The themes this week? Doors for the DPS and Light for the Facebook group.

Wish me luck!

Sources of Inspiration: Amanda Rynda

So recently, I was browsing through Facebook when a fellow designer friend posted a link to Regretsy. Regretsy is a blog highlighting sellers on etsy who are somewhat less than what we'd call "good". So, expecting something horrible or at the very least, trite, I clicked.

Rather than something bad, I found something amazing.

Photo of the Day: Vampire Vision

 

I've been trying out contact lenses through my eye doctor lately, to find a prescription that is right for me. Unfortunately, it hasn't been going well. My eyes do not like having bits of plastic film slid over their pupils very much.

However, my eyes do like wearing ridiculously red sun glasses with those contact lenses while driving. The world takes on all kinds of funky, high-contrast distortions!

Photo of the Day: Jumbo Chibi

If I have to explain why this is funny, you'll probably call me a weaboo.

Photo of the Day: Reality

Every five hours, four times a day, I take two of these pills. Eight pills a day, fifty-six pills a week, two thousand, nine-hundred, twenty pills a year.

Photo of the Day: Reaching High

When I was a kid, before I turned into a smart-alec-know-it-all, I liked to pretend that clouds were the ghosts of trees that had passed on. I made up a whole mythology about how they were trees that had been chopped down before their time and that rain was their tears, falling back to Earth to nurture their descendents.

I was a weird kid.

Photo of the Day: Wheeeeee ...!

Back when I used to work in a press shop, some nights, I had to stick around to answer the phones even when I'd finished up my tasks for the day. On nights like those, I used to take silly photos of the office (particularly while running the collation machine).

As you can tell from this photo, it was often boring "work" to wait for the clock to strike five and often I ended up taking silly snaps of various things around the office. Like my loop. And my feet. These photos make me smile looking back, but I really, really do not miss that job.

Has there been anything that's made you smile lately? Any silver linings to your rainclouds?

Photo of the Day: Hide & Seek

While I was taking photos for the Sunny 16 article, I came across this little dragonfly hiding in the plants. He was very, very well-blended with his surroundings and so entirely unafraid of me. I don't think he was more than an inch and a half long!

I got right in and snapped several nice close-up shots of him.

I only wish that I could have gotten closer so that you could see the actual segmentation of his eyes, but the plants were all in the way and I didn't want to scare him off. I've uploaded this image at a higher resolution than usual, so feel free to click on the thumbnail!

What kind of critters have you seen in your back yard lately?

Photo of the Day: Friendly Familiar

Red-eyed, grey-scaled little snakey familiar! Now I can be a real witch.

While I was out shopping recently, I came across this friendly little face in a rack of sterling silver jewelry. Being a sucker for snakes (and unable to wear the other ones I'd found and liked before due to the stupid nickle content in most costume jewelry), I pounced on her.

She hasn't left my thumb since I bought her! Well. Short of the necessary times like showering and washing my hands.

Have you made any exciting purchases recently?

Tricks and Tips: Sunny 16

This photo was shot with the following:
f/16, ISO 400, shutter speed 400 on a 90mm macro lens

With summer droning on, I've been doing rather a lot of photos outdoors. The weather has been on-and-off between gorgeous and disastrously hot, with a heavy bias on the beautiful (especially in terms of skies). When the sun's out in full force, exposure can get tricky because of dark shadows and glare. But, there are ways around it! Because I've been shooting so much out doors compared to the rest of the year, it got me to thinking about my days in photography classes and the things I learned there.

Sitting in a small high school class room, surrounded by flip-top desks and gum smacking girls, I first learned about "Sunny Sixteen". Our instructor was a large man with a passion for the Wild West, buffalo riding and cameras. The room smelled like a mix of stop bath and cheap floral perfume that I will forever associate with the dark room, no matter how many times I enter a new one.

Photo(s) of the Day: Mac(cas)rons

Go, Big Green! These were mint cocoa shells with bittersweet chocolate and Kahlua filling.

On Sunday, I tried out a recipe for macarons (or as my boyfriend calls them, 'maccas-rons', after their resemblance to small burgers) that was listed in the local newspaper a while ago. I also did a repeat on Wednesday when a photo shoot got canceled.

They came out pretty well for a first (and second) attempt! Albeit the first batch was very green.

Photo of the Day: En garde! Lost Photos

I normally try to get photos of my outfits before I head out for the day, but it doesn't always happen that I actually post them to Daily Lolita like I intended. Especially when they're this casual!

Actually, it almost never happens that I post to Daily Lolita these days. But what can I say? At least it gives me photos to post! I think I have at least three backlogged outfits on the drive and will probably have more stockpiled by the time I actually get around to posting.

Photo of the Day: Wandering the Woods

So how's everybody doing these days?

Keeping busy? Keeping up-beat?

I know I have. At least, on the busy front.

Lately, I have written up a bunch of tutorials, articles and the like, but have yet to actually post them. Mostly because I haven't had the time to take the photos for them yet, so it'd be silly to put them up. How am I supposed to show off a particular technique without actually demonstrating it? Whoops.

Photo of the Day: Distractions

Distractions, a photo by kate.ruggeri on Flickr.

I've had a lot of distractions lately, myself. Mostly personal things that keep me from maintaining the goals I set for myself earlier this year in regards to my health and other aspects of my life. But. Things are getting better.

As mentioned in the last post, I leave for Australia in September. The 24th to be precise.

So between then and now, I'm in the process of organizing my life, putting things into storage that I won't be taking along (like my sewing machine and a lot of the fabric I've stockpiled), preparing items I will be taking along for shipping (such as my photography equipment, some of my lolita clothing and a lot of practical, daily-wear attire) and just getting life in order.

Need to finalize my travel insurance, among other things, and then I'm off!

Photo of the (last two dozen or so) Day(s): Awkward Noon Romance

Awkward Noon Romance, a photo by kate.ruggeri on Flickr.

Life has gotten busy. Work. Work. Work. And other things.

I got a break this weekend to do a photo shoot with some Full Metal Panic! cosplayers (whom I met ... at work). After extensive editing due to REALLY AWFUL MIDDAY SUN, I got a few shots that look pretty decent.

Also, I have big news: my work-holiday visa has cleared. I'm going to Australia in September.

BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING! :D

Photo(s) of the Day: It's Show Time!

The Ringmaster - Click for larger view

The Lion - Click for larger view

Have had a bit of a break lately, but the good news is that I had a job interview with a big company in the area (which will hopefully yield a new job) and my doctor will have word for me on Tuesday as to what's been plaguing me since October. Huzzah!

Partly to celebrate a day off, partly to test a new method of backdrop (that I can STAND in), partly to test some coordinates for a later photoshoot AND partly to participate in a contest, I took these photos. I'm pretty happy with the overall results, but I still need to learn more about lighting. D'oh.

Hope you like 'em!

How-To: Taking a Self-Portrait

Very much like taking an outfit snap, you have a lot of options in shooting a self-portrait. I'm going to focus on one particular style, as shown above.

For this particular How-to, you will need the following:

1. Your camera
2. A tripod or stable surface on which to rest your camera
3. A stand in (to focus on) or a remote release

Let's begin!

Digital Photography: Basic Dodge and Burn

A lot of lolitas have a bias against over-processing or editing their photos, but removing a blemish or two and enhancing your natural features for the sake of a nicer image can be done without a big production.

Every photographer has their personal techniques and preferences, in this series, I'll talk a little bit about my basic process for preparing and editing photos. These little tutorials are mostly for beginners, rather than Photoshop experts, but will become more advanced as they progress.

For this particular post, I will discuss a simple way to brighten your eyes and touch up your make up as well as hide wrinkles and creases.