The Munchkin's Notebook

Today I spent some time working on my Photoshop skills, by removing annoying backgrounds from photos and creating collages. I used the photos I took at Katsucon for this exercise since, I thought I took some nice portraits but the backgrounds were distracting and full of random people.  I created my own backgrounds for most of these pictures except in a few cases.  You can see some of the final results here:  http://munchkinphotos.smugmug.com/Portraits/Cosplay .  I also worked on creating some collages. I made two for my Munchkin Photos Facebook page cover photos. The most difficult part of the process was identifying which pictures to use and showcase the variety of my work. I also made one of compilation of images depicting the same lady cosplayer showing different expressions. This was a simpler collage since it was all the same person, though the sizing of the images was a bit challenging.  Overall I think the collages came out ok. I now plan on u...

On Friday, February 14 th I went to an anime convention for the first time in my life.  Now a little disclosure, this was my husband’s idea (he is the one who watches anime, I’m usually in the room working on photos so only half pay attention to the episodes) as a way for me to expand my photography portfolio.   I have to say it was a unique experience.  We showed up at the convention center in the late afternoon of the first full day, and were thankful we got the VIP tickets. We just walked in, picked up our badge and were on our way.  This meant we skipped the hour long wait in line for our badge. From there we wandered around a bit, in the merchant’s hall, outside and in the atrium area before our first event/experience the “Maid Café”.  Yes, we ate at the Maid Café for our special Valentine’s Day dinner. It was a fun experience we had a crossplay maid (guy playing a girl) who was very entertaining, the food was pretty good too.   Then ...

Happy couple and their dog Today I got to be part of a beautiful couple’s special moment, by capturing their elopement .  The two ladies hail from Colorado but recently moved to Ohio for a job.  After being together for several years they decided to take the next step; so, they traveled from Ohio to DC to get married (with their dog).  Sadly the weather in DC was typical dreary cold winter day without snow to make the city look pretty, however, the couple still shined with joy.  It was simple quick little exchange of vows and signing of the marriage certificate.   I got to capture the exchange of vows and some pictures afterward before they got back into their car to head back home to Ohio.  I was happy I could capture the moment for them. I captured the moments with my camera set to aperture priority set at f/10 and a 200 ISO.  The background for the photos was across from the Archives metro stop across from the Navy Memorial.  ...

Every year there is a Chinese New Year Parade in DC’s China town; sadly, the parade is slowly deteriorating and becoming smaller and smaller.  Also people are just not being courteous, they move out into the street in front of the parade marchers and the security isn’t keeping the parade watchers on the sidewalk.  It is also becoming more and more difficult, to take pictures politely without having people with their phone and iPads jumping in front of me.  So I think this was my last year photographing the Chinese New Year Parade.  I did get a few nice shots of the dragon dancers.  I shot at ISO 200 at F10 with a 1/160s shutter. You can see all the parade pictures here.