This letter is to explain why I have not been active on the computer.
I have been in ill health since my last hip replacement which resulted in some complications,
in addition I have had some serious problems caused by a spinal condition. I have a problem with walking and sitting that limits the time that I can do either without incurring pain. As a consequence my time on the commuter is very limited, there are days when I do not open the machine. I am going to start attending a Pain Clinic hoping that doing so will be enable me to return to doing what I enjoy doing, teaching.
I will start from your most recent letter and work back. Your new site is a very good collection of work. The site is complete and has much information, just how much of making the site is done by you?
There was a recall of my army days when I read the names of some the cities you had listed. One of my jobs was to gather the news of the war for my outfit. As the war went from Guadalcanal where I was, up to the Philippines I was responsible for letting the troops know what was happening. When the army landed on your islands I got to know many of the cities. Near the end of the war I was sent home on leave and my outfit went to the Philippines. I may have mentioned that before. One of my close buddies who went there just recently died, I remember the photos he showed me of some of the beautiful natural scenes.
Is there anything constructive happening about the destruction of the historical area? Are the young people in the area interested in their heritage? So many young people everywhere are just interested in the “Now” and do not have any ties with the past.
Your shot of the boars head had good lighting and showed a good deal of texture, how was it lit? What kind of handwoven work is Clara doing? Bettie was into handwork before she lost part of her fingers. I know she would appreciate seeing some of Clara’s work. What kind of work has been your main source of photographic income? Is the making of the greeting cards still a current project? I have shown those you sent me to many people here, always hearing good comments.
Now back to the Sler photos you sent way back in November. With your knowledge of Photoshop you can do things that would not ordinarily be possible. You mentioned that you wished you had more depth of field to get the printing sharper on the product. In studios here many times products are shot separately and then combined in PS. You could have done that with the two hams in the background. First shoot the scene without the hams, then place the hams in the set. Remove all other things and shot the hams separately obtaining sharp focus. Then combine both images in PS. Using that kind of thinking it is possible to get overall sharpness not possible with a single setup.
Using an adjustment layer and cloning, the break in the ham slice could be eliminated. Don’t worry if some of the cloning goes to far, use the background eraser to clean up.
Next is the candle. Again by placing the candle in the complete set where you want it and then removing everything, you can shoot the candle as a single unit with the flame against a darker back ground. Combining it on a separate layer gives you the option of erasing anything you don’t need, and you can blend it right into the rest of the image. Much of commercial work here is done this way, shooting separately and then combining images. The trick is not to move the camera position and to not change the basic lighting as each part is shot. Keep the same exposusre for all shots.
“Is there a way to put ALT Text for entire table, not just on image?” This sentence is not clear to me, please expand.
As for how you did this web page, it is all Greek to me!
That brings me up to date with your mail to me. I am just sorry that it took so long to answer.
Hakon, have you done any serious work in black and white? If so I would like to see some of it.
It is good to be talking to you again,
Phil
