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Bill Pador > Well this week hasn't been too good for me health wise. My injuries have taken their toll once again especially with the rain we're having but today is a bit better. I've done nothing but sleep on & off the last 2 days but I still feel exhausted because it's 45 min. on 30 min. off type of sleep, while tossing & turning in pain. Ah the life of being disabled really is interesting LOL. I'd pay anything to be normal again but that just isn't going to happen so I'll smile when I can and keep praying for a miracle to happen some day. This is another of my tulips that came up this week, nothing special but they sure do smell wonderful. Hoping that each of you is having a wonderful week and have yourself a great weekend. Hopefully I will be getting 'Smiling Joe' on his way around the world some time next week. I can't wait to get this project off the ground and start seeing all of your wonderful photos coming in. Once Joe meets up with his Traveling Partner things should go smoothly, I've spent countless days & weeks preparing this project so hopefully it will run smoothly, then it's all up to you and your wonderful skills to make this 3 year dream come alive. Thank you to every one who signed up for the project to make this a success, I'm very excited to see the results. God Bless & Have a Great Weekend Everyone ! ~Bill~
Bill Pador > I set out over to the mall tonight to shoot the sunset which is usually pretty spectacular there for some reason. It has a nice mountain range behind it in the west and I have a favorite spot with no parking lot lights in my way. This shot was set up with a custom white balance with a kelvin around 10,000. Shot so as to silhouette the stores in front of the mountain that can be seen sometimes. Then into CS3 to tweak the colors, do some creative burning and then added several layers of vignettes and then created the custom framing. Thanks for all the well wishes & welcoming back. I'm feeling much much better, 100% in fact and have been enjoying life again. As long as my creative mind is cranking I always feel like a million bucks because it allows me to relax & enjoy the thing I like doing most and that's shooting frames and creating my art work. Hope you all enjoy the image and Thank You again for the warm welcome back ;) ~Bill~
Bill Pador > "From Dusk Till Dawn" OK I broke down and finally felt the courage to do a semi proper SP since my buddy John (You know who you are LOL) pounded us with a few SP's in recent days. This is my interpretation of a Self Portrait 'MUG SHOT' layout depicting me in a duel format of Dusk Till Dawn (a favorite movie of mine as well) with the left one showing me after a hard day behind the shutter and the right showing what a fresh razor & some hair gel can do for this photographer LOL. PP consists of some slight portrait softening (glamour treatment - I can use all the help I can get) and then running it through Alien Skins B&W Film plug-in using 'Ilford SFX 200' B&W film (grain off) and a split frame. So there it is, I've done my SP part for the year so don't ask for another one or I'll be forced to run away to Alaska for a few short months to bury my head in the snow until it thaws in the spring time. Thanks for forcing this upon me John, no further inspiration for SP's is needed from you now buddy !!! LOL Have a great day folks PS: I took SUNITA's suggestion & entered this image into the DGrin SP Contest, Ugg what was I thinking LOL??? Wish me luck ;) . . .Contest has now passed. . . .
Bill Pador > Happy Halloween Month ! Tis the season for Color, color & more color! So that's why I brought in my artistic vision of, well COLOR ! A box of Crayola Crayons contains so much color that I like to call it "The BOX OF VIVID LIFE". Depending on which size/amount box you have you can make just about any color on earth by mixing & matching, blending & smearing, you get the point. That's why I feel that photographing a box of super silky wax is so much fun and deserves a place as my 1st image of the month of color! Shot in my still life studio with a single diffused light, shallow DOF, Multiple Layers, color & tone adjustments, NIK Color Efx Pro filters, added some texture and laid it into the crayons along with customizing a radical vignette to top it off and you get MY abstract Version of a simple box of Crayons ;) I can't wait to see all the fall color images that will soon start pouring into the daily galleries, so much talent & artistic visions will be shared among us and the public it's gonna be a wild party folks, so hang tight and get ready for a colorful ride down 'Landscape Alley' !!! Hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoyed my wacky rant LOL No I'm not crazy (well maybe a little) I'm just feeling good and lovin life today :) Feel free to join me - It's Free !!! PS: If you would all take a minute to read my this months gallery introduction @ the top of the page I would appreciate it. . . . Best Regards, ~Bill~
Bill Pador > "Heart of Smoke" Best Viewed @ XLarge Good Monday folks, I hope all of you who celebrate Easter had a wonderful holiday with your families, ate some good food and enjoyed the company of others. Today was a very good day for me pain wise and I felt like a million bucks, so I felt like playing around with my new flash the mighty SB-900 and wanted to play with duel off camera flash. In doing so I went back to one of my favorite hobbies and that is playing with SMOKE Art. This piece was conceived almost immediately upon shooting this frame, as soon as I saw the raw shot in the LCD I knew it was going to be a HEART just by the half shape I saw emerge in the LCD. Kinda looks like one of those crystal displays that light up only in 3D don't ya think ? The last time I did one of my smoke creations I received a ton of emails asking me HOW to do it, so today I present a basic step-by-step for those interested in trying this fun project: "The Process & Layout" This shot is actually one frame that I duplicated and flipped horizontally on a separate layer using screen mode to blend it to make the final image. So imagine HALF of it down the middle and that's what the original raw shot looked like. Then I took my own technique I've developed to change the colors of the smoke and came up with this color scheme to highlight the heart in the middle with a small flame at the top as if lit like a candle, like a heart on fire. "The Set Up & Execution" The lighting setup consisted of the SB-900 in front of the camera at 5 O'clock facing 11 O'clock tilted upward at 45' using the wide angle diffuser and bounce card engaged set as a slave unit @ 1/80th power with a black background to the rear. On the other side was a SB-600 same settings pointed at 2 O'clock bunch card & wide angle diffuser @ 1/80th power. My D300 pop up flash was set as the Master TTL unit set only as a Master unit with no flash engaged to set off the SB600 & 900. 2 DIY reflectors made of tin foil on card board were placed in the far corners of the set to reflect a small amount of light back into the scene to create the 3D effect in the smoke. Smoke was generated from 2 small incense sticks directly below the lens dead center approx. 12" from the lens. When doing this technique I recommend that you MANUAL focus on the Incense STICK then adjust your lens just above it. The camera is set on a tripod along with using a wired trigger so I can concentrate on watching the smoke come up with both eyes and setting it off when I see a shape developed with the smoke and then firing, Camera settings are SS=1/80th @ f/10 ISO 640 zoomed to 75mm, be sure to use your lens hood to prevent lens flair since the flash is so close and to the side.. "Some Finishing Tips" You may have to adjust your focus after seeing how sharp or soft you want the smoke to look. I also recommend that you do this in a SMALL area that does not have any wind what so ever so the smoke rises as straight up as possible. I do this in my studio with large 3' x 2' card board slats on each side and I block the bottom of both office doors with some towels to keep any breeze from the house out because ANY breeze even the slightest will make things rough and screw your smoke up. Once you have smoke layers blended you then select an area, create HUE & SATURATION layer and adjust for the colors you want then merge the layers after each color adjustment. Then I use the Smudge tool to blend any harsh lines where the colors meet using a low opacity and many passes to make the blend natural looking. I've created a SET DIAGRAM on HOW TO Layout your set to shoot smoke art CLICK HERE TO VIEW If anyone has any questions about using this technique yourself please feel free to post or email them to me, I'd be happy to help. It's a lot of fun guys so give it a try ! ~Bill~
Bill Pador > "The In-Sense Rose" Challenge Code for 'SENSE' 12/29/08 The Sense Challenge...12/29/08 The Challenge: Show us your interpretation of the word, "Sense," or any spelling of the word. The Participants: Kre8ive, John (300m), The Curious Camel, Creative Deviance, Johnloguk, MyKey, Trevlan, MSpencer, and myself. The Result: Until Saturday Morning I had no clue on what I wanted to do for this weeks challenge shot. My original idea was to shoot a pair of Givenchi cologne bottles I received for Christmas (for the Sense of Smell) but then it hit me right in the face because of some Incense sticks I also got - So the In-Sense Rose (or Incense) was born. I shot several streaks of incense smoke burning and then off I went into CS3 to create this piece using the techniques I developed while doing my Smoke Art Creations. This piece was created entirely using 3 different smoke patterns, then individually mirrored and placed side by side. The colors then created using various layering techniques and masking to form it the way I wanted it to look. Then I applied a blank white canvas behind it and placed a texture into the piece to give it some body, then finally the lettering was added. Looking at it you can see a pair of Abstract Roses at the top with some fire flames burning in the middle to light the roses and some lets say carnations on the out sides of the bouquet. Use your imagination and you'll see what ever flowers or objects you want, that's the beauty of art isn't it! I had a lot of fun with this challenge, I hope you enjoy my entry ~Bill~
Bill Pador > "Dream or Nightmare" I was forced to sit in the house all day because of the huge snow storm going on outside and had lots of time to play around in the still life studio today. after using a Scrabble Board for my Challenge shot I was looking in my game closet and saw this old classic and wanted to do something with it too. I had so many titles flowing through my head with this scenario because if you know the game of Monopoly you know this is not a good situation for the payer on the right. So I made this shot knowing I would be sitting here with many titles to name it and had to decide on one, but with 15" of snow outside I had plenty of time to do so LOL and titling it would be just as fun as as the shot. I decided on "Dream or Nightmare" because it really is BOTH, one to one player and the other for the other, confused yet? Stay with me it gets better - The shot shows one player owning the GOLDEN STREET with houses & hotels with the opposing player already having landed on an expensive rent property, down to his last $20, no property and having rolled a dreaded (5) placing him on the most expensive property in the game - *Boardwalk* - w/Hotel on it. That's a MONOPOLY FOLKS ! So then came the titles artistically flowing through my head, here they are: Game Over - End Of Story - Your Bought & Paid For - Nightmare on Elm Street - That's Gonna Leave a Mark - Hogans Alley - Like a Duck Shoot - Your Beat - Time to Pack up & Go Home - I Hate This Game - This is Gonna Hurt - Better Days Ahead - Real life - Time To Mortgage The Farm - Dead in the Water - The REAL Wall Street - Time To Gamble - You Lose and finally I WIN ! ROTFL So you see besides deciding on the DOF to use, titling it was a real headache LOL Thanks for all the great comments on yesterdays image and thanks for another year of the Dailies, I look forward to sharing many more fun images here. . . Have a great Day folks ! ~Bill~
Bill Pador > "Wardrobe Malfunction" Ask Me How LONG I walked Around like This PLEASE ? ROTFL ! ! ! OK so this is not a Work of Art - It is a TRUE 'DAILY' entry and a very FUNNY one at that :) I knew there was a TINY hole near the top of the rear left pocket of my jeans but in no way, shape or form did I have any idea that they would TEAR as if they were a sheet of paper. Some time during my night out shopping I must have sat down in my car and the pants gave way to a HUGE tear that you see here. I went to SEVERAL stores during the evening and all of a sudden while walking outside I felt this WEIRD feeling of COLD air BLASTING through a place it wasn't supposed to be, my Rump Shaker LOL. So in the parking lot I reached around to find this GAPPING hole 5" long and WIDE OPEN for the world to see my under garment (glad I wasn't going commando) I pulled my shirt down as far as it could go, held my hand over it and made a bee line for my vehicle, laughing hysterically ! I don't know how long I walked around like this nor do I know how many people walked behind me laughing their @** off, I know I would have, but you think someone would have been kind enough to notify me that all my glory was hanging out, NOT! Normally I have an extra set of cloths in the car but tonight was not one of those nights LOL. So I had to cancel the rest of my plans and head for home. This is the story of the jeans that went wrong & just gave up. . . . Hope you got a laugh out of this, I sure did !!! PP is a few runs threw TOPAZ ADJUST to give it some extra texture (like it needed it) LOL Have a great day everyone . . . .Bill is out ! LOL I'm choking on my own saliva laughing :) PS: Thank You for all the wonderful & funny comments left on this image today ! Photography & Arts Power is usually judged at how well it brings about emotions & feelings to the viewers be it good, bad or controversial. This certainly had many great emotions flying around from it's viewers so I can say this simple piece was a great success and I am honored that so many of you found so much humor in it and the story behind it, Thanks ! ~Bill~
Bill Pador > Good Morning all - I had gone outside to shoot some of the flowers in my garden before mother nature takes them away for the fall so I wondered over to my wild flower bed and started shooting these and low & behold I saw this LITTLE TINY (and I mean TINY - size of an pencil eraser head tip) Single Spider (on Right) sitting on the pedal. Well I started to frame it up and by the time I started to shoot he had moved up the middle and I started to witness a war between these 2 fellows. I don't know where the other one came from but he appeared and BAM they stared at each other for 10 seconds or so and then started battling. It was over in 5 seconds and the left one high tailed it off to another flower. I racked off about 30 frames in about 4 seconds and this is the only one that came out focused in the proper area because of the narrow f/stop I was using to get some good bokeh. I just love this lens! * * / / Check it out at X3LARGE size to see the spiders face up close the eyes & nose can be seen pretty freaky \ \* * Not much PP here, a slight bit of unsharp mask and the framing was all that was needed. So I'm glad I was able to hand hold this puppy and get a good enough exposure to share with you today. Thanks for all the wonderful comments on the Badge image from yesterday, that was a fun shot for me to take. SPECS: Tamron 90mm SP Di f/2.8 1:1 Macro ISO: 640 SS: 1/640 f/7.1 Hand Held ~Bill~
Well this week hasn't been too good for me health wise. My injuries have taken their toll once again especially with the rain we're having but today is a bit better. I've done nothing but sleep on & off the last 2 days but I still feel exhausted because it's 45 min. on 30 min. off type of sleep, while tossing & turning in pain. Ah the life of being disabled really is interesting LOL. I'd pay anything to be normal again but that just isn't going to happen so I'll smile when I can and keep praying for a miracle to happen some day.

This is another of my tulips that came up this week, nothing special but they sure do smell wonderful. Hoping that each of you is having a wonderful week and have yourself a great weekend. Hopefully I will be getting 'Smiling Joe' on his way around the world some time next week. I can't wait to get this project off the ground and start seeing all of your wonderful photos coming in. Once Joe meets up with his Traveling Partner things should go smoothly, I've spent countless days & weeks preparing this project so hopefully it will run smoothly, then it's all up to you and your wonderful skills to make this 3 year dream come alive. Thank you to every one who signed up for the project to make this a success, I'm very excited to see the results.

God Bless & Have a Great Weekend Everyone !
~Bill~
Bill Pador > Well this week hasn't been too good for me health wise. My injuries have taken their toll once again especially with the rain we're having but today is a bit better. I've done nothing but sleep on & off the last 2 days but I still feel exhausted because it's 45 min. on 30 min. off type of sleep, while tossing & turning in pain. Ah the life of being disabled really is interesting LOL. I'd pay anything to be normal again but that just isn't going to happen so I'll smile when I can and keep praying for a miracle to happen some day. This is another of my tulips that came up this week, nothing special but they sure do smell wonderful. Hoping that each of you is having a wonderful week and have yourself a great weekend. Hopefully I will be getting 'Smiling Joe' on his way around the world some time next week. I can't wait to get this project off the ground and start seeing all of your wonderful photos coming in. Once Joe meets up with his Traveling Partner things should go smoothly, I've spent countless days & weeks preparing this project so hopefully it will run smoothly, then it's all up to you and your wonderful skills to make this 3 year dream come alive. Thank you to every one who signed up for the project to make this a success, I'm very excited to see the results. God Bless & Have a Great Weekend Everyone ! ~Bill~
Well this week hasn't been too good for me health wise. My injuries have taken their toll once again especially with the rain we're having but today is a bit better. I've done nothing but sleep on & off the last 2 days but I still feel exhausted because it's 45 min. on 30 min. off type of sleep, while tossing & turning in pain. Ah the life of being disabled really is interesting LOL. I'd pay anything to be normal again but that just isn't going to happen so I'll smile when I can and keep praying for a miracle to happen some day.

This is another of my tulips that came up this week, nothing special but they sure do smell wonderful. Hoping that each of you is having a wonderful week and have yourself a great weekend. Hopefully I will be getting 'Smiling Joe' on his way around the world some time next week. I can't wait to get this project off the ground and start seeing all of your wonderful photos coming in. Once Joe meets up with his Traveling Partner things should go smoothly, I've spent countless days & weeks preparing this project so hopefully it will run smoothly, then it's all up to you and your wonderful skills to make this 3 year dream come alive. Thank you to every one who signed up for the project to make this a success, I'm very excited to see the results.

God Bless & Have a Great Weekend Everyone !
~Bill~
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Bill Pador Photography is a Member 'Professional Photographers Association of America' & 'National Association of Photoshop Professionals' Specializing in Weddings - Sweet 16 Parties - Portraits
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