Before The Coffee » Photography

No Use Crying Over Spilled Milk but you do have to make that call home….

Uh honey, ya know how I drive that truck for a job? Well I won’t be doing that anymore.

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Isn’t it annoying when you go around a turn to fast and your milk truck flips over. Not only do you spill thousands of gallons of milk but you piss off hundreds of drivers, cause the cows to have to work overtime, and have to stand around for hours while they figure how to upright your truck.

This happened in one of those traffic circles just outside the neighborhood where we live. To see my other pics click on the small thumbs on the right, it takes you to my flickr page. Also, my email is ferrellmc [at] comcast.net

Think about how much you would charge to upright this truck, then triple it. What’s the number? 4 guys, 2 trucks, 1 hour = $9000.00.  I know what you’re thinking……..we’re both in the wrong business.

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Posted in Photo Journalistic
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  • Jim - March 2, 2008 - 10:54 am

    Looks like you stayed to see them upright the truck. What a mess. I haven’t had a chance yet to read in detail your hdr tutorial. Looks cool,but I could see where I’d get obsessed with trying to get the most even best shot possible. What techniques did you use on these shots?ReplyCancel

  • beforethecoffee - March 2, 2008 - 12:59 pm

    Yes, the accident was at 2 and they didn’t get it upright till 6pm. The first two tow trucks couldn’t do it because they didn’t get close enough and ended up dragging the semi rather than tipping it. Notice here the booms are over the tanker, wasn’t before.

    These are processed with Photomatix – HDR then some repairs done in PS to blend out problem areas. If you decide to get Photomatix use beforethecoffee in the coupon box for 15% off.ReplyCancel

  • Barb - March 9, 2008 - 10:45 am

    Great shots.ReplyCancel

  • Constantin - April 29, 2008 - 1:26 pm

    So you didn’t bracket on these picture, did you ?ReplyCancel

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Sloppy Joe’s is along the main drag, Duval Street, where everyone collects around sunset. It’s a cool place to hang out, I felt like I was in college again at a rowdy bar. Beginning at 1pm 10% of the crowd is drunk and that increases exponentially each hour till everyone is singing the worst rendition of “Brown-eyed girl” I’ve ever heard.

Btw to view my favorites click on the little thumbnails on the right and that will take you to my pics on flickr and oh yea, drop me note here if you’d like: ferrellmc [at] comcast.net

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Posted in Florida,Photo Journalistic
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Girl with her dog heading for Crazy Fun.

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Posted in Florida,Photo Journalistic
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  • Charles Maclauchlan - March 13, 2008 - 3:04 am

    Ferrell:
    I was referred to your site by John Barclay. I have not become an HDR fan yet, perhaps never will but I am interested in this image very much. You seem to have a bit of the “Edgyness” I affiliate with the HDR process, particularly around her face and hair. But, this is a picture of a moving person indicating that multiple shots weren’t involved. How did you expand the range of this image?

    I like this image very much.

    Charles,

    A first method is go with single image tone mapping. The local detail enhancements give the image a surreal look.
    Another method is to use Filter>Other>High Pass in Photoshop. Depending on the resolutions of your image set the pixel level in the High Pass window to 1-6. It just requires testing and you might have to back it out and try again. You can set the blend mode to color, color dodge or vivid light. It varies from image to image but I go through them all.

    Now that’s the beginning. Once I use an effect I then decide where it looks good and where it doesn’t. If the clothing looks good and not the skin then I’ll use a mask to blend out the skin in that layer. I often apply different tone mapping effects or High Pass effects to the image, for example the sky might look good with this effect but the building looks good with this effect. The image becomes a mix of different effects. This step is what makes the image more than just a filter effect and uniquely your own.

    I hope this helps. I use Photomatix for HDR work and if you put in “beforethecoffee” in the coupon box at the Photomatix site, you’ll get an instant 15% discount.

    Also my book is available on HDR from Amazon.ReplyCancel

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Within seconds of arriving in Key West the warm air fills the senses, within minutes, the bright sun warms our skin and within the first hour, it becomes clear that Key West is very different. Chickens appear out of nowhere and strut as if they own the place. According to the bartender at Sloppy Joe’s they do own the place. Harass a dog, nothing happens, harass a human nothing happens, harass a chicken and get a $500 fine. So now you have the answer, the chicken crossed the road to get to Key West. Chickens are sacred in Key West and they know it.

Chickens in Key West are smart, they look both ways and scamper through hurtling traffic with an uncanny ability to get to the other side with all their feathers. They look down their beaks at passing pedestrians and they actually make you wait for them. Just to reassure myself that humans were still in control I had a chicken sandwich for lunch and I enjoyed every minute of it.

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Posted in Florida,Humor,Photo Journalistic
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  • elise - April 29, 2008 - 9:46 pm

    uh.. that’s a rooster
    actually a rooster is a chicken.ReplyCancel

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There are 953 rules that govern safety on the runway and one must be “Don’t cut off fellow pilots.” When our pilot pulled into Miami Airport he became an aggressive driver so we could be on time. When the other pilot veered he gave us the bird and I felt like I was at Wal-Mart again 🙂

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Posted in Photo Journalistic
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  • MEM - February 5, 2008 - 3:01 pm

    Aggressive drivers on the runway. Whew. Gives me a whole new view/vision of “traffic control” and controllers. And reminds me why I like feathered birds. Great grey angle on the sheet metal and looming veer.ReplyCancel

  • _uncommon - February 17, 2008 - 10:57 am

    Hey thanks for that F. I am of to the States next week and will be flying with NWA so I guess i will be safe hu.. 🙂

    Love the treatment by the way, the metal locks fantastic.

    .mReplyCancel

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