Category Archives: Anders

Anders, Bill, Jay, Movies, Photoshop, Road Trip, Willy

HDR EFEX PRO 2 BETA

June 16, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Today we take a look at the second half of the “made to order” HDR EFEX PRO 2 filters.

As a refresher, here is the original image:

Here is a look at the filters:

Black & White Artistic

Dramatic

Sinister

Pale & Structured

Granny’s Attic

End of the Road

Indoor 1

Indoor 2

Outdoor 1

Outdoor 2

Soft

Vignetted

Graduated 1

Graduated 2

Then, of course. If you want, you can play with the numerous options and come up with a creation of your own. Like so…

My Concotion

I am, once again, sorry for the disgusting subject of these photos, but like I wrote, tomorrow will be something fuzzy and cuddly.

We will touch base with the Nik Collection again in the near future.

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 19

In youth, my friends and I tried and failed to make 1 horror movie STAYIN’ ALIVE: THE SPORTING twice, an action movie (SWORN TO VENGEANCE), and another horror movie (QUIETUS). However, we did successfully finish a movie starring Jay Janson (as an androgynous ne-er-do-well), Bill Wentworth as his manservant, William McAlpine as a short tempered natural philosopher, Anders Runestad as a hen-pecked husband with a gambling addiction, Corey Faust as an omniscient narrator, and Christopher D. Bennett as a trash talking homophobe, playing a deadly game of RISK. What was the name of this nearly cult classic?

ANSWER: GAMES

BONUS

What was the unfortunate name of the “studio” that produced this film?

ANSWER: CHEESEDICK FILMS

Anders, Jesse, Photoshop, Road Trip

HDR EFEX PRO 2 ALPHA

June 15, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

A month or so ago I wrote about a free Photoshop Plugin from Google called the Nik Plugin Collection. Today I’m going to share some of their default filters.

This post is going to concentrate on the the HDR EFEX PRO 2 tool, which creates HDR (High Dynamic Range) images.

This Plugin can work in two ways. It can either create an HDR Image by merging multiple images or it can do HDR Tone Mapping from a single image and make sort of a faux HDR Image.

Because there are 28 different “ready to go” filters I am splitting this post into 2 different days.

I apologize for the disgusting nature of the base image, but I considered it a good example. I’ll make up for it on Friday by publishing something cute and furry.

Here are the first examples from the HDR EFEX PRO 2:

The Original Image

Default Filter

Balanced

Deep 1

Deep 2

Details 1

Details 2

Bright

Dark

Black and White Realistic

Structurized 1

Structurized 2

Soft Colors

Tinted Structure

Late Summer

I know. Coca-Cola. Disgusting. On the positive, it is a rusted out, old abandoned Coca-Cola machine. Just like all Coke machines should be.

For the record, I found this one in Strong City, Kansas.

The rest of the filters will be unveiled on the morrow.

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 18

What movie was the theme of the birthday party invite for my 30th birthday?

ANSWER: LOGAN’S RUN

BONUS

What two other people were featured in these invites?

ANSWER: ANDERS RUNESTAD & JESSE HOWARD

Alexis, Anders, Carla, Derrick, Elainie, Formal Portrait

Elainie, Josh, Lucy

June 3, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett

Recently Elainie came home for Alexis’ graduation. She brought with her Josh and their pooch Lucy.

We got the pleasure of Elainie being home for a week, but Josh had to leave after a day for he was deployed to Gitmo. It will be a long 9 months for Elainie.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
ISO: 400
FOCAL LENGTH: 22mm
APERTURE: f/4
EXPOSURE: 1/60
DATE: 05/21/2016 – 22:32
NO GPS DATA RECORDED
PHOTO ASSISTANT: Carla Stensland

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ

QUESTION 9

I was recently thanked in the foreword of Anders Runestad’s book (I CANNOT, YET I MUST) on the making of one of the worst movies ever made. What movie is the book about?

ANSWER: ROBOT MONSTER

BONUS

I’ve been in many clubs over the years from the Dawg Pound to Nature Squad to Hoodie Club. However, only one fake band. What was the name of the gastronomically monikered fake band name that featured me, Rick Poore, and Derrick Gorshe that fake rocked the Boone Outpost of the Evil Clown Empire in the mid 90s?

ANSWER: Bratwurst Explosion

Anders, Derrick, Eric, Flowers, Jay, Jesse, Nate, Russell, Sara, Scottie D., Willy

For Russell

May 25, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

I actually have been pretty lax about photographing flowers this year. That is partially because the 2017 Photography 139 Calendar will go in a new direction. Partially because I haven’t even planted flowers in my yard this year. Partially because my daffodils didn’t bloom this year. Partially because I missed my window of opportunity to go to Pella this year to photograph tulips. Regardless, my daisies were the first of my flowers to bloom this year.

So I dedicate the first flower picture of 2016 to Russell, because he hates my flower photography. He will be in mourning since flowers will start to become a bigger part of this here blog in the coming months. Probably. Sorry Russell, that is how the cookie crumbles.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
ISO: 125
FOCAL LENGTH: 60mm
APERTURE: f/20
EXPOSURE: 1/100
DATE: 05/22/2016 – 13:18
LATITUDE: 42.05511°
LONGITUDE: -93.87082°
PHOTO ASSISTANT: None

THE CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT TRIVIA QUIZ ANSWER SHEET

QUESTION 5

When Olivia and I got married, who were my 5 groomsmen?

ANSWER: Jesse Howard, Anders Runestad, Jay Janson, William McAlpine, and Eric Hiatt

BONUS

I’ve been a groomsman or bridesman 7 times. Name the 7 grooms/brides I’ve served:

ANSWER: Jesse Howard, Jay Janson, Anders Runestad, Scott Degeneffe, Derrick Gorshe, Sara Lockner, and Nate Miller

Alexis, Anders, Andree, Baier, Bethany, Birthdays, Brandon, Carla, Dae Hee, Dawn, Derrick, Evie, Geri, Gretchen, Jason, Jeff Daniel, Jeff Kewer, Jen, Jesse, Johnathan, Kelly, Kim, Layla, Linda, Logan, Michelle, Mom, Monica, Nader, Naima, Nora, Sara, Scottie D., Shannon, Shawn Lockner, Steph, Steve, Suzie, Teresa, Tim, Willy, Yin

The Birthday Party of Fate (Roundup)

May 15, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I’ve thanked all these people in person, but I’d like to publicly thank everybody that helped out in some either small or big way with my birthday party on Saturday.

Big shout out to Scott for making tons of delicious mouth watering chicken and jalapeno cream corn. I only wish I would have had time to help do more than just brine the chicken. If I am so inclined to do this again next year and you are so inclined to help with the food next year, I will have to schedule this so I can be more hands on with the process. I may have been The Master, but Scott was undeniably the Smoker Master. I just can’t overstate how amazing the chicken was people.

Much love to Scott’s (better-other-less high maintenance) half for making the Pick and Pluck. If I would’ve thought of it, I would’ve bought several gallons of ice cold chocolate milk to knock down while setting up shop on that thing.

Thanks to Logan and Corinna for holding down the grill and making an assortment of hot dogs and sausages to compliment the mouth watering chicken. I don’t really have any photos of the event, perhaps next year I can talk him/them into doing some candid photography for the party.

I’m always able to count on Dae Hee when I need some assistance. He came over and helped put up the canopies for the outdoor dining area, the tent for an additional child area, moved all the chairs from the basement to the outdoors, and watched 2 hours of GAME OF THRONES. A pretty solid effort!

Thanks to Jason for loaning me his Cornhole set.

Thanks to Shannon for loaning me her canopies, although I’m still unclear where one gets tailgating tents that don’t have Iowa State colors. Or why a person would even want such a thing.

Thanks to Jesse for laminating the beverage identification signs.

Thanks to Teresa for helping out in various tasks before the party started.

Thanks to my Mom for making a copious amount of side dishes and desserts. Nobody went home hungry. That is for sure.

Finally, thanks to everybody that took time out of their lives to come visit me:

Teresa
Brandon
Logan & Corinna
Aunt Linda
Kio
Steph, Katie, Jeff, & Yin
Carla, Jason, Alexis, and Johnathan
Mom
Scott, Melissa, Austin, and Porter
Steve
Dawn, Kevin, Scott, and Kayelee
Jen, Derrick, Evie, and Layla
Sara, Shawn, and Gretchen
Jesse, Kelly, Kalista, Saydie, and Taylan
Willy
Dan and Angie
Suzie
Monica and Jeff
Bethany, Dae Hee, and Nora
Jason, Will, Ben, and Nader
Andree
Anders & Nicholas
Shannon and Jason
Geri
Michelle, Craig, and Lily
Kim and Kevin

A special thanks to Dae Hee, Bethany, and Nora who came from Minnesota. Aunt Linda who came from Kansas. Stephanie who came all the way from Brooklyn. I guess I’m morally obligated to visit her in October now. Right?

Since I think that this party was a success on some level, I am tentatively planning on doing it again next year. Tentatively thinking about some time on Memorial Day Weekend next year. We’ll see how the cookie crumbles.

Now to the less than stellar news…

The Photo Booth was a success, but far from perfect. It turns out that the photo booth program I used has a painful little quirk. If the “Finish” button wasn’t pushed at the conclusion of the photo session, the program timed out and didn’t save the photo strip! The good news is that it did save the original images. The bad news is that there will be a night in my future where I’ll be piecing together photo strips from saved images. Yeah me!

For that reason, I did load up all the images into the party gallery. Not just the “finished” photo strips.

To see those images, click on the link below… (You can also download them by clicking on the down arrow icon.)

MANOS & PHOTOBOOTH IMAGES

However, thought I would share a few of them here as well:

But the good news is that I now have a thousand different ways to improve the photo booth for next year. Tentatively.

Anders, Jay, Jesse, Jorge, Shannon, Vest

I Further Celebrate Myself Even More Too, Also

May 8, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I realize that not everybody has either the technical ability, the economic wherewithal. or even the cares in them to scan the QR code on the back of the physical Birthday Party Invite.

For that reason, for this one time (and this one time only) I’m publishing a link to the Birthday Party FAQ. Click on the link below:

Birthday Party FAQ

If you go there, there are additional photos of The Master and Torgo. 1 features a special cameo.

I’d also like to take the time to thank everybody that contributed in some small or incredibly large way to the creation of the Birthday Party Invite that confused the world. Or most of the world.

THANK YOU JORGE! You went way beyond as the best Torgo this The Master has ever had. Or has ever had the right to have had. From the rocking those skin tight coveralls to keeping the sweet beard for at least a month after you wanted to shave. Thanks for watching as much of MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE as you could take to get into character for the photo shoot. I have good news for you! You might be off the hook for next year’s Birthday Party Invite. I already have 2 volunteers for next year. #TeamTorgo

THANK YOU SHANNON! Obviously you rocked the The Master costume. Even though it was outside your comfort zone. I will cherish the The Master costume forever. When I officially retire it, I’ll have to figure out a way to frame it and hang it in the guest bedroom. Thanks for going the extra mile and actually watching all of MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE, so that you could get in the mind of The Master and add an extra little bit of authenticity to the The Master’s costume. Also, your idea of dying the stache with mascara was inspired.

THANK YOU VEST! Thanks for being the trigger man on the photo shoot, even though all the direction I ever provided was stand over there and take pictures. Thanks for letting me bounce a hundred Torgo hat ideas off of you. Thanks for helping spray paint the Torgo hat and securing the hemp rope onto the Torgo hat with both thread and glue.

THANK YOU JAY! For your work on the Torgo Hand Staff. I should’ve found a better staff part of the hand staff. Now figure out how to make a ton of bubbles for next year’s photo shoot.

THANK YOU MICHELLE! For the gift of mascara and mascara remover. Also for writing the message on the signs. Speaking of writing signs… I’ll talk to you tomorrow at work.

THANK YOU ANDERS! For being the editor for the Manos part of the Birthday Party Invite text. Glad to hear that you are already hard at work on next year’s birthday party invite.

THANK YOU JESSE! For you cameo and for helping put on a show for the Boone High Golf Team. I’m pretty sure we made their day.

The party is officially less than a week away. I feel I’m prepared because my official party hat has already arrived. See my Instagram. Cleaning the house and moving around furniture should take care of itself, I assume.

One FAQ that isn’t listed in the FAQ is this:

Will there be a screening of MANOS: HANDS OF FATE at the birthday party?

No! If you want to watch MANOS: HANDS OF FATE, you have to schedule a private screening with me in the Union Street Theater. Where you will not be allowed to speak, but will watch the movie in silent reverence.

Anders, Black & White, Nature, Travel

And?

May 5, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

The subject of this here entry is what I’m guessing most people will think or even feel when they look at the photo that makes up the entirety of this here entry. Possible exception, Anders Runestad.

At least I enjoy it. Possibly Anders as well.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
ISO: 100
FOCAL LENGTH: 18mm
APERTURE: f/8
EXPOSURE: 1/320
DATE: 04/23/16 – 07:35
NO GPS DATA RECORDED
NO PHOTO ASSISTANT

Anders, Angie, Baier, Becky, Blogging, Calendar, Carla, Cousin Amy, Dae Hee, Dawn, Eric, Faust, Flat Earth Joe, Flowers, Funk, Geri, Holidays, Houlihan, Jay, Jesse, Jill, Jorge, Laura, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Nader, Russell, Sara, Scottie D., Shannon, Suzie, Teresa, Vest

2015

January 1, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

So the walk down memory lane now concludes. With a look at the images that were in the calendar that early this morning will be taken down from kitchen walls (most common place I’ve seen the calendar hung up), office walls, cubicle walls, and placed gently in the trash with yesterday’s coffee grounds. 2015 Photography 139 Calendar I bid you a fond adieu.

Front Cover

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

If you ever get bored and want to take this walk down memory lane again, you can visit the Calendar and Postcards Gallery in the PHOTOGRAPHY 139 GALLERY. Link below:

CALENDAR & POSTCARD GALLERY

Since yesterday was the end of year and a holiday that many people celebrate (not me though, I don’t need the calendar gestapo telling me when to start a new year) I would like to take a quick moment to thank everybody that has continued to be an email subscriber to this here blog.

Off the top of my head and I apologize if I miss anybody:

These people are all original subscribers or at least haven’t changed their email since August 22, 2011. Which is how far back the records from off the top of my head go.

Jay Janson
Jason Baier
Shannon Bardole
Scott Degeneffe
Corey Faust
Susanna Funk
Jill Gorshe
Jesse Howard
Sara Lockner
Teresa Kahler
Nader Parsaei
Becky Perkovich
Bernice Verhoorn
Janice Peterson

Suzie Brannen – Since June 22, 2012
Eric Hiatt – Since August 20, 2012
Kim Barker – Since September 18, 2012
Amy Junck-Wallendal – December 18, 2012
Russell Kennerly – Since May 13, 2013
Tim Tucker (Not the one most of you are thinking about) – Since June 27, 2013
Michelle Haupt – Since July 12, 2013
Tim Tucker’s Woman (Sorry, never caught her name) – Since August 22, 2013
Geri Derner – Since September 30, 2013
Micky Augustin – Since October 10, 2013
Angie DeWaard – Since August 24, 2015
Mike Vest – Since September 9, 2015
Melissa Degeneffe – Since September 14, 2015
DaeHee Yoon – Since September 29, 2015
Monica Kewer – Since October 2, 2015 (Current email)
Carla Stensland – Since October 5, 2015
Joe Lynch – Since October 9, 2015
Jorge Rios – Since October 9, 2015
Anders Runestad – Since October 11, 2015
Elizabeth Nordeen – Since November 2, 2015
Laura Miller – Since November 9, 2015
Michael Houlihan – Since November 16, 2015
Dawn Krause – Since December 21, 2015
Joe Duff – Since December 21, 2015

Thanks for all the support and for making 2015 a successful year, by some sense of the word. I hope our little family here continues to grow. I’ll try and do better in 2016!

Anders, Angie, Carla, Flat Earth Joe, Michelle, Monica, Vest, WPC - Submissions

Weekly Photo Challenge Week 4 – GREEN

October 12, 2015 Christopher D. Bennett

Pretty good participation this week. I have no complaints.

The submissions for GREEN:

Angie DeWaard

Michelle Haupt

Monica Kewer

Mike Vest

Christopher D. Bennett

It is time to reveal this week’s theme…

WILD ANIMALS!

Time for a definition…

A wild animal is defined as an animal which lives in nature (is not provide shelter by a human), is responsible for getting its own food and water (is not provided food or water by humans), and is not cared for by humans.

However, as always, interpret the theme as you will. Deadline for submission is noon next Monday. Email them to bennett@photography139.com.

One quick housekeeping note. Last week was a very successful week for the recruitment division of Photography 139. They added 4 new email blog subscribers. If you see the following people on the streets, extend them a heartfelt greeting. For they are now part of the family:

-Carla Stensland
-Joseph Lynch
-Jorge Rios
-Anders Runestad

Also I forgot to mention a couple weeks ago that Melissa Degeneffe also became an email subscriber. You can also give her the secret handshake if you see her out and about.

If you have stumbled upon this blog post, you too can become an email subscriber by emailing bennett@photography139.com or by leaving a comment in the comments section.