Created a Facebook Page 02/07/2012
Finally, Photo36 Photography is in Facebook. The profile page is still under construction. Add Comment New computer for photo editing 01/25/2012
Just completed upgrading my computer. Well, it is almost a new one, in fact. The old one was getting too old and slow. Although the hardware was decent, probably they were getting outdated too fast and the system was not keeping up well with new software. Usually, as I have experienced in the past as well, “consumer-grade” computers tend to have problems with stability (that is “crashing”) and speed when it comes to graphics work and Photoshop. So, this time around the idea was to get a stable and fast computer. After some research, I decided to have a custom built system with a motherboard recommended for gaming. Yes, this does sound unusual, but motherboards made for gaming are usually very stable, specially when picking other components purely based on manufacturers’ recommendations, but without having a chance to test them. The system specifications are: Motherboard: Asus Maximus IV - Gene-Z (Intel Z68 chipset) Processor: Intel Core i5 2400 3.10GHz Quad Core Processor RAM: 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 2133 memory (Mushkin) Video card: EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti Hard drive (boot): Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX SATA III Hard drives (storage): Two 1TB Samsung EcoGreen F2 HD103SI drives in RAID-1 array, and One 2TB Samsung EcoGreen F4 HD204UI drive*. CD/DVD drive: Samsung DVD writer with Lightscribe support Power Supply: OCZ ZS Series 550W Computer Case: Antec Performance One Series P183 Mid Tower Monitor: Dell U2410 Keyboard: Logitech UltraX (wired)* Mouse: Logitech MX310 (wired)* Speakers: Creative (not high-end)* Software: Windows 7 Professional 64bit, Adobe Photoshop CS5, Microsoft Office Professional 2010, Avast (free) antivirus, Nero Essentials (supplied with CD drive). Printers: HP PSC 1220 all in one for regular use and Epson Stylus Pro 3880 for photo printing. *Recycled from old system. So far, in to one week, the system works flawless. It is noticeably faster compared to my old computer, which was a dual core, Intel Pentium based system. The best change is the new Dell U2410 24 inch monitor (which replaced an old 19” LCD monitor). I did quite a bit of search prior to buying this monitor. The finalists in my list were Dell U2410 and Asus PA264Q (but decided against buying the other one because of so many bad reviews, specially about back-light bleeding around the frame). This Dell U2410 is absolutely fantastic. It is very easy to setup and comes factory calibrated, with a drivers disk with installation instructions and calibration report. Dell also provides a zero dead-pixel warranty on this one, which comes with a 03 year warranty. It is an IPS panel, with an anti-glare coating and non-glossy frame, which I really like. I use SRGB profile, which is very easy to set in the monitor. Photoshoot with Jen 01/15/2012
 This morning we did the first photo-shoot with Jen. It was chilly, but certainly did not feel like Winter. Much, much nicer weather compared to a typical snowy day this time of the year, here in Lincoln. The location was Haymarket area in Downtown. I took most of the shots with a Nikkor AF 50mm 1.8D lens. Many of the shots were perfect with morning sunlight. Sometimes we used a Nikon SB-800 at 1/8 or 1/16, as fill light. I also tried few shots with the Nikkor 105mm AF/DC. Initial shots were O.K., but as my hands got cold (and numb), the images became out-of-focus, because I did not use a tripod or any other support. Happy New Year! 01/01/2012
 Wish you all a Very Happy New Year of 2012! With the busy schedule in the past year, my blog postings were far from up-to-date. This year's resolution is to pay more effort into my photography work. I wish you success in accomplishing your new year resolutions and wish you a great, productive year! Weekend shoot 11/13/2011
 After a few months break, we decided to do a shoot this weekend. Hair, makeup, wardrobe, etc., etc., all went according to the plan, and we managed to make very good pictures. This one, “Holly in yellow” is one of the first to come out of post-processing. For this shoot, we had two separate setups, dark and light backgrounds, with two sets of lighting. This is the first time I used the new Savage backdrop (white) and it is perfect! I'll post more pictures from this shoot in "Model-Portfolio" section, later. Update: Pictures from this shoot are here. Model: Holly Love Hairstylist: Personal Appearances Salon (Rebecca) Makeup: Estée Lauder Last days of Fall colors 10/29/2011
The late bloomers 10/09/2011
Lincoln air show 09/10/2011
A trip to the smallest town in Nebraska, USA 05/04/2011
 Rudy's Library and Monowi Tavern. Last weekend, Sam and I went on a road trip to the North of Nebraska, where we have not traveled much. The destination was Monowi - probably the smallest town in Nebraska.
We started from home some time before noon on Saturday and drove north to South Yankton area. The first stop was at the Corps of Discovery Welcome Center in South Yankton, from were we took few pictures of Missouri Valley. We also stopped at the Gavin's Point Dam on the Missouri river. Then we crossed the river (drove on the dam to South Dakota Side) and came back into Nebraska by crossing the river again on Chief Standing Bear Memorial bridge, Bon Homme, SD. Around 5:40PM we reached the small town Verdel in Nebraska - population 58. This is one of the "endangered" small towns in this area of the country due to people migrating to other cities seeking better lives, jobs, etc., etc. We did not see a single person in the town although it looked like there were inhabited homes (trailer-homes) there. Most buildings were ruins, hammered by weather and invaded by vegetation. After taking few pictures, we started to drive along. Around 7PM we reached Monowi, the smallest town in Nebraska - population 1. Gift 02/22/2011
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