03.01.10

Homebaked Karaoke Tunes!

1st Tune: More Than A Name On The Wall

Modern Karaoke

I’ve been doing a pretty good karaoke show for a couple years. It’s all computerized now! No more big cases of CDs to lug around and no more having to physically search through titles and cue songs in a player— it’s all handled by software. It’s very cool.

Also have a pretty good set up with mixer board, PA, monitors, various types of mics, and even ‘pitch-correction’ to help singers sound better. I can record performances and even make videos of singers— all with the same computers that run the show.

If a venue has WiFi and a singer wants a song that’s available from the online store, for a couple bucks I can download it on the fly and they can sing it right away!

Homebaked with Professional appearance

Home ‘Baked’ Karaoke

But what if a song isn’t available. I love a song that was done by the Statler Brothers, and more recently by Vincent and Dailey called ‘More Than A Name On The Wall’. I’ve searched and searched for a karaoke version to buy, but there just isn’t one out there.

So after some further investigation, I figured out that I could make one myself! To do it required 4 different kinds of software.

1st, I ripped the song into iTunes.

2nd, I opened the song file in GarageBand where I’d already downloaded a plugin called VoxReducer II
. The voice reducer does exactly what it says, though not completely. And I was in kind of a hurry to see if I could do it, so I didn’t play around much with the settings. I think I can get more of the vocals out with some more experimentation.

3rd, the song file was imported into iKaraoke TunePrompter. This is a cool little package that lets you import or type in the lyrics (I imported cause I could save time). Using the space bar, you ‘click’ to mark where the next word goes as the song plays. OK, I admit, that took a little practice, but by the 3rd try I was doing it.

4th thing was baking the whole production into a movie. I use kJams karaoke software to run my show. I’m pretty sure its the best: kJams.com. Downloaded a plugin for it called ‘Producer’ that lets you add the titles and refine the look before baking the movie.

So now there’s no karaoke I can’t get. As a musician, I could even record a tune in GarageBand and add the moving text to the audio file and bake that!

Coming Soon!

You are probably wondering what could be next. I’m working on a way to have a wireless local net running at my shows. Anyone with a laptop or phone browser will be able to search my 10,000 song library, select songs to sing, insert their songs into the rotation, and adjust their preferences (ie. key and tempo) and favorites themselves! kJams remembers you and your preferences, so there is no need to search again next time for songs you’ve already sung. Just sign in and click on your favorites. How cool is that?

And there is no such thing as songbooks anymore. Song are searched for via a browser. Any new songs are instantly available in the list— no reprinting— no wasted paper— and best of all, a lot less stuff to carry to the show!

1927 ‘Invincible’ Excavator

Solarizing

In the spring of 2006, I went out to a friend’s gravel pit in Michigan searching for Morel mushrooms to shoot. I didn’t find any, but did come across this 1927 INVINCIBLE excavator way in the back.  The sun was setting and I decided to take some flash filled pics with the sun setting behind.

I really liked the boom, back corner, foreground, & sky

The back and side have better color, but the sky and other elements are more washed out.

I was intrigued with the subject and returned the next day. Decided to experiment and I ‘bracketed’ some shots of the excavator using the ‘solarize’ mode on my Sony camera.  The solarization gave more of a surreal and abstract feeling to the spring day.

I also used a polarizing filter which added a pronounced gradient to the sky.

One capture had most of the elements I was trying to capture: the boom looked good; I liked the sky and the foreground, and the back corner of the excavator had nice color, however, there was a big dark area right in the middle.

In another shot, the back was better lit, and there was nice color on the side of the excavator, but the sky was more washed out and the foreground was less dynamic. So I made a layer out of the parts that I did like and added them to the best of the images.

I then blended the layers until they looked natural together. Combining the best of both exposures created an image with greater ‘dynamic range’.

Combined Image

09.04.08

Alternative Process Digital Imagery

.

N.W. MI State Fair 06'

The carnival series started when I had an image I liked, but the exposure was all wrong. I decided to experiment with it. I did most of the work in PhotoShop. I had to bring up the exposure values, but that left me with an image that was full of noise. Noise won’t sell in the stock galleries.

I went back over the image with PS tools— smoothing things out, bringing out colors, even drawing in missing details, and eliminating any ‘white gaps’ caused by the AutoTrace. I chopped parts out, traced them separately, tweeked values, redrew faces— all kinds of stuff, but all in PS. Then I saved them at 300 dpi and imported them to Adobe Illustrator.

Vectorized Version

In AI (Adobe Illustrator) I messed with the auto-trace trying to get the most with the least amount of resolution and colors. I learned to layer compositions in PS and then import them to AI. That way I could have higher resolution on important details and less on backgrounds, or where I could get away with less— to reduce file size. I still ended up with giant file sizes.

Then I discovered if I re-saved the AIs as PS (PhotoShop) rastors, then re-auto traced the rastors in AI, the file sizes were dramatically reduced without losing the image I created.

Pretty crazy work flow! Eh? But I ended up with a product I like. Some of the layers are partially traced, some are nearly all redrawn, but nearly all of the work is in PS.

Photographic base image

Working with Layers

I started with a photo from a regional fair in Northern Michigan

My intention is to create a vector (line are image) from a photo (pixel map).  The advantages of a vector are no noise and scalability— a vector can be scaled to any size without losing resolution.

Clipping & Layering

Starry Background

Background Rides

I cut the image up into layers: Foreground, Zipper Banner, and The Ride.  I did this because different areas need different kinds of work.  The ride and the banner are already bright.  The foreground and the people need to be brought up

Spinning Ride

separately.  Also, some areas need less detail, which translates into less file size.

3 layers were also added: I created a starry sky background as the base layer; I also wanted a background layer with more rides, so I chose them

Zipper Banner

from another picture and scaled them to fit; the last layer was a drawing layer where I added highlights to create more depth in the final image.

The layers themselves have no background.  I added a black background to each of the images used so they can be seen in context.

Peopled Foreground

In PhotoShop, I traced each layer to bring out color and detail.  I also stylized the faces and changed body shapes and sizes to eliminate resemblances.

Drawn Highlights Layer

Finally in PhotoShop, in the draw layer, I added highlights to various objects to strengthen the sense of depth.

Next I moved to Adobe Illustrator.  Using the ‘Auto Trace’ tool, I traced each layer individually.  This is because some layers need less color and detail which reduces the overall file size.

Vectorized Version of 'Zipper'

Brassia Edvah Loo 'Goldilocks' orchid with long tendrils

Remote Wireless Flashes

A friend called and told me he had a rare orchid that was blooming 2 years early and asked me if I would like to shoot it.  I don’t know much about orchids, but I love their beauty and variations.

I wanted to capture the detail of this delicate orchid.  So I set up a tripod for the camera and two others for remote flashes.  I used blinders so that the light would not illuminate the back ground.  I took a dark cloth for a background, cut it, and slipped the orchid through so I could isolate it without doing and damage to the flower.

To operate the remote flashes, I could have used cords, but I used wireless triggers instead.  I bought them on eBay; 1 camera mounted transmitter and 5 receivers for less than $100.  They are very handy in a lot of situations where cord would be in the way and photo electric slaves might be triggered by the cameras of other photographers.  They are good because you are carrying less stuff and set up is much faster and simpler.

Check out the results: Goldilock Orchid

Ontonagan Outhouse 2007

Ontonagon Outhouse

In rural northern Michigan, where the power frequently goes out, wood heat and outhouses are still considered necessities.  In the more civilized regions of the state, legislation was been passed banning any new outhouses, but existing outhouses are still allowed under a ‘grandfather’ clause. Consequently, this little building is being well cared for.

Ontonagon Outhouse was taken on the first sunny day after many days of rain.  Though most of the leaves had fallen, there were still bold colors in the trees.  Because of the rain, the grass was unusually green for mid October.

I employed a tripod and a camera mounted fill flash.  The gradient sky was achieved using a polarizing filter.  In post processing, saturation was increased slightly, the light on the face of the structure was brought up, and a 100% blur tool was used to kill any noise in the sky.  A blur tool @ 50% was used to selectively reduce noise on the metal roof panels without touching any detail.

Long Exposures

My friends were moving, the full moon was to be rising right over the farm house, and I wanted to capture a memorable picture to share with them.

With the moon behind the house, I needed light in front to capture the detail.  I decided I could try ‘painting’ the light in with a million candle power spot light.  The challenge with that is needing about 10 seconds to shine it around.

Filtering at Night

The problem was my Sony camera only stopped down to f-8!  I wanted both fill light and existing light.  Tweaking all the settings to as dark as possible still left me with too much ambient light.  The solution almost seems counter intuitive: use a heavy darkening filter at night!  But that’s just what I did— and it gave me 13 seconds without over-cooking the image.  I used the time to use the spotlight to highlight elements like the branches, bushes, and chimney.  I also used a flash to freezed some of the detail.

Fiesta Key, FL February 2005

More Painting with Light

The first time I tried ‘painting with light’ I was in a Florida Keys campground. Many seasonal guests actually decorated their sites with lights.  All that light was too compelling to ignore!

The problem I faced was toning down the the decorative lighting— otherwise they all looked white with white fringing and everything else was dark.  However, by the time I stopped the camera down to get a good presentation with the colored lights, even with a powerful flash, the tops of the palms were gone.

I decided to try using a big hand-held search light and attempt to ‘paint’ in the fronds.  I next discovered I couldn’t get a long enough exposure until I tried adding a dark filter.  The filter gave me 10 seconds and I was able to get what I wanted with the spot light.  In this shot, a car also drove by.

To capture the stars, I bracketed the metering in one version just for the star light and combined it with the base image via HDR post processing.

High Dynamic Range Image

This HDR (High Dynamic Range) image was created by capturing several standard photographs using a technique known as exposure bracketing.  From the bracketed images, the best features were selected and cut into layer, each layer being an element that could be manipulated in any manner before being blended with the others to create a single HDR image.

Base image

.

Photo 1 I chose as my base layer.  It has the best overall presentation of the boat, though not exactly what I want.  Over the base layer I will overlay all the other layers, which will be elements of images from the other 3 shots and a layer of manual enhancements I simply call ‘draw’.

I start by ‘up sizing’ the image— usually I double the pixels.  Enlarging the image creates noise and artifacts.  I reduce these spots using the blur tool.  Since many areas don’t have any detail, like sky and water, they actually look more natural when blurred.

Tree layer

.

.

.

I chose to work on the tree first.  I liked the dynamic shadows, but wanted to tone them down and use the best leaves in the foreground.

.

Wall layer

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I chose a wall that was less exposed and showed more detail.

.

.

River reflections layer

.

.

.

.

I wanted to keep the deep blue of the river in the base layer, but I also liked the reflections in the other layers.  So I created a layer with some of the reflections to blend over the blue.  Combined with the water layer here are a couple sub layers with the far trees and an enhancement of the red boathouse.

.

.

'Draw' layer

.

.

.

As much as possible, I try to reduce noise and artifacts— those are those little spots that aren’t really a part of the picture.  Noise and artifacts usually show up when the image is sharpened or lightened, but can also be in a digital image for other reasons.

If there is a solid color, like a wall, setting the paint brush to match and reducing the opacity to around 20% and washing the area will reduce or eliminate noise while preserving detail.  And since the drawing and colorization are in their own layer, I can blur them until they look natural with out effecting the photographic layers beneath.  Also, if I make a mistake, I can erase it without damaging the image layers.

When I feel I have each of the elements the way I want them, I turn them all on and adjust the opacity of each until it blends seamlessly.  I usually do this at 400%.  If I can’t find defects at 400%, the picture will look great at 100%.

.

Combined HDR image

BRACKETING EXPOSURES

Photo 1: Gar Wood in sunlight

Bracketing is the technique of shooting several shots of the same subject to capture different conditions or the same conditions in different settings.  Most commonly, bracketing is done shooting different f-stops, usually with a film camera, to make certain that the image was captured with the right amount of light.

The subject is a beautifully restored 1939 Gar Wood runabout parked at a boat house in Torch Lake, MI.  These four images were bracketed for changing light and conditions.  It was late in the afternoon and the sun was setting fast.  There were also clouds moving by which not only changed the light, but changed the reflections on the water.

The first image (left) was shot in the sunlight.  The grain in the mahogany hull presents well.  The Torch River is very blue.  The sunlight is creating dramatic light on the birch tree.

Photo 2: Clouded light

The second exposure was taken while a cloud past the sun.  Notice that the wall has more detail.  The patch of sky in the distance is less blue and there is much cloud reflecting on the river.  The birch tree framing the left side is much less dramatic.

Something else I saw in the first shots is that the stern is very dark and the name is difficult to read.

Photo 3: Flash fill

To illuminate the stern of the vessel, I put a remote flash with a wireless trigger on the shore behind the birch tree.

The sun returned and is showing brightly off the front of the far boat house.  Also presenting well in this version are the trees in the far background.  Notice though, that the sun has not returned to the birch tree.

Photo 4: Flash fill and changing sun light

In the final photo, the sun has set low enough that it will no longer reach the boat, but is still putting a glow on the wall.

I have also employed more supplemental lighting.  Along with the remote strobe on the shore, I set up 3 remote flashes on stands on a dock just out of view to the right.  Without them, the grain in the wooden hull was gone and it just looked brown.  The flashes also serve to ‘freeze’ details on the boat which was moving ever so slightly.

So each of these photos has elements that I like and elements that are deficient.  Because the camera has not been moved, the composition of all four images has the same registration, one will fit exactly over the others.  My next post will describe taking advantage of the best features of each picture and combining them into single image.

Next post: HDR: High Dynamic Range

Vectorization

As opposed to a photographic image that is pixelized or rastorized (made up of dots) a vector is solid line art.  An advantage of line art is that it can be blown up to any size with no degradation of sharpness.

This illustration of a carnival ride for children began with a photo from a series “SUNSET ON  SMALL TOWN CARNIVAL”.  Small town carnivals are rapidly disappearing. Whenever possible I like to document this vanishing icon of the Twentieth Century American landscape.

The image was captured on a Sony camera as a TIFF.  In PS (PhotoShop), it was first converted to a PSD (PhotoShop format).  I increased the saturation.  I saved the image and opened it in AI (Adobe Illustrator).  I used auto trace to average out the colors, but this also created white gaps and undesirable patterns.  To get a good trace, this operation required about 200 colors and a high sampling rate which created an enormous file size.

Colorized and converted to vector

So I rastorized the image and returned to PS for serious tracing.  I up sized the image by a factor of 2.  Then using single colors, I colorized areas with similar tones and also eliminated any ‘white gaps’.  I also had fun changing all the faces and adding color anywhere that felt good.  I darkened some areas and highlighted others.  When I was pleased, I reopened the image in AI.

Again I used auto trace, but this time I played with the sampling rate and number of colors— reducing them to just above the degradation: approximately 40 colors and sampling rate below 100.  The net effect was a significant reduction in file size without losing the detail.

I needed to return to PS with the image to create a JPG and a PNG.  While ‘Super Truck’ can be purchased from an on line gallery as an AI, the galleries all display images as JPGs or PNGs.  Normally, up sizing an image is not allowed (this one began at 72 dpi).  But because I’m working from a vector (with no loss of resolution at any size), when converting back to a rastored image, I can make the dpi whatever I want.  So I create a resolution that is near the maximum megapixels accepted by a gallery (different galleries have different limits).

View Larger Image