Roger Clemens Doing Steroids

Roger Clemens
Innocent, until proven poor.

Modified from a Getty Image

Photo Manipulation

5 minute lipstick removal

Adobe CS6

From WinBeta

CS6 is expected to be a major release compared to CS5, with the inclusion of several new enhancements such as a new interface, improved content-aware pixel manipulation, integration with Adobe's cloud services, improved 3D editing, layer filtering, file searching, and more.

15 Photoshopped Transformations of Celebs and Models

An article making the rounds... However, some of them just look overly smoothed.

View Gallery:
15 Photoshopped Transformations of Celebs and Models

If you’ve ever wondered what people really look like before being Photoshopped, a new software tool developed by researchers at Dartmouth College reveals the answer.

North Korean Photoshop

North Korea Restores Order to Kim Funeral With Photoshop (ABC News)
[view article]

ABC News

Pixel Challenge

Pixel Challenge

I've seen a pixel game appear on Yahoo's front page several times. Can you guess this iconic photo/painting/etc? Make your own rather quickly in Photoshop. Open image>Filter>Pixelate>Mosaic (the more squares, the more difficult the image will be to discern.

 Yahoo's Pixel Challenge

My own pixel challenge. Click for Answer

Apple Store Crowds

Apple Store Crowds

Have you been to an Apple Store recently? If so, this is probably what you saw...

Apple Store crowds are a little hectic this time of year.

You Are Beautiful (Re-Post from 3/31/11)

You Are Beautiful (Re-Post from 3/31/11)

William D. SIEMER II

I am tired. I'm getting older. Age has taken a toll on my body and my appearance. The rates of wrinkles, crevices, and bags under my eyes are only increasing.

I wake up, get a shower, put on some clothes, and head out the door for work. I get into my equally worn Ford Focus, and glance up at the rear-view mirror. Staring back at me is a man who has seen better, younger days. This is only the beginning...

Every day I drive the same stretch of Cincinnati highway, so every day I see the same billboards. They are mainly littered with ads for hospitals, digital internet providers, and miscellaneous retail stores. However, on this day I am feeling particularly self-conscience, and apparently more aware. I pass the downtown sport's arena and see a large digital display promoting $1,500 eyelid plastic surgery. Hmmm... my eyelids are looking a little saggy. The next billboard that catches my eyes is a surgeon who touts performing "3,000 facelifts." That might help get rid of my crow's feet and sunken eyes. Another billboard. Another facelift. That will assist with "The Tracks of My Tears" and the canals leading from my nose to mouth. In total, I passed six billboards for plastic surgery within 10 miles. I would make some Michael Jackson reference, but I'm actually a fan so I will leave it at that.

Maybe I chose the wrong profession. I get a few hundred dollars for advanced Photoshop editing--these doctors get a few thousand. That's not the point (I don't actually do much digital facial reconstruction.) However, how many times do we need to exploit the insecurities of people with the promise of youth, the forecasts of before and after, and the hopeful advancements of skin care products?

As I've aged, I've realized that beauty truly does come from within. Furthermore, I now find beauty in "flaws." After all, everyone has their own idiosyncrasies that make up their personality, so why not characteristics that distinguish their individuality? Gray hair is a color in my palette; a wrinkle is a simple stroke from my brush; old age is a priceless Van Gogh painting.

I didn't buy into my own philosophy a few years ago. I remember writing the following lyrics, "I'm sorry that I'm not the person you want, I'm not symmetrical and my body's not proportional. I'm not the pretty face in your magazine. Oh no, I'm not."

Still, I may not be the pretty face in your magazine, but I am trying to embrace my aging. Wiser? I don't know, but I need to come to terms with reality. I'll end up looking like my father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, and that's fine. I'm tired, but so is everyone else.

If I had infinite money, maybe I'd purchase those six billboards to tell you you're beautiful the way you are. Sure, I'd be putting people out of business, but maybe the doctors could concentrate their efforts elsewhere. I am not against people resorting to facial reconstruction. All I am asking is to consult with people around you, and look at yourself as a piece of art.

Some of the most beautiful pieces of art do not concentrate on perfectionism, but on substance. What are the impressions, moods, and beauty of the message? Look deeper.

My message is you are beautiful. Hopefully, someday I’ll realize this is true of me. I am a perfectionist, but I need to make peace with the face in the rear-view mirror, so someday I again ignore the billboards that eluded me for all this time.

S. Truett Cathy

Good thing S. Truett Cathy takes better photos than I do. wdsiemer

S. Truett Cathy

I have mad respect for this man, S. Truett Cathy. I see this face every time I go to Chick-Fil-A and I think: this guy could have been Photoshopped by the design department real nicely, he could have used an old photograph of himself to trick people into thinking he still looked young, he could have worn eyeliner and blush, or even banned his photo from being used at the restaurant.

But no! He has his beautiful face blown up to greet every guest coming through his doors... And what's not to love and be proud of--S. Truett is a true celebrity without the glamor. Now only if he was the one to announce it's his "pleasure" when I'm served.

Abbey Road Construction

Abbey Road Construction
Designs We've Seen (a lot) Series

Of course any iconic image is going to be a victim of people's imagination, interpretation and manipulation. So this photograph of The Beatles on Abbey Road is open game. I have used the Mario Brothers' characters as my "place image here."

Mario Brothers on Abbey Road. wdsiemer

Photo Restoration

Some personal photographs I retouched a bit. Before and After. Scanned in high-res/shown in low-res.

Photograph Restoration 1. wdsiemer ii

Photo Restoration 2. wdsiemer ii

Smashing Magazine Photoshop Article

When creating Web and app interfaces, most designers slave over every single pixel, making sure it’s got exactly the right color, texture and position. If you’re not careful, though, some common functions like moving, rotating and pasting can undo your hard work, resulting in a blurry mess. But with some small changes to your workflow, you should be able to maintain the highest-quality artwork from the start to the end of the project.

Pixel Perfection When Rotating, Pasting And Nudging In Photoshop

Crumpled Graph Paper Texture

Crumpled Graph Paper Texture 

from the sketchpad

Crumpled Graph Paper Texture, sketchpad, wdsiemer ii

Don't You Remember How Obama Handled Katrina?

Don't You Remember How Obama Handled Katrina?
 ...and Hillary Clinton wasn't really in the White House Situation Room.

Where’s Hillary? Hasidic paper breaks the rules by editing Clinton out of White House photo

Hasidic paper breaks the rules by editing Clinton out of White House photo
Hillary Clinton edited out of photo for being too sexy.

Read full article here

President Obama's Official Birth Certificate

President Obama's Official Birth Certificate
All the news yesterday.

GET OVER IT! It doesn't matter how many official documents come out--people are still going to create absurd conspiracies. Let's put Donald Trump in the White House. Maybe he can spend tax payer money the same way he spends his own money--spending millions for trivial research on a United States citizen's birth certificate.

Well, to add fuel to the fire, I scanned this document in high-resolution, defined the details under ultraviolet/x-rays, and darkened secluded areas in Photoshop to reveal how this "official" document really appeared before an expert fraudulent document creator came in to clean up the job.

Obama's Birth Certificate