Kelp Forest at Monterey Bay Aquarium

Kelp forest can be found up and down the California coast, and especially in the Monterey Bay. When visiting the aquarium you could see sea otters playing in the tops of the kelp forest off in the distance from the boardwalk in front of the aquarium. The main exhibit in the aquarium features a kelp forest, which is where I took this photo. The Moneterey Bay Aquarium pumps millions of gallons of water through its exhibits from the bay every day, providing natural nutrients for the exhibits resulting in a thrivingly healthy sea environment.

Coral and Starfish Monterey Bay Aquarium

Once again I am guessing at exactly what is the subject of this photograph. I think it's a coral reef, but perhaps it's not. (Will aquaken from the Monterey Bay aquarium staff enlighten us once again?) That is a red starfish in the bottom foreground - that much I know, but I bet it has a fancier name than that!

Fish-Eating Anemone Monterey Bay Aquarium

Urticina piscivora

OK, so it's not quite a man-eater, but this innocent-looking anemone waving its arms around much like the robot in "Lost in Space" is not actually trying to warn Will Robinson, but actually reaching out for small fish and the like! Read more about Urticina piscivora at the Monterey Bay Aquarium's website: Urticina piscivora

Harbor Seal at Monterey Bay

Harbor Seal Sunning Itself on a Rock

Is this the picture of bliss or what! This harbor seal was sunning itself on a rock that was becoming submerged by the rising tide in Monterey Bay right off the wharf at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Personally I would go for a rock where I didn't have to hold my head and tail out of the water like this, but I guess it's just like we are at times and just too tired to move!

Here's a link to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's listing of Monterey Bay marine mammals.

Striped Surfperch Monterey Bay Aquarium

You could prove me wrong and tell me this is not a parrot fish, but I believe it is after going through EVERY fish on the Monterey Bay Aquarium website. The photo they have of a parrot fish has the fish hiding in the rock so you don't get a very good view of him, but they do say that "their coloring ranges from reds to greens, blues and yellows, as well as grays, browns and blacks." I wish I'd made a note of the fish when I was there, but I didn't and it's well over a year since I was there.

Here's an update on what kind of fish this is; a kind member of the aquarium posted the below comment pointing out that the fish is actually a striped surfperch, Embiotoca lateralis. Thanks, "Aquaken"!

The Monterey Bay Aquarium located on the southern end of Monterey Bay on California's coast is one of the most amazing places you could ever get to visit. If you are ever in the area, make sure you get there. You won't be disappointed.

It was a pretty hard environment in which to take photos. Of course the fish are constantly on the move, people are pushing to get to the glass, and light is low. So to risk blurring you have to take a fairly short exposure, which means you have to go very high on the ISO selection. There was either a lot of stuff floating in the water, or there was water splashed on the glass, but in the original photo there are a lot of white blobs in the water around the fish. So I had to do something to remove this distraction and used Photoshop radial blur filter to eliminate them as well as to give a sense of motion about the fish. It's what you call making the most of a less-than-prefect shot.

Canon EOS 20D
1/100sec at f/5
ISO800
70~300mm lens at 170mm

Fullmoon Over Rene and Henry Segerstrom Hall

Photo of Rene and Henry Segerstrom Hall

The Rene and Henry Segerstom Hall has only been open about a year now. It is a magnificent building and concert hall. Just like its exterior, the interior surfaces are characterized by being curved rather than flat. This is now the home of the Pacific Symphony and I recommend going there for one of their concerts to experience not only a great conert, but also this magnificant venue.

Canon EOS 20D
0.8secs at f/10
ISO800
18~55mm lens at 27mm

Full Moon Over South Coast Rep #2

Nighttime Photo of South Coast Repertory with Full Moon

This shot of the fullmoon over South Coast Repertory includes the pink floodlit marquee tower.

Canon EOS 20D
5secs at f/20
ISO800
18~55mm lens at 25mm

How to Make a Frame with Photoshop

Easy Steps to Framing a Picture with Photoshop
© John Corney 2007

I like to frame my photos with Photoshop before I post them to my website – it provides some mat-like white space around the photo just like when you get the real photo framed, and this helps to bring focus to the photo itself.

A friend asked me the other day how much it was costing me to get the photos on my website framed thinking that they were photos of framed photos! So I fooled at least one person. Anyhow, I thought it might be nice to share how to make a frame around a picture with Photoshop, so here’s how to do it. It’s actually pretty easy.

Obviously you start out with your photo just like this:

Next we will extend the canvas outside of the image with white. Navigate to Image > Canvas Size just like this:

Next, specify how many pixels you want to exntend the canvas by as illustrated below. This will actually depend on the size of your photo. The one I'm using was optimized for the web so it is just 72dpi, so "less is more" in this case. If you have a high resolution image, then you will probably want to extend by more; just play around with it. Make sure the "Relative" box is checked and the anchor is set to the center. That's the default, so you shouldn't need to change anything here.

Your image should be looking something like this now. (Note, the gray border is not part of the image - it's the background of my workspace in Photoshop - to the edge of the white is the image.

This post is getting long with a lot of images, so let's move to another post so that the page won't take too long to load.

How to create a picture frame in Photoshop page 2.

Making a Photoshop Frame Part 2

How to Create a Frame Around a Picture with Photoshop Page 2
© John Corney 2007

In part 1 of creating a mat and frame with Photoshop we got as far as extending the canvas of the photo with white. Now we are going to create a new layer on which we will build our black border that will become the frame. The quickest way to do that is simply to type ctrl+j. Once you do that your image layers palette should look like this"

Next, select the Rectangular Marquee Tool from your tool box:

Click your mouse and draw a rectangle around your image in the white canvas area. Make sure there's approximately the same margin around all sides before you let go of the mouse button. After releasing the mouse you will see the marquee or "marching ants" around your photo like this:

We are now going to fill the area we have mapped out with the marquee with black. You can navigate to Fill as illustrated below, or simply type shift+F5 which is how I like to do it.

Make sure the fill settings are the same as you see below: black, normal mode, 100% opacity, and Preserve Transparency unchecked:

A this stage, your photo will be totally covered in black like mine below, but don't panic! We'll take care of that in the next post.

Creating a picture frame with Photoshop page 3

How to Make a Photoshop Picture Frame 3

Making a picture frame with Photoshop Part 3
© John Corney 2007

Part 1 and Part 2

As of now, your photo is covered with black fill. Let's move to the next steps which will result in the photo being revealed again with a black border around it.


At this stage the ants should still be marching around the edge of the black fill. Be sure not to deselect the selection. If you do by mistake, reselect the black fill by drawing around its outer edge with the rectangular marquee tool. We are now going to reduce the selection by a few pixels. Navigate as illustrated to Select > Modify > Contract:

Specify the number of pixels you wish to reduce the selection by. The same applies as mentioned at the start of the tutorial: depending on the resolution of the file you will specify more or less. Remember, "more is less", so if your image has a low resolution, then specify a lower number. If the resolution is high, specify a higher number of pixels. Also, it will depend on how wide a frame you want; I'm going for a relatively narrow frame so I'm specifying just 5 pixels.

When you click OK, the marquee border will contract all around by 5px, or by however many pixels you specified.

Now we are going to cut away the selection which will result in the outer 5 pixel border being left behind. Use the navigation shown below, or type ctrl+x.

Our photo is now framed as shown below. (Remember, the gray is just the background from my Photoshop workspace, not part of my image file at all.

This is good as far as it goes, but let's dress it up a bit to make the frame a little fancier and to give the impression of depth to the frame.

Right mouse click on the image and choose Blending Options.

Personally, I like to use Drop Shadow and Bevel and Emboss:

And finally, here's the finished product. Play around: make the canvas extension greater to create a bigger mat; create wider frames, play around with other blending options and colors. Go wild with creating frames for your photos with Photoshop.

Learn how to automate these steps using Photoshop Action Sets

Click the following link to see all three posts that make up this tutorial on creating frames with Photoshop.

Imperial Bank Walkway in Color

Imperial Bank Walkway at Night in Color

Here's the same photo as the previous post but in its original color. What do you think: better in color or better in black and white? Post a comment.

Imperial Bank Walkway in Black and White

Black and White Photo of the Walkway In Front of the Imperial Bank

In front of the Arts and Theater District in Costa Mesa is the Imperial Bank Building. The walkway in front of the building is made of these stainless-steel columns that have a light at the bottom. At night it all looks very cool with a lighted grid cover overhead as well. The lights came out like twinkling stars.

Canon EOS 20D
4secs at f/20
ISO800
Lens 18~55mm at 54mm

Full Moon Over South Coast Repertory

Full Moon Over South Coast Repertory

I did mention when I created the first post for this series that it was the night of a full moon; a "blue moon", in fact. Well here it is finally, shining brightly from behind the Plaza Tower and above the South Coast Repertory. What a typically sparkly night it was! Actually, when I first moved to Southern California one of the things that struck me was that you'd see the complete lunar cycle replayed over and over again because of the consistently clear skies. In my native New Zealand it would be rare to have months on end of cloudless sky. In fact, come to think of it, it was rare to have a cloudless sky!

Hamlet at the South Coast Repertory

Photo of the South Coast Repertory at Night

There are three buildings that comprise the Theater and Arts District at South Coast in Costa Mesa. The South Coast Repertory has two stages dedicated to the staging of theatrical works. On the night I took this photo, a season of Hamlet was in full-swing.

Canon EOS 20D
0.5 secs at f/16
ISO800
18~55mm lens at 27mm

Plaza Tower by Night #2

Nighttime Photo Series

Here's the west side of the Plaza Tower where you can see its curved front. As you can see, it is quite a different looking building from this side. Contrast it with this photo of the back-side of the Plaza Tower.

As you can see, there's also this "groovy" artwork on the lawn in front of the tower that really caught the light nicely.

Plaza Tower 1

Nightime Photo Series

Last Friday night (June 30) there was a "blue moon". A blue moon is the second full moon that falls within the same month. So I packed up my camera and tripod and headed over to the area around the Orange County Performing Arts Center to take some shots.

I've often thought when I've been over there for shows that it would be a great location for a shoot on the night of a full moon. There are many spectacular buildings in the area, and lots of good architectural features to try and make something of for a good architectural photo.

So here we go. This is the first of the series, a photo of the spectacular Plaza Tower. I don't know what the exterior of this building is, but it's a shiny silver in the daylight. On the back (eastern) side of the building, it's a typical flat surface, but on the front side (west) it's curved. Coming south down the 405 S. freeway at sunset you get some spectacular sights of the sunset being reflected from the building's surface. This is one of my all-time favorite buildings.

This photo is taken from the north-eastern corner.
Canon EOS 20D
30 secs at f20
ISO 800
18-55mm lens at 18mm

My Profile at Technorati

Photographer John Corney

This is a link to my profile at Technorati. Technorati is a a blog indexing service that helps you to save and organize favorite posts and blogs, and to search for blogs based on tags associated with blog posts. Tagging is the most recent wave in indexing web pages and expect to see more and more of it. When used properly, tagging (or "labelling") as it is otherwise called, creates key words that relate to a blog post.

You will notice that I tag each of my posts in a manner that will group like photos together, and also help you to find photos that you might be interested in. If you want to see a complete list of all the tags I've used and how many posts share that tag, you can do so by going to the xml feed for my blog; you will see the tag list starting at the top right of the page. Here's a link to my photoblog feed.