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I'm learning to play the guitar. Help?
For most of my life, music has been the thing that I am most passionate about. For most of my life, I have convinced myself that I am incapable of actually making any music of my own. But for a brief (and ill-fated) foray into the universe of the piano in my early teens, I've never been able to do much of anything with instruments. Which is odd, because I know that I have a really good ear for music - at least, that's what I pride myself on. And when I talk to people about music, it eventually comes up that I don't know how to play a damned thing, and I get embarrassed. So I'm putting an end to that. This is a public declaration: I am learning to play the guitar. There. I said it. Now, I have no choice. People are watching. Right? I can't really say why it's taken me so long to realize this, but the reality is that while I say I have no musical ability, I haven't actually ever tried. Yes, I played the piano for a few years. But I hated it, because that's not the kind of music that I like. The guitar is. I dug out my mom's old guitar - the one she claims to have bought some time in the mid-'70s - and started familiarizing myself with it. I'm taking it slow - I literally don't have the first idea of what to do. I found an online class (thank you internet) that I'm hoping will do a good job at teaching me. I started to learn the language and posture last night, just sitting on the floor with the guitar in my lap. When I first picked it up, I felt so uncomfortable, so awkward. I couldn't get my arms right. But after only half an hour, it started to feel more natural. Sure, my back hurt a little from being in a strange, unfamiliar position, but the guitar started to feel OK in my hands. And I learned how to hold a pick. And what a fret is. It was an encouraging, if slow, start. I'm committed to this. It's going to be hard, and I may not be ready to play a single note for a week. But I know that things like this take time, and I'm prepared to dedicate some real hours to figuring it out. I don't have an end goal, outside of just being able to competently make some sounds with a guitar. That's all I want - and if I can get there, I'll be one happy man. Suggestions? Does anyone have a good website with tricks and tips? Or any pointers of your own? Anything and everything helps! I'll keep you guys posted!
Guitar Photography Challenges - White Guitars
Cat in the photo aside - the challenges of shooting a white object in any situation can test even a seasoned photographer. Shooting in any digital format completely complicates the situation for digital is prone to blowing out (losing detail) in hot/white areas. A good rule of thumb - which I learned in cinematography school ( I was fortunate to have learned both digital and film - I went to school just as the digital technology was gaining momentum in the film industry) - that rule is if shooting film it's better to slightly over-expose than under-expose and digital is the opposite; it's better to under-expose than over-expose. Film needs light to make the halides react and capture an image. Over exposed film can be pulled back down. Digital technology's main weakness is the loss of detail if the sensor is over-exposed. It's easier to pull under-exposed digital images up - noting that you're going to get a lot more grain and color artifacts - than to work with an image that was over-exposed because with digital an over-exposed image has NO detail to work with. I use an incident meter for reading the light in studio instead of my camera's spot meter. The difference between a spot meter (which meters the light reflected from one area of the subject you are shooting) and an incident meter (which reads the amount of light falling on the subject from the light source) - is that reflected light is affected by the color, texture, and position of the object it is read from and an incident meter will give you a general reading of the light all around the subject. This is very handy for lighting a green screen, which must be uniformly lit. Think of the incident meter as giving you a great average place for your camera settings - to ensure you'll get the best (most "normal") exposure. BTW - "Normal Exposure" is a photography term - an image which is shot with normal exposure will have details in the brightest and darkest areas of the frame. No black shadows without detail, no bright highlights without detail. Another MAJOR consideration is shadows. You can mask the shadows from the bridge and knobs on a guitar that's stained or finished in a darker color. But white? It's nearly impossible to shoot the image without some shadows (unless the guitar is inside a light box). By shooting the image with the incident meter I get a medium point for exposure where I won't blow the whites out or get the dark areas too murky - and this makes cleaning the guitar up in Photoshop much easier. The last thing to consider is the purpose of the photos... if you are shooting them for a catalog, you want straight, clean, non-distorted images. In this application I use a 50mm lens with zero distortion along the edges. I center the lens at 90 degrees from the plane of the fingerboard/neck - and I place the lens in the center of the guitar - usually around 5 inches above the neck/body joint. If you are shooting images for a magazine (editorial) or a coffee table book - then you may choose to augment the unique design features of the guitar's design. I shot these photos for a book on vintage/classic guitars. For this reason I chose to use the shadows to bring out design details such as the joint between the neck and the body and the "Made in USA" stamp which is gently indented into the wood under the finish on the back of the headstock. Lastly I chose to use a Panagor Macro Adaptor (it fits onto the camera and the lens attaches to it - it has it's own focus ring and aperture) - to shoot extreme close-up images - macro shots) but limiting focus to a few millimeters. This is called selective focus and it allows you more control over the composition. The human eye - controlled by the human brain - will automatically move to the area of focus in a photograph. By carefully selecting the area that is in focus you ensure the image is presented and received with the content you've selected being the undisputed focal point of the photo. I hope these little tips help. Happy shooting! And if you shoot some guitar photos and would like to share them with me, please tag me in your card!
프레디가 브라이언을 생각하며 만든 곡
어느날 스튜디오에 들어온 프레디가 브리에게 "널 생각하며 만들어봤어." 라며 들려준 노래.  Queen - Soul Brother (Under pessure sigle b-side) God bless my soul here he comes now The man with the most how does he do it? Sure he's got style he's so heavy He's a trip can do anything Anything anything He's my soul brother He's my best friend he's my champion And he will rock you rock you rock you 'Cause he's the saviour of the universe He can make you keep yourself alive Make yourself alive Ooh brother cause he's somebody somebody He can love He's my soul brother Whan you're under pressure feeling under pressure Yeah pressure yeah pressure He won't let you down Whan you're under pressure Oh feeling under pressure yeah pressure So he won't let you down He won't he won't he won't let you down He can do anything anything anything He's my soul brother Yea ah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah Ooh soul brother anything (soul brother) Anything (soul brother) anything (soul brother) He's my soul brother brother brother brother brother Anything (soul brother) anything (soul brother) He's my soul brother Soul brother he can do anything He can do anything 'Cause he's my soul brother 프레디에게 브라이언은 ...  내 영혼에 내린 신의 축복 그는 스타일이 확고하고 진중한 사람.  그는 내 최고의 친구. 나의 챔피언.  그는 널 흔들어 놓을거야.  그는 우주의 구원자거든. 그는 인생을 즐기게 만들어주지. 그는 누구든 사랑할 수 있는 사람이니까. 압박감에 시달릴 땐 그가 일으켜줄거야.  그는 뭐든지 할 수 있어.  그는 내 영혼의 형제니까...  브라이언이 천체물리학자라는 걸 자랑스러워해서 보랩에도 "갈릴레오"를 넣어줬던 프레디는  이 노래에서도 브라이언을 우주의 구원자로 은유하고.  브라이언이 작곡한 keep yourself alive 와 we will rock you 도  인용하면서 그의 작품에 대한 존경심을 표현하고 있어요. 섬세하고 스윗한 사람. 그렇다면 브리에게 프레디는?? 영감을 주는 뮤즈이자 페르소나 그 자체. 브라이언이 만든 노래의 거의 대부분은 프레디를 위해 만든 곡.  작곡을 할 때 브라이언은 습관적으로 프레디가 무대 위에서 노래 부르는 모습을 생각하면서 프레디를 위한 곡을 만들게 되었다고 밝힌 적이 있어요.  프레디가 떠난 후 브라이언은..  프레디와 함께 전세계 콘서트장을 누비던 프레디의 피아노를 자신의 집 거실에 가져다 놓았어요. 그 누구도 흉내낼 수 없는 자신만의 방식으로 피아노를 연주하던 오랜 친구를 추억하기 위해.. "나는 지금도 항상 프레디를 생각한다. 단 하루도 프레디를 생각하지 않는 날이 없다. 프레디가 떠났을 때는 너무 고통스러워서 그에 대한 말조차 꺼낼 수 없었다. 하지만 이제 그는 삶의 일부분이 되었다. 지금도 때론 프레디를 생각하면 눈물이 나지만, 대부분 그의 존재는 내게 큰 기쁨이다." (2011, 브라이언 메이)  관심좀 주세요.. 귀찮으실까봐 댓글 달아달라고 못하는데 클립과 하트 정말 좋아해요...♥