How in the space of less than 1 short year, would you set about going from being in this shape to being in this one? Craig today! In this case, it took a lot of work. The doctors were after Craig to lose weight because of the trouble with his knees. Luckily, the VA hospital has a program called "MOVE" which helps overweight veterans to lose the weight. We learned to read the labels, check the portion sizes! and to get up off our lazy duffs and get moving. We chose to follow (sorta) South Beach and to ride bicycles in the mornings. We got out and rode from 6 - 9 miles a day. Just as soon as the horrid humidity dies down here in FL, we'll get back out there again.

Every photographer knows how easy it can be to simply pan your camera on a tripod to get a slightly different angle on a shot. I did with these two. As a result I got two very interesting takes on an incoming storm at a local beach.

But have any of you who are creating 3 dimensional images every thought of doing the same thing? You can double your productivity from one set up this way! You can even simply switch between day and night to get different looks!

Tony is currently writing a series of tutorials for Photoshop, so I thought I'd start encouraging folks here to try 3D. "Why go 3D?" you ask. Because in 3D work, you can once again begin to play with light and shadows. You can create without the need for drawing skills at all. Much like photography, you can work with models that have already been created, dress them to fit your need, pose them as you choose, add lighting, backgrounds, and render into some truly stunning shots.

You can also create some stunning shots from very few items as well. A quick search through the computer generated illustration category yielded some great shots that were difficult to distinguish from photos. Some of the ones ...

Or maybe not. I blush to admit just how little time it took to create this render of a blue marlin, yet it is the most popular image I have. At the other end of the scale is this fantastic image of Susan's. If I remember correctly, it took days to render, but with absolutely fabulous results!

Time is always something that we should consider. It takes time to set up a scene in 3D, add the lighting, position the camera just so. Then it takes even more time to render the image at the size you want to submit. So manage your time accordingly. Break up creating the scene into manageable chunks of time. Keep lots of notes!

Sandy