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The Psychotic Studios website is a testing ground for new technology before I begin using it on customer websites. I use it to showcase my photographic and journalistic prowess. The basic pages, which exclude the blog and photo gallery, are composed of 5 php code snippets that I pull into one php webpage. This page for example, portfolio.php, pulls its content from: start, portfoliohead, menu, portfoliobody, and close php files. The majority of the code is html and JavaScript, but using php as a shell allows easier content updates. For example, if i want to change something on the menu I simply update menu.php and it changes across all pages on the site. The exception being the blog, photo gallery, and search but those are easily changed as well. |
| For the blog I installed Wordpress and incorporated the menu system into it. This gives the blog an integrated feeling for all visitors. It is easy to update through the back end, or individual user accounts can be assigned for guest bloggers. They can then either login to add posts, or install free editor software to do so from their own personal computer. I use several plugins to stop spam, auto-add keywords, and boost general SEO. |
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The photo gallery uses Coppermine Photo Gallery as the backend with my menu system integrated at the top. I've attempted to make it as seamless with the rest of the site as possible and I think it was a success. Coppermine allows multiple users with the ability for bulk FTP upload if you plan on having large galleries such as mine. The modified version I'm running has watermarking capability as well. |
| The search section integrates Google search into my site. It allows you to search through the massive amount of content I've collected over the years. It's especially useful for searching through my massive photo collection, but would also be useful for large amounts of text. I'd also like to talk about the Ads by Google box on all of the pages. It's integrated into the menu system and with enough traffic clicking the ads you can actually make a decent profit. The ads are generated based on your page content and you can choose to block specific ad types. |
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This site used to use the Joomla CMS, but due to security issues I gutted it and reduced it to basic HTML and CSS. The rotating banner utilizes JavaScript. The site is built on a similar PHP shell to Psychotic Studios and is XHTML compliant for browser compatibility. The layout is also compatible with monitor resolutions down to 800x600. While many people use resolutions higher than that, I find many rural users have older computers with lower resolutions. |
| A fully integrated Wordpress blog. The template is a modified version of the one I use at Psychotic Studios. I think the blend into the HTML menu is quite seamless for users. |
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For simplicity I created a spliced image in Photoshop and a php page for each image in the gallery. For the volume of content the site will have it was a more cost and code effective solution than a dedicated Coppermine gallery. There is also no need to worry about security or updating the gallery software since everything is HTML. |
| A closeup of one of the pieces in the gallery. Clicking the larger image returns you to the gallery. If the gallery content exceeds 9 photos I will create tabs or next and back buttons to navigate gallery pages. The specific larger photos in the gallery will still return you to the respective page they came from. |
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General Design
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This is the design I came up with for my Psychotic Studios business cards. It's designed to be printed as a standard 4"x6" print. It serves as both a sample of my work and as a business card. The business card being a standard 2" x 3.5" card that the customer can cut out. |
| View my business card samples here. I include these now with my packages for people to pass out to their friends. All of the photos on the card were taken by me. |
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Digital Photography
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The Pentax K10D is my main workhorse. It's a 10 Megapixel SLR camera that uses interchangeable K-mount lenses. It uses almost any K-mount lens ever manufactured including 35mm lenses and M42 screw mount with the correct adapters. It can do ISO 100 to 1600 and shoots RAW + JPG. The battery grip allows double battery life and I carry four 8 Gigabyte memory cards to my shoots. |
| These are samples of my digital senior portraits. I use an assortment of lenses plus film bodies (which you can find samples of below). Being a senior is a transition point to college life and eventually a career, so capturing that moment is vital. |
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I really enjoy shooting concerts. The lighting often changes rapidly and you can't use a flash if you hope to capture it correctly. That's where my skill in low light flash less photography shines. |
| Shooting couples can be a bit tricky. Posed shots are easy enough, but getting them to open up and show their fun side can be a bit difficult. I like to utilize the natural surroundings, commerce districts, and studio space in these shoots. |
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These are portraits that I can't really find a place for. They include TFCD with models and other photographers. Again, I try to get people to open up and show their character. |
Film Photography
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This is one of the two film cameras I use on a regular basis. This specific Pentax K1000 was manufactured between 1976 and the mid 1980's from what I can find about it. At some point toward the 1990's they shifted production from Japan to China. Lenses interchange with the K10D. |
| The Isolette 1 is a German Medium Format camera manufactured between 1951 and 1954. It's nothing fancy, but the negatives it produces are four times the size of a 35mm negative, so you can get stunning prints. |
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These are some sample prints from the K1000. I generally shoot strictly B&W film since we can do color on the digital, but there have been a few circumstances where clients requested all color. |
| An Isolette negative is 6x6 CM, so you get a square print. Generally, I'll just scan the negatives and add extra black space to make it a standard size such as 4x6, so the clients can make standard prints and cut them down later. |
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I have all of the equipment to do in house traditional Black and White film development. This saves time and expense over sending the film off to a lab. You also don't have to worry about a lab tech messing up the prints due to excessive work load. |
| I've also done some color C41 processing in the past at customer request. I prefer to leave the color to digital, but if you would prefer color over black and white film I'll be happy to make accommodations. I've even went as far as to develop all the color film from my own wedding. |
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Technical Writing
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The majority of my blog entries are technical writing in nature. Specifically I like to post how-to articles and reviews. This specific article covers how to adjust the focus and clean one of the older Russian Helios 44M camera lenses that I use for shoots. |
| This is another example of my technical writing. It's a review of the 35mm and medium format film scanner I use on the negatives I develop. |
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Journalism
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Since graduating and unfortunately leaving my job at the Arka Tech, I try to keep training my photojournalism skills. This is a photo blog post I did over the downtown Van Buren, Arkansas shopping district. |
| These are some samples of the work I did for the Arka Tech at Arkansas Tech University. |
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Contact Psychotic Studios to schedule a shoot or contract a design here:
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| Psychotic Studios uses Valid XHTML and CSS. |
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