Speaking of Stormtroopers… I saw this post on Gizmodo (via the Star Wars Blog) about some new tilt shift photos.  I wrote about tilt shift in an earlier post, but the idea is to make the subject of the photo look tiny by creating a narrow depth of field.  Photographing people dressed up like Stormtroopers and making them look like they’re action figures is an incredible idea!

When I was looking at the photos I noticed that the photo was filtered through TiltShiftMaker.com.  It looks like they’re using a filter to create the shallow depth of field created by the tilt shift lens adapter.  Upload a photo to their site and run it through the filter and your done.  I used a similar technique when I was creating the Background for the CarboTron animation.

Along with those Rebels, there was a whole bunch of stormtroopers out at the Phoenix Comicon.  You should look at the video from last year to compare the improvements to the Trooper Training.  Here’s a bit about the 501st from their website.

“…The Legion is a volunteer club formed for the express purpose of bringing together costume enthusiasts and giving them a collective identity within which to operate. The Legion’s aims are to celebrate the Star Wars movies through the wearing of costumes, to promote the quality and improvement of costumes and props, and most importantly to contribute to the local community through charity and volunteer work…”

The Star Wars elements of the convention were the things that my son was most looking forward to.  You can see in the way he runs the course that he loves being a trooper.  I put together a video of the course.  Sorry about the cell phone ring in the middle of the video.  That was my friend Chris calling me to come over to the con so he could meet Chewbacca. 

*note* I’m still trying to figure out all this video stuff so be sure to click the up arrow in the lower right hand corner of the video and select “HQ” to watch the video in HIGH QUALITY.