Sage Arts Studio: Recently Added Galleries and Collections

Restoration & Color Conversion

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 21:09:19 GMT

]]>Because of my background in Fine Arts Painting, Illustration and Photography, I am no stranger to Photoshop. I enjoy challenging projects that require advanced thinking in terms of the tools offered by that software.

The same tools that we use in retouching can be used to restore old photographs. The process begins with a high resolution scan, or an enlarging photograph if necessary. Then I begin to identify the sections of the photograph that need to be repaired. With that list, I systematically restore the image.

The most successful projects begin with a high quality source image. I offer scanning services as well as photo enlargement to insure the best results. Once the image is properly restored, clients have an option to receive a digital version or to have a photographic print made. There is no reason that priceless memories have to be lost.

Ruiz Family Photo Restoration

(Sage Arts Studio) — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 19:16:35 GMT

]]>Thank you for the opportunity to restore this image, it was quite a challenge. The Restored Image is available for downloading and if you like you may order prints of this photo. Just click on the "Buy" button to start the process.

Given the size of the original print, I would recommend printing at no larger than 8" x 12" and given the aspect ratio, either 8" x 12" or 4" x 6" will print without cropping into the image. When you order prints, you can see what the print would look like at a given size, and make adjustments before placing the order.

One printing option to note is an Aluminum print, which prints the photo on a reflective aluminum backing, making for a very vibrant and long lasting print. These are more expensive, but some clients prefer them.

Feel free to share this gallery with family members.

Please let me know if you have any other photos that need to be restored.

2016 Tough Mudder - Chicago

(Sage Arts Studio) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 06:25:54 GMT

Tough Mudder Chicago 2015

(Sage Arts Studio) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 06:25:54 GMT

]]>Last Saturday I was contracted by Gameface Media to shoot the Tough Mudder Chicago event. This was a very long day of shooting. 10 and a half hours of shooting with no breaks. Talk about pushing one’s limits (I began to know how Rand Paul felt when he last Filibustered Congress). [All images here were shot by Anthony Sell and are used with permission from Gameface Media]

For those who don’t know about the Tough Mudder, it is one of the more popular and challenging obstacle-themed races. The average course time is a little over three hours, and the course it self is about 12 miles, with at least a dozen obstacles. Each obstacle involves getting dirty, wet, shocked or having one’s abilities tested in a number of different ways. It is not for the meek, nor is shooting one of these events.
It was a cool day, having rained the night before, the field was nothing but sucking slippery mud. I ruined a pair of shoes and socks making my way to my assignments. I had on long pants a t-shirt and a fleece jacket, and I could feel the wind blowing through that. It was overcast and dour for most of the day, although the sun came out at times, it never really got warm out. Most of the competitors ran in skimpy exercise gear, and many of the men were shirtless. Ambitious but foolish.
They assigned me two different obstacles at this event. I began the day shooting the “Kiss the Mud” event, which consists of a pit of mud with a few berms as obstacles to be climbed over, all of which has barbed wire strung above it. This forces the competitors to crawl belly down in the mud getting filthy, cold and wet. Sucking in facefulls of mud is entirely optional, but apparently popular nonetheless.

The race began at 8am and we had our first competitors by 10 after. This was the first truly dirty obstacle, about a mile into the course, so everyone came to it in relatively pristine condition…and left covered in mud up to their elbows.
At about 9:30 I was to join another photographer at an event on the tail end of the course, which was fortunately only a half-mile hike back through the mud towards the start/finish line. The event was called the “Funky Monkey” and it consisted of a large rectangular pit of bright green water (think antifreeze). On either side of this pit was a platform constructed of wood and steel plating for the flooring. Above the pit was constructed a large frame that suspended monkey bars that reached half way across the pit, a metal hinged trapeze swing bar, which led to a pipe suspended at three points by a couple of links of chain from large metal supports. These pipes extended the rest of the way across the pit.
The goal was for the competitor to make their way, hand over hand across the monkey bars, conserving their momentum as they took the trapeze swing, and reached out to grab the pipe. From there they would make their way hand over hand along the pipe to the other side of the pit. They could then continue along the course towards the finish line. This was the fifth to last obstacle on the course. If they did not make it across, they would find themselves falling into the water, which was quite cold from all accounts, and at least 5 feet deep. The monkey bars started at a height of roughly 7′ above the platform, and went higher as the competitor got towards the center. This meant having to climb as well as traverse the bars. On the other side, the pipe was on a slight decline towards the opposite side of the platform.

There were medical staff on site, and two lifeguards (who earned their salt that day). The people who had the easiest time of this challenge were those who were able to conserve their momentum to make it across from the monkey bars to the pipe. They swung like primates from one grip to another. The problem was the shape of the hinge on the trapeze swing. Many would get there and see their momentum die. As they tried to lift their legs to swing, the number of mechanical levers involved had a way of cutting peoples’ momentum, leaving them hanging in the center of the pit, helpless to generate enough swing to get across. A few were able to do a great enough pull up to recover a grip on the monkey bars and then generate more momentum. Many just gave up. You could actually see the decision in their faces.
I’ll tell you one thing, seeing the expressions – concentration, determination, pain, abject terror, despair, shock, sudden relief – when you suspend monkey bars over water you have instant drama. It was hard to not get caught up in certain people’s tribulations.
The day was not without injury. Many demonstrated a mastery of conservation of momentum, and gymnastic prowess, only to show a complete lack of familiarity with Archimedes’ principle of liquid displacement, attempting to swing off of the pole and land on both feet on the wet, mud spattered platform, only to slip and fall back into the pit. Which was hilarious, most of the time.
A few slipped off the pipe and landed hard on the edge of the platform, striking an arm or a leg or a face on the unforgiving surface. The platform had a rubber edge to it, but one landed so hard the rescue swimmer had to pull him back to the surface, where he simply moaned in pain for a few minutes. It sounded like broken ribs. Another competitor completely dislocated his shoulder as he lost one grip on the trapeze bar and his body twisted. Apparently he had just had that shoulder repaired surgically. After they dragged him out of the pool, which involved a long continuous stream of cursing, he hobbled on to the finish line, with his shoulder still obviously out of place. Given that people were at risk of falling down on top of one another throughout the day, I am quite surprised more people weren’t hurt.

While all this was going on, I was on one end of the platform, dodging competitors as they finished and stuck around to cheer or assist their teammates. Nothing like 8 and a half hours of people “Woooh hooo-ing” right into your ear. Because people would congregate on the platform, there was no way to set up a chair or use a monopod to lessen the burden of the camera. So I shot standing all day, hand held with my camera and battery grip and a 70-200 lens. By the end of the day my wrists and shoulders were shot. I was quite surprised my back didn’t lock up.
The crowd only got larger as the day wore on. The problem was that this obstacle was a naturally choke point for the competitors, as there was no small amount of hesitation, as people watched others to learn the best way across, plus they could only handle 7 people at a time. I was told that this event had over 9000 competitors on that day alone.
At least my gear held up. I was shooting with back button focus for most of the day. In the last hour, the back button on my battery grip started to stay pushed in, it wouldn’t pop out when released like it should have, so I switched back to a shutter focus. I went through four sets of batteries, and was grateful to have borrowed an extra battery from a friend.

A little after 6pm, as the traffic finally started to slow down, and we had only the stragglers left, the sun was severely backlighting the competitors, so I opted to move to the edges of the pit to get better lighting. The only difficulty I had throughout the day, besides physical exhaustion was the fact that the glare cast off of black, wet Under Armor seemed to play havoc on my autofocus system.
I believe I’ll get the contract to shoot the next Tough Mudder in Madison. Looking forward to it, but I just hope I get an easier assignment. As exhausting as these assignments were, it still beat having to do post-race photos.

Finals Gallery

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:26:43 GMT

]]>

2022 China Lights - Boerner Botanical Gardens

(Sage Arts Studio) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:15:11 GMT

]]>All images shot at the 2022 China Lights Exhibit at the Boerner Botanical Gardens in Hales Corners, Wisconsin on Saturday, September 24th.

All images © 2022 Anthony Sell - All Rights Reserved.

2018 Light the Night Charity Walk - Madison, WI

(Sage Arts Studio) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:45:13 GMT

]]>

Hartland Movement Center - Commercial Shoot

(Sage Arts Studio) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:45:13 GMT

]]>

2019 Light the Night Charity Walk - Appleton, WI

(Sage Arts Studio) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:44:32 GMT

Jewish Women's League Luncheon - Pewaukee, WI 2014

(Sage Arts Studio) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:44:32 GMT

]]>

2017 Light the Night Charity Walk - Milwaukee, WI

(Sage Arts Studio) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:44:31 GMT

]]>All images shot for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society's Light the Night event held at Veteran's Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Thursday, October 5th, 2017.

All images © 2017 Anthony Sell - All Rights Reserved.

Early Previews - 2026.04.13 Shoot

(Sage Arts Studio) — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:45:58 GMT

]]>

2016 Combat Corner Grappling Championships Vol. 17 - West Allis, WI

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 12:34:54 GMT

]]>All images shot for Combat Corner at the 2016 Combat Corner Grappling Championships Vol. 17, held at the West Allis Central highschool field house in West Allis, Wisconsin on Saturday, September 17, 2016.

All images © 2016 Anthony Sell - All Rights Reserved.

To enlarge an image, simply click on it. To purchase prints of an image, use the "Buy" button in the upper right hand corner of the page.

If you or anyone you know is in need of photography services, please feel free to contact me. I specialize in:

Portraits & Headshots
Real Estate Photography
Commercial Photography
Automotive Photography
Illustration & Graphic Design

Deadman's Carnial New Year's Eve - Milwaukee, WI Dec 2015

(Sage Arts Studio) — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 19:29:43 GMT

]]>Images shot at the 2015 Deadman's Carnival New Year's Eve Celebration held at the Irish Cultural Heritage Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, December 31st, 2015.

All images © 2015 Anthony Sell & Sage Arts Studio - All Rights Reserved.

Book Covers

(Sage Arts Studio) — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 05:20:24 GMT

]]>One of the types of projects I most look forward to are book cover designs and illustrations.

These designs all included the typesetting and layout of the text as well as the illustration.

Logos & Branding

(Sage Arts Studio) — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 05:20:23 GMT

]]>Over the years I have had the opportunity to design many, many logos for a variety of companies, as a part of larger projects. Here are some of the more memorable ones.

I often offer clients a single color version, a two-color version, and then a full-color version, unless they have other specific requirements. The logos are almost always delivered as vector artwork, which can be used not only in printed material, but also on apparel as silkscreen printed designs, and as signage as vinyl printing.

The goal of any logo is to match the character of the entity being represented, and immediately communicate to the viewer what it's about.

Web Design

(Sage Arts Studio) — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 05:20:23 GMT

]]>I offer a variety of web design services, from basic updates, to modifications, to complete redesigns, to websites from scratch. I enjoy helping small business owners work through the process of organizing their message, and finding the right layout and graphics to make the impression they desire.

The websites I typically build are either based in HTML/CSS or Wordpress. My recommendation as to which is most appropriate for a given client really depends on the nature of their content, how much customization is required, and how frequently the content will be updated.

For Wordpress-based websites, once the site is created and customized, populated with content, I then take the client through the process of using that interface, so they have confidence that they will be able to update their content whenever they desire.

For clients with websites with content that is not regularly updated, I offer monthly updates for a small additional fee. This covers an hour of work that might include updating a link, replacing an image or text, etc. For more significant changes, such as modifying the navigation by adding or removing pages, I would create an estimate for the amount of work involved.

Photo Manipulation

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 06:03:14 GMT

]]>These images highlight some of my work that involves manipulating images in Photoshop. Often this is done for creative reasons, adding content and meaning to photographs.

This might include using parts of one photograph in another, such as with montages or sky replacement. This might involve isolating a subject from the background (as with product photography), or altering parts of an image, such as the color of a shirt, removing distracting elements, adding elements. This can also mean playing with the scale of elements in the image, distorting or exaggerating features, etc. The process is only limited by the quality of the source images, and your imagination.

Retouching

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:49:13 GMT

]]>These images are close ups of before and after shots for images that have undergone the retouching process.

There are many tools available to improve the quality of a photograph. I personally believe that a photograph such as a portrait or headshot should be flattering to the subject, yet still retain their personality and character. For that reason, retouching should be minimal, focused on removing or minimizing distractions, and the end result should look natural.

Studio Gear - Product Photography

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:48:43 GMT

]]>

Jefferson Electric Product Shoot - December 2017

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:33:42 GMT

]]>This shoot involved renting a studio space with access to a forklift and loading dock, receiving items shipped by freight, and storing those items for several weeks after the shoot, as well as hiring two assistants. The largest item weighed just over 200 lbs.

Post-production involved completely replacing the background.

LuRu Home Fabrics - Commercial Product Shoot

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:33:42 GMT

]]>These product photos were shot on location with a dual camera - overhead gantry setup.

Sheila Johnston Jewelry Shoot

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:33:18 GMT

]]>

Tamron Lens Product Shoot

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:33:18 GMT

]]>These photographs were for a lens that was going up for sale on Craigslist. This is my standard method for shooting small products, using a piece of glass on a white board, in front of a large softbox with a reflector.

Quest Graphics Product Shoot

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:33:18 GMT

]]>

Cinderella's Threads Product Shoot

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:33:11 GMT

]]>Cinderella's Threads is a local Boutique Dress shop in a south eastern suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In addition to designing their website, I have also done a good deal of photography for them. This includes promotional images of the store, and also product photography such as these wedding dresses.

Signs of Life Jewelry Product Shoot

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:33:11 GMT

]]>I was hired by a crafter in Minnesota to take photographs of her inventory of handmade jewelry. These were used to market the items on Etsy.

Symbol Mattress Product Shoot

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:33:11 GMT

]]>I was contracted by Symbol Mattress to photograph their product line at their factory in Watertown, Wisconsin. Each image needed to be a specific size and have the background removed, for use in the product catalog and on their website.

Featured Images

(Sage Arts Studio) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:33:10 GMT

]]>

January 2026 - MKE Stands with MN Protests

(Sage Arts Studio) — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 05:04:31 GMT

]]>