Wandering in the LightWandering in the LightThings They Forgot to Tell You About DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Articles
Blue Eye Wallpaper
2008-01-21 23:13:00 Blue Eye Wallpaper Originally uploaded by imageo If you like the mosaic below this is just a reminder you can download a screen wallpaper based on it and other wallpapers based on my photo from my flickr screen wallpaper set More About: Blue
mucking around with mosaics
2008-01-21 22:46:00 I have been doing a lot of "playing" with photomosaics, specifically the ones that make up another image. My software of choice has been andrea mosaic for a long long time. It is free to download, and gives you a lot of control over, as well as the tools to build the library of tile images you use. To be fair its user interface is old fashioned text forms, but perfectly servicable. The past couple of weeks I have been trying out mosaic creator, it has a much snazzier user interface (it may not be any easier to use though) and has two important differences to andrea it can generate an image using a range of tile shapes (eg triangle and hexagons) It does not need to firstly compile libraries of tile images (you can give it individual images or directories of images) This second feature got me thinking, I could use a standard image and get a photomosaic made from any given day's photos (providing I had taken enough photos). Here is how a few of the different da...
Stitching in an unusual place
2008-01-19 14:42:00 If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know I love the extra wide perspective you get when you stitch several images together. Normally I have been using autostitch, but I have just discovered a very serviceable stitching tool inside window Live photo gallery (one of the tools that you can get in windows live) The Downside, depending on you view it could be an upside, is the fact that it works completely automatically, no settings to tweak, no sliders to slide or knobs to turn. You just select the photos you want to join and then click on the little make item on the menu and pick the first option create panoramic photo... That's it It generally seems to to a good job. It even does multi panelled grids of overlapping images I haven't cropped or rotated (Live Photo Gallery does not seem to have a straightening tool!) so you can see exactly the image produced. More About: Place
PhotoFriday :: Disaster
2008-01-19 07:29:00 The cane toad, Bufo Marinus, is Australia's Most Obvious Biological Control Disaster s.For PhotoFriday topic Disasterous More About: Aster
More on HDR (High Dynamic Range)
2008-01-11 07:05:00 I posted last week, about the HDR or more precisely HDRi (High Dynamic Range Imaging) technique, to attempt to get a higher dynamic range into a single exposure. I was inspired enough try out what can be achieved with a few popular freeware and shareware/trial version of software, and it is time to share my finding so far. Well the first big shock was in the amount of ghosting I saw. This resulted because the images could not be superimposed adHDRequately and was mainly due to the fact that I had taken most of the bracketed exposure sets handheld (without a tripod to ensure that the images where exactly the same view). In fact some of the ghosting was so bad in many cases the final photo looks out of focus. Most packages offer some way to adjust individual exposures but most where to say the least tedious (ie more up and down one pixel with each press of the mouse or arrow key, in just horizontal and vertical directions independently). Only Dynamic Photo seems to allow rotat... More About: High Dynamic Range , Dynamic Range
Wierd Shapes
2008-01-09 00:59:00 Some wonderful contortions in the trunks of Swamp Paperbark (Melalucas ericifolia) More About: Shapes , Wierd
Why I have turned off anonymous comments?
2008-01-09 00:53:00 Sorry folks I've turned off anonymous comments on this blog to stop the ad-bots (the annoying software robots and market oriented folk that post irrelevant adds), I'm pretty annoyed at all the Chinese posts lately.So if you want to add a comment, and it can be about your own company of product, you just need to identify yourself. I welcome feedback More About: Comments , Anonymous , Anon
PhotoProject:: getting rid of the ghosts (almost)
2008-01-08 04:43:00 This autostiched panorama was taken on the point smythe beach walk for the "summer by the sea 2008" program for coast action/coast care. Unfortunately sone of the figures are ghosts because they moved between exposures, Not something I could really do much about at the time, or even less about now. However there are wonderful tools available to do photo manipulations these days. I have not written about them much because I tend not to use them. An exception and a great tool, is the clone tool. Here am using the clone tool in corel paint. Not all free or "packaged with camera" software has this feature but the free to download paint.net does have a great version of this tool, if you want to try one out. Basically the clone tool allows you to copy another small part of the photo over the top of something your want to remove. This preserves the "texture" of the local area on your photo surface and genrally does a great job of concealing things. I also used cloning to get rid of a coup... More About: Ghosts
Sky or Foreground (that is the digital camera question)
2008-01-06 11:26:00 I am guessing every digital camera owner has come across this dilemma, as soon as they take any landscape photographs. If you point the camera slightly down the exposure will give you nice detail in the foreground but the sky will be washed out (almost white), or you could aim up a bit and the sky will be nicely exposed but the foreground will be in shadow. The underlying issues are twofold the light meter in the most cameras do not perform well when you have a big contrast in the lighting levels, the meter has to make a compromise about what it exposes correctly, often when the contrast is strong that compromise is not good. Secondly the camera's CCD (or CMOS) sensors do not have the ability to record the detailed gradation of light over a wide range. This is often called the camera (or and media) dynamic range. Computer monitors and TV screen also have limited ranges. Traditional film still has a slightly broader range, but no where as good as the human eye. That is ... More About: Question , Digital Camera , Camera , Digital , Dynamic Range
Sunrise
2007-12-16 04:46:00 Yet another multi-image panorama, the photos were taken in new guinea two years ago BA (thats before autostitch, before I started using autostitch). Just go to show it can be worthwhile revisiting some of your old photos.For PhotoFriday's topic Sunrise
Giving Yahoo! GO a go
2007-12-11 11:44:00 My new vista computer loaded Yahoo !7 as the default Home page, I must admit i had gotten used the iGoogle, but before reverting i had a look around and as might be expected there is a direct link to flickr on the left hand side. No big deal if flickr is in your favourites. The pleasant surprise was under the mobile link and right on the far right is a tiny key called GO which is a simple yet elegant interface to some nice widgets to access the internet with as few clicks as possible. You must download the software for the interface to your mobile phone, (either by downloading to your computer or via a link sent in an SMS). The flickr widget, the familar cyan and magenta dots in a circle, gives you access to a nice neat photo upload, but giving it permission wasn't as click through as it could be. So far I'm very impressed but will report back later on how robust and relaible the GO interface is. The original flickr mobile port m.flickr.com is still reliable, just a bit more click... More About: Giving , Yahoo!
Still playing with photomosaic panorama
2007-12-04 08:36:00 I must admit I do love to create sweeping landscapes by taking a series of images and then using autostitch to stitch them into as large as possible image that I can (I have a 12,400 by 3,888 pixel version of this one). The downside is the difficulty (and cost) of having large panorama photos printed and framed. Still the final results look great. More About: Panorama , Pano , Tomo
The tale of the Pig & the Duck
2007-12-02 13:19:00 Take a good look at the photos and your will see some well loved pets enjoying a stroll on the beach. More About: Duck , Tale
Pretty as a picture?
2007-12-01 07:28:00 Well the lighting is lovely but the image may not be so well appreciated by all those suffering hayfever this year. More About: Picture , Pretty
2nd last spring sunset
2007-11-30 05:06:00 Individual photos for spring sunset pano Originally uploaded by imageo The second last sunset of spring, beach no.1 Venus Bay. The extreme wide angle effect is created using a five panel photomosaic, stitched together with autostitch. More About: Spring , Sunset
More on Sky
2007-11-17 09:29:00 Before After I have mentioned this "trick" before. Most digital cameras end up having a dilemma when trying to find the perfect exposure during the middle of the day. If you point at something like a tree, the exposure will be fine for everything on the ground and the trees but the sky will be washed out. The simplest way to add a nice blue sky back into your photo is using a simple gradient filter, specifically one that allows you control the position and rate of the gradient (sometimes called feathering). Here I am using the gradient filtering feature in picasa.
Dangerous
2007-11-10 00:27:00 For photofriday's theme dangerous A "small" salty on the banks of the daintree river More About: Dangerous
Now that is a good idea
2007-11-08 03:55:00 I came across this researching something else, but who is this for a snazzy idea, putting a wi-fi transmitter into a camera's SD memory card. It is called an Eye-Fi. There is a bit of set up required on your PC or Mac to configure it, but after that you can upload your photos from the camera wirelessly, and in can be automatically setup to also upload your photo to your favourite website, like flickr, photobucket, even facebook. At present they don't work with public wi-fi hot spots (they can't log in by themselves). And yes the camera battery will be used when the card is transmitting. The other bad news is the Eye-Fi is only supported in USA (but hopefully that will change) More About: Idea , Good
No filters needed
2007-11-06 09:16:00 I recently sold a number of my sunset photos at a local Art Exhibition and so many people asked if I used some special filter or photoshop process. The answer is I used neither. My secret to getting good photos at sunset is firstly be there, at the right time. The best colours often come just after the sun has set. Secondly, and less importantly, is don't be afraid to take several at slightly different setting (for example use EV bracketing). Built-in light meters and their monitoring techniques behave quiet differently between digital cameras when being pointed at a strong light sources. Sunsets (and sunrises) are a favourite topic of mine, to see other posting on them click on the label sunset below More About: Filters
Getting the sky
2007-11-06 06:19:00 I am actually rather proud of this panorama, I hope to generate a 2m long blow up. It is based on 19 individual images and was stitched into a single with autostitch. However that is the easy bit, getting 19 images to look as if they are correctly exposed out in the middle of a late spring afternoon in Australia is the real challenge. Normally because the Australian midday lighting is so harsh, if the beach is correctly exposed the sky would be washed out (most automatic light meters will do this) or if the sky was nice and blue the beach would look dark. So I have used a polarizing filter, its effect on the beach is minimal but it changes the contrast in the sky and clouds beautifully.
Tale of Two Panos
2007-11-02 10:31:00 It was a pretty magnificent sunset tonight down here, perfect opportunity to compare my new phones autopano feature which I am having a bit of trouble mastering, with multi-image autostitching (my preferred method, but much more time consuming) Whilst there is not that much difference at the "thumbnail" size displayed here, if you click on the images to see them full size, the difference is astounding. More About: Tale , Pano
(Auto) panorama of PNG mask
2007-10-31 02:44:00 (Auto ) panorama of PNG mask Originally uploaded by imageo Yes I am still playing with the camera features of my phone, and the one-click upload feature you get with shozu. This is the nokia auto panorama feature, basically yiou click and slowly move the camera in one direction then click to stop. to be hionest is quirky and tempramentlyt and more a gimiky toy than a serious tool, but to leap to its defence I was trying it out moving the whole phone (like a scanner head) in front of the mask. Clearly this made the mtch up process stutter a little.- Taken at 12:29 PM on October 31, 2007 - cameraphone upload by ShoZu More About: Mask , Panorama , Pano
Taking another look at Shozu
2007-10-29 14:23:00 I must admit I have seen others enthuse about ShoZu, pronounced show-zoo, but had not seen much application for it myself. I was wrong of course. If you are into social networking and have a mobile phone camera, you should get it, serious you should download it now. The advantage is that photo goes directly to the website (no uploading and fidgeting on a PC required). The list of destination you can share to is extensive, including flickr, facebook, most popular blogs and YouTube and if your phone supports it you can set up One-click uploads (you get the option to upload a photo whenever you take one, with a single click). This is a good feature ZuCasts, are possible the next big thing, probably making this the number one phone application, they are a lot like a silent podcasts. After you subscribed to specific content it will get delivered to your phone in background, for you to review whenever it suits you. Shozu is essentially free (there are no charges for joining or... More About: Taking
Last Full Moon in Spring
2007-10-27 13:34:00 As well as being the beginning of daylight savings, tonight is also the last full moon in spring, and it was a spectacular moonrise. The red colour presumably coming because of dust and pollen lifted into the air by strong north winds. More About: Full Moon , Moon , Spring , Full
Blue Sky
2007-10-27 05:33:00 The traditional way to enhance the sky (darken the blues and whiten the clouds) is with a polarizing filter. Whilst filters where much used in with films SLR, they are not that popular with digital photographers, possibly because post processing can do pretty much the same (and more). With a polarizing filter No filter No filter on lens, but the "I'm feeling lucky" filter in Picasa More About: Blue , Blue Sky
Plastic Bottles :: the new menace
2007-10-26 15:28:00 Not long ago it was plastic bags that where choking the inland waterways. I get the impression things have changed for the better, with noticeably less shredded bags around now. However I was walking along the lower reaches of the Tarwin river, looking for erosionflood damage associated with kings tides. There in the flood debris I was very surprised to find how many plastic bottles have taken up residence (maybe it because they float, glass ones would sink). Seams the littering habit is still alive! More About: Plastic , Bottles
Modern Photo Shoebox :: Digital Camera to CD
2007-10-18 07:36:00 Back in the days of film, or even slides, photos that didn't make it into an album, or frame, disappeared into a shoebox. there was seldom any order or logic, negatives, prints and maybe if your were lucky a few notes might be penciled on the back. Well its not a lot different with digital pictures only the shoebox is now a CD, or set of CDs (maybe even a DVD) and probably they are no better organized than the old shoe box So I thought it might be interesting discussing the various ways you can build and collate your collection of digital images, both with and without a plan to keep them organized. 'As I go I will update links from here to related stories, but you can also just watch the blog for them to appear in no particular order. More About: Photo , Digital Camera , Camera , Modern , Digital
Adelaide by Night
More articles from this author:2007-10-15 05:08:00 Whilst the city is not actually paved with gold, the colours of the illuminated buildings can assume that golden glow at night. Actually the northern side of Rundle street is paved with coins. These where all taken with night mode and since I didn't have my tripod with me I just used suitable nearby posts, bins and veranda poles for support. More About: Night , Adelaide 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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