Time to Relax

Sunrise

Yet another multi-image panorama, the photos were taken in new guinea two years ago BA (thats Before Autostitch, well before I started using autostitch). Just goes to show it can be worthwhile revisiting some of your old photos.

For PhotoFriday's topic Sunrise

Giving Yahoo! GO a go

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 clicking and typing.

The feature missing from both of these systems, is being able to access flickr groups from your mobile. Still an impossibility.

Shozu is still a favourite of mine (use m.shozu.com on your mobile to get the software) and it can upload to a range of websites not just flickr

Still playing with photomosaic panorama

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.

The tale of the Pig & the Duck

 

Take a good look at the photos and your will see some well loved pets enjoying a stroll on the beach.

Pretty as a picture?

Well the lighting is lovely but the image may not be so well appreciated by all those suffering hayfever this year.

2nd last spring sunset

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 on Sky

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

For photofriday's theme dangerous

A "small" salty on the banks of the daintree river

Now that is a good idea

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)

No filters needed

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

Getting the sky

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.

IRB fun

  

Tale of Two Panos

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.

(Auto) panorama of PNG mask

(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

Taking another look at Shozu

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 using) but you have to pay your phone carrier for the data being sent.

To setup and download directly from your phone, go to their mobile phone friendly website at m.shozu.com

Last Full Moon in Spring

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.

Blue Sky

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

Plastic Bottles :: the new menace

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 erosion\flood 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!

 

   

 

Yet Another Sunset

Modern Photo Shoebox :: Digital Camera to CD

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. 

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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.

Adelaide by Night

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.