Revisiting Geotagging

Once upon a time, I was interested in the idea of being able to label photos with their location. Back in March 2007, I used and nokia flip phone to access google maps and select a point on the map, grab its coordinates and latter add these into the tags on flickr (which would allow others in the geotagging group on flickr to see where the photo was located on a map). Seem like a big step forward at the time.

Today I can do the same with my garmin watch (at pretty much the same location) and merge the coordinates in my way file collected as I walked, into my photostream on uploading to my computer (I use Olympus workspace and/or photo mechanic but there is a lot of other software that can also do this).

The magic is now mundane.

Return to Wandering in the light

 The frustrations of social media and made me realise I should return to just share interesting light and things I have photographed in the process of living

Between Summer and Autumn

This was photographed with my Olympus OMD EM5 and post-processing using luminar Ai, using the sunny small template and a vignette

I just missed "world pigment day"

 

I discovered that yesterday was “World Pigment Day” thanks to an email from Windsor & Newton. Honestly who makes up these names & days?, but it is an excuse to post my revised portable watercolour palette based on the idea of six primary colours (ie combining the photographic RGB scheme and the printers CYM(k) schemes). BTW Being watercolour I’m not using black. Whereas previously I had tried the conventional idea of a warm and cool version of each, I’ve now concentrated on trying to get a transparent and opaque version of each. Some of the pigments are same as before but I have more transparent versions now. The #watercoloursocietyofvictoria ‘s #paintaway was a great opportunity to try this out for “plein air” work. I enjoyed it a lot. (also see my instagram)

A more convention RYB Pigment based Colour Wheel (from Winsor & Newton)

Adobe Max and life without creative clouds

Life after creative cloud is fine, infact the computers have sighed several sighs of reliefs, start up is faster (no waiting for yet another "mystery" update). I've had enough of those with windows10, especially the ones that repeatably failed. Also I'm definitely wasting less time (some was learning but a lot of pointless play). Has my photography suddenly become poorer, don't think so (Dan Andrews lockdown has had more influence.) Am I more likely to use outrageous filter, ...  ...  ...Yes

So for yet another opportunity to learn that may become a waste of time. Comparing Adobe Max and  to last weeks ZOOMtopedia its a really clear example of how high quality video with snappy graphs is no where near as compelling as more interactive video streams that you know are truely live. You naturally follow the live much more close focus than the slickness of tight video was like have the TV on in the background Still I like the concept of learn and train in lightroom where you can select and example tutorial and work through it in light room.

Adobe Max is still on (the a big catalogue of "live" event) and is free to join but you may to set up an adobe ID.

Yet another update issue

 I have come to use OnOne Photo RAW as my go to RAW file editor of choice and when I use it I generally export a "finished" jpeg version but something has gone astray in the latest update. It often reports that the screen resolution has changed and I need to restart the application. I assume this is related to the fact that one of the two screens on my main desktop had died and I replaced it with an old VGA style monitor. The Microsoft update fiasco made this worse, the software would hang and clearly had rendering issues anytime I exported a finished edit.

Initially the response from their support was very non-specific (ie delete OneOne and reinstall it) but I had already done this 3 times. Yesterday I got a real reply it turns out this is a common bug when using two monitors. I had to physically unplug the old monitor and just use a single screen, Magic everything is fine again, albeit with less overall screen real estate.

Am I becoming too cynical or are companies just in such a rush to push out updates to their software they are forgoing testing, and using us as Alpha testers?

Enough is enough!

 

I have (yet again) wasted painful days watching this repeatedly appearing on three of my 4 active computers (two desktops & two laptop). Once this happens the next update on that machines takes hours. One desktop took 3 days before it was again useable.

Microsoft surely to realize this is a massive #FAIL.

After 3 months I wasn't overwhelmed

 I’ve had an trial of the creative cloud suite for an extended 3 month period. It really does have a comprehensive set of programs. In comparison I have a number of different programs, from several different software companies, that I use standalone but use whichever is appropriate and have to swap files between each application. I was expecting that by now adobe would be well integrated. I was disappointed there is only some interchangeability but it is pretty much the same step, saving &/or exporting then opening working on the file, save again and back on the roundtrip merry go round, like plugins have pretty much always worked. Ok it all works but I don’t need to be in the creative cloud environment to do it like this.

  I was once quiet a fan of lightroom up to revision 5 when it got so slow. So I was keen to see how light room classic had progressed and it had. The facial recognition was nice (but not essential for me) the HDR and Panorama were also fine and the synch to lightroom mobile seemed to work nicely. I was initially impressed. However I still had the strong impression that behind it all was the one person one catalogue, one spot to file your originals was underlying this all (the shared images just being smart previews). So I was a little underwhelmed here compared with tools I already had.

  I had decided to spend a fair bit if time learning Photoshop in detail, and it started well, I was particularly interested in layers and blending. I must admit it does do these tasks well, However things kind of fell apart after that there are so many menu, tabs, icons,  sliders and even different terminology for much the same process that I found trying to consume the actually well put together training material to be brain numbing. I did step down to Photoshop Express and that was useable straight away (I do have an old version of Adobe Photoshop express on my main machine, it came with my Wacom tablet, but I actually haven’t used it in 3 years. The new express is certainly update but again a bit disappointing.

  Illustrator wasn’t as hard to pick up and I made a couple of fun things with it, however when I tried doing a couple of cartoons I was a little shocked at how few graphic tools I commonly use I could actually find.

My final foray into the creative cloud world was video. I’m not very experience with video but interested and have been making a few experimental shorts. So I then dove deep into premiere pro,  The training material is good but stopped short of what I wanted. The wealth for a menus, tabs, sliders and icon and number of track types was a bit confusing. I reckon Davinci Resolve is easier to pickup. (that’s not a compliment by the way)  So after some time back down to Premiere Express (its ok easy and much quicker to get things done), then finally Rush.  

 Now Rush does about 90% of what I was after and sort of quickly and had a nice set of options including schedule upload to YouTube. Its very heavily aimed at social media influencer wanna-bees. So I actually used that for a few weeks to recorded a set of quick tips for watercolourist. This might be the one program I would miss when the trial ends. I’ve since discovered a few stutters in the videos on YouTube that are not the same as renderings on my computer (but I’m not totally off-put, it may have been easy to avoid.)

The ongoing rental (aka subscription) and its price, have always been a stumbling block for me. I can’t find any strong reasons for me taking up an subscription (and no discount was offered). I did however registered for Adobe Max, which is free for those with Adobe ID just before my trial version ran out. Maybe the blue sky of features yet to come might keep the adobe flame burning, but its nearly gone out for me.

The enthusiasm for using anything Google or Facebook is being sucked out of me

I had been noticing for a while that it was just too co0incidental I would search for say a toner cartridge and then the same ads would be dished up on youtube, other searches, in Gmail. Instagram and Facebook for days/ Was someone spying on me listening in on everything I do, well yes. However, all the scrapping of every little bit of metadata is being justified on the grounds that it helps you see better content! I think that should be rephrased puts you in a bubble so you only see some of what you like and more significantly lifts the advertising revenue of those serving you the content (they most don't pay for).

So I have done a little research and just made two changes. I most often now used the search engine Duck Duck Go and also mostly (but not always because I do still use a few google tools) I have started using the browser Brave. The change to both was painless. Ok the top third of the page of the Duck Duck Go queries are not filled with paid adds and Brave seems a bit faster and streamlined, Also pretty well all those co-incidental bombardments of the same ads has virtually stopped. A little investigation in Brave gave me a good idea way.

By the way, these stats are just after a couple of hour on an average day.

Well it look like there is a lot more sharing (or piracy) of the thing left on out computer caches by some browser and social media services, than they want to admit too. I don't miss these creepy things.

I'm much happier now and I'm not going back!

Is it getting worse or am I just becoming a grumpy

 

Why is it that several well established services (and apps) keep introducing undocumented changes, dialogues screens with option do discussed anywhere THAT SIMPLY DON'T WORK?

In the rush to be a copy cat and offer something that has become popular for a competitor. Most of these companies should know better, but they seem to be pumping out untested and error prone services & software. It isn't just Instagram & facebooks, Its Windows 10 Update, Blogger revamps, Google Photos, several Adobe products. The reliablity of these is going down hill, not improving.

Well guys you are shooting yourselves in the foot. Cause it is time to find reliable alternatives.

Comparing RAW rendering of a camellia

 I decided while a had a couple of other big name photo editors under extended trial I should attempt a few comparisons. Then I came up against the very limited formatting capabilities on the new blogger. ...gramble, moan yet again!

So it looks like I can only present the images one on a line, at a time. Oh well so be it.

So what I am attempting to show here is how each package take the RAW image (in this case an .ORF from my little Olympus and renders the RAW image ready to edit. At the superficial level they are all very similar.

Yet they are all just subtle difference. Perhaps not different enough that once edited they are edited anyone could end up with the same result.

In a line up I would probably pick the Jpeg straight from the camera. Still my little Olympus is like that and it doesn't surprise me. So how do I justify having expensive software and spending lots of time to try and do better. Or even spending more money on more software. You'll need to watch this space as I work through that question.

Big Sigh! Those blue screens again

 I am trying to be patient, but  I have to admit updates to windows 10 have been a nightmares since the supposed May update (I might suggest it was a downgrade). There  are 5 computer running windows in my household (not all are used a lot, yet they are all used at some stage), There are 3 desktops and two portables. The May upgrade didn't work on any of them at the first install. There were warnings to wait, nothing crashed but a lot of time was wasted and very slowly most were bough up to date. 

However the latest updates seem to have at last been partially loaded and 4 of my 5 computers have soon after crashed with a blue screen. some multiple times One computer, my main desktop, is still very sick. 

Microsoft please get you act together. Linux is looking attractive.

MMMmmm you probably noticed I have stopped posting

 I haven't stopped posting because of the COVID19 restrictions. Well not entirely. It's been more to do with frustrations of things changing and either not working or requiring a lot of time to negotiate. The changes in Blogger where kind of the last straw, Ok the new interface is cleaner but....

I happen to have become a lot more interested in streaming, and zoom in prticular. Firstly through setting up a series of Zoom meeting. However it didn't take long to get more interested in how to use the medium (of reliable home streaming and personnal interaction) in a more creative way.

Well there is plenty of good and bad in the wide spread popularity of zoom (and similar video conferencing tools). First the BAD (and ugly) aspect are the one to many sessions where one or two people take over and often show detailed hard to read powerpoints. Its not only "death by powerpoint" its boring and stressfully hard going, its "zoom fatigue". we are all experiencing. I guess you can amuse yourself by looking around the room and seeing all the other bored faces looking back.

There is a GOOD side. It can be one to many but presented as one on one, but here it feels like it is being presented just to you. A very good example of this is Nora Jones Mini concerts live from home on YouTube
.

This YouTube link is an example of my frustration with blogger, the new interface no longer has an edit the html link feature, or I can't find it, but share from Youtube connects to the old blogger interface. so I shared from there as a draft. open the draft up the new interface just shows the clip greyed out ....Ahhhh

There is also the possibility of EVEN BETTER and this lies in the possibility of many to many connections where everyone gets to connect. However conversation on video conferencing can sometimes be a challenge if everyone tries to talk at once, because the technology is set up to only let one participant speak at a time. What is require is some old fashion etiquette, specifically look & listen. Don't keep talking over people take a breath and see if they are listening and want to say something. With this little bit of magic suddenly your opportunity to get together is much more likely to be enjoyable.

A "Real" Trial

I'm a little deeper into my trying out both Luminar 4 and also the Creative Cloud software. Today specifically Bridge & Rush. There has to be a problem running either of the creative cloud programs within the same session as running Luminar. I've had countless times that programs have frozen, several times individual programs have gone to blank screens and now four complete system crashes.  ...Not Happy Jan.

Thank goodness these companies offer free trials. If I'd have paid I might have become very annoyed. Once upon a time I might have spent a lot of time trying to help out but my recent experience with software support also suggests I'd be on another downward spiral.

Misty Morning Exercise in Jells Park

So all I have from pretty much a whole day of frustration is a very lightly touched and cropped image from Luminar which was to be and opening screen in a Rush video. That will not happen now, time to abandon the project, unwind and perhaps have a coffee in the last of the sunshine.

Lessons in Learning Video

 

Whilst our newer cameras, and especially smartphones, are great at video. It is a large step from still photography, especially in the time taken (or maybe I think of it as time wasted) on editing the video. Streaming techniques that capture everything, mistakes and all, have a strong appeal compared with filming the clip, saving it to SD card transferring it to the computer for editing. Editing the clips together and rendering the final "cut". Time evaporates. This little clip was one take with minimal editing and just adding some music. I see it as a bit of a big step forward for me. 

My investigations so far have reinforced the need to get as much right in camera as possible and minimize the need for editing. This reminds me a lot of the film days and using slide film, which was very unforgiving of exposure and other mistakes. With the results that you were much more careful when taking the photo.

Looking for Superblack

I have been struggling with creating a DYI calibration card for photographing art work. Not so much in the theoretical mainly in the practical aspect of getting a true black on the card. then Today's "Here's a Thought" podcast by Brooks Jensen was on the very relevant Three Kinds of Blacks.

... then it struck me my inkjet printer doesn't do super black! (it doesn't do CMYK all at once just K)

I'll discuss how this calibration card can be used in a future post.The card itself does appear true black here because it was created in sRGB colour space (and black set to R:0 G:0 & B:0) and that is the colour space of your browser/monitor

If you art interested in a more art and philosophic perspective on photography I can highly recommend Brook's Lensworks podcasts.

Colour Composition - complimentary colours

Complimentary colours, those on opposite sides of the colour wheel generally make for an interesting composition.

Color Matters is an excellent site to brush on some of the basics of colour theory

Colour Compostion

To help you break the focus on leading lines and rule of thirds and other compositionaspects oversaold to photographers and free your mind for a little creativity. Pick up your camera and take a walk (might just be around the house or your back yard.

Look for strong colours. Maybe they might be complimentary colours (that bounce off each other, The red and blue pegs) or analugous (similar in hue, the sky and blue peg)

Ive spent more time than expected making a YouTube video. I suppose I learned a lot but I still have a lot to learn.

I did find something really neat. I was able to record mt phone sequence using zoom. I set up a private meeting logged in from my phone and shared the screen and pressed record meeting locally back on the host PC.  No exotic hardware or software required.

My Walk in Stop Motion

In Victoria we still have stricter Stay At Home conditions than other Australian states. However we have always been able to go outside and exercise and Jells Park is very popular, too much so. Thus I enjoy walking along the tracks less traveled. This was largely flooded a few days ago, so definitely has less folk on it today.  Nature is doing very well without us, by the way.

The flock of Cockatoos was at the end of my street. I pretty well find great things to photograph everyday, even if I only take a photo very 10-20 meters or so. 

Most importantly it was fun to play with stop motion again, not so sure about bloggers handling of the video.

The Surreal Painting

This time I am paying homage to a surrealist artist, Rene Magritte, whose man in the bowler hat was made popular again in the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. I believe his canvas on the easel that disappears into the scene behind is called The Human Condition. The idea of being able to see through the current situation to the world outside appeals to me during the COVID-19 social isolation period.

To make this picture I took a couple of photos, one with a canvas and one with no canvas. I have a nifty remote control for my little Olympus so you can't see me triggering the shot with my right hand by my side.  Rather than try to do a blended image I used the cloning and context sensitive retouch tools in On1 instead, to cover the window frame and easel where the picture would been.