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Oris Watches - A Review Of The BC3

fashionteen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:00:02 +0000

Oris watches are very affordable, beautiful Swiss watches. They feature mechanical movements - some with automatic winding - with a trademark red rotating red rotor. The range of Big Crown watches is a particular favorite of mine and, while I was initially drawn to the Big Crown with Pointer Date collection, I've now shifted to the more modern styling of the BC3 collection.

I had my heart set on the Big Crown with Pointer Date. I wanted a large watch with a black face and black leather strap and this Oris watch seemed to fit the bill, in terms of price and design. There is a choice of case size but, to my mind, the large crown is best complemented by a large case. I liked the largest case in the collection - 40mm model reference. Oris is well known for its pointer date watches and I really liked the red-tipped horseshoe shaped pointer. I loved the simple Arabic numerals at each hour mark and the day numbers on the outer rim.

However, there is one feature I don't like, and that is the hour and minute arms. They seem slightly too ornate. By this I mean, the minute hand has straight sides that taper out slightly before forming a wedge at the top; this wedge is then topped with a slim needle-like pointer. The hour hand is smaller and features straight, slightly outwardly tapered sides that then change into an oval shape that is topped with another needle-like pointer. The overall look of the watch is very nice but I just would prefer simpler hands.

This brings me to the Oris BC3 - the 3 stands for third generation of pilot's watches. This collection is unequivocally modern in design. There are currently two models in the collection; each comes with a matt stainless steel casing, black dial and either a black rubber strap or stainless steel bracelet. Both models come with a day aperture at the 12 o'clock position and a date aperture at the 6 o'clock position.

There are two sizes of case; 40 or 42mm. The shape of the casing is the same for both, with a slightly raised though flat bezel - the Pointer Date watch comes with a fluted bezel. I really like the simpler lines of the case and bezel of the BC3. The simplicity of design is carried through on to the dial. Both the hour and minute arms are the same in design - with the hour being shorter. They are simple straight, thickish and end in 'long' wedges.

The design of the dial differs slightly on the two models. While both have Arabic numerals at each hour, one watch has a small luminescent dot above the numeral (with two above the 12), whereas the other, features dashes (rectangles) above the numerals with two appearing above the 12. My preference is for the dashes, as they better complement the straight, plain arms and general smooth-edge design of the watch.

If you're a lover of big crown, big watches then the big crown collections of Oris watches will certainly appeal. The Big Crown with Pointer Date will be for those who like a more traditionally style of watch but for those like me who want a more contemporary looking watch the Oris BC3 will be the first choice.

Bobcat and Bighorns

foxstudio — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:14:45 +0000

The bobcat painting is done. I've called it "Stepping Lightly". It will make it's debut at Wild Visions2, the group show with five other Humboldt County artists next month. The opening reception will be August 9 from 6-9pm. More later about the show and the other artists.

"Stepping Lightly" oil 18"x24"

Now, a cautionary tale about reference and using captive animals as models.

I'm doing a painting that is a first for me, three panels. Here's the reference I'm using. The animals were photographed at the Denver Zoo and the landscape is from up on Logan Pass in Glacier National Park.

Is that a great pose or what? It was morning, warm and sunny, and the ram was getting sleepier and sleepier and finally his head gently dropped onto the ewe's back. She never even twitched. Click. Gotta paint it. But where to put them? I chose this rocky outcropping in Glacier because I liked the shapes and knew that bighorns were often seen in the area. I did a preliminary drawing of the animals with the idea of showing them on a shelf of rocks. I wanted to communicate how comfortable bighorns are in an environment that we would find "challenging". Here's an in-progress shot that shows my setup with my iMac.

It's great because Aperture lets me zoom in and out as needed very easily.

Another in-progress shot with the side panels propped on either side. At this point, I sent a jpeg to wildlife artist Laney, who has said nice things about my work the couple of times I have met her. She specializes in bighorns and I wanted her to eyeball the animals for drawing or any other problems. She replied very promptly and said that overall it looked good, but that the ewe's hoof was in the wrong position compared to the rest of the leg and that the ram's muzzle was too thin.

I went back to my reference and compared what I had with an absolutely wonderful book, Mountain Royalty, by famous Alaska artist Doug Lindstrand. As you can see from my photo, the ram in particular is shedding out, so it was a little hard to see the structure. Doug's photos solved that problem and there was even a picture of a ram in a similiar position.

What I ultimately found was that while I had accurately drawn what was in my reference, it wasn't "right". The ewe's hoof was at that funny angle, but that didn't mean I should paint it that way, so I fixed it. When I compared my reference ram's head with the ones in the book, I found that his head was really quite odd. Longer, thinner and with a roman nose that was much more exaggerated than the wild sheep. So I fixed his muzzle and re-proportioned his head as needed.

The other question I had for Laney was whether or not this behavior might be observed in the wild. She replied that the rams were only with the ewes in winter, so maybe I'd like to add some snow. Ah, well. In the zoo, of course, the animals are pretty much together all year around. In the wild when I shot my reference at the beginning of May, it was unlikely. Cue the snow reference. And, what I found was that it was the frosting on the cake since it brought the cool of the sky into the rock area and helped pull the whole thing together. Thanks Laney!

The moral of this story is that you can't have too much reference, don't assume that zoo or captive animals look the same as wild ones, do your fieldwork and learn about your subjects and finally, it is tremendously helpful to have a knowledgeable eye like Laney's to look over what you've done and to it keep on track.

I finish the painting today and it goes in for framing tomorrow. I'll post an image of it once it's on the wall at the show.

ART THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

Franklin P. Jones

Digital Photography for Beginners

levi086 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:21:42 +0000

I came across a site which provides very intuitive tutorials on everything about digital photography. My current experience came mainly from @!&?less amount of shot trials and suffice to say, I found most of what I learnt on this site. Check it out.

For beginners (such as me), go to http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/digital-photography-tips-for-beginners/. It will help you - a lot!

Aperture Update is Imminent

37prime — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:25:31 +0000

According to a completely imaginary source from Apple (no, it's not Phil Schiller), Apple is set to release update for Aperture in the near future. Based on the fake informations, the update will address some stability and compatibility issues.

Take that, Scott Bourne! (Last time I heard, he likes using Aperture.)

Membantah dua mitos tentang Macintosh

Ditya Rizky Yudistira — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:24:04 +0000

"dit,knp sih lu pake macintosh?"

"dito,emang apa sih kelebihan macintosh dibanding ama windows?"

"kalo pake macintosh katanya susah ya,bener gak sih?"

Saya berulangkali mendapatkan pertanyaan senada tentang bagaimana sebenarnya Macintosh itu.cukup wajar karena pengguna operating system ini bisa dibilang masih cukup langka di kalangan mahasiswa.saya mencatat dari sekitar 5000an mahasiswa di kampus saya,hanya 4 ato 5 orang yang menggunakan operating system ini.jauh dibanding pengguna windows yang seabreg dan linux yang mulai populer.prosentase yang cukup jomplang untuk sebuah mac yang menurut wall street journal ditahbiskan sebagai operating system terbaik di dunia,2007 kemarin.banyak penyebab yang sempat saya perhatikan kenapa OS ini masih belum dilirik oleh sebagian orang,termasuk teman2 mahasiswa.Dua diantara faktor utama tersebut adalah :

1. OS mac yang harus menyatu dengan hardware buatan Apple

menurut saya ini adalah faktor terpenting kenapa banyak orang yang masih enggan ato belum tergerak untuk menggunakan mac.sistem mac (hardware + software) memang dianggap agak rumit dan menyusahkan bagi mayoritas pengguna komputer awam di indonesia.mereka lebih cenderung menyukai PC yang bisa diupgrade,gampang diservis (????) ,garansinya mudah,harga yang murah dan yang terpenting ada windows di dalamnya.walaupun menurut saya justru ini yang agak aneh.alasan2 diataslah yang harusnya justru membuat orang musti memakai mac.mitos yang menyebut mac gak bisa diupgrade itu juga salah besar sebenarnya.mac is upgradable.garansi mac malahan lebih baik dari PC berbasis vendor manapun.kita bisa menambah masa garansi mac menjadi 3 tahun dengan Applecare Protection Plan.layanan service center mac juga tersebar dimana-mana, dilengkapi dengan layanan operator via telepon (USA). untuk urusan harga saya pribadi cenderung melihat mac mempunyai harga yang reasonable dengan kualitas yang ditawarkannya.mahal ato murah itu jelas relatif,namun kita bisa membenchmark produk mac akan jauh lebih eternal dan low cost-maintenance dibanding produk PC lainnya. kemudian untuk kemudahan penggunaannya. mac bisa dikata relatif mudah dan user friendly digunakan dibanding OS berbasis GUI lainnya.ini bukan masalah pembiasaan,namun secara objektif saya bisa mengatakan sistem mac sangat straightforward.WYSWYG=What you see is what you get!kalo anda tidak percaya,silakan anda cicipi OS mac di Apple Store resmi di sekitar anda (Kalo bandung ada di BeMall (eStore) dan PVJ (Zoom) ). jadi faktor menyatunya hardware dan software ini yang membuat pasar mac di indonesia sangat terbatas.It's all about habit and culture of indonesian PC consument.ditunjang juga dengan sikap konsumen yang cenderung windows oriented dan susah untuk belajar dan mencoba sesuatu yang baru selain windows.selain itu juga pertimbangan harga dan purnajual yang masih dinomersatukan.price first,quality second.Maklum Indonesia!..no offfense! ;)

2. mindset atau paradigma yang menyebut mac adalah OS untuk orang2 yang menyenangi graphic designer atau audio mixing.

Nah,orang anehlah yang mungkin akan berkata demikian.anda bisa bayangkan betapa tidak masuk akalnya jikalau mac hanya didesign untuk mereka yang berkutat pada area audiovisual designer.jelas pandangan ini bersumber dari pemahaman yang kurang tepat akan sebuah OS.memang pada faktanya banyak para designer memilih menggunakan mac untuk menyelesaikan pekerjaannya.namun,keputusan ini pastilah didasari atas software yang tersedia di mac,bukan dari mac itu sendiri.gampangnya,seorang video editor akan menggunakan mac jikalau di mac memang ada aplikasi/software bagus untuk video editting.dan memang mac mempunyai Final Cut Studio,yang notabene adalah salah satu software video editting terbaik.setali tiga uang dengan seorang photografer yang mengandalkan aperture di mac untuk melakukan tugas2 editting foto. jadi menurut saya pandangan ini jelas perlu diluruskan.Mac didesign untuk melakukan semua kegiatan komputasi kita.baik multimedia,document stuff,network,server administration,education maupun sebagai OS desktop rumahan biasa.saya sendiri malah lebih banyak memanfaatkan mac untuk bereksperimen di bidang jaringan dan kernel.dan kenyataannya mac memang menawarkan kemudahan dalam proses konfigurasinya.dengan darwin dan sifat open sourcenya,mac memang juga dirancang untuk bisa dikembangkan masyarakat luas,terutama yang menyangkut XCode kernelnya.

Dua mitos diatas mungkin tidak akan mewakili betapa cutting-edgenya teknologi mac.namun setidaknya telah memberikan gambaran kepada saya tentang segmentasi pasar sebuah OS di Indonesia khususnya.harapan saya simple!kita harus mencoba untuk lebih objektif dalam menilai kinerja dan performansi sebuah sistem yang kita pakai.jangan pernah tertipu oleh taklid buta atau opini yang berkembang di masyarakat.semuanya perlu dicek dan ditelaah lebih lanjut.Mari kita menggali lebih dalam tentang operating system yang kita pakai.Jangan pernah mau tertipu oleh nama,merk,ataupun popularitas.Pepatah Prancis berkata : du chocs des idees jaillit la lumiere,dari benturan gagasan akan muncul sinar (kebenaran).Semuanya kembali pada anda kembali tentang bagaimana memutuskan OS yang tepat untuk notebook atau PC anda.Selamat mencoba (mac). Salam Mac! ;)

cheers,dito!

Diffraction and Photography

JaviZ — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:53:44 +0000

I was wondering what's the best aperture for my favorite photography subject:land/cityscapes... Probably F8, perhaps F11... F8 is probably what old photographers would pick in order to have a sharp image without risking DoF.

Well, not an easy answer, it depends on the lens you are using, with a APS-C sensor the magic aperture should be at a bigger aperture (small F number), but where is this point?

Go check that sweet point at http://www.photozone.de and read about MTF (resolution) of the lens you are considering for your next shot! :)

I've found my sweet apertures are somewhere between F/4 and F/8 but, as always, YMMV.

Want to read theory about Diffraction? Please go here.

PS: Of course you can not always USE that sweet aperture, it will depend on the available light... if the sun is really really doing his thing then you will need an ND filter in order to use a bigger aperture, etc.

Foto-Technik: Die Sache mit der Blende

Magistus — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:32:33 +0000

Nach dem es in Foto-Technik: Die Sache mit den Verschlusszeiten um die Verschlusszeit ging, beschäftigt sich dieses Video mit der Blende und deren Beeinflussung der Schärfentiefe:

Mehr zu den Grundlagen der Blende und auch deren Einsatz in der Praxis findet man bei KWERFELDEIN in den sehr guten Artikeln Die Blende verstehen (Teil 1) und Die Blende verstehen (Teil 2) : Schärfentiefe.

In diesem Zusammenhang möchte ich auch auf die hier erschienen Posts

Merkzettel: Grundlagen der Fotografie #1

Faustregel: Verschlusszeit = 1/Brennweite

hinweisen, in denen ich einige wichtige Grundregeln der Fotografie zusammengefasst habe.

Photography News 1

Bryan P — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:50:52 +0000

I've created the photography section that pretty much summarizes the equipment I've used in the past for anyone wondering. If you want any insight regarding the equipment you find on the list, contact me, I can give you an qualitative analysis regarding the performance of the lens or body. I can also give you qualitative data, but that is always subject to question. There are many places to gain that information though, and I'd love to share it with anyone interested.

I've created some sections for my work as well. Check them out if you have the time!

For the newbies, I created two guides in the past for aspiring photographers. Check them out:

Basically they are short outlines skimming over the basics. I do not get in depth with the science behind the mechanics, but explain each topic in the most down-to-earth way possible.

If you have any suggestions in improving them, or if you find any typo-graphical errors, or any question in general, please contact me.

My amazing plane ride...and pictures to boot!

photoblissbyelizabeth — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:40:32 +0000

Okay, pictures as promised. They turned out even better than I thought.

But first, the story. Sid and I got a call Sunday afternoon from Sid's dad and uncle. They said they were flying in and wondered if we could pick them up in 5 minutes. (We, of course, agreed and rushed over). Sid's uncle asked if we would like to go on a plane ride. I wasn't so sure how I felt about it, but decided it was now or never. I decided to give it a try.

As we ascended, I thought my stomach was going to jump out of my body. It's amazing how much you appreciate the nice, stable ground, when it's no longer under your feet. It was amazing to see the plane work and experience the wonderful qualities of the wind. But, I won't lie. I seriously considered asking to turn the plane around.

We reached a calm area and I loosended my grip on the chair next to me long enough to break out the camera. I began to click that familiar button, and my nerves loosened. We reached the Grand Tetons, and I was amazed. Everything was breathtaking. Up to this point, I thought I was terrible at landscape photography and should leave it to the experts. But, the photos turned out amazing. As we began to return home, we realized how dark it was and worried that we wouldn't make it home before we could no longer read the map. I tried to ignore my concerns by clicking the shutter button even more.

Needless to say, we made it home. And now that I have processed a few photos, those photos might be the only thing that makes me return into a small plane again. Thank goodness for my trusty camera.

Enjoy!

Elizabeth.

[gallery]

tunnel...oooooh...

maggiemcdonaldphotography — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:48:35 +0000

^ Peach starting to scream after we entered the tunnel.

{I love that she's lit just enough so you can see her expression (and know she's in a tunnel!) but she glows from the light behind her.}

^ Fella is just NOT too sure about this! ALMOST out...

Ahhh....love this one. No cheeseball smiles...we get the real ones (I won't tell you what I was doing for those!!!).

I've been playing around with a new(ish) lens...my 50mm 1.4. Shooting "wide open" is producing some fun images, but it's HARD!!! Lots of room for error. :) I love playing around with depth of field, especially in an image like the one above, where Fella is in focus and everything in front and behind him isn't. It really allows for creativity, which is pretty much WHY I do this!!! With a couple switches in manual mode, this image could look totally different. :) ~m

Oh...and did an actual "planned" photo shoot in 110 degree weather today (and that was 6pm!!!) with the kiddos. Don't worry, we had plenty of water (and FUN!). Get ready for some COOLIO images tomorrow from our shoot...it's different all right...vintage-inspired with lots of green and brown!!!!! Hmmm...any guesses?

Weer Weert

Ger ten Haaf — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:11:59 +0000

Na vanmorgen de bovenverdieping en toillet gedaan te hebben werd ik vanmiddag op gehaald om naar Weert te gaan. Vakbondsvergadering van FNV Bondgenoten.

Daar heb ik deelgenomen aan een vergadering over de nieuwe vorm die cliëntenparticipatie volgend jaar zou/zal of kan krijgen.

Wat mijn fotografie aangaat heb ik gisteren alle oude foto's van mijn harde schijf afgehaald en op een andere schijf geparkeerd.
Vanaf nu haal ik alle foto's binnen met Aperture.
Ook ga ik dat programma gebruiken voor de bewerking van de foto's.
De doorslag werd gegeven door de manier waarop ik foto's kan presenteren en de eenvoudig manier om kleine ingrepen te doen.
Ik merk het verschil met Photoshop dan wel.
Maar wil nu wel eindelijk voor mij zelf de rust hebben, en niet meer twijfelen welk programma te gebruiken.
Ik kan immers nog altijd op mijn keuze terugkomen.

Aperture Library Rebuild and Consistency Check

hochit — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:33:56 +0000

Haven't talked about Aperture 2's powerful features some days, it's time to explore some of them.

Press option + command key when you open Aperture 2, it will bring up a dialogue, where you can rebuild or check consistency of your projects.

Vacuum! If you're developer, you would expect this is a procedure to free space or boost performance of database. I guess it also applies to Aperture 2 internal database.

Steinerbos

Ger ten Haaf — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:05:10 +0000

Vanmiddag samen met Ria via de Steinder Wallen naar het Steinerbos gewandeld.
Onderweg weer veel foto's gemakt om aan het nieuwe toestel te wennen.

Het was drukker dan verwacht in het Steinerbos maar plaats genoeg om op het terras een biertje te drinken. Voor Ria Westmalle en voor mij maar een Palm. ( Weer een Brand gelegenheid die geen Imperator heeft)

Van daar nog een rondje rond de eendenvijver. Hier ook de foto met de eendjes gemaakt. Jammer genoeg iets te veel moeten croppen.

Terugkomend op het luxe probleem van gisteren; het lijkt erop dat Aperture gaat winnen.
Maar vast staat het nog niet.

Photography - 'Take Flight'

greenidesign — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:29:59 +0000

'Take Flight'

Matt Swann of Scattershot Genius, California, Pismo Beach

Stats:

105mm macro lens, 1/1250, f/5 and ISO 400.

The original shot was then converted into black & white in Aperture, where Matt knocked down the blue channel and kept the red + the green, resulting in the final image.

..............

This shot of the seagull, is so crisp it looks like that little bugger is going straight for your eyes, or at least for your sandwich!

Matt said "I used my D70's continuous auto focus mode to keep focus on the seagull's eye as he flew - I can't remember whether he was landing or taking off."

Whether it was going up or down, Matt managed to get a beautiful image of the creature in flight, the light perfectly capturing each feather, an incredibly hard shot which would have taken a very steady hand, not to mention a bit of nerve. Well done Matt, Green i Design thinks you rule.

Luxe probleem

Ger ten Haaf — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:18:14 +0000

Deze week niet meer veel weg geweest.
Het regende net iets teveel voor mij.
Daardoor heb ik de meeste vrije tijd besteed met lezen en foto's bewerken.

Waar ik nu nog een antwoord op wil krijgen is: ga ik nu Aperture, Photoshop of de meegeleverde software van Olympus gebruiken.

Tot nu toe haalde ik foto's binnen met Fotolader. Maakte een nieuwe map en deed ze daar in.
Wilde ik een foto gebruiken haalde ik hem op met Photoshop en bewerkte hem daarmee.

Nu zoek ik iets waar ik de foto's kan plaatsen en bekijken.
iPhoto en Aperture maar ook het Master programma van Olympus doen dat mooi.

Maar tegen Photoshop Raw kunnen ze wat bewerken betreft niet op voorzover ik het nu zie.

Ook ben ik bezig om iets te maken voor foto's op mijn oude homeside.
Zit te denken als iets in de geest van een foto per week.
Hoop dan ook weer eens bezoekers te trekken en te bieden te hebben op mijn oude side.
Nu ik niet meer wandel of tandem gebeurt dar vrijwel niets meer.

Daarnaast lees ik weer, boeken en tijdschriften. Als het maar over fotografie gaat.
Sluitertijd, diafragma maar vooral witbalans.
Daarnaast ben ik op zoek naar een mooi, ezellig en vriendelijk fotoforum op het net.

[PC] Portal

elrincondelex — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:27:37 +0000

El sistema de juego se basa en el "Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device" (ASHPD), un dispositivo manual que crea portales en superficies planas, permitiendo viajes instantáneos y una conexión visual y física entre 2 puntos cualquiera del espacio 3D. Si dos portales ligados están en diversos planos, pueden ocurrir efectos extraños en la geometría y gravedad. Por ejemplo: el jugador puede caminar a través de un portal en la pared y “caer” desde el techo varios metros detrás de donde comenzó. Solo se pueden mantener abiertos 2 portales al mismo tiempo. Si un nuevo portal es creado, reemplazará al portal del mismo color previamente abierto.

MEGAUPLOAD:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5IPD3VW7 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O51LJE04 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JCFAKNQA http://www.megaupload.com/?d=66JG8NFB

RAPIDSHARE:

http://rapidshare.com/files/129114958/Portal_UPLOAD_BY_LEX92.part1.rar.html http://rapidshare.com/files/129114862/Portal_UPLOAD_BY_LEX92.part2.rar.html http://rapidshare.com/files/129114662/Portal_UPLOAD_BY_LEX92.part3.rar.html http://rapidshare.com/files/129114150/Portal_UPLOAD_BY_LEX92.part4.rar.html

blueMarine: Open Source Photography Workflow

willwm — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:49:17 +0000

Found this program via digital-shot.com, and it looks awesome. I've downloaded but not yet installed this application, and I'll be sure to let you know if I like it. :-)

The blueMarine project

blueMarine foundation is very similar to existing applications such as Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture: a photo browser, which can be explored in different ways (by folder, by calendar, by tags, by galleries). This is just a core upon which different modules can be plugged in. The aim of blueMarine is to fully support the photographic workflow, even before the photo shoot (for instance, trip planning supported by maps) and beyond print or archival. For instance, an ornithologist usually manages field notes about the bird observed and photographed: directly binding them to photos and maybe GPS positioning data is much better than keeping a separate Excel sheet.

Targeted at communities

blueMarine focus is also on communities. Different photographer communities (e.g. astrophotographers, birdwatchers) have different requirements, both in the concrete data processing and in the cataloguing. With the support of the proper plugin, blueMarine aim is to be the single application for all the user needs.

(bluemarine.tidalwave.it via digital-shot.com)

Aperture Plug-Ins

anonymousinalabama — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:10:41 +0000

Aperture Plugged In has a list of a number of newly available plug-ins for Aperture, including an HDR plug-in that looks very interesting to try.

Made by Creaceed, this HDR plug-in works tripod-free!

Not So Jolly Snow Globes

mfjoe — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:53:53 +0000

Husband and wife team (ah, how cute, I want that some day) Walter Martin and Paloma Munoz made some off-beat snow globes with dark-ish sculptures within (Exactly the kind of weird things that would come from a collaboration with any woman who would marry me). Any-howzers, the couple are publishing a book with Aperture in the fall, with text from Jon Lethem. So get 'em.

(From Ye)

Awash in Pixels

Gary Allard — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:09:43 +0000

This is my camera menagerie. It's not all of them but it's pretty much the A-Team and it's what always goes with us on a pleasure trip. The little Sony takes some great video and some pretty nice snaps. The Olympus is the water-cam (I have a scuba housing for it) the Coolpix is the one that easily stashes in my pocket and then of course the big daddy that goes with me just about everywhere.

I just got home from a week in Seattle. We spent the 4th of July holiday with family, did a little boating and crabbing, had lunch with Chase and the crew at his studio, and saw some impressive tall ships on parade. I'll be editing the many gigabytes of images we brought back and posting up a few fun shots here this week

My crystal ball is showing a new version of Aperture 2.0 in the very near future but until then I am stuck editing my RAW files in Capture NX which is the slowest and most cumbersome program I have ever used. Since Adobe has neglected to update any of the new Nikon Camera RAW for their previous programs I have decided to make the switch to Aperture within the month. Seeya, Lightroom.

Check back in soon to learn how to catch a crab and to mix up a "Possum Hunt" cocktail.

Photography- Depth of Field

mattmoose — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:24:47 +0000

This week I'm going to talk about Depth of Field. Depth of Field (DOF)is the portion of an image that is sharp and in-focus. In photography DOF can be used for many things, particularly in composition. Before I go into its uses there is some terminology that we should clear up first. A wide aperture yields a shallow or small depth of field while a small aperture yields a deep or large depth of field. This seems quite counterintuitive but it has to deal with the part of the lens called the aperture. The aperture is the part of the lens that regulates the light that is allowed to focus on the sensor in your digital camera. A lens' f/stop is directly related to the aperture. f/1.4 would be considered a low depth of field aperture while an f/stop of f/22 would be considered a high depth of field aperture. Before I get to much more advanced I would just like to say that generally you want to shoot landscape photos around f/11 and low light situations around f/1.8. You will often hear the quality if a lens referred to by its speed. When someone say that the lens is really fast they mean that it has a large aperture/shallow depth of field. Most zoom lens have a varied maximum aperture of f/5.6-3.5 this means that as you increase the focal plane the maximum aperture will vary. If you have expensive lenses that value will be fixed, which for optical reasons is why it costs so much.

From a compositional standpoint, sharpness, clarity, and depth of field all play a roll in conveying a theme or message in photography. With a shallow depth of field (large aperture) you can isolate subject within the image. With a large depth of field (small aperture) you can show extreme depth having both, the main subject and background in focus. Something to also consider is sharpness. Most lens yield the sharpest results at apertures in the middle of it's minimum and maximum. So achieving the effect you want should take into consideration the acceptable zone or range of sharpness the lens is capable of.

Review: Aperture 2

Nile "Scolirk" Livesey — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:09:57 +0000

Recently I installed Aperture 2 for Mac on my MacBook. Before installing, I figured Aperture had something to do with pictures, but I figured it was a program more so like Adobe's Photoshop. To my surprise it was a enhanced version of Apple's iPhoto program, which comes free with all new Macintosh computers.

The interface is a lot like Final Cut Pro 2, a good professional feeling, rather than the creative artsy interface of iPhoto. Aperture loads all your pictures into Events and Projects, however you cannot access your photo library outside of Aperture, which means you need to export all pictures to a new folder if you want to do anything with them. Personally, I'm not sure why anyone would purchase Aperture 2 over iPhoto; at least with iPhoto everything is nice and organized, and considerably cheaper, it makes sense to me.

Maybe I missed some key feature which Aperture has that iPhoto doesn't. I know you can play around with the master and versions with Aperture, but for the casual photographer, there's no point in dishing out $199.99 for this program. Sure it looks nicer, and has some features that professionals know how to use, but it lacks an option to automatically delete the photos off your camera after importing.

So, for average people like 95% of Mac users, I'd suggest staying with iPhoto and putting that $199.99 towards an iPhone. There aren't any major issues with Aperture 2 which need to be addressed by Apple by the way of bugs, but its not a necessary program for consumers.

Jade Plug-In

frysoft — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:40:29 +0000

The Jade Plugin, from DataMind Srl has been released!

It is designed for Apple's Aperture, but only version 2.1 and up. Jade started life as a standalone application for Mac OS X and, more recently, Windows. It provides algorithms and parameters for enhancing the color, contrast and dynamic range of digital photographs using a simple interface that lets users click a button to save the result. It also features fine-tuning capabilities that let you adjust intensity values, image contrast and color correction for unbalanced images.

The Jade plug-in enables users of Apple’s higher end photo manipulation and cataloging software to make advanced changes to their images without having to resort to an external editing application such as Adobe Photoshop.

Tanned & Tired

armind — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:14:36 +0000

Back from Greece, oh what a trip!! Was away from the UK weather for a week and saw the amazing islands of Santorini & Mykonos. We went to Oia, Kamari Beach, Red Beach and all the usual tourist stuff. Saw some amazing sunsets and went on some great tours with my girlfriend.

From a photography point of view it was the most exciting shots ive ever taken. I got in a lot of practice with so many contrasting colours, light conditions and so many amazing subjects to shoot. All of my photos are listed here, please feel free to take a look and let me know what you think either here or on flickr.

The sunset in Oia was amazing, i was one of many photographers trying to capture the moment and it was an amazing image to say the least. All in all the trip was great, enjoyed the beach, the sun, the pool, the sunsets, the cocktails and most of all the greek food!!!

My full gallery is listed here