Created a Blurb account this evening. Trying it (and the BookSmart app) out as we speak. I'll be very impressed if I can make a great looking photo book using photos from my Flickr account. The more I read on Blurb, the more excited I get. Not only can you print photo books, but you can print cookbooks, poetry books, regular books, and you can even print your blog (odd but cool).
Boston.com's 2008 year in pictures part 1, part 2, and part 3. A good portion of these pictures are incomprehensible to me. I don't understand the hardships people go through as day-to-day life and I don't think I ever truly will. To be as disconnected as I am from world events is entirely too easy. I know that I consciously and unconsciously choose ignorance by not reading or listening to current news or reading about history as much as I should. I have the desire to learn...I just don't seem to take advantage of it very often in some areas.
It's Sunday #3 for our weekend. Time to work on Goal #1. After reading the HDR Photography Explained article, I started paging through my camera manual to see if I could follow the step by step instructions. I had no idea I had the auto bracketing function on the Lumix! Shows me how much more I need to learn about my camera. The auto bracketing feature allows you to take three photos in series with different exposures. You can set increments of ±1/3EV, ±2/3EV, or ±1EV.
I read that Photoshop CS4 has an HDR automator built in. I also installed a trial version of Photomatix Pro. I tried the HDR processing in both Photoshop and Photomatix for comparison. Even though I don't understand all of the concepts and vocabulary associated with tonal mapping, etc, I think Photomatix has a much better interface for HDR processing than Photoshop. Photoshop's "Merge to HDR" script prompts you to open a set of HDR candidates to merge and it does its magic. You can do a little post processing (choosing 8/16/32 bits/channel, change the white point, and upload a different response curve) but you don't have any say with how it initially aligns the content of source images in response to movement. Photomatix essentially does the same thing, but it gives you a big set of processing options to choose from for source matching, noise reduction, artifact ghosting, etc. Once it's done processing the initial output, you can work with the tonal mapping if it needs any additional tweaks.
The first set of photos I took were of the begonias and the Japanese maple. It's windy today. I waited for breaks in the breeze, but it really didn't make much of a difference. Aligning all the image components didn't work very well. You can see a ton of movement in attempt #1 and #3 below. I also had the EV setting at -1 to start out with so after the auto bracketing, the EV range was shifted. Will gave me a great idea to try the light in my drawing room and I think it worked very well. The Photoshop merges are under-saturated and the contrast is off in my opinion. For my first try without any kind of manual post-processing, I think Photomatix wins. Now I need to learn what it all means and how to do it myself.
Attempt #4: Drawing Room Light
Aperture priority
f/4.0
ISO 400
Macro
| -1EV | -- | +1EV |
 |
 |
 |
| Photoshop | Photomatix Pro |
 |
 |
Attempt #1: Begonias
| -2EV | -1EV | -- |
 |
 |
 |
| Photoshop | Photomatix Pro |
 |
 |
Attempt #2: Japanese Maple
| -2EV | -1EV | -- |
 |
 |
 |
| Photoshop | Photomatix Pro |
 |
 |
Attempt #3: Japanese Maple
| -4/3EV | -2/3EV | -- |
 |
 |
 |
| Photoshop | Photomatix Pro |
 |
 |
Somehow along the way, I seem to have lost the gallery of pics from our 2005 vacation. Found them in a backed up directory and will be adding them to the gallery as soon as I get some free time. Ha!
For now, here are the stitched panoramas: Germany, Amsterdam, The Hague
The third and fourth full-size panoramas from The Hague are missing so I'll have to search the archive for them.
Update: Missing panoramas uploaded. Yay.
Double Update: On second thought, I have 440 pictures edited and fit for the webs. I need a new drop-n-insta-slideshow gallery.
Found this in the Whole Foods parking lot on the way home from work today. Love the bug pattern. I would have to say, it was pretty impressive in person.
And there was such a beautiful sunset tonight. This picture doesn't do it justice, but I thought I'd grab a couple shots on the way home. I think I need to take my camera with me more often. Note to self: get a backup battery?
Per a previous story, I finally tried out a little work with the Wacom on a picture from Hot Water Blast. I made it not so invisible because I liked the way it looked with a little of the background coming through.
Rusty
Kosal
Jeremy
Saw this before dinner tonight and had to get a couple pictures. I love the reflection... such a nice pattern. And I like the underlighting on my desk. Makes everything look so pretty together.
I forgot these were Calla Lilies until one popped out a blossom a couple weeks ago.
And here was part of dinner on the 5th.
And some grilled cream cheese stuffed jalapeños wrapped in bacon on the 6th (before the grilling).
