iOS and Mac developer
Mike Cohen Here’s an HDR image I created from three raw images. I imported them into Photoshop, used the ‘Merge to HDR’ automation, and adjusted the color, luminance & contrast with the Photomatix tone mapping plugin. The flowers moved slightly between the shots, resulting in some ghosting around the edges.
I bought the Tone Mapping plugin for Photoshop from Photomatix, which lets me do some amazing enhancements to my raw images. It takes a 16-bit per channel RGB image and lets you enhance the contrast, color saturation, and luminance range. The effect can be intense with a single raw image, but with a merged HDR image the results are simply stunning.
Here’s what I was able to do with a picture I took a few days ago using only a single raw image.
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I’ve been listening to Vampire Weekend for a few weeks and I’m still enjoying it. While I had iTunes on shuffle today, “Mansard Roof” came up followed by “Super K” by Loketo. I noticed that the beat in Mansard Roof is almost the same.
The same bird I saw a few days ago was back in my garden again. With my new lens I was able to get a much better picture at 200mm focal length.
Today, the 14th of March, is Pi Day 2008. Pi Day is internationally celebrated in honor of the mathematical constant “Pi,” who’s actual value will — now and forever — remain unknown. NeoSmart Technologies has a run-down on the history of Pi, Pi Day, and the significance of Pi and other such “magical numbers” to science and technology. ‘Pi isn’t just a number that you can use to calculate circle-related mathematics, it’s a symbol of something by far greater. Pi is one of many “magic” numbers that are found everywhere — if you know where to look. These magic numbers can’t be explained, they just are. And if you use them right, they make it a lot easier to do a lot of really complicated things… In a way, they’re a testimony to technology and computers (or vice-versa, depending on how you look at it)’. (Via Slashdot)
WordPress 2.5 will be released soon and I’m planning to upgrade this site. In an attempt to spread FUD, Anil Dash of Six Apart posted a blog entry suggesting that people “upgrade” to Movable Type instead. WordPress developer Matt Mullenweg responded by pointing out that WordPress is 100% open source.
I had originally used Movable Type at this blog, but I switched to WordPress when they took it commercial. Since that debacle, I will never trust them again not to suddenly change their licensing requirement. Even though there’s a “free” license, Movable Type still has a confusing array of licensing models for different usage requirements. I’d rather use something with one clear GPL license, not a confusing multi-tiered semi-commercial pricing model.
I got a Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6 VR lens for my D40x.
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So far this is my favorite lens. It’s bigger and heavier than the kit lens but it’s easier to use than the 50mm f/1.8 since it supports auto focus with my camera. The vibration reduction lets me use slower shutter speeds.
Today I got 15 follow requests on Twitter from political campaigns, all seem to be unofficial. I’ve blocked all of them. If this continues, I may protect updates to prevent those unsolicited requests. I do NOT support ANY of those candidates who requested to follow me and I dislike most of them. The only candidate I follow on Twitter is Barack Obama and I want to keep it that way.