Events

I had a few minutes before work this morning to try out HDRSoft's Photomagix software. The program takes digital photos taken at different exposures and combines them into one image, a process called high dynamic range imaging, or HDRi. For my first attempt, I used three photos of the park near my house that were only 1 EV apart, so the result may fail to awe you: Here's one of the three originals from Monday evening, at the "correct" exposure: The HDR image looks better, but not that much better. In...

It turns out a lot of stuff happened on May 25th in years past: In 1521, the Diet of Worms coughed up an edict formally designating Martin Luther a heretic; In 1878, the infernal nonsense Pinafore opened in London; In 1925, Dayton, Tenn. indicted John Scopes on charges of teaching evolution in a school; In 1963, Mike Myers was born (yes, he's that old); In 1977, Star Wars hit theaters (and I spent an hour waiting in line in Torrance, Calif., to see it); In 1979, American 191 crashed in Wood Dale, Ill....

Actually, I'm blegging for information. Has anyone used online photo printing services like ZenFolio, SmugMug, or Shutterfly, either as a photographer selling images or as a customer? Maybe your wedding photographer used a third-party site? As a corollary, do you or does anyone you know buy stock photos for publication? No, I'm not quitting my job; but with a backlog of 30,000 photos—some of them already sold as stock, some of them more than once—the wheels in my brain have started to turn. (Maybe it's...

Why didn't I get Adobe Lightroom earlier? Even its basic photo-editing tools dramatically improve photos (or at least get them back to where they should be). I'm going to re-scan this one at higher resolution, after carefully dusting it, and with the appropriate filter, but for the moment, I think I've gotten pretty close to what the original Kodachrome image looked like: This one came close, but not quite: Both: Public Garden, Boston, 10 May 1986. Kodachrome 64. Exposure unrecorded.

Another of my favorite Bills: I want to try out some new techniques on this and a few other shots I took tonight, but I won't have time until the weekend. For now, here's a gratuitous statue photo.

This morning we had weather about as perfect as a human could hope for, 26°C and sunny by the lake, with a gentle breeze out of the southwest. I hopped on my bike for an actual workout, complete with heart-rate monitor, for the first time in a couple of years, then came back, grabbed my camera, and walked the dog. Some results: ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/640, 225mm ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/500, 55mm As I continue to evaluate Adobe Lightroom, I'm trying to figure out how best to use it. Since about 2000, I've kept the...

(This is the 2,500th post on The Daily Parker. And now back to our current thread, already in progress.) Version 1, pretty much as it came out of the camera: Version 2, processed from the raw camera file: 8 April 2011, 18:16 BST, 1/1000 f/5.6, ISO 100 Subtle differences—but noticeable. OK, walk the dog, thence bed. I feel like I learned a lot today, including that I have to learn a lot more.

I'm continuing to play with Adobe Lightroom, and it turns out I've been doing a lot wrong for five years (i.e., since I first started shooting with a digital SLR). It looks like I'm going to shoot a lot more raw photos, because they allow modern software (like Lightbox and Photoshop) a lot more control over the final image. And, of course, I discovered this using Parker as a subject. The results don't completely suck: 50mm, 1/60 at f/2.0, ISO 3200. 50mm, 1/15 at f/1.8, ISO 3200.

A few days ago I experimented with photo processing to try out a technique a photographer suggested. I neglected the most obvious transformation of the photo in question: I've also downloaded Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, though I may want to go full-bore Photoshop in a couple of weeks. Lightroom looks like a fabulous way to organize photos, which would be helpful as I've got north of 25,000 right now and that doesn't include about 170 rolls of negatives I've yet to scan. It has some basic editing...

The 30-park geas can resume now that I'm done with school. Here's my progress so far: City Team Park / First visit Last visit Next visit Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field 1977 Jul 24 2011 Aug 6 Los Angeles Dodgers Dodger Stadium 1980 Jul 28? 2001 May 12 New York Mets Shea Stadium [4] 1988 Sep 15 [1] 1997 Apr 19 [3] Houston Astros Enron Field Minute Maid Park [2] 2001 May 9 [3] 2009 Apr 7 [1] Milwaukee Brewers Miller Park 2006 Jul 29 [3] 2008 Aug 11 Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium 2008 May 28 2008 May 28...