Postprocessing in outdoor photography

In an internal mailing list, a friend sent around these photos. Here is one:

pretty_china_17

The interesting thing was back in February, Mark Jen sent those same shots to me and the graphics design department. I composed a reply, but never posted it. I guess I better do something about that.

Very striking images! How did they take such amazing “postcard” shots? Are they real?

I guess it depends on your definition of real. It’s actually pretty easy to get that postcard look. Here’s an example from a photo I took:

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls
Yosemite National Park, California

Nikon D70, Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G DX
UV
1/500sec @ f/9, iso 800, 35mm (52mm)

[A discussion of capture and editing of landscape photos after the jump]Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 6

Mao Tai memories

Yesterday after a particularly nasty source code integration, Hong mentioned that we should celebrate with a little bit of soju. Discussions of soju led to him mentioning Japan’s version and then me mentioning that the Chinese have a version of their own: the most memorable being the infamous Moutai.

Soju is often cut down with something like lemonade and soda for taste and then drunk with friends in shots from a carafe. Whether cut down or straight, you can get deceptively drunk quite quickly because someone is always filling your glass.

Moutai is very memorable because it’s high alcoholic content (the sip I had of one last Thanksgiving was around 106 proof) and a distinctive grassy aftertaste. I have no clue how the Chinese drink Moutai, I only know that they drink a lot of it. It probably involves a lot of “Gangbei” followed by a quick downing of the entire drink before your brain figures out what you’re doing to it:

MouTai

In 1995, I met a friend of the family who spent the the 60’s and 70’s studying and teaching Ancient Chinese Art in Communist China. Many of his stories involved having to drink large quantities of Moutai (or small quantities, as one of them involved getting to pick out some moutai at a distillery). He mentioned something in passing that I found very true regardless of the culture: people can’t trust you unless you are willing to drink with them.

I read recently (coincidentally twice: first in a book then again in a newspaper article) that when Nixon went to China in 1972, he brought with him some bottles of Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine as part of the Toast to Peace. What is less well known to Napa fans, was that Zhou Enlai (and Mao Tse-Tung) in return served Nixon Moutai as the national wine.

Here is an interesting anecdote from that event:

Alexander Haig, a Kissinger aide who had experienced the effects of Moutai on a China reconnaissance trip, cabled Washington: “Under no repeat no circumstances should the President actually drink from his glass in response to banquet toasts.”

106 proof “wine”? Yep, that sounds about right.

Posted on by tychay 0

Anything long, fast, and cheap?

I received this e-mail today, from a Canon Digital Rebel XT owner:

I shoot pictures mainly for my kids marching band. Which means I’m usually shooting at dusk or night. It also means I’m either in the stands on on the sidelines but still want good close-ups. What is a good (read affordable) lens for shooing long distance in low light?

What he wants is a lens that has the reach, is wide (for night shooting) and is cheap. Image Stabilization isn’t an issue because I’ll assume he’ll be buying a monopod or owns a tripod. He’ll have to push the ISO to get the shutter speed up to 1/60 or better which is what he’ll need to prevent bluring of a moving marching band.

Unfortunately there is no such lens that is both long, fast, and cheap.

[Recommendations after the jump]Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 11

The Gourmet Cookbook

I was at Costco today to pick up some extra FoodSaver bags. After that I wandered around a little bit and I couldn’t avoid the temptation to pick up a copy of The Gourmet Cookbook ($22.49 at Costco).

This book consists of over 1000 recipes culled from the over 50,000 ones that appeared in the last 60 years of Gourmet magazine, tested and updated.

The book includes a DVD which I haven’t watched. I can’t help but think that if they’re going to pay the extra dollar to bundle a DVD, they might as well as the over 1000 recipes in electronic form (they didn’t). Even if they didn’t include the recipes in MasterCook MXP format, I’d have taken the time to write my own parser, believe me!

[A little about the book after the jump]
Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 0

G7 hoopla

Another thing I missed from the photography world is the release of the Canon G7.

Canon Powershot G7 rear view

The spec sheet is very impressive for a compact camera:

  • 10 megapixel 1/2″ sensor
  • 6x zoom (though a slow f/4.8 at max zoom)
  • Image stabilization
  • ISO 1600 with a super-high ISO 3200 scene mode
  • hot shoe for external flash
  • $550 retail

Not on the spec-sheet, but appreciated nonetheless are a nice control layout and an optical viewfinder.

From the its non-budget-but-very-reasonable price, its complex control layout, it’s overpowering spec sheet, and it’s not-exactly-svelte-like size, you’d think this camera would be ideal as a second camera for enthusiasts. But no, because the dang major thing missing is RAW file support. Which many people speculated was to protect entry level dSLR sales.

Now I read today that this is because the high photosite density makes the superfine JPEG indistinguishable from the RAW shot:

Smaller pixels means it’s harder to distinguish the signal from the incoming light from the random electronic noise in the sensor, said Chuck Westfall, Canon’s director of media and customer relations.

“The net result is that even if the G7 offered raw image capture…there would be no discernible improvement in image quality compared to…superfine JPEG mode,” Westfall said.

What a load of bullshit.

[An explanation why, after the jump.]
Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 10

Two on Target

I was at Target the other day, and though I didn’t get anything, I noticed two interesting things.

The first was the new Dirt Devil Kone Cordless Hand Vac (which comes in other colors, by the way). Very stylish, but I have no use or space for it. Also, how good is it? Handvacs always seem underpowered. The timing means that Target thinks it’s a nice stocking stuffer, no doubt. And the look is quintessential Target (that’s pronounced, “tar-JEY”).

koneMain

[Item #2 after the jump]Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 6