This blog is moth-balled!

For the time being I am going to post all entries on the main focalplane blog. A sort of KISS thing which will essentially destroy my "hub and spokes" concept.

Photo-stitching with Photoshop

I recently tried to capture a single frame of the wreck Napoli with my 300mm telephoto mounted on the D200. This effectively becomes a 450mm telephoto set up and I was surprised to find that I could not fit the wreck into one frame. So I took two.

The first thing I didn't do was set the exposure to manual. This meant I had to do some adjusting within Lightroom until the two frames had the same "exposure". I then straightened both images using the horizon as a benchmark. This was important for the stitching to work. Next I simply enlarged the canvas of one frame and copied the other image onto it, moving its layer around until it matched. The seam is just about impossible to detect. I then collapsed the layers and saved the image. I also changed the color temperature setting as the weather and light were not perfect.

Here is the result.

Fireworks Set on Flickr

Here.

Photomanipulation and the Media

This is a good example of how the camera can lie and how easy it is to detect the lie. Interesting that the photographer in this and other cases is the one who gets fired. Why not the editors for allowing such chronically bad examples of Photoshop cloning to get through to the publication?

Lightroom Flash Portfolio

Here is the second upload from Lightroom using Flash for the slideshow. I altered some of the settings to align the style with Focalplane's Black/Green look.

Lightroom Web Page Generation

Adobe has improved their web site generation capability with the release of Lightroom

Here is a simple HTML portfolio page. Other formats are available including those that use Flash. I'll add one of those later.

I should add that this suite of web pages took about 10 minutes to generate and upload. The layouts can be customized and I believe it should be easy to create a portflio layout that would match the Focalplane style sheet.

Lightroom Red Eye Removal

This shot has been waiting for red eye removal so when I received Version 1 of Lightroom the other day I was pleased to see that they have included what appears to be a good red eye removal tool. It works very nicely and there is a lot of user control as to just how much red eye is modified. You be the judge:

Epson PictureMate 240

Yesterday we bought a new Epson printer, the Epson PictureMate 240. This is not an expensive printer but then we all know that the real cost is in the consumables, particularly the ink cartridges. It also only prints on 6'' x 4" paper but is that really a limitation when you also have access to larger printers and print shops for the occasional enlargement?

What really comes across, however, is the incredible ease of use and quality of prints. It can be used with the camera's memory card or as a printer connected to a computer network. My first attempt used images downloaded to the camera's CF card from the computer; I then put the card in the printer and it worked a treat! We then put April's CF card direct from her Elph in the printer and sorted through several hundred images, selecting a few test prints. Again, excellent ease of use and quality.

Havinging come through the initial try out with flying colors, the next step will be to source a cheap supply of consumables! Any suggestions?

Through a Skylight

A few days ago there was a full moon. It was also a rainy night but occasionally the clouds drifted by and revealed a clear sky. I looked up through a skylight and saw the moon behind the raindrops.

Out came the camera. Here is one of the results: