With IE9, the HTML5 canvas element suddenly went mainstream. Since I have an educated audience that makes sure to keep their web browsers updated, I made some changes to the Shiny Icon Maker to take advantage of some features of the canvas. For example, PNG conversion can now be done client-side, which is faster and more accurate. Give it a try.
Dark corners in a photo are usually referred to as vignetting. Actually a lens defect, it does leave a lot of room for creativity. Portrait shots, for example, can benefit from some vignetting since the dark corners emphasize the subject in the middle. It also adds a nice vintage effect and often works well on black and white photos.
In Adobe Lightroom, there is built-in functionality for adding vignette. But what about Gimp? Turns out there are several ways to do it. Read on.
Finally saw the Social Network yesterday. It has been called best movie of the year by some reviewers, so my expectations were high. While good, I was slightly disappointed. To me, Zuckerberg just didn't seem to be a very likeable guy.
It's funny actually - after seeing Fast and Furious, I felt like speeding, after the Social Network, I felt like coding. So this site now has the infamous "Like"-button - just click Comment/Share below.
I became an instant fan of Bryan Peterson after reading his book "Understanding Exposure", which taught me a lot about being creative with a camera. Recently, I saw one of his videos online on shooting straws of grass with drops of water on them, and I just needed to give it a shot myself. Nice results without much effort, I have to say - you can shoot this in your backyard.
I recently added a few images in full resolution to the download page. They are some of my favorite shots, and printed they look nice on the wall in my apartment. Feel free to download them and use them as you wish. More will be coming soon. Go to download page.
I have an old bike with drop handlebars. Riding it is a lot of fun, but with the hands placed on the brake hoods - which I find is the most comfortable way to ride - I am unable to use the brakes efficiently. The pursuit handlebar, or bullhorn, looked both functional and cool so I decided to try to convert the handlebar into one. It proved quite easy; I removed the brakes, turned the handlebar around, cut the drops and reinstalled the brakes upside down. The result was very comfortable and feels a lot safer. After the mod, I did some googling and found this guide on Ride Fixed Gear which demonstrates the steps. Apparently, it's called "chop-and-flop" and it seems that I got it right. ;)
Recently, the market has been flooded by a number of cheap Android tablets - most of them rather iPad lookalikes than iPad killers. I recently picked this one up in Hong Kong, where it sells for around 1700 HKD, which roughly equals 160 EUR. A quite reasonable price, considering that it features a 7 inch capacitive multi touch screen. So is the Smartpad the gem in the pile of chinese plastic junk, or is it rather the other way around? Let's find out.
I just came back from this year's trip to Asia, which took me to Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Check out the image gallery for more.
I just recently started experimenting with star trails photography. The "classic" technique is to make one single exposure (say, for one hour), and as the earth rotates, the stars will paint beautiful trails on the sensor/film. Now, this may not work for everyone. A one hour exposure would require the surrounding to be pitch black. I live in the city, and along with that comes a lot of light pollution. So instead of doing it the real way, I had to resort to some cheating. The idea is quite simple: Have the camera take a series of pictures of the clear night sky, then merge them in the computer. Read on for more.
I got this cool tip from a friend: Custom bokeh! Basically, you take s small piece of cardbaord (or similar) and cut out a nicely shaped hole (for example, a star) in the middle. Place it in front of the camera lens, making sure light can enter through the hole only. Depending on the shape of the hole, you can get very interesting results - try it out on candles in a dark room, for example! The picture to the left shows my result after some experimentation. For a how-to, check out my friends blog post (swedish, but instructions in English).
