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June 26, 2006
Hoping for a Miracle
This weekend Kelly's oldest, sweetest bird, Nova, managed to slide out of a narrow opening in one of our loft windows. This is not the first time she's flown out, but this time her wings were strong enough to carry her too far from our loft. We haven't found her, and we know that odds are we won't. We are all very depressed about the loss of our dear friend. Even the remaining birds seem distraught - they won't stop calling for the friend they've known their entire lives.
Now our hope is that she was found by a kind neighbor who will give her a good home, or better still, bring her back to ours. We all miss our sweet Princess very much.
Posted by thedude at 7:45 PM | Comments (4)
June 25, 2006
Pano Tools and PT Assembler
You know I love panoramic photography. I'm always looking for tools to help me improve my results. Some months ago I downloaded Pano Tools and Pano Tools Assembler, but never found the time to try them out - until today. After my first hour with Pano Tools, all I can say is, "W-W-W-WOW!"
There are many great things about Pano Tools. It does an amazing job at combining images seamlessly. It's relatively easy (albeit a bit geeky) to use. But best of all, it creates layered PhotoShop files. I know of no other pano program that gives you this much power and flexibility for 39 bucks!
The shot is a composite of four images I shot of the Greenlee Building, across the street from our loft. What makes it really special to me is that Pano Tools allows me to combine the images in such away that it looks as if it were shot with a view camera or an expensive shift lens. Notice how the building's lines are straight - they do not converge as the camera is pointed up. Well, that's part of the magic of Pano Tools. The other magical thing about this program is that by combining a series of 4 images in this way, I effectively quadruple the resolution of my camera! Click on the image to see it 3,000 pixels wide.
This is my first panorama with Pano Tools. I used my poorest quality lens and made quite a few mistakes on this image. I promise future panoramas will be even more amazing.
UPDATE: OK, here's my second Pano Tools image. This one consists of 6 images - two rows by three columns. This time I used a much sharper lens - my beloved Sigma 30 mm. The full-size composite image is more than 11,000 pixels wide, more than 400 megabytes in size. Click on the image to see it 3,000 pixels wide. Wow - this is fun!
For comparison, have a look at the same building shot from the same spot with my 12 mm lens. The only way I could get the entire building in a single shot from across the street was to use this very wide focal length. The resulting image has nowhere near the sharpness of the Pano Tools composite and is somewhat distorted. :)
This means that I can do high quality architectural photography of the sort normally reserved for large-format cameras in much less time using my digital camera and Pano Tools!
Posted by thedude at 2:52 PM | Comments (2)
June 18, 2006
thedude's Work at Aqua Via
Once in a while thedude takes a paying photo job. Hey, he has to pay off these expensive photography toys! This client wanted some generic Jack London Square shots to help promote their new apartments on 2nd and Jackson - a couple blocks from here. We toured the building yesterday. The units are fairly nice, but it turns out that living near Jack London Square is not cheap. A 1300 square foot unit (the largest, but still too small) rents for just under $3000 per month. Whew!
It's always interesting to see which shots get chosen by the client. I find it impossible to predict.
Posted by thedude at 8:45 AM | Comments (1)
June 17, 2006
Walk in the Wild - 2006
Tonight Kelly treated us to one of her favorite events - Oakland Zoo's fabulous Walk in the Wild. The adults-only fund-raiser features tons of food and wine, loads of animals, live music, the occasional Elvis sighting and no children. Wow. Is there a better time to be had at the zoo? I don't think so.
This year's Walk in the Wild was the best yet. The weather was absolutely perfect. The recently completed Children's Zoo added a huge amount of real estate to the venue, so even though the event was very well attended, it never felt crowded as it has in previous years. There were 70 restaurants and wineries at the event - more than ever before. Everyone from Aidell's to Zza's was there helping to suppport one of the nation's best zoos.
The Walk in the Wild truly is a wonderful event. We hope to see you all there next year!
Posted by thedude at 10:17 PM | Comments (1)
June 10, 2006
Suburban Illusions - From Camera to Book in One Day
Steve made these images on a sunny Hayward afternoon while riding his cherry 1942 AMC Flash Cruiser, recently resuscitated from a 64 year stint in a "barn at Francis' house". The unretouched Fuji FinePix E900 images were dragged directly into a MyPublisher book. Here are a couple of spreads from this sure-to-be-instant-classic. The process took about 30 minutes. Total cost for 6 books - $54.
Posted by thedude at 3:50 PM | Comments (1)
June 9, 2006
Can You Spot the Difference?
Of course you can! Another photographic blunder saved by PhotoShop.
Posted by thedude at 10:25 PM | Comments (2)
June 4, 2006
Fabulous Fresno Fun
Despite thedude's protestations, he always has a good time in Fresno. Oh sure, it can be a bit hot, but aside from that, a visit to Fresno is a good time - thanks almost entirely to Kelly's fabulous family. Good people, good food. This weekend featured Frank's excellent grilled lamb chops and a wedding reception for cousin Matt and Traci.
On the first night we gave Dorothy and Frank a book from our trip to Europe. You know - from MyPublisher.com. Well, they LOVED it. Dorothy said it was the best imaginable gift!
The next day, at the reception...
View the best of the rest of the weekend's photos here.
Posted by thedude at 7:41 PM | Comments (1)
June 2, 2006
Butt Shot Number One
Almost all of the top ten most viewed photos on the Carnaval SF web site were shot by thedude. Can you guess which picture holds the top spot?
Posted by thedude at 7:45 AM | Comments (2)
June 1, 2006
Happy Birthday Bill!
We celebrated Bill Dalton's birthday last night at the Burt's residence on a surprisingly mild evening in the beautiful Oakland Hills. Ben prepared another of her world-famous Thai dinners with help from Tum. We met Tim Cahill - founding editor of Outside Magazine and prolific travel writer and his wife Linnea. Jerry Alexander dropped by with a few bottles of the best wine you never tasted. Fabulous!
There really were eleven people at our dinner party, but as you can see, your faithful photographer was smitten by Bill's lovely daughters, Ari and six-year-old Aysah.
Happy Birthday, Bill. It was great to see you!
Posted by thedude at 11:17 AM | Comments (1)
