Stitching Panoramas
Posted on December 30, 2008
I’ve been using Windows Live Photo Gallery for a while. My biggest reason for using it is the Flickr Integration. However; there are a ton of neat features I’ve discovered along the way. One of these features is the ability to stitch photos together automatically. I’ve used a lot of stitching programs and this is by far the easiest and the best.
The only steps needed are to 1) select the photos you wish to stitch and 2) right click and select “Create Panoramic photo…”
Windows Live Gallery then goes through a few steps of analyzing the photos, aligning them and finally stitching them together.
Since I’ve discovered the feature I’ve created quite a few stitches. You can find most if not all of them using my panorama tag.
REMEMBER: To create a really good stitch you need to make sure the exposure settings are the same for every photo in the stitch.
Books
Posted on December 28, 2008
I’ve been watching a bunch of Jeremiah episodes lately. I can’t believe I missed this series in 2002-2004. It’s quite good, and reminds me a bit of Jericho (surprise surprise, Jeremiah was canceled). Anyway… I just watched the episode titled “Out of the Ashes” in which a bunch of thugs are attempting to rid the world of books. Kurdy (one of the main characters) gives a quick little speech which I thought holds a lot of meaning even in the world we live in.
how are we to know where we’re going if we don’t know where we’ve been?
these books are a bridge to our past
they allow us to touch other lives
generation upon generation, artists, philosophers, poets
If we let them die, we’re burning those bridges
If we let these words die, we are killing our history as well as our future
Mexican Moonshine
Posted on May 4, 2008
Legend has it that some ancient man ‘discovered’ tequila when an Agave Plant got flash-fermented by a lightning bolt.
Outside Magazine recently ran an article in which the authors took a tequila tour in much the same fashion as a typical wine tour. Those of us living in the finger lakes know what that’s all about. No, it’s not about drinking as much as you can for free (you’re supposed to spit remember?). Wine tasting is all about finding the wines you really enjoy and refining your palette to enjoy those you don’t already.
I for one hate tequila. At least I hate the typical tequila shots you take. I’ve never understood what the excitement was all about. It always burned more than it tastes and the only part I enjoyed was the lime afterwards.
From reading the article it sounds like tequila gets a really bad name. This is because most people (myself included) have only had bad fake tequila. As the article reads:
Tequila is made from a single species of agave, AGAVE TEQUILANA WEBER…and comes only from jalisco - a Mexican state about the size of South Carolina.
Sounds a lot like Champagne doesn’t it? You can’t get the real flavor of good wine from trying Franzia Box wine and you can’t get the real flavor of good tequila by doing shots of Jose Cuervo at the bar. In fact no two tequilas are the same. Their flavor can range from caramel to apricot, anywhere in between and beyond.
To taste good tequila you need to hook up with Miguel the zucchini farmer and try some of his De la Sierra. You’ll have to get in line though, his homebrew is a local favorite and he only makes about 20,000 liters a year.
After reading the article I definately have a new respect for tequila and I would love to go on a tasting of my own. Anyone up for the trip?
Maybe they should make a wine that can be used as shots.
The All New Canon XSi
Posted on January 24, 2008
I haven’t been able to try it out yet but the new Canon XSi looks to be a nice upgrade from the Xti. The enhancement to 12mp and the move to SD media alone is worth it, not to mention the other enhancements.
Maybe this will be my first step into the world of DSLRs instead of the 40D I want so badly? We’ll see, although at this point I think I’d outgrow the XSi much too quickly to warrant the purchase now instead of waiting a little longer to purchase the one I really want (the 40D).
Details below to save you the jump.
- 12.2 effective Megapixel CMOS sensor
- Supports all EF and EF-S lenses
- Uses new 14-bit A/D converter, improved AF sensor (still 9-point), and DIGIC III image processor
- 3-inch LCD display (230k pixels) with live view and contrast detect autofocus
- Full manual controls; ISO range of 100 - 1600
- Can shoot at 3.5 frames/second for up to 6 RAW or 45 JPEGs
- Auto Lighting Optimizer corrects image brightness and contrast automatically
- New spot metering (4%) option
- Same dust reduction system as the XTi
- Uses SD/SDHC memory cards (instead of CompactFlash)
- Optional battery grip
- Uses LP-E5 lithium-ion battery; 500 shots per charge
- USB 2.0 High Speed support
- Shipping in April for $799 body only, and $899 with the new 18-55 IS lens; comes in silver and black
The Cloverfield Case
Posted on January 22, 2008
Rachel and I saw Cloverfield on Friday. It wasn’t planned, in fact I didn’t have a whole lot of desire to see it at least not until I heard everyones reaction. That being said my friend Brian called and begged us to go (read: asked if I want to see it) so naturally I didn’t want to disappoint.
Cloverfield was awesome. I thought the hand held cameras would distract you from the storyline and takeaway from the overall movie. It had the exact opposite effect. The movie simply couldn’t have worked as a regularly filmed movie, at least not successfully. The reason it worked so well is the home movie added a very personal touch. In the beginning you laughed with the characters and in the end you cried with them all because you felt you were watching your best friend’s youtube video. The movie also portrays our current generations desire to document everything and J. J. Abrams doesn’t hide that this was part of his motivation for the movie style.
I haven’t been a fan of a movie’s ending in quite a while but Cloverfield’s ending is the only way I can imagine it. That’s not to say it doesn’t leave you with a sense of ‘WTF’ and ‘damn I hope they don’t make a sequal’ but it works regardless.
If you haven’t seen the trailer I’ve embedded it for your viewing pleasure below.
http://www.spike.com/video/2913955