Beachcombing Day

Beachcombing Day, originally uploaded by jiunjiunma.

Another photo taken today.

Beachcombing Day

Beachcombing Day, originally uploaded by jiunjiunma.

After leaving work (it's my last day with my current company), I headed for the beach. Haven't been taking photos around Half Moon Bay for a while, I forgot how challenging seascape photography could be. The wind was humid; the contrast was too much for the camera to handle. Even with graduated ND filter, I still have to use HDR to get the photo into the dynamic range I want. Photography is like ballet, you really have to practice every day.

Do We Emphasize Too Much on Camera Equipments?

I saw this interesting post on forum, which kept me thinking: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1021&message=28792203

when we (perhaps I should say I) take photography as a hobby, is it because of the creative/artistic side of it, or the shopping/consumer/can-buy-yet-another-gadget side of it? I have to admit a lot of the time I enjoyed the gadget fondling side of photography more than standing in the cold weather and waiting for the right light part of it. Does this craving for new gadgets stands in the way of improving my photography skill? Granted, new technology can really help you to get the shoot more easily, but do I spend too much time mastering the camera settings and photoshop skills instead of cultivating my own vision?

Well, I guess I don't have to ponder about it for too long now. Since I quit my regular job, I will not be able to afford expensive gadgets for a while. It's time to do the real work. Let's see how things improved.

LucisPro Coming in August

I had seen some photos on the DPReview forum processed using this Photoshop plugin and was really impressed. You can easily apply different artistic styles on your photos (e.g. my favorite watercolor Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth) using it, something I have been searching for for a long time. To someone who has the vision but doesn't have the skill to paint, it's perfect. The new version LucisPro is coming in August. It's a bit pricy ($595) but I think it's worth a try. Will report more once the demo is out.

First Impression on PTLens

Read about this lens correction software on DPReview. Since it's quite affordable($15), I decided to give it a try.

The installation went smoothly. I could find the stand-alone version in my desktop, but I couldn't find the plugin in my Photoshop cs3. I probably have to install it manually later.

I tried it on an image I took with my fish eye lens. After opening it, it looks like this:



After chose the perspective tab and clicked the "fish-eye" radio button. It showed an corrected view but you could see a lot of details are lost due to the correction. Also, the horizon is not leveled (due to the capture).


OK, fish-eye was probably too extreme, not a good sample. I tried it on images taken with other lens (17-35mm on the 35mm side, 105mm, 24-70mm) the correction was too small to be noticeable.

I didn't have time to try more samples. Overall impression is: for $15, the program seems to be solid and easy-to-use. For now I think I can live without it; Photoshop is enough.

Building Interior (HDR of 5 images)

I am always fascinated by the interiors of business buildings. Most of them ugly, but if designed properly, they strive for an elegant design using simple lines and basic geometric forms, representing logic and order. In reality the corporate world is more like a jungle, but you will never see it from looking at its interior.

Grand Opening

Welcome to my blog!

I signed up this blog a couple of days ago. Since then I had been searching for an image to suit the "Grand Opening" event. It would be easy, I thought, to find a "grand opening" sign somewhere and snap a photo. Guess what, (I blamed the economy), I couldn't find any stores opened recently wherever I drove by. Like so many things in life (or numerous Hollywood movies), you may not find what you want. Instead, you find something different.

I spotted this lovely graffiti outside a breakfast place. It's not the "Grand Opening" scene I intended, but "Open Seven Days", wow, what a commitment. I certainly hope I can do that in this blog.