Month: September 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeH0pY2T49c
Red cedar looks outstanding!
Preserving wood with fire!
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Bois Brulé. Burnt wood, an alternative to aging … according to ancestral techniques came from Japan for giving a durable finish to wood siding. The ancient technique of charring the wood to make it more durable is rooted among the Aztecs. The Japanese, who named it Shou-sugi-ban, have extensively used it. The charcoal acts as a protective layer that resists decay and fire, producing a long-lasting and maintenance-free material. This method of wood preservation is restarted by architects looking for green solutions in different parts of the world including Japan and Europe. In simple terms, the wood is burned for about 7 minutes using a torch or more traditional methods, before being doused with water and brushed to remove char dust, revealing a light silvery sheen. The timber is then washed and dried. It can be left unfinished or a finished oil can be applied to bring out shades of gray, silver, black or brown. This technique is used for siding, decking and outdoor furniture. The method earns interest both for its environmental history and for its aesthetic appearance. The materials can last at least 80 years, without chemicals. (YouTube comment)
Gordon Laing at Camera Labs writes:
Canon EF 24-105mm STM review so far
The unique selling point of the EF 24-105mm STM is its focusing system: it becomes (and so far remains) the first full-frame EF zoom with Canon’s lead screw-type stepping motor, allowing it to focus quietly and smoothly in movies and live view. It’s also the only full-frame STM lens with image stabilisation and that’s wider than 40mm. These all make it the ideal walk-around companion for full-frame bodies with Dual Pixel CMOS AF, and in my tests it punches above its weight in terms of image quality. I miss the weather-sealing of the L models, but the optical quality for the relatively low price makes it a bargain in the Canon catalogue, and if you want an STM zoom for a full-frame body, it’s the only game in town at the time of writing.
Extrapolating from this Hubble image, scientists have estimated that the universe contains at least 200 BILLION GALAXIES, EACH HAVING an average of 100 BILLION STARS!!!!!!!
Also, our sun is an average sized star.
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According to the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field has an angular size of 11.5 square arcminutes. That means that it would take 12,913,983 Deep Field images to cover the entire sphere of the sky!
Just for fun, let’s calculate roughly how many stars that implies in the observable universe: The ultra deep field image has about 10,000 galaxies in it. If we assume that each galaxy has 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) stars, then the approximate number of stars in the visible universe is absolutely staggering: 123,000,000,000,000,000,000
123 quintillion stars! That’s 123 billion billion. 123 million million million. (source)
First superzoom 1-inch sensor camera with phase detection autofocus, which locks onto moving subjects with precision. [Smaller sensor cameras have noisy, mediocre image quality, and previous 1-inch superzooms couldn’t track moving subjects well.]
24-600mm (35mm equivalent focal length) and f/2.4-4.0 lens. 24 fps. 2.4 pounds, weather-sealed.
Gordon discusses video during the midsection, and resumes discussing still photography features at 37:00.
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You can’t avoid crop factor these days. Whether your camera sports an APS-C, Micro Four Thirds, 1-inch, or some other size sensor, there will come a time when you’ll have to calculate a “full-frame equivalent” and that’s when the mmCalc Crop Factor Calculator will come in very handy.
mmCalc is a simple online tool that uses your sensor size to instantly convert any focal length and aperture f-stop into its 35mm equivalent.
Whether you’re using a Canon APS-C camera (crop factor 1.6) a Nikon APS-C camera (crop factor 1.5), an old Nikon 1 with a 1-inch sensor (2.7x crop factor), or something completely wacky, chances are the mmCalc calculator has you covered. You can even convert down from medium and large format, although the auto-fill bit under “Education” falls apart once the sensor gets bigger than full-frame.
The Rich Roll podcast of this AMAZING achievement:
THE IRON COWBOY DID IT! HOW JAMES LAWRENCE COMPLETED 50 IRONMANS IN 50 STATES IN 50 DAYS
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“Just be empowered to do that hard thing in your life…however low you are, wherever you are, there’s someone out there that loves you and there’s someone out there that can support you and there’s a way to climb out of it.”
JAMES “IRON COWBOY” LAWRENCE
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Great to see! Hopefully, greater color accuracy and lower base ISO will someday trickle down into other 35mm and other formats too, which have mostly compromised color accuracy to get better low light performance through higher ISOs, which consumers demand more than accurate color, largely because color accuracy isn’t even mentioned by reviewers, and rarely in the forums. Color accuracy is harder to understand.
Canon’s 6D became well known as a high ISO champ, but is also their poorest color performing full frame 35mm camera, based on its color metamerism score of only 69.
Now, the Canon 5D Mark IV has only a mediocre color metamerism score of 85, whereas 95 would be a good score, which some earlier 35mm digital cameras achieved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqxt_YjchQY
It’s sad to see galleries change direction, but Dennis still has Jitters, “where coffee is art” — and where locals’ artwork is still boldly displayed.
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From: Frontiersman
Eagle River’s Picture This gets new ownership, but changes little
Picture This gift shop in Eagle River is changing ownership, but you’d never know it. Its manager of seventeen years, Michelle Haynes, is taking full reins come this January from longtime friend and owner, Dennis Johnson, who also owns Jitters coffee shop next door. …
Dennis and partner, Jim Starry, started Picture This in a sixteen-foot wide space, when he took to framing up his wildlife photography as a sideline to teaching. Over the years, when most galleries failed to survive, his morphed and expanded into a thriving gift shop, a lot in part to Michelle’s managerial expertise. …
Dennis will keep Jitters, now run in partnership by his daughters Briana and Shanda. He likes the idea of being able to focus on just one business and, of course, to have more time to expand his already lofty fly-fishing goals. …
Dennis Johnson said the ownership transition is smooth but doesn’t come without mixed feelings. Building this “little baby into a monstrosity of sorts with the two businesses” over these past 33 years comes with gratitude to the community for their support. He’s made friends, attended weddings and funerals, and became like family to so many.
Two years after Elizabeth wrote this, Samsung has now launched Frame TV, which allows photographs to be displayed as still prints when the TV is not in use, in 55 and 65-inch 4K clarity.
In this article, Elizabeth mentions how impressed she is with the deep blacks that OLED TVs have. Samsung’s Frame TVs use a different type of LEDs, and currently can’t get the deep blacks yet, but OLED TVs that can display stills will likely come as the burn-in problem is solved.
See my article: Samsung’s ‘Frame TV’ Displays Large, Fine Art, Still Images – A Photography Presentation Alternative?
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From: OutdoorPhotographer.com
The Next Display
New opportunities on the horizon for photographers
By Elizabeth Carmel | June 16, 2015
I believe we’re on the cusp of another fundamental shift in how we’ll experience and display our photographs. …
The new 4K TVs are simply stunning, and actually can look better in some instances than a printed and framed photograph. …
Of particular interest to me at CES were the 4K OLED TVs. … This display technology creates incredibly deep blacks and vibrant colors that haven’t been previously possible on consumer displays. …
Viewing high-quality photographs on a large-screen 4K OLED TV may soon rival viewing a high-quality inkjet print. External lighting isn’t an issue with TVs as it is for inkjet or LightJet prints. Furthermore, we now can add high-resolution 4K HDR video to the mix to create a full multimedia experience. …
I think there still will be a demand for the signed, limited-edition photographic print in the future. It will be interesting to see if this new display technology reduces the demand…. I think it’s certain that visual artists will be able to reach a wider audience as people recognize their TVs can also be used as art displays. …
Similar to the challenges facing the music industry, photographers will have a new concern about the ease of copying their high-resolution digital content. I don’t spend too much time worrying about duplication of my low-resolution, 900-pixel website images on the Internet, but I do have greater concern when a 4000-pixel-wide image becomes easy to duplicate and share. The same concerns arise for 4K time-lapse and video content. The question is, will we be able to realize an income from our work when it can be so easily duplicated and shared? Hopefully, future 4K distribution technology will allow for some form of DRM (digital rights management). …
Elizabeth Carmel is a professional landscape and travel photographer. She and her husband Olof Carmel own and operate two art galleries in California, the Carmel Gallery in Calistoga and the Carmel Gallery in Truckee. You can get more information about her prints, galleries, workshops and books at ElizabethCarmel.com and TheCarmelGallery.com. For more information about her videos, go to VistaChannel.tv.
A group of about 20 trumpeter swans was just now flying high above our house, circling and trumpeting.
First, one broke off, by himself, heading in the direction towards Potter Marsh, one of their favorite places. Who knows what that was all about.
And it looked like the others were splitting up into a few groups, going in separate directions before I couldn’t see them anymore, blocked by the tall birch trees.
Many believe this all evolved by chance; though, it’s miraculous — a sight to behold!
When one chooses the path of Truth it often leads to a lonely place. The Truthteller, scorned, and derided as ‘extremist,’ even ‘insane’ must March Forward to the Certain, Clarion call that echos from the heart.
The more decadent the day, the more lonely the walk for Ambassadors of Truth.
However in the end all that will endure is Truth. And those who dare speak it become the legacies of their family lineage, their communities, and yes, even to their Nations.
Do not condescend to the Scoffers, rather ASCEND BOLDLY with your sure words of enduring Truth.
Eternity is kind to Truthtellers, and your Children will be your Truth’s Beneficiary.
– author unknown
I’m in my bare feet
Cause I want to feel the world’s heartbeat
I want to grow tall and strong like a tree
Touch the sky with my roots so deep
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My favorite scene is at 2:00.
This saves me a ton of time!
I’ve been using this option pretty much daily ever since posting this in 2013: [Timesaver Tip!] How To Speed Up Online Videos — Offline Too! It’s worked fine in all of the browsers I’ve tried. But recently, in Apple’s Safari browser (all other browsers I’ve tried are fine), the sound muffles slightly when videos are speeded up. The speed boost still works in Safari. I sometimes use it anyway, but for best playback audio quality, browsers other than Safari are preferred. Browsers I’ve tried that have excellent sound quality when speed boosted are Firefox, Chrome and Opera.
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HOW TO CHANGE THE PLAYBACK SPEED OF A YOUTUBE VIDEO (tutorial)
One of the most inspiring messages I’ve ever seen!
Here are some of the pieces of equipment that we got back, destroyed by the Solar Eclipse of 2017.
I really like this movie, largely because of the outstanding sensitivity and leadership by Lt. Charles B. Gatewood, played by Jason Patric.
Here, he’s rebuked by Robert Duvall (Al Sieber, Chief of Scouts) for not hating the Indians and Geronimo.
Later in the movie, he gives the cross he hung from his neck to Geronimo.
It’s rare for Hollywood to give a Christlike character a leading role.
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Geronimo: An American Legend (1993)
Al Sieber, Chief of Scouts: I just think you’re a real sad case. You don’t love who you’re fighting for, and you don’t hate who you’re fighting against.
1st Lt. Charles B. Gatewood: Perhaps I could learn to hate with the proper vigor from you, Al.
A Mesmerizing Look at Hummingbirds in Flight
MASTERS OF FLIGHT
When it comes to aerodynamics, hummingbirds are fine‑tuned machines.
VIDEOS BY ANAND VARMA
Using a high-speed, high-resolution camera, photographer Anand Varma captures what the naked eye can’t see—the breathtaking maneuvers of a hummingbird in flight. Varma teamed up with scientists studying the biology of hummingbirds to reveal the secrets behind these captivating creatures.
An Anna’s hummingbird drinks artificial nectar from a glass vessel. The bird’s forked tongue makes a sipping motion up to 15 times a second.
Letting hummingbirds loose in wind tunnels allows researchers to probe the mechanics of flight at airspeeds of up to 35 miles an hour. A fog of water vapor makes the wind movement visible.
100 FLAPS/SEC
The wings of some species flap up to a hundred times per second.
A hummingbird shakes off rain the same way a wet dog does, with an oscillation of its head and body.
GRAMS
The smallest hummingbird weighs in at only 1.8 grams, which is less than the weight of a penny. The largest hummingbird tips the scales at around 20 grams.
SECONDS
Hummingbirds are the only birds that can hover in still air for 30 seconds or more.