Photography
Miniature World
103 years ago
I’ve always wanted to apply effects to a photo which creates the illusion that you’re looking at a miniature model, like the examples here. It seemed, though, that all the tutorials for creating such effects were done using Photoshop – a program I don’t use. I couldn’t find any tutorials for doing the same thing in Pixelmator. However, I’ve discovered something just as good which takes moments to do this to your photos…
These effects were applied to my photos at TiltShiftMaker. Simply upload your photo, select the area you want in focus, save your image.
I’d still like to be able to achieve this effect in Pixelmator, just so I can feel the satisfaction of having done all the hard work myself. If you have a tutorial please share!
Surviving the drop
03 years ago
by Sam
in Photography
This afternoon as I was in the middle of taking this weeks Project 52 photo, my camera had an unexpected meeting with the wood floor beneath it. As I was adjusting the subject of my photo, I stepped back and kicked the tripod with my foot. I didn’t turn around, I just heard the inevitable clatter, knowing what I’d done. After I’d spoken two words, the first being “Oh” and the second beginning with “S” (showing restraint with my chosen expletive) I turned around in what seemed like slow motion, expecting to see my beloved Fuji S5700 in a million pieces on the floor. Instead it was on it’s side in full tact with what appears to be absolutely no physical scars after it’s accident.
Gingerly I switched it on, desperate to hear it’s ‘beep’ which would assure me it was still alive. It beeped. I breathed again. I tried a few of the settings, zoomed in and out and took some photos. All appears to be well. The camera cost me a little over £100 so it’s not like it’s massively expensive to replace, but I have to say I do love this camera and have absolutely no intentions of parting with it. This is the photo I was in the process of taking – this one was taken post-fall.
Many a time I have put the camera on the tripod and been concerned that I would accidentally kick it and knock it to the floor. I didn’t have such a concern today as the tripod wasn’t extended to it’s maximum height, so it seemed reasonably stable.
So, that was an unplanned test of the Fuji Finepix S5700′s robustness and durability on behalf of Fruit Bytes readers. It passed.
Shake it like a Polaroid picture
83 years ago
I found a fun little app for the Mac today which turns your digital photos into Polaroid-like pictures, called Poladroid. Here’s one I made earlier from one of my photos of my favourite bookstore in Newcastle upon Tyne…
Once you’ve downloaded the application you simply drag your photo onto the polaroid camera icon where it will make all those realistic noises, then spit out your photo and you can either wait a few minutes for the it to develop or you can even shake it as you would a real polaroid.
Poladroid have a Flickr group where you can upload your creations to.
Lightbox on a budget
163 years ago
by Sam
in Photography
Sometimes when I photograph objects, particularly something like my iPod touch which is very shiny, it’s difficult to get the exact results you want without seeing tons of reflections which can easily ruin a shot. I don’t want to buy anything professional like a lightbox for the amount of photography I do, but I’d still like to take some shots and have that plain white background which you see in magazine ads and catalogues.
I happened upon some photography on Flickr which looked like it was taken in a professional studio, when infact the apparatus to help create that shot was just over £5. Today I purchased that apparatus from IKEA, placed a few objects in and took photos. Here are a some of the results.
So, how was this achieved and what exactly are IKEA doing selling photography products, I hear you ask? Well, they don’t. It’s a pop-up laundry bag which acts like a photography tent. It’s perfect and it’s called SKUBB which costs £5.29. I haven’t positioned any lights on it for the above photos, I was just allowing natural daylight coming in through the windows. For the shiny floor I simply placed an A4 sheet of glossy photo paper into the laundry bag, then hooked my digital camera up to my JOBY Gorillapod tripod, set the camera to Super Macro and had fun experimenting. Very pleased with the results which will make photographing small and shiny objects so much easier in future, especially the shiny metal behind of the iPod touch!
Photo Fetish
44 years ago
by Sam
in Photography
I’ve been admiring photographs taken with Lomo cameras for a while on Flickr and this week I bought my first Lomo – the Fisheye. I’d seen it a couple of weeks ago at the Baltic Contemporary Arts Centre shop in Gateshead, priced at £40. I got mine for just over £22 on Amazon (store/seller: gadgetepoint) on Sunday night. It arrived Tuesday morning sharp.
I bought a pack of two FUJICOLOR C200 (36 exp) 35mm film for around £3 and popped a roll in. This week I have been a bit pushed with other things so hadn’t really planned on going anywhere special to take some photos. I did manage to pop out on Thursday afternoon for a couple of hours. I must admit it all feels a bit strange to take a photo and not have immediate playback on an LCD screen to see how it turned out. Plus having to wind the film on after I’ve taken a photo is something I’m having to remember. And there was also the weird self-conscious feeling of using a camera which looks and feels a little like a Fisher Price toy!
I popped the film into ASDA Walmart yesterday lunchtime and had a few options. I didn’t necessarily want the photos printing as to be honest I had few expectations of these photos, given it was my first time with something quite different – and I’ve learned positioning is rather important for a camera with a 170 degree field of vision!! A few photos had my sleeve in, knee in and even my hair in! So, I was given the option to have the photos scanned to disc, no printouts. This suits me as it’s just going onto my Flickr stream anyway and if there was anything worth printing I have a couple of photo-printers at home. There were, as expected, some ropey shots – but a few did turn out okay. Best part is it only cost 97p to have the photos developed/scanned to disc in 1 hour.
You can check out six of my Lomo Fisheye photos, here. Those were the best out of the lot. I had to take some random shots to use up the last of the film as clearly I didn’t take many when I was out, but was keen to get it developed. This isn’t a camera I will use a whole lot, but I do like the way it really enhances the clouds in the sky. I will be taking this on some of my photo walks as it takes quite interesting shots.
If my Fuji S5700 Digital Camera was feeling out in the cold after the arrival of the Lomo Fisheye then it needn’t have. Yesterday it got some attention with a new wide angle lens.
I bought it last week for around £10.50, plus £13 shipping from Hong Kong, through eBay. It’s good to have a wide angle – really liking it’s effect. Hoping for a dry and sunny day next week to go and experiment with it.
Joby Gorillapod
04 years ago
by Sam
in Photography
Today I bought a Joby Gorillapod tripod for my digital camera and HD digital camcorder. Gone are the days when I shove a bunch of books under my camera to get a little more height when taking shots on a flat surface.
I bought it from PC World (I know, sorry!) for £19-99. The maximum weight load for this particular Joby is 275g. I searched through my digital camera manual and discovered the total weight of my Fuji S5700 is 400g. My camera is a bridge, so physically it’s more like a DSLR – but the Joby Gorillapod SLR (max weight load 800g) is more expensive and I didn’t want to pay too much for something that is only for occasional light useage. It takes the weight of my Aiptek High Definition digital camcorder no problem and it will be very useful for that as that won’t happily stand or balance on any surface.
You can check out the Gorillapod range, here.
My Photo to iPhoto
34 years ago
Since buying my new Digital Camera I’m quite keen to arrange my photos in some kind of order so that they are easier to locate. When I attach my camera to the iMac it brings up the FujiFilm software which will then import my photos to a folder in Documents. It names the folder something like 2008_0330, based on the dates so it doesn’t exactly make finding the photos very easy.
Last week I downloaded the Aperture 2 trial version. I was pleased with the way I could import my photos directly from the camera and sort them into Events. Within there I could also touch up photos and make them look their best before exporting them to Flickr. The price tag for Aperture 2 is £129 and I was seriously considering purchasing. However, I decided to wait until the trial was over before making my mind up. I then fired up iPhoto 08 a few days back which is something I hadn’t bothered with since getting my iMac last October. Before iPhoto 08 I had very briefly used iPhoto 05 on my Mac Mini. Briefly was enough as I found it very limited, but since I had Photoshop I wasn’t too bothered about using another program for editing photos.
iPhoto 08 is a world apart from 05. Like Aperture I can sort my photos into Events and it has a number of touch-up tools, again very similar to Aperture. For my needs iPhoto 08 is absolutely perfect and best part is it’s all free with the Mac. I purchased FlickrExport for iPhoto (£12) a couple of days ago which means I can upload directly to Flickr from iPhoto. I am in the process of sorting my photos into Events, although I will only be adding ones taken with my new Fuji S5700 as they are the nicest ones 
So, the iLife package has come in very useful, once again…even if it has taken me 5 months to discover it(!)
Coming to you in High Definition
144 years ago
by Sam
in Photography
Last week I ordered a High Definition Digital Camcorder. It’s the Aiptek AHD200 720p and it cost £109 from QVC UK. They also threw in a 2GB SD Card, but apart from that extra which was exclusive to the QVC deal it also comes with remote control and a case.
It arrived today so I’ve only had a brief time to play around with it but the thing I love about it is the simplicity – it’s very straightforward to use. I don’t need anything expensive or fancy with a ton of features, so this is perfect for my needs.
I’m ill with Tonsillitis and a horrible influenza type virus at the moment, so the chances of me getting out with the intention of shooting any decent footage over the coming days is slim, but hopefully I’ll be able to get something before the Easter Weekend is over and then I’ll give more of my review.
I did take a 10 second test video and uploaded it to YouTube before I realised how that site completely strips any quality. I was pointed in the direction of blip.tv by Graham so I opened an account there and will post any decent stuff there in future. Then I remembered I had an account at Vimeo and was very pleased to see that they now present HD Videos without ripping apart the quality. So, I uploaded my very quick test clip here. I think you can really see how vibrant the colours are on my screen.
So, initial thoughts on the Aiptek AHD 200 from a very quick play while being slightly unwell is very positive indeed. The RRP on this model is around £150 – I’m just glad I was watching QVC at the right moment to bag their special offer. I’ll write more about it when I’ve had a good opportunity to get out and about with it.
EDIT – Wednesday 19th March 2008
Some video shot today of the dog, by my other half. Feel free to add me as a contact on Vimeo 
Gone Shootin’
64 years ago
by Sam
in Photography
My new digital camera that I talked about here arrived a couple of weeks ago. Not so pleasant weather (wind, rain, stormy stuff) mixed with me being occupied with other things meant I haven’t had the opportunity to get out for a significant period to play with it. I’ve played around doing super macro shots and I’m very impressed with it.
I’ve been reading the manual for the camera and there’s a lot for me to master. I can have so much more control over the aperture which I’m really looking forward to learning more about. I am not planning on any night shots just yet because I’m not quite comfortable with how to do so. Plus, it’s a little bit chilly and murky in the evenings, so not quite the weather for standing still long enough for a slow shutter speed or indeed take lots of test shots to get it just right.
I’ve been buying up some extras for the camera including 2GB SD card, case, rechargeable batteries and a charging unit for the batteries. I’ll always carry four spare batteries with me. They’ll fit comfortably into the front of the case. Of course, the good thing about a camera that does take AA batteries is they’re readily available almost anywhere, meaning I should never get caught short. I’ve also read some reviews for the particular batteries I’ve bought and they apparently have a very long life.
Today has been one of the nicest days we’ve had ever since I bought the camera. Not windy, not wet, clear-ish blue sky and not bitterly cold either. So, I took the opportunity to have a zoom across the Tyne Bridge into Gateshead where the Angel of the North stands, welcoming people into the region via the A1. In all the 10 years he’s been opening his arms to those entering Gateshead/Newcastle, I haven’t once got right up to him close enough to take some quality photos of the big fella. I have only ever taken these two shots as we’ve driven past.
I put the camera onto Landscape mode and took around 35 shots. The sun was in a bit of an odd position but I think I got some nice photos. Luckily it was fairly quiet around there today – just myself and a Japanese tourist taking some photos. Both of us being kind enough to step out of the way while each of us took photos. I really could have used a wide angle lens to fit the entire wing span in. I’d have to stand back some distance to get all of him in. You just don’t appreciate how massive he is until you’re stood at his feet. One of my favourite shots from the afternoon is this one…
The jogger running past just demonstrates the sheer scale of this breathtaking landmark. I am also impressed with the zoom on this camera with these two shots.
You can see my other shots from the afternoon, here.
So, really pleased with how my shots turned out, in this first outing for my new Fuji S5700 7.1MP Digital Camera. I’m so glad I finally moved on from my 2.1MP SONY Cybershot otherwise the shots wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good – and of course the race against time regarding the lacking battery would have taken the pleasure out of it.
Buying and Selling
54 years ago
Yesterday I ordered a Fuji S5700 7MP Digital Camera, to replace my aging SONY Cybershot.
This is just one of the cameras I had been looking at for the past few months. First impressions was that it was really professional looking (DSLR-like) but once I noted how much it cost (just over £100) I must admit to thinking it couldn’t be very good for the price. But, I have read some extensive reviews on various camera and technology sites and it gets some top notch reviews. I have also read nothing but positive comments from people who have bought the camera and they can’t believe the quality for the price.
I bought it from Play.com for £104.99. I also purchased a Fuji 1GB SD card (it accepts either SD or XD cards) so it came to the grand total of £109.98. They were posted this morning, so hoping to have them at the beginning of next week. I’m already checking out some accessories such as case, batteries/recharger and 2GB SD card from a photography store on eBay. Luckily SD cards are very inexpensive so I’d like to get a few of those. Hopefully the weather will be as nice to us next week as it has this week so I can get out to take some nice photos.
Now for the selling part of the subject line. I sold my Apple Mac Mini today on eBay, for the Buy It Now price of £200 with £20 postage for Parcelforce 24. I had listed it last week on eBay as an auction with the start price of 99p and a reserve of £200, but despite having 25 watchers (and 7 bids) it only reached £175. So, on Tuesday I re-listed it with the Buy It Now price and I’m pleased to have finally sold it as it was sitting redundantly in a corner! The buyer paid immediately so Parcelforce have been booked online and they’re collecting it from me on Monday
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