Vista is Soooo Pretty

Yeah, have not posted for ages. Been very busy with work mostly, and the small amount of time that is left outside of work are better spent with other things.

Installed Vista again, full release this time. Oh man, it is so VERY PRETTY!!! I feel like I am on an Apple again. :P

And it is quite fast. I am suitably impressed. Now if I can just work out where the hell everything is I'll be right. :)

Must run. Have had a terribly busy day, and still have heaps to do before I can go home.

Will try and take some more pics soon. I have some great ideas. Stay tuned. :D

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Some More HDR Shots

On my way home last night I stopped a few places in the city to take some more multiple exposure shots so that I could render some HDR images. I fear I am becoming quite addicted to this. :)

This first one is of Post Office Square in Brisbane. I took this from the top of the Sofitel building, just in front of its residential tower. Sadly, I could not get quite far enough over to centre myself on the square. Also, because of my height, I could not get the frame of the picture down to include the eternal flame. But it is a pretty good picture none the less. :)


This second one I took from atop the Kangaroo Point cliffs looking up along the eastern reach of the river. Sorry for the quality of this picture. I had a bit of trouble with the alignment of the multiple exposures because of the movement in the water. Sill a great anyway. :)


I am really digging HDR photography. I think this is my "style". I suspect that it is going to be the primary focus of my hobby now. :)

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Story Bridge by Night

So I am learning all about HDR imaging since a friend cursed me with awareness of it's existence a few days ago. Basically it is a way to get lots and lots of images that have a low dynamic range (think EVERY artificial picture you see on TV computers cameras etc) and combine them to make a high dynamic range image.

What the hell am I talking about. Well think of it this way. If I took my camera and took a photo of the story bridge at night with the city behind it, I can have a quick exposure which will show the illuminated bridge and city, but anything that is in partial darkness will just come out black. If on the other hand I took a long exposure, I can resolve low light areas like the park under the bridge, but anywhere there is bright light just overexposes and looks crap.

The pic below shows you the two extremes of the exposures. The dark one shows an exposure that resolves the details of the illuminated areas, but leaves the unlit areas unresolved. The light one resolves the detail of the unlit areas, but totally blows out the illuminated areas. Neither is good, and you just can't get anything workable in the middle either. :(


So, I take 6 exposures of lengths ranging from 1 second to 30 seconds. Then I get those imagines and use a program called Photomatix Pro to generate a HDR image. The HDR image actually contains picture data that is just too "broad" for computer monitors and TV's to display (unless you are going to pay $50K for a HDR display). So, we then do a funky little thing called tone mapping so that we can "approximate" the image back into the range that can be displayed.

The end result is a picture that shows you all of the details you would be able to see with your eyes if you were standing there at night looking at that view. Well, almost. :)



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Yet Again

Some cute pics of Junior. :) My parents are away on holidays for a week, and my nan is staying over there to care for him. She can't really take him for walks, so I went around to spend some time with him and take him for a nice long walk.

I love him so much, and miss him terribly when I don't get to see him regularly.

Click for larger pics. :)


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Ecological Footprint Quiz

I took the Ecological Footprint Quiz and found out that if everyone on earth lived the way I did, we would need 4.2 Earths to support us. :|

In my defence though, it tells me my score of 7.6 global hectares is the same as the average for my country. So don't blame me, blame the country. :)



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Web 2.0 in just under 5 minutes.

Seriously, spare less than 5 minutes of your Internet time to watch this. It is somewhat profound.

Now I finally GET what Web 2.0 is. Technology ROCKS!!! :)

Web 2.0 in just under 5 minutes.


Via [evhead]
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Just a Couple of Pics

Here are a few pics I have taken over the last few days. The first one I snapped of a friend while she was resting on a hammock, enjoying the late Saturday afternoon. :) The next two are some underwater pics, one showing that gorgeous mass of hair she has, the other showing some funky shadowing from the ripples.

The last pic is one I snapped heading home from the Sunshine Coast on Saturday night. I took the pic looking south east from a lookout at the top of the Blackall Ranges. The quality is pretty poor, because my poor little Casio is not really made to take 60 second exposures. Had to use ISO 200 also, which kinda introduces heaps of noise into the pic. I tried to tidy it up a little, but there is no much I can do. I like the pic because you can see a distant hilltop and house silhouetted at the bottom with the Milky Way stretching up into the sky above it. It would have looked ACE with a better camera. It sure looked good in person. :)




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Online Record - YAY

Oh my god, I have died and gone to heaven. I just received this email from Foxtel!!!

Hello Nathan,

We know you love the FOXTEL iQ and the convenience of watching what you want, when you want. Well, we have some great news! We've added some exciting new features to help you enjoy your FOXTEL even more.

FOXTEL's new ONLINE GUIDE makes searching for the shows you want to watch even easier AND you can record the shows you love from wherever you are in the world with new REMOTE RECORD†. From February 8, you'll have instant access to some of FOXTEL's best programming with ON DEMAND. Read on to find out more.

Yours in entertainment
The FOXTEL iQ Team

A friend says his workmates have been doing this for a while. But I had no idea it was available until I received this email just now. This is GREAT!!! (runs off to Foxtel website to fill up IQ box)

:)

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We Are All Going to Hell

I am SOOOOO a BD weekend kind of guy. :P Although AD's and AB's are nice to throw in on a BD weekend. ;)

Click for larger pic.


Via [indexed]
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A Birthday Card for Me

A close friend made me a birthday card for my birthday. Being that she knows me so well, she took it upon herself to educate and amuse me with the card. All the while using it as a medium for reminding me how intelligent and clever she is. :P

Now, I am not embarrassed to say that most of these words I had to look up. And, while I am sure she has a more impartial and honest understanding of my character, I must admit that not ALL of these words sit well with my overinflated sense of superiority. :)

None the less, here they are. Click on a word to see its meaning in the dictionary.

judicious
allegiant
benevolent
exuberant
loquacious
gallant
fervent
puckish
munificent
vehement
jocose
adroit
stalwart
spirited
propitious
prepossessing
incorrigible
gelastic
magnanimous
perspicacious
extemporaneous
recalcitrant
jaunty
emphatic
circumspect
impetuous
enigmatic

I scanned the card in too. :) Click for larger pics.


Best birthday card EVER! :)

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Old School Cricket

New Zealand vs England at The Gabba on February 6th 2007. New Zealand at bat, with the bastard captian playing for himself rather than his team.

This video was taken using the "silent movie" mode on my camera. Makes it look all "old school" like. :D

New Zealand vs England at The Gabba

New Zealand vs England at The Gabba on February 6th 2007. New Zealand at bat, with the bastard captian playing for himself rather than his team.

A quick boundry shot with my mate comentating. :P

Older and Older

I turned 32 today. I must admit, for the first time I can remember, that I don't actually like the number I have to give when someone asks how old I am. Is this how it starts?

I was always happy, or at the least indifferent, about my age. Even when I turned 30 and 31, I was OK with it. But now, I just FEEL like I am getting too old. I feel like I am embarrassed, or maybe even a little ashamed, when I say I am 32. I feel like the moment I say that I am going to be judged on my life, and found wanting.

I spent the day alone, with the exception of my mom and nan dropping around briefly to bring me lunch. I did not get to sleep until almost 3am this morning because I was feeling a little sick, and was a little upset. I wanted to sleep in. But I started receiving phone calls from family and friends from about 8am, so there was no chance of that.

I miss loved ones. :( Even though I was feeling a little off color today, I did not enjoy spending it alone.

Someone important to me did not ring me today. I know it should not matter, but it does. :(

I have to start work early tomorrow. My head hurts, and sleep feels a very long way off.

Happy birthday to me.

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Bithday Drinks for the Birthday Boys

As everyone knows, I NEVER drink. In 11 years I have had only one glass of whisky for my uncle's wake.

Well, I am over my mates place. He shares the same birthday as me. And I cave to peer pressure, and slam down a shot of Sambuca with him. :)





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Underwater Goodness

So I got my new camera. A Casio Exilim EX-Z850 8MP digital camera. It is VERY funky. :) Does cool things like records video's in the past (yeah, time travel stuff) and lots of automatic picture goodness. But it still lets me take manual photos, which is good for my photragraphicary learnerating. :D

And yesterday I bought an underwater thingie for it so that I could take it swimerating with me. Yay!!!

Went swiming with a friend last night in my pool. Took a few pics and some video. Click on pics and video below to see them. :)








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