nooksack

More tweakage

I got back from my hockey game and was compelled to tweak another photo. This time Marbles, everyone's favorite pear shaped cat, proved a willing subject. The catch this time was that the light was just too low, so I had to use the builtin flash. I typically avoid using the flash at all costs because of the harsh effect it has on the contrast and colors in a scene, but with no tripod I had no choice in this situation. Here is the result before any adjustments:

Click for a larger image. The thumbnail was resized by typepad's somewhat dubious algorithm which loses some of the detail I'm talking about here.

The flash really set the red cube on fire. Way too much saturation there. The wall and marble lost some detail too. Here it is again after some of my hamfisted tweaking:

Not too bad. I used the Shadow/Highlight tool to bring out the detail in the wall, marble, and wood, but this still left the cube glowing like a hot ember. I used the Magic Wand tool to select just the cube, and then the Hue/Saturation tool to bring down the brightness and adjust the color something much closer to non-flash reality. After cropping and resizing, I added a touch (~12%) of Unsharp Mask to bring out the texture in Marble's fur a bit.

I'm very happy with how it turned out. I think it looks fairly naturally lit. Marble's eyes, and the reflection off the turntable still give away the use of a flash, but I don't mind that so much. Let me know if you would have done it differently.

Photo Tweaking

I spent some time this afternoon tweaking a couple photos from last week's ride to the summit of Mt. Diablo. This is part of that digitial darkroom learning curve I mentioned earlier. Here's a before and after look at a landscape shot:

Before:

(click for larger image)
After:

It doesn't look like much of a change, but you can see a lot more detail in the fog and on the horizon. This is a result of trial and error with PhotoShop's Shadow/Highlight sliders. As its name implies, this tool allows you to independently adjust the levels of the shadows and highlights. I have no idea what I'm really doing, so my technique is to perform a binary search of sorts by dragging each slider back and forth until I see a result I like. It takes several passes through because some of the sliders control parameters that affect the other sliders, but it's usually fairly obvious where the sweet spot lies. The trick in this scene was to pump up the contrast while preserving as much tonal subtlety as possible.

Unfortunately the sky is completely blown out because I forgot to check the camera's ISO setting, and of course I had left it at 1600 from my previous shooting session. My biggest gripe about the D70 is that there is no convenient way to manage groups of settings. I just need get into a routine of resetting every parameter before I set out, or something. I suppose I could crop out the top part, but I kind of like how the clouds in the upper left mirror the fog in the lower right, and it adds to the otherworldly mood of the scene. Yeah, that's the ticket.

For the cat lovers

I like to say Keeble & Shuchat

After lunch today co-worker Kenny and I popped into K&S for a look around. Until then I had resisted the well stocked, full service allure of Keebler and Shuck'it, but Kenny had recently acquired a Nikon D70, and his enthusiasm for such things proved infectious. He was anxious to pick up Nikon's Capture software and take a look at a kick ass 80-200mm f/2.8 lens. We both managed to dodge the $900 lens purchase, but couldn't resist snagging a copy of the software as we are both climbing the digital darkroom learning curve. My own ascent has been on hiatus somewhat as other hobbies have muscled their way to the forefront of my free time budget.
The topic that came up, after getting a price quote on the lens, was that age old dilemma: buy online or from the local brick & mortar retailer? I buy almost everything online, but I have a strong urge to support local non-chain retailers of the caliber of K&S. The premium to pay in the case of the lens is about $80. Of course, you have to subtract shipping costs, add in the value of instant gratification and the insurance of having a store nearby for warranty repairs/returns. I'd say it's just about worth it in this case, but I put more worth into instant gratification than most. (Don't worry honey, I'm not going to buy this lens any time soon)

Motorcycle Theft Ring

Check out this story about a motorcycle theft ring that apparently fenced parts to "dwarf car" racers. Unbelievable.

Engine blocks stamped with a serial number were usually sold on sites catering to "dwarf car" racing. Dwarf cars are 5/8th the size of regular vehicles and are powered by motorcycle engines. Racing these vehicles is popular in California and other states where the events take place on privately owned tracks. In dwarf car racing, the engines work to their limit and their lifespan can be as short as a week. The engines are expensive disposable parts.