This is out of the infographic files. What do you get when you take a long exposure photograph of a Roomba doing it’s thing? A really cool image that looks like a flight plan out of LaGuardia.
photography
Awesome Photography Technique
Usually I wouldn’t link to articles that I know are link bait but this one is so cool, I feel as though I have to share it. I’ve never heard of ‘Tilt Shift Photography‘ before but according to Smashing Magazine, it’s a technique where life sized objects appear as though they are at a miniature scaled size. To start taking photographs using this method, all you need to do is to shoot subjects from a high angle, especially if you can do this from in the air. Or, you can use a tilt-shift lens which provides a shallow depth of field.
Tilt Shift Technique In Action
Image created by Automatt.
Please check out their list of 50 examples that have utilized the technique. It is hard for me to pick a favorite but the one with the firetrucks is awesome.
Spring In Ohio
I’ve been on my first week of paid vacation which means I was able to spend some more time than usual with my girlfriend. I couldn’t of picked a better week weather wise as it was mostly in the upper 60s mid 70s for most of the week. On Thursday, we took a ride to an area called Whipp’s Ledges which is an area of glaciated rocks that make for an excellent starting point for beginner rock climbers. During the walk, I noticed how Spring is in full swing with the trees starting to bud their leaves as well as bumble bees who were out in full force. Here are a few shots taken with my Kodak Easyshare highlighting what I like to call, “New Beginnings“.
Check out the rest of the photoset entitled New Beginnings.
Short video clip highlighting the awesome view from atop one of the rocks at Whipps Ledges.
Photos Of The Blogging Master 3000
Today as I was building the machine, I took the opportunity to take a number of photos of each individual piece of hardware. Most the photos involved me playing with the MACRO settings on my Kodak EasyShare and are not of the best quality but, they should suffice none the less.
All of the pictures I took today can be found within the Blogging Master 3000 Flickr Photoset.
Guess What This Is
This came across to me via email and I thought it was very interesting. However, instead of posting the text that goes along with the image, I wanted to see if any of you could guess what kind of equipment this is. The first person to get it right earns 10,000 LEET points. If I see that no one is coming close to the answer, I’ll be adding hints to the commenting section of this post.
Flickr Will Award The Gifter
Great news for those thinking of giving the gift of a Flickr Pro account to someone this year. Flickr has announced that they will be awarding the gift giver.
For each year of pro you buy between now and January 31, 2008, you’ll receive 3 months of pro for yourself. As an example, if you bought 4 pro gifts, you’d get a year of pro for yourself! How’s that for a stocking stuffer?
Not a bad deal if I must say so myself. Will you be purchasing a pro account for someone this year?
Turn Your Desktop Into A Forest
I don’t know what it is that makes me such a big fan of forest photography or forests in general. Every time I see a photo taken from within a forest, it makes me wonder what lies beyond the horizon. If the photo is a pathway, I wonder where that path leads. Occasionally, I come across photos of giant Redwoods that are shrouded in fog with the bases of these massive trees surrounded by the deep green colors of ferns. These are the types of photos that really make me wish I was their at that exact moment, to experience that moment for myself.
Unfortunately, due to finances and other obligations, I don’t have the option of traveling that much. However, one of my lifelong goals is to visit Redwood National forest in California so I can see for myself just how big those trees really are. At any rate, since I can’t travel to the forests of the world, my next option is to turn my desktop into a forest via Wallpaper Images.
Some of the best forest photography that I have ever seen comes from DeviantART. DeviantART is the world’s largest collection of talent that I have ever seen. They have so many categories for creative artists, it’s unbelievable. Here are 10 of my favorite images depicting forests. If you have a favorite, please post a link within the comment section.
A Redwood Stream by ~serendipity2 on deviantART
Redwood Forest by ~runescapeandmaple on deviantARTART
immobilization by *werol on deviantART
Stairway to…? by ~jendonoghue on deviantART
Emerald Myst by `aquapell on deviantART
The Battle Of Evermore by `aquapell on deviantART
Goblin’s Hollow by `aquapell on deviantART
sonnentor by *ssilence on deviantART
Redwood Rays by *Timberwolf4u on deviantART
Blogger Adds Slideshow Support
Blogger has added a new tool for their user’s called the “Slideshow Page Element“. This element adds a slideshow to your page that displays photos from your Picasa Web Albums, Flickr, Photobucket or any site that supports Media RSS. The photos will appear in your blogs sidebar, fading into one another. The slideshow supports navigation and each photo links to the albums home page. According to Blogger,
Like all page elements, Slideshow requires that your blog is using Layouts templates. Still need to switch? Read our help article on the topic.
Seems like a cool new feature to add to your hosted Blogger Blog.
New Features Debut On Flickr
Flickr has unveiled a new feature/project called Places. Places is a Flickr project that makes use of all of the publicly available Geotagged photos. Think of it as a new way to see a massive amount of data that otherwise, may not of been noticed. Asides from being able to see photos of places all over the world, Flickr has also developed an experimental new map which somehow displays breaking news. That is, if an event is taking place somewhere in the world such as The Oscars, chances are, there will be a number of people taking photos which will then show up on this map.
I gave the new map a try and I thought it was pretty cool. The text that appears on the World Map is the name of the event. If you click on the event text, a photo ribbon appears showing all of the photos that were taken at the event. I saw an event that appeared to be taking place in the Pacific Ocean. After clicking on it, I figured out it was a wedding in Hawaii. At any rate, Flickr has succeeded in giving user’s yet another way to kill time.
Picnic Turns Into Disaster
My girlfriend and I have started up a new tradition. Each year, we try to determine the best date to go out for a Fall picnic. This is no ordinary picnic. This particular one included steak, home made pumpkin pie, cheesy scallop potatoes and Hawaiian rolls. The weather forecast for Monday was perfect. A high temperature near 75 degrees with a calm wind, mostly sunny with increasing clouds during the day.
After working my usual 9PM-5AM shift, I hit the sack at about 6 AM. Woke up at noon, prepared the materials we needed and headed out the door at 1. Picked up the girl at a quarter after 1 then proceeded to stop at BP to gas up, buy a 20oz of Mountain Dew and clean the windshield. That is pretty much my routine anytime I take a decent road trip. We were on the road by 1:30PM but our plans had changed.
I received a phone call from a buddy of mine who spent the night at Salt Fork State Park. He told me about all of the muzzle loaded hunters that were in the area. After checking the park map, sure enough, just about the entire park was considered public hunting land. Because I didn’t want it to be my last day alive as I know someone out their would probably mistake us for deer, I decided to take the girl to Wayne National Forest which is where I do my Bigfoot related research, hike and occasionally camp.
It took us three hours to finally arrive at the location. As soon as we unpacked the car, I poured a quarter bag of charcoal onto the grill. Because the bag became empty, I threw the empty bag on top of the charcoal to help get the fire going. This was my first mistake. My girlfriend and I decided to do a bit of hiking as it was getting a bit late in the afternoon and the charcoal needed to burn through it’s surface layer before it would be ready to cook anything.
We went off on our hike and took some wonderful photos which I’ll link to in a little bit. After about a half hour of hiking, we decided to head back to camp. As we were retreating back to the car, it started to rain. The rain was not expected to be in the area until late evening, so it was rather disappointing that we traveled over 150 miles just to be in the rain.
When we returned to the grill, I noticed that my first mistake of putting the empty charcoal bag on top of the charcoal had diminished the effects of the charcoal. As it the rain started to come down a bit more heavily, I decided to throw the steaks on the grill anyway as I didn’t think they would take that long to cook. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough heat to properly cook the steaks and the rain just kept coming down. Thinking how much of a drag this entire situation had become, my girlfriend and I finally decided to leave the steaks on the grill and ditch them. She ended up tossing out the scallop potatoes she made and all that was left were 4 rolls and a pumpkin pie.
We decided to head to a McDonalds that I swear has the best food out of any of the establishments I’ve been to. If your ever in Woodsfield Ohio, stop by their McDonalds. Every time I’ve gone into that particular restaurant, they have made the food fresh, as you order it. I think thats the difference. At any rate, on the way home, the rain continued to come down. I almost hit 5 different deer and some idiot household let their dog loose which decided to run at and chase my car, forcing me to slam on my brakes because I thought I was going to hit him. I’m glad I didn’t.
Over 350 miles were driven for a hike of about 45 minutes, a ruined picnic, and unexpected, wrongfully predicted rain. Not all was lost. I managed to grab two videos. One of me driving down Interstate 77 South and the other from within Wayne National Forest. I also managed to grab quite a few foliage photographs from the area. That was one of the major reasons of driving this far down south as the trees are plentiful, filled with a variety of colors. My girlfriend and I had a chance to spend some quality time together, although most of it was within the confines of a car. My car was washed and I nabbed some good photos. Things turned out alright in the end!
Click any of the images to see a larger size.
Click here to see a slide show of this particular photo set.
55 Seconds From Within Wayne National Forest
Thoughts and Insanity From Jeff 