Simple Steps For HDR Photos

So what is HDR? Why all of a sudden I am talking about HDR? They are photos as well but why some people treat them so special? Some people are so eager to learn about HDR photos. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Basically, HDR has been in this world for quite a while already. It’s just that some people like me just discovered it hence got so excited when had a chance to learn it. To be honest, I have heard about it many years ago but I completely neglected it because it sounded ridiculous to me at that time. Ridiculous in terms of my capability to produce that kind of images, if you know what I mean. You definitely need skills in Photoshop in order to create HDR images.

HDR is not alien no more to us nowadays. If you go to Flickr, type HDR and you will find massive HDR photos produced by various of people on this planet. When I first saw it, I thought it was impossible for me. But then again, nothing is impossible isn’t it? Now that is so unbelieveable the HDR photos are actually on my Flickr page. I took the photos and created them myself. I thought it was very complicated until I experienced it myself. You would not believe if I say it just needs a few simple steps to create one. Certainly you need to be Photoshop literate first in order to operate the application otherwise, you will get stuck in the middle.

First thing you have to do is, take pictures. Now, when I say take pictures, it is not going to be as same as ordinary photos you always take. This is going to be a little bit different. Unfortunately, this only apply to DSLR camera or any camera that has “Bracketing” mode because in order to produce HDR images, you are required to take at least three different exposures of the same shot. It can go up to nine exposures if not mistaken. So, to ensure the photos you take are in the same position, you might want to consider a tripod to hold your camera steadily. By taking three exposures, your camera will automatically capture the original, under and over exposure.

Once you have got the images, you need a software to merge the photos. The only software I know so far is Photomatix. It is very simple and easy to use. I quite like it to be honest. If you haven’t heard or seen it before, go google to get some ideas what I am talking about. You can always edit the final result in Photomatix itself where it has a few tools if you would like to increase more tones and colours, sharpened a little bit and many more. I always do my final editing in Photoshop. I’m not saying Photomatix isn’t good. It is more like I’m used to Photoshop so, it would be a lot easier for me. Then, it’s all about your creativity. How do you want the images to look like. It’s entirely up to you.

Please correct me if I say anything wrong here. Or if anyone out there who knows better you are always welcome to add or correct it on the comment field. I also would like to apologize for not being detailed in terms of explaining how to process HDR photos. But I do hope you understand a little bit what HDR photo means. Thanks very much for reading and viewing. Enjoy your stay. Cheers.

Faris

Posted in HDR, Photography, Photoshop, Techno | 4 Comments »

Lumix

Hey, I just bought a digicam. Now it is so possible for me to make video blog considering it has “video mode” inside. In fact, that’s the main reason I bought it. At least, I don’t have to carry my “bulky” camera everywhere I go. So now instead of taking still photo, I can capture motion pictures as well. Woohoo!

Posted in Gear, Personal, Techno | 17 Comments »

Time’s Tickin’

Oh gosh… the weather really got me now. All of a sudden I got headache while in the office this evening. I don’t know is it the weather or am I too stressed at work? Wish I could tell. Think I’m not that stress. Winter makes me become a lazy person and all I want to do is stay at home, wrap my body up to keep the temperature nice and warm, sitting on the couch watching television or surfing the net and have some snacks. How I wish I could overcome this. And the most challenging part is getting up in the morning. Urghh, I wish this never happened to me. Oh by the way, tomorrow is going to be my last day working for this week. Why? Can’t believe you forgot it already! I’m going to Spain can’t you remember? Oh yes, I’m so excited. Even though that is just for a few days, at least it will keep me apart from reality world for a while to enjoy the fun moment to the fullest (hopefully).

Oh sugar! Now I just missed one thing. I wanted to get a new mobile phone before I go to Spain but I don’t think it can be done before this Wednesday because surely it will take time to sort out the information and details. Most importantly, I want the phone! I’m actually thinking of getting Nokia N95. Yea, I know there are so many people have this model. But what can I say? It has got all the features I want. So, why bother? It’s pretty tough to make a decision upon what phone to get considering there are loads of new models on the market nowadays and it always makes me jumped from one to another models everytime I look them on the net. Just bear in mind, I need something that can be used multi-purposely. What I mean is, I want the phone to have a camera, video and also mp3. Apart from that, it’s good to have additional features as well such as GPS and stuff. I’m not a phone freak so, I can’t really tell which is the best for me. LG Viewty isn’t bad at all. I’ve seen the review and what impressed me was the video rate. It can capture up to 120 frame per second. Man, that’s like having a camcoder? No? Have seen the video sample and the quality comes out pretty good. Can’t remember there’s one model where you can transfer the video recorded from the phone directly to YouTube. Fantastic isn’t it? So many things are possible nowadays. Guess I’ll have to wait after come back from holiday then.

Must sleep now. It’s already 00:20 am. Wish I could blog more but time is ticking and apparently it doesn’t stop. I’ll have to force myself really bad to get up in the morning if I don’t sleep now. See you guys later k.

Bubbye!!

Love,

Faris

Posted in Personal, Techno | No Comments »

Reveal

I’m feeling better now. My cold fever is decreasing slowly day by day. This is my second time experienced fever in here. The temperature is dropping day by day as a warning it is nearly winter now. If you ask me, I’d rather be in Malaysia or hotter temperature country until winter season is finished, then I’ll come back. Not saying I can’t stand cold weather. Just that, it feels uncomfortable. I remember long long time ago, I used to watch snow on television and I always said to myself - “How I wish I could be there with thick clothes playing snow”. And now I’m here moaning about the temperature and waiting for winter to come. Sometimes, life can be so miracle.

Anyway, back to the real topic. Today, I’m going to reveal what has been going over the last weekend. It is something that I have been waiting for so long. I finally bought my new PC!!! Yes, I made it. Never thought in my mind I would have a PC again since I left mine at home back in Malaysia. To tell you the truth, it is always satisfied when you have options of which components you desire to build your PC. Not by just going to the computer shop and pick one home. It is totally different. That is what I did. If you don’t believe me, go to the computer store, look at the price and the PC specifications. It is way too expensive I reckon. Sometimes, it is not because of the specifications itself. It’s the brand that makes it expensive. With the same amount of money, you can get better one by building it up yourself with certainly better specs and performance.

No doubt, some people will moan, saying that it is a lot easier to pick ready one, bring it home and you are done. What about people who always desire for high performance PC? Of course these people won’t look at it even though some might offer good deal. These people are defenitely going to go for their own choices, components, specifications etc. And not to forget here, it is depending on someone needs as well. If you just use the PC for internet surfing and a little Words and Excel, why do you need high performance PC? Don’t you think it such a waste? I say, it depends on where you set the priority. If you are a web developer, gamer, graphic designer or whatsoever that need high specs PC, then you might want to consider buying something more powerful than ordinary people normally use.

As for me, my priority is more towards photo editing and also a bit of web development. Hence, I would want to consider a PC with great graphic performance to be able to get my job done. Therefore, I’ll reveal here my inner components where all of them were bought online. Only graphic card I bought at a PC Fair because I just realized when they delivered the stuff, the video card was not on the list which mean I must have missed it when I did the shopping.

This is how it looks like from top view inside my box. As you can see there are a few items come without boxes. They are OEM version.

My 2GB memory. Look, they’ve got heatsink! LOL. Long time ago, it was just a dream to get a pair of Corsair 2GB memory. Now, it’s in my PC!

The ultra quiet CPU fan, Zalman. It is absolutely amazing. I can hear nothing but air sound from this cooler fan. Fantastic. Worth buying.

The not so quiet PSU. It is a bit noisier I reckon. But it doesn’t hurt my ears anyway. So, I forgive him. He’s the only one making sound. Others remain silent!

Hulala look at that! My 22″ LCD widescreen monitor! Although I’ve never heard about this brand Cibox, it is a great monitor and I’m loving it. The cheapest one I found on ebuyer for this size. So, I guess I was quite lucky. It has built-in speakers too but you’ll be disappointed with the sound. But at least you can still listen to the music though rather than nothing.

I just realized during working on my PC, I forgot one thing and it was graphic card! I was so frustrated in the beginning. Thought I couldn’t finish it by that day. Luckily, my brother said there’s a PC fair not far from our place. So, there’s a chance for me to go there and have a look if there’s any suitable graphic card within my budget. Glad I found one and it’s 512MB DDR2. The ASUS family. My mobo and graphic card. Surely unbeatable! LOL.

The CPU has been attached successfully to the motherboard.

And afterwards, it’s Zalman’s turn to get onto the CPU. Go Zalman go. You rock my world. What a size!!!

Messy bedroom. I wonder how am I going to tidy up this mess.

My fantastic graphic card before attached to motherboard. It has heatsink as well! LOL.

Walla! It is finally done. This is a first test-run after completely assembled every single piece of the components.

The casing isn’t bad at all I reckon. Don’t you think so? I know it isn’t wow but I like to keep it simple and clean look.

Phew, after a long wait, finally I got my PC. It was not in my mind at all to build a PC. I thought I was going to buy ready PC but those ready-made never satisfy me and they don’t fit my desire. Anyway, I’d love to thank my brother so much for helping me out on configuring, fixing, assembling, updating etc. my PC till the end of it. I love my PC so much now. It is a great PC. It works two three times faster than my PC (in Malaysia). Perhaps, I should get sound card and speakers later

Love,

Faris

Posted in Techno | 7 Comments »