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At the Beginning |
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2009/08/25 An Automatic Computer Science Paper GeneratorSCIgen - An Automatic CS Paper Generator - By MIT 2009/05/19 First Death in 2009 on ChomolangmaThis is to mourn the first death in 2009 on Mt. Chomolangma. The amateur Chinese climber died on the way back from the summit.
Summit wave effect...
Despite the tragedy, more than an estimated number of 80 climbers summitted via both North and South Col. on a clear, calm day after waiting out high winds, which makes May 19th 2009 a rewarding day on Mt. Chomolangma. 2008/08/09 The most awesome, brilliant, inspiring, powerful, original and the greatest Olympic opening ceremony everEven though CCTV(China Central Television) sucks. And this is the beginning of the 55,000,000,000 US dollars.
Go to my album for more
Photo courtesy of Getty Images and various public resources
Photo courtesy of Getty Images and various public resources
2008/07/27 How many shots till the end of a D70 shutter's life?Being blamed for using digital so cautiously as using film, I finally made my near-4-year-old D70 shutter count turned over 10k today. Cheers! 2008/06/25 A good answer to -- What is Buddhism aboutBuddhist philosophy reveals that what appears as external and self-existing is ultimately a function of consciousness; it has no inherent existence. To say that reality is nondual doesn’t mean that all is illusion, but that appearance arises in conjunction with our perception. When we recognize that perception dictates our reality, the force of greed, anger, and delusion lessen and we attain a freer responsiveness to the events around us. Science recognized the same thing; that reality does not exist separately from our perception. That’s the whole point of Buddhism -- to wake up from this collective dream and to recognize that there are no inherent boundaries between external reality and the circuitry of consciousness. If we could live in full awareness of this nondual reality, there would no longer be any basis for alienation, greed, anger, fear, and all the other mental poisons that Buddhism speaks about. We would take responsibility for our own perceptions and begin to work with them, in full consciousness of our interconnectedness with other beings. 2008/03/16 Pemako sample images up on Google EarthImages from the expedition are finally pushed to Google Earth, as well as on Panoramio.
As the only photograph source available on the internet, about 10 sample photos line up along the world's deepest gorge Yarlung Tsangpo.
Check it out on Google Earth. 2008/02/21 New albums availableNepal:
Kathmandu
Pokhara
Tibet:
Mount Everest North Face Base Camp
Northern Tibet Grand Circuit 2008/02/05 Frequently Asked QuestionFAQ
Q: Do you get your photos fine-tuned in image editing software? to what extent?
A: This is a good question. The answer is tricky, yet technical. Let's divide the question into two parts.
For positive color reversal slides, once I convert them into digital files using the poor entry-level film scanner, I will normally edit each and every picture in Photoshop. The goal is to make the digital photos match with the color appearance of how the slides look like on a projector or lightbox.
But bear in mind that, how the slides look like on a projector usually doesn't mean how the scenes look like with your naked eyes. "Warming warm colors while leaving cools alone is what makes Fuji Velvia 50 the world's standard for nature and landscape photography" by Ken Rockwell. The colors are not real, at least for most of the reversal slides that I often use.
On the other hand, the actual result is usually miles away from my target. That simply means there is always a gap btween how I look at the digital photos and how I appreciate viewing the slides on a projector. If you think the color performance of a photo converted from reversal slide is over-exaggerated, or it's beyond the reality in your imagine, do not be surprised. You will get more surprised even stunned if you sit down and enjoy the photos displayed by a projector on an entire wall.
I don't blame the scanner as it comes at low/no cost. There are other options if you are willing to spend much more. I did have one of my photos scanned at the cost of over 100 yuan RMB per picture, and some others at a bit lower prices. The pictures look damn good when they are passed to my hand. But the satisfactory actually comes from the efforts of the professional operators. By using industrial level drum scan, you can get definitely better digital files, probably as close to the original slides as possible. The operators will fine-tune the pictures by adjusting the parameters, just like what we do in Photoshop. Instead of doing it on your own, you are leaving it to the professionals to fine-tune the digital photos. So, any difference? Does it make any sense to have drum scan? The difference lies more in dynamic range. In terms of colors appearance? It's no big deal. The dynamic range goes beyond the scope of this FAQ.
One thing good from reversal slides is that, at least we are able to control most out of the developing process. Unlike that of the more commonly used negative films, the color performance of positive reversal slides are not subject to the tastes of the developers, once slides get exposed. As a conclusion, if you take negative films, have them developed in a shop and ask someone else to scan them into digital files, you are doing less than 1/3 of the job. Why less than? Because the negative films have different color performances from the very beginning, which is out of your control.
For pictures taken by DSLRs or simply digital cameras, the answer will be subtle. I would like to give partial yes for a moderate answer. After the photos are exported out from the camera, I will judge case by case whether they need to be opened in Photoshop.
But just a minute. Is there something can be done before the photos are exported, or even before the pictures are taken? Remember there is one tool in Photoshop or any other image editing software called Curve? This thing might not be that straight forward, but by adjusting the curves properly, you can adjust the brightness, contrast, lightness(differs from brightness), saturation and even color balance. What a powerful tool! Now I tell you what I have done. I customized a standard curve to fit my own taste, and downloaded it into my D70 using the software coming with the camera. So what? I have every single photo of mine fine-tuned at the point when I press the shutter release.
Is it tweaking? Judge for yourself. Nowadays, even entry-level and consumer digital cameras come with adjustable menus, where you can define your preferred picture styles. You can choose the photos to be saturated or moderate, high contrast or low contrast, etc. By adjusting those preferrence, you are actually changing the standard curve set by the manufacturer. By changing those parameters, there are plenty of chances that you might come out with a similar curve as mine. The custom curve is merely one step further, providing more freedom.
To a further extent, different camera manufactures apply different stantdard curves to different camera models. Even with the same manufacture, compared with Nikon D70, the D80 has more developed processors and more appealing colors. If the standard is set to match D70, every picture from a D80 camera by default has been fine-tuned. If you don't use curve of your own, you are again, leaving it to the manufacutrers.
To the furthest extent, any photo from any digital camera has been fine-tuned. The sensors, both CCD and CMOS, don't capture the colors, but the colors are calculated by the processors. This is the way how modern digital cameras work. It's absolutely up to the camera makers how to display the colors.
Editing the photos in softwares like Photoshop also compares to traditional negative film photography. When you send your rolls to the photo store, you are in fact asking the store staffs to do the Photoshop thing for you, in a traditional way of course. Easy? If you are really going to be critical on this matter, there are two means to get the least fine-tuned photos. Shot with a digital camera in RAW format, and export with all parameters set to either 0 or medium values(not camera default values) depending on what parameter it is. Or use a considerably moderate reversal slides, and view your works from a quality projector or lightbox.
Nowadays Nikon has almost built a Photoshop-like software inside D3 and D300, and has almost doubled the dynamic range of those two models compared with D70. The fact is that, you are less likely to get a fine-tuned photo from D70 better than one from D300 without any retouching. 2008/01/01 Pieces of memory from PemakoAt the entrance to 2008, I am sitting right in front of my computer and reviewing the photos from Pemako Expedition. Three quarters ago, there were actually more things to be done than had been done. If I were given the chance to be there again, I would had at least brought with me a compact waterproof camera. I would say that's the only pity thing.
Wish each and every friend of mine a bright year 2008! 2007/08/26 Album Pemako Major UpdateMajor update to album Pemako 70% of the samples are in the colleciton now! Copyright © 2007 Hichos Lew. All rights reserved. No images in this album may be used without formal permission of their respective owner. Contact Hichos Lew for usage rights. 2007/08/14 New album Reversal Collection addedThis album shares some of my photos using color reversal films (positive slides) that were taken in year 2006. Basically there are 4 types of reversal films that I am using, i.e. RDP III, RVP100, E100VS and EBX. This album will be updated from time to time. 2007/08/09 Photos from the Pemako regionWell, there are plenty of names for it, say, The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon given by the Chinese government, or Dihang Valley from 19th century British explorer Kimtup, or The Great Brahmaputra Gorge for the British Indians, or the more well-known Namcha Barwa Gorge in the western world. But the insiders will normally refer to the entire area, which claims the world's largest and deepest gorge, the Pemako region. Inside, the ruined ancient buddism monastery Pemako Chung, with more than 800 years history, has become a mystery. Enjoy the scenes that cannot be found anywhere else in the world! The montains Namcha Barwa(7,782m) and Gyala Peri(7,294m), the river Brahmaputra, the world's most remote and mysterious waterfall Tsangpo Fall, and the canyon itself. It is said that fewer than 100 people have seen the Liquid Thunder with their naked eyes! (clicking on the link above will direct you to the Outside Magazine website in a new window) 2007/08/05 Another storyFinally there is something new, something important, though nothing about travel or landscapes.
Other updates on the way. 2007/01/21 ApocalyptoMel Gibson is outstanding. No doubt.
Apocalypto, my vote for the Film of Year 2007.
Do background study, for those who intend to watch it. 2007/01/04 New Year 2007 @ PenangNo plan trip. Spent more than half a day in Singapore to locate transport during this peak season. The final route is Singapore-->Kuala Lumpur-->Penang-->Kuala Lumpur-->Johor Bahru-->Singapore, well connected, but it's really really really tiring. Fortunately out of all, didn't have to stop at Butterworth to find my way to Pinang Island...
Well, over-famed night view on the Penang Hill, I have to say, compared with my hometown. Didn't manage to see the dawn though. 2006/12/02 Wow...3 months no updatesCan't believe this space wasn't updated in the past 3 months! What lousy stuff I was busy with?!
Cut the crap~~Will upload the photos from Bali two weeks back, digital only. Color reversal not scanned yet. Damn expensive film scanner!
To be up in a few days.
2006/08/06 From Bukit Timah to Upper Peirce, and FireworksOn Auguest 06 2006, we successfully traversed the central catchment reservoir of Singapore, from west to east, without path signs and compass. 2006/07/23 Two new albums addedAF 85 1.8D made me realized the power of professional lens.
Key words: resolution, sharpness, and corner distortion. 2006/04/25 Sony - alpha SLRFinally it's out.. not big surprise, huh? Let's wait and see - the Sony version of KM A9D! 2006/03/19 Hichos' Choice: Best Article 2006Strongly Recommended!
Story about two soldiers and their Beijing Jeep 2020 to Ali, Tibet. 2006/02/23 Some wallpapersI'd like to share some of my wallpapers with my friends, which are photos taken in the past 5 years.
The point is not that they are really shining, but they represent some of the places that I've been to.
NOTE: These pictures are original. Please DO NOT use them for commercial or illegal purposes. NOR should them be modified without authorisation from the original author. Hichos Lew. All rights reserved. |
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