Author: Tom

99 Red Balloons

Posted on By Tom 2 Comments on 99 Red Balloons
Internet, Weirdness

You and I in a little toy shop,
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we’ve got.
Set them free at the break of dawn
‘Til one by one, they were gone…

Actually, it’s 99 minus 89, but references to the 1980’s hit by Nena are inevitable. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Internet, DARPA has come up with a creative challenge “that will explore the roles the Internet and social networking play in the timely communication, wide-area team-building, and urgent mobilization required to solve broad-scope, time-critical problems.”

According to the challenge website ten red, eight-foot weather balloons will be tethered to locations around the United States. The first person (or team) to provide the latitude and longitude of all balloons will win a $40,000 prize.

CNN.com quotes Johanna Jones, a spokeswoman for DARPA, and provides a few more details…

At 10 a.m. ET, the 8-foot-wide red weather balloons will be released on property accessible to the public.

“They’re not going to be out in the middle of nowhere,” Jones said. “They’re going to be near places where there is traffic.”

She said the balloons will be tethered and will remain aloft for at least six hours. Each will be accompanied by a DARPA representative.

The first person to report the latitude and longitude coordinates of all 10 balloons will win the prize. The competition will remain open until December 14.

Nationwide balloon-hunt contest tests online networking
By Doug Gross, CNN
December 4, 2009

So, the balloons will only be aloft for a few hours on one day. That means no individual could travel to all 10 locations. Seekers will be forced to search for references to the balloons and reports in social media such as Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr. That is, of course, assuming someone reports the sighting and is willing to provide coordinates. If I didn’t already know about the challenge, I doubt I would stop and Tweet about a red balloon, giving its lat/long coordinates.

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Antiquing Techniques for Photoshop

Posted on By Tom 4 Comments on Antiquing Techniques for Photoshop
Photography

Old Shiloh School Photomatix copy

Lately I’ve been very impressed with the work of Flickr photographer K. Deslandes. She has been capturing some unique images of our state, particularly old farm houses and images of the disappearing South. She has been applying some interesting post-processing techniques in Photoshop/LightRoom that I wanted to replicate. Here’s one photo of hers that had caught my eye…

There are several elements contributing to the antique feel here. First, the photo uses square framing instead of rectangular. There is also the desaturated sepia tonal palette. The sepia doesn’t look overdone, as I’ve seen in some processed photos, but looks like a natural fading from the original black and white.

While these two elements contribute to the antique look, there are two others that really make this shot stand out. Deslandes has used a selective blur to mimic lens abberations in an older camera. On top of that she has added other image defects, such as spotting and scratching. What’s nice about this shot is that the image defects are in sharp focus, even in the areas that have selective blur, such as can be seen in the top corners of the photo. This makes the defects look like they occurred over time, after years of abuse to the photo.

I’ve worked with antiquing before, following a tutorial on the Digital Photography School blog. The tutorial suggests using a Gaussian blur, but it also suggests introducing some noise into the background. That tends to detract from the blur effect a bit, so I hadn’t really focused on the blurring technique. Deslandes photo reminded me how effective a good selective blur can be.

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Exploring L. A. (Lower Anderson)

Posted on By Tom No Comments on Exploring L. A. (Lower Anderson)
Local, Photography

Old School ReDynamix HDR

I hadn’t been out on a photo ramble in a long time. So, Saturday morning I grabbed my cameras and headed out. I only had a vague target in mind (as usual). I knew I wanted rural scenery so I could capture some old farm houses. I wanted to try some new post-processing techniques. My route took me down across Southern Greenville County and finally into Lower Anderson.

This time of year the lighting is always oblique. You don’t have to wait until the “golden hours” just after sunrise or right before sunset to get some interesting shots. The day was clear and bright, and it looked like the lighting would produce some interesting shots.

My first stop was in Connestee at McBee Chapel (Map). I had photographed it many times before, but I thought I would see what other angles I could bring to it. I don’t think they are still having regular services here, but I would love to attend one when they have a special service.

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Taylor Family Thanksgiving 2009

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on Taylor Family Thanksgiving 2009
Miscellaneous

Taylor Family 2009

Normally our clan gathers at Christmas, but this year many were going to be gone. So, we decided to get the gang together for Thanksgiving. And what a crowd it was – 2 parents, 7 children, 9 in-laws, 12 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren, 1 aunt, 1 uncle, and 1 boyfriend, plus several dogs. 38 in the family, and 41 present for the day.

Beth’s husband, Eddie, has been battling cancer this year, so we all wore Team Eddie T-shirts to show that we are behind him and support him. It was quite a surprise for them. Even the dogs had on Team Eddie bandannas.

Eddie with Katie's Dog

Of course, there were cameras everywhere, and we had to pose for the obligatory group shots. This was the first for little Olivia, and was actually the first time Chip and Anna have ventured out with her. We’ll hope she wasn’t unduly traumatized.

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Geocaching at Paris Mountain State Park

Posted on By Tom 4 Comments on Geocaching at Paris Mountain State Park
Geocaching and Maps

Several weeks ago Bill Bradshaw from the Roper Mountain Science Center asked if I would be willing to do a workshop on geocaching at Paris Mountain State Park.  I agreed, planning to do a repeat of the Discovery Educator’s Network workshop I did this past summer at the SCETV studios.  I began coordinating the activity … Read More “Geocaching at Paris Mountain State Park” »

Fall TV

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on Fall TV
Entertainment

Watching television used to be so simple. You got three, maybe four channels from which to choose. Then there were the shows themselves. Each episode could stand alone. There were none of the these long story arcs where you would be lost if you missed an episode or so.

I completely understand the logic behind long story arcs. You get your audience hooked, then they want to see what happens next. The idea of a cliff hanger is not new, by any means. However, these can have negative effects, too. If a view misses too many shows, they may give up on it. If they come to a show late in the game, they may not want to get started with it, fearing that they don’t have enough back story.

I’ve certainly had that happen to me. Lost, 24, and several others looked interesting, but I never got started with them. I started watching Heroes, but missed an entire season, and haven’t watched it since because I don’t know what’s going on, or how the last story arc got resolved. This fall season I’m giving several new dramas a try, and I’m already running into problems keeping up.

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