Photography – Page 49 – Random Connections

Rivers, Valleys, and Peaks

June 27, 2011 Tom 1 Comment

It was one of those days that the State of Washington would prefer that no one knows about. I think they would prefer that the rest of the US think that it’s all rainy and gloomy. Otherwise, everyone would rush to move up here.

Granted, it was cold when I first got up – in the 40’s. However, I knew it was going to be a good day when I could see the Olympic Mountains over Anacortes to the southwest and Mount Rainier to the southeast.

We had a lazy morning with a few more chores around the house, then I headed out to do some photography and exploration. I drove to the north end of the island and walked down to the beach on Samish Bay. Mount Baker was starting to peak through the clouds, and the skies were spectacular over Lummi Peak.

Revisiting Eastern Fairfield County

June 18, 2011 Tom 3 Comments

Geocaching and Maps, History and Genealogy, Photography

A couple of weeks ago Glynda and I had been down to see the parents, and had stopped back by Renno and Stomp Springs. On Friday we had made another trip to Prosperity, and decided we would catch a couple more locations on the way back this time. We passed through some truly remote areas and visited a few towns that could just about qualify as ghost towns.

Back in January we had taken the parents on a right through the southwestern corner of Fairfield County, and along the eastern shore of Lake Monticello. This time we extended that earlier trip, with stops in Jenkinsville and points further north on Highway 215.

Geocaching on Lake Marion

June 13, 2011 Tom No Comments

Geocaching and Maps, Paddling, Photography

Another second Saturday, and it was time for another epic paddling trip with Lowcountry Unfiltered. This one was truly epic. This time our explorations took us to the eastern part of Lake Marion to do some geocaching around Persanti Island.

Our launching point was Carolina King Landing, just north of the Santee National Wildlife Refuge. It’s a private landing with cabins for rent, and was quite the happening place when I arrived. It turns out that this was the day for the Sparkleberry Poker Run up at the north end of the lake. Lots of camouflaged boats were getting ready for departure.

Alan arrived, and we entertained ourselves with Cokes, Moon Pies, and conversation with the proprietors of the local shop. These turned out to be very nice folks, and were very helpful suggesting parking and launch spots for the boats. They also had some interesting taxidermy.

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Easter Weekend 2011

April 25, 2011 Tom No Comments

Miscellaneous, Photography

Easter was much, much later this year. We had our district’s spring break back at the end of March, but Greenville held fast and had theirs during Holy Week. It seemed a bit strange to have Easter come and go and not get any time off. Even so, I got a chance to do some photography and spend some time with family.

Saturday we spend doing household chores – installing new light fixtures, installing a new AC in the basement, etc. Saturday afternoon/evening Chip called and wanted me to join his family at Haywood Mall’s Spring Carnival. He had just purchased a new DSLR and wanted to give it a test run. The bright lights and garish colors of a carnival always make for fun photography, so I headed on over.

Little Olivia was mesmerized by all of the colors. It was a bit of sensory overload for an 18-month old, even with her mother and one set of grandparents there to keep things in check. She managed to ride the carousel not once, but twice…

A Couple of 3D Favorites

April 14, 2011 Tom No Comments

Photography

I haven’t been doing much with my binocular camera setup lately. Quite frankly, I find the dual camera system a bit awkward and clumsy. There is a little carnival set up at Haywood Mall this weekend, and I’m hoping to take it over there for a few shots of the rides, etc. In the meantime, … Read More “A Couple of 3D Favorites” »

Cool 3D Tools

April 6, 2011 Tom No Comments

Photography

I’ve discovered a treasure trove of 3D tools. Japanese developer Muttyan has put together HUGE collection of applications for viewing and creating stereoscopic images and videos. These include side-by-side stereographs as well as anaglyphs using a variety of color and polarizing schemes.

Online since 2003, the site design looks like it’s stuck in the 1990’s, but the content is current and comprehensive, and that’s what matters.

I first stumbled onto the site looking for a way to create 3D views of Google Earth. I had wondered if there was a way to create an off-set image that could be converted to anaglyphs. I found Muttyan’s Stereo Google Earth page, and started exploring.

This page uses two instances of the Google Earth plugin to present side-by-side images of chosen locations. I started with an overhead screen capture, such as this one of downtown Greenville…

Experiments with Stereo Photography

March 27, 2011 Tom No Comments

Photography

Since I had been working some much with old stereographs and converting them into 3D anaglyphs, I wanted to try my own stereographs. My first attempts were OK, but not great. I was attempting to use one camera to create two images, but the results were often unpredictable.

I did learn a a trick with this process, though. Fairly decent results can be obtained by first putting your weight on your right foot and snapping a shot, then shifting your weight to your left foot and shooting. That gives just about the right amount of separation for a good stereo image.

Unfortunately, this process has some drawbacks. First, it’s awkward if you want to get a shot that’s not easily taken from a standing position, say, a low show of flowers or a still life. Also, it won’t work if there is any movement. You need some way to snap two images simultaneously.

I did come up with a way to do just that. I found a couple of VERY cheap cameras online. My only criteria was that the cameras had to have at least 3 megapixels, have a tripod mount, and have a self-timer. My solution was the Global Point Trekker camera, which cost me a little over $10 through Amazon.com (ignore the $34 price on their home website.)

A Collection of Stereographs

March 25, 2011 Tom No Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography

I finally got my hands on an actual set of antique stereograph cards. This is a collection of 32 cards by the H. C. White Company, and includes scenes from Havana, Cuba, Manila in the Philippines, several other interesting locations. There are also some humorous staged scenes included in the lot. These are all polychrome color cards, and have the copyright date of 1905 on them. I found some of the subject matter fascinating. This shot of the beach at Atlantic City is a far cry from today’s image of Jersey Shore…

If you look closely at the individual in the foreground, you’ll see that it’s a man and not a woman. He’s just wearing a weird yellow hat.

Stereograph Collections

March 10, 2011 Tom 1 Comment

EdTech, History and Genealogy, Photography

I think I mentioned that while growing up we had an old stereographic viewer and collection of stereograph cards as seen above. I used to love playing with it, and it seemed like we had quite the collection. While I was still on this 3D kick I decided to check to see if there were other collections online besides the one I found at the University of South Carolina Library. It turns out that there are an AMAZING number of images available online, if you know where to look.

The first thing I did was just a simple Google Image Search for the term “stereograph.” That turned up lots of interesting hits, and some potential sources for more images. It looked like a good many of these led back to the Library of Congress, and that’s where I hit paydirt.

My first search on the Library of Congress’s site led me to the Robert N. Dennis Collection, now housed at the New York Public Library. The stereographic images in the University of South Carolina’s online collection are from this collection. Dennis was not a photographer, but a collector, and he amassed a huge collection of these image cards. Many of these depict life in small-town America, but the collection itself spans the US and includes some European shots. Dennis donated these to the library in two batches, first in the 1930’s and later in the 1950’s. The collection consists of about 72,000 stereograph cards, of which a little over 12,000 have since been digitized and placed online.

The online Dennis Collection can be browsed by state, so I was curious to see what was available for South Carolina in addition to those I had already seen. I was surprised to see that there were several images of Greenville, including one for Reedy Falls and one of the old Furman campus and Belltower.

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Geotagging “Threat”

March 4, 2011 Tom No Comments

Geocaching and Maps, Internet, Photography

Just when you thought it might be safe to let the kids out of the house, the news media comes up with even more scary stuff that you didn’t know about. This time geotagged photographs are the culprit. Two separate news outlets – MSNBC and ABC, have aired segments on the dangers of posting geotagged … Read More “Geotagging “Threat”” »