Lightbox Experiment

I had some fun playing around with a lightbox for the first time today. I didn't have anything I wanted to take a picture of, but I enjoyed moving lights around and fiddling with camera settings anyway. Here's a clock that had some crazy reflective surfaces:

lightbox clock

And a shot with a black background (that I needed to crank down some in Photoshop anyway):

lightbox radio

I've been wanting to try out this type of lighting ever since I read an article about building your own box on Strobist: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio. I didn't build this lightbox myself, but it's the same basic idea.

The best part is that objects don't move. So I could put the camera on manual, close the aperture, and set a long shutter speed. I spend 90% of my camera time taking pictures of a high-speed toddler in low light. This was a nice change of photographic pace. And if I ever decide to sell something on eBay I'll be set for pictures if it fits in the box.
Jan 11th, 2009, 9:40 pm
Jan 7th, 2009, 8:18 pm
  • Adactio: The password anti-pattern
    "...asking users to input their email address and password from a third-party site like GMail or Yahoo Mail is completely unacceptable." This is still so true, and I'm surprised sites like Facebook haven't been shamed into changing their "Find People" features.
  • NYTimes: The Perils of Zero-Gravity Videography
    More photography in unusual environments: "When it thinks it's falling, the hard drive heads park themselves to prevent damage upon impact. Unfortunately, in zero gravity, the camcorder always thinks it's falling." [via waxy]
  • jenerik images: Photographing an MRI unit
    The hazards of commercial photography: "The doorway was about 12 feet away from the unit, so although I would be in the magnetic field, it wasn't strong enough to pull the camera off of my tripod."
Jan 6th, 2009, 7:00 pm

Sunday at the Aquarium



Some scenes from the Oregon Coast Aquarium today.
Jan 4th, 2009, 7:21 pm

Creative Destruction

Sometimes you have to tear things down to make progress. That's the point I'm at with my poor, neglected weblog. As you can see (or can't see if you just read via RSS), I switched to a minimalist design here, and the backend is now some minimalist PHP. Some of this site's most popular features are gone including Google Smackdown, Amazon Feed Generator, SnapGallery, my past photo galleries, my quotations collection, and much, much more. And oh, the 404s you'll find!

Sorry about the inconvenience if you were a fan of any of these tools, but I need to reboot things around here for my own sanity. I hope you'll continue to stick around to see what develops. There will be new features, new photos, and in the words of John Lennon, it'll be...

Jan 3rd, 2009, 8:39 pm
Dec 29th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Dec 26th, 2008, 10:30 pm
  • Wikipedia: Santa Claus
    The history of Sinterklaas, Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, etc.
  • Earthrise
    This iconic, cliched, overused Apollo 8 picture of the Earth from the Moon is still incredible.
Dec 24th, 2008, 10:30 pm
  • UnBeige: Gary Hustwit Offers Interview Tips
    "My process of interviewing people is I do not interview people," said the cheerful Hustwit. "I'm trying to get them to forget that they're being interviewed." Also, signs of increased interactivity: "Are you a robot?" [via glass]
  • Foreign Policy: The 10 Worst Predictions for 2008
    In a perfect world their jobs would depend on their accuracy rather than their ability to produce entertaining content. [via long now]
Dec 23rd, 2008, 10:30 pm
Dec 18th, 2008, 10:30 pm
  • Movable Type: Motion
    "We looked at the most compelling social sites across the web, from Twitter to Tumblr, Pownce to FriendFeed, and more. And then we built an application around open standards to offer you the best features of each of these services, on your own site."
  • bombombombomwooooo
    self-explanatory, I believe.
Dec 17th, 2008, 10:30 pm

Cyclocross Sounds

I went to a cyclocross race for the first time in Portland this weekend to take some pictures. Unfortunately I left my camera batteries at home so I had to get by with my sound recorder and a little video camera I had with me. The main thing I wanted to capture was the sound of the race. The cyclists don't make much noise, but the crowd comes armed with cowbells or even pots and pans to rally the cyclists as they go past. The noise ebbed and flowed as the riders were on different parts of the course. Here's a sample:



The cowbells give the cheering a distinct sound. If you're curious about what it looked like, here are some of the video clips I shot:

Dec 7th, 2008, 10:57 pm
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