• Software for High Dynamic Range photographs, which take bracketed images to merge the dynamic ranges across several photos to bring out the best tonal range across an image.
  • "One way to think of HDR is as a glorified neutral density filter. On a scene where the contrast is so intense that both highlights record as pure white and shadows as pure black (i.e. where the dynamic range of the sensor is too low to properly record the scene), its effect will be to darken highlights and brighten shadows so that details can be retained in each area. Two of its advantages over tradition ND filters are that it is a post-processing technique, necessitating no additional gear at capture time, and that the border between the darkened and the brightened areas can be much more complex than a simple straight line." An excellent article talking about the HDR technique and how it's achieved. The article also explains how to do this well and pitfalls with the technique.
  • "If Amazon is Santa, 400 folks living in RVs outside the Coffeyville, Kansas fulfillment center this winter are the elves.
    A few years back Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard flipped the bird to their desk jobs, packed their belongings in a custom 17-foot solar-powered fiberglass camper, and hit the road to live "at the intersection of Epic and Awesome." A couple months ago, while staying with friends, they noticed that Amazon was luring RVers to Coffeyville, Kansas, the site of the retail giant's original and largest fulfillment center."
  • A site that allows you to choose a number of applications, mostly free but some trial versions, to download for installation.
  • An online community for people in North America who own RVs (recreational vehicles like motorhomes and campervans) but who aren't the typical group of retired snowbirds.
  • A nice list from Gizmodo on new features in Snow Leopard such as address book syncing from the built in Mac address book and how to backup your Mac with any Networked Attached Storage.


Grabbity under the Christmas tree, originally uploaded by Kevglobal.

I had a request on Twitter for pictures of the cats, Grabbity and Sir Mewton, romping through the crumpled bits of discarded Christmas wrapping paper. The two little kittens have been a bit skittish because we’ve brought them down to Suw’s parents’ in Dorset. They have three other cats including a huge cat Fflwff (Welsh for Fluff) who can be a bit grumpy at the best of times. Cousins Cassie and Polly have been grumbling too, and Grabbity and Sir Mewton have been hiding in our room for most of the first two days.

Finally Grabbity has come out and is sitting under the Christmas tree. So here the little girl is, framed by tinsel.

Suw and I went to the Christmas Market at Borough again. If we’re ever suffering from lack of holiday cheer, this usually gets us in the mood. Mulled wine, holiday food and even brass bands playing Christmas carols such as this Salvation Army band really help us feel in the holiday spirit.

After waking up, waking us up and having the first of her two breakfasts, this is how Grabbity likes to spend her morning, cuddled up in Suw’s robe. Sometimes she stirs to watch what Suw is doing on her MacBook, but on a chilly morning like this one, she’s content to curl up for warmth.

Christmas lights in Islington

Christmas lights in Islington, originally uploaded by Kevglobal.

I’m determined to update this blog a little more, and seeing as there is rarely a day that goes by when I don’t take a picture, a bit of photo blogging seems to be the answer.

Here is the festive scene in Islington outside of the antique and furniture shops. It was really quite pretty. The only thing that would have made the scene is a little snow. Alas, rain is usually what we get here in London, especially in the lead up to Christmas. Moaning about the weather…maybe I am becoming a Londoner after all.

My photos

28/12/2009

Grabbity under the Christmas tree

Christmas carols Borough Market London

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RSS Strange Attractor – Thoughts on social media, business and journalism from Suw and Kevin Charman-Anderson

  • Ushahidi and Swift River: Crowdsourcing innovations from Africa December 15, 2009
    For all the promise of user-generated content and contributions, one of the biggest challenges for journalism organisations is that such projects can quickly become victims of their own success. As contributions increase, there comes a point when you simply can’t evaluate or verify them all. One of the most interesting projects in 2008 in terms of [... […]
    Kevin
  • Poynter asks: Are journalists giving up on newspapers? December 11, 2009
    The Poynter Institute in the US hosted an online discussion asking if journalists are giving up on newspapers after high-profile departures there including Jennifer 8. Lee, who accepted a buy out at the New York Times, and Anthony Moor, who left newspapers to become a local editor for Yahoo. Moor told the US newspaper trade [...]
    Kevin
  • News organisations miss opportunity to build community with online photo use December 11, 2009
    As Charlie Beckett, the director of the politics and journalism think tank POLIS at LSE, points out, the Daily Mail is getting a lot of grief for using pictures, mainly from photo-sharing site Flickr, without the permission of the users or in violation of the licencing on those pictures. Charlie’s post is worth reading in [...]
    Kevin

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