ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2006
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Welcome to the 408th issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN consists mainly of news and tips. There is something for everyone, and if this is your first issue, I'm sure there will be something for you. If you give me two or three issues, I know that you will come back for more!
You can reach me at editor@pcin.net with any suggestions or comments.
Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.php
Graham is off this week to spend some time with his family on their yearly trip to the cottage. I spent this past weekend camping with my fiancee and her family at a conservation area about two hours from where I live. We had a very good time, the weather was great and I had an opportunity to take a few nice photographs. This wasn't going to be a photographic weekend, but that is no reason not to do any shooting!
Chris chris@pcin.net and Graham editor@pcin.net
Lights! Camera! Incision!
It looks like a taping of "ER." A surgeon stands over a patient, scalpel in hand, ready to perform a high-tech spinal operation. He has a team of professionals supporting him - two anesthesiologists, four nurses and an X-ray technician. Meanwhile, three men with broadcast video cameras dot the room, listening through earpieces as a producer barks orders. When the producer says "cut" the cameras don't stop. Instead, the doctor raises his scalpel - and makes a real-life incision.
This surgery was filmed last month for OR-Live.com, a Web site that was launched six years ago as a way for doctors to bone up on new techniques by logging on to watch their peers perform surgeries. But recently the site's been attracting a completely different audience: patients who are curious about new procedures.
Prolific Canadian is king of Wikipedia
Simon Pulsifer has never really blended in with the crowd. In kindergarten, he began building elaborate, fantastical buildings out of Lego, already bored by the construction plans on the back of the box.
In Grade 8, he, attired as Stalin, and other friends re-enacted the Yalta conference on the balcony of a friend’s house. In university, he became the Trivial Pursuit champion at his college, and even won when the whole residence took him on.
Today Mr. Pulsifer, 24, is known internationally as the world’s most prolific author on the on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia, with 78,000 entries edited and 2,000 to 3,000 new articles to his name. He can’t remember the exact number.
Was It Done With a Lens, or a Brush?
Like many amateur photographers, Joe Dejesus posts his photos online and compares them to the work of others on the photo-sharing site Flickr. At some point last year, a number of landscape photos caught his eye with their vibrant tones and colors.
Their secret was a software technology known as H.D.R., for high dynamic range photography. And Mr. Dejesus quickly became one of its practitioners.
"You can get different combinations of colors you cannot achieve with photos," said Mr. Dejesus, who lives in Granada Hills, Calif., and posts his work under the pseudonym Kris Kros at www.flickr.com/photos/kros. "You can easily come up with something that looks like a painting."
Other News postings from the PCIN.net Update blog
Black and White from Colour Images - Part 1 - Digital Photography Tip of the Week
I may have mentioned in the past that I began my journey into photography by working with black and white images and film, from start to finish, including loading my own film cassettes, developing and printing my own photos. Still to this day, black and white has a special spot for me.
With digital photography, I am really limited to a single type of film in my camera. I don't have different sensors (digital film) I can replace as I would have with film, but I can manipulate the images my camera creates in order to mimic how a traditional film behaved.
Most digital camera's only record a full colour image*, so how do we get black and white photographs from a colour image. There are a few ways to do this. The first, and probably easiest, though not necessarily the one that will produce the best results, is to take you image to your local lab and ask them to print your photograph as a black and white image. The resulting image may be pleasing to many people, but will most likely lack the drama that many black and white images have.
Your other option is to manipulate the image yourself using a photo editor such as Adobe Photoshop CS2 , Adobe Elements 4 or Microsoft Digital Imaging Suite . There are many methods to convert a colour image to black and white. Over the next couple of weeks, I will provide instruction on a few of them.
If you camera has the option to record your images in black and white, I recommend that you don't use and stick to shooting in colour it if you want the most options available to you in post processing. Depending on the camera, it may either convert the image to grayscale or desaturate, both of which will yield a less than ideal image. I will discuss both of them in an upcoming digital photography tip of the week. I know of a few photographers you like to shoot in black and white mode to help previsualize the scene before their final capture, but make that in colour to preserve the full amount of data in the image to work with.
* Digital image sensors really capture values of black and white, then use an algorithm to translate those to a colour image. Unless you are shooting RAW, though, the image recorded is full colour. If you are shooting RAW, you then use a RAW processor such as those that come with camera that have a RAW function, Adobe Camera Raw or Phase One Capture One LE .
Next week, I will discuss the grayscale and desaturate methods of converting a colour image to black and white.
Leave a comment about this week's Digital Photography Tip of the Week.
Return to the topThe digital photography tip of the week is written by the PCIN Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Chris is a long time photographer and is currently the President of the Niagara Falls Camera Club. You can see more of his photography at his Photo of the Day website.
If you have a tip to send Chris, or a question about digital photography he can address in the newsletter, send it to chris@pcin.net.
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
Return to the topUpdate PCIN.net home page with "Top 10 Most Popular..." features
http://PCIN.net/Microsoft Digital Image Suite Plus Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/msdimagesuiteplus.phpOmega One Software Battery Pack Pro 2.1 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/bpp2.phpMakayama Interactive DVD to Pocket PC 3.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/dvd2ppc3.phpAdobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/elements40.php
Free RealPlayer Enterprise
I read about this on the Google Operating System blog...
Apparently RealNetworks has a simple version of RealPlayer that business can install. But the thing that makes it appear to businesses, will probably make it appeal to consumers as well:
RealPlayer Enterprise gives you the best of RealPlayer you know and use at home, but without advertising, without requiring registration, and without consumer features that don't belong in the workplace.
You can read more about it on the RealPlayer Enterprise section of the RealNetworks site. Follow the Free RealPlayer Enterprise link.
A complete guide to digital cameras, digital photography, and digital video
Return to the topRegular reader Pat sent along some information on ShortCourses.com. They have several online books
Welcome to ShortCourses.com,
Famous for its books on digital cameras and digital photography.
THE digital photography resource for over 6,000,000 visitors a yearI quickly glanced over a couple of the "courses". As of the time of this writing, there seems to be 9 courses, along with several other useful resources. Check it out!
Both of us have other sites other than PCIN.net. These are all sites that we are actively involved in (they aren't client sites). Don't forget to check them out from time to time for updates:
PCIN is brought to you by Graham Wing. The opinions expressed are those of the Editor, Graham Wing and the Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Graham Wing and Chris Empey accept no responsibility for the results obtained from trying the tips in this newsletter.
Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2006, Graham Wing. All rights reserved.
This publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, as long as the author is notified and the newsletter is presented as is.
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