Issue 408 - August 09, 2006
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2006
==== 1575 Subscribers in 51 Countries ====
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
CONTENTS
Opening Thoughts
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
The NEWS
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.
Read the MSNBC article...
Leave a comment...
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.
Read the Globe and
Mail article...
Leave a comment...
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."
Read the New York
Times article...
Leave a comment...
Other News postings from the PCIN.net Update blog
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Digital Photography
Tip of the Week
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.
The 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.
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PCIN.net UPDATE
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
Update 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.php
Omega One Software Battery Pack Pro 2.1 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/bpp2.php
Makayama Interactive DVD to Pocket PC 3.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/dvd2ppc3.php
Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/elements40.php
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THE TIPS and OTHER
STUFF
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.
Leave a comment...
A complete guide to digital cameras, digital photography, and
digital video
Regular 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 year
I 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!
Leave a comment...
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PCIN.net AFFILIATED
SITES
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:
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DISCLAIMER
and OTHER STUFF
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.
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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.
Support PCIN by visiting http://PCIN.net/donate.php
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