http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/wp Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:12:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Please take a look at my new nature photography website, http://www.natureimages.info. I have always had a fascination with nature as well as a passion for photography; the images in these galleries are the result of the union of those interests. My goal is to create simple and artistically successful images ... http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/wp/2008/07/25/nature-images-wildlife-photography-of-the-natural-world/ The river flowed inexorably, Toward a distant indigo sea, First over rocks the waters gushed, Cascading down, the torrent rushed. Then pebbles did the stream caress, With eddies tumbling, less and less, And tiny bubbles, almost clear, Did bounce around, then disappear. Eventually the water slowed, It felt the ocean, calm, reposed. The pebbles shrank to grains of sand, The briny ... http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/wp/2007/12/26/the-river-and-the-ocean/ SPRING Warmed by the sun of early Spring, A tender gift a bud did bring, As bit by bit a leaf unfurled, And revealed itself to the world Although that leaf was first alone, Soon others sprouted atop the throne, Of twigs and branches, trunk and bark, On the finest Maple in the park. The crown of leaves, a ... http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/wp/2007/12/21/the-maple/ For a little more than a year now I've been taking photographs of the Institute For Advanced Study campus as part of a website redesign for the School of Natural Sciences which was launched recently. Each time the webpage is reloaded a different image is displayed depending on the season. Clicking ... http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/wp/2006/12/01/photographs-of-the-institute-for-advanced-study/ Recently I've been experimenting with HDRsoft's tone mapping plugin v1.0.1 for Adobe Photoshop CS2. The plugin is designed to increase detail in shadows and highlights and from what I can see it does a very good job ... Tone mapping Tone mapping is a technique that is applied to all digital images ... http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/wp/2006/04/04/a-review-of-hdrsofts-tone-mapping-plugin-for-adobe-photoshop-cs2/ Recently I've been taking a look at DxO Optics Pro. I was attracted by the fact that this software is the only product on the market that offers automated correction for optical vignetting, chromatic aberration (both lateral as well as purple fringing), pincushion and barrel distortion. It also reduces noise, ... http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/wp/2006/03/29/a-look-at-dxo-optics-pro-35/ I took some high ISO indoor shots at the weekend inside Walnford Grist Mill, near Allentown New Jersey. Light levels inside the mill were very low and although I did have my tripod to hand I made a decision to jack the speed right up to ISO 3200 and take ... http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/wp/2006/03/28/a-look-at-some-iso-3200-images-from-a-canon-5d/ Following on from the announcement of a renewed commitment to Linux by Linksys-Cisco and the release of the Linux-compatible WRT54GL Wireless-G series broadband router (discussed here), this post details how to run Iptables on a Linksys-Cisco WRT54GL router via firmware from DD-WRT. A fully functional example Iptables script is provided ... http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/wp/2006/03/24/iptables-on-a-linksys-cisco-wrt54gl-broadband-router-howto/ http://www.the-digital-picture.com has recently added full-frame vignetting test results for a large number of lenses. The results show f-stop contour lines as well as a rectangle indicating the x1.6 APS-C frame coverage. Results are available up to f/8 both bare lens (pure optical vignetting / light falloff) as well ... http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/wp/2006/03/24/new-full-frame-vignetting-test-database/ I was forwarded this illuminating article on the legal aspects of where and what you can photograph. The author, having review a number of information sources, offers up something close to the following: You can take photos any place that's open to the public. You can even be on private property ... http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/wp/2006/03/22/where-and-what-you-can-photograph-aspects-of-the-law/