24 April 2008 The unbearable cuteness of being
You’ll have to indulge me.
Archive for April, 2008
21 April 2008 Sorry…
…To the person who came to this blog after searching on Google for “hot beauty Japanese.”
I hate to disappoint.
21 April 2008 I just love this shot
(If you don’t click to enlarge, you will be forsaking beauty, the only solace offered in our otherwise futile and meaningless existence.)
21 April 2008 Here you are dad: Kid pics galore!
It’s been a while since I posted, family and work having taken their respective tolls on what really counts in this world: hobbies.
There have been requests from family for more pictures of the kids, so here we go. Some priceless shots of what I call my “ungrateful brats,” “redundant DNA backups,” or simply “spawn” depending on mood. Of course, the written word conveys none of the infinite depths of love with which these monickers are always spoken.
Here is a scene of Zoe eating today. She’s at that age when she really wants to eat everything herself, even if that means giving herself a tofu/avocado/pork teriyaki facial in the process. (These were shot with the ZF100, a totally inappropriate lens for the job, but it’s what was on my camera.)
Next, here are a few shots of Genbo as he sat obligingly still in golden late-afternoon sunlight, perfect for portraits. The catch is that he’s watching, just off-screen, video after video on YouTube. At the tender age of three he’s already figured out the computer trackpad and most of YouTube’s interface as well. Set him up with a Thomas the Engine or Cars clip on YouTube, and he can entertain himself for as long as you let him by searching through all the related videos ad infinitum. Scary stuff.
(If you don’t click to enlarge at least one picture, the Democratic primaries will continue on for eternity!)
8 April 2008 Sakura Season
The cherry blossoms are in full swing right now, and last weekend we went to the local park to hang out with approximately 85% of the rest of the local population. It was understandable, however, since everywhere you looked you saw this:
Here are Maki and Zoe enjoying the sights:
Zoe and I:
(The red cut on my chin is from my newest affectation: shaving with a straight razor. I call mine “Sweeney.”)
Finally, here is Genbo, who spent most of the afternoon in what only can be described as the local neighborhood mosh pit.
5 April 2008 Senescence
I’ve heard that camellias are considered bad luck in Japan for the way their blossoms fall whole to the ground in one fell swoop, as opposed to, for instance, the graceful fluttering of the cherry blossom’s petals one by one. I don’t see why that would be a bad way to go, though. I personally hope to be about 88 years old when I turn around while riding my bike to look at a pretty girl and get flattened by a beer truck.
4 April 2008 Zoe and Daddy at a Festival
This one is from last year, when Zoe was only 2 1/2 months old. We got dressed up in traditional garb (isn’t it a good thing I don’t live in Austria; I don’t think I’d look as dashing in lederhosen) and went to a local festival.
This is one picture that actually spurred the creation of this blog. I had lots of great photos from that night I wanted to share, but no way in which to do so. Of course, by the time the blog was up and running the festival season was long past, and running these shots would have been terribly gauche from a seasonal point of view, kind of like wearing white past Labor Day. Or something like that. However, since it’s just becoming spring again after a long winter, it seems appropriate to look forward to the coming summer.
(Click to enlarge or risk insulting me, Zoe, and the entire country of Japan.)
4 April 2008 Aperture 2.1
The software I use for photo organization and basic editing, Aperture, recently recently underwent a major upgrade that makes playing with pictures and gadgets (and isn’t that what this is all about?) all the more fun. Aperture 2.0, which came out a little over a month ago, speeds everything up on my computer enormously. I can now zip through libraries of thousands of thumbnails with virtually no lag-time.
Aperture 2.0 also included lots of new image editing capabilities. One of these is vignetting. A vignette is a halo of black around the edges of an image, originally created by lenses that weren’t good enough to create a uniform image circle. Most modern lenses no longer vignette, but ironically we are now adding the effect to our pictures because it helps create a certain mood and draw attention to the central subject.
Here is the effect added in a completely dramatic, over-the-top way. This is almost corny, but it actually fits this image because it gives the impression that you are looking at this gorgeous bird through the same kind of ancient brass telescope Gallileo used.
Here are two more subtle uses below, using original and vignette-ed versions of two photos I’ve posted here recently. In these examples I think it adds to the impact considerably. (In fact, the day I played around with this for the first time I noticed that the photo on the front page of the New York Times website did the same thing, emphasizing a lone Hillary poster in a see of Obama posters. I should have saved it for this post.)
The final picture uses another capability new to Aperture 2.1, namely the ability to make localized changes to saturation, sharpness, brightness, etc. Before you had to export the image to something like Photoshop to do this, which meant I never did it. Here I’ve added some saturation to the girl’s face, the pink cabage behind her, her jacket, and her rollerblades. This, in addition to the soft vignette, completely improves the image compared to the old one.
Finally, here is one earlier post I used the vignette effect on. That’s it. From now I’m keeping my secrets and you’ll have to guess.