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August Self-Portrait
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Category Archives: photography
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Hospital Panorama
Just to prove that I occasionally do some real photography these days … Earlier in the week I was sitting outside our local hospital, waiting to be picked up after having just interviewed my wife’s consultant. Unusually for me the only camera I had on me was my mobile phone – I normally carry at least a small “point-and-shoot”. But I thought, let’s see if I can take enough OK shots with my phone to make a panorama.
I like this this joiner technique, which I originally saw done by David Hockney. The angled edges and not quite perfect fit of the images make the whole thing interesting.
Here’s the result. It’s turned out better than I expected.
[Postprocessing in Photoshop Elements and Paintshop Pro]
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July Self-Portrait
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June Self-Portrait
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Monthly Links for May
Here is this month’s well packed collection of links to items you didn’t know you’d missed …
Science, Technology, Natural World
Let’s start with something which has always been a bone of contention … Do we all see colour the same way? And if so why is it that what I describe as blue, you say is turquoise?
Research has found that chimpanzees have surprisingly good hygiene habits: they use leaves to wipe bums and clean up after sex.
Down in the ocean depths there is still mystery surrounding the largest light in the sea.
And now up in the air … we’ve long known about their intelligence, but now it appears that crows can do geometry.
Scientists try to imagine what it’s like to be a raven or crow.
And now to our own intelligence … Can you convincingly explain the Monty Hall problem?
Is there really an underlying mathematical sequence which this year’s Premier League title for Liverpool has highlighted?
So there’s a new Pope, but how is the Conclave’s tell-tale black and white smoke ensured?
We’ve all heard of antimatter, but now researchers have discovered anti-spice, which makes chillies less hot. [££££]
Talking of hot … astronomers are now suggesting that a nearby ancient supernova (below) is an invader from another galaxy. [££££]
A new theoretical study is proposing that the very existence of gravity is evidence that we are all part of a giant computer simulation.
Back with the (slightly) more mundane … there’s a collection of astronomers who spend their time trying to find and catalogue the seemingly infinite number of pieces of rock that whizz over our heads every day. [LONG READ]
Health, Medicine
Just why do some of use get travel sick but others don’t?
Sexuality & Relationships
Here’s a look at sex, art and the art of sex in ancient Pompeii.
Environment & Ecology
Not just “no mow May” it needs to be “leave it alone June, July and August” … We’d help our declining butterflies (and many other species) by mowing our lawns a lot less.
Researchers are discovering that there really are fungal superhighways connecting things up under our feet.
Art, Literature, Language, Music
Here’s a look at whether Spencer Tunick’s massed nude bodies (below) constitute good nude photography or not. [LONG READ]
The Courtauld Institute in London has released a huge art photo archive online, and it’s free
Also in London, at the Cartoon Museum, there’s an exhibition of cartoon cats from Korky to Garfield.
They seem to be two unlikely bedfellows but Cockney and Yiddish influenced each other considerably in London’s East End.
Going back in time, here’s an introduction to the history of runes. [LONG READ]
Here’s the story of how English lost several letters from its alphabet. [LONG READ]
And English then underwent the Great Vowel Shift which further ruined both our spelling and writing. [LONG READ]
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
A visit to the Rollright Stones (above) – and IME they’re worth a visit. [LONG READ]
There’s a new study looking at pregnancy amongst the Vikings.
A look at the expansion of Medieval Europe. [LONG READ]
An American looks at what other Americans actually know about medieval history. [LONG READ]
It’s not quite a grimoire but the Picatrix contained all the secrets to becoming an evil wizard.
What was happening in London during the first English Civil War (1642-1646). [LONG READ]
In Austrian village there’s a mysterious mummified priest – and it turns out he was mummified via his rectum!
London
North-west London boasts several Black Madonnas.
Some of the Cold War tunnels under central London are to be turned into a permanent museum of military intelligence.
Food, Drink
How to reduce the risk of your fridge being a breeding ground for bacteria.
Aspartame: a calorie-free, but not risk-free, artificial sweetener.
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
So just how much can your name influence your future or occupation?
Here’s something on thinking slowly and recognising your biases and maybe improve your life. [LONG READ]
On the world of Berliners getting together in the nude. [LONG READ]
An Australian sex writer on learning to appreciate her curves.
And the same Australian sex writer on why she loves her full bush, even in a bikini.
On the naturist attitude to the inevitable erections.
Wow! Ha ha!
In 1990, in Calvine, Scotland, two men photographed what is reportedly the best UFO picture ever seen; but it’s remained a mystery.
And I’ll leave you with a little fable about the evolution of why women like performing oral sex.
Be good!
Trail Camera
I recently bought a new trail camera. A relatively expensive one (for a trail camera) as I wanted to get better images.
Dual sensor trail camera with stunning night imagery and video;
a built-in solar panel; and high capacity lithium battery
Having set it up, last week was the first full week I had it running. Over the weekend I downloaded almost 2500 captures. And the quality is stunning compared with my old trail camera. Here are the best captures from the week; all have been fairly heavily cropped. For scale, the birdbath in the images is at most 2 meters from the camera and about 40cm in diameter.
Monthly Self-Portrait
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World Pinhole Photography Day
Bah! Humbug! to the London Marathon. Much more interestingly today is World Pinhole Photography Day – always the last Sunday in April.
Before we had lenses for cameras, and indeed before we had photographic film, it was possible to view a scene, and project it onto a wall, using a tiny aperture. This was the camera obscura used by artists since ancient times.
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Once cameras and the photographic process were available, it became possible to do this trick with a tiny pinhole instead of a lens. Needless to say the results are not sharp, as they would be with a lens, and because of the tiny aperture exposure times are much longer than we’re used to these days. But the smaller the pinhole, the sharper the image and the longer the exposure needed.
Nevertheless it is a fun, and often instructive, technique to try – and these days it’s very easy with (digital) SLR cameras. All one needs is a pinhole – and you can make that yourself! (If you hunt online there are people who will make a pinhole for your camera; or even sell you a bespoke pinhole camera.)
There are a number of “how to” sites on the internet. Basically you need only a spare camera body cap and bits and pieces you will already have lying around, like an empty drinks can.
A couple of years ago I made a pinhole for my Canon dSLR following the instructions on wikiHow. It was a bit tricky for me, with my ten left thumbs, but after three or four attempts at making the actual pinhole (in a piece of drinks can) I made something which works adequately if not brilliantly.
Setting up and taking pictures is easy enough. Fit the pinhole (body cap) to the camera and mount the camera on a tripod.
Set the camera to manual and ISO 100 (or slower). You can’t adjust the aperture of the pinhole, which will be tiny, so you then have to experiment with exposure times of 10-30 seconds (compared with the normal 1/100th or faster) in good light; longer in poor light or night. Use a remote control (or the camera’s timer delay). Now experiment.
So today I found my pinhole, and had a wander round the garden to see what looked likely to make a decent photograph. The images here are the best results (slightly colour enhanced). For comparison the following final two images are of the garden with a pinhole and with a normal lens on the camera – I reckon for a piece of crude homemade old technology the pinhole doesn’t do a bad job.
Of those four pinhole images, I think the first, the dandelion, has worked the best. What does anyone else think?
April Self-Portrait
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February Self-Portrait
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And just for the avoidance of doubt, the liquid was cloudy apple juice.