Solent Sunset

We’re having some fabulous sunsets on the South Coast. The photograph was taken this evening, in fact, it’s five photographs, each at a different exposure, blended together in a technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR).

Solent Sunset
Solent Sunset

[Update] Just after I uploaded this photo, I saw this article online – “There are at least 10 great pictures within 10 meters of you right now.” What a great idea! Anyway, I submitted my sunset…

This photo will probably appear on Picture of the Day in due course…

Karen’s Day Skipper Course

Karen set off on her Day Skipper Course today. I was going to go sailing as well but my sailing got cancelled so I was on hand to record her departure.

Moo Cards

I just wanted to put a shout out for Moo mini cards. They’re small business cards, probably more suitable for personal use than business as they’re less formal than the kind you get given in meetings.

Moo mini cards
Moo mini cards

Go to their web site, upload a few photos, and arrange the personal information that you want on the back. You order Moo mini cards in batches of 100 and the photos you select are divided equally, so you can upload anything from 1 to 100 images! You can see some great examples on Flickr.

I’ve been using them for a couple of years. £10 for 100.

Time-Lapse Photography Captures Galactic Core of the Milky Way

From gizmodo:

This gorgeous video is a compilation of shots taken with a Canon EOS-5D every 20 seconds over about nine hours at a star party in Fort Davis, Texas. It’s a humbling sight. Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo. Some specifics: The Canon was equipped with a fisheye lens (an EF 15mm f/2.8 lens) and powered with an external battery to capture all that goodness. The more interesting part is the replacement anti-alias filter the photographer, William Castleman, used: The Canon’s stock AA filter blocks out certain red wavelengths to achieve a “more desirable” skin tone, but if it’s replaced with a filter that lets those wavelengths in, you’ve got yourself a camera capable of shooting a galaxy, as seen here, even if we can’t see it with the naked eye. Really, really cool stuff. [Vimeo via Crunchgear]

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Logitech Harmony 1100 Universal Remote

I recently picked up the new Harmony 1100 Universal Remote to replace my very tired Philips Pronto RU890. The Pronto is very powerful but took weeks to program satisfactorily and I dreaded having to reprogram it if I found an error in a sequence of IR codes or I replaced a home entertainment component. Part of the dread was due to the Windows only software and part to the old serial port which required something like a Keyspan USB-Serial adaptor to connect with – the whole process was hit and miss…

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