The Egyptian Museum and HDR Imaging

We had a nice day of shooting at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. We opted not to go inside, as there were lots of subjects to photograph on the grounds.

John had been wanting to experiment with HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging using his point and shoot camera and the day was perfect for it. Overcast skies provided really even light.

We arrived about 9:00a.m. but weren't the first one's there. I got out my trusty point and shoot and my tripod (a necessity for shooting for HDR). I explained in an earlier entry what HDR is and basically how it works. What I don't think I pointed out was that  you want to keep the same aperture for each of the three shots and change your exposure by changing the shutter speed. The image above and to the right is the goddess, Sekhmet, the goddess of war, disease, plague and famine. Additionally she also represented healing and doctors, as in the eyes of the ancient Egyptians the gods needed to have a opposing ,and therefore balancing, attributes. This item is not an artifact or reproduction, but rather a modern artistic depiction of the goddess. (Thanks to Eric Bricmont at the Egyptian Museum for the information about Sekhmet).

Once you have your three differently exposed images, the computer sofware works its magic. It aligns the three images and selects the parts of each image it wants to create the final HDR image. Remember, we start with about 5 f/stops, then add 2 more, then add 2 more so now we have the equivalent of about 9 f/stops of range. We're getting closer to what you can see with your eye.
                                                                                           

After the software aligns the images and creates the HDR image, you get to "tone map" it to restore the proper tonality. There is "normal" tone mapping, and there is a "grunge" preset (see lion above right). When you look at the "properly" exposed image, the sky was blown away. In the HDR image, there are many more tonal values present.

The image to the below and to the right is John's favorite of the day. It was taken from inside a room with two perpendicular walls and a bunch of columns insided. One one wall were openings (we can call them windows) that look out over a pond with lilly pads and a beautiful palm tree. This was the shot and it was begging for HDR. Otherwise, there would be no sky.

John made one image with normal tone mapping and this one, which was a bit on the "grunge" side. Just goes to show, grunge can be good!

The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum is a great place to visit. Lots of ancient history. Next time we go, we'll take the time to tour the inside of the museum. And, they have a planetarium there as well.

Egyptian Day Shootout

Linda's back and John and Maggie Mae are glad to have her home again.

The MHPC is having it's monthly shootout at the Rosicrucian Museum of Egyptology in San Jose. The two old buzzards are going. We'll shoot some photos in the gardens first and decide later if we want the pay the $7.00 each (senior price!) to go inside.

At September's MHPC club meeting we learned more about HDR (High Dymanic Range) photographs. The eye can see about the equivalent of 13 f/stops of light. However, your digital camera can only see 5 to 6 f/stops of light. So, some folks came up with some image processing software that let's you take multiple images (better be on a tripod) at different exposures. It then stacks those images, aligns them and maps their tonal qualities to produce a photo with a much higher dynamic range. Mayble we'll put a couple of comparison shots up on the blog after tomorrow's shoot.

John saw that Linda had clipped a Marie Callender's coupon, so he's treating for lunch on the way home from the museum tomorrow.

We just cashed in some of our Mastercard World Points and have ordered a little RCA HD pocket camcorder. Fits in the palm of your hand and actually shoots at true 1080p 60 frame per second HD as well as web quality. Stores video on microSD card(s) and has an HDMI connector so you can hook it directly into your home video for playback. Hoping it arrives before our road trip as we can shoot and post some video as well as our photos. After our trip, it's going to be really nice for "shooting" the grand kids!!

That's about all from the two old buzzards for now!

Maggie Mae and John Left Alone

Linda's off on her second mission of mercy helping Jennifer with the three kiddos. Tony had to go out of town on business, so Linda is helping from Sunday evening through late Wednesday.

So, what're John and Maggie going to be up to during Linda's absence. First plans were to go to the Bellagio in Vegas for three days. Sadly, they are hosting a kitty cat convention and dogs aren't welcome this week. So, they'll just stay at home. They like to use the swing in the back yard early mornings and late evenings. John can do some mat cutting and framing for the upcoming gallery show at the MHCRC (Morgan Hill Centennial Recreation Center). He wants to be ready in case his two entries get picked.

John will also work on going through the rest of the 1,200 songs in the fake book (he just started on the "T's") and getting styles set up for them and memorized on the Clavinova. What a fun instrument! So far, he has about 150 songs memorized (in the Clavinova's brain, not his!), each with its own selected style. All the way from "America the Beautiful", through "House of the Rising Sun" to (so far) "The Third Man Theme".

Lunch today sounds like a can of tuna and some cheddar cheese. Or, maybe some "bottom" Ramen! The Honey Toasted Cheerios and peanut butter on toast were especially good this morning. Also, John got to finish watching the last of the Little Leage World Series Championshp between Chinese Taipei (PC term for "Taiwan") and Chula Vista, CA. Inquire, or look online for the results.

Next Road Trip Plans Underway

This is a photo that John took of a small, orchid-like flower with his new macro converter. The actual flower is only 1-1/4" tall. It seems he is preparing for our next road trip and finalizing our photo equipment. You can see other macro photos John took by going to his flickr photostream at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/buzzard-2

We're heading back north on our next road trip. We're first going to spend a couple of days visiting our son, Jay, in Petaluma. Then, we are headed for the northern California coast. We'll be going up Highway 1 at least to Eureka / Arcata and probably on up into Oregon. This road trip will be a little more "loose" than the Washington trip in terms of flexibility.


For the last part of our portrait class, we went to the Farmer's Market and local Morgan Hill Street Fair. John had just received his 1.75x teleconverter for his camera. Now he can take portraits (or sneaky pictures) from a distance. As we were walking through the Street Fair, he saw a young girl carrying her Dalmatian on her back. It was just too cool of a shot to miss. He hasn't put any of the rest up on his flickr photostream as yet.

On the upcoming road trip, we are going to do an experiment. We are going to use our blog for the running commentary and provide links within the blog to the daily photo galleries. It'll be much like it was before, only different!

Linda gets to spend Sunday through Tuesday night at Jennifer's helping her with the three kids. Tony is going to be out of town on a business trip. She'll enjoy spending more time with the new twins!

We are both very much enjoying the Clavinova.

Grandparents of Twins

This was taken the day Amber and Owen were born when we could
officially wear our grandparents of twins hats that we were given for
mothers' day and fathers' day. This is Amber. We couldn't hold Owen
for two more days until he got out of the special care room.

The FERY FIVE's First Visit To The BUZZARDs' ROOST

We had our first official visit from THE FERY FIVE yesterday. That's
Amber on Tony's lap and Owen with Jen. Isaac is pointing out that
Amber looks just as cute in red in white as in pink. This picture was
taken at THE FERY CASTLE week before last. We were so busy the whole
time they were here yesterday that neither one of us snapped even one
photo despite the fact that we are taking a photo class and both had
our cameras loaded with gigafilm and ready to go. Between (among?)
Amber and Owen and Isaac and Maggie Mae and dinner, it was sort of
like a 5-ring circus around here for a while... We are really fortunate to have them so nearby!