Category: Technology

Views of science and technology from around the world

Four-Years Ago (24-February-2007) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey: Turkey Vulture and Using Focus Magic to Remove Motion Blur.

I often use Focus Magic to sharpen images. I prefer using this program since it uses a deconvolution algorithm to sharpen the image, rather than unsharp mask (USM). Here is an example where I used Focus Magic to remove motion blur. On the down side, Focus Magic has not been updated for some time and only runs as a 32-bit application. I can only use it as a plugin in Photoshop CS5 when running the 32-bit version of CS5. For this example I am using an image of a Turkey Vulture in flight (from four-years ago). I tried to improve the sharpness of the head, eye, and beak. The 2nd and 3rd image are 1:1 zooms of the head — first without removing the motion blur, and the second with the motion blur removed (350°, 9 pixels). The results are not perfect, but better than the original image. One of the reasons I do not delete images — new software can sometimes be used to recover and image that previously would have been rejected.

Turkey Vulture in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm Lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed using Capture One Pro 6, and Photoshop CS5. Motion blur reduced using Focus Magic. (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm Lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed using Capture One Pro 6, and Photoshop CS5. Motion blur reduced using Focus Magic. (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm Lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed using Capture One Pro 6, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm Lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed using Capture One Pro 6, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm Lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed using Capture One Pro 6, and Photoshop CS5. Motion blur reduced using Focus Magic. (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm Lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed using Capture One Pro 6, and Photoshop CS5. Motion blur reduced using Focus Magic. (David J Mathre)

Sunday (20-February-2011) — New Jersey

Technology Update: Digital Image Storage and  “Image of the Day” Photoblog Redesign.

Once home after the Patagonia Photography Workshop, my first priority was uploading and backing up images from the trip to my primary storage and backup hard drives. During this process, I discovered that one of my Western Digital My Book 2 TB disk arrays was having problems. Then when restoring images lost on the Western Digital My Book disk array, I found that my backup Western Digital My Book array was also having problems. I ended up restoring the images from a number of Western Digital Passport USB drives (tertiary backup). Even though the backup drives are USB 2.0, the transfer rate was slow and it took almost two weeks to completely restore the lost files. In the middle of this process I also lost a HP Pavillion HDX9200 laptop during the ice storm. I was surprised that the UPS power supply didn’t protect the laptop during the several power disruptions. I have used the time to rebuild and optimize my Lightroom Catalogs. This has significantly improved the performance to find images within Lightroom.

I have updated the layout of my WordPress “Image of the Day” Photoblog site. A thumbnail slider for the current month goes across the top of the display. Images from the most recent three posts, and slides on chronologically going back several years. This replaces thumbnails for the most recent 8 posts. Which allows the most recent post and image to be front and center. The calendar for the current month then moves to the top of the right hand sidebar column. Clicking on any of the dates highlighted in blue get to the post for that date. Below the calendar, is Tag Cloud. I’ve gone back and tagged all of the posts with keywords. The tag cloud shows the top ~50 tags, with the font size related to the number of times the tag shows up in all of my posts. (Thanks to Hans for using tags). Below the tag cloud is a Blog Search function that searches all of the posts and images. Thumbnail links to the Monthly “Images of the Day” Galleries in Photoshelter. PhotoShelter is where all of my posted images are stored, and is the online location where images can be purchased. At the very bottom on each of my pages there is a PhotoShelter Search app, where all images stored in the David Mathre Image Gallery  can be searched by keyword.

Comments regarding the Images of the Day Photoblog redesign are appreciated. The goal was to make the site easier to use and navigate.

Wednesday (10-November-2010) — New Jersey

Macro Images: Crystals.

I have always been fascinated  with gems and crystals. I loved growing sugar and then alum crystals as a kid. Ultimately, I became a chemist where growing crystals became part of my job. These are several random rough crystals that I have grown over the years. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro (ISO 100, f/11, 30 sec). Processed using Capture One Pro 5, Adobe Photoshop PS5 and Focus Magic.

Random Rough Crystals. Image taken with Nikon D3x and 60 mm f/2.8 macro (ISO 100, f/11, 30 sec) (David J Mathre)
Random Rough Crystals. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 100, f/11, 30 sec) (David J Mathre)

 

Friday (18-December-2009) — Hawaii

Gone to See Hawaii, Maui Day 3: Haleakala National Park.

I left the meeting early to get to the Pu’U’Ula’Ula peak in Haleakala National Park for sunset. When I got to the parking lot I saw this bird, which I later identified as a Chukar. The elevation  is about 10,000 feet, and as the sun went down it got windy and cold fast. The thermometer on my GPS indicated 30°F, and I only had a light windbreaker. I didn’t think to carry cold weather gear for the trip to Hawaii. I did get several great images of the sunset over the nearby Haleakala Air Force Satellite tracking station and observatories.

Chukar, Haleakalua National Park, Maui Hawaii. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 180 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Chukar, Haleakalua National Park, Maui Hawaii. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 180 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Sunset over Haleakala Satellite Tracking Station from Pu'U'Ula'Ula peak in Haleakala National Park, Maui Hawaii. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 100, f/16, 1/10 sec). Photomatix HDR (5 images) (David J Mathre)
Sunset over Haleakala Satellite Tracking Station from Pu’U’Ula’Ula peak in Haleakala National Park, Maui Hawaii. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 100, f/16, 1/10 sec). Photomatix HDR (5 images) (David J Mathre)
Sunset Panorama over Haleakala Satellite Tracking Station from Pu'U'Ula'Ula peak in Haleakala National Park, Maui Hawaii. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 100, f/16, 1/10 sec). (David J Mathre)
Sunset Panorama over Haleakala Satellite Tracking Station from Pu’U’Ula’Ula peak in Haleakala National Park, Maui Hawaii. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 100, f/16, 1/10 sec). (David J Mathre)

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Saturday (15-August-2009) — New York

White-Ram. Road Trek RS Adventurous RV.

I picked up my new Road Trek RS Adventurous RV today at Campers Barn in Kingston, New York. The RV is built on a Dodge Sprinter body with a Mercedes diesel engine by the Road Trek folks in Canada. In nine days I start my “Gone to See America 2009” road trip. This trip will take me to by road to Bellingham Washington, to Alaska on the Alaska Marine Highway, on road again to Anchorage and Denali Alaska to take part in the Nikonians ANPAT 9, and then back via the Alaska-Canada highway.

White Ram. Road Trek RS Adventurous. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 18-200 mm lens (ISO 200, 18 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec) (David J. Mathre)
White Ram. Road Trek RS Adventurous. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 18-200 mm lens (ISO 200, 18 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec)