Making Panoramas in the Rainforest (part two)

Posted on September 12, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

Making digital panoramas is essentially a two-part process. In part one of this post I covered a bit about digital panoramas in general and some considerations that become important when collecting the images to be used for the panorama. Part two is focused (pun intended) more toward what to do with the images once you have them on your computer.

NB: If you have a smart phone you can use the panorama mode on your phone to make a simple panorama. Some even allow you to create a panoramic image from a video. Depending on your phone and your expectations, that may be sufficient for your needs. For me, it’s mostly not, because one of the benefits I find in making a digital panorama is the increase in resolution I obtain from joining together several images into one. The downside to that is that file sizes can get quite large, so when rendering the final image file it’s best to balance what you want against the capabilities of your computer. Sometimes I try to make smoke come out of mine… 🙂

This post is (typically) very long, and so we’ve broken it up into segments for you. Clicking on the subtitles will bring you to the relevant section:

How Panorama Software Works
Projections
Panorama Software Options
Making Panoramas
Stitching Errors
Exposure and Image Noise
Parallax
White Balance
Chromatic Aberration, Fringing Colour Artifacts
Image Cropping
Keystoning
Final Thoughts

Continue Reading →

Put On a Happy Face 🙂

Posted on August 31, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

As Labour Day weekend is upon us we’re starting to wind down summer once again. Vacations are (for the most part) coming to an end, children and adults are going back to school… Still, we wanted to offer a reminder that even as seasons change, some fundamental things don’t. Self-value is inherent, and not linked to what we do. And kindness is always the right response.

To that end, we wanted to offer you a reminder to put on a happy face and engage your world with love. 💗

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. This drawing took two whole sticks of yellow! But it was worth it… 🙂
P.S. II, the sequel: This is our ninth Hugs chalk art pattern for 2024. If you’d like to see all of them, click here: 2024 Hug Zones.

Using Capture One Pro in Black and White

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

Yes, I’m aware I haven’t yet posted part two of my ‘Making Panoramas in the Rainforest‘ post. It’s coming. Truly!

Okay, the idea for this post came from a couple of sources, but most notably from an image I made recently with my phone camera. I have a Galaxy S21 phone, and in pro mode it allows me to shoot in raw/dng format. I can open those images in Capture One as raw files the way I would any other.

Before we continue I want to reiterate a couple of things. Those who have read our previous posts will be familiar with them. The first is a reminder that digital cameras don’t capture images. Digital cameras capture light as information, and we can take that information and arrange it in such a way that it looks like an image – either on screen or in a print. This happens because we arrange that information into a grid of little coloured dots (on paper) or little boxes (pixels) on the screen. Continue Reading →

Happy Father’s Day!!

Posted on June 16, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

All of Marcia and Mike’s parents are gone now, but we have two sons and a son-in-law and five beautiful grandchildren. We are Grandy and Grandalf! 🧙‍♀️&🧙‍♂️

As with those who are moms, Happy Father’s Day today to all of the strong, loving men who are fathers, to those who are chosen dads, surrogate dads, step-dads, adoptive dads, and to the women who are also dads.

Special thanks to all those who love and support them.

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. For anyone who’s interested in knowing how the spherical pattern was made, click here:
Father’s Day Hugs (behind the scenes)

Father’s Day Hugs (behind the scenes)

Posted on June 16, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

This is a short post that covers a bit of what went into making our latest chalk art drawing, for those who might be interested…

To start with, credit and thanks to @the.world.of._drawing on Instagram for the design! Much appreciated.

Now, if only sidewalks came with grid squares we would have been all set. Unfortunately, they typically don’t. So, in order to create the design in sidewalk chalk, we had to get a little inventive. The first step was to create the pattern in CorelDraw, like this:The second phase was to take that pattern and cut it into 12 pieces. Each section is contained with an 8″x10″ rectangle so as to fit on a sheet of letter-sized paper. An X-Acto knife was used to cut out the red lines in the paper, leaving gaps at the junctions to hold the template together. The next step was to assemble the cut-out pages of the template into three strips of four images, using painter tape to hold them together:These strips were reassembled on the sidewalk, and a piece of white chalk was used to transfer the cutout lines to the sidewalk. After that, coloured chalk was used to complete the pattern. The final result looks like this:That’s it!

Hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!

Hugs,
M&M

Making Panoramas in the Rainforest (part one)

Posted on May 27, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

I’ve been making digital panoramas for a lot of years now, and I’ve written at least a half-dozen different posts on different aspects of them. This one is for a specific case scenario rather than a general post on panoramas, but before we get too far, we need to cover a few basics. If you want to skip the basics and go straight to the rainforest part, click here.

First, understand that digital cameras don’t capture images. Digital cameras read light and render it as information; that information can be displayed in a way that makes it look like a photograph. All digital cameras capture raw files; not all digital cameras give you access to them. Now, raw files require digital post-processing on a computer (as compared to .jpg files, which are post-processed using an algorithm provided by the camera manufacturer and the processing power of the camera). The other side of that comparison is that raw files provide much more information to play with than .jpg files. This is especially important when shooting in the rainforest, as we’ll get to below.

Second, to do this with any degree of efficiency it’s important to understand at least the basics of colour management as it relates to cameras and computers. Remember: it’s less about accurate colour and more about consistent colour between devices.

So that we’re all on the same page, it’s important to understand the difference between a panoramic image and a digital panorama. Compare these two images:
(click on any image to see it larger)

a 1x4 aspect ratio image of the shoreline near Dallas Road in Victoria, BC. This is a grayscale image, with a winter storm bringing in waves from the left of the frame, and colliding with the rocks, driftwood and beach on the right.

Dallas Road shoreline, Victoria, BC

a digital panorama of sixty images, showing the north cliff face of Third Beach, near Tofino, BC. The ocean is on the left, and there's a small beach and some rocks in the foreground

Third Beach, Tofino, BC

Continue Reading →

Happy Mother’s Day!!

Posted on May 12, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the world’s Mothers and to all those who fulfill the role … step-mothers, chosen mothers, adoptive mothers, surrogate mothers, soon-to-be mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, brothers, uncles, dads and more. And let us not forget the Earth, the great Mother of us all. 🌏

Remember to hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!!

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. As Marcia’s dad used to say, “Remember Father on Mother’s Day“!

Pacific Rim Whale Festival Auction

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

Mike here. Although the Pacific Rim Whale Festival (in Tofino/Ucluelet, BC) ended yesterday, there are still 6+ days left in their online auction (ends March 31, 2024). One of those items is a print I donated to the auction. The image is of Cox Bay, Tofino, BC from a photograph I made a few years ago.The print itself is 12″x24″ (30×60 cm) and with the mat it extends to 18″x30″ (45×75 cm). I didn’t frame it because framing is a personal thing and I wanted to leave that open to the buyer.

This is a 2:1 wide image of the surfing beach at the north end of Cox Bay near Tofino, BC. Although a colour image, the colours are so muted that it appears to be grayscale. The waves are rolling into the shore, and several people are on surfboards, enjoying what may be the last ride of the day as the sun is setting behind the clouds in the background.

Last Ride – Cox Bay, Tofino, BC – October, 2020

If you’d like to support the festival and own a Mike Nelson Pedde original you can find the auction page here:

There are a number of other excellent auction choices as well. All proceeds from the auction go to support the whale festival and raising awareness about whales and the health of our oceans.

Hugs,
M&M

Happy Valentine’s Day! 💗

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

This image shows the latest chalk art drawing on the sidewalk in front of our house. At the top, all Caps, are the words HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY written in an arc in yellow chalk. The main body of the drawing consists of two large intertwining hearts, outlined in pink, red and white. At the bottom, in blue and purple, it reads HUG HERE. Today is Valentine’s Day, an international excuse to be more loving to each other (not that we need one) and a reason to eat good chocolate (not that we need one!) We always think sharing hugs with loved one is a good idea, so we wanted to encourage others to join in the celebration!

NB: While Mike was drawing with chalk, Marcia was scampering around the neighbourhood leaving anonymous valentines in our local Little Library boxes … 🤫

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. We’re in the middle of Random Acts of Kindness week. What are you doing to be kind today? Remember to be kind to yourself as well as others!!

P.S. II, the sequel: Apparently in the 17th century it was customary for young gentlemen to write the name of their betrothed on their shirt cuff for Valentine’s Day – hence wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve.

2024 Photo Calendars (part two)

Posted on December 29, 2023 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

This is just a quick update to our previous calendar post as we’ve gone through the (5000+) images we’ve made this year and picked out 12 for our calendar. As usual, some of the images were made with our cell phones and some were made with the Sony a7rIII camera. Half of the images were made by Marcia and half by Mike, but none of that really matters. All of this year’s images were made in and around Victoria, BC except for October’s, which was made in Tofino, BC.

Combined, our calendar looks like the image below. If you’d like to download a copy for yourself, click the image to link to a .pdf version.
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This is the fourteenth year that we’ve made our photo calendar templates available, both for MS Word users (for those who don’t use graphics programs) and as .png files for those who do. As before we will be making our own calendar available in .pdf format for those who are interested, but (as we did last year) we’re doing the post in two parts. For our calendar we use images made in that month (i.e. the image for May 2024 was made in May 2023). Since we haven’t yet gotten to December our calendar isn’t yet complete, but we wanted to make the templates available so others can work on their own calendars. Continue Reading →