Here we go again... in 't vlaams...

Ik ben vandaag mijn travel map begonnen met favorieten en al. Alleen: Griekenland staat er nog niet bij. Dat wordt werk voor de vakantie... Het herdenken van een nieuw concept voor de site trouwens ook, als voorbereiding van die van de school... Met veeeeeel web 2.0 incluis...

1. Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam


2. Venice, Italy


3. Borobudur, Indonesia


4. Pangandaran, Indonesia


5. Paris, France

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• Travel Info at TripAdvisor

Morimur

Today I visited the exhibition Morimur at the jesuit church in Lier. The old, declining building itself already breathes death, and the "we are dying" theme of the work of art of Nicole Bruynseels is very impressive and overwhelming. It's a contemporary work that links war, suffering and death to the higher theme of sense of life and God, symbolised by the low beams of spotlight in the centre of the cross form. It's a morbid 3-D expression with a theatrical touch that moves the viewer because of the lack of human presence... Only the pillow quotes of the dying echo former human presence...
I was tempted to take pictures of this work, and even climbed a ladder to get a more original view. Have a look...

The Island

In the main square of my home town you can see a strange construction in front of the town hall. On three meters of scaffolding is a round, saucer-like shape with grass on top which one can access by an aluminium ladder.

The construction is an art object by the German artist Christian Hasucha and will be standing in the centre of Lier until the 3rd of June. One can reserve the space via the Lier Tourist site (using my pictures without a name reference... never heard of author rights in this town...).

During the first weekend my son Bert and his girlfriend Liesbeth had reserved the island to put up a tent and spend the night. We had a peaceful moment on the island and I took the opportunity to take a number of pictures.

One was a big panoramic view of the main square of Lier.


But there was also a vertical shot of the islanders and their background.

Difference Dutch and Flemish

Europhotographic is a UK firm that makes pictures of students and classes all over Europe. They claim that the school gains money considering their offer.
They have their site in different languages. The Belgian part is really hilarious!!! It was most certainly software-translated. Flemish-speaking people will surely like this site!!!
"U beslis wanneer u van ons zou houden om uw leerlingen te fotograferen."
"Nadat wij alle foto's hebben afgedrukt, zullen zij in klas en leerling naam geïndexeerd worden en zullen teruggekeerd worden terug naar uw school waar de leerlingen hen verzamelen kunnen."
"U allen moeten is gebruik Euro doen die Fotografisch is om uw school foto's, zoals prijs geven, einde van termijn portretten en afstuderen te nemen en heel eenvoudig we`ll buigzaamheid die u geld dat elk jaar te kopen de dingen die u nodig hebt voor uw school.de meer u gebruikt ons, het meer geld dat u maak!"

I hope they business do not in the same way translations do!! ;-)

But what makes it even more funny is that the Dutch part of the site is well translated! Same language though...

Interactive Photo Book

I have just published my Vietnam photo book on line. I used a book flipper in flash. For the moment I have just used the basic settings. Later I will add some more interactive tools like a zoom tool to read the texts better, links on the pages or page numbering and indexing...
But as for now: the pictures are the most important!
Enjoy!!

Smartboard publicity pictures

Since my attention was drawn to SMARTboard technology via TV (see my ICT-blog 16 March 2007), I looked up some pictures via Google Images and ended up with two ranges of SMARTboard pictures: the amateur pictures from the users, showing the device as is, and those from the firm itself which are used for publicity...
This is a great example of how pictures can be manipulated for the use of publicity!
Here are some official pictures:

• From the Japanese site (happy multicultural kids (which is great!) but the shadow is false. It doesn't hide the projection completely as it does in reality!)
• From the Amphitheater schools. You can find reality pictures there too, but this is a manipulated picture: all shadows are false and the picture is over saturated to make it colourful.
• Yet another nice one from a Swedish site: the position of the projector (angle) can never correlate to the projection as shown. Since it is under our eye-line, the shadow of the arm should be on the upper part of the arm, ànd should be full, not half transparent.
• Magiboards site shows a picture on which the shadow is not correct. It is never semi-transparent, but should block the picture completely! However this would show the negative side of the technique so it must be manipulated!!!
• Yet another one: see for yourself.

And these are pictures taken by amateurs, showing you the reality.

• Rio del Mar Elementary Schoolin California: is this really practical?
• Bluefield college: from the picture it's not clear if it is really a smartboard, but the file name seems to confirm it. Another disadvantage becomes clear: if the projector shines from a higher angle, students constantly get the bulb-reflection.
• Worthschool: spherized letters on your body, shadow on the screen, and your eyes being bombed by 3000 ansi-lumen of light. How long can a history teacher keep smiling?
• U46: Pair work at the smartboard: even more shadows... less overview.
• Lorainschools: Plato and his cave anno 2007?
• More boards = less shadow? ;-)
• Yet another realistic picture.
• Happy students in Germany. With shadows and the very practical Gyro-mouse and keyboard.
• Finally a movie with shadow, reflection and a lot of jumping! ;-) (Take your time for download). This is a game in Wii tradition! Makes you move!!

Although I think a device like Smartboard can have its pros, potential customers shouldn't be manipulated by unreal pictures. It also shows that the salespeople are quite conscious of the downsides of the system...

Photo book

Yesterday I went to get my first photo book on Vietnam. I had it made by Spector and I was quite amazed by the quality. Size 28x28 on 300gr. paper of great quality. Of course the price is not very low, but how much do you pay of you have your analogue 35mm of 36 shots developed?

Later I will publish the book on my site, but first I have to learn to integrate some flip-book script in Flash. You'll hear about that later.

Panorama Maker 4

For years the creation of panorama pictures was a tempting engagement, and some were really a success. Up to now I used the Canon PhotoStitch software that came with the digital camera. But I had three versions of it: the one that came with my Powershot Pro 750, one with the Canon EOS D30, and finally the one that came with my latest Canon EOS 350D. One point however: it's always the same version 3.1! Never was it upgraded by Canon.

So on my quest through the world of photo editing software, I ended up at the new Panorama Maker 4 by Arcsoft. Great stuff, I can tell you. Other software has always battled with ghosting or lining in the skies. No way in this program! It produces the cleanest stitched pictures I have ever seen. Here is an example:

First the one made with Panorama Maker 4

Then the one made with PhotoStitcher 3.1

I suppose the difference is clear! In the older programs you could still define some common pixels on the two merging pictures. Not so in Panorama Maker: all is done automatically. Even the hardest chore will be done well, or will not be done at all. In the latter case this means that merging is not possible.

Essential changes

Here is an older example I was working on last year and which, for some reason, popped up on my desktop this morning.
I love the "cut the (visual) crap" principle in photography and PS is a blessing for the creative photographer. The "pure" picture is very hard to make in one go. There are often elements that bother the viewer.

Take this example: What I loved on the spot (and the spot is the island Sifnos - Greece) was the weird perspective of the church combined with the subtle game of shadows. But I especially loved the combination of the huge building and the more traditional blue-topped church in the far background... That to me was the essence of the picture when I took it; that attracted me... I had taken the picture some years before, but for some reason or other it hadn't satisfied me...
But even now, I was bothered by some aspects:

• The tree has no function
• The wire disturbs the picture
• On the bottom-left you can see part of a wall. No way to get the combination of the two buildings without the wall...
• The door is an unnecessary eye catcher
• Is colour necessary in this picture? Does it add value?
  

So I changed a number of things:

• I "cloned away" the door and the wire
• I selected the floor and wall, and warped the whole until the wall had gone. The warping stretches the floor and makes the entire picture a bit more dynamic.
• I greyed-out the sky, changed the whole picture into grey tones, except for the blue dome which underlines the "Greek" spirit of place in this picture...
  

Virtual Vietnam Exhibition

This weekend I have worked on the pictures I took in Vietnam during the last month. In all there are more than 110 photos on different subjects: nature, animals, portraits, abstract, macro, PS-manipulated...
I have sent a newsletter to my friends announcing this online exhibition...
Comments are always welcome here!
;-)

Safe to (kite)surf!

"If I say its safe to (kite-)surf this beach Captain, then its safe to (kite-)surf this beach. I mean I'm not afraid to surf this place, I'll surf this
whole fucking place!"

This memorable quote from "Apocalypse Now" popped up in my mind when I was
picture-hunting on Mui Ne beach.
The kite-surf school was doing a good job there, helped by a perfect wind at
30°C. Great for surfing, great for walking, great for shooting!
The picture here is an exercise on composition. The pulling force between the kite and the surfer is emphasised on the picture by cropping them in extreme opposite
corners. Thus the emptiness (+ fine strings) between the two objects is full of energy. Colour was not functional, so I preferred B&W. The background of the picture should be dark, so as to get most of the composition effect.

Compare the picture to the original... (note also the straightening of the horizon).

Picture of the month on www.theBIGpicturelibrary.com!

Have just received a mail from Matt Woodage from http://www.theBIGpicturelibrary.com :

We have chosen one of your photos as our JANUARY Picture of the Month!!
portret02.jpg - showing two women carrying baskets along a roadside
You can see it by clicking Picture of the Month on our new BROWSE page here:
www.theBIGpicturelibrary.com

Great isn't it? This is the picture he is talking about:

In a mail I added the following comment:

Hi Matt,

Thanks for choosing one of my pictures as picture of the month! Quite an honor, and I'm very pleased! I have chosen your server because I like the interactive way you present the pictures in flash. Additions as comments and optional technical info will indeed be welcome.
The picture was taken on the 27th of December 2006 on the island of Phuquoc, a tiny southern Vietnamese pearl off the Cambodian coast. Taking portraits is not always easy. I try to take them while the people aren't aware, so it makes the pictures more natural. You can see many women like these in Vietnam, carrying the goods in baskets, balancing on a stick on their shoulders. They can carry their weight for many miles!
The exiled Buddhist Tich Nhat Hanh sees in his book "Being Peace" a parallel between the way people in the east carry their burdens and the way the 14 rules of the Tiêp Hiên, a guideline for a Buddhist life, are structured: the most important rule is the middle one (7th) - don't be distracted and exercise on the development of concentration and wisdom. All other rules keep in balance thanks to this one.
This picture was taken with a Canon 350D and an EF 100-400mm lens.
Could you please add a link to my homepage? http://www.hoefkens.be

New Vietnam picture library

I have just installed a new picture library with the photos I took in Vietnam. The pictures are temporary. I have worked them out with PS CS2 on site on my portable, but I will finalise them at home with my digital pen and HQ screen.
Most of the pictures are from the red and white sand dunes at Mui Ne. You can also find a portrait of my 10-year old guide there, who really had an eye for shooting pictures on the sands!
You can find the link in the left menu bar.

Vietnam trip: portraits

When you arrive in a bee-hive like Saigon, it is very hard to know what to shoot first with your digital cam. At the same time it's embarrassing to take out a Canon with a 100-400mm lense in this world of poverty. It took me a while to get used to it. Here are some of the first results of the portrait category. Pictures taken in Saigon, Mui Ne and Phuquoc... Click on the pics to see them larger...

The Big Picture Library

Time is definitely NOT on my side since I have more than a full time work on ICT-matters in my school, and a workshop in Saigon is coming up on the 16th of December...
Yet, my site has been a mess for a while, and I would like to update, even restructure and redesign it, if possible... I have recently added the two blogs (photoblog and ICT-blog) but I want a solution for the pictures. I have been looking for Flash solutions, but the problem is that I want too much... aesthetic presentation, explanation, metadata, even a shop if possible, but that can't be done in the short period that I have.
This morning, while watching BBCWorld's ClickOnline, I saw what appeared a great solution for the moment: The Big Picture Library. In a very quick and easy way, you can add pictures to a page, choose a style, and then embed it in your site...That's what I did...
You get nice, animated thumbs that zoom in when you click on them.
A few disadvantages: FOR THE MOMENT it is free..., you need an new login for each page, some thumbnails keep standing in front of the picture until you drag you cursor over it, and you cannot change the aspects of the template (frame size, background,...)
But as an interactive way of presenting pictures this is a great solution... and... I present them as they normally are arranged on my desk!! >> in a PILE!! ;-)
Just click on some of the albums!

Welcome to my photoblog

Oh, yes... Photography is a passion of mine... It has been so for many decades, but since digital photography came along, I have improved my skills in no time at all... Seeing immediately the result of your trial, adjusting and trying again... that is just a great experience!

And then the use of photoshop! The sky is the limit they say... but PS goes even beyond!!

In this blog I will add techniques, screenshots, and results of my photographic experiments. My site will be changed in the near future, showing an extended portfolio of recent and older work and I will link to the photographic results from within this blog as well.

As a first experiment, I publish a self-portrait, inspired on Andy Warhol's portrait of John Lennon, used as a cover for the Paris Exhibition, one of the greatest experiences of mine in 2006!
I call this variation "Lennon and me", but you can call it "Lennon's Fat Fan", if you want to... ;-)
I will post some more details on the PS-techniques later!