HDR stands for High Dynamic Range imaging. Basically the idea is to take several exposures and combine them into a single photograph with a higher range between the dark and light areas. I’m certainly not an expert yet in this technique and I am certainly not that good a photographer either, but I enjoy it as it combines the enjoyment of actually taking a picture with spending time on the developing stage at home on my computer. I generally use Lightroom to “develop” my digital photographs and for making a HDR image I used Photomatix.
If you see the concept explained using actual pictures it is easy to grasp what this is all about.
I took 3 pictures. One underexposed, one overexposed, and one with a normal exposure.
In the underexposed picture you lose all details from the roof and most of the interior of the building. In the overexposed picture the interior is OK but the background (outside) behind the bell is completely blown-out (white). Even in the normally exposed picture the background is nearly blown-out and interior roof is visible but quite dark. One picture cannot simply hand the wide dynamic range between the bright outside background and the dark protected interior.
After combining these into a single image that combines all the data from these pictures with a process called tone mapping (the software does all this for you automatically), you end up with a new “HDR” image that looks like this.
Now this example is one of my first tries and besides the original photography not being that special my knowledge of how to use Photomatix to tweak the picture is still quite low. But I think you get the idea. This can be a very interesting technique. You can find much better examples on Flickr here.
On most Saturday and Sunday mornings when I’m around home I usually wander over to the local Tully’s for a cup of coffee to get my day started. It’s generally pretty quiet in the mornings in the Akihabara area as most stores don’t open until 10:00 and the crowds really don’t start coming until nearly noon. But whatever weekend and whatever time of year it seems there is always a line of people waiting for something. My guess, because Akihabara is know as “electric town” and the lines are 90%+ male, that these people are waiting for a new computer or video game or something like that. I guess the other option is they’re waiting to get into a pachinko place that might have just gotten new machines installed or something like that. Neither interests me much and waiting in line interests me even less. But I guess for some waiting in line early on a weekend morning is an enjoyable way to spend your time. Not me.
I’m enjoying my time in Tokyo. I was very busy yesterday with a lot of appointments (despite being here primarily on holiday). It’s nice to be back in Tokyo. I guess compared to living in Shanghai or even Paris not having the language as a barrier (I speak Japanese quite fluently) just makes everything seem so easy. Ordering, taking a taxi, talking to a shop clerk, etc. I don’t have to use my brain or rely on anyone at all. Which is nice for a change.
Naturally being in Tokyo and liking electronics I decided to buy a new mobile phone to use in Japan. I took the picture at left (taken near my hotel in West Shinjuku) with it. Only 2 megapixels but still takes a decent pic. And the price was right @ 1 yen (less than one cent US) since it was an “old” model (it debuted about 3 or 4 months ago). 
I added a 1 gig micro-SD card (which was really cheap at about $30) so I can fill it up with pictures and not have to worry about dragging around my regular digital camera all the time. Especially nice in summer when I don’t have all the extra pockets a jacket provided. Mobile phones here are great. It has full access to the internet (though on such a small screen that isn’t such a big deal) and I can easily check things like my Gmail account, which automatically defaults to a lighter interface than what you get on a PC. It’s 3G so I can also have video chats. It also has an electronic “wallet” so I can just pass it over special readers at the train station or convenience stores and it automatically pays for everything (it “charges” itself by automatically making a deduction from your credit card). Tokyo, and Japan in general, really is the capital of convenience.
I’ve been using computers since around 1982. This morning for the first time (as I can recall) I did something really stupid (as far as working with computers go). I had my delicious sugary sports drink in front of my beautiful little IBM X40 pc when I bumped the bottle and it fell, top open and nearly full of course, right onto my keyboard and dumped a good portion of its contents on and into my pc. I got the power off and let it dry as I had go to work anyway. When I got home this evening I learned how to take the keyboard off (not so difficult once I actually read the directions) and tried to clean around and under the keys. As you can probably guess by the fact I am writing this blog entry, it’s back up and working but alas the f, g, c, v and space bar keys are still quite sticky. The tiny little plastic spring-like mechanisms under the keys seem to have gotten just enough sticky stuff in them and they are basically too small to be able to take apart for cleaning. The worst is the space bar which really is irritating. I’ll have to buy a USB keyboard to use for the time being tomorrow and when I have time see if I can get a new a completely new keyboard installed. Today’s lesson being that you should not put open bottles of liquid in front of your pc… but I suppose that’s pretty obvious.
Now this is going to be cool. Ultra-thin TVs. As thin as 3mm apparently. That’s 3/400 the depth of my current TV.
Sony OLED television is a hit at Tokyo show | CNET News.com
