Friday, September 25, 2009

More Preview Pages at Blurb

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I've made several Blurb books, learned a lot in the process and (I hope) am getting better at both editing and book design. Previously, Blurb allowed 15 page "previews". Now, a Blurb author can choose to allow unlimited previews. I've opened my Swiss Army Knife book and my dad's autobiography to full previews.

Update: Just like last year, my entry to Blurb's Photography Book Now (Swiss Army Knives at Work and Play) did not win, place, or show -- or get mentioned at all. Oh well, I like it and voted for it. Wait 'til next year!

Lessons Learned: Not all, but a significant number of the winning or mentioned books in Blurb's Photography Book Now contest used a very simple design: blank page on the left page, one large print on the right page. Sometimes the left hand page includes the caption or a comment about the right hand page. This is especially interesting considering that Blurb offers so many page templates and variations on design. No doubt I've been using overly complex designs and layouts.
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Sunday, September 20, 2009

G9: Wide Angle Converter Outdoors

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Previously, I showed the effects of using the Canon wide angle converter lens with my G9 indoors in a small room. Here’s a outdoor shot:






Without the wide angle converter, the scene looks like this:




Both shots were taken from a tripod with the G9 set for ISO 80 and manual exposure of 1/125 second at f4.5. Focus distance was manually set at infinity. These images are from the in-camera JPEG and downsized for display.

The purpose of this post was intended to be a comparison of the angle of view but, once again, that bright white fence is difficult to capture. Pixel peeping a bit, the fence is worse with the wide angle conversion lens as shown below.


The comparison above is the 1” x 1” section that would be printed at 300 dpi. That is, each crop contains 300 pixels and is shown here at 100% scale.

In fairness, I have to admit that every picture I’ve taken of that white fence using my G9 on a bright day shows chromatic aberration. Obviously, the wide angle converter makes the result even worse.

Although glad to have it, I haven’t used the wide angle converter as much as I thought but that doesn’t stop me from wanting an easily accessible 24mme lens.
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Saturday, September 5, 2009

G9: Wide Angle Converter Indoors

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In a previous post I showed my Canon wide angle conversion lens for my G9. Yes, it's an awkward thing but, given that I have the G9, can be useful both indoors and outdoors. The picture below is the widest angle view of a small bedroom that can be captured with the normal G9 lens (35mme).




The next view is with the camera (tripod mounted) in the exact same position but with the wide angle converter attached to yield a 26mm equivalent lens.



At first, the increased angle of view is not so impressive; however, it is significant. Note that the 26mme of the G9+converter is slightly wider than the 28mme of the G10/G11.
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