en jij en ik (seeing with aging eyes)

This has been buried in my archived.  I think I shot the image in 2015 in Amsterdam.  Shot with a 35mm x-mount lens mounted on the Fujifilm x-pro 1 at f/16.

Several times I tried editing the image but I was not satisfied with the results.  Until now.  Don't know what really changed except that my reading eye has gone worse but my far sighted eye has improved.  I have this condition called Anisometropia – a condition where the refractive power for both two eyes is unequal. Both eyes' conditions don't match; one is myopic, or nearsighted and the other eye can be hyperopic, or farsighted.  Rose has Isometropia, which is the opposite; both eyes having the same refractive power.

Ready for the World (ii)

I find that simplicity is always the best.  In capturing the image above it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.  It was shot with the available light coming from an open door from the left side.  I positioned the camera equipped with a long lens so that I can get enough highlights on the left side and still have enough details on the other side.  It was pure and simple.  And I like it.

Vintage Pedals

When I am alone, I talk to our dog Mimi.  When she’s asleep, I talk to my toys.  Meet Wilson, the old guitar pedal from the 70s.

I've been playing the Fender Strat more and more that I decided to use my older guitar pedals.  Actually, I've had the Phase 100 and the Envelope Filter for a while but had not used them.  Bought them years ago from somebody's uncle who used to be a leader in a musical band.  I offered to buy his equipment.  But he had gambling problem so he blew the money in a few hours.  I am digressing though.

I wasn't even sure that the pedals would work.  But they did.  I was thrilled to get that vintage sound.  Funny I call it vintage sound - even though the sound is reminiscent of the 70s disco era.  I suppose for most readers, they will associate that sound as vintage.  Obviously, I'm dating myself.

Now I was not into the disco scene, nor do I plan to start playing disco.  But I was planning to use the effects pedals for a different kind of sound.  I just haven't figured it yet.

More to come.

Impressions on the Apollo App for iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus Users

Lately, I've been shooting more with the smart phone.  So I recently got theApollo Immersion Illumination app, which is advertised as adding new light sources to an image to make it look like 3D.  The app does allow one to control how the light falls but it's nowhere near 3D.  Still, I find the results pretty impressive.  It only works on the iPhone 7 plus and 8 plus using the portrait mode.  

The app has even evaluated by dpReview so I wont't try to regurgitate what they wrote.  Rather I'll just mention a few bits on my first impression.

The learning curve is steep.  That is why it has received quite a few grumpy comments.  I think the trick is to know where the original light is going.  Once this is identified, then the light that is being added should ideally be consistent with how the original light fell as in the original image below.

Inside the app, I added two light sources (indicates as two hollow circles below).  In this case, I don't want the third light on the back so I left that alone.

  

The next step is to play around with the settings - adjusting the spread and distance of light.  I find the result to be magical.  It still needed some fine tuning so I exported the image to Photoshop and adjusted the contrast and the shadows.  

The app has its limited uses.  But at $1.99, it's a cool toy to play with.  That is whenever it works.

Redecorating MOCA

It was too early to drive home from Downtown Los Angeles, and we wanted to avoid the traffic, so Rose and I went for a walk on Grand Avenue after finishing the bottle of Greek wine at the Otium Bar.  The image above is part of the sculpture outside the Museum of Contemporary Art building.  I find that the piece too dull looking to represent modern art so I decided to take creative license and colorize it in post-production.   In truth, I have never liked modern art.  I find them pretentious.

Not sure what is the building in the background.  Maybe somebody can tell me.

Hope your day is going well.