High Dynamic Range (HDR) Images

I am absolutely fascinated by HDR photos. If you haven't seen HDR photos, take a look at this website: Smashing Magazine.

I thought in this post I would not only show you my latest HDR photo, but let you in on the secret of what HDR is and how to do it.

The basic element of HDR photography is bracketing your shots. Which, for non-photographers, simply means you take several shots in which the exposure changes to over and under expose the same image. While camping over the weekend, I took a series photos of the small lake there. For the images below; the first shot is more or less the "correct" exposure, the second images is under exposed by 2 full stops and the third is over exposed by 2 full stops. You can easily tell that the sky looks more dramatic under exposed (2nd) but darkens the trees while the over exposure (3rd) details the trees but blows out the sky.HDR simply takes the three images merges them so that the "good" parts of each photo are used. In the final image, below, you can see that the water is from the 1st shot, the sky is from the 2nd and the trees are from the 3rd (more or less).

Ultimately, HDR photos show an exaggerated depiction of what my eye really saw that day. Hope you like.

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Camping Trip

Zach invited me to go camping with him, my dad and my nephews Bo and Abe over the long holiday weekend. Zach recently bought a new trailer, so we were commissioned for it's maiden voyage.

We made the 2 1/2 hour drive to Tyler state park. Zach chose that location so that we all could visit my dad's dad (my Pawpaw) on the way home.

Saturday night we went for a short hike and hung out around the campfire, ate dinner and of course, s'mores. Bo and Abe loved throwing pine needles and leaves into the fire.

On our way home we stopped by the fire station, Clay was on shift, and got a tour from our brother.

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The Real Reason for Dylan

The truth behind me wanting a Weimeranar has been revealed, I wanted a dog to sing the blues with/for me.

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Plane vs. Geese?

If would would have ask me that yesterday, I would have said plane.

I do pray all 170 passengers survive the crash and the cold of the Hudson. Story

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The Proof is in the Pudding

Though you might think UNT had a horrible season, let me share some encouraging news. UNT technically could have beat the National Champions this year. Don't believe me? Allow me to show proof...

North Texas beat W Kentucky 51 - 40
W Kentucky beat E Kentucky 37 - 13
E Kentucky beat E Illinois 20 - 7
E Illinois beat Illinois St 25 - 21
Illinois St beat Youngstown St 54 - 44
Youngstown St beat N Dakota St 32 - 24
N Dakota St beat S Illinois 35 - 27
S Illinois beat Northern Iowa 27 - 24
Northern Iowa beat New Hampshire 36 - 34
New Hampshire beat Army 28 - 10
Army beat Louisiana Tech 14 - 7
Louisiana Tech beat Mississippi St 22 - 14
Mississippi St beat Vanderbilt 17 - 14
Vanderbilt beat Mississippi 23 - 17
Mississippi beat Florida 31 - 30

So, in conclusion, the BCS system really screwed UNT this year!

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You Knew I Would

Before I say anything else, I must admit the OU played very well, much better than I expected. Gresham definitely has a bright career ahead of him, Stoops on the other hand is struggling.

However, in the end, the SEC are back to back to back National Champions. And the OU loss only furthers my case that the SEC is a better conference than the Big XII. Lets look at a couple of figures:

First, lets take a look at just this year, the 2008-09 season. Besides SEC beating the Big XII in both head to head meetings, the "beloved" Big XII South division went 1-3 this bowl season with the single win being Texas beating the runner-up in a pretty weak Big Ten conference with 16 seconds left and needing every inch on a 4th down in the 4th quarter to stay alive.

Secondly, lets look at the BCS era. Simply put, out of the 9 BCS Championship games played the SEC has won 5 (over half); the Big XII has won the second most with 2. The SEC and Big XII overall Championship game records are 5-0 and 2-3 respectively.

We will see if in the years to come the Big XII provides a case, but for now I am confidant the this argument shall be put to rest.

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SEC Football

If you know me, you know I love SEC football. From my days back at the real, and first, UT to now struggling to watch SEC games amidst the Big XII land I live... I love me some SEC football. I am extremely excited to watch the SEC win back to back to back National Championships.

In the video clip below David Bergman incredibly creates a stop motion film from 1,304 pictures taken from the SEC Championship game. I don't know about you, but it gets me pumped up for tomorrow's match-up.

1,304 Photos from the 2008 SEC Championship Game from David Bergman on Vimeo.

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2009 Starts Out Busy

I apologize to those who have been visiting the past couple of days with no new blogs to be found. 2009 has begun pretty quickly. Because of Texas state education laws changing, the adjustment at work has been hectic and call volume has increased as a result.

I have tried to be really productive to begin 2009 undertaking projects that were long over due. We had a garage door repair man fix our garage door, chimney sweep inspect our fireplace, bought and need to install living room speakers, receive Heather's living room chair, and the list goes on. And that is just this week. Perhaps I can show you the progress shortly.
I have several things on my mind to blog about in the upcoming days when I get time. So you can look forward to my blog about Benjamin Button, my frustration with ignorance (quite vague I know), my 60 year old home, and much more!

I also, at the request of Mr. Southward have opened my comments so that you don't have to log in. Jasen felt I would get more comments if people didn't have to log in. But I am warning you (specifically Jasen) one off-colored comment and poof! gone!

Lastly, for those who know the story about the house next door to me (the yellow one), Heather and I finally met the couple that moved in. She is a professor at UNT and her boyfriend just moved to Texas from Canada and his name is Locke. I hope that with a retired Canadian neighbor who loves to garden named Locke that I will enjoy their neighborship very much.

And no, I didn't ask, "Locke? Like from Lost?"

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Happy New Year

Before Auld Lang Syne was penned in Ireland years ago, the Irish sang "The Parting Glass" for such an occasion as the New Year. I have been listening to this song at least 2 times a day for the past 3 weeks. I hope you can listen to the song and think about your year's past and what 2009 holds for you. Happy New Year.

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