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Pano

// March 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Less than a mile’s walk from my front door are the Buena Vista and Corona Heights parks. Albeit, a mile of steep hill climbing, the views of the city from the top are well worth it. I’ve recently created a few panoramas from photos taken at these locations. Hopefully they give a sense of the expansive city scenery below. Each image is linked to the full resolution version.

This image was merged from two shots taken from a street corner on Buena Vista East. It was my first attempt with using Photoshop’s Photomerge command. That it worked out for a panorama was a happy accident. They weren’t intended as such and one half was shot using a slightly longer shutter speed. It only seemed obvious that the two shots be combined after downloading and viewing the images later.

Buena Vista East

This image was combined from 8 shots taken from Corona Heights Park. This time I shot with the intent of stitching the source photos together. However, I’m still shooting handheld without any tripod assistance.

Corona Heights #1

Slightly closer to the summit, this 26k pixel wide photo was merged from an excessive sequence of 33 shots. Precariously perched on a steep slope and buffeted by gusty winds I quickly scanned across roughly 180 degrees of the horizon, snapping a quick sequence for this composition. Even with the large number of uneven handheld shots, Photoshop managed to create a decent stitch. The original combined .psb file weighed in at approximately 2.2gb (normal Photoshop files use the .psd format. However, once images reach ridiculous sizes, they must use this format instead. SB is for Super Big.)

Corona Heights #2

Pillow Talk

// February 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Almost everyone has hated Valentine’s Day at one time or another in their life. It’s most likely out of these deep feelings of love scorned masked by a disdain for corporate holidays that the great Pillow Fight was borne. This year marked the fourth anniversary of the San Francisco Pillow Fight. The rules were simple. You should bring a pillow to the Justin Herman Plaza at the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Valentine’s Day. When the clock strikes 6PM, engage in the pillow fight with out pillow wielding combatants. Above all else, tell your friends and spread the word about the event. While you’re at it, you might as well bring canned food items to donate to the food bank. You know, just so it doesn’t seem like a completely selfish event.

Donations

As the final minutes before the start of the event came, so did the crowd. Hundreds of participants armed with pillows swarmed onto the plaza, packing it full. Pillow styles varied from freshly purchased department store pillows still in their plastic, traditional well-worn pillows that had seen their fair share of love and scorn, small heart-shaped and themed accent pillows, and even a few couch cushions thrown into the mix. Those who weren’t armed with pillows represented another segment – the embedded pillow war journalists packing their camera gear. Officials representing the event included Violet Blue for PNN (Pillow News Network) along with a handful of faux UN representatives performing Pillow Inspections and urging the stop of the great Pillow Conflict. Their words went unheeded, amounting to little more than the fluff that was soon to fly as the onslaught of pillow violence quickly ensued.

Snow

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Year of the Ox

// February 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

The Chinese New Year Parade was started sometime in the 1860′s and remains one of the few night illuminated parades in the country. By now it carries strong corporate sponsorship, falling under the direction of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce – currently sponsored by Southwest Airlines.

Year of the Ox

The highlight of the parade is the 200 foot Golden Dragon also known as Gum Lung. It takes a team of over 100 to operate this illuminated monster as it winds its way along the parade route.