masochismtango

Fixing Eclipse Update Issues

Trials, tribulations and fixes to handle an update to the latest Eclipse IDE.

Aperture, Light and Stops

This is a diagram I drew to understand aperture numbers (the f numbers on a lens) and the concept of stops. In the graph, the gap between each bar is a stop (click to enlarge):

The most confusing thing was always the non-linear nature of stops – an increase of one stop of light means [...]

Verified by Visa

Verified by Visa – even more annoying when it doesn’t work.

Data Visualisation – Global Gender Balance

An example of using Tableau to generate some pretty infographics.

The Mechanics Behind the SLR

A quick diagram I drew to explain the inners of an SLR, which is a mechanical setup that was developed to ensure the picture you see through the optical viewfinder matches the photo that will be taken:

This is how the mirror movement redirects the light to the sensor when a photo is actually taken:

Amusingly enough, [...]

Zenitar 16mm Fisheye on 5Dmk2 – First Impressions

I’ve been experimenting with my new Zenitar 16mm fisheye on my Canon EOS 5Dmk2, and my first impressions are that it was £120 well spent. Lots of example shots included, for anyone thinking of buying one.

WebHarvest: Easy Web Scraping from Java

A quick guide to WebHarvest’s easy and powerful web scraping Java API, including code samples.

Angles of View and Crop Factors

Here are some more diagrams I drew to try and understand photography, specifically to understand crop factors and lens lengths.
Sensor Crop Factors
Every camera has a rectangular sensor which captures light. A “full frame” sensor is the same size as an old film negative – 35mm from bottom left to top right corner. Expensive [...]

Saving a Dull Club Photo

Often when taking a club photo you’ll just miss that cool background strobe, and end up with an underwhelming dark portrait that isn’t really usable. That’s fine if you have plenty of good ones in the bag, but sometimes you need a little help. That’s where Lightroom comes to the rescue!
Here’s an example [...]

Portfolio: Corzano e Paterno.com

A trilingual Wordpress site built for the Corzano e Paterno farm in Tuscany, producing prize winning wines, olive oil and cheeses. It’s an old farm in the hills that used to be owned by the Machievellis, which now has a lovely set of guest houses you can rent through the site.

Picasa photo album integration:

The [...]