[Read more…] about The Einar jónsson sculpture garden in Iceland
The Einar jónsson sculpture garden in Iceland
The Thingvellar national park
The Thingvellar national park is paradise for photographers especially if they are into landscapes. So many rocks, streams and walkways. It is a place of infinite angles and unlimited camera possibilities.
The images that show water are also good at giving a sense of space.
The red plant in the (see image number 7) rock is particularly interesting especially since it seems to be so insubstantial when viewed by using the color filter feature of the vOICe.
Note the rope lava and the effect of light on the images. Finally, this set of images is superb for getting a sense of texture in the image. Rock has a rougher texture while water has a softer and well, watery texture.
Note:
Sometimes, we photographers got carried away and took pictures of one another taking pictures as demonstrated in image number 2.
Kerid an extinct volcano
An image of Kerid an extinct volcano, filled with blue green water. I was standing near the rimof the crater. I had to use the phone version to line my shot since my netbook’s batteries had run down.
When looking at the image with the vOICe , You can get a sense of the shape of the crater and see some of the rocks. The texture is not smooth and I suspect the hazy bit especially towards the right is the water. Try setting the color filter to blue to only see the water. Hester does something interesting to the space in the image. It sort of flattens the bowl like shape of the crater. Which is the correct representation?
With thanks to Pedro Alvarez and Helen Cherry forphotography tips, image classification and editing.
an Icelandic geyser experience
To the chronically down to earth, geysers are just smelly things that send water into the air and take it all back. Some have equated them to natural tea kettles. I was at a geyser in Iceland and there is a unique majesty in the way the Earth spews the water into the air, generates steam and recycles the lot. Geysers are quite hot and temperatures range around 160°C. We were not permitted to get close to any of them. There were walkways built and we were able to move around in relative safety.
From a photographer’s perspective, the Crown jewel was a blue bubble that is created during the start of a geyser’s eruption. The attached images have descriptive filenames and are sequential.
If using the vOICe, set the color filter to blue when viewing image number 3 and you will catch the start of the blue bubble at the top right of the image.
A significant part of the fun is watching people waiting for the geyser to erupt. Take what the tour guide says about aching arms seriously. You need hair trigger reflexes and do take your time to get into position. A tripod may help too.
Note:
If the first two or three irruptions are lackluster, do not lose hope. Mother nature knows she is on display and will oblige.
With thanks to Pedro Alvarez and Helen Cherry forphotography tips, image classification and editing.
The Gulfoss waterfall and a possible role for humans in my images
this post contains a set of images that I took at the Gulfoss waterfall. The first image shows you the complete waterfall. See the people on the bottom left of the image. I am told that they provide a sense of scale. I have never thought of images and people this way before. It is something that I need to explore further. Usually, I avoid people when taking images but I am beginning to change my mind.
The filenames of the images are self-explanatory. If using the vOICe to view them, try edge detection toggled with function key F7 to give you a crude representation of what the waterfall sounds like.
With thanks to Pedro Alvarez and Helen Cherry for photography tips, image classification and Image editing.
The Blue Lagoon in the rain
this is an image taken at the blue Lagoon spa in Iceland. See the black rocks in the rain. The colour of the water has been described as milky blue. If using the vOICe, use 4-fold zoom to get a better idea of the rocks.
You can also try using negative video to eliminate the sky from the image.
With thanks to Pedro Alvarez and Helen Cherry for image classification and editing.
Masking user interface complexity using speech-recognition
Shrinking budgets are nothing new in IT departments. Unfortunately, training budgets are one of the first to go. This leads to a situation where new software is deployed but does not yield the expected return since users are unable to utilize it fully. However, there is one way around the problem. Use speech-recognition. It is a more natural way to compute and can help automate processes by the use of macros. Moreover, it has a uniform command set that does not change with changes to the software it is driving. For instance, to copy text to the clipboard, you will say "copy that" irrespective of whether you are in notepad, Microsoft Word 2003 or Excel 2010. This has huge benefits since users can continue to use familiar commands in new user interfaces so the "how do I do this" type of queries will be significantly reduced.
Another aide in masking user interface complexity with speech-recognition is third party software in the form of command add-ons. For example, Dragon Naturally Speaking has several add-ons like Knowbrainer http://www.knowbrainer.com, VoicePower <http://www.voicepower.co.uk/ and J-Say http://www.tandt-consultancy.com/products/ss00014_j-say_professional.php. These add-ons compliment Dragon’s functionality and their developers update them as their supported software changes. Some of these add-ons like knowbrainer, even have their own scripting languages which simplify custom command creation.
Table describing the above add-ons
| Add-on | What it does | Distinguishing features |
| Knowbrainer | Contains over 10000 commands to enhance the use of Dragon Naturally Speaking across various applications. | Verbal Basic- a custom command creation language that is speech driven and a popular set of speech-recognition forums on http://www.knowbrainer.com. |
| VoicePower | Another command add-on that provides a plethora of commands for computer control. | Provides context sensitive training to users as they work. |
| J-Say | Connects a screen reader Jaws for Windows with Dragon Naturally Speaking | Several productivity commands and is the only add-on in its class. |