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Post processing: Creating a straight horizon

11 April, 2013

Tags: gimp, open source, post processing, tutorial

Here is an image: The image is not particularly interesting besides showing that if the horizon is not horizontal, it can add a big distraction. The nice thing is that it takes less than 10 seconds to correct the problem. Load the image in gimp, select the measure tool (shift+M) and draw a line along the horizon and read the message on the status bar. In the example image, it is visible that the horizon is 2.3 degrees off. The next step is Layer > Transform > Arbitrary rotation... and type in 2.3 and hit ok. Done. Rotating the one and only layer in the image will add some transparent pixels in the corners. This can be fixed in some different ways, but the easiest is to make a selection that only contains parts of the original image and then selecting Image > Crop to selection to remove a small part of the image. And the final result:

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Photo triplet: Can you tell the theme behind these pictures?

07 April, 2013

Tags: fototriss

Sunday morning, breakfast coffee, trying to ignore the fact that about 10cm of snow has fallen since last night. The theme for this weeks photo triplet is pick your own and see if the others can guess what it is. Providing a big contrast to what's going on outside, here are my three images:

 

Those that read the cyberphoto blog (I'm not getting paid to say it, but that's where I pick up most of my photo gear) will most likely already know where these photos were taken.

So, what do you think the theme is? More unknown themes can be found here.

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All that glitters is not coltsfoot

06 April, 2013

Tags: flowers, umeå

The last days have been warm, a few degrees above freezing and the snow is melting. On my way home from work yesterday, I found three coltsfoot in a sunny slope. Couldn't resist taking a photo of them - first spring flowers I've seen this year. Coltsfoot

 

Funny thing, when I got home I could read in one of the local newspapers "Here is the proof - spring is here" and there was a picture of some yellow flowers. A reader had sent in the picture along with the words "Found spring in Holmsund" (Holmsund is a place near Umeå). Someone at the newspaper posted the image and added some text saying it's coltsfoot when it's really dandelions. That's first grade knowledge and every kid can tell these flowers apart. The newspaper text has been slightly changed after many readers gave helpful comments saying what flower it really is..