Tilt-Shift Photography 80 over Beautiful Examples, Tutorials and More Ultimate Guide
June 1st, 2009
via wikipedia
Tilt-shift photography is a method of photography that utilizes tilt-shift lenses to overcome the restrictions of depth of field and perspective that normal lenses provide. A tilt-shift lens allows for the rotation of lens against the image plane (tilt), as well as the movement of lens along the image plane (shift). By applying Scheimpflug principle, tilt-shift photography is able to obtain a very shallow depth of field using tilt and a large aperture.
Tilt-shift miniature faking is one of the most popular applications of tilt-shift photography. This is a process in which a photographer manipulates the angle of a tilt-shift lens to distort the focus of a scene to be captured by the camera, thereby creating an illusionary depth of field usually produced by macro lenses. This makes the particular scene appear smaller than it truly is.
Create Seamless Textures in Photoshop
June 1st, 2009
Why pay for a disc of pre-made textures or a pricey Photoshop plugin to get the texture you want? Grab a source image and follow this simple tutorial to make your own seamless texture.
Although the author of the tutorial flags it as a tutorial for Photoshop CS4, the tutorial will work in any version of Photoshop with the Offset filter and the clone stamp tool. Find a source image you want to turn into a seamless texture. It helps to choose a source texture that has either a fairly simple and easily blended pattern, or a complex pattern that will make hiding any imperfections easy. Check out the video below to see the technique in action:
Create Seamless Textures with Photoshop [TestFreaks]
Turn a Nike+ Sensor into a Keyless Car Entry System
June 1st, 2009
Pressing the button on your key fob to unlock your car is so last millennium. This nifty modification will have your car unlocking itself as you walk up to it.
The modification is built by chaining together several components, all of them relatively inexpensive. The iPod dongle and Nike+ shoe sensor are the great communicators in the arrangement. The iPod dongle is attached to a special serial board that can translate the signal from the dongle. All of that in turn is hooked into an Arduino board, the tiny open-source hardware hub loved by electronics tinkerers.
Once tested and packaged up, the whole affair is hooked up to the wires controlling the locking and unlocking of your car doors. When you get close to the car with the Nike+ sensor in your pocket, your car door unlocks. Of course, you’ll still need to have the actual key for the ignition, but you get a pile of geek street cred if you turn yours into a proximity-based ignition system.
For more information and photos, as well as a dose of caution about diving into the electronic innards of your car, check out the link below. No way you’re playing a round of splice-o-matic with your electrical system?
Five Best Netbooks
June 1st, 2009
If you’re thinking about picking up an ultra-portable laptop, this week’s Hive Five is a great spot to start your comparison shopping. These are the netbooks are those most loved by Lifehacker readers. Photo by nDevilTV.
Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite netbook with us. We’ve tallied the votes and we’re back to share the top five netbooks. While every Hive Five covers things that are closely related, netbooks are known for being particularly close in description. If you’re using this list as a spring board for a potential netbook purchase, we’d urge you to focus on the usability details when comparing different netbooks. Something as simple as a particular netbook having a 93% sized keyboard instead of an 80% sized keyboard can be the thing that makes up your entire relationship with your new netbook. The difference between 1.33 GHz and 1.6GHz processors, on the other hand, won’t be as noticeable or aggravating as a weirdly placed shift key or a too-small trackpad. Without further ado, the top five netbooks:
20 Facebook Tips/Tricks You Might Not Know
May 28th, 2009
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If you surf Facebook on daily basis or occasionally, chances are you’re already familiar with regular stuffs like add/delete friends, update statuses, walls and profile, add and explore pages & applications, etc, but there’s more..
This week we want to cover some interesting things you can do on (or with) Facebook; inclusive of tricks that are not documented or unknown to many, as well as tips to stay connected better with your friends. Without further ado, here’s 20 Facebook Tips/Tricks You Might Not Know. If you have interesting tips/tricks related to Facebook, please feel free to share in the comment box below.