Shooting the moon

Dear All,

Often time beginners and intermediate photographers set out to shoot really cool pictures of the moon only to discover that it is not quite as easy at it seams. Well we make the mystery go away in this two part series. Watch both parts to determine what method will work best for you.

http://doni-photography.blogspot.com/2011/12/shooting-moon-part-1.html
http://doni-photography.blogspot.com/2011/12/shooting-moon-part-2.html


--
Regards,
Pramod Goggi

pramodgoggi@gmail.com | www.goggi.net | www.pramodgoggi.blogspot.com
---

Poornima Moon on 11.11.11

Poornima moon of 11.11.11 looked execptionally beautiful. Couldn't resist from capturing it!

Spaghetti A.O.P

Thanks to Rohit (my buddy and a head Chef @ J.W.Mariott) I was introduced to Spaghetti A.O.P. I love it with slice black Olives. Thanks Rohit and I would love to have it at your kitchen some day!

I am not sure where I click this, must have been Fariyaz, Lonavala, Feb 2011.

Spaghetti A.O.P or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aglio_e_Olio

spaghetti with garlic, olive oil and chili peppers

Check EPF account status

If you are an service employee and unaware of your EPF (Employee Provident Fund) status.

Check your EPF (Employee Provident) account details on EPFO website: http://www.epfindia.com/MembBal.html
Fill in all the details and give ur mobile number. 


I received the SMS with all details. (EE Amount and ER amount) Employee contribution and Employer contribution amount respectively.

InTouchId

Rivers of Pune & me

Rivers of Pune:
Mutha River: Rivers that flow across Pune originates from Panshet, Varasgoan --> Khadakwasla that flows through main Pune city. (Bridges: Shambhaji (Lakdi pool), Sangam, Bridge, Mhathre Bridge, etc)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutha_River)

Mula River: Mula river flows through Pune, Khadki and Bombay Sapper. Mulshi dam is main source and relatively smaller dam like Kusegoan dam, etc. (Bridges: Holkar, Harry's, Shivaji bridge)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mula_River_(India)

Sangamwadi is the place where Mula-Mutha merge and form a union to reach Bhima river (near Bhigwan)

My house is on the left bank of Mula river at a distance of around 400 feet :)
A view of Mula river from my bedroom window

Six Sigma at Konceptz Pune: Six Sigma Foundation - 1 day Program at MCCIA Pune...

Six Sigma at Konceptz Pune: Six Sigma Foundation - 1 day Program at MCCIA Pune...: A Full day Certificate Program On Six Sigma Foundation Day & Date -: Friday, 26 th Aug...

Rainbow and me!

Yesterday we could see a very crisp rainbow from our office in Kothrud,Pune. Thanks to Rohit Ghatol, he captured this moment on his mobile camera. It had been long, I happened to have seen a rainbow so crisp!

Conversation with Pramod Goggi

Mark Zuckerberg on Google+

http://mashable.com/2011/06/30/mark-zuckerberg-google-plus/

Mark Zuckerberg's account on Google Plus :)

http://mashable.com/2011/06/30/mark-zuckerberg-google-plus/

PJ unlimited

मुलगा (मुलीला) : रिक्षात बस.

मुलगी: काय? ? ?

...

...

मुलगा: रिक्षात बस...

मुलगी: बाप रे...केवढी मोठी रिक्षा !! :) :)

(नाही कळला तर आजूबाजूला विचारावे)

courtesy: Abhijeet Sawant

Bentopad concept Tablet design

http://renelee.net/bentopad/

Varun's Munjavi (Thread Ceremony)

Varun (my nephew) Praveen & Aarti's eldest son had his Munjavi (Thread ceremony) done on May 8th 2011.

My page on WhatisWrongWith.me - The Anonymous Feedback Service

My page on WhatisWrongWith.me - The Anonymous Feedback Service

My Windows OS doesn't like my clean Computer table

This weekend I cleaned-up my PC desk and ensure there isn't any clustered wires around. This needed alot of reshuffling and unplugging and turns-out my Windows doesn't like the clean desk policy. It stop working. Thanks to Ubuntu, I am still live online :)

Crack the moon

I was just going through my old photos this specific photo caught my attention. This was clicked in Dec 2007 on our way back from one of our Trekking events. That's how "Crack the moon".



Clicked by a non-profession Canon Powershot S2IS camera

Comparision of Bug Finding Tools in Java

Nice report:
http://www.cs.umd.edu/~jfoster/papers/issre04.pdf

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

Quotes:

"Creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status"

"If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will not come-up with something original"

"We are educating people out of their creative capacities"

"Intelligence is Diverse" "We think of world in all dimension, we think visually, we think in sound, we think in movement, we think in abstract"

"Intelligence is Dynamic"

"Intelligence is Distinct"

"Education will take us to the future that we can't grasp."

"A kid who will be starting school this year will be retiring in year 2065. Nobody has a clue what the world will look like in 5 years time, and yet we are meant to educate them for it"

Innovation Keynote Speaker Jeremy Gutsche - 30 Minute Speech

A must-must-must watch!

Destroyed in Seconds - Bulldozer Rampage

Video -"Some awesome things"

Rahul weds Aditi

My long time buddy and a bro Rahul gets married to Aditi. Heartiest congratulation Rahul & Aditi!

Winter sets in Dec-2010

A sunrise photo of a cold winter morning from my window.

PACENET internet speed

Just installed the new PACENET connection. Results for a first day are not bad atall

First Test:

Second Test:

Pest control

I have this ISS (previously Godrej) pest control for cockroach and other home crawlers, which is working good for me, and I plan to do it my way starting next year.

If you too are the doing-it-urself kinds, try taking "Bayer" company products work wonders; but you need to understand and apply appropriate treatment and this link should help you:
Bayer selection link

Best of luck. Ask someone if you are no sure

Ubuntu Keyboard shortcuts

Very handy tips:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-useful-ubuntu-keyboard-shortcuts-that-you-might-not-know-of/

My Home PC details specs

My home PC configuration(Detailed):

CPU: Intel Celeron 1.70GHz

MotherBoard: KOB PVM266aM (VIA Chipset)

Cache (L1): 8KB

(L2): 128KB

BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 07.00T

Graphics: NVidia GeForce2 MX 400 (64MB)

Memory: Hyundai Electronics 256MB DDR 133MHz +

Hyundai Electronics 1GB DDR 166MHz

CPU

Mother-Board

Cache

Graphics:

Memory Slots

Upgrading my PC -2 (Under the hood)

I pull out the screwdriver, unscrew the cabinet cover... "Let's see what in there" I said to myself.

Well, what I saw at my first site was *dust*, talk about maintenance!!! hmmm.. "That explains the fan noise". the cabinet was so crunched... there was no sign of air-circulation. Check out the snap

The processor fan had practically no breathing space, the PSU (Power Supply Unit) was right on its face. "I need to change my cabinet"

Points for upgrade:

1. Good air circulation.

2. Fans should make less noise.

Upgrading my PC - 1 (Where it all began)

It was an early morning of summer, as usual... I was surfing the "world *wild* web" on my decade old PC, around 20 tabs open on my Google's Chrome browser and Farmville Bot, Eclipse IDE and Windows Media Player running in background; the stuttering music made me uneasy, it was playing as if its a live streaming on the internet with a very bad bandwidth.

It had been long and I had been oblivious of my PC configuration. Finger's crossed I right-clicked "My Computer" carefully lead my mouse pointer to click "Properties", *UP* came the "System Properties" window... the configurations read:

Intel(R) Celeron(R) 1.70Ghz, 1.25 GB of RAM

...ummm.. didn't I upgrade the RAM last year... Daaa I added that 1GB :)



It was then I knew it was time I need to *upgrade*.

Here beings my hunt for the ultimate PC that could give me an uninterrupted video-editability, a smooth Photoshoppable and uninterrupted online/music experience...

[to be continued...]

Common Floor for Apartment

So... now everything is going hightech... people are always online forgetting their neighbor's. To bridge the gap we have something called as www.Commonfloor.com. Someone suggested in the apartment meeting yesterday and viola!!! I say it already out Apartment already registerd "Nisarg Akash' details here...Good thought!

Nisarg Akash people please join in only for "Nisarg Akash" Apartment members:

Our Team snap

QuickOffice team @Synerzip

Reliance WiMax internet speed report

After getting frustrated with Reliance BroadBand+ And finally I took the Reliance Wi-Max Internet at my place. I took the 600Kbps line for Rs.1500/- per month. The first thing I did was to do a speed test, and result are looking good.



and it continues to keep its promise later in the day... seems I made a good decision

Ken Block drives.... drives me crazy!

No more comments :)

Reliance BroadBand+ Netconnect Datacard

I was left with no option but to get the Reliance NetConnectBroadBand+ Datacard that I am completely unhappy with. I cannot download big files, watch video and forget about webcam.

Hence I did the speed test.. poor results as expected

Test 1:


Test 2: (This one really questioned.. why is it called BroadBand+ at the first place)

Weekend getaway Pune--> Kolhapur --> Ganpati Pule --> Pune

This weekend 13-14th Mar '10, getaway trip was from Pune to Kolhapur - Ganpati Pule and back to Pune. Started off at wee hours of the Saturday morning (5am), we were done with Kolhapur Mahalaxmi darshan by 9:30am. We then turned our heads west towards the coastline of Maharashtra - Ganpati Pule. It was again a Ganpati darshan and beach time!! Returned back on Sunday and were back home by 11pm Sunday


View Pune - Kolhapur - Ganpati Pule - Pune in a larger map

Invite

Android XML parses

http://tutorial.fyicenter.com/out.php?ID=3884

DOS Batch files

The forgotten Arena:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batch_file

http://commandwindows.com/batch.htm

http://ss64.com/nt/

Win XP Command-line Reference!!!

I can't believe such a thing existed :)

Reference Link

Map from home to office

Link1

Link2

Birthday reminder

I happen to forgot my friend's B'day's and Anniversary's...I am really bad at that. In at attempt to improve this I tried to take help of Google. For this to work I send invite to friend to fill a form.

Behind the seen:
- Once you hit submit --> This data will reach my google doc's "Birthday Reminder" excel sheet.
- I will update my Gmail contacts on the bases of this sheet. I may call you for correctness of this data :)
- The gmail contacts is synced to Google Calendar that will Email and SMS me on your specific date!!!

I am hoping this helps me big time!
Be in touch. Fill this form!

>>>>>>>> Form Link

Taddewadi area visit

Pramod weds Kirti Photos

Close-up shots:



Sangli Marriage Snaps:


Pune Reception snaps:


Honeymoon (Agra)


Honeymoon (Manali)


Home camera shots of Marriage:

Pramod weds Kirti Marriage Invitation

Hi,

It gives me immense pleasure to announce my wedding with Kirti. I request the pleasure of your company with family on this occasion. Please consider this as a personal invitation. Looking forward to meet you soon!

Please find attached.

• Zoo-Zoo invitation card
• Design document for the wedding invite!

--
Regards,
Pramod Goggi

Engagement Snaps

Link and slideshow to Pramod + Kirti engagement snaps:

You can't rush art

There is a scene in Toy Story 2 when the old man repairing Woody tells the impatient toy collector Al, "You can't rush art."

I believe its very true.
http://www.pixar.com/howwedoit/index.html

Canon Powershot SX1 IS

We have like 18 pages of detailed review of Canon SX 1 IS
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsx1is/
Compared with :
- Canon PowerShot SX10 IS
- Sony DSC-HX1
- Panasonic Lumix FZ28
This will be a good read if you are planning to buy a super zoom.
Things that are important:
- CMOS (new technology) vs CCD sensor (well surpisingly CCD noise is better)
- Video 1080p (HD)
- RAW vs JPEG

Bear Grylls overdone himself with the Kamikazi knot

If you have seen Grylls' Man Vs Wild series on Discovery Channel, you already know he has done some really krazy things. But, he really overdid himself in the Ireland Ipe trail, rappelling the cliff on a Kamikaze knot (knot also known as 'sheepshank'). People please don't try doing this, it is really dangerous.

Details of the knot:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080903201022AAoYSsK

More on knots:
http://www.summitpost.org/fact-sheet/189632/knots-for-hiking-and-climbing.html

Video making tips & tricks

http://www.videomaker.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEQ40Lz-Y8U&feature=channel

Neem Ka Ped

If you watched Doordarshan, you will remember the serial "Neem ka Ped", and the soothing title track. (Please find links below that will take you back the memory lane)

Neem ka Ped Title track
"Mu ki baat sune har koi"
Sung by Jagjit Singh
Lyrics: Nida Fazli
Music: Jagjit Singh

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=PmvhORbmlMo

"It's a story of a semi-bonded labourer, Budhai Ram - played(rather, lived) by Pankaj Kapoor, under a Muslim village zamindar. This Muslim landlord is under property dispute with his minister brother-in-law. As circumstances turn out to be, Budhai Ram gets caught between this fight of pride and property. The bone of contention is also the small piece of land on which he has planted a Neem tree as a kid.... now the story starts... "
Story: Rahi Masoom Reza (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahi_Masoom_Reza)

Friends,
I am not getting the verse that went something like this... "kal meri neendon mein chip kar, jaag raha tha jaane kaun..."

PC specs

So after all my research and money in my pocket, I finalized this configuration


Tomshardwar website has a detail view into each item and suggestions:
Link to processor chard of Q3 2008: Link

Processor	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz)
Motherboard	ASUS P5Q PRO
RAM	1x2GB (800MHz)
Harddisk	120GB SATA (8200 rpm)
CPU Cooler	Cooler Master Hyper 212 (19dBA)
Graphic Card	NVIDIA Geforce 8600 GT SLI 256 MB / 512 MB
Cabinet Chassis	CoolerMaster Elite 331
SMPS (PSU)	Coolermaster Real Power 550W / 500W / 420 W ATX 12V 120MM Fan
Monitor	ViewSonic's 19' VX1932wm
Keyboard + mouse	Microsoft
Accessories	Memory Card reader SD/CF

The fight begins.. CRT vs LCD

Its time for me to get a new monitor, and I am stuck between LCD and CRT. Color calibration, picture contracts, etc etc.

Still not sure which one to buy:
Dell / HP /AOC /Samsung / Viewsonic
LCD widescreen or normal size

Research:
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2005/all_about_monitors.asp
http://photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00JiBt

And the saga continues....
Video Editing teams opinion

Lets talk Java theory

Garbage Collector (Algorithm used)
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-jtp10283/
http://java.sun.com/docs/hotspot/gc1.4.2/faq.html
http://www.petefreitag.com/articles/gctuning/

Synchronization (Mutex, Semaphore & Monitor):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_exclusion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphores
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitor_(synchronization)

Java Code tuning:
Tuning Java Code
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/java/news/jptsummary_1100.html
http://www.javaperformancetuning.com/

Networking:
Three stage handshaking
http://en.kioskea.net/contents/internet/tcp.php3

Sync server timing Linux

Ok... you have to sync your Linux servers...

use ntpdate or ntpd -q
few links:
http://www.galsys.co.uk/categories/linux/linux-time-sync.html
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2003/01/02/ntp.html

Its the time to SAMBA

I ain't a Network Admin, but was too tempting to give it a try:
Link to help Samba installation

Sequence of rpm installs:
libtalloc1-3.2.4-0.1.130.i586.rpm
libtalloc-devel-3.2.4-0.1.130.i586.rpm
libtdb1-3.2.4-0.1.130.i586.rpm
libtdb-devel-3.2.4-0.1.130.i586.rpm
libsmbsharemodes-3.2.4-0.1.130.i586.rpm
libsmbsharemodes-devel-3.2.4-0.1.130.i586.rpm
libwbclient0-3.2.4-0.1.130.i586.rpm
libwbclient-devel-3.2.4-0.1.130.i586.rpm
samba-client-3.2.4-0.1.130.i586.rpm
samba-3.2.4-0.1.130.i586.rpm

This link came handy: link

Talk SVN

After CVS its time for SVN

Main site:
http://subversion.tigris.org/

Some tutorials:
http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.1/svn-book.html#svn-ch-3-sect-5.4

- Use tortoise SVN for client
- Integrate it with Eclipse with Subclipse

Basic for users:

"svn update" brings changes from the repository into your working copy. I

For each updated item a line will start with a character reporting the action taken. These characters have the following meaning:

A
Added

D
Deleted

U
Updated

C
Conflict

G
Merged

Extracted from the SVN book:
http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.1/svn-book.html#svn-ch-9-sect-1.2-re-update

Unix command to find thread count in a process

Ok... this is really stupid to put it here. But I need a quick reference, as I lose this tiny little command.

ps -eLf | grep "__process_name__"

Remember.... tiny command tiny "eLf" as in the little angles that will help you to find Threads. Elves are tiny and have a pointed.. long L.

Rahul's Portfolio

My old buddy Rahul has been into model et al since quite sometime now. We got together this weekend and did a photo session. My artistic selections are as follows

Neha's Portfolio

A few months back, I identified this girl to have a good potential to be get a portfolio done. I was pretty happy with the results.

What is suspension

I was about to give my car Fiat Palio for servicing and, I knew something was not good about my shock-absorbers or suspension. So, to understand the mechanism better... I went through a few pages on web. This what I saw...

http://www.carbibles.com/suspension_bible.html

Let's talk about HD

Hi Shirish,

Mast re... Ekdam uuche prashna vicharle ahes tu....

You will have nearly all the answers here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_video

A few quick answers inline, in the mail below. :) After reading this you will be enlighten :) There is not of jargon in there, but the whole idea is HD will give you an awesome quality of video. Even if you just ignore all this jargon stuff, just record a small clip from an SD and an HD and see the difference, in color, contrast, and sharpness.... you will love HD.

I have spent quite some time writing this email and with your due permission, I want to put this thread into my blog, http://pramodgoggi.blogspot.com

Regards,
Pramod

On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 2:26 PM, wrote:

Pramod,

Thanks for the info.I had a look at the models u have mentioned below, and I have some questions. Pls let me know if u have answers / pointers to the answers for these.

1. Exactly what image quality diff is there between the ‘Secret desire’ video and commercial cam video? Was it in terms of fps (Frames / Sec) and/or resolution?

Not just about 'Secret Desire', but to talk SD vs HD --->
Both resolution and fps, SD works on 720x480, fps:i30 at max (480i30). Where HD works on 720p28 or 1080i50 or 1080p30... etc

Where:
p: progressive scanning
i: interlaced

Please read p and i, on the website.

25p fps = 50i fps

1. 
   
2. What’s the FPS for commercial quality video? I think it’s 25 fps for PAL and 28 FPS for NTFS, pls correct me. Where does 30 FPS video fall in this scenario?

NTSC and PAL are standards, predominant for viewing, Don't record video at those resolution, convert them into NTSC or PAL for viewing. Just get the resolution and fps stuff clear for video recording... And I would suggest record in HD :)

I like this image from the same site

See this image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Common_Video_Resolutions_2.svg

1. 
   
2. I understand that HD standard renders video in a resolution of different dimensions than standard video. What’s the screen size for each frame of HD video? What’s the frame rate? Is it again different like NTFS and PAL?

HD 16:9 aspect ratio. NTSC and PAL are SD (Standard Definition) 4:3 aspect ratio

Size is given above. Frame rate can be anything above 24p... that's just fine.

I personally want to record a slow motion video at 240fps and convert it into 50fps, and majja bagachi ahe... ki how does a high-def slow motion video looks like!!! :)

1. 
   
2. There are 2 high def video standards – HDTV and Blu-Ray. Does HD video on the camcorders mentioned below support both of these? Since Blu-Ray is Sony specific, will Sony cams support HD mode as compatible to Blu-ray only?

Blu-Ray is disc format. HD is video standard. HDTV is television standard. A Blu-ray disc can store an HDVideo that can be viewed on HDTV.... Kitti confusion kela ahe re Sony ni!

1. 
   
2. The reviews for below mentioned camcorders do not mention frame rate and lines per screen (which, according to my understanding is close to 1080 lines /screen in case of commercial quality videos). Can you elaborate?

1080 line is HD.. right... anything above 24p fps is just fine. Elaborate....by now you must have already know many things.

1. 
   
2. If the HD video supported by camcorders mentioned below an ‘authentic’ HD video (in terms of lines per screen / frame rate / resolution), or a stripped down version? If it’s authentic, what does a commercial HD cam possesses in terms of video quality, which these do not have?

A movie or commercial documentaries are made on 'film', this is something like a 35mm camera file, include slots of audio, etc etc... So each film will contain one frame :), imagine how big a 3 minutes documentary will be :)... and imagine the quality!!!

I understand your question... commercial HD cam's... Well its something like comparing:
1. mobile phone camera (8 Megapixel)
2. A digital SLR (8 MegaPixel)

Even though both are producing a 8 MegaPixel image... that doesn't mean they are having the same quality of image. Its just that the size of end-pixel are same, but the quality of the image will depend on many parameters... like lens, aperture size, medium storing this data.. etc..etc. So HC9 costs 50K in India is the basic HD handycam, while there are Rs.5Lack HD camera that give professional quality. On a different note....believe me HC9 is an amazing handycam.

There are no HD DVD cameras (only blu-ray disc's and other that are extremely costly). And its said that our dear old Mini-DV (tape) is the best medium to store high quality videos. Surprisingly, people buy a HDD (Hard-disk drive) or DVD handycams for nearly 50k, but people aren't aware that a HD handycam of the same price will deliver outstanding results. But, they are cosumers, not amateur short-film makers :) Anyways... HD HC9 is not available in Pune, because there are not customers for this camera :( :)

Also it will be huge pain editing these video, as you will require higher configuration PC's :)

Have a great time reading about videos and filming awesome short-films

Cheers,

Shirish Deshpande

From: Shirish [

fyi ------------- Hi Preetam, The handycam details that I promised to send..... these are just my scratchpad details, see if you can make sense of these details. Sony HDR-HC9 or Canon Hv30, is a decent enough camera to start with a short-film ------------- HD handycams: -------------- Profession : -------------- $5000 --> Sony HDV V1 --> Profession HD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hKv7xqhdhc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qayetW8rflI [setup] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FPAsZnPB40 [ Slow motion ] $4000 -->Sony HDR FX7 -------------- Pro-Consumers --------------- $900 - $1000 --> Sony HDR-HC9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwJG8kgRy5g http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-detailsInactive.asp?Sku=S08-3424&SRCCODE=WEBTV&CMP=OTC-WEBTV $1000 --> Canon HV30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74LH8khNYPA --------- Misc: ------------ $1000 --> Sony HDR-HC7 --> Pro consumer camera $800 --> Sony HC3 --> Consumer HD camera http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-camcorders/sony-handycam- hdr-hc3/4505-6500_7-31749257.html $1300 --> Sony Handycam HDR-SR7 (Hard-disk) http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-camcorders/sony-handycam- hdr-sr7/4505-6500_7-32427828.html?tag=also Sony HDR SR1 ----- -- Regards, Pramod Goggi

Out-of-Office

I am using 2 email accounts and wanted to auto-forward from one emails to other.

Link

Let's talk about Linux

http://nixcraft.com/

Did you have this problem that you want to collect data from multiple Linux box and consolidate / automate a few stuff... I sure had this issue. A few resolution are here:

Link

Quick steps (Command to run from the box you need to write your script):

> ssh-keygen -t rsa
> scp .ssh/id_rsa.pub 'user'@'machine_address':.ssh/authorized_keys2


Linux commands: a practical Reference
I love this reference, surely helpful:
http://www.pixelbeat.org/cmdline.html

VI Editor

I was not sure if I had the VI Editor common commands list in my blog, this help people who are uncomfortable working in UNIX/Linux and the vi editor

http://www.eng.hawaii.edu/Tutor/vi.pdf

Send email from UNIX box

Automated email sending from Unix command line. We have been doing this from year, this page is a good reference, for attachments handling.. etc

http://www.shelldorado.com/articles/mailattachments.html

Happy scripting

Ghost and the Darkness

As teenagers, Rahul and me, loved reading man-eater stories, primarily Kenneth Anderson, and we still search for Kenneth Anderson books whenever we get the chance.

"Ghost and the Darkness" is one movie that we really liked. This movie is based on a real story of Tsavo maneaters (South Africa), two lions who attacked the builders of the Uganda-Mombasa Railway in 1898, killing about 135 of them, and the subsequent hunt to kill them.

About the movie:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_and_the_Darkness

Watch this movie here:
http://www.watch-movies.net/movies/the_ghost_and_the_darkness

The actual book written by Lt.Col. J. H. Patterson:
http://robroy.dyndns.info/tsavo/tsavo.html

Video: Achmed: The dead terroist

Education system Vs Creativity

Ken Robinson talks about today's Education system killing creativity

I want to buy and DigitalSLR

Hi Amu,

Good to see that you are doing some nice research on Canon DSLR's :)
I will answer these questions one-by-one.

1. "So does this mean that the SLR cant click good pictures without the lens? "
Canon EOS 400D (Rebel XTi) is capable of clicking outstanding photographs with 18-50mm kit lens. I have a huge collection of fabulous photographs with that lens.
You are graduating from a consumer camera (Canon powershot's) to hobby/amateur camera. DSLR 400D with kit lens is great. Now, when you read people mentioning about18-50mm is not a good lens, they are talking in a professional photographers point of view.
I have just blown-up one of my snap that I clicked with my 18-50mm lens to 4" by 6", and that's when I noticed that the photo could and should have been more sharp, that's when I felt a need to upgrade my lens to professional range of lenses. (L-series lens) which are highly priced.

2. "The lens that you mentioned below are they a must? Is there no in built lens? what is the purpose of these lenses ? zoom ? distance photography? clarity? I am kinda confused"
Ok... now about lens in-depth. There are basically 3 range types of lens wide-angle, normal and telephoto. (I am talking about Digital camera here not the film based camera's 35mm)
Wide-angle: Ranging below 20/30mm (Clicking landscape)
Normal: Ranging between 20-80/100mm (portraits, etc)
Telephoto: 80/100m and above (wildlife, birds, etc)
Again lens are of 2 kinds: fixed (or box) lens or zoom lens. example
fixed lens: 50mm, 60mm, 400mm
zoom lens: 18-50mm, 100-300mm
Zoom lens have range. You must have always seen zoom lens. The word "zoom" is miss- understood by many. Zoom doesn't mean that you get a telephoto view but you get the range.
So the lenses that I have are:
18-50mm - normal zoom lens
75-30mm - telephoto zoom lens
50mm normal fixed lens
I took 50mm because it picture quality is superior. In general, fixed lens give better quality result to their zoom lens counterparts.
There are specialized lens too: like Macro lens, etc. Macro is for minute objects, like flowers, insects, fine marking on the leaves, etc.
Read this: http://web.canon.jp/imaging/enjoydslr/part3/3A.html

3. "WHat if i dont buy a lens immediately and buy it later.... what are the things I wont be able to do without these lenses?"

You can start-off good with 18-50mm, with standard photographs of trips, people, landscape, mountains, etc, etc, Its one of the most used range. And when you feel the need to a telephoto then buy a 75-300mm ($200) or a professional 100-400mm IS($1500). You will feel the need when u want to click flower details(macro lens), birds, wildlife, telephoto shot of a scene. I got my Canon 350D in May 2005, purchased the telephoto lens in Jan 2006.

I would also suggest you to look into Canon S5IS. When you see Canon S5IS is 12x zoom, it has a 38-450mm equivalent lens, it has a great range (zoom) and its telephoto end is awesome, fabulous Macro mood and super-macro mode, where you click great details of flower et al. But its missing the wide-angle range, it does have a wide-angle attachment. As a whole I was pretty impressed with S5IS. But its not an SLR, and you cannot achieve the SLR type quality in this camera. Also, do you really need that high quality?

The main feature of SLR is that lens can be changed. But, it also is the draw-back. You will have to change lens for different kind of shoots. For example when you are out for a trip to a scenic mountain place, you have 4 items to shoot:
1. Great mountain range landscape (20mm) or (17mm)
2. Silhouette of a lone tree in background of sunset(20mm) or (200mm) as per your framing
3. Great flowers on the ground. Nice macro shot (50mm) or (macro lens 90/100mm)
4. A bird sitting on the tree top (200/300/400/600mm)
All these photo can be achieved with 18-50mm lens, when you not too detailed about photography like correct frame etc. Forget bird shots with 18-50mm, unless the birds are in captivation.

4. "This might be a very basic question but wanted to get the funda cleared in anycase."
Phhheww, that was some details I have given you here. This thread is surely going in my blog... I ain't be typing this all over again.

Hope these detailing clears most of your question. Feel free to ask question till you get the answer that you want, coz I have gone through these question in 2004-2005, before finalizing on putting some Rs,60,000+ on Canon EOS 350D in May 2005 :)

Conclusion:
1. Get Canon 400D, if you want great quality, and planning for inclination to photography, ready to spend of future specialized lens (macro, tele, etc). Want large prints
2. Get S5IS, if you want an all-in-one solution. Good quality is fine, I don't want great quality. Want readily macro, tele, etc. Video recording inside the camera, etc. Get a 4GB memory and u are done! :)

Regards,
Pramod

On Nov 17, 2007 3:42 AM, Amruta Bhogale wrote:

So does this mean that the SLR cant click good pictures without the lens? The lens that you mentioned below are they a must? Is there no in built lens? what is the purpose of these lenses ? zoom ? distance photography? clarity? I am kinda confused. WHat if i dont buy a lens immediately and buy it later.... what are the things I wont be able to do without these lenses? This might be a very basic question but wanted to get the funda cleared in anycase.

AMu

On Nov 16, 2007 3:22 PM, Pramod Goggi <pramodgoggi@gmail.com> wrote:

Canon EOS 400D (in US called as Canon EOS Rebel XTi) 10MP, is the successor of Canon EOD 350D (Rebel XT) 8MP, is the camera that I have with 3 lens.

I have been using Canon 400D and its an awesome camera, and no doubts that you can get any better camera at that price. Its the cheapest SLR camera for amateur and professionals.

Go with the kit lens 18-50mm, or if you are getting a good deal go with the 17-40mm L series lens, that is around $250.

So basically with SLR you will get outstanding picture quality, but you will have to get different lens for different zooms. I have a 50mm (fixed lens), 18-50mm and 75-300mm, all Canon lens. 300mm end is still less zoom for me during wildlife photography.

Note: With SLR's there is no video recording possible. On screen shooting view in not available you will have to see it through viewfinder.

I would also suggest you to see Canon powershot S5IS as it has great zoom (38mm-410mm) IS lens. For me to get a IS lens (100mm-400mm IS) is costing somewhere like $1500. But the quality of DSLR is surely superior.

On Nov 16, 2007 9:58 PM, Amruta Bhogale <amruta.bhogale@gmail.com> wrote:

hey I am buying a canon 400D slr . I am not sure of the 18-50 mm lens.
Over all i wanted your review on both. I have researched and found out that the above lens that comes with the camera if taken as a kit is not of very good quality. Please reply wanted to know your views also.

Amu

--
Regards,
Pramod Goggi

pramodgoggi@gmail.com | www.goggi.net

--
Regards,
Pramod Goggi

pramodgoggi@gmail.com | www.goggi.net

"This, too, shall pass" from my best friends wedding

A stirring scene from the movie "My best friends wedding", starring Julia Roberts. One of my favorite shot and I call it the "This, too, shall pass" shot.

I found these dialogs really interesting:
1. "See, I'm a dangerous, criminal person. I do bad things to honest people. This, see, this smoking? Tip of the iceberg."
2. " Make a citizen's arrest, I won't struggle. It'll be like getting Al Capone on tax evasion."
3. "This, too, shall pass"

This is the sequence where Julianne (Julia Roberts) has tried her best to break Micheal's marriage (her best friend), and realizes that in this process she has got Micheal into trouble.

---------

Micheal:   Please?

She nods, stumbles out of her room, closing the door behind her.
Now she's in the empty corridor, clutching her big jumbled bag,
sinking down to sit on the carpet, her back against the door.

She doesn't look elated.  She seems frightened, distraught, and
most of all, confused.  Because she can't understand why.  She digs
absently through her bag.  Cigarettes.  Box of matches.

She lights up.  Draws deeply.  Somehow, she seems near tears, and
laughs bitterly at that.  Shakes her head at how fucked-up she finds
herself.  Squeaking wheels approach, but she is too lost to hear them.

   BELLMAN
     Miss, are you locked out,
     or something?

She looks up.  A small, wiry man of nearly 60, in a slightly faded
but neatly-kept uniform.  On his cart, a ton of bags.

   JULIANNE
     No, I just stepped out, because...
     it's a non-smoking room.

And inhales deeply.  Leans back against the door, to look up at him
more comfortably.

   BELLMAN
      (politely)
     Well, it's non-smoking floor,
     too.  Maybe you could go to the...

   JULIANNE
      (seriously)
     Why don't you have me arrested?

That wasn't sarcastic.  He doesn't know what to say.

   JULIANNE
     I mean that.  Arrested, convicted,
     put in solitary.

Another puff.

   JULIANNE
     See, I'm a dangerous, criminal
     person.  I do bad things to
     honest people.  This, see, this
     smoking?  Tip of the iceberg.

Waves her hand.

   JULIANNE
     Make a citizen's arrest, I won't
     struggle.  It'll be like getting
     Al Capone on tax evasion.

Now she seems angry.  But not at him.  Her eyes fill with tears.

   BELLMAN
     Can I... Can I help you, miss?

She squints at his nameplate.

   JULIANNE
     Do you smoke, Richard?

   BELLMAN
     Yes, ma'am, I do, but it's...

   JULIANNE
     ... a non-smoking floor, yeah.
     Well, you know what?

And she takes the cigarette from her lips.  Turns it around, holds
it out to him.  Go ahead.  He doesn't move.  Please! And so...

... he reaches down, takes the cigarette from her hand.  Staring in
her eyes, he takes a deep drag.  Savors an expert nostril-inhale of
his exhaled smoke.  Hands the cigarette back to her...

   BELLMAN
     My grandmother always said,
     "This, too, shall pass."

She swallows.  Wipes at her eyes.  Finds a smile.

   JULIANNE
     Thanks, Richard.  If you weren't
     on duty, I'd buy you a drink.

He just nods.  She waves.  He waves back, pushes his cart down the
--------
hall. 

White Balance

You have understood what exposure means, you started setting your own shutter speed and aperture values. You heard about white balance, color temperature and color balance, and you wonder how do I handle it during the shooting itself, rather than a post-processing. Some link you to guide you through.

http://tinyurl.com/3aansv
http://tinyurl.com/2kww5e
http://tinyurl.com/bpaow

About lighting: www.webphotoschool.com
About photoflex: www.photoflex.com

How to Photograph birds

With my Canon 350D + 75-300mm (non-IS lens) the bird snap that I click are ordinary, nothing too special, and are less ordinary when left uncropped. I can't afford a 500mm or 600mm f/4 lens or any teleconverter. What should I do... I am using a tripod... don't help me much with the unsharp end of the 75-300mm.

Some tips around here:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/birds.htm

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/photographing-birds/

http://www.naturephotographers.net

Great forum:

http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vf16

I believe this man has done some great job:

http://www.birdphotographs.co.uk/

Good collection:

http://www.outdoorphoto.com/photos/showgallery.php/cat/all/si/bird

Ultra-zoom lens --> IS --> MLU

Its time you are photo-shooting wildlife / birds and you want extremely sharp pictures. What do you need as you arsenal? You need lots and lots of money :) to get a fabulous 400mm / 500mm / 600mm lens, with a 1.4x or 2x converter. Great! Good to start.

This is when you read this reviews!!!!

IS lens tips:
http://www.poelking.com/wbuch/scharf/index_e.htm
Parent website: http://www.poelking.com
Most interesting thing is image sharpness increase with the Mirror lock-up (mlu) feature! So basically when the mirror moves-up it create vibrations that may shake the clicked photograph... Hmmm I need to start doing this often!

More on Mirror Lock Up:
photo.net/photo/nature/mlu.html
A clear eye-opener!!!

Carry a good tripod:
http://tinyurl.com/2hdefc

Do I really need an IS:
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009TC5

Reality of photo resizing: Some amazing facts

I belief this article is reserved for photographer those who want to go as pros.

Have you ever tried to enlarge your photos to large / huge prints and wondered why was the photo all pixel-prone. Well the link below will give the reason and the solution. Keep it a secret, its not for everyone :)

That is the 72 DPI crap that has always given you the problem, its the difference between monitor and high quality prints. Always keep your images as 300dpi.. Well, read on...

Reality of photo resizing

50 tips for better outdoor photos

This is a preview of a book. I liked the tips
http://www.gafneyphoto.com/Free7.htm

Some essentials on DOP (Depth of focus)

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/25485.html

Also keep a watch on this site for good tips:
http://www.completedigitalphotography.com/

MOTO SLVR L7

These sites will give you explanations on what you need to install themes/skins

http://forum2.mobile-review.com/showthread.php?t=16917
http://www.66mobile.com/how-to-install-themes-skins-on-motorola-phones.html
http://www.slvrhackers.net/home/index.php
http://www.motomodders.net/
http://www.themotoguide.com/

Good Digital photography tutorials online

http://www.geofflawrence.com/photography_tutorials.htm

Reference for CVS commands

http://durak.org/cvswebsites/doc/cvs_toc.php#SEC_Contents

Mozilla command line arguments

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Command_line_arguments

Reference for Linux quick commands

http://www.pixelbeat.org/cmdline.html

New Year 2007 visit to Kelshi beach

New Year's visit to Kelshi beach and Mahabaleshwar on the 31st eve.

Photo link below

From Kelshi

red.com

Amazing new technology digital cameras

www.red.com

Thanks kapil for sharing this link with me

Top 10 Techniques for Better Pictures
Making beautiful photographs involves nothing more than a bit of thought. While it often helps to have decent equipment, all you really need is to take a moment before each shot to think clearly about what you are attempting to capture or create.

The following guidelines are intended to help novice, non-artistic, and/or non-technical picture-takers immediately improve their photography.
If you would like to:
Bring home much more pleasing memories from your travels;
Make more artistic portraits of your family, pets, or friends;
Be satisfied and excited instead of disappointed every time you look at your photos; or
Simply enjoy the process of making pictures more;
Then read, study, and implement these simple guidelines.
Top 10 Beginning Photography Tips

1. Move in closer
2. Be quick
3. Compose with care
4. Be selective
5. Focus on your subject
6. Experiment in time
7. Look at the light
8. Watch the weather
9. Keep it simple
10. Be Bold


Beginning Photography Tip #1:
Move in Closer

Each time you spot a subject, snap a shot and then move in closer for a better shot. Having your subject almost fill the frame helps your viewer understand and appreciate your photo. Also, details are often more interesting than an overall view.
Keep moving in closer until you are sure the photo will successfully represent your subject.

Beginning Photography Tip #2:
Be Quick

If it is at all possible that your subject may move, bolt, fly away, stop smiling, or just get tired of waiting for you to take the picture, shoot once right away.
Practice getting quicker and quicker to the draw.
Do not worry about taking too many pictures and do not wait until you're absolutely certain all the knobs and buttons are in their correct position.
As the motto of one of BetterPhoto old t-shirts states, "Shoot First, Ask Questions Later."

Beginning Photography Tip #3:
Compose Your Picture with Care

Even if you don't plan on selling your photo to the Smithsonian, make every effort to keep it balanced and beautiful. On one level or another, everyone responds better to a picture that has all elements in balance.
Strive to lead the eye along an interesting path through the photo, with the use of strong lines or patterns.
Keep the horizon level;
Crop out extra elements that you are not interested in (more on this is the next tip);
Consciously place your subject where you think it most belongs rather than just accepting it wherever it happens to land in the photo;
Play with perspective so that all lines show a pattern or lead the eye to your main subject;
Work with the Rule of Thirds.


Beginning Photography Tip #4:
Be Selective

Discern what you are really interested in and center your efforts on getting the best photo of this subject, whether it a still life, your funny cat, your doggy, a friend, a family matter, a mood, a place or culture.
Then be sure to keep anything that would distract out of the picture. The easiest way to do this is to watch your borders - the edges of the view you see through the camera's viewfinder. Then recompose if anything - such as an unattractive telephone wire, an old soda can, a distracting sign, your finger, or your camera strap - hangs into your picture.
It can become more difficult if you want to, say, shoot a San Francisco cable car without a single distracting telephone line. But even in such a difficult case, you have many options.
You can:
Focus in on a close-up that tells the whole story;
Move around until you arrange the telephone lines into a neat pattern that leads to the subject; or
Take a panning shot that makes the cable car remain in focus while the background goes blurry.

Beginning Photography Tip #5:
Focus on Your Subject

Practice shooting with different apertures and monitor the results afterwards to learn how depth-of-field affects your photo.
You will find that a smaller depth-of-field (and smaller f-stop #) focuses all the attention upon your subject. This is great for taking a picture of your child, your dog, or your husband - subjects stand out against a blurry background.
Likewise, you will find that a greater depth-of-field (bigger f-stop number) will make everything from here to eternity appear in focus. This will help make those landscapes fascinating and lovely.

Beginning Photography Tip #6:
Experiment with Shutter Speed

One of the most basic, overlooked, and fun aspects of photography is that you have the power to slow time down or catch a split second.
One image happens so slowly that we could never see it and the other happens so quickly in real time that we would never notice it. Play with shutter speed!
Use a slow shutter speed and a tripod to make a pretty picture of any creek or stream. On the other hand, you can use a fast shutter speed (1/500 and up) to capture an object in motion.
Combining a fast shutter speed with a long lens, you sports buffs can get a trophy of your own when you are able to catch the expression on your favorite runningback's face as he slips past the final defense toward a winning touchdown. Remember, catching the moment in fast-paced action photography may take a little more practice so hang in there.

Beginning Photography Tip #7:
Look at the Light

By this, I don't mean look into the sun - no, that won't do at all. But it is good to see what kind of light you are working with. Which way are the shadows falling? Unless you want a silhouette effect, where your subject is black against an interesting background, it's generally best to shoot with the sun behind you.
How is the light affecting your subject? Is the subject squinting?
Is the light blazing directly and brightly upon your whole subject? This works well if you are in love with the bold colors of your subject.
Side lighting, on the other hand, can add drama but can also cause extreme, hard-to-print contrasts.
Lastly, indirect light can be used to make your subject glow soft and pretty.

Beginning Photography Tip #8:
Watch the Weather, Too

Look outside and decide whether or not you are going to want to have the sky in your picture.
If it's overcast, simply keep the sky out of your pictures as much as possible. This is usually the best way to avoid both muted tones in your subject and washed-out skies in your background. You might also find black and white pictures of an overcast day more pleasing than color.
When the day is beautiful, go ahead and make the most of it.
If your camera allows for the use of filters, purchase a polarizer. This will help you render deep blue skies against bright white clouds, richly contrasting colors, and other wonderful effects with a simple twist of the wrist.

Beginning Photography Tip #9:
Keep Your Camera Settings Simple

While you may wish to have "all the bells and whistles" available just in case, you will probably get the best results if you do not try to use them all the time and instead learn a simple set up that works best for you in most situations.
This doesn't necessarily mean keeping your camera set on "Program" - while this mode may be perfect in its simplicity, it may be frustrating in its tyrannical control.
Instead of relying on a fully automatic program, pick a simple, semi-automatic program such as aperture-priority and master shooting in that mode. Then, you'll be able to control certain basics without letting the other basics control you, and thus keep that 150 page manual where it belongs - in your camera bag.
Tip: if you want one accessory, bring a tripod. This one item can solve camera shake issues and help you get beautiful evening shots.


Beginning Photography Tip #10:
Be Bold

Don't allow yourself to be paralyzed by fears of using the wrong settings, or an non-politically-correct social policy.
If you are afraid of upsetting someone by taking their picture, just go up and ask if it's okay. Ask them to sign a release and offer a print in return.
With wildlife, adopt a low-impact method when you go places where few photographers have gone before. For the above photos, I put my camera and telephoto in a waterproof bag and kayaked out into Monterey Bay. (Lawyer-talk: This can be dangerous - so be careful.)

Be wise... but be bold.