chrisnobbs-blog - Tumblr blog

[chrisnobbs-blog]

Amsterdam in October?

Think October is in need of a trip...

"photography is also highly represented with at least 2 museums: FOAM (Photography Museum of Amsterdam) and the Huis Marseille Museum for Photography" - http://goo.gl/0diid

Amsterdam Festivals in October - http://goo.gl/bd8MA

iAmAmsterdam - http://goo.gl/WvwIK

[chrisnobbs-blog]

"Ramesh Raskar presents femto-photography, a new type of imaging so fast it visualizes the world one trillion frames per second, so detailed it shows light itself in motion. This technology may someday be used to build cameras that can look "around" corners or see inside the body without X-rays" @youtube

[chrisnobbs-blog]

The guys at Corona Extra obviously like the idea of a whole lime in there...

[chrisnobbs-blog]

Thanks Apple For Being You

So, i was looking to upgrade my macbook to the latest release of mountain lion as i'm still on snow leopard 10.6.8, and didn't like the buggy issues coming out of lion (hence waiting for mountain lion 10.8) So i'm running 64bit in 10.6.8 and all my software, yet mountain lion is saying that my machine is not compatible...

so let me get this straight, my macbook, which out-specs 99% of my friends new release macbook pros, macbook's and some imacs, is not good enough?!

I'm running Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz processors with 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, a 500GB 7200rpm HDD and external LED 24" samsung display, but the issue is my graphics apparently... GMA X3100 (32bit) isn't compatible with mountain lion! Grrr, Yet my friends (always breaking down) new release white 2ghz 2GB 500GB/5400rpm macbook will run mountain lion without a problem!

You know you need to upgrade when Apple kick you off the upgrade lader, i remember the change over from G5 to Intel. That sucked alot! So now i need to find a spare £2000+ to replace my apparently outdated un-upgradable macbook 4,1 and get a simular spec model of its class...

Thank you Apple, thanks alot

[chrisnobbs-blog]

Internet Paranoia

So i'm not the most paranoid person in the world, but i like to make sure that i'm safe at all times when using my computer regardless of what OS i'm using. To begin with, i have one login on all my machines, with a homemade password that uses at least one capital, number, symbol etc and is at least 16 characters.

(Made a primary code for passwords based on a series of numbers and equations related to the item or website i'm logging into. I don't need to remember any passwords, just the code i created and the name of the place i'm logging into. The correct password is the solution followed by a series of digits and symbols)

If your not sure on what to set for your passwords, or how to make your own little code, check out this Strong Password Generator make sure to read some of the guidelines to get an understanding of how important it is to set strong non-dictionary passwords. 

Next i make sure that all my external HDDs are encrypted using a minimum of AES-Twofish encryption. You can use a variety of programs across each platform to create high level encryptions, the most popular appears to be TrueCrypt, open-source disk encryption software for win/mac/linux. It's up to you if you want to create hidden partitions and how you want to mount the drives.

I'm not going to share what partition setups, encryptions, browsers and software i use, rather just point you in the right direction.

Once you have encrypted your HDDs, look at securing some of those pesky incoming connections... A highly recommended connection monitor would be LittleSnitch It may also be a good idea to enable the firewall and enter stealth mode if using OSX. (Always you make sure you select the lock on OSX to prevent further changes from being made [note: also prevents outsider changes without your strong login/master password] )

Many use Chrome as their default browser now, perhaps consider looking at the Tor Project for maximum security. I also always carry a USB with Tails installed on my keys (never know when your going to need to check some important files or emails on someone else's unsecured computer)

Some other things to look into is running an installation of Linux on your computer, some people prefer more compact versions that can be installed on datasticks and leave no trace on the computer of it ever being there after shutting down, such as PuppyLinux when set up to install on the users RAM (Also carry a copy of this on my live USB on my keys). A mini computer in your pocket essentially with all your files. 

Also check out the latest release of Ubuntu. LXDE and XFCE versions are available in the form of Lubuntu and Xubuntu. All are open-source and open to donations rather than charging the user. You can dual boot any of these or clean install

Further reading:

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

http://www.intowindows.com/winusb-maker-utility-to-create-backup-and-restore-bootable-usb/

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

[chrisnobbs-blog]

Check out some of the work from one of my favorite fashion photographers, Tim Walker and his images of Kate Moss. Not too sure about the negative image (image 6) on the list. I just feel that with the other images in there, that one really doesn't need to be there, and for me really disturbs the flow of imagery. Maybe the editor was looking to pad out some space? 

"Kate Moss stars in Love Magazine‘s Fall 2012 centerpiece editorial Waltz Darling, as captured by Tim Walker.  Katie Grand styles the supermodel in Valentino, Vivienne Westwood, Givenchy, Balmain, Vionnet and more while makeup by Val Garland and hair by Malcolm Edwards combines to convey the stately elegance of the pictorial.  Below are some of our favorites from this stunning editorial."

Click here to see the full article and the rest of the images

[chrisnobbs-blog]

100% GoPro movie

For those that don't know, I've been making a short 3:19 movie shot on a GoPro HD Hero2. A mini GoPromo to see how I get on with the camera before returning the rental, and to decide if I want to buy one in the next week or two. The movie is predominantly skating, skateboarding, motocross, sports bikes, diving, cliff jumping with abit of random short snappy scenes shot with a friend's dogs.

I'm going to be uploading the video on vimeo in the coming days, just ironing out a few tweaks with the intro and the flow with the music I have selected. At least with this short, people can see what the GoPro cameras are like with minimal editing and correction. Whats annoying more than anything is people buying GoPros, then mounting them on their motorcycles and going for a 30 minute ride to the shops and back, and for the most part the cameras a re poorly mounted and its hard to tell if they are worth the purchase.

On the flip side the GoPro promotional video has obviously been edited professionally and most viewers are distracted by the sheer awesomness of the content and forget to look at the quality. So here's why my movie differs from the rest; I wanted to put the camera in as many situations as I could and edit it down to under five minutes so people can really see what the cameras are like in situations that don't cost half a million to get into. How many of us can afford to hire a redbull x fighter plane and go shooting for the day? Or go surfing with the pros in the clear waters and clean waves? Not many, that's for sure. Whereas what I have filmed are activities people do everyday and is affordable to those that want to try them.

All feedback is appreciated when I upload the video please don't hesitate to pass comment

Christo

[chrisnobbs-blog]

Once a scene has been graded and colour corrected premier seems to take a while to render. For those that don't know grading and corecting when talking about colours in movies are two different things. Colour correcting is fine tuning your colours in the scene, for example, RGB and you might need to apply a slight tint and sort out your white balance, depeneds how deep you want to go into it. You could write essays on colour correction. Where as colour grading is changing a colour in the scene, for emaple, if you want all your green grass to be purple you would grade the colours. If you wanted to put a slight yellow tint to a scene to make it look warmer, that would be classed as colour correction. The problem with the GoPro cameras is when you start a scene and you film your colour card and white balance sheet, the auto white balance and exposure functions kick in and work nice, then when you shoot the scene the auto mode changes everything, so you have to make sure your back ground is in the frame when shooting the test cards, then in premier dial those settings back in on the actual scene you are using. Takes a few more minutes to do, but makes all the difference when your shots are well balanced. Sometimes if shooting a long scene you need to fade in and out different colour settings. I will upload a tutorial at some point for those GoPro users that want to fine tune their shots. All in all though, the GoPro cameras auto settings arnt too far out due to the heavy fisheye they have and the lack of long rolling scenes from dark to light and tungsten to fluorescent...

[chrisnobbs-blog]

So for those of you that don't know me or about me, I've had a dark couple of months and now its time to kick ass and get back on it, so a good friend of mine lent me a GoPro HD Hero2 for a few days, and I've started making a 100% only GoPro movie. The movie is around 3:19 and is very fast paced. Just spent the last week or so editing and I got more to do, just trying to grade and colour correct the final sequence, problem is that GoPro cameras are fully automatic, no manual settings for exposure and white balance. Little bit annoying and makes all my white balance prefilm shots worthless... Nevertheless, here's a screen grab waiting for premier to render the files...

Note: why is instagram down res the photos so heavily on the android based devices, yet the iPhone users keep the full resolution images?! please fix #instagram boys

[chrisnobbs-blog]

Going to start using tumblr a lot more as a blogging platform for photo/video chat, interesting links, some photos I take and everynow and then a good old rant about something. There is no personal and professional, its just my thoughts scribbled down on my phone and stuck on Tumblr. PS. Went MX racing on Saturday, was epic

[chrisnobbs-blog]

Taken with instagram

[chrisnobbs-blog]

West Kernow Motorcycle Engineers (Taken with instagram)

[chrisnobbs-blog]

View from the front room window (Taken with instagram)

[chrisnobbs-blog]

Sorry its been a while, been really busy with sorting out some CAD drawings, updating websites, shooting some commercial stuff bla bla bla. anyway, heres a very long overdue update of the tumblr blog... 

[chrisnobbs-blog]

Check out this months professional photographer magazine, the Dench Diaries, Peter Dench comes to a London Exhibition titled 'Retrospect' (That myself and a few other people organised), a collective of Falmouth Universities graduating BA(Hons) Press & Editorial Students, and featured some of my work from my latest project 'Me & Your Old Man Were Never Meant To Play The Guitar', a series of intimate portraits of 'REAL' motorcyclists in the South West.

[chrisnobbs-blog]

ALCHEMYcreative - vimeo.com/22457028

 A Great video from Alchemy Creative, well worth a watch. Very Inspiring, check it out...