JPEGmini - photos on diet?

As long as I can remember, we have been trying to make digital photos smaller for faster on line uploading or when emailing them to friends.

For a long long time, JPEG is the default format that everyone use.

According to Wikipedia:

In computing, JPEG ( /ˈdʒeɪpɛɡ/ jay-peg) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital photography (image). The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality.

I remember fondly, in the early days of internet; the fastest way to break a friendship was to email them a 2 to 3 MB picture ;) A sure way to stuff up their email "in box" too!

Now a day you can easily re-size your photos by compressing them on line, the last time I Google "resize photos"; I got SIX MILLION hits!

There are literally hundreds of FREE sites that you can upload your pictures and get back a resized copy within seconds!

F2 Short Tele On E-P2

There are 3 short tele among my collection of manual focus prime lenses, all of them are from the F2.0 family of short tele; in the good old film-era, they were the perfect portraiture optics!

The three short tele lenses of F2 vintage, from top; the Nikon 135/2. On the left, the compact Nikon 85/2 and right, the Leica Summicron 90/2.

Diagram of decreasing apertures, that is, increasing f-numbers, in one-stop increments; each aperture has half the light gathering area of the previous one.

From the diagram I hope you realise an F2 (f/2) lens is a very bright, "large aperture" lens ;)

I had wanted to test these three primes on my E-P2 for portraits ages ago, but I cannot find a photogenic model who will pose for this cheap skate photographer F.O.C.! Ha ha ha...

Chef Wan Craze In Wellington!

Media Release way back on 20 June 2011...

Malaysian night market comes to Wellington
There’s good news in store for Kiwis who know and love the bright lights, smells and excitement of the night markets so familiar throughout Asia.

Malaysia Kitchen is bringing New Zealand’s capital city its very own Malaysian night market
as part of this year’s Visa Wellington On a Plate festivities.

The special Malaysia Kitchen Night Market is taking place on Sunday 21 August in Opera
House Lane.

With free entry and dishes priced from $5, visitors can experience the best of authentic
Malaysian street food produced by some of Wellington’s best-loved Malaysian restaurants.

Why Snow White, Not?

I remember fondly those younger days when I was the Manager for "Focus", which was at 3, Penang Road; Penang.

Focus was founded by the famous Penang lawyer, Lim Kean Siew.

Apart from our roaring duty free sales, Focus also operate the largest colour developing and printing (D&P) lab in North Malaysia. In the early 70s the lab monopolised nearly 80% of the colour prints business in Penang!

A very large percentage of our customers were Aussies from the RAAF base in Butterworth.

The shop was also a stone throw from E&O Hotel where we get plenty of urgent D&P work from the tourists.

We Got Snowed In!!

Karori, Tuesday August 16

I took half a day off yesterday because it started snowing! Just as well too, by the time we got home; the falling snow got heavier and heavier. By 6 pm we knew we will not be able going to work tomorrow!

Why can't we go to work?

If you live in Wellington, you will know why; Wellington is hilly and thousands of Wellingtonian's live on hilly terrain, driving down the hill on a snow covered road is not exactly safe ;)

This is what greet me when I open our French sliding door this morning. Notice the partially snow cover road?

Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

This is what it look like outside our house in Karori at 5.15 pm!

We settle down in Karori in 1988 and this is the first time it snow like this :)

This is our sloppy garden on the side of our house... Christmas come early ;)

World Press Photo in town again!

WPP 2011 winning picture. You can see all the winning pictures here.

The World Press Photo 11 exhibition is in Wellington again.

Last year we did not go to the opening but decided to attend this year.

The invitation card say the opening is from 5.30 pm to 7 pm, not wanting to be late; I left work early and pick up Le General at 5 pm and we were at the entrance of the Academy of Fine Arts by 5.10 pm.

Imagine our surprise that we just walk straight into the gallery hall without being stop or welcome!