Came out last Tuesday...

buy a graduated neutral density filter. What it does is block out light from the top (not necessarily top, but usually how it works) of the image, so that if you're shooting clouds/sunlight/etc... it will dim that while keeping the bottom part (ground, usually) well lit

Or do multiple exposures and merge to HDR.

Shooting in RAW format you don't even have to do multiple exposures really.

yeah, you do need multiple exposures. The dynamic range of the best sensors is still kind of pathetic. Most DSLRs have a "bracketed exposure" setting that is perfect for getting the input images to an HDR process.

If you are willing to take the time (e.g. because the composition is awesome and you want the picture to come out as good as possible) then HDR rocks. I haven't done HDR myself but I've seen the results over on flickr.

Yes, raw images have more bits per color (typically 12 vs 8? I don't remember now) but that doesn't buy you as much leeway as a bracketed image + HDR.

Yeah, bracketing is def better than 1 raw image. Raw has a higher dynamic range than a normal jpeg (can't remember how many stops atm) but if you want epic HDR, bracketing is the way to go. Memory is so cheap, no excuse not to shoot a ton of exposures.

Yes it is goot

or pay someone to do this for you. Once you get used to being able to carry your entire music library (or close to it) everywhere you go it is hard to go back to CDs.

Tip, err on the side of quality when selecting MP3 compression parameters. E.g. a bitrate above 200kbps. Memory gets cheaper every day and it is nice to have better quality sound.

I listened to it ~10 times within the first few days of getting it and thought it was amazing. Then I listened to it after a bowl or two and was completely blown away - its just so ****ing brilliant

MPeth, you get my PM?

I went with AAC and 192 bitrate. IIRC anything above 192 doesn't make much difference.

ahhhh, thank you for the reminder. just got it a few minutes ago and I'm loving the hell out of it thus far. very groove

WTF BUMP!!

Speaking of music. Listening to the new Muse right now. I Muse.

Oddly, some of this sounds a lot more like Queen than their older stuff. Not sure how I feel about that.

I just saw Muse in concert this past weekend - great show. However, whenever they played their new stuff the crowd just kinda stood around waiting for the next song. Overall though, they are great performers - tons of lasers and some crazy live camera feeds on giant screens, etc.

**** you, that **** is so played out. Probably 5% of the HDR i see are actually tastefully done, most of it is taking an awful picture and making it look like some avatar bull**** with funky colors.

Mono flared up after a month of feeling fine, i have barely been able to get out of bed, much less play poker.

Gonna go listen to the gorillaz album while i lay in bed complaining like the little bitch i am

Sweet! They are coming here in April but I never bought tickets. Still thinking about trying to pick some up. They seem like they would be cool live.

Damn! That is the most worked up I have every seen you lol.

Yeah, it definitely comes down to taste, but just because you are using HDR techniques doesn't mean you have to make it fake looking. You could still increase the range of the pic without going crazy.

Hope you feel better soon.

haha, just playing, i mean i definitely don't like HDR, but don't sweat the attitude

TY, i feel like a chick in menopause...covers on, covers off, covers on, covers off...sweating in the shower, freezing under the blanket.

I'm being melodramatic like a chick in menopause as well...this is probably karma because my Mono had been super minor the first few months, so I was kind of "Psst, listen to all of these weaklings talk about how awful their mono was, mine is fine! I am strong like ox!"...

I have a poker friend, who keep sending me all these bad beats, and all I keep thinking is that every hand he overplays and I am only seeing the "coolers" and not the time the guy folded. I tried to talk to him about it, but he just keep pointing to how bad he is running.

Tommy Angelo on bad beats (8 fold path episode 8?)

---

I don't really post bad beat hand histories much. I occasionally post brief bad beat descriptions (<whine> I got zeeboed by quads 3 times this week, whaaaaaa</whine>). Regardless of how few bad beats I post, I definitely experience a lot of bad beats. By this I mean I think of a lot of my hands as bad beats. Per the 8-F-P, it is a goal of mine to reduce the number of hands that I think of as bad beats or coolers to 0.

When I can lose to quad over quad where I have quads on the flop and villain runner runners to make better quads and not think of this as a bad beat, I will be Kwai Chang Cain of poker



I know I will still think of a lot of my future 2010 hands as bad beats but hopefully this number will go way down from 2009. (exact same cards -- different perception).

yeah, I tried to point out to him that he creates his own coolers and he may have some leaks and he just can't get past how much bad luck he has.

obviously online poker is rigged

He is at a fork in the road. One path, you just have to complain that you run bad. Not your fault, nothing you can do. Easy.

Second path, you can work on your game, fix your leaks, maximize your value and minimize your loss each hand. Lots of work, takes a long time. Hard.

Any surprise which one he chooses?

While the second path exerts influence over your long term results, it still have no impact on luck. Some people will run very bad over their entire life. Even if you are one of these people though, changing your perception of coolers can make a big difference.

Most people who feel the need to vent about a bad beat have the need because of emotional attachment to the hand in question.

Inherent in your idea of plugging leaks and playing better is the idea that crushing the game will make beats easier to take. While that is true, attacking the issue of how we react to beats can be very valuable.

NOTE: I'm not disagreeing, just droning on about the mental game

That's alright, we're just practicing to annoy the youngsters droning on about stuff in the future.

My children don't like to hear about the stories of there only being 4 channels of TV and how excited I was when a fifth channel went live, let alone that cartoons were only on Saturday morning.

I had to walk 2 miles to school in the snow, uphill both ways, but that's another story.

im telling my kids that i took a helicopter to school...just so they dont have to hear that nonsense story about snowy hills =)