In 2009 when Rachel and I spent 3 weeks in the Pacific Northwest I took a few photos that required some additional post-processing. I started that work back then but life got in the way and they’ve stayed in a work-in-progress folder on my computer for years. I figured I might as well throw them out there as-is since they most likely won’t get any farther.
Animated gif of some fancy hulahoop dancing.
Panorama of the Seattle skyline.
Panorama of Devils Lake in the Northern Cascades.
Seattle skyline HDR from the needle at sunset. Seattle skyline HDR from the needle at sunset #2.
I made it to the 27th RIT Big Shot. The venue would have been perfect for the whole family this time but we felt everybody is still a little young to be out that late during the week since so they had to sit this one out.
This is hands down the most people I’ve seen at a Big Shot yet. The D&C is reporting somewhere around 1500 but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more than that. The entire SeaBreeze park was packed, It seemed like there were hundreds of people assigned to each of the lighting areas.
As always, the picture was online before I had a chance to check (ya gotta love Digital Photography).
If you’ve been plagued by the following errors ever since upgrading to iOS5:
This photo can’t be saved because of a problem with the photo’s file properties.
Photo Gallery couldn’t update this file: Error code: (0x80070057)
Fret no more, relief is here!
After much investigationthe root cause is erroneous white-space characters in the XMP block of the image files.
The first step to fixing this problem is to
Stop taking pictures with the volume button!
No, this is not a solution but the problem seems to happen more frequently for images taken with the volume up button than images take win the shutter release on-screen button. Therefor, avoiding the volume button seems like a good idea. Next,
Fix the Images which already have the issue!
Lots of work-arounds have been posted for when you discover the problem when editing a particular image, however; the issue may surface down the road on images you have not previously edited. For me, fixing the issue only on the images I attempted to edit was not a good solution. I wanted an all-or-nothing fix.
I’ve written a small Java utility which will scan over an entire directory (or a directory of directories, or a directory of directories of directories, etc) and fix the issue on any images which have it. The full source code is available on Google Code (yes I still live in 2009, but at least it’s using mercurial). It will not touch images which do not have the issue.
Assuming you already have a Java JRE installed, bring up a command prompt and enter the following command:
NOTE: This command will not edit existing files. This is the safe mechanism to fixing your images. Rather than fixing the originals, it makes copies and fixes the copies (named appropriately).
If you would like to fix the error by editing the existing files simply add a true at the end of the commandline.
That’s it. You’ve now fixed the issue! Yay! <insert-mini-celebration-here/>
The Catch
You’ve fixed the images with the pre-existing issue, but the bug still exists in the latest release of iOS (5.1 as of this post).
For now, you’ll have to run the utility over any files you import. I’ve still found the issue on a few photos I’ve imported even since I stopped using the volume button.
I’ve reported the issue to Apple but haven’t yet heard back. If you want this issue fixed permanently I suggest you do the same:
I’m a timelapse junkie. I like creating them, I like watching them, I find (good ones) absolutely stunning. Not sure when this started but it is what it is.
Recently I’ve noticed a whole slew of them popping up on the ‘tubes and I thought I’d share a few of the good ones. You’ve probably seen at least one or two of them. I can watch them all over and over again though, and I’d bet I”m not the only one.
My favorite (pictured below) is the picture of Core Memory. You can essentially picture this as the grandfather of flash memory today (the stuff you stick in your digital camera or phone). Technology is insane.
I get asked all the time if I have any camera recommendations. My first questions are always: “what are you looking to get out of it?”, and “what is your price range?”. I have some stand-by recommendations depending on what the answers are. I threw together a product recommendation page that takes care of the recommendation part for me. Of course I’m always willing to give advice and feedback, but those who know me might turn here first to get some info from now on.
You can buy direct from amazon right through my recommended products page for the same prices you’d get on Amazon.com. However; if you buy from here I get a super tiny percentage. So… If you’re looking to buy a camera and you find one on my recommendation page that you like I’d love it if you buy it here.
Thanks!
NOTE: I’ll keep the recommendation page up to date with the latest stuff as often as I can with the latest and greatest. However; remember these are my RECOMMENDATIONS, they won’t always be the hottest new stuff, because a lot of the time I feel the new stuff is just fluff, and the older models are better for the money.
NewScientist had an article a little while ago on the advancement of digital imagry in space. It’s amazing! I had no idea that we were that far along back in 1974. Even though first digital camera I had (newer by 26 years) beats the socks off the first space image, it’s still impressive considering it was taken from a spaceship and transmitted back to earth in 1974.
What’s even more impressive, is how far we’ve come since then. The Hubble Deep Space image is a long exposure of only a tiny little section of space that reveals just how small we really are in relation to what’s out there. The image shows thousands of other galaxies, some which appear to be much larger than our own Milky Way.
Panorama of Devils Lake in the Northern Cascades.
Seattle skyline HDR from the needle at sunset.
Seattle skyline HDR from the needle at sunset #2.
Randy Aldrich 
