For a while I’ve been blown away by some of the amazing clone images on flickr—images with multiple instances of the same person, animal or object in the one shot. Well, after failing entirely to observe my photography resolution, I decided today that I should get off my backside and do something, and that trying a clone image would be that thing.

Although I had guessed at the concept behind creating clones, I didn’t really have any idea of how to actually create such an image. So after a quick googling for some instruction I broke out the camera to give it a try. The following is the result of my first effort:




Having done what I thought was a reasonable job of the above image, I decided to have another go with the cats, borrowing a concept inspired by another image I’d seen on flickr. The result:




I wasn’t quite as happy with this image as, having less available light I’d had to use a larger aperture, which resulted in a smaller depth of field. As a consequence, and because I hadn’t turned off the auto-focus on the camera, the four shots this image was made out of all had slightly different focus. That made the images harder to merge, or resulted in some of the image elements not being entirely in focus. It looks okay small, but you can see what I mean if you look at a larger version.

Despite the problems with my second attempt I’m reasonably happy with my first-time efforts, and have learnt some things for next time I give it a try. Now I just need to come up with some interesting concepts. If you have any ideas, let me know.

Oh, and if you are interested in how it is done, check out this video. It is actually a lot easier than most people would thing.

Historically my work has been pretty conservative about software upgrades (on the desktop we’re currently using Win XP, Office 2002 and Lotus Notes 5), and even more restrictive about access (for 99% of users there is no access to work systems except from a work computer physically connected to the LAN inside a work building). However, in the last week I’ve heard about some fairly radical changes coming to our work systems.

There is in fact a major IT upgrade plan. So major is this plan that it won’t be entirely implemented until 2015. But despite that long end date, there are some interim milestones that will see some pretty exciting changes sooner rather than later.

Perhaps the most exciting user change is the move from Lotus Domino/Notes to Microsoft Exchange/Outlook for groupware/email (due some time within the next 20 months). Although I’m not a huge Microsoft fan, the greatest user benefit from this migration will be the introduction of remote email access, allowing access to work email from home or any other Internet-connected computer, and potentially supporting smartphones (like my iPhone).

There will also be a host of other updates to modernise the existing desktop software (to give you some idea of how dated the existing software is, Lotus Notes 5 was released in 1999). Those updates will include operating system (Windows Vista or Windows 7), office software (Office 2007 or Office 14), and the introduction of new applications for things like instant messaging.

Plus, the updates will also see users get a choice of web browser, with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari all being supported. The addition of Safari is interesting, and the inclusion seems to be based on the plan to eventually give home access to a variety of corporate systems, and recognising that not everyone runs IE on Windows on their home computers. To fully realise the benefits of this all corporate web applications are going to be redeveloped to ensure they are browser agnostic and work correctly across browsers and operating systems.

There are also a raft of backend infrastructure changes happening, that are equally as interesting to anyone with an IT passion.

So, for me, these are exciting times. Not only do I have an employer that is moving from being IT-conservative to IT-progressive, but they are also introducing technologies/policies that will directly impact on my productivity by providing not only modern tools, but the ability to use them from non-work locations, where I actually do a fair bit of work stuff. Bring it on I say!

A few months ago I wrote about some things I thought Optus could do better. One of those was providing a cap usage widget to help users manage their call/data usage. Well, Optus haven’t done anything about this, but an independent developer call Matt Beshara has, developing a ‘Phone usage’ app for the iPhone. I’ve been beta testing the app and it is fantastic:

In my case, being a Telstra switcher, I’ve got an ingrained inclination not to use my mobile. When I was with Telstra every call, or Internet usage, cost me (and cost a bit). But now I’m on an Optus cap plan and have call and data allowances built into the plan, meaning I don’t pay a cent extra for usage within my cap (I’m on the $49 cap, which gives me $300 worth of calls/SMS and 250MB of data).

But even with these allowances my Telstra-induced fear kept me from taking advantage of my cap, for fear of exceeding it. That’s where ‘Phone Usage’ comes in. It lets me see, right from my phone, how much of my cap I’ve used. Plus (and not shown in the above picture) the app shows me an indicator of where consistent usage of the phone would allow me to be up to for that part of the month. So not only can I see how close to my cap I am, but whether my usage is trending too high (or too low, if I really want to take advantage of my cap).

A secondary result of this app is that I’m now also saving money on my home phone bill, because when I see that I’m underusing my iPhone cap, I make sure I use my mobile instead of my home phone to make calls!

The app also features the ability to monitor multiple accounts, so in my case I can also keep track of Deearne’s usage (she has a $19 cap that gives $50 of calls/SMS and 100MB of data), and the usage of my pre-paid 3G modem. Plus it currently supports the ability to monitor usage on standard Internet plans from Optus and TPG.

So if you are an Optus iPhone user, this is a must-have app.

Back in November 2006 I got myself a Nike+ kit to go with my iPod to help motivate me to go running in an effort to increase my fitness and also keep my weight down (I’ll tell you how I went on that front in a minute).

First though, to give you some idea of what it does, the kit consists of two physical elements: a sensor that fits inside Nike+ branded Nike shoes (or can be attached to other shoes with third-party accessories); and a receiver that attaches to the iPod. When you go running the transmitter captures data as to speed and distance and transmits it to the receiver, which records the data to the iPod, and software on the iPod also gives spoken feedback in relation to your workout. In addition, after the run you can connect the iPod to the computer and have the run data transmitted to a Nike web site that tracks all your runs, and also has some social elements to allow you to run with, or against, others.

So how did it work out for me? Well, 28 months later I’ve been on 271 runs with my Nike+ kit, and have run 1,408km.

Cumulative Run Distance

To start with it took a little while to get into it. Mostly because I was really unfit and could only run a couple of kilometres at a time. Plus, probably because my runs weren’t that inspiring, I wused out in the winter of the first year. But by the time the second year came around things picked up, and with the benefit of hiring a treadmill over the winter months of 2008, I kept my running going and have been pretty consistent since.

I’m still not running marathons, but for someone who was a non-runner it has definitely been a motivator. In the first year I only managed 277km, which only works out to 23km per month, or a lousy 5km per week. But now, I usually run several times a week, and over the last 12 months have run 916km, which averages out at 76km per month, or 17.6km per week, and experienced a noticeable improvement in my fitness.

The reason I’ve come to post this now is that the battery in my first sensor is just about to die, so I’ve had to go and buy a new kit (the batteries aren’t user replaceable). I’m hoping by recording my efforts with the first sensor it will motivate me even more to ensure the results from the second are even better!

Back in January Apple introduced several new features / technologies that were to be part of their new iLife suite. Two of those were Faces and Places, which made it to market later that month in the new iPhoto ’09.

Faces is a facial recognition feature that allows you to identify an individual in one photograph and then have the computer find every other photograph of that individual in your library. It is a great feature for being able to find photographs of people, and effectively eliminates the need to tag photographs with details of individuals.

Places is a geotagging feature that allows you to tag your photographs with location data (or import the photographs with location data if your camera has a built-in GPS) and then see them on a map. Again, a great feature for finding photographs you took at a particular place.

So now that we have these technologies, what I want to know is why don’t I have them?

You see, my problem is that, having decided to get more into photography, I bought a digital SLR and Apple’s advanced photo management program: Aperture. So because I use Aperture, I don’t use (the consumer) iPhoto. As a consequence I’m not able to take advantage of these new features / technologies, despite owning the new iPhoto, as they won’t work with my Aperture library. So, by using the ‘more advanced’ photo management tool I’m missing out on these cool features!

Why not downgrade from Aperture to iPhoto you may ask? Well, now that I have a digital SLR I shoot most of my photos in RAW. Although iPhoto can handle RAW images, it doesn’t do it quite as efficiently as Aperture, which stores the original and meta-data only for each version, while iPhoto copies the entire image for every version. This might not sound like a big deal, but when you consider the slightest enhancement to any photograph produces a new version, and almost every photograph I use/keep is enhanced in some way, it is in fact a big deal.

What is the solution? Well, there doesn’t seem to be one without Apple updating their software. Ideally they should include all the consumer features in iPhoto in Aperture as well, or alternatively, allow the two programs to fully share the same library.

So Apple, if you see this, please update Aperture for me, and to make us Aperture users happy in the interim, announce that you will be doing so.

It has been six months since the iPhone launched in Australia, and with the plans available from the various carriers at launch (although I don’t have any statistics), I don’t think there is any doubt that Optus scored a substantial amount of new customers. However, Optus doesn’t seem to have done very much to keep those new (and existing) customers happy. So, with many of those Optus contracts ending in another six months, I thought I’d offer Optus some advice on what they can do to stop a mass exodus of customers.

Network Reliability / Coverage

Optus have had a fair bit of bad press about network downtime and other issues. Although addressing such issues, and expanding coverage, is probably expensive and difficult, it is something Optus need to invest in to keep customers happy. No one is going to stay with a network that doesn’t have coverage where they want it, or that isn’t reliable.

A small thing Optus could do to dramatically increase customer satisfaction is provide a web reporting form for network black-spots. I’ve noticed a few in Hobart, and simply can’t find an easy way to report them to Optus. Not only does this result in Optus not getting the feedback about black-spots, and the consequent ability to do something about them, but it causes immense frustration to customers who can only wonder if Optus know of the problem and will address it.

Software Enhancements

The other priorities I think Optus should have are all software based, and so probably don’t have the expense or complexity associated with physically building and maintaining the network (which isn’t to say I think they would be a cakewalk either). Those priorities are as follows:

MMS

We all know the iPhone doesn’t have MMS, but MMS is still the only way many people with other phones can send pictures taken with their phones, especially as the iPhone can’t receive images from other nearby phones over bluetooth. So Optus need to do something that addresses this.

Currently the Optus service is so appalling in this area that if someone sends me an MMS I won’t even know about it. Optus just drop the message, probably resulting in the sender being annoyed I have ignored their message (and them being charged for something that wasn’t delivered).

To address this Optus need, like many other carriers, to send me an SMS message that tells me about the MMS, and give me the option to view it online—especially seeing as iPhone users can go online with their iPhones and see the images while they are out and about. Even better, Optus could make a native iPhone app that lets customers send images by MMS (even if this is done indirectly by some Internet-based connection to their system that generated the MMS, rather than it coming directly from the phone) and also lets customers view the images they have been notified about by SMS.

Usage Widget

One thing I have greatly enjoyed about my switch from Telstra to an Optus cap plan is that I can actually afford to make calls. Before I was too scared to use my phone, but now the included call value in my cap means I can make plenty of calls without it costing me any more. Unfortunately though, there is no easy way to monitor how much of my cap I have used (for calls/SMS or data) and consequently I find myself occasionally in that old Telstra mindset of not wanting to use my phone in case it costs me.

To address this Optus need to implement a simple widget that shows how much of a cap has been used. They could put this on the web, but ideally it should be available on the iPhone too. Maybe it could be included in an Optus iPhone app that also includes the MMS functionality I mentioned above! Plus, Optus should provide their usage alert SMS feature to people on iPhone cap plans.

Visual Voicemail

Visual voicemail was one of the big features of the iPhone when it was announced. So why, six months after Optus started selling the iPhone, haven’t they added support for this feature. Obviously there are some back-end changes to be made to their voicemail system, but surely these can be done?

Having visual voicemail, when no other Australian carrier does, would be another reason for customers to stay with Optus.

Twitter

A final thing I would like to see Optus do, although it might not be so important for other customers (although lots of iPhone users are Twitter users) is to add Twitter SMS support for Australian Twitter users.

Although I still use Twitter, I really wondered if I would when they dropped international SMS support. Being able to receive SMS notifications of tweets for some important people I follow was a fantastic feature. If Optus negotiated with Twitter to provide this service to their customers in Australia it would be a substantial coup for them over their competitors.

I’ve had my Canon 400D for about 18 months now, but still haven’t done a great deal with it. Although not actually New Years yet, I’m resolving that in 2009 I will make the time/effort to take more photos.

Christmas also gave me the opportunity to get some gear that should also make the task a little easier. Deearne and her parents got me a Sekonic L-358 light/flash meter. Manually calculating flash exposure for my off-camera flash endeavours (where I can’t rely on E-TTL) was something I found difficult and unrewarding. Hopefully this guy will make a world of difference there (for my first test shot I took a shot of the unit itself - see here).

I also ordered myself a 32” 5-in-1 reflector and a holder arm (that can be attached to a light stand). The combination of my existing 430EX dedicated flash (plus light stand, umbrella and radio trigger), the reflector and holder (to be attached to an existing light stand given to me by my sister), and the flash meter, should give me the basics to do some reasonable portrait photography. Now I just need the time/motivation.

The one bit of gear I’d being hoping to get didn’t pan out. I had been after a background system, and after doing a bit of searching decided, for my budget, the Savage Port-a-Stand was the one for me. B&H Photo Video had a kit for US$109.95, but unfortunately they wanted US$200 more to post it to Australia! So far I haven’t been able to find an Australian supplier, and other background systems available in Australia are significantly more expensive, or of questionable quality. So at this stage I’m going to hold out a bit longer on the background stand. I’ll just have to make do with available/natural backgrounds in the short term.

The final thing necessary to action my resolution is to read / work though some of the photography books I’ve got, identify some projects, and do them. I’m currently reading The Digital Photography Book - Volume 2 and need to restart Light: Science & Magic. Plus, Deearne also got me a Kodak book: Capture the Portrait.

Once I’m through them, I can then look at the remaining stack of PhotoShop and photography books I haven’t had time to get to!