By Ian Hollidae, 2024/09/30

A couple of years ago, I got a notice that AT&T was upgrading their network. no big deal. Upgrades happen. However, the upgrade would require me to get a new phone. Up until then, I hadn't really jumped into the higher end smart phone market. There simple wasn't a need. But I decided to conduct a due diligence and realized iphone had done a lot to improve their camera capabilities. Some were saying the iphone camera was approaching DSLR level performance. Not sure I bought into that at the time, but it's quite a statement.

So why is any of this significant?

For a long while, I had wanted to give photography a second try but I didn't want to spend a ton of money on equipment only to have my interest fade. Since I needed to buy the phone, I saw an opportunity to start a photography project that I had sketched out. I set up a few ground rules so the project wouldn't just drift aimlessly. The main framework of this project revolved around the following guidelines below.

Use only an iPhone

This would be my "primary" camera. Nothing fancy. No lenses, no equipment bags, no tripods. Nothing. My effort at "good" photography would be limited to whatever iPhone could capture.

Take photos in mundane areas

Since I didn't have the time to travel around to the interesting locations you see on photo sharing sites, and only had an iPhone anyway, I decided to keep it simple. The idea was to capture photos from places that weren't photogenic (office parks, playgrounds, walk along the street, etc). If everyone (photographers) ignored the place, that's where I would go. And if I could get decent shots under this condition, I could probably get them anywhere.

Shoot regardless of light or weather

Countless Youtube tutorials will tell you to shoot only in good light. Occasionally, there are tutorials about shooting in less than ideal situations but they seem to be an exception. The goal here is to just deal with whatever light is available.

Basic editing only

This is about keeping it simple. Apple photos, ocassionally GIMP. It also means i would have to focus even more on composition upfront as opposed to rescuing the shot in post-production.

Do this for six months or more

Since I would have this phone for a while (I tend to hang on to phones), it gave me plenty of time to practice and learn.

Once I worked out the guidelines, it was simply a matter of finding the time. Initially, I set aside two total hours a week. Then I started getting in shots time permitting. I started this project in spring of 2022 and ended it summer of 2023. Unofficially, I'd say it's still going on. And while I've yet to commit to buying a "real" camera, it seems pretty inevitable at this point.

So Now What?

I think the next phase of my photography project, beyond sharing the photos, is to share the learning experience. For whatever reason, there aren't a lot of outlets simply for photography discussions. I can't be the only one learning and wanting to hear other peoples learning experiences. I do have a social media account but another one of my other projects is to start moving away from it in favor of a dedicated website.

Hopefully, my future posts about this project is helpful to someone.

Tags: Photography

By Ian Hollidae, 2024/09/25

Winamp, a name I haven't heard in ages, has recently released it's source code for community development in an attempt to restore the player to relevance. From an announcement made back in May:

"This is a decision that will delight millions of users around the world. Our focus will be on new mobile players and other platforms. We will be releasing a new mobile player at the beginning of July. Still, we don't want to forget the tens of millions of users who use the software on Windows and will benefit from thousands of developers' experience and creativity."

For some odd reason, the released code isn't under an open source license with Winamp remaining the sole owner over distributions.

Before streaming, before itunes, before napster, there was Winamp which quite possibly the best MP3 manager around (I'm sure there are those who will argue otherwise). And while I was never into the visualizations such as Milkdrop, which is also still around, I couldn't count the number of skins I collected. However, nostalgia aside, the obvious question here is will this move make any difference for the company or for music listening in general?

My answer is it doesn't matter. I say they should give it try and see what happens. If they succeed, then another viable music option in the marketplace is never a bad thing. If they don't succeed, i think Winamp can still be a popular niche product with a loyal following.

Tags: Streaming

By Ian Hollidae, 2024/09/11

Another week, another article about pay TV losing subscribers. The analysis reads like the usual doomday affair but there was one small bit I found interesting:

"[The] 1.6 million subscribers lost in the second quarter account for 6.9% of the industry's base, and there's no reason to think the slide is going to slow down at all, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett and Michael Nathanson write: It is becoming increasingly clear that there is no longer any floor. As we've discussed here before, a few years ago there was a thought that digital pay-TV distributors like YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV would replace losses at conventional distributors, but that's no longer true."

So I take it streaming is now not the answer?

The article goes on to talk about things such as seasonality and other factors. But I think there's one thing that doesn't get alot of attention. Back at the beginning of the streaming boom, there was a fair amount of talk about finally achieving something close to an a la carte market. However, here we are in 2024 and I can't really say a la carte exists on a large scale. Certainly there are a number of apps that focus on a specific item (as a sports fan, I can name a few) but all we seem to have now is the recreation of cable TV online. Sign up for Disney+ or Paramount+ or Discovery+ and you pay for all the content whether you actually want it or not.

Sounds a lot like cable doesn't it? And if that's the case, I don't see how streaming could ever be a solution. Maybe the thought that thought that digital pay-TV distributors like YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV offering a la carte that conventional distributors wouldn't provide is no longer true as well.

Tags: Streaming

By Ian Hollidae, 2024/08/08

Recently, the NY Times published an article, "How the Music Industry Learned to Love Piracy". The article is a response to the a Paramount documentary "How Music Got Free" praising the early days of music file-sharing and the subsequent effects on the industry:

"...the documentary treats the rise of online file-sharing services as first an astonishment, then a nuisance, then an existential threat and then, amazingly, a panacea. The original pirates are judged to be “pioneers” who lit the only clear path forward for the music industry. That path turns out to be streaming, a neat compromise between letting consumers listen to whatever they want online and collecting just enough money for it that big record labels are satisfied with their cut."

Over the years, there have been countless articles about the history of file sharing that all play out the same way. This one isn't much different.

However, what does stand out about this article is its timing and its assumption that streaming in its present form is permanent.

I don't think that's the case.

In the last year, both Spotify and Apple Music have increased prices for their service. I doubt they'll be the only ones. There is nothing written in stone that says more and more price increase won't lead to the return of piracy.

Will the industry love it then?

I would say what the music industry loves and what realities exist are two different things. The music industry loves to make money. At some point, when file-sharing was clearly more than some fad and there was no other clear fix, the industry accepted reality.

Now I have to admit, I haven't seen the documentary. But I think it's safe to say the last chapters of this whole file sharing/piracy saga have yet to be written.

Tags: Streaming

By Ian Hollidae, 2024/07/08

When I began looking into X3D, one of my early questions was how to go about texturing shapes. Was there some resource site where i could download textures? Did i need to figure out how to create texture using graphics software? In short, what were the rules.

After searching around, it seems the answer to my questions was there was no one way to approach it. So I decided I would start out using real life photos. In an age where every phone seemingly has a camera, we are surrounded by textures from the time we wake up until the time we go to sleep.

Texturing Project

Since I have my camera with me most of the day, I figured there would be opportunities to capture textures. But I didn't want to just randomly shoot anything, so I tried to work a few basic rules:

First, if I knew I'd be somewhere inside, walls, floors and uncovered surfaces would be the targets.

Secondly, if I knew I'd be walking along outside, I tried to find things of interest.

Thirdly, no shallow depth-of-field/bokeh for anything.

Early on, it was hit or miss. I found plenty items I thought would make a great texture for a particular shape only for things not work out. Other times I would find textures I thought would be good for something later on, only to have later on not arrive.

Fortunately, I did have a nice list of successes.

Lessons Learned

Despite my efforts to plot a path forward, trial and error is sometimes the best teacher. So here are few things I learned from my project:

1. Have a lighting plan

Formal photography rules will tell you that you should work in good light in order to get the best photos. No harsh contrast, shoot at the golden hour, the list goes on.

The problem with this approach is that textures are not photography. Textures are whatever you make them in order to fit into whatever you're making. That doesn't mean light plays no part in textures. Just that light might play a different part than normal.

If you plan to capture a certain type of light, understand how it will look and interact with X3D lighting models. A reflective surface with a large specular highlight might wash out as a texture when placed under a spotlight.

2. Capture the texture in its most edit-able form

Make sure that what you capture can be edited later. For example, if you shoot a metal surface, be sure you don't capture a reflection as well. Sometimes reflections may be hard to pick up through the EVF. They're pretty easy pick up in a photo editor.

3. Don't be afraid to break habits.

Standard photography has been an on-again, off-again hobby for the past couple of years. I also create my own logos and icons as necessary. During that time, I've developed my own process for editing for both forms of images. When starting this project, I knew I'd do a lot of editing since textures would rarely be used as shot. However, I assumed I'd be drawing from my photographic editing skills.

That might or might not be the best way forward.

A case in point was my attempt to capture a smooth cement wall. The wall had slightly different tones of gray. Parts of the wall also had small crack lines. No single shot was working out as I wanted, however, so I decided to merge multiple images as layers just to see what would happen. What I wound up making was a cement texture I couldn't get simply by editing a single image. Even though I liked the end result, I never did use the texture. But I learned a good lesson from the experience.

Task Complete

The path to creating textures has an endless number of possibilities. It's been one of the more pleasant surprises in my X3D journey. Whatever you decide to do, hopefully, you have a few more tips to help you along.

Tags: Textures