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Continuing the story about Anthony's turning-7 birthday party, once Anthony was home and through the “balloon gauntlet”, we asked Fumie's folks to come over. Anthony and Fumie waited around the corner to ambush them with the balloons...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 3600 — full exif
Grandpa Runs the Gauntlet
while Anthony returns to balloon playing
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 32 mm — 1/250 sec, f/4, ISO 1800 — full exif
Anthony Decorates the Cake
first by adding the cookies seen in the first post...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 32 mm — 1/250 sec, f/3.2, ISO 900 — full exif
... then by
Adding Candles
with the last one in the shape of a “7”
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 50 mm — 1/250 sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200 — full exif
Anthony's Cake
by Anthony
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 40 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 5000 — full exif
“Happy Birthday To You... ♪♫ ♪♬ . . . ”
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — full exif
Adding Sprinkles
lots of sprinkles
Anthony was more than happy to avail himself of the four different kinds of sprinkle toppings that Fumie had prepared...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/250 sec, f/7.1, ISO 5000 — full exif
Masterpiece
of a seven year old
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — full exif
Chocolate Heart
playing around with the “writing chocolate” left over from Fumie's cookie work
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — full exif
Plate Full of Autumn
Anthony & Fumie, Fall 2008
One day last fall, Anthony came back from playing in the park with Fumie, carrying a hand full of stuff he'd found lying around the park. Fumie dumped it into a shallow bowl and sat it on a little table in the living room in front of a sun-facing window.
All season it sat there, and I loved it. I hope they do it again this year.
(If I had any guts, I'd try some of the amazing abstract-nature-macro photography that Dan Sroka makes look so easy and natural. Luckily I don't have a macro lens, so I don't need to look further for an excuse.)
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Adobe today released a public beta sneak-peek version of Lightroom 3. It's intended to show where Lightroom is going, and to allow us to play with it so that we can provide feedback about how we want it to get there.
It's a Beta
The beta release is not intended for real, heavy, day-to-day work.
This is “beta” in the pre-Google sense, where it really means that things are rough, lots of things aren't as smooth as they could be, and some things don't work at all. For example, the image-render pipeline has gotten a bunch of new stuff, but the focus for the beta is on image quality, and it has not yet been optimized for speed, so in important ways LR3B can be slower than LR2. It's been known to freeze while importing from some devices, and to crash at random times.
It's a Beta.
One of the big changes for LR3 is in how its database works under the hood... changes that will allow the final LR3 to have much better response, especially with large catalogs. But that brings us to a beta-esque negative side effect...
Plugins (in General)
Plugins for LR2 might work in LR3, but they might not.
Due to the aforementioned under-the-hood work, there's at least one change in the plugin infrastructure that is not backwards compatible to LR2 and LR1, so some plugins that work fine in LR1/LR2 will get run-time errors on LR3.
As for my many plugins, it turns out that my export plugins (for Flickr, SmugMug, Facebook, Zenfolio, Picasa Web, Photobucket, and Expono) ran into this, but it was an easy fix and I've already pushed new versions that seem to work.
I have not tested all my Lightroom goodies fully yet, and Adobe has not released any information about what's new and changed in the plugin infrastructure, so there are no guarantees. It's a Beta.
Plugins (Publish!)
Lightroom 3's new “Publish” feature is an attempt to integrate more strongly the places that you share your photos into the center of your photo workflow (Lightroom). LR3B comes with a sample Publish plugin for Flickr.
Publish works like this: you set up your details of an online photo-hosting site (e.g. Flickr), then an entry for it appears in the Publish pane, looking a lot like a collection. From then on...
- when you add photos to that “publish collection”, they automatically get uploaded to the photo-hosting site.
- as any of those photos are changed (new metadata, new crop, etc.), they are automatically re-sent to the photo-hosting site.
- when you delete photos from the publish collection, they get deleted from the photo-hosting site. (Take note! Potential troublespot.)
There are a lot of details, of course. For example, Facebook doesn't allow third-party applications like a Lightroom plugin to update or delete images, so those features won't work at all. Flickr allows image updating (the middle bullet point above) only for paid “Pro” users.
But you get the idea.
The Publish Functionality is also “Beta” !
The sample Flickr plugin included with LR3B is much more advanced than the sample Flickr plugin that came with LR1.4's Plugin SDK — you can actually use this one — but it's still fairly basic in that it lacks almost all the nice tidbits that my Flickr plugin supports (including support for group pools, multiple sets, Twitter, export filters like LR2/Mogrify and Metadata Wrangler, tag-driven Flickr visibility, user-defined title/description specifications, etc.). It also doesn't support regular-export image uploads.
I've no documentation from Adobe yet about how to code for Publish, but I've figured out enough to get the cute little icons in there, and to support the most basic aspects of Publish. I think. At this point, my Publish plugins are pre-beta.
Because I haven't seen the docs yet, I don't really know what will be possible. Will Adobe continue to update/enhance their sample Flickr support? Will you be able to migrate photo-upload history from LR2 exports to LR3 Publish? Will you be able to migrate upload history from my Flickr plugin to Adobe's, or vice-versa? At this point I don't know.
I do know that you can use them side by side, which makes absolutely no
sense in the real world, but perfect sense while testing. (Have I mentioned
that LR3B is a beta release?) Adobe's sample Flickr plugin uses
“
”
as its icon, so to differentiate mine, I use
“
”.
I expect that I'll be updating my plugins frequently, so be sure to watch the plugin's version-history page.
My Plugins and Registrations
I release most of my plugins as donationware. They can be used for free, forever, but become a bit less convenient after six weeks if you don't get around to registering them (which costs one cent, of which I get nothing). The “bit less convenient” part is to encourage registrations, and the registration part is to interject a onetime speed bump to your daily workflow to allow a moment to reflect on the plugin and its author (me), during which time you'll (hopefully) want to send a gift in thanks or encouragement.
(I spend a lot of time working on these, and think it's a nice thing to provide them for free the way I do, but wow, you would not believe the hate mail some people send, as if I were holding their firstborn ransom while eating puppies for breakfast. But I digress...)
Important points about registration of my plugins and LR3:
- Versions of my plugins from before I added LR3 awareness may or may not work under LR3, but if they do, you can certainly continue to use them as long as you like, in LR2, LR3, or beyond.
- If you upgrade to a new version during the LR3 beta period, they require no registration to be used in LR3B, but they eventually expire a year from now. (I don't know when the real LR3 will come out, but I guess it'll be before then.)
- When the real LR3 comes out, I expect new versions of my plugins to have a completely new registration system, and registrations done in LR2 (before, during, or after the LR3 beta period) will likely not carry over to the new versions, so if you upgrade to a new plugin version, they'll eventually require new registrations if you wish to avoid the “bit less convenient” thing.
This is all consistent with the fine print on my plugin-registration page. (I've learned throughout this endeavor that being clear and forthright is no protection against those with a strong sense of self-entitlement or a weak sense of paying attention, but do what I can.)
More on LR3B
More on the LR3 public beta:
- Official announcement from Adobe
- LR3B download page
- Melissa Gaul (Adobe employee / Lightroom team) Twitter feed
- Victoria Brampton's “What's New In Lightroom 3 beta”
- Evolving list of LR3B resources at Adobe
And remember: The beta release is not intended for real work. Really.
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 34 mm — 1/250 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1400 — full exif
Birthday-Fun Excitement
these looks of unbridled joy are so precious in their rarity at this age
Anthony turns 7 on Friday, but we had his birthday party today because he comes home from school earlier on Wednesdays.
We're not big on extravagant parties, and didn't have the time even if we were, but we did a couple of things that really made it fun for him (besides cake and presents, which are a given).
We filled the hallway with balloons, and hung a few from the ceiling, to make a little gauntlet area for him to come through when he got home...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm — 1/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 3600 — full exif
The Balloon Gauntlet
It looks fairly lame in the photo, but it was much nicer in real life, with lots of pretty colors and movement.
Fumie used some colored chocolate “paint” to make personalized cookies to go with the cake...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125 mm — 1/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 900 — full exif
Just Getting Started with the Cookies
first test cookie in the foreground
When he came home we had him stand in the hall facing the balloons with his eyes closed, and we waited in the living room, then told him “okay, come!”. He apparently had intended to dash in, and had to quickly put the brakes on when he opened his eyes to see the way blocked by balloons. But he recovered more quickly than I could focus, and was through with joyous laughter before I could take a focused shot.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 4500 — full exif
Giving Mommy a Thank-You Hug
Then it was time to show him the cookies....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 900 — full exif
Checking Out The Reject Pile
certain to be as tasty and fun as the rest!
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3600 — full exif
Cookies To Go On The Cake
“Happy Birthday” and “Anthony”
Fumie always makes sure that his birthday cake has a drawing of something he likes. Previous years (in reverse chronological order) saw a fire truck, rocket, fire truck, airplane, and a big truck (which, when he turned two, was his first experience with a birthday cake).
This year he's really into Star Wars, as evidenced by this recent photo, so Fumie made some Star-Wars themed cookies. She had prepared a small catalog of Lego Star Wars products to use as inspiration for something to draw (Anthony is very much into the advanced Legos as well), but not knowing much about Star Wars, soon enlisted my help on something to draw that was both good (not a villain), easy to draw on a cookie with chocolate, and easy for Anthony to recognize. I suggested R2-D2. The R2-D2 in the Lego catalog wasn't easy to see, so I did a quick search on the web for “R2-D2 drawing”, and found a scan of a drawing some guy did 20+ years ago as a kid. I'm sure you'll join me in amazement at how Fumie's version is a perfect copy, almost indistinguishable from the original. 😀
Anyway, when Anthony came in and saw the cookies, he recognized R2-D2 immediately, and was just overjoyed with everything. (See the “unbridled joy” in the lead photo of this post.) He kept saying “;世界で一番いい誕生日パーティ” (“best birthday party in the world”) or the like, over and over.
We were pleased.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 56 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250 — full exif
Explaining To Mommy
something about R2-D2
Then it was back to the balloons....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 900 — full exif
Impromptu Balloon Fight
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 5600 — full exif
Back Into the Fray
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250 — full exif
Growing Up
but not too big to be picked up in a big Mommy Hug
(Yikes, that looks like a nice shot, so I run the balloon gauntlet myself lickety-split and put the better light behind me...)
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 5000 — full exif
Happy to be Alive
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — full exif
Back to the Balloons
It was a great party and it hadn't really even started yet....
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data
Master of his Domain
Heian Shrine, Kyoto Japan
So after getting dressed up and then taking care of final preparations, we headed into the Heian Shrine for Anthony's shichi-go-san long-and-healthy-life blessing event.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 75 mm — 1/1000 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading In
with Grandpa kindly carrying all my extra camera gear
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm — 1/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Going In via the Main Entrance
Most people go in the small entrances on either side, but we thought to take a group photo in the exaggeratedly large main entrance (just out of frame to the left in the shot above), but it turns out that the only shot I got was the one that opens this post, with Anthony standing there looking out at the vast (and shockingly empty) courtyard.
It's the same courtyard where an annual festival has people throwing beans and a seriously intense burn. It's also the same courtyard where I got one of my favorite photos of all time, among many other things, as any of the “nearby photos” links under these pictures illustrates.
The lead photo of this post is one of the first in months for which I've had to go to Photoshop. I had underexposed Anthony and gotten a bit of Grandpa in the shot (where “a bit” means “his entire body standing at the bottom of the steps”), but was able to fix all that well enough in Adobe Lightroom where I center my workflow, but the thing I couldn't do in Lightroom was to fix some crookedness to the shot without cutting off Anthony's feet. One of my bad habit is that I often don't hold the camera level, which means that I often have to rotate photos slightly during post processing. Rotation in Lightroom always make the frame smaller, but in this case there was absolutely no room for that (without cutting off his feet), so after fixing other things in Lightroom, I moved to Photoshop where I could rotate without making the frame smaller. (This caused a wedge of “nothingness” to appear in the floor on one side where it had been rotated into the frame, but I fixed that by filling in with floor copied from the other side.)
Anyway, I'm happy with the result.
So, we made our way across the courtyard to the big main building. Photography is not allowed inside, but I have this shot of two other kids heading in for the event...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/320 sec, f/4, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Twenty minutes later we were out, and Anthony had a bag of candy and a fake sprig representing, I suppose, healthy growth.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 78 mm — 1/5000 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
All Done
Grandpa is still carrying all my camera gear, and Anthony's shoes too! Thanks, Grandpa!
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 150 mm — 1/5000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/3200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photogenic Event
The Heian Shrine is surrounded by city on all sides, but you'd never guess it from the photo above. I really like it. I've never been inside the building in the background, but I believe it's where a lot of the wedding stuff goes one. One of my first blog posts was of some of its lanterns.
When I took the photo above, there was yet another shrine building to my back. I called everyone over to its shade, set up a nice photo, then enlisted the help of the first person I saw nearby with an SLR (a tourist from France, it turns out) to use my camera to take a family shot:
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 110 mm — 1/320 sec, f/3.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Family Portrait
me, Anthony, Fumie's dad, Fumie, Fumie's mom
Geez, I look fat. I'm not that fat. Really. Must be a defective lens. I need a new lens. Yes, I shall buy a new one (or three!) forthwith. Problem solved.
( It was not long after this that I took the photo posted the other day in “Anthony Gesture in B&W at the Heian Shrine”. )