The mega mendung (cloud) motif is a well-known batik pattern from Cirebon, Indonesia. The megamendung pattern is commonly found in blue color with gradiations from light to dark.

I created this digital batik pattern with iDraw for Mac/iPad.

Digital batik pattern created with iDraw for Mac/iPad. The kawung prabu motif originates from Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

So, here you go, my post with examples of all Vignette effects. They were applied to the original image as shown below:

The original image straight out of my phone

Read on to see the processed images!

Film Effects

Normal: Generic film effect

Vignette: Focus attention at the centre of the frame

Portra: Smooth skin tones for flattering portraits

Velvia: Vivid colours for nature photography

Ilford: Classic black and white

Toy camera

Toy Camera: Lo-fi effect for candid shots

Toy camera BW: Black and white toy camera

Leaky: Toy camera with extra leakiness

Cross-process: High contrast with distorted colours

Redscale: Extreme red-orange tint

Vintage

Faded: Old faded photo

SX–70: Old instant camera photo

Summer: Hazy warm greens and browns

Colourised: Flat pastel colours

Oversaturated: Bright washed-out reds and yellows

Yearbook: Faded black and white

Sepia: Subtle tint for an antique look

Platinotype: Bright smooth tones and deep shadows

Retro red: Faded photo colour variation

Retro yellow: Faded photo colour variation

Retro green: Faded photo colour variation

Retro cyan: Faded photo colour variation

Retro blue: Faded photo colour variation

Retro magenta: Faded photo colour variation

Colour Highlight

London: Contrasty black and white and red

Paris: Contrasty black and white and blue-green

New York: Contrasty black and white and yellow

Highlight Red: Black and white and red

Highlight yellow: Black and white and yellow

Highlight green: Black and white and green

Highlight cyan: Black and white and cyan

Highlight blue: Black and white and blue

Highlight magenta: Black and white and magenta

Colour Swap

Swap red/blue: Swap red and blue without affecting green

Swap red/green: Swap red and green without affecting blue

Swap blue/green: Swap blue and green without affecting red

Rotate hue CW: Rotate hue 120 degrees clockwise

Rotate hue CCW: Rotate hue 120 degrees counter clockwise

Tinted Monochrome

Sepia: Subtle tint for an antique look

Platinotype: Bright smooth tones and deep shadows

Bleach bypass: Extreme contrast with subtle colours

Night vision: Grainy and green

Redscale: Extreme red-orange tint

Duotone red: Red-tinted monochrome print

Duotone yellow: Yellow-tinted monochrome print

Duotone green: Green-tinted monochrome print

Duotone cyan: Cyan-tinted monochrome print

Duotone blue: Blue-tinted monochrome print

Duotone magenta: Magenta-tinted monochrome print

Lens effects

Dreamy: Soft-focus effect

Tilt-shift L: Defocus top and bottom (landscape)

Tilt-shift P: Defocus top and bottom (portrait)

Tobacco filter: Deep orange tint for dramatic skies

Grad tobacco L: Graduated tobacco filter (landscape)

Grad tobacco P: Graduated tobacco filter (portrait)

Grad ND L: Graduated neutral density filter (landscape)

Grad ND P: Graduated neutral density filter (portrait)

Red filter: Simple colour filter

Yellow filter: Simple colour filter

Green filter: Simple colour filter

Cyan filter: Simple colour filter

Blue filter: Simple colour filter

Magenta filter: Simple colour filter

Cinematic

Action movie: Vivid against a blue-green tint

Technicolor: Red and cyan 1930s movie look

Scary movie: Eerie tri-tone blue and magenta

Cross-Process

X-pro red: High contrast with distorted colours, red variation

X-pro yellow: High contrast with distorted colours, yellow variation

X-pro green: High contrast with distorted colours, green variation

X-pro cyan: High contrast with distorted colours, cyan variation

X-pro blue: High contrast with distorted colours, blue variation

X-pro magenta: High contrast with distorted colours, magenta variation

Miscellaneous

Bleach bypass: Extreme contrast with subtle colours

Night vision: Grainy and green

Posterise: Solid primary colours

Fake HDR: Fake high dynamic range

Blackboard: Solid white on black

Infrared: High contrast for surreal moody landscapes

Rainbow: Thermal imaging style false colour

Negative: Inverted brightness and colour

Invert: Inverted brightness only

There are some additional effects which you can use in combination with any of the above, they include:

• Extra vignette
• Film grain
• Soft-focus halo
• Pastel colours
• Monochrome
• Red filter
• Yellow filter
• Green filter
• Cyan filter
• Blue filter
• Magenta filter
• Light leaks
• Extra light leaks
• Graduate colours (landscape)
• Graduate colours (portrait)
• Tilt-shift (landscape)
• Tilt-shift (portrait)
• Negative
• Underexpose
• Overexpose

In another post, I’ll give examples of all frames available in the Vignette Android app.

Love is Blind served as an excellent opener to the show with some pretty visual effects. The audience was really, really getting into it when she played Fallin’. You could tell Alicia noticed the crowd’s energy and she would return the favor; She put on a great show and was certainly enjoying herself. The background singers seemed to be having a great evening too!

After Fallin’, the show definitely got started and pretty much everyone was up on their feet during her upbeat songs (remember, it was an all-seated concert). Halfway through the show, when she was behind the piano, her dazzling talents truly shone through. However, I don’t agree with most other reviews that she should just stick to being a soul queen behind the piano.

For me, the best of the show was saved for last, my highlights were If I Ain’t Got You, Doesn’t Mean Anything, and No One, after which the background vocalists stayed on stage in the dark (!) singing No One’s oh oh oh oooh with the audience until the encore: ‘Empire State of Mind’. The concert ended a bit abruptly when she thanked the crowd and walked off stage, or, perhaps I’m just used to longer encores.

To summarise, a wonderful performance by Alicia and an energetic crowd made it a night to remember!

Setlist:

1. Caged Bird (Intro)
2. Love Is Blind
3. You Don’t Know My Name
4. Fallin’
5. Another Way to Die
6. Karma
7. Let Me Play for You
8. Pray for Forgiveness
9. Diary
10. Keep a Child Alive
11. If I Ain’t Got You
12. Like You’ll Never See Me Again
13. Wait Til You See My Smile
14. Feeling Good (background vocalist)
15. Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart
16. Superwoman
17. Unthinkable (I’m Ready)
18. Doesn’t Mean Anything
19. No One
20. Empire State of Mind

All of the following photos were taken with a Sony Cyber-shot T77. A real concert camera, but I hate its handling. However, I must admit, the results are pretty impressive.

The photo was shot with a simple Rollei point-and-shoot camera that my mom had bought before I left for Rome. It was the very first time I took a step back and think about composition. Before I got the developed photos back from the lab, I knew already that this one would be my best shot from the trip to Rome!

• be doddema (I must admit, I kinda like this one.)
• display two comments (Not three or four?)
• lili aaron soundtrack (Who’s Lili Aaron?)
• overload on homework (I’ve had my fair share of homework, and I wasn’t able to handle an overload either.)

And last, but not least, my favorite one:

• scare sheep (Now why would one scare sheep?)

Whether you’re happy (Love the size and the retro look!) with the camera or not (You’re kidding, no viewfinder and no flash?), you’ve got to hand it to Olympus’ PR and Marketing departments, they executed on a good web strategy. The E-P1 launch was fun. They’ve been teasing us for quite a while since the mock-up first appeared at Photokina in September 2008; Mysterious tweets by @getolympus, the videos commemorating the Olympus Pen from 1959, the invitations to the Berlin event, and the sudden involvement of Blendtec. It doesn’t happen very often, but the web was full of Olympus buzz!

So, what’s been causing all of the buzz? Here’s a short recap of the most important rumors and events:

19-4-2009: This is the mock-up camera that was shown at Photokina 2008. A prediction of the camera’s specs is made on 43rumors.com, where else?

29-5-2009: Rumors of the camera’s name emerge on a Korean forum: E-P1 (via 43rumors.com).

1-6-2009: Sketches of the camera’s front are published at 43rumors.com.

2-6-2009: Olympus invites prominent journalists and bloggers to a Micro Four Thirds event in Berlin held on the 15th and 16th of June.

4-6-2009: Sketches of the back of the camera appear on 43rumors.com.

5-6-2009: The first real picture of the camera is leaked, photography enthusiasts on the web are getting excited.

11-6-2009: A very tiny image (120×90 pixels) of the camera and the kit lenses appears on a Chinese forum (via 43rumors.com).

15-6-2009: Stock images of the Olympus E-P1 leak all over the web. Some photoshop the images and add a black model to the line-up.

16-6-2009: The camera is officially announced by Olympus and goes on pre-order at camera retailers worldwide.

16-6-2009: Yes, it blends.

It’s been an interesting launch, and so far, most hands-on previews of the camera seem to be in Olympus’ favor. But, what will the pixel-peeping reviewers have to say about the camera? What are your first impressions?

Replacing light seals can be a bit daunting, it’s a fiddly process that includes some trial and error. So, take your time and be patient. However, I noticed that the whole replacement process can also be very rewarding, I couldn’t escape from feeling a good sense of achievement after restoring my Canonet QL17 G-III to its former glory. Heck, if this isn’t connecting with a camera, then I don’t know what is!

Without representing myself as a camera repair expert, here’s how to replace the camera light seals:

• Buy a light seal replacement kit, I got mine from Camera Repair Materials. It has everything you need: self-adhesive and non-adhesive foam (3mm and 5mm thick), self-adhesive felt, 10ml of adhesive glue, 10ml of adhesive remover and a pair of tweezers. Don’t worry, you’ll get plenty of foam with this kit, it’s okay to make mistakes and waste some.
• Read the instruction manual! Read it from start to finish and preferably twice. There’s a good, elaborate manual at Favorite Classics, Matt Denton also has some tips and tricks.
• Put a few drops of adhesive remover onto the light seal and let it soak in.
• Add a few more drops and start scraping! Use the wooden scrapers and cotton buds.
• I know it’s tempting to leave a few bits of the old light seals on, but please continue until everything has been cleaned away!
• I cut approximately 7×13,5 mm of foam for the lower part of the film chamber door and 3,5×13,5mm for the upper part. Please do take your own measurements as well! It’s better to cut out a piece that’s slightly too large than a piece that’s too small.
• Gently place the new seals onto the camera with the pair of tweezers. If you’re using the self-adhesive foam, note that it’s very, very sticky, you may have to lick it before you stick it.
• Well, that’s about it, no more bullet points!

Done! I did notice that the camera back closes very tightly, but I figured it’ll be fine when the newly placed foam compresses after a while.

Bryan, thanks for allowing me to use the light seal repair kit image! For more information on the Canonet QL17 G-III, visit the following sites: the Canon Camera Museum, Cameraquest, Matt’s Classic Cameras, and Photoethnography.

This post was written with wpToGo, seems to be working just fine! You can download it for free from the Android Market.

The day after, I ordered some OM to EF mount adapters with focus confirmation from BIG_IS. The focus confirmation works fine, however, I noticed that when I attached the lens to the adapter, the lens was slightly loose on the adapter and could move around a bit while focusing.

I contacted the seller about it and learned this little hack: There are three small grooves on the adapter’s mount, if you use a tiny screwdriver to widen these grooves just a little bit, the OM lens will fit the adapter more tightly. Be careful though, don’t widen them too much or it’ll be very hard to dismount the lens from the adapter again. See the image below, it works!