Ubiquitense

It was only after the launch of photo-sharing websites like Flickr that I came to know about the many arts of photography. Got a chance to learn a few tips and tricks too. It’s a very warm Tuesday afternoon, breezy and cloudy day, accentuated every now and then by the Sun. Wish I had the right photography gear to make a time-lapse sequence of a day like this – absolutely blissful.

Following is a collection of HDR and composite photography that creates a surreal scene, kindling our imagination when you browse by each and every photograph, the camera angle and the subjects in them. I can actually relate some of the colors to that of today’s alternating pattern – a sense of déjà vu!

SEA PYRAMIDS

BLISSFUL SUMMER

THE BARN

WAKE UP

SUMMER-IZED LAWN

SCENIC DREAMS

FLYING HIGH

FROZEN DESIRES

SINKING HOPE

RIPPLES ON TRACK

Scroll up and take a casual look at them again, you will get a totally different meaning to these surreal pictures. You would wanna be in them, at least for a brief 60 seconds.

My favorite pic over here is ‘sinking hope‘ – though the ship is sinking in despair, it’s ironic to see it moored to the dock. What’s yours?

Disclaimer: The photos included here are very low quality versions of the original ones. All photos are attributed to the owners, and this blog claims no ownership of the same.

Tags: flickr, moods, photography, pictures, surreal

Nowadays, most bloggers include a lot of images along with their posts. This is like a double-edged knife. Images inline with the posts make the story interesting and presentable. Having said that, there is a direct correlation between the loading time of the image(s) and the users staying on the page or blog post. So, it is always advisable to optimize the images before adding them to your blog posts.

I use PhotoScape – the best FREE image editor. You have total control on the size of the image, and sure it does retain the quality of the image, reducing unwanted fat (bits and bytes) at the same time. Take a look at the screen-shot below. This image’s original size was 1.5MB, which was reduced to a mere 70KB while saving it as JPEG.

There are other online image optimizers like DynamicDrive and Online Image Resizer, but you don’t have complete control on the size of the resulting image. I haven’t tried the Wordpress Smush.it plugin yet. When I get a chance, I will install, review it and write a post on the Smush.it plugin and its features.

For now, PhotoScape is your best friend. If you come across any other image optimizer, please do let me know. I’ll update this post with your suggestions.

Have fun with image-optimized blogging!

Tags: blog, how to, illustration, image-optimized, optimization, photoscape, plugin, smushit, wordpress

There are hundreds of search engines out there, and still only the word ‘Googled‘ can enter the dictionaries. After writing about newer and innovative search engines like Cuil, Numeo and Yahoo Glue, I stumbled upon this newest real-time search engine called Collecta.

The search options on the left hand side of the screen defines where the real-time search is performed, and by logic, Twitter results find precedence to most other pointers to the story or search term. It’s good to see a search engine like this that gives a snapshot of the story or tweet on the right-hand side, when you click on the individual results. Having said that, this search engine requires a lot of tweaking when it throws the results. Also, I somehow find this real-time search a tad slow – hope this improves as it gains popularity and acceptance in the next few months.

Overall, a nice effort by the founders and developers of Collecta in enabling real-time search that may include relevant results from the blogosphere, Twitter and Flickr. However, they need to expand their search base to include more results, instead of the 10 results in 40 seconds or 71 results in 2 minutes.

Just try it out and let me know what you think.

Tags: collecta, cuil, google, innovation, Nuemo, real-time, search engine, Yahoo Glue

Just take a look at the ad for Trueroots – a online calling card company by TATA. It will definitely put a smile on your face.

I don’t know who directed this ad..lemme know if you know the name of the director and the ad company.

Tags: advertisement, calling card, comedy, india, TATA, trueroots

When was the last time I traveled by a steam-powered train? Well, it was in 1992 that I took very short trip on a Lalgudi-Tiruchirapalli passenger. I still cannot forget those days when I used to drool at the steam engine, appearing like a heavily armored knight, rumbling, puffing thick black smoke, whistling at those cute young village girls crossing the tracks.

There are a lot of good looking Diesel and Electric locomotives today, but none of them are as muscular and beautiful as the steam engines. You get an emotional attachment when you look at a steam engine, while you get none no matter how long you stare at Diesel and Electric locomotives. And, trust me, steam locos have an attitude – they can vent out steam and smoke in all directions to show their anger and power. LOL!

Wanna revisit your old memories of steam engines? Scroll down. Some of them are guy-ish, and some are girlish. You may get bi-curious in this case. I miss them a lot. Let me know when get into a pensive mood on seeing these black bestial beauties.

STEAM ENGINE TAILED BY THE GOLDEN SUN

BLUEBELL RAILWAY STEAM ENGINE

STEAM ENGINE IN A MIDNIGHT

HATE RAINS – DON’T WANNA RUST FASTER

AGING BROWN-FULLY

STEAM ENGINE 3801

STEAM ENGINE 90 @STRASBURG RR

PUFFING HOT

NILGIRI MOUNTAIN RAILWAYS STEAM ENGINE

Y’ALL LEFT ME BEHIND..

Disclaimer: The photos included here are very low quality versions of the original ones. All photos are attributed to the owners, and this blog claims no ownership of the same.

Tags: locomotives, memories, nilgiri, railways, steam engines, strasburg