2025 Photo Calendars (part one)

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Hi Folks:

As we’ve passed mid-November, we’re slowly closing out 2024. That means it’s time to make our photo calendar templates available, both for MS Word users (for those who don’t use graphics programs) and as .png files for those who do. As before we will be making our own calendar available in .pdf format for those who are interested, but (as we did last year) we’re doing the post in two parts. For our calendar we use images made in that month (i.e. the image for May 2025 was made in May 2024). Since we haven’t yet gotten to December our calendar isn’t yet complete, but we wanted to make the templates available so others can work on their own calendars. Continue Reading →

Spooktacular Hugs!!

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This image shows a chalk drawing on the sidewalk in front of our house. It consists of a (not very scary) ghost, and text that reads, "Share Sppoktacular Hugs Here"

Hi Folks:

We haven’t done much chalk art recently because of the rain (no complaints – it refills the aquifer and we’ll appreciate it next summer). Unfortunately rain isn’t very kind to chalk art! We’re expecting another major storm this weekend so we’ll have to put out something else for Hallowe’en, but in the meantime, remember to hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!!

Hugs,
M&M

Making Panoramas in the Rainforest (part two)

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Hi Folks:

Making digital panoramas is essentially a two-part process. In part one of this post I covered a bit about digital panoramas in general and some considerations that become important when collecting the images to be used for the panorama. Part two is focused (pun intended) more toward what to do with the images once you have them on your computer.

NB: If you have a smart phone you can use the panorama mode on your phone to make a simple panorama. Some even allow you to create a panoramic image from a video. Depending on your phone and your expectations, that may be sufficient for your needs. For me, it’s mostly not, because one of the benefits I find in making a digital panorama is the increase in resolution I obtain from joining together several images into one. The downside to that is that file sizes can get quite large, so when rendering the final image file it’s best to balance what you want against the capabilities of your computer. Sometimes I try to make smoke come out of mine… 🙂

This post is (typically) very long, and so we’ve broken it up into segments for you. Clicking on the subtitles will bring you to the relevant section:

How Panorama Software Works
Projections
Panorama Software Options
Making Panoramas
Stitching Errors
Exposure and Image Noise
Parallax
White Balance
Chromatic Aberration, Fringing Colour Artifacts
Image Cropping
Keystoning
Final Thoughts

Continue Reading →

Put On a Happy Face 🙂

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Hi Folks:

This is a chalk art drawing in front of our house. The main drawing is a large (4' diameter circle, filled in to make a happy face. At the top it reads, "You Are Beautiful." At the bottom it reads, "Share Hugs Here."As Labour Day weekend is upon us we’re starting to wind down summer once again. Vacations are (for the most part) coming to an end, children and adults are going back to school… Still, we wanted to offer a reminder that even as seasons change, some fundamental things don’t. Self-value is inherent, and not linked to what we do. And kindness is always the right response.

To that end, we wanted to offer you a reminder to put on a happy face and engage your world with love. 💗

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. This drawing took two whole sticks of yellow! But it was worth it… 🙂
P.S. II, the sequel: This is our ninth Hugs chalk art pattern for 2024. If you’d like to see all of them, click here: 2024 Hug Zones.

 

Using Capture One Pro in Black and White

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Hi Folks:

Yes, I’m aware I haven’t yet posted part two of my ‘Making Panoramas in the Rainforest‘ post. It’s coming. Truly!

Okay, the idea for this post came from a couple of sources, but most notably from an image I made recently with my phone camera. I have a Galaxy S21 phone, and in pro mode it allows me to shoot in raw/dng format. I can open those images in Capture One as raw files the way I would any other.

Before we continue I want to reiterate a couple of things. Those who have read our previous posts will be familiar with them. The first is a reminder that digital cameras don’t capture images. Digital cameras capture light as information, and we can take that information and arrange it in such a way that it looks like an image – either on screen or in a print. This happens because we arrange that information into a grid of little coloured dots (on paper) or little boxes (pixels) on the screen. Continue Reading →

Happy Canada Day!!

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A chalk art drawing in red and white. There are two concentric circles and in the middle of the smaller circle is a Canadian flag. In the space between the two circles, at the top of the image it reads, "Happy Canada Day". At the bottom it reads, "Share Hugs Here"Happy Canada Day folks … to all of those born here, and to all those who have found their way to our shores. Remember to hug the ones you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!!

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. A shout-out today to our wonderful friend Glennis, who wrote this beautiful poem back in 2019: Free Hugs

P.S. II, the sequel – a reminder that next Saturday (July 6, 2024) is International Free Hugs Day! Let your hugging inhibitions go and embrace the love!!

Happy Father’s Day!!

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This is the final image of the completed chalk drawing. The spiral pattern is at the top of the frame. Under that it says, "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY" and "HUG YOUR DAD"Hi Folks:

All of Marcia and Mike’s parents are gone now, but we have two sons and a son-in-law and five beautiful grandchildren. We are Grandy and Grandalf! 🧙‍♀️&🧙‍♂️

As with those who are moms, Happy Father’s Day today to all of the strong, loving men who are fathers, to those who are chosen dads, surrogate dads, step-dads, adoptive dads, and to the women who are also dads.

Special thanks to all those who love and support them.

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. For anyone who’s interested in knowing how the spherical pattern was made, click here:
Father’s Day Hugs (behind the scenes)

Father’s Day Hugs (behind the scenes)

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Hi Folks:

This is a short post that covers a bit of what went into making our latest chalk art drawing, for those who might be interested…

To start with, credit and thanks to @the.world.of._drawing on Instagram for the design! Much appreciated.

Now, if only sidewalks came with grid squares we would have been all set. Unfortunately, they typically don’t. So, in order to create the design in sidewalk chalk, we had to get a little inventive. The first step was to create the pattern in CorelDraw, like this:This drawing can be viewed as an angular two-dimensional sphere, but upon closer inspection it appears 3D, like a bagel bending around itself.The second phase was to take that pattern and cut it into 12 pieces. Each section is contained with an 8″x10″ rectangle so as to fit on a sheet of letter-sized paper. An X-Acto knife was used to cut out the red lines in the paper, leaving gaps at the junctions to hold the template together. The next step was to assemble the cut-out pages of the template into three strips of four images, using painter tape to hold them together:This image shows all 12 pages of the template with the cutouts held together with painter tape.These strips were reassembled on the sidewalk, and a piece of white chalk was used to transfer the cutout lines to the sidewalk. After that, coloured chalk was used to complete the pattern. The final result looks like this:This is the final image of the completed chalk drawing. The spiral pattern is at the top of the frame. Under that it says, "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY" and "HUG YOUR DAD"That’s it!

Hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!

Hugs,
M&M