A beach shadow-sign reminds us of the dangers of sunburn: 'The sun is a skin cell killer" cc-by lemasney
A beach shadow-sign reminds us of the dangers of sunburn: ‘The sun is a skin cell killer” cc-by lemasney
A shadow based sign reminds us of the dangers of sunburn
Today’s sketch is a sign on a beach reminding beach-goers to respect the sun. I was at the New Jersey Library Association which happened to be at Long Branch, a beautiful Central Jersey beach, and the bright sun was inviting, but even after an hour’s walk on the boardwalk, I got a little color. I also just wanted to quickly thank all of the kind people who came and saw my talks today at NJLA10.
“Sunburn — the skin reddening caused by overexposure to the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation — may seem like just a temporary irritation, but sunburns can cause long-lasting damage to the skin. Children are especially at risk: One blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence more than doubles a person’s chances of developing melanoma later in life. Don’t get burned: Read the articles below to learn all about The Skin Cancer Foundation’s expert advice on sunburn prevention, treatment, and relief!” – Sunburn – SkinCancer.org, http://goo.gl/kthTTv
Event: New Jersey Library Association 2010 Conference
Date: April 28th, 2010
Venue: Long Branch, NJ
Discussion:
Abstract: This session will introduce and demonstrate five useful techniques using open source technologies that you can use to manipulate, improve, clean, brighten, clarify, and positively enhance your digital photography. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop with Windows, Mac or Linux so that they can start playing right away. Digital photography enthusiasts, novices, and professionals are all welcome to attend and add to the discussion.
Event: New Jersey Library Association 2010 Conference
Date: April 28th, 2010
Venue: Long Branch, NJ
Abstract: This session will introduce and demonstrate various ways in which Twitter is being used by libraries and patrons in order to increase communication, garner community, and strengthen relationships and awareness. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop so that they can start playing with new Twtter based tools right away. Twitter enthusiasts, novices, and experts are all welcome to attend and add to the discussion.
High contrast multi-scan self portrait in red, white and black cc-by lemasney
High contrast multi-scan self portrait in red, white and black cc-by lemasney
A self portrait for Trenton Computer Festival
This was created for my recent talk on 5 ways to enhance your digital photos at Trenton Computer Festival as a lead-in slide. I wanted to introduce myself, show something dramatic, and show people what I meant, exactly, as image enhancement, as opposed to let’s say focus brightness, and contrast, though I showed those things too.
In Inkscape, I used the trace bitmap tool to convert my image in two ways, once in threshold mode, and once in detect edges mode. As a result, I get a slightly layered deeper image, and I definitely get something that’s difficult to capture with a camera. Thanks for checking it out!
Tracing Bitmaps in Inkscape
“Currently Inkscape employs the Potrace bitmap tracing engine (potrace.sourceforge.net) by Peter Selinger. In the future we expect to allow alternate tracing programs; for now, however, this fine tool is more than sufficient for our needs. Â Keep in mind that the Tracer’s purpose is not to reproduce an exact duplicate of the original image; nor is it intended to produce a final product. No autotracer can do that. What it does is give you a set of curves which you can use as a resource for your drawing. Â Potrace interprets a black and white bitmap, and produces a set of curves. For Potrace, we currently have three types of input filters to convert from the raw image to something that Potrace can use. Â Generally the more dark pixels in the intermediate bitmap, the more tracing that Potrace will perform. As the amount of tracing increases, more CPU time will be required, and the element will become much larger. It is suggested that the user experiment with lighter intermediate images first, getting gradually darker to get the desired proportion and complexity of the output path. Â To use the tracer, load or import an image, select it, and select the Path > Trace Bitmap item, or Shift+Alt+B.” – Inkscape tutorial: Tracing | Inkscape,
Cupcake illustration with orange sugar, vanilla and chocolate frosting, and a cherry on top cc-by lemasney
Cupcake illustration with orange sugar, vanilla and chocolate frosting, and a cherry on top cc-by lemasney
Cupcake Illustration
So today’s post was just about using a few different tools in Inkscape to create some interesting effects. First and foremost, I saw the stitch sub paths live path effect as a great way to create ridges of a cake cup and so it was. I made a shadow with a blurred ellipse. I used the calligraphy tool to create the cake and the icing. I used the dot tool feature of the pencil for the confetti sprinkles. I created the cherry with the ellipse tool and the node editor, and the stem with the Bezier tool. I added some highlights for the frosting with the calligraphy tool, then blurred them a bit.
When I first read in the planned feature notes for the new version of Inkscape that it had a spraypaint tool, I was intrigued, but confused. Why wouldn’t you just use the clone tool, or the duplication features, I wondered. It’s not until you try it that you realize the amazing powers of chaos that it has. The tool has really changed the way that I look at randomness in my work, because at any time, I can introduce it without the math of the tiled clones tool or the forced manual randomness of holding down space spontaneously as you drag an object about the canvas.
Here’s a simple example. With a single no fill thin stroked circle I made with the ellipse tool, I used the spraypaint tool set to make a single path with duplicates, which creates this beautiful cellular strcture that reminds me of bubbles. The release version is coming for 0.48 — when it comes out, try out this fantastic feature.
