Monday, August 27, 2007

My Data Architecture and Multiply

This is a not-so-rough sketch of how my data is organized:

(click image for larger version)

The reason that I started to use Multiply.com actively is because it's able to keep and organize all the information I intend to have online. It neatly imports my blog data from blogger.com, photos/videos from my PC, and my favorite funny videos from YouTube -- with no crippling storage limitations and I hope it stays like that.

Having seen Multiply's interconnectivity with Blogger and Youtube and other video sites, I'm hoping that they could extend it to allow importing contact lists from Friendster because right now the best they can do is give you an invitation badge for display on your site. Also, if they can add more information to the member profile page I believe they can easily win the Friendster crowd; it's mostly about profiles anyway and Multiply already does better when it comes to connections (relationships).

Next is Multiply's crappy calendar. They're tied nicely to the updates and can be arranged neatly through tags. I'm not sure how they can prevent the same public calendar event appearing several times on the My Multiply page (ie. if 3 people put X's birthday in their calendars it comes out thrice), but while there's no solution to it yet regardless of the platform, they could have taken advantage of links with existing performers in the field like Google for now. If they can do automatic calendar updates with Google Calendar it would be great.

Reviews, Links, Music, Groups are items I have rarely used and disabled in my page for now. For me, they're as good as they should be.

Email... I'll stick with what I have. IM's ... I don't think they will succeed if they build their own, but if they could just add some buttons at the profile page to launch a YM window that's as far as it goes.

Overall I'm still happy with the setup, they just have to fill the gaps (red dotted lines). Multiply is still the most complete social networking package for me.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

My Digital Image Workflow

I've come up with my own simple workflow to produce better quality images on my blog. I haven't ever taken any training on digital photography, so I'm still expecting the output of this process to be amateur grade images.

1.0 Pre-shot: Initializing Camera Settings
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1.1. Set shooting mode (Av is my favorite)
1.2. Set aperture (usually biggest, or sharpest f-stop)
1.3. Set flash mode (usually disabled to use natural lighting)
1.4. Set focus point (useful for stationary objects)
1.5. Set focus mode (usually AF)
1.6. Set WB mode (depending on lighting)
1.7. Set ISO (initial 400)

2.0 Pre-shot: Adjustments
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2.1. Evaluate shutter speed
2.2. Minimize ISO setting
2.3. Initial shot
2.4. Adjust Exposure Value (based on Histogram)

3.0 Final Camera Image
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3.1. Take Final Photo

4.0 PostProcessing
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4.1. Download Original Images
4.2. Adjust Levels/Curves
4.3. Adjust Saturation (usually +10 to 30 depending on emphasis)
4.4. Image Sharpen
4.5. Adjust Brightness/Contrast (for increased sharpness)
4.6. Crop Image
4.7. Save Image to PostProcessed folder (ready for printing)