Tuesday, June 1, 2004

and rock 'n roll



working at the tourist office, and loving this city as i do, i would be delighted if
millions of people a year visited amsterdam simply to experience its exquisite beauty,
to admire its unique museums, its impressive architecture, its lively parks, its
spacious squares, its elegant waterways...



as it is, many of them arrive seeking a different kind of fulfillment altogether.
oh well.
to each his own.


12 comments:

  1. Until I make it to Amsterdam someday, I rely on your imagery to show me just how beautiful it really. So far I am convinced.
    Regarding the pixels showing in solid area's, like a blue sky, I just set my quality level higher when exporting as a jpeg file in photoshop. Not sure what software you use or what options you have. If you can afford it, Photoshop does a great job.

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  2. I *did* visit Amsterdam for the beauty and culture...I really can't wait to go back. Admittedly, I did visit a coffeeshop for about 30 minutes (when in Rome...). I never made it to the Red Light District...too many other great things to see.

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  3. Lynn, I do see a little variation in your sky, just a touch -- at the very top I see what looks like a wisp of cloud?
    I think there may be two issues at work here, one of which is that monitors can only show so much. I think it's a function of viewing on computers instead of paper. Data compression, too: how big would your file have to be (in data and in area) for you to see gradations?

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  4. i was fortunate to visit amsterdam five years ago. like any city in the world, there is the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. with that said, i wish i had stepped into the grasshopper for a moment to check things out. like carrie said, when in rome...

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  5. Yes, very nice header. And about the blocked effect, that's JPEG for you. I you work in Photoshop, use the File/Save for web menu. There you can see the effects of the compression rate you choose. Also, sharpening can increase existing JPEG artefacts. You could try making a selection excluding the sky before sharpening.

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  6. hello lynn,
    i can't help you on this digital matters, i'm an analogue fool...
    it's too long ago i visited amsterdam
    i have to go back there once in the near future!

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  7. Haha! Awesome shot. 8)
    And the comment feature's fixed now. 8)

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  8. hurray for lala! great shot(s) lynn!
    as for your sky, it looks fine on this PC, i'll have to check it at home on my mac, too. but frank is right, is depends alot on your monitor.

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  9. I'm assuming you're talking about the compression artifacts near the edges of, say, the wire coming across frame. JPEG compression is very aggressive on areas of similar color. I've had some success adding very subtle noise to areas of solid color before saving.
    Also, I'm not sure what kind of gear you're shooting with, but if you're storing your images in camera as JPEG, they're already compressed once. Sharpening and compressing again can magnify artifacts. If I've got a shot that may have compression problems (like a thin line over a solid color), I try to save in my camera's raw, uncompressed format so that there's only one compression pass.
    Ultimately, though, your best bet will be to mess around with your compression settings when you save out your edited pics. Some pictures may be worth the extra bandwidth.
    Oh, and I love your pics. You're doing a great job making this Yank yearn for Holland.

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  10. i visited amsterdam just a few months ago, and fell in love with it! i miss it so...it has been my favorite place in europe so far.
    thank you for sharing! i hope to return to your lovely town soon!

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  11. heck i was just in amsterdam this past sunday! even though it was brief, i really enjoyed it.
    we originally came to leiden to see the tulips, but found out the season was over, so it was off to madurodam. on the way back to germany, we stopped in arnhem.
    needless to say, we'll be back. especially since i found out my ancestors came from holland.
    irt the artifacts, i have to agree with the others: jpeg compression.

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  12. JPEGs... you probably are saving at medium compression. Up it to 70 - 80%. If you don't have control over how it's saved, then nothing you can do. If you lack PhotoShop, download a 30 day trial of it from adobe.com and play around.

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