Topic Sold Separately

My Photo Sharing Workflow (and How to Share Pictures on Google+)

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 05:58:00 +0000

Which Photo Sharing Site to Use

First things first: where do I share my photos? I share on Google+, 500px, Instagram, and photography.twoperfect.ca. I share some, but not all on Facebook, since Facebook is more personal and less photography focused. I digress.

Share your photos in as many places as your time and interest allows. If you're a beginner photographer like me, people don't know about you. Your audience wont come to you, so you have to go to them.

More importantly, don't just share your own photos. Browse, follow, and like other people's photos and you might make some friends in the process.

How to Share Pictures on Google+ the Right Way

Google+ is inconsistent in how actions affect photos. Sometimes photos are duplicated, and sometimes they're referenced. Albums are also a mess. Moving is not allowed from "photos from posts" and copying does not include comments. Ideally I want all the stats for a photo (+1s, comments, reshares) to be aggregated no matter where it's viewed from: the album, the community I shared it in, or my profile. I want my photos organized in albums by type - not albums based on upload date. When I share a photo I want viewers to be able to click on it and be taken to the album - not to an album consisting of only that photo nor the "photos from posts" album.

After many trials, a little bit of OCD, and my Quality Assurance experience, I've figured out how to do it right.

Designate an export folder. Only finished, post-processed photos should go in this folder. RAWs and intermediate files should not go in this folder.

This is my Portfolio folder. I have subfolders but you can choose your own:

All of the Lights - night photography
Where the Wild Things Are - animal photography
Digital Paintbrush - general portfolio
Training Wheels - photos I'm not quite happy with

Set your export folder to be auto uploaded to Google+. Not absolutely necessary but this automates the upload step. The idea is to not clutter up your Google+ auto upload so that photos are easy to find.
On Google+ Photos, create the album structure you want to group your photos into.
When you're ready to share a photo, go to the album (Photos -> More -> Albums -> ) and click Add Photos from the album view. Instead of Upload from Computer, select Photos. Select the previously uploaded photo. The photos here are sorted by date taken, not date uploaded. The key in this step is you don't want to re-upload the photo or it will create a duplicate - Google+ does not de-duplicate uploads.
When you click Add, you should get a box getting you to share the photo. If not, delete the photo from the album and re-try. In the share box, write what you want about the photo (as well as the post itself, this will become the photo description in the photo view) and share it to the circles or community you want. The important thing here is getting that share box. If you didn't get the share box or you skip it and share later, the photo is copied and the newly created post will not take people to the album, and comments from the album will not appear in the post.

Communities, Circles, or Public?

If you're a beginner photographer like me, share to 1 community per photo.

When you share a photo to a community, you can't share with any other circles or communities. It's tempting to share to as many communities as you can, but each post creates a copy of the photo and you lose the aggregated stats and nice clean album. On top of that, your profile will show duplicates of the same post (unless you change your settings) and people who are in the multiple communities you shared to will see your photo multiple times. After a while it will look like spam.

You can still tag people who were involved in the photo, and if the community is public, your post is visible publicly, so sharing to 1 community should be enough.

Why communities instead of Public? It's for the same reason you should share to many photo sharing sites. You're new and unless someone's specifically looking for your name or the hashtags in your post, no one will see your Publicly shared posts. People follow communities - posts in communities show up on their home feed, which makes it easy for them to +1. Once you have many followers who re-share your photos, sharing to Public starts to make sense.

It Can't Be News if it's Old

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 01:23:00 +0000

Re-post from Facebook

12 white people die in France and North American media freaks out with half hour segments (every hour) under the "Free Speech" banner. Facebook follows suit.

132 students were killed in Pakistan on Dec. 16. Without formatting on Facebook, that probably didn't sink in. 132 students. An estimated 500-2000 people died in Nigeria Jan. 3. In both cases, North America briefly mentions it. Facebook doesn't flinch. Why would we? We're back to our selfies. Besides, it happens all the time in those countries. It can't be "news" if it's old.

What happened to any of them was wrong, obviously - and go ahead, freak out. It's scary. Just don't post something because everyone is doing it. Don't post like you've always been passionate about the world - you aren't. You're passionate about what the media chooses to focus on. Don't post about people dying, homophobia, and other real topics with the same urgency and as little emotion (hashtagging implies you don't have time to write out a full sentence. ‪#‎notime‬) as a celebrity getting married or what you had for lunch. Most of all, don't forget that 12 people dying isn't the worst thing that happened this year, this month, or even today, probably.

I'm not saying all this from a high horse. I'm the same as the rest of Facebook - I hear about what the media talks about, and I don't go out of my way to seek out the rest. I freak out. And posts like this one happen. But most of the time, I keep it to real, person-to-person conversations - I don't broadcast to the world that I know about Charlie Hebdo.

Does Hogwarts Offer Photoshop Courses?

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 09:00:00 +0000

Adobe Photoshop is ~~powerful~~ magical. Everyone knows it's used heavily for models on magazine covers, because that's what people will buy -- that's a topic for a different day.

As I mentioned before, I've recently gotten into photography and so I've been watching some YouTube tutorials to learn from other people. I'm not surprised by how much Photoshop is used in post-processing, but what continues to surprise me is what it's being used for. I never thought Photoshop was capable of removing an entire boulder or shrinking branches because they were too distracting. I was in awe watching Photoshop straighten buildings distorted by a panoramic shot, or add rays of sunlight to a dark scene. Perhaps the most incredible feat I've seen Photoshop perform is included in the video below - create branches that weren't there using the content aware fill tool. In fact, my reaction is well summarized by one of the comments on the video:

Seriously, is this photography or computer geekery?

Back in Business... again

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 07:51:00 +0000

In May 2012 I un-published all old posts and promised that I "will be re-publishing any that I find Internet worthy." I also had plans to restart the vlog and make a website. Obviously none of that happened.

My friend +Tri Huynh has recently started a blog at trihuynh.ca which made me nostalgic about mine. I still want to restart the blog, vlog, and make a website, but judging from the past 2 years, that's not realistic.

So let's stick to what I've actually done...

Today, I've republished 2 posts (that's an infinite increase over last year's post count!), namely Yes, we can; we have to and Away from 'Home'. The first is from Obama winning his 2008 campaign. As of today, it's in the 20 most recent posts, which goes to show how much I've neglected the blog. The second is about a friend who moved to Vancouver and the thoughts she had when she was visiting Edmonton. At that time, I lived in Edmonton and Vancouver was not a part of my life. It's interesting to look back now that I've been living in Vancouver for nearly 3 years.

Outside the blog, I've recently gotten into photography and will be uploading my best photos to my 500px profile. Eventually when I feel I've stepped out of the beginner phase and into intermediate photography, I'll have a nice portfolio setup at photography.twoperfect.ca

Let's cap it at that - leaving things out of this post gives me incentive to post more in the future.

Philippine Noms

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:44:00 +0000

One of the few things I was really excited about on the trip to the Philippines was the food.

Balut is a Filipino delicacy that has spread to other Asian countries. I've been told they're available in Asian supermarkets in Canada but those are not as good as the ones from the Philippines. Balut vendors roam the residential streets at night shouting "balut" in a deep voice with the "u" extended, similar to the familiar sound of an incoming ice cream truck. Except of course, instead of ice cream, it's fertilized duck embryo. I ate about 3 of these every night while I was there. Yes, I ate an unborn baby duck. It was delicious and I'd do it again!

Fun fact: Cracked.com seems to think it's one of The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World

Taho is significantly less terrifying than the balut. Taho is a dessert made with tofu, brown sugar and vanilla syrup, and "sago," similar to tapioca pearls. Similar to balut vendors, taho vendors roam the street, but instead of at night, taho is sold in the mornings.

Again, variations are sold in Asian supermarkets but they don't taste quite as good as a street-bought cup of taho.

Sisig, according to Wikipedia is a term meaning "to snack on something sour." More commonly, sisig refers to a Filipino dish made from a pig's ears and liver. Mmm!

Jollibee is a fast food restaurant chain even bigger than McDonald's in the Philippines. Their flagship burger has a mayo-ketchup sauce. They have an entry called burger steak which was a burger patty soaked in gravy and mushrooms, served with rice. I used to eat this all the time when I was in elementary and although it was much less filling than I remember, it was just as good.

I also had dinuguan, which is pork blood soup. It's available in Filipino stores and restaurants in Canada but doesn't quite taste the same. My mom and aunts say it's because of the vinegar. Pata tim was another dish that tasted better than the version served in Canada. Hot dogs in the Philippines are colored red, which I had completely forgotten until I had it for breakfast. Last but not least, Pure Foods canned corned beef. I don't know what it is, but this corned beef brand tastes better than Canadian corned beef, which I assume is from Alberta cows. Cows in the Philippines are skinnier and probably not as healthy as Alberta cows so I doubt it's the source. Perhaps there's something in its preparation that makes it taste better.

Of course I had plenty of other Filipino and non-Filipino dishes, but a lot of them are available in Canada and generally taste the same.

Touchdown Philippines

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Sat, 12 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Garage and garden

As our plane reaches the Philippine airport I remember the day we left, thinking to myself it will be a long time before I see this airport again. Today is "10 years from now."

There seemed an excessive amount of security for the duty free shops. Who knew liquor was such a high risk commodity. We cleared customs and suddenly: people. Thousands of them. Every time someone brushed up to me I checked my pockets. Through the hordes of people, we managed to pick up our 6 bags of luggage, 3 of which were filled with gifts, toiletries, and canned goods for relatives. We finally stepped out of the airport doors and into the pickup area.

Welcome to the Philippines. I was greeted with the uncomfortably humid, barely tolerable heat. I felt like I was burning. I was burning.

Our ride arrived and we were off! Into traffic. Chaos. I would not be able to drive here. What road lines? Filipinos drive on both sides of the yellow line. They drive diagonally across white lines, the path of least resistance. Cars speak to each other with honking. What traffic light?

Eventually we got to my eldest aunt's place. Good, old, familiar. The memories came flooding in. A few minutes away from my elementary school, we spent a lot of afternoons after school here. I would play with their tortoises and my cousin's PlayStation. So much has changed. So much has stayed the same. From the little figurines to the layout of each room. What used to be a basketball court is now my uncle's man-cave. More on that in a later post. Then the inevitable: food. A nice variation from my mom's cooking.

We headed home. More traffic. An hour later we reach my childhood neighborhood. It's not what I remember. The houses are taller, railings higher, sharper, more secure. The streets are narrower than I remember. The whole place seems darker. 10 years can change a lot.

When we got home I picked up plenty of items as the memories raided my thoughts. Old homework, novels, toys. My old race car toolbox, with the 2 cars I built, a few miniature motors, and an assortment of replacement tires. Even the racetrack is still around. My old BMX bike is still in the outdoor storage.

After dinner I took a shower. The moment I step out of the shower I start sweating. We start to watch the telev... Sweat. Burning. Pass out.

Living Room

Bookcase

Tamiya toolbox

Figurines

1990s San Miguel bottle

Back From the Frying Pan

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:43:00 +0000

Achievement Unlocked: 12 hours of driving while running on 2 hours of sleep.

After 8 months of laboring away and finishing off University, I am back at party house Vancouver, en route to the Philippines. It's good to be back in beautiful British Columbia!

In The Warehouse

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

After much deliberation I've decided to split my website-in-the-making into two parts.

twoperfect.ca will be my personal website, with things that I do for fun, such as this blog and my YouTube vlog. Later on I'll add a section for photography, travel, or any other hobby or interest I pick up.

twoperfect.ca on May 8, 2012

nodora.ca will be my professional portfolio, where I'll have my resume and list of major projects I've worked on. Once finished, this website will generally be static and will simply serve as more of an information website.

nodora.ca on May 8, 2012
(for those who aren't familiar, the background is Engineering paper)

As I mentioned in beeJ After University?, I'll be in the Philippines until the end of May. I'm bringing my laptop with me to work on this if I get any downtime but I don't expect to be working on it fully until mid-July. On the bright side, that gives me plenty of idea-generation time, though I already have plenty and can't wait until it's all complete!

beeJ After University?

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Sun, 06 May 2012 19:32:00 +0000

Back in Business

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Sat, 05 May 2012 09:10:00 +0000

Having recently completed all the requirements for my Software Engineering degree, I'm at the lull in between school and the beginning of my career. Being in the cooperative program, I have consistently been on either a school or a work term. Come to think of it, I haven't had a break longer than a couple weeks since 2008!

Many people are out of town and StarCraft II, Modern Warfare 3, and the television have failed to keep me occupied in the mornings so my plans of restoring my blog and creating a personal website when I'm all settled into the beautiful British Columbia have been moved up to yesterday.

(After a couple hours of research) I registered twoperfect.ca with GoDaddy, purchased web hosting from HostGator, installed WampServer among other things and I've turned the lights back on on this old thing.

If you dig deep you'll find that this blog was started in 2007, when I was in Grade 12, which meant plenty of posts with terrible grammar (albeit intentional), stupidity, and possibly a dash of ignorance. That said, I've un-published all old posts and will be re-publishing any that I find Internet worthy.

New posts will hopefully be more (but not completely) objective and concise.

Yes, we can; we have to

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:00:00 +0000

It's an interesting video. After all that has happened in the past 4 years, I think it's time someone sincere and devoted tried to do something about all of America's problems. Again, I'm not that knowledgeable when it comes to U.S. politics, but Obama won, and it seems like he will bring change.
To end it off, here's something a friend of mine said on Facebook:

i was telling my mom on the day of election i was like iym not really into this whole deal because I remember an episode of Oprah where she was interviewing this guy who was sooooo well spoken very smart a lawyer and working in underpriliveged areas to ... Read Moreimprove things WITH them not FOR them in chicago and the thing that amazed me was that HE LIVED LIKE THEM wore their clothes, their food, their shower system (some black bag you hang from the shower tap and u only get like 4 minutes), etc... and I was like and he said he wanted to be president so I wanna see when he runs cuz I think he should win
and my mom FREAKED
shes like THATS OBAMA!

-Sophia

Away from 'Home'

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:26:00 +0000

As I walk in the neighborhoods I grew up in the nostalgia threatens to take over my thoughts. Every bruise, laugh, and hug rushes past my eyes and I welcome the memory as i would an old friend. I realize that no matter how far and wide I run this will still be home. This, where it snows 11 months in a year, where trucks rule the road, and where construction is just as much part of the landscape as the rivervalley.
I continue...
Through the hallways that were once home. Listening to those who had once, and remain my mentors. Those who helped me on my journey to the person I am today, those who shaped the person I will become.
Through the collegiate streets I once adored. Still do. The leaves crunch under my feet, and a smile finally finds its way to my mouth. So many good memories.
100 things to do, coffee dates, rivervalley walks, nearly getting run over by angry bus drivers every morning.
The smile lingers as I remember those who carried me through the most difficult times of my life. Many of whom I owe my life. All of whom each hold a piece of my heart.
The tears begin to fall, slow at first. A long breath.
They say home is where the heart is.

-Teresa Bawa-an

It's odd to read something like this coming from someone who moved away and is back in town for a visit. Whenever I think of the future, I mostly think about what I would be doing, and what life would be like; I've never thought about where I would be. Being in Software Engineering, there's a big chance of having to move to a new city, perhaps even having to move to the U.S.

I have moved away from my birthplace, but I'd say it was quite different. Having a large extended family in the Philippines, I was mostly around them, and barely hung out with my own friends. And moving to Canada was with my [immediate] family. Moving out after University however, would mean leaving home, family, friends, the familiar places, and even the nameless, yet familiar faces I see daily. I find it hard to imagine living without all these people. There's always the phone and the internet, but that's not quite the same as physically being with the people you love.

What "Be Yourself" Really Means

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Sun, 11 May 2008 08:30:00 +0000

The Traditional Definition

You've probably heard it. You've probably told someone at some point: "be yourself".

Whenever I was told that, I didn't have a clue what it really meant. The more I heard it, the more useless it became. Do what you normally do right? But that's an infinite loop, because you don't know what you normally do. That's why you asked whatever you asked in the first place, but you were simply told to be yourself. Besides, "self" is a complex word. Allison Mack wonderfully explains it (I didn't plan to start reading any celebrity's blog, but this one has some deep posts that captured my attention). You takes on a new definition around every person, and possibly even different when combinations of people are present.

My Definition

Someone on Yahoo Answers asked a question about copying her friend's style and I figured I just had to tell her my thoughts on being herself, because a lot of the answers were "be yourself" with no real explanation. I've had this philosophy for quite a while now, probably since the last few months of Grade 12 but I've never explained it or shared it with anyone. The more I think of my explanation, the more it seems to be the perfect way to share it.

Sounds like a topic that should be left for the women here, but I'll answer anyway.

"Be yourself" doesn't do it justice. Whenever I was told that, it didn't really help me, nor did I really understand what I was supposed to do in order to "be myself".

Here's my take: Do what you want, only if it's because you want to do it. Don't do anything that you think others would want you to do.

Applying it to this, if you're changing your style because *you* really like that style, or *you* think it will make you better, go for it. If it's because you *think* *other people* will think you look better, then you have the wrong reasons.

And to emphasize the first point, do it if you like that particular style. You'll find that you wont really be copying her. You'll just be going for a style you love. If you're only doing it because this girl is popular or whatever and you want to be like her, then don't. That would be copying. You can tell this is the case if you think you "like" her style whenever she changes it.

I don't know if that makes sense. But in a nutshell, do it if YOU want it and you have YOUR OWN reasons. Don't consider what other people might think. And don't copy. It's completely different from adopting a style you like that happens to already be used by someone else.

-2Perfect, Yahoo! Answers

Like I said, this might be hard to make sense out of, but if you really try to understand it, I think it will really be helpful.

Few examples?

If you like a girl, don't change the way you act and look because you think she'll like it. She probably wont. However, if you find a style you really love and you think it fits you, go for it. Indirectly, you're still reaching the same goal: Making yourself better. Only one is in the eyes of others, and you're not even certain if they actually think you're now better. The second is in your own eyes, which you're obviously sure of.

If you're not doing great in school or something, don't improve your marks for your parents. In a good way, parents will never be satisfied until you are perfect. They want their children to be the best they can be. Which means if you go from 50s to 60s, they'll now be looking for 70s. If you go from 80s to 90s, they'll look for 100s. So if you want to improve your marks, do it for yourself. If it would make you feel better, if it would make you feel smarter, more confident in yourself. If it would make you feel more useful, etc. I mean at a young age, if you followed this, you obviously don't care much about what you want past the next couple days, so this wont work. But at high school then University, it's all up to you. Don't do it for your parents. Do it for you.

David Makes History: One Year on A Berlin Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:51:00 +0000

See that baller in the middle, wearing the red shirt? That's my friend David, and he just made history a week or so ago. If you look closely, you'll see a Berlin Heart on him, which he has to wear because his real heart isn't functioning properly. Here's Global Edmonton's Clip on his berlin heart turning 1 year.

But anyway he decided to hold a picnic/barbecue last Saturday, which was A LOT of fun. It was pretty much a Mac reunion along with, of course his berlin's 1 year. You can check out the Photo album on Facebook. But yeah... I just thought I'd post about it because I haven't posted in a while. If I tell the whole story it would be way too long, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves :P

Update: I'm sad to say that David passed away in June 2013.

When I was leaving Edmonton, David and I talked about how all Mac '07 graduates are doing great things and going places. Every single one of us was inspired by David in some way. It's amazing how one person can bring together so many.

Grand Theft Auto IV Review

noreply@blogger.com (Beej) — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:44:00 +0000

This is the first Grand Theft Auto in the series that I've owned. Some of the cons I mention may be traditional GTA features that are kept for nostalgic reasons and the pros I mention may be GTA standards that are always there and aren't special.

I bought the game while I applied for jobs at the mall. The Source needed an 18+ ID, and being 17, I didn't produce an ID. I went to HMV, and after applying there, I asked about GTA4. The cashier said I had to be 17. SCORE! So if you're 17, go to HMV :) I didn't even have to produce an ID because I had my Engineering clipboard to hold my resumes and the cashier thought it made sense that I'm 17 if I'm in University.

Jack of all Trades

After a couple days of playing it, I'd say the game is a jack of all trades master of none. I don't think it deserves the 10/10 that IGN gave it. This game has everything. Billiards, bowling, swimming, open world roaming, street racing, watch TV etc. I haven't confirmed for myself but you might even be able to play some sports. If GTA4 gets any better, this might be the one game you need for everything. If you combine 20 genres of PS1 or PS2 games, and add a little bit of PS3 capability in the mix, you get GTA IV.

The Cons

None of them are that exceptional. Billiards has no physics. The ball has to be exactly in the hole. If 75% of it was in the hole, it wont fall in. The driving is weird. Most cars feel like muscle cars and few have decent handling. The brakes are slow too. In a real car, step on the brakes a little and the car pretty much stops (and if you're going fast enough you die). I'm getting the hang of driving but I don't think it can be compared to GT5:Prologue like Dan was comparing it, or even arcade-style racing like Need For Speed. The AI is dumb. You see someone running in the street, what do you do? You let them hit you and complain after? A lot of cars turn without the right of way. I'm going straight on a green, it turns yellow and they start turning. I mean sure, right turns are legal, but they make left turns. The cops are dumb too - but I guess that's part of the game otherwise if they kept a record on you, you'd never be able to step out of your apartment. How fast the time goes is quite horrible. A red light lasts 5 minutes on the cellphone's clock. A green light lasts half, maybe 1 minute. If you're late for picking up your friend by 3 minutes, they don't want to go anymore? Wouldn't happen IRL. Lastly, although a lot of games have food as health regenerators, this game should've been a little more creative. Hotdogs? =/ Use bandages or something! Even resting at your apartment could be the health regen or regen over time.

The Pros

The graphics are the best part of this game. It's nothing like CoD4 graphics for landscape, nor GT5:Prologue graphics for cars, but it's damn good for such a huge map, lots of cars, buildings, etc. If you walk on sand, it keeps your footprints for a good while. I kept walking in circles for 3 minutes and my first footstep was still there, so I gave up. The water is pretty awesome too. The splash is more realistic than the waterfall in CoD4's creek, and looks pretty much like a Warhawk sliding right on top of the water. The dynamic weather is awesome, although night gets a bit too dark. Other than Warcraft 3, this might be the only game I've seen that has night and day. The hand combat and gun fighting are awesome parts of the game too. It's better than Warhawk's gunfighting. And the fact that you can swim, fly a copter, drive, walk, run, jog, all in one game is great too. The physics of free roam is pretty cool. You get off a car when it's too fast and you get hurt. You get hit by a fast car, you get hurt a lot. Hit by a slow car, you just fall to the ground.

Hardware Issues

So far the only issues I've had is with online play. After an hour of online play, the game froze. I waited for a long time and it didn't stabilize. I reloaded the game and not even my single player would load. However, after a hard shutdown (flipping the switch on the back), it's working again. Another problem I've heard about but haven't experienced is the game doesn't work at all. Apparently this happens with the original 60GB PS3, and the limited Special Edition of GTA4. So just keep a note of that.