Quarantine photo thread

[snacksthecat]

Okay so this picture I just took and I'm laughing at how awesome it looks. Sure laser imagery as a theme might be a little bit dated, but it's still sweet.

I'd gotten a lens filter last week and wanted to finally test it out. Laser pointer shined through / around Robbs model f122 3D print (which is semi-translucent).

Oh and sometimes these shots come out cool, sometimes the laser just didn't wiggle around in the right spots at the right time. So there's a bit of luck to it.

Here's the edited picture, with all the post processing tweaks applied:


And here's the original shot, with no tweaks:


No clue what I'm doing when it comes to playing with all the levels. Happy with the result this time though.

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Edit: I feel like I lost the spirit and wild greenness of a green laser. I started making more adjustments to restore that perfect color. I got it more closely aligned with the true color, but I probably way overshot with the changes I made.

[snacksthecat]

At first I felt that these came out kind of lame but now they're growing on me.

[SneakyRobb]

But for the time being,And feel free to post your own photos as I would love to see them. Anyway, hope everyone is good during the weird times.

Work area and cats. Photos not taken today but recently in quarantine.

[SneakyRobb]

I also enjoy the lasers and photo work. The green laser is neat

[snacksthecat]

Nice pics dude. I gotta ask, what's going on with that thinkpad?

[snacksthecat]

Today I put a camera on my vacuum and filmed it cleaning up. So very random and having nothing to do with keyboards.

Caution: If you watch this you will become dumber.

[snacksthecat]

The coffee table in my living room opens up and there's storage inside. Currently it's filled with jars and jars of keycaps. I decided I can't live with the jars any more and the thing needed to be cleaned out.

I didn't realize that every time I held the keycaps up to the camera they'd be way out of focus.

This went on much longer, video stopped recording after 30 minutes though. I think there is probably a setting to roll over to the next file.

[SneakyRobb]

Nice pics dude. I gotta ask, what's going on with that thinkpad?

Hi thanks.

Its a T60 thinkpad that has been modded with the 51nb T70 motherboard. I took the palmrest off because the fan has been acting up and I am going to replace it soon.

The details are on this forum post but its all in chinese

Spoiler:

https://forum.51nb.com/forum.php?mod=vi ... a=page%3D1

[snacksthecat]

Nice pics dude. I gotta ask, what's going on with that thinkpad?

Hi thanks.

Its a T60 thinkpad that has been modded with the 51nb T70 motherboard. I took the palmrest off because the fan has been acting up and I am going to replace it soon.

The details are on this forum post but its all in chinese

Spoiler:

https://forum.51nb.com/forum.php?mod=vi ... a=page%3D1

顶啊！！！

[snacksthecat]

I shot this the other day and was going to trash it for a variety of reasons. In terms of execution, pretty much everything that could have failed did fail. I used this table top camera dolly:

Spoiler:

I managed to tap into the remote, similar to how I did with the turntable. But I didn't get the timing quite right or something because it was stopping and going quite erratically. It's also really difficult to predict the path it's going to take. So mine went in a pretty fast circle shape and then bumped into the couch and tipped over.

Oh and I was packing up two keyboards and a set of keycaps to ship to someone on here.

If you really want to go on a wild ride, watch this version where I had set the time interpolation setting to "optical flow". It can help smooth some scenes where you don't have enough frames. Totally does not make sense for this timelapse though. But has some interesting effects.

Finally, my method of controlling the dolly via the remote isn't going to be viable. You can only send start/stop and it seems to require a fairly large gap between the start signal and the stop signal (~500ms). So it essentially jumps instead of moving smoothly. But I'll open the dolly itself and see if I can take advantage of something at that level.

[depletedvespene]

If you really want to go on a wild ride, watch this version where I had set the time interpolation setting to "optical flow". It can help smooth some scenes where you don't have enough frames. Totally does not make sense for this timelapse though. But has some interesting effects.

Woah. That "winking in and out of existence" effect (for both you and the cat) needs only a bit more work to be put in service in movies as a rather novel visual way of showing teleportation taking place.

[snacksthecat]

If ever a day goes by and you think to yourself, "I wonder if snacks took the day off and didn't burn 4 hours setting up a stupid timelapse"; 9 times out of 10 you're going to be wrong.

Today I did this strange one where I just tried a bunch of different things at once to see what turns out cool vs lame. Off the top of my head:

• Changing focus
• Changing aperture
• Having a moving subject and a moving camera
• Timewarp effect / different intervals

And actually there are a couple of cool moments. I think if I could think of something more interesting than weird keycaps messily hot glued to random stuff I would be in better shape.

[snacksthecat]

I re-rigged my motorized camera dolly so that the camera shutter signal line is wired up directly to the motor, instead of using the remote as a trigger. This has allowed for much finer grained control of the movement intervals, so the whole thing should be smoother in general.

I tried to do some "speed up"/"speed down" tricks, but I think my values were too low to make much of a noticeable effect. I think this turned out pretty cool though.

My original thought for this video was to disassemble the TI keyboard as much as possible. Then I got to thinking about the massive amount of work that would be, so I improvised and just started pulling out random keyboard stuff from the room.

[snacksthecat]

Oops, forgot to give the video a name on youtube.

I tried to use the dolly to shoot with a macro lens. This is about as close as I could get while keeping the thing somewhat in focus. Predicting the path of the dolly can be challenging to say the least.

[SneakyRobb]

Oops, forgot to give the video a name on youtube.

I tried to use the dolly to shoot with a macro lens. This is about as close as I could get while keeping the thing somewhat in focus. Predicting the path of the dolly can be challenging to say the least.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YSE YES YES YSE

[snacksthecat]

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YSE YES YES YSE

This is about the same reaction I had when I realized the same technique could be used for a photogrammetry scan to automate big chunks of the capture process.

For now, at least, I have a few still photos to toss into the mix. These were of a container holding what I call "keyboard crumbs"; all the little bits of cannibalized switches that you accumulate over time.

[snacksthecat]

Gave a shot at focus stacking. Focus stacking is where you take multiple shots with different parts of a scene in-focus at a time, then run them through software that merges them into a single, more in-focus image.

I don't really know how to do this yet, so there are a bunch of artifacts in these.





I don't have a proper macro rail but I do have this slider thing. It seemed to do a fine enough job. Just as a visual demonstration, this is how little I was moving the camera.

[SneakyRobb]

Hi,

Do you think you could be able to get shots from inside the SKCM blue alps for the purposes of making a 3d model? Is it too small inside?

These are super high quality and awesome btw.

[snacksthecat]

Sure, let me give it a try!

[snacksthecat]

So it was trickier than I thought. Basically it's very hard to get light into the switch and also these super macro lenses have no depth of field. Here's one focus stacked image that shows the rails in good detail.

[Muirium]

What aperture are you shooting at? Macro lenses always work best stopped down as far as your lighting can take them. Even post processing like stacking relies on the original exposures for everything it sees. Go for a higher f number! And maybe, counterintuitively, back away from the subject just a bit. You’d be surprised at the result.

[snacksthecat]

Thanks for the tips, Mu. These were both manual lenses so the aperture isn't captured in the file. But by memory, I want to say I was using f/8.

I typically do like you mentioned; try to go as high as possible, given lighting. I always leave ISO at 100, so I recognize this is another lever that I can pull to squeeze the aperture a bit more.

I enjoy the macro shooting, but there are a lot of variables to juggle. (1) have to nail the focus, which is hard because my display isn't exactly hi-res, (2) flash power and position, (3) exposure, and (4) as you mentioned, depth.

I'll try to take another few of the blue Alps switch enclosure. It seems straightforward but under magnification there are actually a lot of details that probably all contributed in some way to that sweet sweet Alps™ key feel.

As another demonstration of how narrow the depth of field can be in some of these photos, here's a set I was going to do focus stacking on, but thought something like this video might be more fun than a single static image (the set wasn't very good for focus stacking anyway). It's about 20 photos, which is crazy because you can barely see anything changing in the viewfinder when you tweak the focus in such small increments.

[snacksthecat]

Here's another shot of the slider rails. Although the first one is maybe a little more useful. If there's any part in particular I should try to capture let me know.

[snacksthecat]

Wow, just look at how quickly dust can accumulate in/on/around a switch.

The blue Alps switch I photographed for Robb had been broken down into individual parts, run through ultrasonic a few times, put back together, put in a box, not touched for like 18 months.

In the first picture you 'd be hard pressed to find a dust problem going on.



But in the second picture the thing is covered in dust/fibers! All it had been doing is sitting on my bookshelf for 1 or 2 days.



Do I live in filth? I did use two different lenses, maybe they captured the light differently? Probably a little of both.

[SneakyRobb]

These look great and the little fibres are exactly like mine!

I have been trying to model the inside of the switch to make some new ones. So these photos, I selfishly admit, are very useful.

I started with a model from ai03 but the interior has taken some time to model and is slightly rough. Sorry to photo bomb like this

attempts are being made.JPG (88.98 KiB) Viewed 7843 times

albs.JPG (94.07 KiB) Viewed 7843 times

[snacksthecat]

Oh that's awesome, whenever I've tried to model something, it hasn't turned out so good. My brain just doesn't work in 3D I guess!

If you really need, I can go ahead and cut one open; then get some real good pictures. But I'll probably be swarmed by some Alps fanatics for committing high crimes against The Company.

In other news, I finished building my NAS last night, so it's time to start moving all my files over. The photography and photogrammetry stuff really takes up a ton of hard drive space, so it will be nice to have some relief there.

It's fun to look at all the random pictures that I've taken over the past year or so. I didn't have any picture/video idea for today so here are a couple of the pics I thought were cool.

These were taken on the back porch / stairwell to my apartment. I used flashlights for light and didn't have a tripod so lighting and focus aren't perfect. But I still really like how they turned out for the most part. The timestamp on the files says that these were taken Jan 29th. I don't think I've posted these before but apologies if I have.

[SneakyRobb]

Oh that's awesome, whenever I've tried to model something, it hasn't turned out so good. My brain just doesn't work in 3D I guess!

If you really need, I can go ahead and cut one open; then get some real good pictures. But I'll probably be swarmed by some Alps fanatics for committing high crimes against The Company.

In other news, I finished building my NAS last night, so it's time to start moving all my files over. The photography and photogrammetry stuff really takes up a ton of hard drive space, so it will be nice to have some relief there.

It's fun to look at all the random pictures that I've taken over the past year or so. I didn't have any picture/video idea for today so here are a couple of the pics I thought were cool.

These were taken on the back porch / stairwell to my apartment. I used flashlights for light and didn't have a tripod so lighting and focus aren't perfect. But I still really like how they turned out for the most part. The timestamp on the files says that these were taken Jan 29th. I don't think I've posted these before but apologies if I have.

Hey thanks and no worries. I will be cutting open 1-2 of them for final interior measurements. I'll volunteer to be the one going to jail for the murder!

I'd suggest taking pictures of cats but they have a built in function to move as soon as you are about to get a good shot

I'd be interested to see any of the random photos over the years you mention. I think this is a fun thread that is a daily highlight for quarantine

Would it be possible to do a photogrammetry capture of something spinning on the thing, while at the same time a second camera captures the first camera? Timelapse of a timelapse. Just as random ideas of things to photo.

Regardless as before, great work!

[snacksthecat]

Hey thanks and no worries. I will be cutting open 1-2 of them for final interior measurements. I'll volunteer to be the one going to jail for the murder!

I'd suggest taking pictures of cats but they have a built in function to move as soon as you are about to get a good shot

I'd be interested to see any of the random photos over the years you mention. I think this is a fun thread that is a daily highlight for quarantine

Would it be possible to do a photogrammetry capture of something spinning on the thing, while at the same time a second camera captures the first camera? Timelapse of a timelapse. Just as random ideas of things to photo.

Regardless as before, great work!

Hah! You have no idea how in-line our thinking must be.

A) I have a whiteboard of keyboard related picture ideas, many of them involving the cats (but yeah they can be tricky)

B) I have done exactly that; make a timelapse of a timelapse. In fact I almost always do it. The reason is because (depending on the settings), the camera can be moving so slowly it's not possible to see in real time. So rather than watch obsessively and second-guessing if it's working, I just set my phone up to record for a while. I was going to post this a while back but I didn't want to seem like a total nut case

Phone filming the "Timelapse A" happening (yes that thing is held together with paracord, hot glue, and medical tape)


"Timelapse B" itself

[snacksthecat]

As a break from timelapse, I decided to dip my toe into panorama. This turned out like garbage but I think I know why.



If you can't tell or think you're seeing in multiples, it's a panoramic photo of three industrial M cases I just bought from Unicomp.

I used the panning camera head and thought that was controlling things enough. But then I started reading about the "parallax effect" and the parallax point of the camera/lens. This post explains it well and some methods for how to find it.

http://www.johnhpanos.com/epcalib.htm

This blurb I was reading in particular has me convinced this was probably the issue...

The impact of parallax errors differs per scene: for a landscape panorama, with no objects close to the camera, a limited amount of parallax might not be a problem and such a panorama can easily be taken handheld. But for panoramas of room interiors even a small misplacement of the camera of just one centimeter or inch will result in clearly visible stitching faults. Creating a good interior panorama is therefore impossible without using a tripod and properly calibrated panoramic head.

Shame I wasted all that time before reading. But I guess we can only go up from here

[snacksthecat]

Okay it looks like I was correct about the parallax issue. Now that I understand it better, it's actually not very difficult to find the "no parallax point" to mount your camera. Just need something to provide that offset. They sell tripod heads specifically for this purpose, but I just used a small slider that I have.

Which brings me to today's creation. As usual, it doesn't make much sense, but that's not the point! The point is to learn something new, have fun, kill time, etc.

I made quite a few mistakes here, so keep that in mind. Listing them here to refer to later:

• Didn't find the *exact* no parallax point, just got close
• Didn't produce the panorama in high enough resolution
• Messed up the frame rate between photoshop and premiere making some parts choppy
• Don't know how to video edit
• Made the freeze frame and end way too long for some reason
• Took an unecessary amount of pictures (98)

I'd eventually like to be able to make one of those 360 sphere thingies where you can look around in any direction.