Spitting Images

In an ongoing theme where I extol the virtues of those clever, clever people at Google, I shall today be hammering on about their photo storage software, Picasa.

Downloaded to the desktop, not only is it a nicely functioning image viewer/editor, it also offers oodles of online storage where you can geotag your photos to see them on Google Earth, or just keep them safe and accessible for a rainy day.

The really clever bit is it's face recognition tool.

Upload an album in a couple of minutes, and it will find all the faces in the photos, and ask you to name them. It'll clump together faces that it thinks are of the same person, and is often frighteningly accurate, even if hair and makeup vary enormously from one picture to the other, which mine normally does.

The more you upload and name, the better it gets at it.

However, you often get people lurking in the background of your pictures, so it will still find the face, and have a stab at guessing who it is - even though it's nobody it's ever seen before.

I was starting to find it quite amusing as it suggested random strangers who look nothing like any of my friends might be someone I know, based on it's previous experiences.

So in the name of titting about science, I thought I'd chuck a few random photos at it, and see who it thinks it is.

First off, what better substitute for real friends, then plastic ones.













This is a picture of - from left to right - Lyndsey, Kat, Sam, Morph, Kay, and Tanya.

I don't know what's more puzzling from this. The fact that it thought the cast of Friends all look like girls (or at least girls that I know), or the fact that Ali has married a David Schwimmer lookalike. Ethicon on the other hand, has done alright for himself.

There must be a celebrity that looks like a male friend?

How about this fine fella?



It's not Dale Winton - it's Ethicon of course!

And who's this?



Sorry Timbo. It's you. Still in shock from NCFCs relegation I see.

This one?



No it's not Brucie, but neither (rather surprisingly since I was trying to stitch him up) is it the Gingerfeck. If you think you look more like Brucie than Ronan does, I think I'd keep very quiet about it. I know who it thinks it is, but I'm not saying either.

Suffice to say, it is neither me or Mrsslippy. There are so many photos of us saved to it, you could shoot me in the dark with a balaclava on and it'd still know who I am.

Have a go for yourselves. And if you find a picture of a dodgy celebrity that it thinks is me, please let me know. I'm thinking of branching out and setting up a lookalike agency.

Are you free to 'do' Graham Timbo? I'm sure he'd like it.

Small is beautiful

I was alerted today to a video that I found just so cool, I just had to find out more, and share, so thanks scaryduck for the tip off.

Have you ever seen really great Macro photography? You know, pictures of really small stuff. You can tell it's small because the depth of field is short, so only part of the picture is in focus.

Kind of like what I've done below. Not the best examples, but they're mine so I can put them up without having to credit someone else.







Your brain knows these are small things because of the blurring in the foreground and background.

But can you trick your brain into thinking big things are small if what you're looking at is only focused centrally? Normal cameras don't do this. The last thing you would want if taking a nice scenery or crowd scene would be most of it being a blur.

You can get special lenses that will do this, or a bit of jiggery pokery in Photoshop can achieve the same effect with a bit of layer masking and lens blur.

I had a go myself with a picture I took in Venice looking down on St. Marks Square.

Not perfect, but a first attempt, and hopefully you get the impression that it could actually be a miniature model, not life sized. Probably turning up the colour saturation a bit might make the people look 'hand painted'. I'll tinker with some other pictures.



Now hold that thought, and have a look at some of the amazing pictures online that others have done.

And finally, check out Keith Loutits videos. He's taken the same principle and used time lapse photography to create some scenes that look like a Cravendale advert, but are real people, frame by frame by frame...


Mardi Gras from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Then check out his other stuff.

Fancy a go yourself but can't afford Photoshop?

Neither can I, so I use GIMP - it's free and does everything Potatoshop does.

You gotta love open access software developers

Cheryl clocked my fat balls

Something I never expected to be doing on a Saturday morning was discussing my fat balls with one of the Infectious Diseases nurses from work.

Mrsslippy has gone away for the day to Mrs Ethicons baby shower, with Katieluv, Horledge, and Littleginger/Ginger Warrior (who due to an argument with some snow is taking some time out from warmongering, and is Timmied up in a sling).

I wasn't embarrassed to show Cheryl my balls, she's probably seen loads in her time, although I think she was a little surprised to see mine, particularly at 9.30 on a Saturday morning.

My neighbours have seen them, as they're often proudly hanging out in the back garden. In fact the first thing I did when I got home was go round the back and get them out.

Unfortunately, in my enthusiasm, I spilt my seed everywhere.

For this morning I was caught at our local garden centre stocking up on bird food. A jumbo tub of fat balls, and a 3kg bag each of peanuts, mixed seeds, and sunflower seeds. If they'd got any mealworms I'd have had them too, but today wasn't to be.

I also invested in a new pole to hang feeders off, as the one we have with a big tray on it has been claimed by pigeons, and the starlings seem to think the other pole is for them, and them alone. This brings the total of feeders to 8 or 9 or something, plus loose balls.

I know it's not cool, but being as I am not either, then I shall come clean.

I am a birder. A card carrying member of the RSPB.

Not a Twitcher - they are just list making completists, who will travel the length and breath of the country just so they can say 'seen it'.

I enjoy the simple pleasure of just sitting and watching our feathered friends going about their daily business.

Not to say if I did see something rare or unusual I wouldn't be excited, but I'm just as happy watching the starlings munching on my balls.

We've got a pair of binoculars each, and even a couple of spare pairs. I'm sure the people who live over the back will report me to the police one day for spying on them due to me often hanging out the window with a pair of bins glued to my face.

If it wasn't for the fact it's pissing it down I'd be there now, seeing who fancies a go on my new treats.

While I wait for it to subside, I'll share a few pictures of some of the little feathery things that have brought me some joy over the years. There are dozens more on my website, and just you wait until we get back from Brazil. I'm gonna have Toucans, and Hummingbirds, and Parrots.....

Stork Billed Kingfisher - Borneo

Oriental Pied Hornbill - Borneo. Noisiest bird I've ever heard.

Heron - Regents Park. The place is swarming with them. I wouldn't call them tame, but they're certainly approachable.

Some type of Hawk - I can't tell from the silhouette. Any ideas?

A Falcon from a display team at Banham Zoo.

A pissed off looking thrush - somewhere in Norfolk

Red legged Partridge sat on our back fence. It really shouldn't be there.

Oyster Catcher on North Norfolk Coast.

Barn Owl at Brancaster

I think this Robin was in Norfolk somewhere....

Avocet at Titchwell RSPB reserve in Norfolk. Beautiful birds.

Saw this little fella cleaning himself at Derwent Water ooop North

I have no idea where I interrupted this Blackbird having his dinner - somewhere in the Lake District.

Cormorant on Lake Windermere. We hired a row boat, and Mrsslippy's careful oarsmanship got us really close to it.

And me feeding dirty pigeons, again, Lake Windermere.

Rain's stopped. I'm off to inspect my balls.