Creating an HDR Image

Posted on September 5, 2010 by Vincent Kong

Last week I had a chance to take a picture of the sunset during our annual fellowship BBQ.  The first time I attempted to take a picture of a high-contract scene of the sun, the results were quite disappointing.  In hopes of producing better results, I decided to shoot the sunset using the Auto Exposure Bracking (AEB) function and then merge them together using a High Dynamic Range (HDR) software.

To shoot, I set the camera at Aperture-Priority (Av) mode at f/8.0.  Then I activated the AEB function to take 3 shots with an exposure difference of 2 EV (exposure value).  I got 3 virtually identical images: one normal exposure, one underexposed, and one overexposed.

To merge the images together I used Adobe Photoshop CS5:

  1. “File” → “Automate” → “Merge to HDR Pro…”
  2. Select the 3 images to be merged and click “OK”
  3. A preview of the composite image will be generated, I checked the “Remove ghosts” check box and click “OK” to complete the HDR image with other settings at default.

Below is the composed HDR image without using much effort.

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Launch wiki.vincentkong.com

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Vincent Kong

It’s been several months since I’ve finally updated my blog.  The fact is, I found that organizing my notes and thoughts to write a clear and precise entry takes more time than I sometimes anticipate.  However, when I stopped my notes started getting disorganized as I had no place to put them.  As well, I often learn about some quick tips which are useful, but not worth blogging about.

This is where the wiki site comes in.  It can quickly allow me to add, and organize my rough cut notes, and tips, as well, give me access to my all information online.

The wiki software which I decided to use is MediaWiki, which was original developed and used by Wikipedia, but now has become one of the most popular wiki software.

You can visit my new Wiki site at http://wiki.vincentkong.com

Refer to my wiki page for information on how to install and configure MediaWiki.

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Virtual Deskops for Windows

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Vincent Kong

My computer desktop in the office is always clutter with many windows of open applications, and since I couldn’t get a second monitor I decided to go for an alternative solution: virtual desktops.  The concept of virtual desktops is not new, it’s available on many operating systems such as Mac OS, and Ubuntu, but for some reason Windows doesn’t have this feature.

VirtuaWin is a virtual desktop manager for the Windows operating system.  After installing VirtuaWin, I configured it with the settings displayed in the screen shots below.

To navigate between virtual desktops (also called ‘workspace’), I simply drag the mouse to the edge of the screen.

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Tabs for PuTTY

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Vincent Kong

A lot of people including me uses the free PuTTY application as a SSH client for Windows.  However, the most annoying thing about it, is the lack of tabs; making me having to manage multiple PuTTY windows for multiple SSH sessions.

PuTTY Connection Manager is a free PuTTY Client Add-on for Windows platforms uses tabs for managing multiple PuTTY instances!

When PuTTY Connection Manager is first started, it’ll ask you to enter the location of where your PuTTY is installed.

And finally, you can start using a tabbed version of PuTTY!

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Tonkatsu Curry Rice

Posted on January 30, 2010 by Vincent Kong

The first time I made tonkatsu with udon, it wasn’t real tonkatsu because I cheated by using Shake ‘n Bake.  I remember watching a Japanese cooking game show a few months back which demonstrated how to make tonkatsu, and since I had some time Friday night I decided to make tonkatsu curry rice.

Ingredients:

  • cut pork loin
  • 1 egg
  • bread crumbs
  • Japanese curry sauce mix
  • white rice

I began by marinating the pork loin with salt and pepper and had it sit while I prepared the white rice.  While waiting for the rice I prepared the pork loin.  I poured oil into a pot, ensuring there was enough so that the pork can submerged, and started to boil it.  I whipped the egg inside a bowl and dipped the pork loin inside so that the entire pork was covered with the egg mix.  Then I placed the pork onto a separate plate and evenly spread the bread crumbs on both surface of the pork.  When the oil was boiling I submerged the pork inside. Once the breadcrumbs looked brown I removed the pork and dried the excess oil with a paper towel.  Once everything was about ready, I microwaved the Japanese curry sauce mix and served it with the tonkatsu and rice.

If you noticed there was only one tonkatsu at the end, but I prepared two pork loin in the beginning.  Well, to be honest the first one didn’t make it… oops!  The challenge was to find the right amount of time the pork should be boiling inside the oil.  If it was too long the breadcrumbs would be burned, and if it was too little the pork inside won’t be done well enough.  It would also have helped if the pork loin wasn’t as thick as the ones I used.  Maybe next time. :)

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