I've used the auto-adjust features of my photo editing software. I've even massaged the colors manually. Sometimes though, I just can't get the darned thing to look right. Here's an interesting solution, assuming that you possess Photoshop:

Adjusting your photographs to get the color 'just right' can be a chore. Think about this: The Old Masters of painting spent years of their lives learning about color. Why let all their effort go to waste on the walls of some museum when it could be used to give you a hand with color correction?

When Photoshop entered the CS series it included a new tool called 'Match Color.' This tools was made so that you could match a series of photos to one another.

But there is another thing you can do with 'Match Color' that is much cooler: You can match the colors in your photos to those in famous paintings.

I keep a directory of about 30 of my favorite paintings and anytime I need to do color correction, I just scan through them to find the one that gives the photo I'm working on the best look.

This technique can be used in other ways. For example, use the color from a scanned-in 1970's Kodachrome snapshot to give a recent photo a vintage look. Need to make a picture more menacing? Use the color from a picture of a storm.

Detailed instructions are there. Click the extended entry to see a few examples/results. more...

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Lots of people live-blogged the debates last night including, of course, Stephen Green doing the drunk-blogging version. Great stuff everywhere, but I found a line that will be almost impossible to top over at Alarming News:

8:55pm: McCain loves amnesty for people that broke the law to get into America. He could not be less my candidate if he tried. Which, it seems, he does.

If the GOP is stupid enough to nominate McCain, I will write myself in for president.

Now there's a campaign for you: Physics Geek 2008!

Posted by: Physics Geek at 07:49 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Apparently someone at the HuffPo hotlinked an image from the Family Research Council. Well, the Evangelical Output did what I normally do to hotlinkers: moved a different image into that file name. The results are quite amusing. As I type this, the HuffPo still hasn't been fixed.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 12:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Michael Graham unloads on George Tenet. I can't say that I've seen a more deserving target in a long, long time.

If thereÂ’s a bigger buffoon or more gutless weasel in the intelligence world than George Tenet, heÂ’s being hidden in a black ops prison on Guantanamo Bay.

Tenet, a poster child for “The Power Of Positive Brown-Nosing,” has hit a new low, even for Washington. Having worked his way up the political ladder by leaving no back unslapped, on the way down he’s leaving no back unstabbed.

George Tenet is the Barney Fife of the spy world. Every bad guy got away, and he never took his bullet out of his pocket.

Screwing up the pre-Iraq war intelligence alone makes him a failure. Utterly missing the 9/11 attacks and having not a single CIA asset in the Taliban or al-Qaeda at the time earns him “Worst CIA Chief Ever.”

But Tenet’s incompetence overshadows even these “accomplishments.”
...

Does the media even care that much of Tenet’s book is nonsense? He claims he was astonished to run into neocon Richard Perle exiting the White House on Sept. 12, 2001, and to hear him say, “Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday, they bear responsibility.”

If Tenet was surprised, imagine poor Richard Perle! He was in France on Sept. 12, 2001, unable to fly back to Washington due to, well, you know. And George Tenet wonders why the evil Bushies keep linking pre-war Iraq to al-Qaeda. He should read his own 2002 statements to Congress about “solid reporting of senior level contacts between Iraq and al-Qa’ida” and “credible reporting that al-Qa’ida leaders sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire WMD capabilities.”

No one ever went broke betting against the ethics and honesty of a politician.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Orrin Hatch supports giving DC a seat in the US House. Not surprisingly, there's a little backrubbing going on:

Sen. Orrin Hatch should know better: He supports giving the District of Columbia a special seat in the House of Representatives. So does Utah's other senator, Robert Bennett. Their backing has everything to do with the fact that under a deal brokered in the House, Utah would get an additional seat as well. It certainly has nothing to do with the Constitution, which says only states may be represented in the House. And DC isn't a state. Read the NRO editorial, here.

I'm certain that Hugh Hewitt will continue to extoll the virtues of having supported Hatch in 2004. Maybe the sandwich has grown even more tasty over time.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 12:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Actually, it's the search itself that possibly awards you free stuff. Check out Blingo, a Google-powered search engine that gives out up to 25 prizes per day. Possible prizes?

• Brand New Ford Escape or $20,000 cash!

• $5,000 Cash

• Home Theatre Package or $2,500 cash

• $2,500 Cash

• $1,000 Cash Every Thursday

• $25 Amazon.com Gift Certificate *

• Fandango Movie Ticket

There are some downsides, of course, and they are:

• You don't have access to Google's advanced search functions page.
  
• There is no way to change the filter level for image searches.
  

Anyway, give it a shot if you're interested.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:29 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The following exchange was found by a friend of mine in a Powerbuilder news group. Some people were discussing what would likely replace Powerbuilder and, well...

> All wrong. LISP is back with a vengeance. One language to rule them all.

Mention LISP again, and I'll run my CAR over your CDR.

I almost choked on my Diet Dr. Pepper. Don't worry if you don't understand the above exchange. All that means is that you probably had something resembling a life during college.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 07:15 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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So our gal Helen and her beloved Angus are expecting twins. I'm absolutely thrilled for the both of them.

Stop by her place and offer your congratulations.

Hat tip given grudgingly to Cal Tech Girl, only because I hit her blog before Helen's.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 12:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So Mircea Monroe is a graduate of VCU, huh? Too bad that I wasn't there while she was attending. She would have raised the quality of the girls that didn't want anything to do with me.

Truthfully, I didn't recognize her immediately on Drive because her hair used to be blonde.

Images below the fold, if you're interested. more...

Posted by: Physics Geek at 07:25 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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