“Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself — at the university’s 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005.”
Category: English
App review – Iris Photo Suite
Iris Photo Suite (15 SEK = $2)
Iris has during the last two days became one of my favourite iPhone-photo-apps. Why? Well, so far I haven’t found an app that have so much functionality in a Phone and still it’s so easy to use, and at the same time comes packaged with so much great functionality.
In the app you’ll find many features that you normally just find in quite advanced photo editors on your laptop/PC/Mac. But this isn’t just the case, you’ll also find filters that’s quite like Hipstamatic, Instamatic and so on.
- “easy-to-use” – 4
Since there are so much functionality I’m not sure how all the functionality will benefit everyone. But if you’re used to image processing software in general you’ll love it! - Image Quality – 6 (as an iPhone-app)
I haven’t seen so many functions in an iPhone app before and when you have sharpening tools as well as reduce noise tools you can come pretty far just using your phone. - Creativity – 5
There are more filters and tweaks in this software than I have seen before. But the most screwed ones are off course not here. - Level of usage – 5
When it comes to workflow and picture processing management I really love that you can go directly to so many functions. For the photo interested audience it’s definitively a 6. - Overall score – 6
Best image processing software I’ve seen so far.
At this moment this is one of my absolute favourite iPhone-apps.
App reviews – In general
I’m really interested in Apps for the phone since the phone is the nr 1 camera in terms of mobility. However there are so many apps out there at this moment. In this blog you’ll find app-reviews from time to time.
To make these reviews a little more generic I will start a small, on volley invented, point system and will in future judge (1-6) iPhone apps in terms of:
- “easy-to-use” – How easy is the app to actually use in terms of GUI, user friendliness and workflow?
- Image Quality – Is the app focused on good pictures in terms of noise level, pixel-level and so on
- Creativity – How creative is the app in terms of artistic freedom (this doesn’t necessary mean that the app is good but will let the user to a number of settings for each picture)
- Level of usage (is it an app that’s REALLY good but you won’t use it or is ut just an average app but there’s something about it that still will make you use it?)
- Overall score in terms of an app that I truly will use (since I guess we all already have to many downloaded)
The point system may change but I’ll start off with the settings above. If you have any feedback on this, please let me know.
The Ark – It takes a fool to remain sane
Music for saturday evening
Music for friday evening
If you’re into vintage kind of photography and soul you may like this video.
Thinking of you with Blacknuss, Nai Jee Ria
Best wishes for the weekend!
Autumn signs
Today we have a beautiful day here in Stockholm – Sweden, 20 degrees celsius and amazing blue skies. Even though the shiny weather, the signs of autumn are all there, the greatest season for nature photography.
Best wishes for the weekend!
Nikon D7000, 35 mm
Great post of “10 small Things that make a big difference… photo”
No matter how long you’ve been taking photos or for that matter how MANY photos you’ve been taking. At some point you need to go back, think of the basics to get a chance to restore yourself. When you’re there, this article might work as a good source of inspiration. Hope you enjoy!
Image from Hard Rock Café in Stockholm. Nikon D7000, 35 mm.
Home, gocart and Kent
So, finally at home after a great evening out with my colleagues driving gocarts. Guess the best part just is to hang out, but since we’re all hard stubborn winning focused animals it’s always a great fight, and enjoyable talks to hold the others down. And the fight wasn’t less intense today. Great racing!
But now I’m off to bed, leave this day with the Swedish group Kent and “The king is dead”. Great song in my opinion.
5 hearts – winter time
Same flower as below, but in winter time. Almost like a heavy metal flower…
Shot taken with a Nikon D5000 35 mm-lens.
5 hearts – Pic of the day
This pic is one of my favourites. Not because of the image quality (I didn’t have macro at the time when I took this picture) but due to the fact that I just used to pass by this tree every day (located approx 6 feet from my front door), but I didn’t see the small things.
Every 5-star is approx 7-8 mm in size and in the middle you’ll find 5 hearts. Nature is really cool sometimes!
Shot taken with a Nikon D5000 18/105-lens.
IKEA opens day center for men
In Swedish at the botton of the page:
Ikea opens man’s kindergarten
(translated from http://di.se/Default.aspx?pid=246329__ArticlePageProvider&epslanguage=sv&referrer= with Google Translate)
“2011-09-28 20:17
First came Little land, where children can play and pass the time while their parents shop at Ikea. Now open “Man’s Land”, where the men can play games, watch sports television and eating hot dogs while women shop in peace.
It writes retail newsletter Market.se.
That’s when the furniture giant is investing heavily in Australia and southern hemisphere’s largest Ikea stores will open in Melbourne that you are investing in a “male-kindergarten”
There may be reluctant to submit to their women who receive a box that automatically reminds you when it’s time to get on the Men’s land. In the meantime, they can pass the time playing console games, pinball, watch sports television and sink into the sofas with a free hot dog.
According Ylva Magnusson, press officer at Ikea Sweden, there are no plans to open a male kindergarten in one of the stores in Sweden.”
Ikea öppnar mansdagis (från http://di.se/Default.aspx?pid=246329__ArticlePageProvider&epslanguage=sv&referrer=)
“2011-09-28 20:17
Först kom Småland, där barnen kan leka och fördriva tiden när föräldrarna shoppar på Ikea. Nu öppnas ”Mansland”, där männen kan spela spel, titta på sport-tv och äta varmkorv medan kvinnorna shoppar i lugn och ro.
Det skriver detaljhandelns nyhetsbrev Market.se.
Det är i samband med att möbeljätten storsatsar i Australien och södra halvklotets största Ikeavaruhus ska öppna i Melbourne som man satsar på ett ”mansdagis”,
Där kan motsträviga män lämnas in av sina kvinnor som får en dosa, som automatiskt påminner om när det är dags att hämta på Manland. Under tiden kan de fördriva tiden med att spela konsolspel, flipper, titta på sport-tv och sjunka ner i soffor med en gratis varmkorv.
Enligt Ylva Magnusson, pressansvarig på Ikea Sverige, finns det dock inga planer på att öppna ett mansdagis på något av varuhusen i Sverige.
Här finns en video på hur Ikeas Manland ser ut.”
Scenes from the Summer
A small video-project I did a while ago where I’ve put together some pictures from the summer of 2011.
, For full screen, klick the icon to the left of the Vimeo-logo
F1-Beauty
An amazing clip from a truly classic f1-fight!
Ireland, almost one year ago
One year ago I visited Ireland for my first time. The occasion was a wedding of some close friends. During our visit for the four-day-wedding we stayed at Kilronan Castle in a surrounding that was absolutely amazing! I guess that the autumn season made it even more spectacular.
This is an image from inside the castle looking down on the lake. What I tried to achieve was to picture both the atmosphere inside aswell as the surroundings outside.
Hope you enjoy it.
Kilronan Castle, Nikon D5000 18/105. Click for larger image
Sasha Dichter: The Generosity Experiment
An inspiring speech from Sasha Dichter about saying yes to people that need help.
Pooped in the face!
Today after work I thought it would be a great day for some pictures. Blue skies, bright sun and autumn colors. After a few shots I heard that a branch broke but didn’t care about it so I continued to take pictures and just enjoying the day. Then I started to notice that people starred and then looked down on the camera and saw this and then reached for my face…
I guess the rest is evident…
Beautiful autumnday in Stockholn
So, the first meetings for the day are done and I’m heading back for Office. Jumped off the subway a few stations ahead, and what a day it is!
iPhone-pic, Stockholm – Sveavägen
Marabouparken – Sundbyberg
I recently discovered that I have a park that is nominated as the second finest in Europe! This is quite strange since I love to walk around in nature, taking pics and this park is situated 300 meters from home! As they say “Don’t cross the brook for water”…
Anyway, this is a pic from that park where I tried to work with the depth in the image.
Marabouparken – Sundbyberg, Sweden
iPhone photo-apps (updated)
Some people say that the best camera you’ll ever have is the one you bring with you. In those terms I guess my phone comes close to being the my best camera. Since the camera in the phones always are the best when it comes to bringing out the best of your pics there are great apps that at least will bring you closer to your desired result.
In this post I’ve put together some of the best apps in my opinion when it comes to photography and iPhone.
Photoshop Express (link to app store)
I guess Adobe don’t need any further presentation. In the image-industry they are one of the biggest and the Photoshop-softwares have been around for quite awhile. With Photoshop Express you get one feature that I think is necessary if you’re keen on getting the noise out of your pictures.
Below you have the same picture, with and without the reduce noise function in Photoshop Express.
iPhone-image of Visby sunset without reduce noise function (Click image for large version)
Same picture as above, but now with reduce noise (Click image for large version)
A note to using this function is that, when you reduce noise, also loose details so the result will, as always, differ depending on what you want to show.
Photoshop is free but you have to spend a few bucks on getting the Reduce Noise Function
Instagram (link to app-store)
If you like filters and sharing images with the rest of the world you’ll love Instagram (my nickname at Instagram is pedrohansson). I’m surprised how creative and actually really beautiful images that are shared at Instagram. And many of those just using their iPhone (1)
iPhone-Image using Instagram-app
Pro-HDR (link to App-store)
One of the apps that I’m using the most. The iPhones built-in functionality for HDR is quite good but this app is so far ahead in terms of control and image quality. If you don’t know what HDR is and are interested in getting some new ideas for your photographic session I suggest that you look into it. In short HDR is using several exposures (over- and under exposed) to create one image. By using several exposures you can use the lighter information in the under exposed image and vice versa. HDR-apps can also being used for creating motion and ghost-like effects.
Another side-effect with HDR is that you can find colors that otherwise aren’t possible due to over- and under exposure-difficulties.
A side effect of using two images is that you need keep the camera absolute still, otherwise you get some blurry effects.
iPhone HDR-image of South Kensington Station in London
I hope you can use some of the app-tips above. Happy for comments. What is your best photo-app and how do you use it?
(1) A portion of the images at Instagram are shot with professional equipment
Update: Thank you Helen for these nice tips!
Pixlromatic (link to App store)
Screen Capture from Pixlromatic
This is an app that comes out of the box with a pretty nice set of filters. Some of them are quite similar to the top-seller Hipstamatic but others are more “original”. I’ve tried this app and my first impression is that it’s quite good even though it brings alot of noise to the image, but I guess that’s normal with app’s like this. Since int comes with no charge I think it’s definitely worth downloading.
Pixlromatic-image with “rain-effect”
iDarkroom (link to App Store)
This app is quite like Pixlromatic, i.e it comes with a bunch of filters to use. The user interface is fast and friendly and it’s really easy to like. The cost for this app is 7,00 SEK (about $1) in App Store so I guess it’s well spent money.
Screen Capture from iDarkroom
Sunrise from space
Start of a new day and a new week, and it sure is a beautiful day here in Stockholm. Even so I guess this sunrise is hard to match, at least on earth.
Hope you all have a great start of the week!
Music for rounding up the weekend
So, the weekend is coming to an end. Some good tunes to round things up with (If you’re in need of Spotify-invites, contact me directly):
The Autumn is soon here
So, the summer of 2011 is coming to an end. A summer that, here in Stockholm, was one of the sunniest ever. Didn’t thought that a summer could be that nice! Stockholm is, in my opinion, one of the greatest summer-cities in the world.
But now my favorite season of the year is entering, the autumn is moving in! The best season when it comes to photography. The colors are all there, from the most bright yellow to green, red and blue.
Can’t wait to get out there and catch some pics. Hopefully I’ve learned a little more since last year. Will be interesting to find that out.
In the end, I’m easily satisfied with the very best 😉
I’ll leave this post with a picture I took during a short walk this summer.
Hope you have a great Sunday.
(c) Pedro Hansson
“Cold Champagne”
This saturday will be a slow one since I’ve caught a Cold. Think I stay inside and work on some recent pictures. To raise my spirit a little I’ve opened a bottle of Champagne to keep me company. After all, life is about living, even when you have a little cold.
So I guess this evening will be all about “Cold Champagne”.
Happy Saturday evening to you all!
Some thoughts about Apple’s total share value, World wealth and Poverty
Yesterday I started reading about Apples share value that now is reaching for the $400.000.000.000-line. A totally staggering number! At the same time I ran into some articles from Credit Suisse and their World Wealth report where they came to the conclusion that the world’s total wealth is $194.500.000.000.000. Off course these figures aren’t comparable in a direct sense but it sure made me think… The ratio between the two figures are 1/510… (References at the bottom of the page 1, 2, 3)
At the same time I came across a statement from UNDP:
“The cost of eradicating poverty is 1% of global income. billion a year (equivalent to 0.5% of annual global income) would ensure universal access to basic social services (basic education, health, nutrition, access to water and sewerage disposal).”(4)
I’m a strong believer of freedom and liberalism (and I’m genuinely happy for anyone who makes that big economic dream come true because most of them deserve it), as well as a social responsibility from both the government as well as the citizens; but wouldn’t it be awesome if we all in the wealthiest part of the world would be part of a process where this generation took some serious steps towards ending poverty?
As John Lennon once wrote “Maybe I’m a dreamer.. “.
This post wasn’t supposed to be corny, but I guess we all are a little bit corny when we release our minds into things like this.
(Back to first page of this blog)
Hope you have a great day/weekend!
References:
1) http://www.99.se/artiklar/2648-apple-varldens-hogst-varderade-bolag.html Article in Swedish.
2) http://www.stwr.org/poverty-inequality/new-tally-of-global-wealth-illuminates-staggering-disparities.html “The world’s 4.4 billion adults, notes the new Credit Suisse research, now hold $194.5 trillion in wealth. That’s enough, if shared evenly across the globe, to guarantee every adult in the world a $43,800 net worth.”
(3) I must at this stage point out that I’m a big fan of Apple and their products. My home actually slowly turns into an Apple Store.
(4) http://www.teamstoendpoverty.org/wq_pages/en/visages/chiffres.php
Time lapse video project – just using iPhone
May 2011… One of my first video tests just using an iPhone.
The pictures and videos are made during a period of two weeks in Stockholm.
http://www.vimeo.com/24517683
(View in full screen for best appearance)
Saarimner.com 
