These videos are HD 720p encoded in h264 high, so the file sizes are huge, and you’ll need a decent computer to play them. The finer details of the photo adjustments would have been indiscernible otherwise.

Part 1 – [Download]
(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

Part 2 – [Download]
(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

In case you are curious, here’s a quick rundown of the basic steps I used for most of the photos:

1. Duplicate Background Layer 1: Smart blur to smooth away noise. Adjust radius so edges are still well defined, which is usually between 0.5 and 2 (depends on resolution of photo, focus, and lighting). Set transparency to 20% – 50% and blending to normal. You want to see slightly smoother surfaces without any loss in edge detail.
2. Duplicate Background Layer 2: Sharpening layer. There are several ways to do this; I use a high pass filter. The key is to make all the smooth parts of the photo a consistent gray color, with only the edges visible. Usually set to 40% – 80% transparency. Blending set to overlay.
3. Duplicate Background Layer 3: Gaussian blur for saturation enhancement and halo effect. This can be nice, but you don’t want to overdo it. Increase the radius of the gaussian blur such that details are all blurred out but you can still see rough shapes. Transparency set to 10% – 30%, and blending set to soft light (overlay).
4. Curves Adjustment Layer: This allows you to adjust tones and contrast; I use it mainly to enhance contrast, with transparency set to 10% – 40%. Sometimes I add another layer to lighten the photo if it is especially dark.
5. Levels Adjustment Layer: This lets you adjust the brightness histogram of a photo. Usually the gaussian blur overlay and contrast enhancement makes the photo darker overall, so I use this to readjust the photo to match the original brightness. This is usually done by adjusting the midtone level to 1.1 (sometimes 1.15 or 1.2 if the original was too dark) and transparency anywhere between 20% and 90%, depending on the photo.
6. Photo Filter Adjustment Layer: This allows you to adjust color balance. This can usually be avoided with a good camera, but sometimes the environment is too “warm” or “cold,” in which case you can use this to fix the color balance. You can also use this to apply “mood” lighting or effects to a photo, e.g. sepia tones. If I use this, I usually set transparency to 10% – 30%.

Luckily for me, the dreaded Windows Update Restart-Your-Computer window popped up while I happened to be at the computer, so at least it didn’t restart without my knowing. Unfortunately, the popup window only allows me to “Restart Now” or “Postpone,” and if I choose the second option, the window will automatically popup again within 4 hours (the longest postpone option), at which time I will have to be at my computer to click “Postpone” again.

At this point my options are either to restart my simulation from scratch and lose a week’s worth of work, or divide my sleep schedule into 4 hours blocks so I can oblige the Windows Update popup. Thankfully, there is actually a way to kill this window and not have it popup again.

So, now all is well. But seriously, Microsoft, why do you do this to us? This is not the first time.

“Facebook is now the online cafeteria,” Ms. Robbins says. “It’s this public space, largely unsupervised, and it mirrors the cafeteria dynamic where you walk in and have to find a place to belong. At school, you have to pick a table. Well, on Facebook you not only have to pick a table, you have to pick who’s at your table and who’s not. And then kids feel they have to be publicists for themselves, maintaining their photos and status. It’s exhausting.

If you are a Starcraft II fan, you owe it to yourself to watch this amazing series! Feel free to skip the introductions if you don’t care about that stuff (I find it entertaining). If you have limited time, you can also skip the first few matches, although you’ll miss out on some hilarious trash talk as well as the intense buildup towards the final games.

GSTL February Finals – Game 1
(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

GSTL February Finals – Game 2
(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

GSTL February Finals – Game 3
(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

GSTL February Finals – Game 4
(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

GSTL February Finals – Game 5
(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

GSTL February Finals – Game 6
(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

GSTL February Finals – Game 7
(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

GSTL February Finals – Game 8
(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

GSTL February Finals – Game 9
(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

“I love this app. It’s panoply of vocabulary words is very complete. It is very easy to use and worth the money.”

Wonderful. Now someone just needs to teach that erudite logophile the difference between it’s and its.

There were a few more changes I wanted to make, but work has been really busy and I don’t know when I’ll have time to get around to making all the changes I have in mind.  So rather than keep a website that was mostly complete from going live indefinitely, I decided to just make it public as it is and deal with the additional fixes as I get the time.

I migrated a few of my old blog posts to this new site, but I didn’t copy over any of the comments.  I may one day, but for now, please feel free to leave comments or questions.   Photos have also been migrated over, and you can comment on those as well.  I still need to get around to allowing people to create accounts (not that many people have in the past, but it saves having to type in your name and email every time you comment).    The main navigation menu is on the top, and if you are curious why I broke down the site into these sections, you can take a look here.