Spectrometers

Spectrometers are devices that collect and measure the amount of light that a color gives off, and gives us a number to represent the intensity of the color. It works by measuring the intensity of the color and how it absorbs the light to give off a color.

Today, we did a sort of lab where we chose a color and used a spectrometer to measure how much light is given off with each type of colored light- Blue, Cyan, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Deep Red, and four interred lights. Then, we did the same thing on a white color, and divided the original results with those results to get results that could form a sort of spectrum.

I didn't really know what to expect, so I didn't get any unexpected results for my data. Looking at the other data samples, I didn't do anything wrong, so nothing was too unexpected.

We used different printers to print out the colors to use with the spectrometer. When our teacher put all of our spectrums next to each other, I found out that the other printers made the results a little bit different for Cyan, with a steeper or less steep slope and different results. The graphs, though, generally had the same shape, so the printers only changed the height of the spectrum.

In my opinion, hex codes have more relation to RGB than CMYK, because the RGB values match up with the hex codes values directly. What I mean by that is the Red value coincides with the first two numbers of the hex code- the 00 in #00FFFF. The Green value coincides with the second two- the 00 in #FF00FF. The Blue value coincides with the last two numbers- the 00 in #FFFF00. So, RGB has more in common with the hex codes than CMYK to me.

I think that spectrometry is important for publishers with color in their articles or other works, because they need to know specifically what colors they're using so that they can use that specific color in a printer. Some publishers are limited in the number of colors they can use, so a malfunction or misuse of a spectrometer could be disastrous. If no spectrometer is used, the colors in the actual printed newspaper or other type of media could be off, and mess the article up.

So, in conclusion, spectrometers are important. :)

October 27, 2010 iPhoto Challenge

Our assignment today was to make a perfect copy of a photo that our teacher showed us. To do this, we went into iPhoto and used the effects and editing tools to change this picture :
  to this picture: 


My version:

 to this picture:


Pretty close, isn't it? I went into iPhoto and used the edit tool to do this. I enhanced the original photo, and added a Boost Color effect. Then, I went into the "Adjust" function and put the contrast to 30 and saturation to 51. I also put shadows to 25 and de-noise to 10. Then, I zoomed into the photo and used the re-touch function to straighten out the dancer's cheek and necklace.


Kendrick, Jonathan. Native Dancer. N.d. Stock.xchng - the Leading Free Stock 
     Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 5 Feb. 2007. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.
     <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/713435>.






Similarly: 


 To: 

Zemp, Sacha. Pictures from the Ieyasu Festi. N.d. Stock.xchng - the Leading Free 
     Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd, 4 May 2003. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. 
     <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/19462>.

That's it for today. So far, iPhoto has been pretty good to me, even if it 
 took a little while to figure out the re-touch function. I really do like this
 program (Not that it compares to photoshop or anything), so hopefully
 we'll be working in it a bit more. 

Edit: Sorry, will fix the link on the second picture. I didn't know 
that it would break.

RGB, CMYK, and Hex Codes

Today, for our second assignment, we did a page on RGB, CMYK, and Hex Codes, the three things used to make colors on a printer or computer. I've done some hexadecimal in a class once, so I'm a little more familiar with these codes.
We did an assignment to do this:
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9aIgWEtuCXgY2ZiZThhZmYtODFlMi00NTdmLTk1NjMtN2E3YmIxYzdhYTdl&hl=en&authkey=CL-ArLIK

The grey code is on the second page, sorry, Google Docs messed up. This document will probably be really useful in the coming days if we have to do other things with hex codes, since this document can be used as a base for all of it. Use it well!

Starting in iPhoto

Let me start off with saying: I've had some pretty bad experiences with iPhoto. A couple years ago in my Technology class, my partner and I worked in iPhoto to make a stop motion animation. We spent forever trying to work iPhoto to our benefit, using over 600 frames, and all that work nearly came to naught as iPhoto took nearly an hour to import all of the pictures and then crashed on us.

With all of that in mind, I still have some hopes for iPhoto. It's a great program, and has a lot of potential- if it doesn't end up killing me again.

(One of) Our assignment(s) today was to to manipulate a stock photo, which I did.

Before:

Original Photo

Photo after going through iPhoto

Schuster, Eva. Japanese gardens . N.d. Stock.xchng - the Leading Free Stock 
     Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 26 Sept. 2010. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. 
     <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1310535>.

For this assignment, I used nearly all of the iPhoto options: I cropped the picture, rotated it a little bit, enhanced the color, retouched it, added a bright effect and adjusted some of the contrast, definition, and exposure. 

13th and Last Day of working in Pages

Finally, after a nearly month-long trek, my time of working in Pages is over.
I have to say, I'm really happy with what I've done, but I still dislike the program. I prefer Microsoft Word.
Here's the full project- cover, itinerary, work log and bibliography:
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9aIgWEtuCXgYWZhZmZkMzMtZGNkNi00NDk3LWEwOTEtNWYyMTEyZjA3ZmVl&hl=en&authkey=CNTb4Z8D
(Note: The first page's background was cut off by Google Docs. Sorry!)

Here's the brochure for the trip- Some of the things have been changed (The script next to the protection screen reads: We are still not responsible for your children. ;) )
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9aIgWEtuCXgODdlNTNjZmYtYjY5ZS00YmZkLWEyZDItZDZhYzk5MTY2ZTE4&hl=en&authkey=CJedr8sH

Here's to never working in Pages again! *Clink*

P.S.- Did anyone notice that we've finished the project on an unlucky number day?

12th day of working in Pages

It's been a pretty decent day, today, overall. With the exception of our school emails crashing (Don't ask), I've gotten a lot of work today. I did a lot of work at home and emailed it to myself, though, and I forgot what I did, so I've probably redone a lot of the stuff I did at home in class today. 

So anyway, I finished Florence and most of Naples in class today. Checks!

Only a couple more cities to do, and Sicily. Yay~

10th and 11th Days of working in Pages

Our 10th day of working in Pages was more of a half day, so I decided to combine both of the days in one post. I've started work on my Itinerary, and I have around 6 of the 20 days done already- it takes a while to research all of the places, even though I've already been to Italy myself. I learned that about 20-22 Citations can fit on one page, so I have my citations in halves now for each section. It's taken over 50 citations total..and will probably take a lot more before I'm done.

Venice: Check
Bologna: Check
Pisa: Check
Florence: Working on it!
Rome: Not done
Naples: Not done
Capri: Not done
Sicily: Not done

I might end up working on the itinerary at home, and then emailing to myself to put in Pages here. That might be a good idea...
Cheers!

Ninth Day of iWorking in Pages

(Please tell me that someone noticed the joke in the title.)
Yes, that does mean I'm in a semi-good mood. I'm now mostly finished with my brochure, which really does resemble the one I drew out in the plan a long time ago. The first page has the three columns, just like in the plan, but the second page has a couple changes. There are more pictures and some more descriptions around the page, which I thought were needed to give extra information to the potential 'travelers'. The designs are consistent, though, and I'm happy with what I have for the brochure.
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9aIgWEtuCXgOTBmM2M5NzItY2M1Ny00MGM2LWE4M2UtM2E3NjdiNmMzZmVj&hl=en&authkey=CO-ppPUG is the original Introduction, with some changes and editing. Unfortunately, the background on the first page is still white, due to a Google Docs error.
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9aIgWEtuCXgYzcxZGI1NmMtY2RjZS00MzRhLWIzYmQtZWIxMzQ4ZTVhNjZi&hl=en&authkey=CN_iyM0E is the new Brochure. Enjoy! Sorry if some of the text is illegible, though none of it should be. Google Docs error, again.

Edit: Sorry, changed the brochure for cost approximations.

Day 8 of Working in Pages

Today, I pretty much finished my brochure. I have to go back and make some edits, such as learning how to take out the double spacing in text boxes, but that's about it. I have over 35 citations in my bibliography- That's amazing, isn't it? It took me a long time, too.
So, next time, I'll just make final revisions on my brochure before uploading it as another PDF file. I also have to update my work log (Which is all of these things) and my bibliography.

(You may notice my log posts are getting shorter. I suppose that means that everything's running along more or less smoothly, right?)

Day 7 of working in Pages

Today, I worked on my brochure for the most part. My teacher posted up examples of the best files in our class (My old PDF file was in it- Yay!) and they gave me some ideas. I may change my project a little bit to make it look better later on. I'll definitely finish (most of) my brochure next class.