I made this one thing (sort of) following the steps found here: Aaron Alai’s EMF Detector. As I didn’t happen to have the right resistor lying around (and didn’t want to scrounge through my parts) it only sort of works. I guess I could tweak the code and such, but I’m still just starting to learn this Arduino it’s still sketchy at best.

Robotics has been a passion ever since I first found BEAM bots (made by Mark Tilden). I’ve made a few different ones, but never had the frame of mind to photograph them. Living in Norway, having no RadioShack or even something similar…Scrounging from older projects is the way of life. I have to order parts (which is normal) but they take forever to get here and they’re NOT CHEAP. Even the simplest little beam bot takes parts that equal +/- $50!

I bought the Arduino Duemanilove and the Protoshield from eBay, at a total cost of about $27, including shipping to Norway. That’s pretty cheap in my opinion. When it came time to use the Arduino the first time, that was as simple as can be. I downloaded the latest software from Arduino website, and installed it. Running Windows 7 there’s a feature that installs all (ok, most) drivers automatically. I read the guide and prepared to install the drivers. When I plugged in the Arduino the first time, the computer thought about it for a few seconds and then it was all ready to go. I didn’t have to do anything. It told me it had assigned the Arduino to com4 and upon selecting com4 and the correct board in Arduino IDE, I was ready to upload.

If you like tinkering with microprocessors but you feel it’s costly and too complicated.. Buy this thing! I used to play with PIC micros and tried to use the ASM language, but felt it was too hard. I’m a trained computer technician and I’ve been a software programmer and web programmer, but this was too much to get a simple little micro to work. This thing uses what looks very much like C/C++ and it’s filled with great possibilities!

I’ve got work bright and early monday morning, and have to be fit for that. Maybe I can watch a movie or two and also try to get some personal stuff done.

Hellboy II: The golden army is on the TV now, but I’ve seen it allready so I’m not really watching. The movie is OK and all but I think it’s too much like the first and looks like it was made just to make a sequel.

I happened to browse the channels earlier and watched the better part of Eagle Eye. Now.. For some reason, last time I tried to watch this movie I just couldn’t. I started watching it but got bored quick and stopped. Guessing that was a mistake by me, because this time I just couldn’t stop watching the thing. The movie has everything a geek could want. Action, high-tech computers and high speed chases. Oh, and Michelle Monaghan didn’t exactly hurt the eyes .

The movie stars Shia LaBeouf, known from Transformers. As I only happened to watch some of the movie I can’t write a decent review of it’s plot. I can only write that I really liked the movie and I plan to buy it as soon as I can and watch the whole thing.

I’ve had the chance to play with the new theme of the site a bit, and I like it! There’s just something about it I find much more pleasing than the old. The theme is written by BOB, as was the old one. BOB has some really great themes for WordPress so if you have a site running WordPress and you’re looking for a new theme I’d suggest you swing by the site. I’m still configuring some of the options and I’m also customizing a few little things. I’m not making writing this blog to make money but I do have some ads on here. Can’t hurt to try to make some money while in the comfort of one’s livingroom.  The site is using Google AdSense but I haven’t figured out how to truly customizing the ads. Some time in the future I’m also going to write a page on how you can get in contact with me in order to maybe get your own ad on this page.

On a “personal” note, I’ve upgraded my system to Windows 7 (skipping Vista alltogether). While using XP I had serious issues using the wireless network. It wouldn’t connect to my router when I wanted it to, and when it did it lost connection waaay to often. Now, I’m online using the WLAN and so far it’s working great (knock on wood). I usually upgrade to the next OS when it’s successor is out. That means I should now be using Vista… Vista is NOT usable for my work and I will certainly not use it. Windows 7 seems to work just like I’d expect it to and I’m keeping it.

This post ended up a bit longer than was intended but hey… When you feel like writing, write!

I decided I didn’t want to re-invent the wheel in terms of a gallery application, since I found one that (so far) covers all my needs and is a pleasure to use. You can find my gallery here: Geir Andersen’s Photogallery. It’s not much in there yet as I’m still setting it up and uploading stuff, but it’ll get there.

There’s the option to order prints in there, and I’ll write a T&C page which will get a link shortly.

For now, please enjoy the gallery and hope to see you again soon.

-Geir

This is ordinary at best. I was happy though as I didn’t know any better. Posted it on a community and wanted feedback and comments. I’m always after honest comments and critique and that means I want bad comments as well as good. If nobody tells me what I’m doing wrong if I can’t see it myself, then how am I to get any better? Got some great advice and decided to play around in PS (PhotoShop). Spent a few hours last night and thought I managed to get a better version. As I noticed this morning it was WAY over processed and just couldn’t pass it off as an image. Another member of the same community “pimped” my shot (meaning he edited it as he saw fit, and posted for me to see). Didn’t even bother posting the version I’d done, as that wasn’t even near what I wanted. While I was waiting for the member to answer my question on what he’d done to get the results, I explored PS a few more hours.

Here’s the final edit that I’m quite pleased with:

(Also link to Flickr fullsize version)

It’s not perfect, but I think it’s a heck of a lot better than the original post. This one I feel I could hang on my wall and be proud to have taken.

This just goes to show that one should never give up, and that there’s hope in just about any shot that the photographer has put some time into.

Tech. info on the shot:
Canon EOS 400D using the kit lens EF-S 18-55 @ 55mm focallength.
F/11, 1/30s shutter, ISO100.