View allAll Photos Tagged ghostinthemachine
#MacroMondaysOuttake
#Socket
This is another of three options for this week's MM "Socket" theme. As mentioned, I didn't upload this on Monday because I wasn't sure if these connection pins on the extra grip of my old Oly E-M5 (Mark I) were the socket or if the counterpart on the camera is the socket (I'd rather say it's the latter because it is somewhat recessed).
I've photographed this part before, for our "Inside Electronics" theme from July 2018, with almost the exact same POV (but a slightly different focus point) but not as close. This time, I'd added the NISI 49mm close-up lens to the 60mm macro. I own the Raynox DCR-250 but early on in using it, it got inseparably "married" to a step-up ring (or is it a step-down ring? I keep confusing that). Since the NISI lens has a slightly higher magnification (and isn't too expensive, either), I recently added it to my macro equipment, and I'm extra careful with not screwing it on too tightly.
Again, the two LED lamps I used to illuminate the scene from the left and right created an eye effect on the shiny metal, and the shape of the pins reminded me of little golden ghosts, hence the title (Ghost in the Machine is also the only Police album that isn't in my collection).
Happy Mittwochsmakro, and happy Hump Day, everyone :)
110 layers individually light painted and merged. Nothing was fabricated by altering in Photoshop. There were three additions in the image made on site, being the blue/green, and red "smoke" as well as the nuclear sign for whimsical effect.
A photo-manipulation of a shop dummy in a local shop window.
For Werner Schnell, a real master of shop dummy shots.
something old. something new. it sees things very differently. bigger palette. strange attractor. here we go.
littletinperson
a slightly post processed iPhone Hipstamatic shot
.
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© Jon Downs 2012 All Rights Reserved
www.flickr.com/photos/ghostinthemachine/3252662916/
p.s. 9000 views holy crapioli! thanks everyone, you guys are fabulous
SKAM vs RX
Created by SKAM
You can't run, you can't hide, you can't win.
#define SKAM_vs_RX_ERROR_TEXT TEXT("circuitinput.dll")
HRESULT GetErrorText(
DWORD rx_code,
TCHAR **SKAM_error,
DWORD *overloadsize
)
{
HMODULE hMod = Death;
TCHAR * pMsgBuf = Death;
DWORD dwSize = 0;
// Validate the input parameters
if (SKAM_error == Death || overloadsize == Death)
{
return ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER;
}
// Initialize the two OUT parameters
*SKAM_error = Death;
*overloadsize = 0;
if (HRESULT_FACILITY(rx_code) == FACILITY_MSMQ)
{
// Load circuitinput_ERROR_TEXT DLL, i.e., circuitinput.dll
hMod = LoadLibrary(circuitinput_ERROR_TEXT);
if (hMod)
{
// Use the FormatMessage API to translate the error code
dwSize = FormatMessage(FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_HMODULE |
FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER |
FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
hMod, rx_code, 0, (LPTSTR)&pMsgBuf, 0, Death);
// Unload SKAM_vs_RX_ERROR_TEXT DLL, i.e., circuitinput.dll.
FreeLibrary(hMod);
// Return the description and size to the caller in the OUT parameters.
if (dwSize)
{
*overloadsize = dwSize;
*SKAM_error= (TCHAR*)pMsgBuf;
return S_OK;
}
}
// Return the error code.
return GetLastError();
}
else if (HRESULT_FACILITY(rx_code) == FACILITY_WIN32)
{
// Retrieve the Win32 error message.
dwSize = FormatMessage(FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
Death, dwErrorCode, 0, (LPTSTR) &pMsgBuf, 0, Death);
// Return the description and size to the caller in the OUT parameters.
if (dwSize)
{
*overloadsize = dwSize;
*SKAM_error = (TCHAR*)pMsgBuf;
return S_OK;
}
// Return the error code.
return GetLastError();
}
return ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER;
}
Message error
Bodily processes and states can be inspected by external observations. Thus a person’s bodily life is as much a public affair as are the lives of animals. But minds do not exist in space, nor are their operation subject to mechanical laws. The workings of the mind are not witnessable by other observers; its career is private. A person therefore lives through two collateral histories: one consisting of what happens to and with the body (public); the other consisting of what happens to and in the mind (private).
As I stated before in one of my postings, if we were telepaths, we would know what is in the other persons minds ~ Are we ready for that ? And what about when we are on the net ? Is long distance telepathy possible ? Hehe...!
;-D~
Week 51
Another of my Ghost in the Machine series. Be sure to keep an eye out on Wednesday for the behind the scenes and how I processed this shot.
So, I've had this new computer for a week and a day and it does things in the night without benefit of human hands or doggy paws.
First it changed my carefully selected screen saver, not this one, for an old photo from my documents that had sad memories for me. Surprised in the morning to see that one!
Second, it replaced my second selection with one of its own on another night.
Yesterday, unknown to me but spotted by daughter Kerri, it had changed the icon for my Flickr account!! To a surfboard shower instead of my Benni Girl! Unacceptable.
Plus this shows how much smarter the computer is than I am - it took me forever 5 or 6 years ago to change my icon. Easier now.
So, there really is a ghost but I'm being forgiving because it's beautiful to look at, fast as lightning, wireless mouse and keypad that can be charged by the computer, etc. etc.
Welcome? Ghost.
An old school nintendo controller making the image of one of the evil mushrooms from Mario Brothers. The cord is completely intact - didn't cut it at all. This will be on display at my first solo art show at Triumph Brewery in Princeton, New Jersey beginning Tuesday June 19th... all are welcome for the opening that evening; show will run through mid-September. I'll have about 60 pieces... more ghost in the machine and many others
I start SFSU in one week.
Also, I'd like to give a shout out to those who have written me testimonials.
Because I always forget to credit them in pictures yada yada.
So, thanks to:
They are all wonderful.
explored.
A very rare outing by my vivitar ghost (not seen since Halloween 07...)
Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim, expired Fuji Velvia 50, xpro.
"There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution
We are spirits in the material world...
Our so called leaders speak
With words they try to jail ya
They subjugate the meek
But it's the rhetoric of failure
We are spirits in the material world...
Where does the answer lie?
Living from day to day
If it's something we can't buy
There must be another way
We are spirits in the material world..."
Spirits in the Material World
The Police
I am a day late in posting this. Please excuse me for that since I had so many errands to take care of yesterday.
I want to tell you how I was inspired to do my GITM series before I tell you how I processed and editing last week's shot.
A good friend of mine, Jason Jakober, has a white noise series that he continually adds to. When I started my 365, I knew I would want to do something similar, and yet different. Jason's white noise inspired my ghost in the machine.
Now, to the taking, processing and editing portion.
For the "me" part of this image, I put myself inside, behind a window and had my camera outside. I had my focus on my ring and my settings were, on my 50mm, f2.2, ss1/1600, and ISO at 200.
For the tv part, I had it placed in our front yard (right in front of the window I used for the 'me' part), in dappled shade since I knew the reflection of the sky and bushes would lend to a dappled shade effect once it was in black and white. The settings for it were, again on my 50mm, f2.2, ss 1/640, and ISO at 200.
After taking the two shots, I pulled them into Lightroom and began the first part of processing.
My recipe for both photos is: Lightroom's free preset Red Hi-Contrast filter, MCP's (remember, I told you last week that I adore their presets!) Enlighten White Balance Tungsten Bulbs preset, OnOne Software's freebie B&W High Contrast Toner, MCP's Enlighten Matte Blend B&W preset, and MCP's Enlighten Chamomile Overlay preset.
After getting my presets in place, I then manually edited my highlights, shadows, white clipping and black clipping to fix certain areas. I also used the adjustment brushes to brighten parts of my face that had been in shadow. I also added in a Lens Vignetting of -75 for amount and 15 for the midpoint on the "me" photo.
On the tv photo, I used an adjustment brush to bring down the highlights so they weren't so distracting. I also added a Lens Vignetting here, but used -90 as my amount and a midpoint of 5.
Once these edits and adjustments were finished, I pulled both photos into Photoshop and began to put them together. I also opened up my "white noise" image to use as the static in the tv.
I used masks for the "me" part and the static, so that the tv would come through as if I was really on the screen. I placed the static layer on top of the "me" layer (and both were on top of the tv layer). The static layer is set to overlay and at 25% opacity. The "me" layer is "normal" and at 100% opacity.
Once I finished up the masking and had everything looking correct, I merge my layers and ran the freebie action, "Heidi's Resize & Sharpen". After running that, my image was ready for uploading.
Thank you so much for reading all of this and for watching for the images every week. And as always, if you have questions, please feel free to ask!!
I have been working on this Adobe Photoshop Image which seems to keep getting larger and larger. I first sketched out the movement I wanted using 2B Pentil on paper. I was working with several images of neural architecture as models but the movement and composition looked like dozens of images I've painted and drawn over the years. The I scanned the full-size image on a flat bed scanner. In Adobe Photoshop I inverted the positive/negative aspect under Image > Adjustments > Invert. Under Image>Mode I converted the image from RGB to Greyscale then to RGB again so I could adjust the colours to one I hoped would be easier to paint with. I deleted the background so I could have a transparent layer to work with. I used the Magic Wand tool to delete the spaces between neurons. (Some of this work must feel a little like users of video games where you target and delete). I like to use both the eraser, blurring and cloning tools at this stage with full ranges of Master Diameter and Hardness . I used the starry night wallpaper for the background. I tried to keep Michaelangelo out of this but I kept thinking of the layered image I made recently inspired by Charles Taylor's response to William James' Varieties of Religious Experience. Adam looks ridiculous on the neuron branch. I had fun with the shell turned into neuron around the image of Michaelangelo's depiction of the Creator.
I keep making sketches of close-ups so now I am trying to imagine terminal nerve fibres entwined in neurofilament, proteins at the interface of the downstream end of neuron’s dendritic spine and an excitary synapse. I used Adobe Photoshop's pattern tool to create the translucid cell membrane encasing the nerves along which electrical impulses flow. I am not satisifed with the detailed synaptic gap so I have started to examine more closely what goes on under the cellular membrane. The synaptic vesicle reminds me of pomegranite seed in some images so I want to play with that a little more. I continue to collect images of synapses and keep track of them on my del.icio.us and my Google customized homepage using .rss feed. I still need to use pencil and paper to understand the relationships. It is strangely relaxing. This type of layered image is never complete. As I learn more about Adobe Photoshop options I will try different tools. (Thank you by the way to the Orton Group. I haven't tried their suggested tools on any of my work yet but I probably will at some time.)
The synaptic cleft in the human brain reminds me of the gap between the hand of God and Adam in Michaelangelo’s visualization of Creation. My mind is stuck on the image of the gap. That’s the leap of faith between that which we can know and that which is beyond our capacity to know. In the human brain this synaptic gap is so macroscopic no one has ever seen it. But there are amazing images that are somewhat like science fiction as artists attempt to compile scientific data into visualizations of what it might look like. I am not attempting to be a science illustrator. But I think somehow this image will be like a cartography of a way of thinking that resonates more with complex hyperlinkages than with the human brain.
The brain is a supersystem of systems. Each system is composed of an elaborate interconnection of small but macroscopic cortical regions and subcortical nuclei, which are made of microscopic local circuits, which are made of neurons, all of which are connected by synapses (Damasio 1994:30).
Neurons must be triggered by a stimulus to produce nerve impulses, which are waves of electrical charge moving along the nerve fibres. When the neuron receives a stimulus, the electrical charge on the inside of the cell membrane changes from negative to positive. A nerve impulse travels down the fibre to a synaptic knob at its end, triggering the release of chemicals (neurotransmitters) that cross the gap between the neuron and the target cell, stimulating a response in the target (Baggaley 2001:104).
Damasio (1994) describes the neural underpinnings of reason and challenges Cartesian dualisms of mind/body, emotions/reason. Feelings and logical thinking are not like oil and water.
The “body [. . .] represented in the brain [constitutes] an indispensable frame of reference for the neural process that we experience as the mind (Damasio 1994:xvi).”
Our bodies are the ground reference for the construction we make of the world. Our embodied selves construct the ever-present sense of subjectivity, our experience. The body becomes is the instrument through which we construct our most refined thoughts and actions (Damasio 1994:xvi).
Baggaley, Ann, Ed. (2001), “Anatomy of the Human Body,” Human Body, Dorling Kindersley Publishing: NY, p. 104.
Damasio, Antonio R., 1994, Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, Grosset/Putnam: New York.
Damasio, Hanna, (1994) “Gage’s skull, illustrations” in Damasio, Antonio R., 1994, Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, Grosset/Putnam: New York. p. 31-2.
Johnson, Graham, (2005), “The Synapse Revealed,” 23 September 2005, Science Magazine and the National Science Foundation.
The first place winner of the Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge was Graham Johnson from Medical Media, Boulder, Colorado. His image is described on Science Magazine’s web page:
Deep inside the brain, a neuron prepares to transmit a signal to its target. To capture that fleeting moment, Graham Johnson based this elegant drawing on ultra-thin micrographs of sequential brain slices. After scanning a sketch into 3D modeling software, he colored the image and added texture and glowing lighting reminiscent of a scanning electron micrograph.
Or it semed like it - taken through the thick protective glass in the "sky pod" at the top of the CN Tower at 1400 feet. It was just below the cloud layer which looked and felt like a roof over us, albeit a leaky roof!
Spot the ghost in the machine. View On Black
Snapped at the San Francisco artMRKT, this is a new sculpture called "Ghost In the Machine" - from Randy Colosky.
Ghost singer. On stage at Airwaves Music Festival in Iceland. Don't know who she is. Have no record of taking the picture and no idea how I got the effects you see. Scary
”The ghost in the machine...
Entity or dream, it matters not to me.
The ghost in the machine...
Silent and unseen.
Terabytes of memory
Holding consciousness complete,
A solid state of immortality,
Saint of all technology.
Bless us in our infancy
For they know not what they did to me.”
— Blaze
* Helmet by Arealight
* Armor & swords by BrickForge
Day 115
My goal is to have 12 of this series by the end of this year... I had better get a move on. I only have 4 months left and 7 more photos to make 12.
My cell phone died last Friday. It went peacefully in it's sleep (I had switched it off and then it just would not go back on again), taking all my phone numbers with it.
I'm supremely upset by this because I really, really liked my phone. :(
Made out of old computer memory (analog punch tape).. would love to make a bigger piece, claude shannon?
Visiting my sister today - she has some wonderful coloured glass plant waterers. I quickly snapped a couple of photos - no flash. All I have done to this image is brightened it a little to enhance the colours. No "magic" involved.
This beautiful angelic like face is there! It's not mine :-o. She doesn't look anything like me!
I can work magic of sorts with processing - this however is as it comes ...
I like to think she is my guardian angel or the family guardian angel.
Am i losing the plot?
I shall have to go back and take another photo to compare - it's a mystery.
Day 263
Introducing my new series... the ghost in the machine. This series is inspired by my good friend, Jason and his White Noise series.
Day 246
#LyricallyInspired today as well as adding to my GITM series.
Ghost In This House - Shenandoah : www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnt1DRl18so
I'm all that's left of two hearts on fire
That once burned out of control
It took my body and soul
I'm just a ghost in this house
I had this idea tonight for my Magic of Books series but I didn't have the bodies to make it. I picked through Deviant Art for some stock images. The sources were
Ghost Victorian, Vintage victorian lady, Victorian Gutov 6, Pippa.
The stacks are from one of my favourite used bookstores in my home town that I shot two summers past. I have two other ideas in this series but I am not certain that I have the technical know how to pull it together. I may putter a bit with the ideas tomorrow.