“‘Tis the season for parties. For many they’re a joyful occasion. But for some they’re a terrifying experience. You walk into the room. Then what? Have no fear.”
For the rest of the article from NPR- including do’s and dont’s of successful minglers- click here.
Now get out there and enjoy the rest of those holiday parties!
Merry Christmas everyone!
For those of you that will be taking group photos for the holidays, here’s the science of getting the blink-free photo!:
Picture Perfect: How to Make Blink-Free Holiday Photos
By Corey Binns
Special to LiveScience
posted: 18 December 2006
09:22 am ET
The group holiday photo shoot is anything but a snap, especially if you want to catch everyone with their eyes open.
To help photographers get the perfect shot, an Australian scientist has calculated the number of photos that need to be taken to ensure at least one blink-free photo.
“At any given moment for a typical person, their eyes are likely to be blinking about 4 to 5 percent of the time,” said physicist Piers Barnes of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. “This is fine if you only want to take a photo of one person, but once you start adding extra people, then your chances of getting an unspoiled photo start dropping.”
To get the right calculation, Barnes’s equation takes into account the average number of times a person blinks (10 per minute), how long a blink lasts (250 milliseconds), camera shutter speed (8 milliseconds in a typical setting), and the number of people in the group.
“For groups of less than 20 people, divide the number of people in the group by 3 if the light is good or by 2 if the light is bad,” Barnes told LiveScience. “Take that number of shots and you will have a better than 95 percent chance of getting at least one good one.”
Barnes offered a few other tips:
Pose in the light. In poor lighting, the camera’s shutter speed stays open longer, giving more time for someone blink.
Keep it small. Getting a flawless photo of groups of 100 or more people is nearly impossible, according to Barnes’s calculations.
Ask your models not to blink and accept the bug-eyed consequences. After giving the command, you’ve got about 12 seconds during which the odds are better you’ll get an untainted shot.
~Happy shooting!
or at least, i’m starting to. and that’s something you never would have heard me say five years ago. or even one year ago.
i grew up in the ‘burbs north of pittsburgh and was actually in the city maybe half a dozen times before i went to college in town. all i could think of, along with most of my friends in creative fields, was ‘how do i get out’? there were not enough jobs in pittsburgh in the creative industry to support us, and as soon as i graduated, i did indeed move, to philadelphia. the possibilities in philly seemed limitless, there was always something to do, somewhere to go, something new to see, and you didn’t have to look hard to find it. i loved philly… but not enough to stay.
i’d read an article about a small town in montana that seemed like it would be the perfect place to retire someday. nestled in the gallatin valley of the rocky mountains, it was a university town close to skiing, hot springs, and yellowstone national park. so i packed up my car and moved out there. and i loved it. the blue sky and the fresh air and the friendly people and being surrounded by so much natural beauty. but somehow, i ended up back in pittsburgh.
still though, i was always looking for my next opportunity to move. even marrying my husband, a pittsburgher, was conditional on his agreeing that we wouldn’t stay in pittsburgh. that was almost three years ago.
and then this summer, things changed. we moved to the northside. practically in the city. i started going out more. i’ve met some really great people. i’m starting to explore my town. and i’m really enjoying what i’m finding.
don’t believe me? try it yourself. read i heart pgh, sign up for this is happening and pick up a copy of the city paper. you’ll be amazed at how much there is to do in Pittsburgh. Plus, my friends and i like to joke that instead of ’six degrees of seperation’, in pittsburgh it’s two degrees. once you get out and start meeting people, you’ll often find you have mutual friends, or know each other through so and so. it seems we’re all connected in pittsburgh, one way or another.
now, if only there was a little more sunshine…
I had a great time at union project’s unwrapped on saturday evening! I enjoyed the performances and the food was delicious. Plus, everyone I met from Union Project was wonderful! here are some of my photos from the night:
front entrance to union project
hand bells from the First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh Bell Choir
skirts of flamenco dancers from Centro Flamenco de Pittsburgh
5 year old dancer from Oriental Star Dancers
caught her in mid-jump!
these two cuties got right up to the stage to watch. they were enraptured with eric blackwell and faithful’s performance.
I came across this post in a forum I frequent, and thought it was interesting. How many of you currently planning weddings are going green?
Trendcentral wrote:
“A growing trend in the UK, brides are the latest consumer group to go socially conscious. Many brides-to-be don’t want to shatter their fantasy diamond with the reality that the diamond industry is often linked to funding civil war and child soldiers in African countries such as Angola, Sierra Leone, and Congo. Thus, young couples are opting for ethical “conflict free” rings. UK jewelry company Cred is committed to providing a fair trade alternative for conscious couples. Becoming the ultimate marriage status symbol, the company only works with small scale mining communities like Oro Verde where human rights and fair labor standards are carefully monitored. There is even a rumor that fashion designer Katherine Hamnett is launching an ethical engagement ring.
Some couples are even adding a new twist to their registries. For example, we’ve heard of couples swapping in the standard wedding list of pots, pans and china for more ethically-sound items from organizations such as Oxfam Unwrapped or Good Gifts. Instead of receiving a silver platter or ice cream maker you’ll never use, for $58 you can buy a water filter tap and tank that will supply water to 1,000 needy people a day, or for $49, educate a child in Africa for a year. Up next: green wedding celebrations complete with solar-powered band, organic food and recycled decorations?”
If you’re looking for someone local to help you out, Simone from 5 Senses Events specializes in eco-friendly weddings and events. Plus, she’s super fab and fun to work with!
if you’re looking for something to do tonight, head on down to club havana at 5744 ellsworth in shadyside for exposure. it’s a monthly gathering of photographers (of all levels). every month a different photographer’s work is showcased, and everyone comes down to look at the photos, and then mostly hang out. There’s no cover and there will be a DJ spinning until around 1, but you have to be 21.
see you there!
i think it’s really important to give back to your community, in whatever ways you are able- whether that’s your time, your talent or your finances. to that end, i like to donate my services to non-profits and charities around town when i’m able. tomorrow night i’ll be providing photography coverage for the union project’s holiday kick off event. ticket’s are just $20 if you can make it out to support a great cause; there’s going to be a ton of cool entertainment, plus a silent auction. it’s this saturday, december 2 from 7-10, at the corner of stanton and negley in highland park. you can buy the tickets through their website.
the union project restored an abandoned church to provide a gathering and working space for artists, community builders and people of faith. so while i’m not from highland park, i really dig what they are doing, and think it’s important to support projects like this. i’d love to see similar initiatives pop up in other communities around pittsburgh; kind of like what john fetterman is doing in braddock and andy rubacky is doing in bellevue.
looking for something to do this weekend and love cookies (like i do?) head on over to lawrenceville’s international cookie festival. it started yesterday and runs until sunday. from the flyer:
“visitors can pick up maps at one of the 16 participating businesses and are encouraged to stop at each shop for an international, tasty treat! Each business will feature a cookie from a different country. this is a family-friendly and free event.”
we’ll see you there on sunday…
i went to a women’s networking social downtown last night, and met some really great ladies (and had this fabulous vegetarian phyllo from coca cafe). anyway, anyone that knows me knows that i’m not normally an accessories and baubles kinda girl, but these purses and handbags from little earth really caught my eye. I absolutely fell in love with their LE Designer and K. Lianna collections. Great christmas gift, or bridesmaids gift, or ‘i really think these are fabulous and need a new bag’ gift for yourself…
you can find shops around town that carry their products from the website, or order directly online.
ray and i went to trivia night at the brillobox on wednesday night with sarah, heather from monkey museum (super fun, check it out), and her husband dror. it was the first time for all of us, and we had a blast, coming in fourth out of about 10 teams. I expected the trivia to be general knowledge or pop culture stuff, and only about 25% of it was. I was pleased we did that well, but there was a second there that we were certain we were gonna finish in the top three teams.
we ran into my friend patrick on the way out, who blogs for i heart pgh (if you haven’t been there, check it out, it’s a ‘guide to all things great in the city of Pittsburgh’). Seems patrick’s team comes to quiz night every week. it also seems patrick’s team won. which makes it seem like my team might sit a little closer to patrick’s team next time we go…
sorry for the lapse in blogging lately, i’ve still been feeling a little under the weather, plus we were having some hardcore computer problems. we were fortunate to have lost no important data (that’s a reminder for everyone out there to back up well, and often). still though, the computer saga was ongoing for about a month now, and was finally resolved within the last week with a brand new HP desktop, and a MacBook Pro (from which I am writing you this very blog).
I’m a Mac girl myself, and have been since my design school days almost (gasp) a decade ago. My husband, however, is a PC user, so our household accomodates both platforms. I had an old G3 Mac desktop and PowerBook that were about 6 and 7 years old that I would still use occasionally, but since they hadn’t been upgraded, my ipod pretty much had more power behind it than my poor, trusty Macs.
So I’ve been using a PC (cringe) to do most of my editing and design lately, and when it crashed and needed major overhauls three times in three months that pushed me over the edge.
Luckily, Santa came a little early this year, so we have two new computers, which translates into much greater efficiency for me. I’m gloriously reunited with a Mac (it’s like hanging out with an old friend), plus the PC has Lightscribe on it, which etches images right onto cds and dvds and makes for a super cool presentation of discs.
I’m lovin’ this!
