with AEB the camera takes 3 pictures instead of one, where one is underexposed and the other overexposed.

You can then join these pictures to create a HDR (High Dynamic Range) image using special software (I’m using Photomatix Pro 4) or photoshop.

With 3 picture with different exposures, you don’t loose details that you would normally loose by taking just 1 normal picture. I took a test picture outside my window:

With this exposure that captures the neighbors house fine the detail of the sky, the patio roof and my SHRUBBERIES are lost

Combining 3 pictures however brings out these details:

I know the HDR effect on this image is a bit overdone :p

The downside is that you must keep the camera relatively steady, so a tripod is very useful. Think I’ll try and take a few real pictures soon, not just boring pictures out the dirty window =)

Here is a picture I took around midnight, looking for the lunar eclipse (which was too low, only about 5 degrees above horizon, so it was blocked by a stupid mountain)

I’ve always thought of meerkats whenever Mercator projection came up, so I just had to do this to get it out of my head:

PS: This computer does not have photoshop, and my GIMP skills sucks, so only the northern pole is EMBIGGIFIED (yes, it’s a word).

PPS: That image reminds me of the Star Trek TOS pilot, “The Cage”.. BOW BEFORE YOUR MEERKAT OVERLORDS!

Click for disgustingly larger version

+50 points to who can guess what the image is =)

Click to view 1920×1080

Since this was originally supposed to be a mash up of the movie poster, Clara was to be edited in last. However as I changed my mind in the middle and made a desktop background, the element where she was supposed to be did not work well for a wallpaper.. And adding her in with the rest of the cast would at this point mean making the whole picture from scratch :/

10 points to the first who spots the little “photoshop disaster”

Anyway, this was the best image I could find, but it’s kinda old, blurry so I fixed the colors, contrast, sharpness removed artifacts, etc.. in photoshop and I think the end result is pretty good considering my photoshop noobness. So if your looking for a large good picture of Carl Sagan (And let’s be hones, who would NOT want such a picture??) here it is:

original to the left.. shopped to the right (The improvements don’t really become visible until you view the large version)

Click to view larger

The cryptic character creator will allow you to invent new species for the game, and I might go for something like this:

Or if that is not possible my character will be Andorian (assuming this fits well with a tactical/dps character). I’m in the “guild” called “12th fleet”, and we are now the second largest guild on the STO forum. So if you want to play with the pro’s, head over to http://www.12th-fleet.com

George Lucas and J.J. Abrams conspiring to make bad movies