Modifying Flickr feeds through Yahoo Pipes

Flickr api provides rss feeds which I think is really awesome. I can get all my friends updates right within Google Reader. But there is a caveat, those feeds comes with only small size images. So I searched around flickr api to find feeds with bigger size images - but there were none. But luckily there is yahoo pipes. As the feed already has the image url, I can just change the width and height of <img> attribute and get better images in the feed.

So here is what I got. If you want feeds from one individual, then you can use this pipe (or this pipe) to get feed with larger images. Here is my flickr stream feed. And when I ran through yahoo pipes I got this feed.

I liked this pipe very much. Its simple and basically it can set any flickr stream feeds images to larger images. Now you can pipe feeds from your contacts or from friends & family.

Fireworks photography

I found it quite hard to take fireworks pictures. When visiting Lake Tahoe over the labor day weekend I suddenly came across the fireworks show near south Lake Tahoe. This was my first time to take fireworks pics. The main problem i faced is its very hard to predict where the main burst will happen. So framing is damn difficult. Next problem is you will want better DOF to get the whole fireworks in focus, I tried with F2.8 but found F8 or higher would be better. So for that you will need some pretty slow shutter-speed. So if you are without a tripod then don't expect to get 'awesome' fireworks pics - though you might get some decent one.

Anyway here are the ones that I got




After searching on internet for fireworks photography, I found these setting. Next time I am gonna try these.

1.
Exposure - Shutter Priority (6/8 sec)
ISO - (upto good level of your camera)
WB - AUTO (shoot raw and you can fix it later if not good)
Focus Length - Manually to Infinity
Extra - Tripod, Shutter Release

2.
Exposure - Manual
Shutter Speed - 6/8/10/15 sec(vary it if you got time)
Aperture - F8/F13.. (might try F2.8 or lower)
ISO - (800+)
WB - AUTO
Focus - Infinity
Extra - Tripod, Shutter Release

Another thing to keep in mind - Fireworks emits heavy light so exposing for long time will overexpose your image.

Photography Experiments : Water droplets

I haven't done any shooting or experiments lately. Got my tripod few days back. I bought Benro C-258 M8 and Benro B-3 Ballhead. So far I am satisfied with the tripod.

Yesterday I tried to take a picture of water droplets. Here are the pics:





I had to set the focusing manually cause the lens was having very hard time focusing on the droplets. Strobist info: I used white background, SB-600 at 24mm, 1/16th power placed 1 feet away from the drops. And It was triggered by gadget infinity's cactus v4. Camera's white balance was set to tungsten to get the blue effect.

Update: I tried to describe the whole process here.