Arts & Humanities - 13 December 2007

We get so many questions about how to "defocus the background" using digital cameras that I decided to make a new demo. Most of the time, our asker is using a small sensored point and shoot camera and they will have a tough time getting the effect that they are looking for. I made a demo that compares 3 different sensor sizes at roughly the same focal length. I added a 4th image using a great macro lens, just for comparison.

Go to this link and click on the first image, called "Fake Flowers 1." Then you can just click on each successive image in the set. You can read the comments to see what is going on and then you can just page through the demo left-to-right (1 to 4) and back again to compare the effects of the larger sensor or better lens.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/sets/72157603455598439/

I'll have to do this outside with real flowers when spring arrives. I can have a more "interesting" natural background and it can be more than 4 feet away!

2007-12-13 16:28:56 · 9 answers · asked by Picture Taker 7 in Photography

lyrics:

http://www.lyrics007.com/Jack%20Johnson%20Lyrics/Flake%20Lyrics.html

video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mGeETlU74o&feature=related

2007-12-13 16:23:52 · 0 answers · asked by ndlz12 2 in Books & Authors

Did Italy colonize like the other countries, or was it too preocciupied of its own colonization?

2007-12-13 16:21:09 · 5 answers · asked by ...... 1 in History

I would go to back to the days of the pirates, and kings, the people seemed so much more respectable. Especially the guys, I really like the level of sophistication and poise that people maintained, and sometimes wish things were like that today!

2007-12-13 16:20:24 · 10 answers · asked by Dancing_Architect 4 in History

Are they any similarites? Which of the two had a greater influence on the times in which he lived?

2007-12-13 16:19:32 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in History

What was Enrico Fermi famous for?
What was Joseph Thomas Christy famous for?

2007-12-13 16:16:20 · 2 answers · asked by ali 1 in History

Most of the people I interact with have absolutely no idea of what's going on beyond their own neighborhood, their circle of friends/relatives/etc. Politics? Science? The environment? Medicine/health? World events? No clue. Not to mention the further out stuff I'm interested in. They might tsk-tsk over the latest crime in the news or fuss about taxes but that's about it. For the life of me I can't fathom living in such ignorance. The world must seem like magic to them, where things just 'happen'. It occurs to me that people in power actually count on an ignorant, inattentive populace; most people make decisions based on emotions rather than knowledge so all you need is a persuasive manner and an understanding of how to manipulate feelings since so few are actually *thinking*.

2007-12-13 16:06:29 · 17 answers · asked by AmigaJoe 3 in Philosophy

If you see the picture i use in my profile what style and why would he cut his mustache that way.

2007-12-13 16:04:59 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in History

I appreciate all the answers to my previous question, but I'm still not sure how the black plague started. Idk, I personally find the question pretty vague, but I have to answer it somehow.

Does anyone have the slightest clue how it started?

Please try to list sources


Thanks in advance :)

2007-12-13 16:00:52 · 8 answers · asked by YanksFan223 3 in History

just a brief explanation of what it was about please

2007-12-13 15:57:52 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in History

Sending Northern California Water to Southern California.

2007-12-13 15:55:40 · 3 answers · asked by ℓoveMAC♥ 2 in History

Both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson had a specific vision for the future of this country by 1794. Whose vision of America's future was closer to reality by the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877?


10 points to good answer. Thanks!

2007-12-13 15:52:54 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in History

Uncle Tom's Cabin which is apparently over 400 pages long? Keep in mind that I am a slow reader, especially if it is a boring book. (Junior in High School)

2007-12-13 15:47:25 · 22 answers · asked by Anonymous in Books & Authors

this will help me to write my essay

here's what I have in mind

first step is determination
second, dedication
third, confident


what else should I add?

2007-12-13 15:45:17 · 11 answers · asked by Woot 1 in Books & Authors

2007-12-13 15:44:56 · 20 answers · asked by Anonymous in Philosophy

I am Niles,
I like to read short shories (thin is size too)
Can anyone suggest me some books or links to download or read.

2007-12-13 15:43:00 · 8 answers · asked by nilesh 2 in Books & Authors

Will u rate my poem?
Poem A

Sometimes I sit on a green top
Contemplating you'r existance in my life
Seems like I'm battling a lost cause
Constantly gazing into the galaxy
Full of fear, and the realization that nothing's real
Worthless doesn't even begin to describe me without you
Resorting to various escapes of reality
Always wondering if I'm good enough
To be just a star, in you'r universe.

Poem B

Why does society feel the need to judge?
Always wondering, is it me whose ****** up?
Accepting you're different isn't real
Are we not one in the same?
Living up to expectations is impossible
We always want to be the greatest
Which in retrospect, means we all fail
As a city, state, nation, and society, we fail.

2007-12-13 15:42:31 · 7 answers · asked by hornsfan1134 1 in Philosophy

I have watched every tutorial and nothing seems to work. I have a color pic.. I go to the hue/sat and make it black and white.. Everything is ok until I go to paint with my paint brush in the black foreground.. It doesn't turn back to the original color.. it just paints it black.. Any ideas ..

2007-12-13 15:40:55 · 4 answers · asked by photoshop 1 in Photography

2007-12-13 15:40:11 · 5 answers · asked by king of jersey 1 in Photography

2007-12-13 15:36:36 · 15 answers · asked by C Harv 1 in Philosophy

Do you know what is the most damn & foolish joke?there are many laughable jokes,but what is the funniest?

2007-12-13 15:24:00 · 12 answers · asked by sahar_lega 1 in Philosophy

Im trying to find a medieval artist who lived during 800-1200 CE that I can research on. any suggestions?

2007-12-13 15:22:49 · 7 answers · asked by david 2 in Other - Visual Arts

are they similar??

2007-12-13 15:22:19 · 6 answers · asked by beauty mirna 3 in History

Are we humans in the process of freeing ourselves from our collective ego or are we becoming more like slaves to our ego and its desires?

2007-12-13 15:21:33 · 9 answers · asked by megalomaniac 7 in Philosophy

nonrelativisim

2007-12-13 15:20:12 · 5 answers · asked by zeinab z 1 in Philosophy

what does this mean? he is buried and named on large family stone relatives would have noticed if there was a mistake.

2007-12-13 15:18:34 · 9 answers · asked by jan m 3 in Genealogy

2007-12-13 15:18:30 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Philosophy

John Marshall was sent to france in the late 1790s to try to stop french raids on america shipping. Talleyrand tried to bribe Marshall and the other american representatives. Marshall also saw Napoleon emerging from the chaos of the french revolution. He feared this autocratic new leader. So how did this shape John Marshals political philosophy

2007-12-13 15:15:25 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in History

Silents and shadows fill's my mind.
the darkness of my life;
verses the torment of my brain
The light through the window shows dim against my skin.
The tingle down my spine proves this is'nt the first time.
My nerves tight
and, my body stiff
my mind wound tight with wander.

The gun held steady in my hand
as my finger gently stroked the trigger
when he slipped through the door.

I take one step out
raise my arm
find the trigger
and in one motion i pull.

His life gone.
The sound of the bullet soft against the night
as the silencer deafens its voice.

His mind obliterated;
his memory gone;
his whole lifes wanders shattered
as his body hit the floor.

No more love;
no more pain;
his heart broken as the metal pierced
his love was non-existant.

He was a ghost.
_______________________________________________
ok this poem is a lyrical poem so please if it does not rhyme it is going with a flow.

2007-12-13 15:13:47 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Poetry

3. Here’s a poem about a man’s encounter with a rooster in the woods The poem is written as if the rooster is addressing the poet as “Chieftan Iffucan of Azcan.”

Bantam in Pine-Woods
By Wallace Stevens

Chieftain Iffucan of Azcan in caftan
Of tan with henna hackles, halt!

Damned universal cock, as if the sun
Was blackamoor to bear your blazing tail.

Fat! Fat! Fat! Fat! I am the personal.
Your world is you. I am my world.

You ten-foot poet among inchlings. Fat!
Begone! An inchling bristles in these pines,

Bristles, and points their Appalachian tangs,
And fears not portly Azcan nor his hoos.





3. Here’s a poem about a man’s encounter with a rooster in the woods The poem is written as if the rooster is addressing the poet as “Chieftan Iffucan of Azcan.”

Bantam in Pine-Woods
By Wallace Stevens

Chieftain Iffucan of Azcan in caftan
Of tan with henna hackles, halt!

Damned universal cock, as if the sun
Was blackamoor to bear your blazing tail.

Fat! Fat! Fat! Fat! I am the personal.
Your world is you. I am my world.

You ten-foot poet among inchlings. Fat!
Begone! An inchling bristles in these pines,

Bristles, and points their Appalachian tangs,
And fears not portly Azcan nor his hoos.



Describe three effects that poet creates with sound. Suggest how they might relate to the meaning of the poem. Is there a distinctive tone or attitude here?

2007-12-13 15:13:07 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Poetry