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A study of colour - Part 1: RGB - The additive colours

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Jpegs use the three primary colours RGB in the Additive Colour Model It turns out there are a lot of ways to identify colour.  We learn early on how to identify colours - the primary Crayola crayon box carries green, yellow, orange, red, blue, purple, brown, and black. As we advance into larger colour palettes, we find there are several shades of each with a white thrown in.  Then, when it comes to painting, the world of colour opens up to us as we find we can mix paints to produce an almost infinite range of colours. We have to draw a line between analogue colour (film) and digital colour (computer).  Film produces continuous colours, albeit with a limited spectrum compared to what modern digital cameras can capture.  Colour information from digital sensors is based on integers and is not continuous in nature.  To put that more succinctly, analogue deals with real numbers with every imaginable decimal between any two numbers, while digital has only whole number...
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Converting colour to black and white

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Photo of baskets I took in 2016 converted from colour to black and whites. Gone are the days of using coloured filters and panchromatic paper in a darkroom to take a colour negative and print it in black and white.  While it is true that you can use standard b&w paper to create a print, the medium's limited sensitivity to orange/red/yellow safelights means that you will not get a true grayscale image.  The filters allow you to change which hues come out darker or lighter than would otherwise be possible. Now we can simply convert a coloured image to grayscale (Image > Mode > Grayscale in Photoshop) to get a single-channel instead of the standard 3 (RBG).  The problem is that you can't control the way the hues turn to gray.  A better plan is to alter the colour balance before converting to grayscale.  This can be done manually through the Color Balance menu or automatically through the Black and White menu, found under Image > Adjustments in Photosho...
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Photographing relationships - the shots you'll love the most.

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Relationships are important.  So, why aren't you photographing them more? My favourite thing to talk about in the photo courses I teach is the importance of relationships and the need to photograph them.  Most of us will agree that a photo of one person has a certain amount of value, although usually not to the person being photographed.  We love photos of individuals because of what those people mean to us, but they do not convey a relationship.  A photo of two or more people who have a strong connection means much more - especially to the people in the shot. The above photos (Leanne and Sarah in most of them, Lianna in one) were taken by me of my daughter and friend(s) - meaningful relationships that she had while growing up and carry on even now as they approach their 30s.  But I guarantee that these photos have a far deeper meaning than a shot of just one of them.  Why?  Because it stands for a relationship and a time together.  A memory, a fr...
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Live blood analysis - snake oil or real results?

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Microscopic view of blood.  The fluid is plasma. My wife and I went to a talk about live blood analysis last night.  I wasn't interested in going, but she wanted me there to see if what she was saying was true.  I was actually flattered by that, as I am often skeptical of many health-related schemes designed to separate you from your wallet.  I am often accused of being overly opposed to the myriad of claims out there purporting healing where all other methods fail.  And it's true - I am a nay-sayer when it comes to some of these elaborate means to an end, and rightly so. So, off we went, and there we were, in the front row, listening to the presenter's every word.  She had an impressive microscope (phase contrast, dark field, light transmission) with good quality optics and an HD feed to a large screen TV.  She drew the blood of a volunteer client and created a cover-slipped slide.  She did not use any stains or viscous agents.  Then she mou...
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ACE - Adverse Childhood Experiences - and you.

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It turns out there is a strong correlation between the number of ACEs you have had and how well you are doing as an adult.  What is this ACE thing anyway, and how does it influence me as an adult? The term adverse is important to understand if we are to grasp exactly what ACEs are.  The Cambridge dictionary defines it as "having a negative or harmful effect on something."  The concept of ACE then relates to the traumatic experiences young people have had.  The number of these experiences has a direct relationship with the well-being of adults.  The trend is that the more ACEs one experiences, the poorer they manage as adults. What exactly counts as an ACE?  This is where things broaden out somewhat, but the general idea is that they can be significant individual events (sexual abuse) or long-term issues (verbal abuse) that play a key role in the person's behaviour and mental well-being as adults.   The ACE questionnaire for adults out of Californi...
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Facts about prostate cancer - You want to read this.

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Prostate cancer, cancer biopsy, cancer stages, and PSA levels. PSA, or protein specific antigen, is a protein normally produced by the prostate.  It is part of the normal production of semen by men's reproductive system.  It is also normally found in the blood, although in very small amounts.  It is measured in ng/ml (nanograms per milliliter), a nanogram being one-billionth of a gram.  The amount of PSA in the blood is highly dependent on two main factors, one of them being age, the other the healthy state of the prostate gland. The prostate gland is about the size of a walnut, or 30 g (~ 1 ounce).  Prostates may become enlarged, the risk factors being age, family history, diabetes, and heart disease.  In general, men under the age of 40 will not have an enlarged prostate, but men over the age of 80 have a 90% chance of having it.  As you get older, the risk increases. Enlarged prostates can be problematic in that they may restrict the flow of urine a...
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BC teachers' strike, 2005 - what the Alberta teachers are going through.

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  Garibaldi teachers, on strike, October 2005.  That's me, 2nd in on the right. I understand the need to strike.  For me, it was about class size and composition, something our Alberta brethren understand only too well.  Money has been less of an issue as I have always been satisfied with my salary.  I have stood in line with my colleagues, a placard strung around my neck, weathering the elements, as I stood up to the powers drawing up the contracts. Ah, contracts.  The good old days of contracts being worth something.  And then, with the stroke of a pen, they meant nothing.  The BC government took it upon itself to tear up the very law itself by unilaterally declaring all teacher contracts null and void.  Behold - the Autocracy of BC was born.  We all know the outcome of this atrocity.  The law eventually won, but not before the BC government spent 2.6 million defending their hypocrisy and the BCFT spent untold millions.  Not ...
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