How to share plotagraphs in a blog post?

Since I’m posting a plotagraph today, I though I would also show you how I include it in the blog posts.

I use the video HTML tag to include the MP4 versions of the plotagraph. Of course if you just export it from Plotagraph, it would be too big, so first I compress it using Hanbrake transcoder (which you can get for free here), where I just use the default settings to recode the file. A file of 1200×800 px then ends up between 0.5 to 1.5 megabytes in size.

Then I use the tag in this form:

‹video poster=”link to image that shows while the video is loading” autoplay=”autoplay” loop=”loop”›
‹source src=”link to the video in mp4 format” type=”video⁄mp4″ ⁄›
Your browser does not support the video tag.
‹⁄video›

You have to fill in the poster, as you need to show some image while the video is loading. Also the image shows when on mobile, as mobile browsers don’t load mp4 videos in pages. Also, if a older browser is used, they will only see the text message that you specify there. The autoplay part is for the video to start automatically on load and the loop will force the video to loop indefinitely.

Plotagraph category

You may have noticed that there is a plotagraph category shown over all the posts that include a plotagraph. And if you want to see all of them, scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you can find a Photos by location dropdown menu.

Just choose it and select Plotagraph under Articles.

Great deal on Luminar

If you have been looking at the Luminar software for macs and you were waiting for a great deal, now is the time to get it. For the next 10 days, you can get it for 50% off (that is 69 USD instead 139 USD) and you even get few bonuses with it (two ebooks, more presets and overlays). And even more, if you use the code “HDRSHOOTER” you will get it even additional 10 USD cheaper.

Head over to the Luminar website for more information and the offer.

TKActions V5

One of the tools I use in my photo editing is the TKActions panel from Tony Kuyper. It’s especially great for creating luminance masks and sharpening for web. And just few days ago, TKActions were updated with a completely new panel set, the TKActions V5. So if you do a lot of luminance masking, I would suggest checking it out. I will cover it more, in a few guides, but for now, check out the official page here.

You can see the panel in the screen-shot to the right. It’s quite big like this, but in reality its 5 separate panels, and you can only open the ones you need.

Late evening at the Burj Khalifa

I really like the photos I took in Dubai, so I regularly go through them, to see if I find one more to edit and share with you. For today I found another one of the Burj Khalifa.

I did not have the best setup when I took this. I used a wide angle lens, to take a vertorama, while using a table top tripod and having no panoramic head or tilt shift lens at hand. So if you look at the screen-shot to the right, you can see how much distortion there was when I combined the shot, and also how much I had to crop out to get the final shot. But with a bit of editing and tweaks, I ended up with a nice results.

This is a two shot vertorama, each shot from two exposures. The panorama was combined in PTgui (learn how in this guide) and finished in Photoshop.

One from my older shots today, this one is form the spring in 2014. I remember this shot quite well. I tried to frame the Burj Khalifa, but then I did not create the HDR, as it was so windi, that I could not properly align the shots. But this time I just edited one of the exposures, and here is the result.