Photoshop CS3′s Photomerge feature is the best. No tripod needed. Auto-stretch option. Just set your camera to Manual mode, shoot RAW, get a reading of the sky and set shutter and f-stop accordingly, pan across the area you want to shoot, shoot 1 or 2 stops under 0, stitch it together in PS3, flatten layers, in Levels (RGB screen) move the top right slider over to the left to the “end” of the histogram, crop the shot, don’t fret if there are white spaces in the shot, once it’s cropped use the Transform tool and click the “warp” feature to move those white spots out of the shot and BOOOOOOOOOM, you got a panoramic like no one else.
Category Archives: China
How to Add Google Adsense to your Lightroom Web Photo Gallery
SEE THE NEW GOOGLEFIED GALLERY!
It’s just wrong. Why am I putting ads on my photo galleries?
Anyway, it’s not difficult to do, but if I get enough interest I’ll post a step-by-step guide on how to add Google Adsense to your Lightroom gallery. Takes less than a minute.
Note to self: Next time create web gallery 768 wide. Use CSS to margin add in the right place. Can lower JPG res.
Off to Lijiang, Yunnan, China

Photos to come, will be semi-offline for two days. It’ll be our third time in the area.
Amazing Photos, Pictures of Yunnan, China (Panoramics)
Check out the latest photos from my recent trip in Yunnan, China. The town is called Ejia, but it’s not really important because it’s not on any tourist map, and no Chinese tour company will take you there. You have to know one of the 600 people that live in the village. And again, it takes 10 hours to get there from the capital city of Kunming, which is only about 60 miles away.
Video: Closer Look into China, Chuxiong, and the Person who made your iPod
I shot this video last year when our house wasn’t completely finished. If you are wondering what Chuxiong is like, or even Yunnan, then this video can take you in a little deeper.
For clarification, when I’m talking about “check your facts, bro, Mr. SF Gate” — it is in reference to this San Francisco Chronicle article where Kathleen E. McLaughlin writes about how bad the Chinese workers have it in Shenzhen, China, building iPods with a monthly salary of a mere $80 USD per month. It turns out her article addresses the farmers in western China, and admittedly, her “facts” are correct.
I was simply pointing out that there are many other people in China who have it much worse, and don’t have the benefits provided by those factories in the bigger cities (specifically, discounted rent and canteen.)
In the video you can see someone cleaning and sweeping the sidwalks of this rich community in China, Yi Ren Gu Zhen, and she makes 300-400 RMB a month (roughtly $40 USD).
While I don’t agree with the current trend of US companies exploiting the cheap labor of Chinese citizens (which is seemingly condoned by the Chinese government), it’s a fact of life here. It’s an opportunity. It’s more money than picking carrots.
A lot of the people who work in those “sweat shop” factories come from the “nong cun”, or rural areas of China. They migrate to the eastern populated cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen and take jobs where they can make 2-4x what they can make on the farms. Some send the money back home, some don’t.
I’m aware of this because, well, I live in China, but also because my wife (who is Chinese, and is from the “nong cun”) has a relative who currently works making clothes, books, and even made iPods, all to be shipped to the USA.
Here, let’s make it personal, she’s the 19-year-old girl in the photo, back left (blurred so she doesn’t get fired.) On average, she said she works 12 hours a day, trying to accumulate as much over-time as possible.
My point is, China is a populated place, and when people start ranting about how bad it is for the people who make iPods, I say, take a look at the people who work in the fields and make up to 10x less.
Should iPod makers be making competitive wages? Yes! Should Apple kick back the huge profit they make on these iPods to the people who make them? Why not!
The problem is, it is not in line with the current economy in China, and if Chinese workers who made iPods were suddenly making more than local doctors, well, that’s a problem in and of itself.
Just another prospective on this issue. Do one of two things – pay them more, or cut the price of an iPod by 75%. Or stop buying iPods. And then we have ‘that’ discussion again.
Video: Washing a Car in 49 Seconds
Why take it to Touchless down the street for $1.25 USD? It takes 30-40 minutes every time! Welcome to Bob’s Carwash.
If you watch it twice, notice how the water on the ground evaporates because of the time-compressed video at 1600% (just pick a spot on the left, say, and watch the water slowly evaporate.)
| Title | Bob’s Carwash in under 15 mins |
| Video | 800 kbps, 2-pass VBR |
| Audio | 80 AAC, mono |
| Dimenions | 700×360, preserve aspect ratio (crop) |
| Format | Flash Video |
| File Size | 5.3mb |
| Length | 0:49 (FCP compression time= 3-4 mins) |
| Sound? | Yes, light music soundtrack |
| Rated | G (All audiences / work-friendly) |
| Notes | Sped up 1600% |
Another Panoramic of Yunnan, Sunrise
A sunrise over a fogged-in valley between two mountain ranges in Yunnan, China.
GPS and Google Video Yunnan & E Jia
(That’s “Eh Jia”). GPS Coordinates: 24°30’27.96″N, 101°11’15.24″E – if you whip that into Google Earth you can see the that mountain range runs deep into Vietnam.
Video notes: 6 megs, 1 minute, Flash video, no sound
Lunch for Two in China

All this for less that $0.30 USD. It’s like going to Whole Foods. We have tomatoes, broccoli, red peppers, and cucumber. Lunch.

VIEW PANORAMIC PHOTO OF DALI
VISIT GALLERY
WATCH MOVIE
ENLARGE
WATCH VIDEO