wwp@yahoogroups.com:
A couple of friends dropped in for a drink...
Richard Crowest 2006-Jun-25 18:03:00
http://corvidae.co.uk/panoramas/wwp-garden.html
I really struggled getting the small version below 700kB. I've ended
up with a cube face size of 956 pixels and a quality setting of just
33%, and I'm barely happy with the way it looks. To get there I had
to apply a very aggressive noise reduction across the whole image,
then Gaussian blur with a 0.25 pixel radius, and use the history
brush to undo it in the areas I really needed to keep sharp. Thanks
for the tips about noise reduction - prior to that, H264 looked like
the only way to get an allowable file size without destroying the
appearance.
I think the killer is having detail overhead - the acer leaves are
beautiful, but just aren't JPEG friendly. With a Californian blue
sky, you've got no problems. It's a bit ironic really: cubic panorama
+ something to make it worthwhile looking upwards = much bigger file.
That said, the full-screen version was no problem at all - that's the
one I'm really happy with.
I do have to confess to cheating slightly. The collared dove and the
wood pigeon weren't actually there at the same time. In fact, I'm
stretching the truth calling the wood pigeon a friend - they're not
that friendly to anyone or anything in the garden - sitting in the
pulmonaria, fighting in the clematis, and leaving their muck all over
the place. In days gone by, people made fortunes and built vast
mansions with exquisite gardens by collecting and selling guano for
fertiliser, but I think I'd need a much bigger patio to join that
club...
Richard
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