Rajan's View

Meta Prompt  Regardless of the Generative AI model used, sometimes the model may refuse to provide a response for a valid prompt. Often the reasons cited are - "I don't know", "I am not trained for the task", "violation of safety/responsible/ethical guardrails". This is sometimes more acutely felt when using Generative AI models for creating images. Overcoming this behavior can be frustrating and time consuming. An approach is to ask the AI model itself to generate prompts so that the prose and nuances of prompting are aligned with how the AI model has been built. This is called meta-prompting . The theory is that the prompts created by the AI model would have better chance of working. Let's dive in to see if and how this meta-prompting works in Gemini .  How to Create a Meta Prompt As with all good prompts, start with a persona/situation that describes the overall context. Next, describe the task in detail. In this case, it is about creating some ...

Photographs usually capture a slice of life. But sometimes, they get a life of their own too. I count a few of my photographs as my favourites. But one in particular seems to have become very popular. This is a photograph of the UK Parliament on a winter evening. I took it from the opposite bank on the Thames. It is licensed under creative commons license. Around a dozen sites have used this photograph. While some ask for permission, most of them use it along with attribution. It is interesting to see the number of topics that are linked to this photograph, ranging from education, diversity, health, news, current affairs and politics. http://www.involve.org.uk/blog/2013/09/27/analysis-of-the-ogp-independent-reporting-mechanism-report-on-uk-progress/ https://leedsunicareers.wordpress.com/2015/09/08/getting-into-parliamentary-and-public-affairs-summary-of-panel-event/ https://www.organic-center.org/news/uk-parliament-body-discusses-health-risks-of-roundup/ https://www...

Typically, you need wide view or fisheye lenses to capture a panoramic picture. An alternate method (though may not give the same quality) is to use software to create a panoramic image. There are several software available which you can use to create a panoramic image. The concept is called - "stitching". Some of the software available are - PTGui, Panavue, PAX-it, AutoStitch and so on. I sometimes use AutoStitch to create the panoramas since I have a 50mm lens for now. Each of these software vary in price and features. The added advantage is that you can take the pictures using any kind of camera - digital, phone or SLR. Steps: 1. Visualize the picture you want to take. 2. Use your camera and "divide" your image into rows and columns. An example being - 2 rows and 5 columns. 3. Take 10 pictures to cover your entire image. 4. Use any of the software to "stitch" them together. Here is an example of a panorama created using AutoStitch. I to...

Animoto is a new service which lets you import pictures from anywhere and lets you create videos out of them. I created a sample video using Animoto. You can import pictures from your computer, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, Facebook and so on. Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

So said, Hellmuth Conz . He is a German who has made India his home for the past many years. I recently attended a studio photography workshop conducted by him. It was organized by Photography On The Move (POTM). A photograph is nothing but capturing light. It's the light that illuminates the object or scenery. We were able to learn the importance of having the right light conditions to take a photo. Here is what I think is my best photo from the workshop. Feel free to drop your comments here or in Flickr. Lastly, happy new year to everyone.

Finally after lots of research, I bought a digital SLR. It's a Nikon D5000 with a fixed 50mm lens. I am still playing round with the settings. Even the mundane object can be shown in a new light. The first shot is shown here, it's part of the feng shui windchime. Click on the photo to enlarge. Now begins the hard part of learning photography. Surprise, surprise, there is lot of practice to be done! However, this is a hobby which nicely complements things like traveling. And if you are looking for a decent camera, there is lots to choose from Nikon and Canon. With digital SLR's being within budget and everyone having a computer, it's really easy to practice. A few things to keep in mind. 1. Buy a basic or medium camera like Nikon D3000, D5000 series. 2. Choose a really good lens. The Nikon 50mm 1.8D is excellent plus it's cheap too. 3. Go for at least a 1 or 2 day photography class. It makes a huge difference. Soon you will be able to make "wall...

I have been using an SLR camera (Nikon F55) for the past 8 years. Alas, always in the programmed modes (like indoor, landscape etc). I tried reading books and magazines to pick up the basics of manual photography but never could. I suppose it's a bit like music, you need to learn from a teacher (I may be a geek but, no amount of computer based trainings are match for a person!) I finally went manual after attending one day basic SLR workshop by Photography on the Move ( http://www.photographyonthemove.com/ ). The class was taken by Vaibhav Mehta ( http://mehtavaibhav.daportfolio.com/ ). I learnt the basics of - shutter speed, aperture, depth of field, lighting and composition. You can check out my flickr photostream for my first hand at "true" photography (photos on the right). The beauty is, once you go manual it doesn't matter what camera you are using. It is your skill as a photographer that will define the picture. The camera just becomes a tool. As they say...