Herself's Webtools

Creating icons for iPhones and the iPod Touch is not all that different than creating bookmark icons.  First you create a 57×57 png image.

If you want an icon for all of your website or a default for pages that do not have individual icons then just name your image:

apple-touch-icon.png

and upload it to your home directory.

If you are on Blogger or some other software where you can’t upload the icon you can place it anywhere on the web and create the following link in the ‘head’ section of your pages:

<link rel=”apple-touch-icon” href=”http://your-icon-location.com/your-icon-name.png”>

If you have different pages people might wish to bookmark and you wish to have a separate icon for each then:

- create the icons

- upload them to the root directory of your website

- In the head section of pages that you wish this icon to appear add the following:

<link rel=”apple-touch-icon” href=”http://your-site.com/icon-name.png”>

I tried doctoring photos and shrinking them and using them and the results were pretty good.  Gimp works well for creating icons this way.  One site reported that creating larger icons and letting Apple convert them resulted in clearer pictures. It didn’t for me but if you are using photo images you should give it a try.

Apple will round the corners and gloss up your icon.  You just need to create the square image and let Apple do the rest.  ‘Trust the force’.

I could not get this to work on an old section of a website that uses frames.  It may or may not work on framed sites.

If you change or add an icon it does not update on users phones/touches.  It must be rebookmarked for the new icon to appear.

HDR images are normally shot with your camera set up on a tripod and several images are taken of the same view in various lighting conditions. Then you layer the images on top of each other and blend them. If you want to learn how to do proper HDR images in Gimp try Flickr – Discussing HDR in Gimp. You’ll find everything you need there. Or try the Gimp blending exposures tutorial.

But if you are like me and taking wildlife shots you will find that the wildlife generally isn’t too keen on sitting and posing for several hours while the sun moves. Or maybe the local security officer is wiggy about you being parked in front of a building for several hours with a camera. So you only have one image to make it work.

before:

after:

First make a copy of your photo and open it in Gimp. ( You know better than to work on your originals right? )

Open up a layers dialog ( Dialogs->Layers )

Create a copy of the layer by clicking on the double image button at the bottom of the layers window.

Hide the top layer by clicking on the eye.

Select the bottom layer by clicking on it.

Go to your image and select Colors->Levels then Auto->OK

This makes your whites whiter and your blacks blacker. Don’t worry about whether it looks ok or not.

Go back to the Layers window and click the eye to make the top layer visible again

Click on the top layer to select it.

Select Mode->Multiply

Now adjust the opacity until you are happy with the image.

On darker images you might find Mode->Overlay works better

Also you might also try adjusting just one color in your color levels. In the Levels box Channel has a drop down menu – you can select all or a color to adjust.

On some images I adjust the levels on the top layer instead of the bottom. You want to experiment a bit and see what works best with your photos.

Another option is to open Filters->Lighting effects and add a light to one layer before blending the photos.

Here are Some excellent examples of HDR
And here are some more to get you motivated.
20 Beautiful HDR Pictures