Stonehenge Photosynth

This is a set of photos taken of Stonehenge (Wiltshire) on 18/10/2008. The sky was just perfect and I was lucky to get some great shots. Hope you enjoy them as much as I. (sorry it only works on a pc)
photosynth page

Archaeological theory in the light of contemporary computing conference

I have been selected to give a paper at this years Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) conference at the University of Southampton (southern England) in the <TAG 2.0/>: Archaeological theory in the light of contemporary computing session.

Abstract-
Title : Building on Fear?
The role of Digital Archaeology to aid the study and analysis of structural carpentry techniques in central southern England, c1180 – c1500, the era of the Black Death and successive plagues.

My Main BLOG

I have recently installed wordpress onto my website. This will now be the most up-to-date and dynamic blog site

Please view my main blog by clicking here

The future of photography is here!

I have been interested in photography and its development for sometime but I have been utterly blown away by Microsoft’s new release!

PHOTOSYNTH

its is truly amazing and needs to be seen to be believed so go and check it out http://photosynth.net

It enables you to create a 3D world from a collection of photos. My humble words can not do this project justice, please visit the site and enjoy the future now!

It has the potential to revolustionise digital archaeology and virtual archaeology

Here is a synth I created

A Photosynth “how to” from http://blogs.msdn.com/photosynth/

The joy of synthing: some suggestions for better results

Posted Tuesday, September 02, 2008 5:00 AM by synthy

Because Photosynth uses photos differently than other photographic processes, it means you’re going to have to shoot your scene or object in a way you may not be used to. Among the things we did lots of times before learning not to:

- Not taking enough pictures. Photosynth requires lots of images. With memory card prices going down and sizes going up, go crazy and take more than you think you’ll need. You really want to cover your subject thoroughly. But don’t just shoot random pictures—think about how they’re going to tie together, and how you’ll be navigating through your synth. Be methodical about how you shoot.

- Taking pictures that don’t knit together. We repeat this lot, but that’s because it’s so important: each of your pictures should have at least 50% overlap from the previous picture. When you take pictures at drastically different angles Photosynth can’t match them up and you end up with ‘orphans’, pictures that don’t connect to any others. So even though you’ve taken lots of pictures (because you read the paragraph just above this one), that doesn’t mean you should use them all –leave out the ones that won’t connect to the others.

- Poor choice of subject. Things with extremely complex or repeating patterns don’t usually work very well (like a willow tree, for example). Things that are really colorful make great pictures, but not great synths, because Photosynth doesn’t look at color, it looks at texture. Look at the ‘Nice and Synthy’ section of the photosynth.com site, and see what worked. Look at the 2-D view of the pictures and see how they fit together, how many pictures were used, and the angle at which they were taken.

So, let’s get synthing!

Synthing tips: How to synth a room

Posted Monday, August 25, 2008 5:00 AM by synthy

Synthing tips: How to synth a room

Maybe you want to show off your newly-remodeled downstairs. Or you want to let your friends see how you’ve decorated your room. Or you want to remember the amazing luxury condo you went through. Photosynth can help. Here are some tips so you’ll get the best synth of an interior space:

1. Start by standing in the center of the room and shooting a panorama—turn slightly and take pictures 360-degrees all around you. Make sure you have lots of overlap between pictures—50% works really well. Make sure you use a tripod and that your camera stays level throughout the panorama—otherwise it won’t synth very well. Start with your camera zoomed out as far as you can for the widest possible shots—then do it again with the camera zoomed in progressively closer , so for each position you’ve got a wide shot, medium shot and close-up.

Shoot a panorama from the center of the room

2. Next, stand in each of the room’s corners and shoot the rest of the room, again with lots of overlap between shots, first wide, then closer. Then stand in the center of each wall and do the same thing.

Shoot from the corners, then from the center of each wall

3. Don’t forget the ‘rule of 3’: each part of your scene should appear in at least three different photos.

My research

clipped from www.medievalarchitecture.net Richard is presently actively involved in surveying timber-framed properties in Hampshire between AD1130 and 1530. He has found many interesting joints and he is in the process of writing his thesis and modelling the joints. As a result this website is constantly evolving and updated. Not all the data can be published here until after the thesis is submitted, be he is more than happy to talk with any interested parties regarding his work. Please feel free to email Richard with questions and suggestions or please visit www.medievalarchitecture.net

back from the Ukraine

I returned from another geophysics season in Ukraine on the 24th of July. I worked out there with Alex Turner (Soviet Al not the Artic Monkey) doing GPR ( Mala Ground Penetrating Radar) and Magnetometry (Geoscan FM36 Fluxgate Gradiometer). Last year we used a Resistivity machine (Geoscan RM15) and so where able to combine the results of the three methods to create a better picture of the archaeology that remains below the surface at the Akkerman Fortress. Alex and I are still in the process of interpreting the results and building a GIS (ESRI ArcGIS) map that includes all the geophysical survey illustrations / a DGPS (Trimble Differential Global Positioning System) / a Total Station survey and past and present maps. The results of which will be posted on my web site http://www.medievalarchitecture.net/Ukraine.html

Zotero

Zotero

Zotero is an easy-to-use yet powerful research tool that helps you gather, organize, and analyze sources (citations, full texts, web pages, images, and other objects), and lets you share the results of your research in a variety of ways. An extension to the popular open-source web browser Firefox, Zotero includes the best parts of older reference manager software (like EndNote)—the ability to store author, title, and publication fields and to export that information as formatted references—and the best parts of modern software and web applications (like iTunes and del.icio.us), such as the ability to interact, tag, and search in advanced ways. Zotero integrates tightly with online resources; it can sense when users are viewing a book, article, or other object on the web, and—on many major research and library sites—find and automatically save the full reference information for the item in the correct fields. Since it lives in the web browser, it can effortlessly transmit information to, and receive information from, other web services and applications; since it runs on one’s personal computer, it can also communicate with software running there (such as Microsoft Word). And it can be used offline as well (e.g., on a plane, in an archive without WiFi).

Graduate Junction

Graduate junction is a great new place for graduates to promote and share their research with other graduates. They say;

The Graduate Junction is a brand new site which aims to give research students an easy way of making contact with others who share their research interests no matter which department, institution or country they work in.

The site has been created by other research students, like you, who believe the site can grow into a really useful tool for postgraduates working in any field of research

my profile

Black Death

For an interesting, if not controversial take on the ‘Black Death’ and the early 14th Century in general, may I recommend;

Baillie M, 2006 New Light on the Black Death: The Cosmic Connection. Tempus, Gloucestershire. (Amazon)

Baillie is perhaps best known for his work within the field of dendrochronology, and so it is interesting to read how he sees the catastrophes incurred during the 1st half of the 14th Century played out in the tree-ring evidence. I believe Baillie puts forward a very strong case for us to re look at what we know about the Black Death in the light of new scientific evidence.

1493 Wooden fireplace

I was lucky enough to visit a house in Mottisfont the other day that had a tudor fireplace dendro dated to 1493 (late 15th century). It is the earliest wooden fireplace with carving I know of in Hampshire, do correct me if I’m wrong. I have seen plenty of stone ones around this period, but not wooden.

It also has some ‘teardrops’ left from burning rush lights and a daisy wheel inscription to ward off witches and evil.