Group “Say No To Megawati” di facebook beranak pinak

Mengherankan! Takjub! Aneh! Ajaib! atau apalagi-lah namanya yang sama dengan hal itu. 

Minggu, 5 April 2009 malam hari, saya baru buka facebook. “Hmm ada invitation” langsung saya klik. Ternyata itu invitation dari salah seorang teman, “Say NO!!! To Megawati” …”Wah apa ini?” pikir saya.

Saya buka, dan ternyata anggotanya sudah 42.000-an yah, saya pikir nggak ada salahnya jadi fan, toh saya memang tidak akan memilih mega. Secara, hari Sabtu saya baru saja berkunjung ke rumah orang tua di sukabumi. Obrolan kami juga tidak lepas dari politik, karena kami terkena iring-iringan salah satu peserta partai pemilu. Sampai pada calon presiden, ternyata ayah dan ibu Saya 1 aliran, “Pilih SBY aja, kalau dilihat dari semua Presiden yang pernah menjabat, yang benar2 kerja dan peduli dengan nasib bangsa ini ke depan, ya baru beliau… yang lain belum ada!” begitu wejangan yang diberikan kepada anak-anaknya.

Semalam, saya masih sempat melihat page say no to mega ini, pukul 23.00-an supporter-nya sudah mencapai 93.000-an (kalau nggak salah ingat). Pagi ini, 7 April 2009,  saya buka page ini sudah hilang!

Pukul 07.15wib, tiba-tiba ada group baru say no to megawati. Tidak lama setelah itu, ada lagi say no to megawati clean, lalu bertambah lagi page yang lain, katakan tidak pada megawati…

Fans? hanya dalam sekejap, fans-nya membengkak. Pukul 11.42 wib page say no..clean sudah mencapai 3.754 orang. 

Tapi obrolan di rumah dengan adik Saya, dia tetap mendukung Mega.  Karena adik Saya mempunyai pemikiran lain. Yah, demokrasi kok! Mau pilih siapa, harus dihargai dong! walaupun 1 keluarga memiliki pilihan yang berbeda… tapi tetap tujuannya 1, ingin melihat negeri ini menjadi negara yang besar, maju dan berwibawa!

Yang pasti, fb dan mega :  Fenomenal!

Cara Otak Manusia Bekerja

Petunjuk "melihat" gambar :

• Kalau pandangan mata Anda mengikuti gerakan putaran bulatan warna PINK, maka hanya akan terlihat bulatan satu warna yaitu PINK.
• Tapi kalau pandangan mata Anda terpusat ke tanda "+" hitam di tengah, maka bulatan yang berputar akan berubah warnanya menjadi HIJAU.
• Kemudian jika pandangan mata Anda konsentrasi penuh ke tanda "+" hitam di tengah-tengah gambar, maka perlahan-lahan bulatan warna PINK akan menghilang, dan hanya akan terlihat satu saja bulatan yang berputar yaitu warna HIJAU.

Sangat mengagumkan cara otak kita bekerja. Sebenarnya tidak ada bulatan warna hijau, dan bulatan warna pink juga tidak menghilang.
Rasanya cukup membuktikan bahwa kita tidak selalu melihat apa yang kita pikir, dengan kata lain kita melihat sesuatu "bukan apa adanya" tapi "sebagaimana kita melihatnya" .
Kadang kita menghadapi suatu masalah merasa "sangat sulit" atau "sangat berat" (baik di tempat kerja, di keluarga, di lingkungan masyarakat maupun masalah pribadi diri sendiri), bahkan kadang terlintas pertanyaan di benak kita, kenapa demikian berat beban masalah/cobaan yang kita terima ? (padahal kalau kita menerima anugrah/hadiah/ kenikmatan yang demikian besar, kita tidak pernah mempertanyakan nya, kenapa kok saya yang menerima). Dan kadang kita lupa dengan doa : berilah beban yang aku sanggup memikul nya....
Berat/ringan, kecil/besar, masalah/bukan masalah, sedih/gembira, hukuman/pahala, derita/bahagia. ..dst.....hanyalah "cara pandang" kita terhadap sesuatu ?
Suatu peristiwa/kejadian yang sama, namun jika melihatnya dengan sudut pandang yang berbeda serta me-makna-inya dengan berbeda kemudian menyikapinya dengan cara yang berbeda pula, maka hasil-nya juga akan berbeda. Semua hanya ada di benak kita sendiri ! Karena otak kita lah yang membuatnya berbeda ! Jika suatu peristiwa yang negatif namun kalau kita memandang/memaknai nya sebagai hal yang positif dan kita menyikapi dengan cara yang positif maka hasilnya pun akan positif pula.
Dan begitu sebaliknya .....

Sumber : http://baca-saja.blogspot.com/

Foto baru 9 Peb 09

 

Ternyata memang susah cari objek foto yang bagus dan diambil dari angle yang pas!

Facebook yang spektakuler

Facebook, merupakan situs jejaring sosial paling jagoan saat ini. Padahal dibanding friendster atau MySpace, facebook terbilang junior. Dia baru berdiri Februari 2004. Pencetusnya adalah Mark Zuckerberg. Bandingkan dengan Myspace yang muncul januari 2004 dan frienster yang lebih senior lagi, 2002.

 

Untuk friensdter, sampai 18 Desember 2008, sekitar 90 juta pengguna terdaftar di jejaring ini. Sekitar 41% berasal dari Asia, sedangkan 19% berasal dari Amerika Serikat. Sisanya tersebar di seluruh belahan dunia.

 

Baru saja saya mendengar berita, facebook memiliki 70% penggunanya berasal dari luar amerika!  Diakses milyaran jam dalam 1 hari (total penggunaannya).  Rata-rata pengguna menghabiskan waktu 20 menit dalam sehari untuk membuka facebook.

 

Keranjingan facebook ini bahkan membuat menteri kita, Sri Mulyani, mengingatkan mahasiswa UI untuk tidak terlalu kerangjingan facebook, agar mereka tidak lupa pada tugas utama, belajar!

 

Saking banyaknya anggota, kini situs facebook sudah dihinggapi banyak iklan. Termasuk iklan politisi yang bakal berlaga dalam pemilu 2009.

Facebook telah melengkapi diri dengan mobile facebook.

 

Modal yang disetorkan oleh pemilik pada awalnya adalah USD 40 juta dan sekarang telah meningkat menjadi USD 50 juta setiap tahunnya. (Saya kurang pasti mengenai angka, apakah 50 atau 500 juta! maaf) Bayangkan, modal awal sudah kembali hanya dalam waktu 4 tahun saja! Dan keuntungan yang didulang benar-benar telah meningkat berlipat-lipat!

 

Salah satu kelebihan facebook adalah bisa menyimpan 14 juta foto setiap hari. la mengalahkan flicker dan photobucket yang hanya 8 juta foto sehari. (Sebagian diambil dari (Kontan/Avanty Nurdiana), sebagian lagi diambil dari berita di tv one hari ini 9peb09).

Hunting Foto

Walaupun masih kurang bagus karena masih belajar shooting objects, ini ada beberapa yang mau di sharing.

Bemo, kendaraan yang nyaris punah dan sulit ditemukan.  Sedang 'mangkal" untuk menunggu giliran dan penumpang. Ngetem!

Malam hari, sehabis hujan. Iseng ambil foto bulan sabit.  Hasilnya sih... masih kurang bagus juga.. wuuuah susah juga ya ambil foto yang bagus.

Dalam perjalanan dari sukabumi ke jakarta, ada momen yang sangat bagus. Tapi sayang, kita hanya lewat sebentar dan tidak sempat berhenti untuk mengambil foto.  Hasilnya?

Membuat Foto yang bagus

Saya heran, beberapa foto yang saya lihat, menurut Saya SANGAT SANGAT BAGUS! Tapi Saya sendiri kok tidak bisa ya membuat foto sebagus itu, mendekatipun tidak! Lihat saja foto-foto ini, bahkan hanya sebuah daun, tapi bagus sekali.

Coba lihat hasil karya saya, wuuuah.... saya sepertinya belum mengerti benar, bagaimana caranya mencari obyek yang bagus. 

Saya selalu mengarahkan kamera, secara acak dan asal! Hasilnya ya begitulah, seperti yang terlihat. 

Ternyata jika kita menginginkan hasil fotografi yang bagus, kita harus benar-benar memperhatikan aspek.  Cahaya, Warna, setiap angles.

• Jika subjeknya adalah orang, maka yang menjadi fokus kita adalah MATA!
• Membuat foto, bisa saja kita hitung sampai hitungan 3, tapi kita press the button pada hitungan ke 2! Karena mereka yang di photo akan memberikan ekspresi yang paling bagus saat menanti hitungan ke-3.
• Foto yang baik, justru menempatkan fokusnya bukan ditengah! (Mana saya selalu membuat fokus di tengah selama ini, mungkin ini yang menjadi penyebab hasilnya kurang bagus).
• Foto yang bagus, harus pandai bercerita.  Bayangkan bahwa foto yang kita buat, membuat mereka yang melihat meluangkan waktunya untuk melihat lebih jelas.  Dalam dunia maya, mereka tidak langsung meng-klik next button!
• Last but not least, take camera everywhere coz you dont know when the moment will come.  Momen itu hanya akan datang sekali, dan jangan sampai kita kehilangan moment yang paling bagus dan memorable!

Wah, perjalanan masih panjang untuk bisa menghasilkan foto yang bagus.  Keep hunting!

What Makes a Photo Good?

By Charlotte K. Lowrie

 

What makes one or two photos rise to the top in a stack of 20, 30, or even 100 photos? The answer, despite what beginning photographers may imagine, is not a secret known only to seasoned photographers and photo editors. Nor is there a single element that makes a photo "good." Rather there is a not-so-secret checklist of criteria commonly used to evaluate images.

Having said this, I hasten to add that evaluation checklists vary by person, and, like other judging criteria, there are always exceptions to the rules. Furthermore, the lines separating the criteria very often blur. Photography is, after all, subjective.

Despite these disclaimers, knowing the commonly accepted evaluation criteria can give you a roadmap to getting better day-to-day photos, and a guide for evaluating the final images.

Following is the evaluation list that I use when I review my images and evaluate images for the MSN Photo of the Week images. In addition, I've included sample questions for each checkpoint that you can use or adapt for evaluating your photos.

1. Is there a clear center of interest?  In a strong photo, the viewer can immediately identify the subject. While this sounds like a no-brainer, a surprisingly high number of photos fail to clearly identify the main subject. Instead, a complex montage of elements compete for the viewer's attention.

In a strong photo, the subject should dominate the image and form the viewer's first impression. If the subject is strong, the viewer's eyes may move to explore other areas of the image, but the eyes are drawn inevitably back to the subject.

Great examples of this point are pictures of sunsets, an ageless and popular photo subject. While the colors and cloud formations of a sunset are dramatic, they are seldom enough to create a compelling image. Beyond a quick, though perhaps appreciative first glance, most sunset photos are quickly forgotten. And in large numbers, they quicky become "ho-hummers."

However, when the photographer adds an element that gives the sunset context and interest, you have a sunset photo with impact, and one that is far more likely to capture and retain the viewer's interest. The sunset photo here includes the activity of people enjoying the last moments of the day against the backdrop of the dramatic late-day color.

To evaluate your own photos for a strong center of interest, try asking yourself these questions. Or show the picture to a friend and ask your friend to honestly answer the questions.

• When you look at the photo, what is the first thing you see? If you're evaluating your own image, is what you see first the subject you had in mind for the photograph?
• What holds your eye the longest?
• Do other elements in the image compete with the subject for attention?
• Do technical aspects such as light and the direction of light, depth of field, focus, and so on add to or detract from the subject?

2. Is the image composed well?  In a strong photo, there should be a sense of overall organization. While entire books are written on composition, at the most basic level, composition is the process of establishing a sense of order for the elements within an image.

Note  Composition rules or guidelines are a helpful starting point, but they are useful only as long as they enhance the overall image.

As a quick review, here are a few basic composition pointers.

• Fill the frame  Filling the frame helps establish the center of interest, and, simultaneously, it helps exclude competing background details. You can fill the frame by moving closer to the subject or by using a longer focal length (or zooming in).
• Organize elements  In composition, the Rule of Thirds is often used to organize elements in a composition. This rule is derived from the Golden Section or Golden Rectangle that divides a space, such as a photographic frame, into equal segments to create pleasing proportions. In simple terms, if you apply the Rule of Thirds in photography you simply imagine a tick-tac-toe pattern on the viewfinder. Then, when you place the subject of the photo at one of the intersection points, the result is a pleasing sense of order.
• Control the background  A non-distracting backgound is a compositional tool to help bring attention to the subject of the photo. You can control the background by moving your position or moving the subject to avoid background distractions and by using a wider aperture (smaller f-stop) to blur the background. It's a good practice to review the entire scene and, when possible, eliminate or rearrange as many distracting background elements.
• Keep it simple  The fewer the elements in a photo, the stronger the statement the image makes. Simplicity also helps prevent the viewer's eye from being distracted.

To evaluate the composition of your images, try asking these questions.

• Is there a sense of order and balance in the image that helps lead the eye through the composition?
• Are elements included that do not contribute to the subject of the image?
• Are elements excluded that, if included, would have enhanced the subject of the image?
• Do the depth of field, focal length (lens or zoom setting), lighting, angle, and perspective enhance the composition?
• Does the crop enhance the composition?

3. Is the focus crisp and is the exposure appropriate?  With the exception of photos that either intentionally show motion or are taken as soft-focus images (such as a portrait), tack-sharp focus is one of the first things that everyone notices first about an image. Going a step further, the center of focus should be on the center of interest of the subject. In other words, if the picture is of a person, the focus should be on the person's eyes. The sharpest point of the picture should pinpoint what the photographer sees as the most important aspect of the image.

The exposure (the combination of focal length [lens or zoom setting], aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) should also enhance the intent of the photo. For example, in a scene of an old building, did the photographer use exposure controls to emphasize the age of the structure and perhaps the starkness of the surroundings? To create this sense, a photographer can choose a moderately wide-angle lens or zoom setting, use black-and-white mode, choose a higher ISO (or use a high-ISO black-and-white film) set a narrow aperture (larger f-stop number), and choose a fast shutter speed (depending, of course, on the light). This combination would produce sharp detail, visible grain or digital noise to enhance the sense of antiquity, and increased depth of field to emphasize the sense of lonliness.

On the other hand, if the image is a portrait of a person, I would look for quite different exposure settings, for example, a low ISO, a wide aperture (small f-stop number), and, depending on the light, a slower shutter speed. In this case, the portrait would be little or no grain or digital noise and the narrow depth of field would blur the background to emphasize the subject. (Of course, a photographer might choose the opposite setting to achieve an entirely different look.) The question is whether the exposure settings were planned to enchance the image "design."

Questions that can help you evaluate whether focus and exposure settings are appropriate for an image include:

• Is the sharpest point in the image on the center of interest of the subject of the photo?
• Does the depth of field enhance the subject, mood, or look of the image or does it distract from it?
• Does the focal length or zoom setting enhance the subject and message?
• Does the image have good overall contrast for the type image the photographer intended?
• Does the color appear natural and/or does it help set the mood of the image?
• If the image is in color, would it be stronger in in black and white, or vice versa?

4. Does the photo tell a story  Most often, the difference between a photo you remember and one that you quickly forget depends on whether the photo tells a story. As a viewer, I want to see the story, and this is one of the most important evaluation points I look for in other photographer's images. It is also the element that I always try to include in my images.

In strong photos, the story is revealed at first glance, and it is self-contained. In the best images, the story evokes an emotional response from the viewer. I believe it's that emotional response that ultimately makes the image memorable.

Try asking these questions as you evaluate images to decide if the image tells a story.

• At a minimum, does the photo make a statement that you can articulate?
• Does the photo elicit an emotion? In other words, can you relate to the subject or the situation?
• What could be changed in the image to give it a stronger story or message.

5. Does the lighting enhance the subject and message?  Like the composition, lighting is a subject that is worthy of book-length discussions. Whether in shooting or evaluating photos, light should be used to its maximum potential to reveal what's important in the image and to set the overall tone of the photo.

In masterful hands, lighting is used selectively to focus attention on specific areas of the subject while simultaneously demphasizing less important areas; to guide leading the eye through the composition, and to establish the overall mood and tone of the image by taking advantage of the different temperatures (colors) of light.

Light is another "design tool" that can be used to enhance the overall mood and intent of the image and subject. For example, when taking a portrait of a man, a strong, unfiltered white side light may be appropriate because it emphasizes the man's rugged and angular features. On the other hand, a soft, warm-color diffused light is more appropriate for a portrait of a woman because it mirrors the delicate features of these subjects. And, of course, there are few photographers who fail to take advantage of the superb colors of light during sunrises and sunsets.

When evaluating the lighting merits of a photo, ask:

• Is the intensity and color of light appropriate for the subject?
• Is the light too harsh, too contrasty, or is it too soft and too flat?
• Are all important aspects of the subject well lit, or could the lighting be improved by using a flash, fill flash, reflector, or auxiliary light?
• Does the light help convey the overall message of the photo?
• In a color photo, is the color balanced or corrected for the light temperature (in other words, the overall color should be natural-looking). And if it isn't, does the color cast contribute to the photo?

6. Is the approach creative?  In broad terms, I define "creative" as an image that goes beyond predictable techniques and treatments. In more specific terms, the best creative images show subjects through the photographers' eyes and perspective. In other words, the photographer reveals the subject in extraordinary ways: ways that the viewer otherwise would not have seen.

Creative techniques and subjects can range from bringing abstract ideas into a visual form, taking a concrete idea and making it abstract, relating or associating unrelated concepts into a visual space, or, in short, taking a fresh look at and lending the photographer's unique thinking and vision any subject.

When evaluating the creativity of a photo, ask yourself:

• Does the photo disclose more about the subject, or show it in unexpected ways?
• Does the photo relate visual elements in unusual and intriguing ways?
• Is the photo interesting and fresh, or is it just too weird for words?

Depending on the day, and depending on the photo, I may add other criteria to my evaluation checklist, but I seldom delete one of these basic six points. In the real world, I also know that if 10 people look at the same photo, approximately five may give it good marks and five may give it low marks. Photography is, of course, as subjective as individual taste.

But when everyone has had their say, the bottom line is that you now have evaluation criteria so that you can evaluate your own work. If an image is your best so far, enjoy the image and your achievement. Then go back in a month or two and evaluate the image against the six basic criteria again. If it still passes the test, frame it and hang it on the wall, and then go out and shoot a better picture.