Make sure to uninstall any old versions.

Change log

• Updated Wikipedia regular expressions
• Improved Image Socket support
• Removed Facebook support
• Improved ImageFap support
• Fixed bug involving race conditions

Spread the word

If you have a blog or a website and enjoy using Greased Lightbox, please help spread the word about this great little script by linking to it, perhaps with a little review.

Stay up to date

To stay up to date on the latest developments, make sure to subscribe.

Similar Posts:

• Greased Lightbox v0.17
• Greased Lightbox v0.14
• Greased Lightbox v0.15
• Greased Lightbox v0.16
• Greased Lightbox v0.13
• Greased Lightbox v0.12
• First Donation!

One of the challenges that comes with maintaining a graphic-intensive website like Shifting Pixel is finding a way to get high quality images throughout the site with as little effort as possible. To tackle this, I developed the Smart Image Resizer and have been using it around the site for the past few months. I couldn’t be happier.

The major advantage of this script is that it allows me to resize and crop any image on my website without touching the actual image or writing any code. I upload each image once at a high enough resolution and can then reuse it at any size I want, anywhere I want. It doesn’t matter if the images are in a post, on a page, or in a template file–it just works. All of the magic is done through the query string part of the URL in the src attribute of the img tag.

And, if this wasn’t a big enough time-saver for me right now, it’ll be a huge time-saver the next time I decide to redesign my site. It’s a relief that I won’t have to go through to resize and re-upload a thousand photos to make sure they look right–I’ll just have to change the links to them and I’ll be all set.

Features

• Resizes JPEGs, GIFs, and PNGs
• Intelligently sharpens for crisp photos at any size
• Can crop based on width:height ratios
• Can color-fill transparent GIFs and PNGs
• Built-in caching keeps image variations for optimal performance

Requirements

PHP 5.1.0+ compiled with GD. (You need a version of GD that supports imageconvolution(), such as the bundled version. Note that on some distributions, the default php-gd package may not be adequate.)

Download

Download SLIR 2.0

Download Smart Image Resizer v1.4.1 (Released August 6, 2008)

Tip jar

To Install

1. Unzip on your web server
2. In the same directory, create a directory called “imagecache”
3. Make your imagecache directory is writable by the web server (usually chmod 775)

Troubleshooting

• Turn on “display_errors = on” in your php.ini file. Restart Apache and verify with a phpinfo().
• Try visiting the URL that you are using as the src attribute of your img tag directly in the browser. For example, for example, stick this in your browser’s address bar: http://example.com/image.php?width=180&height=180&image=/path/to/image.jpg. If there is an error message here, it should be quite helpful.
• If that doesn’t give you any information, turn on error reporting (add error_reporting(E_ALL); to the top of image.php) and see if that gives you any information. It is possible that the script is trying to use a function that doesn’t exist in your installation and configuration of PHP.
• If you can’t get the script to give you any information, try peaking into your error logs.
• Finally, if you can’t get any information out of any of these things, run a phpinfo() and send me a link–if I have time I’ll take a look at it and tell you if anything looks out of the ordinary. As of this time, I am spending more time focusing on SLIR 2.

Common error messages

Fatal error: Call to undefined function imagecreatetruecolor()

This most likely means that you do not have GD installed. To fix this, install GD (make sure you are using a version that includes the imageconvolution() function).

Fatal error: Call to undefined function imageconvolution()

This means that you are using a version of GD that does not include the imageconvolution() function. To fix this, you will either need to find a repository that includes the version of GD that you need, or compile php-gd from source.

License

I love to hear when my work is being used, so if you decide to use it, feel encouraged to send me an email. Smart Image Resizer is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States license. All I ask is that you include a link back to Shifting Pixel (either this page or shiftingpixel.com), but don’t worry about including a big link on each page if you don’t want to–one will do just nicely. Feel free to contact me to discuss any specifics.

Examples

These examples use my photo of this coffee bean. For more fine photography, browse my “Must See” photos or subscribe.

Resizing a JPEG

<img src="/image.php?width=200&amp;height=200&amp;image=/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/coffee-bean.jpg" alt="Coffee Bean" /> 

Resizing and cropping a JPEG into a square

<img src="/image.php?width=150&amp;height=150&amp;cropratio=1:1&amp;image=/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/coffee-bean.jpg" alt="Coffee Bean" /> 

Similar Posts:

• Greased Lightbox v0.15
• Greased Lightbox v0.16

At the time, I had never used lights before in my photography and, to be completely honest, I was a little scared of the prospect. I had to learn a lot in a short amount of time so I needed a solid resource. After a little research, I bought Light: Science and Magic to get things started. I’m glad I did.

Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, and Paul Fuqua ease the novice reader in with very basic lighting concepts focused on two-dimensional subjects. Each chapter builds until you have an understanding of how to light complicated objects like metal and glass. The diagrams and supporting pictures clearly illustrate the concepts, and the writing is very natural and easy to understand. When I finished the book, I had the know-how and confidence to light just about any project.

This is such a great book because the authors teach the principles of lighting instead of just showing you how to achieve certain effects or lighting styles. These principles can be applied to many situations and utilized to achieve any effect you desire. In other words, you won’t find just a lighting cookbook here. Rather, read this book and you will learn how to think about lighting and understand it from the ground up. This puts you in control of how your photos will look.

If you want to get started with lighting, Light: Science and Magic is an essential read.

Similar Posts:

• Alli Stocco’s Little Book
• 2006 in Review
• Klean Kanteen
• Linnea Wren

If you are as fed up as I am with rivers of whitespace flowing through the blocks of fully justified text on the web and sweeping your attention away from the important stuff (the content!), there’s no doubt that you’ll want to take matters away from good-intentioned amateur designers and into your own hands.

Just drag this link, Unjustify, to your bookmarks toolbar. Next time you come across some justified text, you get to zap it.

Try it out

From the Heart Sutra as translated by Nalanda Translation Committee:

Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Shariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There are no characteristics. There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. There is no decrease and no increase. Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no dharmas, no eye dhatu up to no mind dhatu, no dhatu of dharmas, no mind consciousness dhatu; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no old age and death, no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment.

If you like this, why not stick around?

Similar Posts:

• Redesign

5x Magnification ƒ/13.0, 1/200 s, 800 ISO

Thanks to Andrew and Jerry, I think we may have identified these little creatures as yellow ants, or probably some species of Acanthomyops.

Since we aren’t ant scientists, if you happen to know better I’d love to hear from you.

Similar Posts:

• Yellow Ants, Acanthomyops Again
• Climbing to the Top
• Woodlouse – Oniscidea (top)
• Woodlouse – Oniscidea (bottom)
• Fly
• A long journey
• Cantaloupe, Cucumis melo reticulatus
• Kasota Prairie Pond 2
• Titan Arum (Corpse Flower) II

It’s probably the question I get asked the most…

“I’m in the market for a new pro-quality, digital, SLR camera and I wonder if you can tell me what type and model and megapixels you use personally….”

These tips could save you some valuable time and money.

Tip 1. Identify how much you can afford to spend.

Since I’m not rich and since camera equipment can get really expensive really fast, this tops my list of considerations. It doesn’t make any sense to go bankrupt just to buy a new tool or toy.

Look at your personal budget and make sure you can afford a new camera and all of the additional goodies you are going to need to get with it. Take into account lenses, filters, cleaning supplies, extra batteries, memory cards, remote, software, tripod, backpack, light meter, and lighting equipment you plan on getting. If it all doesn’t pan out, maybe it’s best to wait or to get something cheaper like an awesome Holga toy camera to hold you off for a while. I love my Holga, and I got it after my DSLR. Or, try your hand at pinhole photography—there’s a whole world of inexpensive possibilities out there.

Most importantly, get out there and take pictures with whatever you have or can get your hands on. The tools you have or can cheaply get probably aren’t limiting your ability to cultivate the oh-so-important artistic skills of photography and composition. Start seeing now and the technology will catch up to you. If you want proof or inspiration, take a look at Susan Burnstine’s outafocus or Michael Daniel’s 640×480.net. They are producing some incredible work using very low-fi equipment.

Tip 2. Decide what you want out of your camera.

If you already have a decent camera sitting around, take a long, hard look at what you really want to get out of the latest and greatest model.

I’ve had my Canon 10D for a number of years now and it still does just about everything that I want it to do, even though it has been replaced by the 20D and the 30D. I would really like to have a Canon 5D because it performs better at higher ISO settings and has a delicious full-frame sensor. But, when I critically look at what I have and what I would be getting by spending a few thousand dollars on a newer model, the difference just doesn’t add up for me. It would have a much better impact on image quality if I bought some really nice lenses, or maybe a lighting setup.

Tip 3. Think about how you will use your camera.

A camera is a tool. The right tool in the right hands for the right job can produce breathtaking images. But that’s just it—you need the right camera for the right job.

If you need to do a lot of inconspicuous street shooting, then you’ll want to find yourself something smaller like a Leica M8 or a Sigma DP1. If you tend to be rough with your equipment, stay away from cameras with cheaper, plastic bodies like Canon’s Rebel line. If you are going to be doing a lot of shooting in low-light conditions, focus on cameras that perform better at higher ISO settings, like the Canon 5D.

The bottom line is that the camera you buy needs to fit how you are going to use it. If it doesn’t, it’s an expensive paper weight—it will sit on the shelf and collect dust. You’ll wonder why you didn’t just buy a cheaper and more convenient point and shoot.

Tip 4. Establish how you want to use your photos.

Are your photos going to be for a personal photo album, an online gallery, or gigantic fine art prints?

This question weaves directly into the long-time discussion on megapixels. Do you want to display your photos publicly or just look at them for fun? If you want to display them publicly, do you want to ever print them or just put them on the web? If you are printing your photos, will you ever want them printed at large sizes?

Basically, if you don’t ever want to print anything at 20″ x 30″, then you probably don’t really have to worry too much about megapixels these days. If you are only going to use your pictures on the web, megapixels pretty much don’t matter at all. And, if you never plan on publicly showing your photos, who cares about megapixels?

For me, the 10D has 6.3 megapixels, which is about as low as I would want to go. I can print a 20″ x 30″ at pretty good quality, but if you look closely it could be a little better. Fortunately, most of the stuff I print is smaller than that so that’s not that big of a deal—although it would be nice to have a little more flexibility. All of Canon’s DSLRs right now have 8 megapixels or more, which is plenty for mostly anybody.

If you want to make something really big but don’t necessarily have the megapixels, try Rasterbating.

Tip 5. Find out what others use and how well it works for them.

Learn from those who have gone before you.

Find other photographers whose work you admire and then find out what equipment they are using. This will give you some real-world examples of how the equipment performs and the results it delivers.

If you read a lot of photoblogs, many have a page just to list the equipment they use—here’s my equipment list. Take advantage of this.

Tap into the power of the Internet. Do your research. There are some very excellent photography review websites that I rely on when considering new purchases—Digital Photography Review, fredmiranda.com, and Luminous Landscape have all been very helpful for me. Try checking out reviews on Amazon.com or searching and posting in the photo.net forums. At minimum, check out Flickr’s Camera Finder.

Make sure to ask very specific questions and to provide as much relevant information as possible. Simply asking “what camera should I get?” isn’t going to illicit a very valuable response if the person you are asking doesn’t know how much you want to spend, what you want out of a camera, how you are going to use a camera, and how you want to use your photos. Figure these things out and people will be much more helpful.

Bonus Tip. Maximize your investment.

Look at what you already have and look at what you will get.

After you know what you need and expect to get out of a camera, take stock of the lenses and accessories you already own as well as the additional things you plan to get. Then, try to find an camera that fits in with all of that equipment.

For instance, if you already have a lot of really nice Canon lenses, there’s a good chance that you’ll get the most bang for your buck out of buying a new Canon body. If you don’t have any lenses yet, it might be best to start with a cheaper or older body and put the extra money into buying some really decent lenses. Plus this gives you the freedom to consider the qualities and differences of various lens systems and pick the one that will best suit your needs.

All in all, you’ll be happiest with your purchase if you can spend some time really thinking about what you need and how you plan on using it—otherwise you are just buying an expensive toy.

Subscribe to Shifting Pixel

ƒ/1.4, 1/350 s, 100 ISO

This is a momentous occasion. With Sam’s help last night, I made my first cake. And it was from scratch. We haven’t tasted it yet because we finished frosting it at about 1 a.m., but to me it looks absolutely divine. Update: We tried the cake and it is awesome. Although, next time I think I would add some salt to the ganache and maybe use a higher quality chocolate that isn’t quite as sweet… We used Baker’s semi-sweet which is good, but it comes across in the ganache as maybe a little too sugary.

We made the Double Chocolate Layer Cake off of Epicurious because it had so many positive reviews. We figured that we couldn’t really go wrong.

Brewing Another Batch

Today, I’m going up to the cities visit my friend, Anthony Bayerl, and help him brew his first batch of beer. So, in a way this will be a weekend of firsts. He got his brewing kit for Christmas, so he’s pretty excited to get his first batch brewing. I’ll probably pick up some ingredients while I’m up there as well. Wish us luck!

And, be sure to check out Anthony’s music. He’s a good guy and has a lot of talent. Acoustic guitar + singing, so what’s not to like?

Have a great weekend!

Photo of the day

soviet roadside bus-stops – 03

Similar Posts:

• Empty beer bottles
• Anthony Bayerl
• Winterfest was a 29 beer blast
• a line in the brew foam
• Sufjan’s Strings
• Duo-Color Cake Decorator
• foamy brew
• Rob enjoying a Newcastle in Uptown
• Mark Mallman Pointing

ƒ/16.0, 1/200 s, 100 ISO

I had never seen taste buds so closely before. It’s really cool to see all of the little red dots in there.

Photo of the day

kreacion photoblog

Similar Posts:

• Window Frost III
• Springtime Leaves
• Fly
• Cabinets two and three
• Moon
• Coriander seeds
• Cloudy window
• untitled
• Screen printing on a blue t-shirt

ƒ/16.0, 1/200 s, 100 ISO

A slightly different take than yesterday’s shot, this time with a little more depth for some added interest.

As I mentioned in the comments yesterday, if you are a coffee drinker you should check out the movie called Black Gold—it’s about fair trade coffee.

Photo of the day

- – - – look-s – - – > – Suburb

Similar Posts:

• Coffee Seeds
• A Coffee Bean 3
• A Coffee Bean 1
• A Coffee Bean 2
• New “Coffee seeds” wallpaper
• Cappuccino
• Cappuccino 2
• Coriander seeds
• River Rock: Behind the counter

Minnesota Zoo ƒ/1.4, 1/250 s, 100 ISO

This tiger is also known as the Siberian, Korean, Manchurian, or North China Tiger and is currently classified as a critically endangered species.

The Tiger Lair on the Northern Trail at the Minnesota Zoo was my favorite part of the whole zoo because these two Amur Tigers came right up to the glass. I was crouched down for a photo and one of the tigers jumped up right in front of me and put its paws on the glass. It was quite intimidating. I waited around for a while and they started fighting… They were just playing, but it was really cool to watch.

Photo of the day

Flickr – Disjointed dog

Similar Posts:

• Grey nurse shark – Carcharias taurus
• Black Dog, Red Door
• Profile of Maisie’s goat
• Goat Eating Grass
• where’s the cake?