By default, Nikon D90 has 6 picture controls (Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait and Landscape) installed and these controls endow distinct feelings to photos by changing the setting of saturation, contrast, color hue and sharpness etc. The result of these default picture controls are usually satisfying, however, if you have a different preference other than the default, it is possible to create a custom picture control via the camera or via the Nikon ViewNX program. You can even minic the legendary Fuij S5 Pro color in NIKON DSLR.
Create your own picture control using Nikon ViewNX The software should come with the camera, if you lost the CD, you can also download ViewNX for free from Nikon's website.
After installation, run ViewNX and click on 'Quick Adjustment' tab on the left bottom of the program. Step 1: Click on Launch Utility to activate the Picture Control Utility Step 2: Select a stored Picture Control. Select a predefined picture control as a template for your modification; vivid is a good start if you like a highly saturated photo. Step 3: Click on 'New' button on the right Step 4: Rename your Picture Control then press OK button. You can find a new picture control is created in the Stored Picture Controls list.
To modify the Picture Control to meet your need: Step 1: You can adjust all parameters in 'Level Adjustment' the way you like; to adjust Curve, select 'Use Custom Curve' to enable the custom curve control. Step 2 (optional): Load Custom Curves. You can also download custom curve files (*.ntc) from PC1, PC2,PC3, PC4. Step 3 (optional): Select downloaded curve files Step 4: Press 'Overwrite' button to save your modifications.
Now you can edit photos with your own picture controls by selecting a specific picture control in 'Quick Adjustment' tab of the ViewNX.
Upload Picture Controls to Camera Except for 6 default picture controls, there are 9 extra spaces in Nikon D90 that allow users to upload custom picture controls to the camera. To do that first plug in your SDHC card to PC via USB. Open the Picture Control Utility window and select the picture control you want to export as step 1. Step 2: Select a number then press 'OK'.
The program creates 2 folders in your SDHC card which are NIKON/CUSTOMPC and the custom picture control file is sent as PICCON01.NCP to the CUSTOMPC folder. The number of the NCP file is coresponding to the No. you select when exporting.
Plug in your SDHC card back to the camera and press the MENU button. Select SHOOTING MENU...
Foreigners who can speak Mandarin fluently are often times treated as a rare breed in Taiwan. They are the minority among the outsiders, as a result, speaking English to foreigners is a response reflection and no matter how good their Mandarin is or how hard they try to communicate in Mandarin, most of the time conversations are spoken in English when they are around. It's a very interesting phenomenon in Taiwan and it's also a frustrating experience and a constant reminder of being an outsider for the foreigners. So why do Taiwanese like to speak English to foreigners even if they can speak Mandarin fluently and why do foreigners prefer, sometimes insist, to speak Mandarin to Taiwanese if they are able to? Except for the reasons mentioned above, it would be interesting to make a poll to see the reasons behind the phenomenon but I don't think there is enough traffic from my blog to make a valid poll but here are a few theories I have:
To show off/to boost self-esteem Except for business or attending English classes, there is not much chance for Taiwanese to speak English in their daily life. It's a once in a blue moon opportunity to bump into a foreigner who will actually have a conversation with them, and it's a great time to make an impression to their freinds, family, colleagues and also the foreigner they are speaking to. Do foreigners try to make such an impression by speaking Mandarin in a conversation? I'll say some of them need that kind of recognition, not as much as Taiwanese though. Afterall, they don't have be to able to master Mandarin to get sincere yet nearly "insulting" comments like "your chinese is great" even if they can only order dumpling in Mandarin without making the restaurant confused with sleeping.
A great practicing opportunity Practice, practice and practice is the only way to master a language. One of the reasons that my blog is written in English is to practice my English writting skill; just like many foreigners who study Chinese in Taiwan have a Chinese blog. It's a logical assumption that both Taiwanese and foreigners speak a foreign language in a conversation to practice their speaking skills. As the English speaking Taiwanese outnumber Mandarin speaking foreigners, English is usually the default language used.
To blend in Foreigners who study Chinese in Taiwan wish to blend in to the culture by speaking Mandarin; a shortcut to be recognized by the locals. On the other hand, Taiwanese speak English to minimize a possible intimidation built up with language barrier creating an atmosphere to feel free to speak.
You aren't really that good Even if foreigners can speak Mandarin fluently, there are times when conversations get too serious for them to handle, sometimes, it just can't be translated. Once the language switching is made, the impression of 'they aren't really that good' makes the conversation stay in English.
I bought an Amazon Kindle (6 inch display , global wireless)and paid USD$26.97 for international priority shipping via UPS. According to the shipping and delivery condition on Amazon, I should get my kindle within 2-4 business days. It was the 3rd day after my purchase, I got one missed call alert on my cellular phone showing that the time of the call was 17:30. I didn't pay attention to it as I didn't recognize the number and the next day I got a call from the same number at the same time. I picked it up this time, it was UPS calling for a copy of my ID, a signed declaration that declared that the kindle I bought would not be used for other purposes but private use and an authorization that designated UPS to pick up the kindle on my behalf. I was skeptical about the request, what's it all about? Was the National Communications Commission (NCC) in Taiwan worried that the built-in global wireless feature in kindle might cause some kinds of national communication crisis when falling into the wrong hands? I faxed the documents to UPS but it was too late to send the documents to NCC after 17:00. It was Friday night and I ended up having to wait for another 5 days to get my kindle.
What I don't understand is that the UPS is designated for kindle shipping internationally by Amazon, since I was not the first one who purchased kindle in Taiwan UPS must have known the rules in Taiwan but the documents required by the Customs weren't mentioned while purchasing. Moreover, UPS called the consignee to prepare documents after 17:00 which made it impossible to send the documents to NCC for reviewing on the same day, so exactly how did they expect to deliver a kindle to a consignee in Taiwan within 2-4 business days?
The firmware of my kindle is version 2.3 which can now display PDF natively, however, I can't change the font size in PDF format nor can I enable text to read feature. The unchangable font size is a big problem as a PDF file in a 6 inch display is too small to read. I tried to convert the file via Amazon kindle personal documents service system that converts documents to kindle compatible files without extra charge.I sent a PDF to my kindle account: hanjie@kindle.com, and right away I got the file in my kindle with a notice telling me that I have been charged USD$1.98 for a wireless delivery, and the delivered file still in PDF format! It turns out that the free wireless delivery only applies in the USA, since PDF files are a native format in kindle, the system will not convert a PDF to AZW which is the Amazon Kindle ebook format. There is a way to make sure the file you sent is converted and send back to your email without extra charge: type "Convert" in the subject of the e-mail when you submit your personal document to username@free.kindle.com.
I've learned the hard way, if you ever want to order a kindle in Taiwan, make sure you have all documents prepared before UPS calls you.
The national Ba Jia Jiang and Guan Jiang Shou competition has been held in Ci Feng Gong (39, Zhong Shan Rd, Pingtung City, a 5 minutes walking distance from the Pingtung train station) for 6 years in a row. I didn't know the difference between Ba Jia Jiang and Guan Jiang Shou so I used to ignore the term " Guan Jiang Shou" and unified the two as Ba Jia Jiang, unitl now.
Ba Jia Jiang八家將 You can see these dancers in almost every temple ceremony in Taiwan. There are at least 5 theories for the origination of these dancers. Despite the diversity of origination theories, many people are convinced that these dancers are subordinates of Wu Fu Da Di (the five deities of plague whose job is to evict plagues from the living); leading the way for their master on an inspection tour. The number of the group varies from 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 up to 32. Traditionally, there are eight of them doing their special dance in folk activities, usually involving some deities' birthday.
Generals Gan, Liu, Fan and Xie, the main characters in this eight-person group, whose responsitilities are executing arrests and punishments. General Gan's makeup has an octupus-shaped eye and general Liu has red and black dual-colors painted on his face. Gan and Liu are responsible for executing punishments. General Fan, dresses in black with his face painted in black and eyes in white; general Xie, on the contrary, dresses in white with a black bat symbol painted on his white face, and has a long tongue sticking out. Arrestting is their job. The other 4 characters are seasonal deities, spring, summer, autumn, and winter having dragon, bird, tiger and turtle symbols painted on their faces respectively. Their responsibilities in the group are investigation and inquiry.
A team of 13 is a better number to organize such a performance. It starts when the deity gives a direct order to a subordinate and then this order is passed on to general Fan and Xie by a messenger. General Fan and Xie arrest and hand over the criminals to general Gan and Liu for punishment. After that, 4 seasonal deities start their investigation then a clerk files the record and a guard puts the criminals in custody. Once the team has their makeup done, they are not allowed to eat meat, and should project an air of dignity. Moreover, when the performance has started, it is forbidden to cut through the group, especially for women.
Nowadays, it is difficult to distinguish each individual from their costume, makeup, and dancing. The meaning of this unique religious ritual has been distorted and varies from group to group.
Guan Jiang Shou 官將首 Literally, Guan Jiang Shou means chief of senior officers. There are 4 major theories about the origination of the characters in Guan Jiang Shou and they all end up to one legend: Guan Jiang Shou are subordinates of Ksitigarbha (Di Cang Wang), the god of hell, they were 2 demons subdued by Ksitigarbha and have become his guards. The 2 generals can see through good and evil qualities in people, general Zeng (增) has the power of giving extra lifespan to good people and general Sun (損) can take away lifespan of bad guys. They are the chief of senior officers leading the way and casting away any obstacles for their master on an inspection tour.
To make the dance better looking, general Zeng was duplicated and a team of 3 is the most common composition of Guan Jian Shou. The signatures of Guan Jiang Shou are long, sharp, protruding teeth, thick and long eyebrows and extravagant capes. The facial paintings are red and green basis, white lines creating a fire pattern with their forehead, nose and chin gilded. There are 2 styles you can find: 2 general Zeng are painted red (sometime, one of them is painted blue) standing on the 2 sides of the group holding handcuffs and tablets of fire and general Sun is painted green standing in the middle holding a trident and a flag of order. The second version is that general Zeng is painted green standing in the middle of the group holding a trident and a flag of order while the duplicated general Zeng is painted red standing on the right side of the group holding a tablet of fire and handcuffs and general Sun (painted red) on the left holding a tiger tablet and handcuffs.
The Guan Jiang Shou dance is more of a marshall type style compare to Ba Jia Jiang, which is softer. A signature difference can be found in the facial expressions of the dancers with the Guan Jiang Shou making fierce and angry poses.
The Tainan Holland day has become one of the annual routine activities held in Tainan. I participated in the event last year, it was eye opening to see how traditional Holland wooden shoes were made from a piece of wood by master Martin Dijkman and those tasty Holland snacks were a delightful treat. This year, I looked forward to participating in the festival with high expectation, however, it gave me a déja vu when I walked into the tree house. The setting of the venue was almost the same as last year: a tent for Mr. Martin to make shoes and next to it was a souvenir shop; food stalls on the other side of the game area and the sjoelen game at the back against the building. Despite the fact that the event of this year was in association with the Siraya National Scenic Area Administration, it seemed to me they were just there to give away pamphlets, I couldn't see any interactions and the reason why Siraya was included in the Holland day puzzled me until I read the letter from Menno Goedhart, the representative of The Netherlands, "The Siraya tribe had many interactions with the Dutch in the 17th century. In fact the Siraya were the first Taiwanese meeting the Dutch." Even though special puppet shows, photo sessions for everyone in traditional Dutch clothes and Miffy, etc. were staged on the other side of expanded tree house this year, call me greedy, but I was expecting something more from the festival.
I actually love the idea of separating the event into 2 weekends: the Holland bike tour (Oct.17-18) and Garden party (Oct. 24-25). The route for bike tour connected the major Dutch historical sites and Taiwanese temples in and around Tainan City, a great way for a mixed cultural feast (go to iTainan for the routes on google map). However, the information for such event wasn't announced to the public until Oct. 15th at 13:52:17, first posted on Tainan city Government website, and the information regarding the possibility of bike rental was absent. There was no propaganda about the event elsewhere even though the official website was built before Oct. 15th.
Tainan and Holland not only shared common histories at some points but also their city features: the canal systems. It seems a great place to hold the Tainan Holland day along 2 sides of the canal where visitors can circumnavigate the venue which can dilute the crowd. Most of the canal sections have space that is big enough to accommondate all activities that represent Holland such as the Queen's Birthday section for all kinds of orange accessories; a section for master Martin wooden shoes making; the Cheese Market, Alkmaar, where men making trade in a traditional way; traditional food sections; A windmill surounded by tulips; Jazz festival; Maastricht Carnival and a cruise on the canal for those who are looking for a different perspective of the event, etc. A full Holland experience can be had if they choose to expand in the future, the canal area would be a great place.
I guess most weekends have something like this in Tainan but today was much bigger! Today actually is Halloween in North America (Oct. 31st), the day for spirits to run around; here in Tainan, 12 hours ahead, we have a temple parade all the Gods come out and go down the street. A nice coincidence having spirits moving around the world.
Now you can edit photos with your own picture controls by selecting a specific picture control in 'Quick Adjustment' tab of the ViewNX.
The program creates 2 folders in your SDHC card which are NIKON/CUSTOMPC and the custom picture control file is sent as PICCON01.NCP to the CUSTOMPC folder. The number of the NCP file is coresponding to the No. you select when exporting.
To set Picture Control:
The photos will be recorded as Vivid-01 style.
