Buy all of your friends a digital camera for Christmas, why don’t you? Just head on over to Walgreens and pick up a bunch for $10 each. They’re similar to this POS, but the new ones now have a video function.
How long can it record, you ask? “Several seconds.”
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Not recommended, unless you can get a $10 instant rebate.
First of all, wait for all the stuff to clear out. Like what? How about Darth Vader-ish sculptures or a Victory Garden with an extended lease?
Then, you just have to straighten out the flagpoles on both sides so that they’re parallel, if you want. This photo here at sfgov.org shows a little distortion if you look for it.
Here’s an attempt to portray parallel lines as parallel, the way they actually are in real life (more or less). This is the analog approach, which isn’t perfect.
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Or, you can do it in Photoshop with or without a plug-in like PTLens. You can do a more perfect job, but sometimes you end up with an artificial look.
Or, backing away from the building helps a bit, as shown here.
Or, you can just not worry about it.
No biggee.
You can thank the New Deal for the Coit Tower Murals on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. The Marriott hotel chain thinks these images are worth a look, so check them out next time you’re in the area.
Worthy of note is this section from Coit Tower’s first floor shown below. Click to expand:
See how respectful everybody is of the paparazzi (Italian for “photojournalists”) rushing in avec tripod to make a little money off tragedy? That’s quite different from these days, when you can get Bjorked for simply saying hello.
Nowadays, if you point a camera at Seal (Mr. Heidi Klum) and try to greet him, he might ask why he would “shake hands with scum.” Ouch.
And whatever you do, don’t try snapping photos of Matthew McConaughey while he surfs down in Malibu. Cause the Malibu Pump House Gang just might mass up and take you out. (And let’s not even talk about Barbra Streisand’s place down there. By all means, shutterbugs, stay out of Malibu!)
Old Matt McC. must really hate the paps, as he cameo’ed in the dreadful Mel Gibson movie Paparazzi (directed by Mel’s hairstylist from Lethal Weapon!) back in ought-four. In fact, lots of stars must hate the paps, given the large number of famous people who appeared in this “amazingly arrogant, immoral film.”
But some of the less famous actually dream about being followed around by a paparazzo. So much so, that they even pay for the privilege. And you can do it also now that Celeb For A Day has a San Francisco office. It’s only $500 for half hour of snapping, so sign up today and bring back the happy times when everybody got along with the paparazzi. Hurray!