Articles

New website based on Orchard

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:59:21 GMT

My website is up again with a new facelift. Not only that, internally, it is now running on the brand new Orchard CMS system. At time of writing, Orchard is at version 1.2.4.1.

My original website was running on Asp.net WebForms. While not naturally a bad thing, it does take quite an effort to update/extend it. In other words, maintenance is a nightmare. MVC 3.0 is a welcome addition when it was introduced. I immediately sat down and tried to rewrite the whole site from scratch using MVC.

After a number of controllers and actions and writing endless CRUD functions, things started to get a bit tedious and boring. Then I found Orchard. Runs on MVC 3.0, takes care of all the boring back-end functionality, and I only need to add functionality specific to my needs and then Orchard stitches everything up together and run. Just what the doctor ordered.

Its all about Parts

The functionality of Orchard can be extended in various ways. One of them is through Parts, which is similar to a plugin/module. At the end of this website rewriting exercise, I ended up writing the following parts/modules to get all the functionalities I need on my website. I might share some of the challenges encountered while writing theses parts in later posts. Here’s the list :-

1. LotusImaging theme.

A dark minimalistic theme suited for photos/portfolio display. This theme also extends the main menu to include the icon (1) above the title (2) and a small caption (3) below it, with a little bit of jQuery animation script thrown in to spice things up.

2. Rahmat.Users.Profile Part

This part extends Orchard.Users module to allow users to specify a DisplayName (1) which will be shown instead of the basic username and also to support Facebook users connecting with their Facebook account. It also hooks into the Orchard.Comments to display the commenter’s DisplayName. The Facebook user’s fullname will be displayed, if the user logs in using their facebook account. It also depends on Contrib.Profile.

3. Rahmat.Avatar Part

A part responsible for displaying an avatar (1) on content items where ownership is valid, like a blog post, or comments. Currently supporting Gravatar and Facebook profile photo.

4. Rahmat.Facebook Part

A part to handle users logging in with their facebook account. It wraps around the Facebook C# sdk to provide communication with Facebook.

5. Rahmat.Facebook.Like Part

A simple attachable part to display Facebook Like social plug-in. The figure below shows the part in action when attached to the Blog Post content type.

6. Rahmat.Sitemap Part

A dynamic sitemap (breadcrumbs) part that is based on the Sitemap control that comes with Asp.net WebForms. Unlike the static sitemap control, this one is modified to work with the MVC routing system.

7. Rahmat.ViewCounter

A simple part that is attachable to any content item to track the number of times the content has been viewed (1).

8. Rahmat.Showcases Part

This one is a biggie. It took me the longest to write. This part is used in Portfolio and the Gallery section. It supports albums, photos, flipbooks, slideshows and allows visitors to submit comments to individual photos.

Conclusion

All in all, that is about 8 parts that I have to come up with, some simple and some not. With a lot of basic and the back-end functionality handled by the Orchard framework, it has made my life a lot easier. Still, developing for Orchard is not straight-forward and with a total lack of documentation in certain areas, I have to resort to reading the source codes to understand how the system works. Guess that is time worth spending.

Control your shutter

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 07:27:02 GMT

There is a shooting technique to get water to appear foamy and giving the effect of water movement as opposed to freezing it as the photo above shows. The secret involves in taking control of your camera’s shutter speed. The easiest way is to put your camera mode to shutter priority.

Waterfall. Olympus E-3 14mm ISO 100 1/10sec f14 Shutter Priority

Varying your camera’s shutter speed will give you different effects. For this technique to work, you will definitely need a good tripod, and in some cases, filters to block out more light coming into your camera’s sensor. The above photo was taken hand-held. Olympus built-in body image stabilizer helps to a certain extent but in this case, 1/10sec is my absolute limit without any kind of support.

The effects of varying your shutter speed is displayed in the following photos:-

Freezing the water movement. Olympus E-3 14mm ISO 100 1/250sec f2.8 Shutter Priority

At a rather fast shutter speed of 1/250sec, the water movement is frozen in time. You may even get a faster shutter speed by increasing your ISO speed setting to 200 or even 400.

Foam creation. Olympus E-3 14mm ISO 100 1/8sec f14 Shutter Priority

Dialing the shutter speed down to a slow 1/8sec, the water will start to get foamy. Note that at this speed, the aperture has been adjusted down to f14 to get the correct exposure.

Foam Creation Limit. Olympus E-3 ISO 100 f1/2sec f22 Shutter Priority

I reached the camera’s limit when I dialed down the shutter speed to 1/2sec as the aperture is now down to f22, which is the limit for Olympus 4/3 system.

You may reached a different limit depending on the scene’s lighting. You may even get another stop or two by using a filter or simply wait for the light to change.

All shots taken with Olympus E-3 with 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 lens, hand-held. I brought my tripod along, but didn’t use it as there are a lot of support around which can be used to steady the camera. Happy shooting.

Patterns in Nature

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 07:26:10 GMT

In our busy and hectic city life, we often failed to stop and look around at the wonders and beauty of nature. As I was up and early down at a beach in Desaru - Johor during one of our weekend getaway, I joined an already enthusiastic crowd of people who were there much earlier than me, armed with cameras and tripods, waiting to catch some spectacular sunrise, as the place is well-known for. The early morning sun is beginning to peek from behind some heavy clouds, casting beautiful golden light onto the scene when I caught these scenes down at my feet.

Intricate Patterns. Olympus E-3 14mm ISO 100 1/50sec f8.0 Aperture Priority

Nature's Art

The delicate patterns created by the water as it receded back into the sea is further defined by the low angle of the morning light, without which, these scenes would not be possible.

Olympus E-3 54mm ISO 100 1/160sec f6.3 Aperture Priority

Watery Sand Dunes. Olympus E-3 ISO 100 1/80sec f6.3 Aperture Priority

All shots taken with Olympus E-3 with 14-54mm 2.8-3.5 lens. Visit my showcase for more photos.

Sebana Cove Gold & Marina Resort - A little-known retreat close to home

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 07:25:23 GMT

Sebana Cove Marina resort is located about an hour’s drive from Singapore, along the same stretch of road a lot of Singaporeans are familiar with, leading to the famous Desaru beach in the eastern part of Johor. Quiet, peaceful and also easily assessable by ferry from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, Singapore, it provides a good weekend retreat from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Figure 1 . A view from the marina. Olympus E-1 28mm ISO 100 1/50sec f5.0 Aperture Priority.

I had a chance to spend one weekend there with my family and some friends and despite some reservations I had initially that it might be dull and boring, the time we spent there turned out to be quite enjoyable.

Figure 2 . Another view from the marina. Olympus E-1 27mm ISO 100 1/500sec f5.0.

Stop over and lunch at Nearby Desaru

We reached Desaru about noon, and everyone wants to have a few rounds on the go-cart. As for me, I saw the opportunity to try something I rarely had a chance to do with my camera… panning shots.

An absolute beginner in this technique, I tried a few shots, and before long, decided I still have a long way to go. Here’s a sample.

Figure 3 . Panning shot. Olympus E-1 42mm ISO 400 1/15sec f22 Shutter Priority.

Splashing Good Time

Check-in is at 3pm and after that it’s splashing good time at the pool. I was exhausted after the swimming, or rather splashing session, so all plans for an evening stroll around the area with my camera was hastily scrapped.

Well, Sebana Cove resort is not a place abundant with activities. Not much you can do when night falls. A boat trip down the river to watch fireflies is available, but I only knew about it the next morning. It would be exciting to see how the boatman finds his way down the river in total darkness! Well, maybe they have the fireflies to guide them!!!

Boat House Tavern

The main dining area overlooking the marina and swimming pool is where we had our dinner. A sumptuous barbeque buffet dinner. A special note of thanks has to be extended to our gracious ‘host’ for the wonderful dinner.

Figure 4 . Dinner at Boat House Tavern. Olympus E-1 14mm ISO 800 1/15sec f3.5.

The grilled steak deserves special mention. It is my favourite for the night. Loved the tender meat and dripping juicy slices of fats… sounds sinful nothing else comes close.

Morning Has Broken

Morning comes and I was up and out before dawn. Something I tried to do every time I travel or stayed in a new place. This time of day provides good photographic opportunities and the morning at Sebana Cove is no exception.

Figure 5 . Swimming Pool. Olympus E-1 14mm ISO 100 1/20sec f5.6.

As usual, comments are welcomed. All photos taken with Olympus E-1, 14-42mm f3.5-f5.6.

What’s good :

Peaceful, quiet and natural surroundings.
Beautiful sceneries at the marina provides good backdrop for wedding / honeymoon photography.
Close to home and only a couple hours drive at the most.
Good accommodation and facilities.
Great food.
Only a few minutes drive to Desaru beach.

What’s not :

Slightly pricey. (However, they do have some good promotions occasionally. Do check their website for details.)
May be too quiet/boring for some, especially at night. Honeymooning couples might not complain.