Treasure Chest
Time to Update MCH ... Again
Written by Tuesday, 31 August 2004 00:00
Following our article What Should A Fishy Site Look Like we thought of sharing the process which finally makes our monthly updates possible with you. After reading it you may reach the conclusion that this is far more complicated than you ever thought - and you will be right. However, it is our love for this hobby and the satisfaction that we get from your comments that make it possible. The whole process can be divided in two different parts. The first part which takes place all over the world (creation and collection of data) and the second part which takes place in my small office (formation of MCH webpages).
The first part has to do with many of our visitors as well as Frank and Francesco who live in different countries. Moreover, there is a lot of input from some Greek friends, mainly Andreas and Johnny who are also an integrated part of MCH. Usually this starts with an e-mail with a nice photograph attached to it, a tank to be considered for our Gallery, some comments or even the draft of an article. All those e-mails are classified in a separate folder (named "mch") and will stay there until the contents have been processed and uploaded. This makes our work a bit easier since we know at a glance how many pending matters we have to deal with. It should be noted that Francesco, Frank and Andreas send their work in a "ready to use" form - html pages. Johnny just comes in my office with his CD !!
Frank is - usually - the technically perfect guy! His input is already aligned, centered, sharpened, checked and in the right format, ready to be added on MCH. His comments are as follows:
"How are the Belgian updates done? Well, it surely is less work for me than it is for George, who has to put all the MCH pages together at the end of every month and also has to write his own update. Nevertheless I’m taking things seriously, so I can deliver a decent update every 3 months.
The hardware: The central piece in the whole is of course the PC. For many years I worked on a Compaq Presario 4620 that I bought in 1998 (Intel PII-266Mhz, 4GbHDD, and 48Mb Ram) which was upgraded in 1999 (256Mb Ram + Win98). In 2001 the internet part was greatly improved when I got cable internet, but still the system lacked punch and suffered from a dreadful long start-up time and nasty crashes, better known as BSOD. In 2003 I finally got tired of it and I replaced my “old faithful” with a much faster computer (AMD Athlon XP1700, 80Gb HDD, 768Mb Ram and WinXP) By today’s standards this still is a fairly modest system, but it has all modern connection goodies like high-speed USB2 and IEEE-1394 (firewire) and it surely is fast enough for my needs. Also after 3 years of use, the high speed cable internet still remains indispensable for article and photo uploads and fast web browsing. Just recently I bought an external HDD for back-ups, and I also want a new monitor soon, as I’m still using the fuzzy old 17” Compaq. I’m even thinking of a dual monitor set-up for comfortable photo editing.
A key element in MCH are photo’s. In the beginning they were made with a 35mm SLR and the prints were scanned. This took up a lot of time and good results were not always guaranteed. This completely changed when I got a Fujifilm 4900Zoom digital camera. Taking photo’s and being able to view them on the computer directly after was a real revelation. Still I was not completely satisfied. The extrapolated 4Mpixel resolution was OK, but the slow AF speed, the long write times in high resolution modus and the annoying shutter lag caused many failures in capturing the exact moment. In short, out of 10 “action” moments I was only able to capture one, and of these pictures only 1 of 5 came out with an acceptable quality, what resulted in only 1 in 50 pictures usable for MCH. Also the horribly short battery life was very frustrating All these troubles came to an end when I bought the Nikon D70 D-SLR in March 2004 though. This was an equally large step forward as going for 35mm to P&S digital, as the D70 combines speed and versatility with a very good image quality. Now this camera is taken to each fishy occasion and it never lets me down! I’m also gathering info on shooting techniques to be able to make even better pictures.
I rarely do video, but I sometimes use a Sony DCR-TRV9 that we bought in 1998. It is OK for shooting short clips. I don’t like the flat colours that this camera produces though They always look 3 times better on the LCD screen than on my computer. I guess I should buy a newer model with improved picture quality to get better results, but I don’t want to spend more money and time on it.
How I work: It all starts with fishy experiences like new additions, breeding of certain species, various events inside and outside the cichlid tank, DIY projects, visits, MCH meetings and other inspiring activities. Usually I have my camera within reach, so a good amount of images are shot. Sometimes I’m not happy with the first ones so when it’s possible I will shoot new pictures. Also with a Do It Yourself project pictures are made during the assembly to show all the steps so the reader will get a good idea of how things are done.
Then I begin writing. Getting started is always the hardest part. Usually when I can’t find the right wording or inspiration, I close the document and I will surf the web and look at photographical forums. After a while, or even the next day I will start writing again, what’s usually more successful. A deadline is really essential for me to perform well though, but when I’m really in form I can spend a lot of time in front of the computer, much to the annoyance of my wife Hilde by the way. I also write all my articles directly in English, but as this is a foreign language for me, I sometimes need to fall back on a good dictionary. Luckily I have a digital one on my computer that’s easy to use and also has many suggestions how to use expressions and sayings correctly.
Editing photos and writing goes hand in hand. I will look at the available pictures, and when I like a certain one, it will be edited. I always shoot RAW with the Nikon D70, so I open the NEF picture in Nikon Editor where I adjust contrast, exposure, white balance and sharpness. Then I resize the picture and when there are disturbing elements I do a crop. This program came for free with the D70, and I’m still amazed how far a picture can be adjusted without visible quality loss. I still consider to purchase the much praised Adobe Photoshop to enhance the quality of my pictures even more.
When the article is ready, I usually open it in Internet explorer and start reading the text again to search for faults in the grammar. I also perform a spell check. When I am satisfied with the result, I save the final result in my MCH folders and then it will be sent to George through the email. Then George adds all the items to MCH and uploads the articles and changes to older articles to the server at the end of every month."
Francesco is the only guy who is always well ahead of his time schedule and sends his work in long before the deadlines. With his son, Leonardo, getting hold of a continuously larger amount of his free time, this is really surprising! Due to his long time absence from Italy (he is currently working in Brazil) his comments will be added in due time. However, I can hear him saying "We will be ON time. Period!"
Andreas is more "loaded" with duties since he had to translate MCH in Greek (it took him more than a year, working more than 5 hours on it on a daily basis). More than that, he is also a field guy taking a great deal of the underwater photos you can see in this site, especially photos of Mediterranean marine fishes. Well, let's hear his story:
"During these five years I have been working with the MCH team, I have organized a specific way for my contribution. My part is based upon love for the hobby, respect for the aquatic organisms and a number of practical things that make my side of the whole project handy. On the other hand is is also a gentle "competition" between the members of the MCH team, which is rather fun than a real contest; a helpful and pleasant fact that helps us to finish time and energy consuming projects. Due to the fact that recently my “field” is the Mediterranean Sea, some special additions have become integral ingredients.
The recipe is as follows:
- References, represented by as many books, CDs and other pictorial media available
- Past experiences related to fish keeping
- Information exchanged with aquarists, hobbyists and scientists in the field
- A notebook and a good deal of memory
- A diving suit with all the appropriate accessories (flaps, weight belt, mask and snorkel, diving knife, a pair of diving gloves) and finally
- An underwater digital, which is a recent acquisition, but proved very important for my “missions”
As long as I was involved in fish kept in captivity issues, there were not many radical changes in my everyday life, but observing aquatic life in situ is another thing. My physical condition (being a forty year old, long time smoker without any physical training program), was a real drawback. Some reliable articles written in magazines dealing with free diving, many suggestions by John Reclos (who is taking free diving courses) and lot of hours in the water "balanced" things a bit. So I have started consuming cereals, decreased the number of cigarettes and getting to the sea as often as possible.
But let us get into the point and the point is how I prepare my daily program since this is the basis for everything.
First, I determine the target of the day. For instance, if I decide to observe and photograph weavers and lizardfishes, I prepare myself for a two hour stay in the water and approximately nine minutes underwater (maximum), which will probably give me about twenty photos, if I am in a good day and if my “models” are willing to help me a little. The next step is to choose the location with the specific environment in which these animals occur. Of course if I can choose shallower waters this is the best option, but I must ensure you that this is not always an option (unfortunately, I must add).
Synodus saurus in its natural biotope, which is a sandy area at about 5 m of depth
The preparation always starts the day before by checking if my batteries are fully charged and I always take care to have both my sets charged. During the ten minutes I need to put my diving suit on, make the last checks (like cleaning the lenses and ensure the watertight condition of the camera case) etc. I try to remain calm, breath loosely and empty my mind from any irrelevant or unpleasant thoughts. Additionally, I am checking some marks I have already in mind. These marks are characteristic of the locations in which the targets of the day have been observed during previous dives. This helps me to avoid wasting invaluable energy while searching large areas and / or swimming for a long time till I find the animals desired.
When I reach a certain location, I try to pick the animals which are easiest to reach first. This is done in order to have the opportunity to make interesting observations and take as many photos as possible. I shall not analyze the practical part of the dives here, as this is not relevant.
After this part is accomplished another important part takes place. First, I have to download the photos from the camera to the PC. When this is done, I have to check which photos are of an acceptable quality – always keeping in mind the quality we desire for this website – and are worthy to be included in an article or a report. So I have to create folders, name the photos in a convenient way and store them on CDs as backup data, waiting for the right time and issue. Sometimes, some organisms need to be identified, so I have two ways to go. Either I search the web or I ask help from other MCH qualified contributors. This information is then incorporated with the text that will accompany the photos and the observations.
After all these steps have been done, a race starts between George (the webmaster and “fishy” associate) and me, since we always try to do our best during the preparation of the "update". During the whole month before the deadline, a lot of e-mails are exchanged between us. The first text is sent back and forth for corrections and additions and this goes on and on till the very last hour before uploading, ensuring that everything is in position, the text is properly edited and the right title follows the right photo. Sometimes we ever send the "finished" article to other contributors for an independent opinion. Before this stuff is finally uploaded some last checks are done and the links / references are added.
The correspondence with other aquarists, hobbyist and scientists is very important and keeping notes is very helpful for a future project. Many articles are waiting for months "on the shelf". During this time they are improved and thoroughly checked again and again till they take their final shape. Hundreds – or even thousands – of photos are stored waiting for the appropriate article to get online. Due to the fact that each members of the MCH team is responsible for the update once every three months, the whole procedure lasts just a little less than ninety days.
All these things which I described here are not enough – in my humble opinion – to give you an idea of the amount of work that has to be done, but the final result you get on a monthly basis is our pay off and we love it. The appreciation we have gained from our visitors and the e-mail messages we receive daily, either as personal requests or as questions and commented addressed to the whole MCH team give us the strength and the desire to keep going.
We hope that you enjoy browsing these pages, which we prepare with love, care and respect for our hobby, the captive kept organisms and the aquatic creatures we meet in the wild."
Johnny actually joined forces with MCH a year ago. Since he is still too young (aged 15 years) he is not a full time - absolutely dedicated MCH guy but he is really close to becoming one. He is the main source of photos of new species (you can ask any large petshop in Athens and most meetings in Europe), as well as my usual co-author. Moreover, during the last couple of months he is responsible for the video clips you see presented in MCH as well as the Mediterranean section (working with Andreas).
After the information is collected and the article(s) are prepared they all come to my computer (usually as an e-mail attachment but in some cases also on CD or even DVD). Then we need to organize the information in an easy to retrieve way. Sometimes we may have to ask our contributors for a larger photo or more information.. it is always nice to see people working together, sharing the same interests!
All photos are arranged in a large directory waiting to be processed. This may take as long as three months - normally we wait long enough to make sure that we will not get a better photo of the same fish or tank. On average there are more than 1500 photos in that directory at any given moment from which we select the 30-100 which will be used for every update. The rest are copied on a DVD to make space for new photos. We currently have 50 CDs and 6 DVDs with photos! The selected photos are placed in another directory and wait to be used either in the coming update or in a future article.
The photos, articles and comments are also classified in other directories bearing the name of the contributor to make sure that we know who is to be credited.
When all the pixels are in place it is time to create the final picture - MCH webpages. Sometimes (very rarely I must add) we are well ahead of time so we may process articles which will appear in future updates and not the first one due. However, most of the time we have to run to meet the deadlines.
Update 01/2005: The equipment used gets upgraded at least once each year to keep up with the increasing complexity and size of the site. As you can see in the photo above, if we keep on at the current pace, soon I will have to find a new office. This one is already crammed with MCH things. In short: [1] my assistant (Johnny) took this photo while I was telling him which species we are going to upload during this update (July 2004). [2] My new toy, a Nikon D70 (digital camera) always ready to take action. [3] An HP laser printed since we need to make hardcopies of many things, catalogs of messages to be used, list of directories and labels for the MCH CD we produce every month. [4] Perhaps the "heart" of my system. A 21" Samsung SyncMaster 213T LCD monitor, which was a really great improvement - compared to my previous 19" LCD monitor. [5] My old HP Photosmart 912, a digital camera which is mainly used to take screenshots, or photos of diagrams from various sources. The small final size of the files is a great plus for this kind of work. [6] An ADSL modem, absolutely essential since the MCH monthly updates have become larger than 35 MB on average which would take many hours to be uploaded with a slower connection. [7] An external DVD writer used to make copies of MCH after each update. Our site is larger than 900 MB at the moment so no CD can take it. This process assures us that if something goes wrong with our server, all we will lose is the last update. [8] A custom made P4 3.2 GHz Extreme Edition PC with 2 GB of RAM and two Hard drives with 120 GB capacity each. An external hard drive (160 GB) is seen between the monitor and the printer and is used as an additional safety feature. MCH is transferred to it on the 15th day of each month thus reducing the amount of possible losses to 15 days. [9] A card reader. With 4 different digital cameras in use, I would need 4 different USB slots and one piece of software for each camera. Now I just use one slot and no software apart from Windows XP for transferring the photos. [10] An HP scanner. Rarely used now since we don't use film very often it is still handy and easy to operate when needed. [11] Extension tubes, fisheye adapters, step up rings are always needed, especially since we have lenses with different filter threads. [12] My underwater Canon camera. [13] A small wonder. The HiT 630 PL photo printer - if you ever come across one, get it. Digital photos become as good as the regular printouts you get from the lab. [14] The lens I work most with. The Tamron 180mm f/3.5, one of the best macro lenses I have ever used. [15] During an update like this, in which more than 25 new species [ note: referring to the June 2004 update which included 25 new Mediterranean species ] are to be uploaded, we need to make sure that the right scientific names are used. Each photo is checked again with our Identification Guides and then added in the text. Sometimes we may even call some experts for help (I am sure Peter will recognize himself here). [16] Many books of general and specific aquarist interest are always handy. We prefer to skip a photo than present it with the wrong name. If you are curious about the time I spend on MCH, I will tell you this ranges from 1 hour daily (when it is someone else's turn to submit articles) to 3 hours daily when it is my turn. As an example, this article started in early June 2004 and will probably go online in the end of August. There are at least two more articles which are on their way, too. As for software, apart from Windows XP and Office 2003 (including FrontPage 2003), we use Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Elements, MS Digital Image Suite 9, JASC Paint Shop Photo Album, Neat Image and FTP LE.
When all the elements of an article are in place, the time has come to incorporate them into MCH. This is how it all starts. An empty page with the MCH template in place. After a while it will become one more MCH page, like the one you are looking at!
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