50ft Under Attack (Updated)
It has been brought to my attention that 50ft’s wordpress installation has been compromised and some readers are being forwarded to annoying virus protection sites and equally annoying other sites. If this happens to you at any point browsing the site PLEASE send me an email john(at)twistedsun.net to let me know. I found a bunch of malicious code in my database and cleaned it out but something is apparently still lingering. This is affecting some users sometimes but not all the time. Im not sure if its on any browser or just select ones.
I know very little about such things and I am doing all I can to track down the problem so if you have any suggestions or have any troubles let me know. I am sorry for the mess, it is really really frustrating that hackers would exploit simple wordpress pages for their own gain… Thanks for understanding and bearing with me as I get through the issues at hand.
UPDATE: Things are under control now as far as I know, I have cleared out nearly every file in the site and replaced them as well as cleaning out my database of all hacked code. Took some time to find it all but it seems to be taken care of and more security has been put in place to prevent future incidents.
I am so very sorry to anyone effected by this, the reason for it happening, turns out, was a server venerability where hundreds of wordpress users on my server were effected. I will be keeping a close eye on measures they take to prevent it from happening again. I can’y have my readers at risk because of that!
Thanks for everyones help with the matter, it was greatly appreciated.
One Shot/Note
Quick note as well, while I am writing a post here. I have noticed a huge increase in traffic lately here to the site and its motivated me to pick up my plans to refresh the design of the site as well as introduce a few refinements on how things flow so I can build for a better future here on the site. I have the design mostly done, just needs some tweaking then coding it into place so wish me luck with that. Hopefully I can get things in place over the next couple of weeks for that and launch sometime next month. I just wanted to make note of that upcoming transition because I am pretty excited about it. In the mean time, I have plenty of nice wallpapers lined up for release and I will do my best to keep them coming in the coming weeks as work starts to pick up during the spring rush. I also have a new music post coming which will include a Spring music mix for everyone, something I would like to turn into a monthly or seasonally available thing. At any rate, thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!
iPad/iPhone Wallpapers & Hi-Res
As some of you may have already read I recently started contemplating upping the resolution of my desktop images here on 50ft and after a number of really helpful comments I have decided to do just that and from here on out desktop wallpapers will be released at a 2560×1600 resolution for all you big screen users out there. For the most part, unless your crazy enough to chose a “stretch image to fit screen” option, the aspect ratio should crop naturally to fit all smaller screens out there as well. Also within this change I figured I should go all out and start making two other resolutions available in each zip download as well which are image files for the iPad and iPod Touch/ iPhone.
When researching resolutions and approach to making these two new versions for each desktop I realized that it can get a bit tricky cropping the vision originally had when composing my photos into these new aspect ratios. With the phone/touch I have to rethink the orientation of the image and make it available in a portrait crop and also be mindful of where the clock and slide to unlock bars sit on the screen so I can do my best not to cover up any important aspect of the image with these black bars.
Then, there was the even more complicated task of trying to decide on how to crop images for the iPad home screen which was especially tricky at first because I realized that as the device rotates the orientation changes so its not as simple as having one simply 1024×768 image. They must be cropped at 1024×1024 in order to be scalable to both horizontal OR vertical dimensions and I have to be aware of how the image will look in both positions and attempt to frame the composition to work both ways and make sure nothing too important gets totally cut off in the rotation. Whew.
So what I have done is create a simple photoshop file where I have one semi transparent layer that represents the two different orientations and the square space in the middle that will appear in either rotated state. I simply crop an image down to where I think it will work the best and then drag this layer from that file over to see how it will frame in either orientation. I have also done the same for the iPhone and its black bars composition blockers.
Of course, the iPad resolution and thought process is all but speculation until I get my hands on one or someone confirms this idea for me. PLEASE write and let me know if I am totally wrong in my assumptions here 
I think that these transparency files could easily benefit others out there who wish to make iPad wallpapers and have them function as well as they possibly can in this new morphing wallpaper world so I have put the iPad and iPhone photoshop file transparencies together in a zip for anyone who wants to play around with what I have been talking about here. You can get that zip by clicking here.
Resolution
Ok everyone, its been a few years since I have upped the resolution of my desktop images and I think that it may be time to jump in and commit to posting higer resolution desktops in the future. I realize that screens can get pretty big these days and my only reservation in the past was giving out images that are getting to the point where you could make fair size prints of them but I have held out long enough I think and it may be time to change the crop size setting in photoshop to something bigger.
So, that said, what should the new resolution be? maybe the resolution of the current 27“ imac? I would offer multiple resolutions but I simply don’t have the time to make multiple versions and lager images scale down to smaller screens anyway so thats not really an issue. If you have an opinion, now is the time to jump in and say it.
Also, if there are specific desktops you would like to see at a higher resolution go ahead and leave a note in the comments below and with time I will go back through and update some of the more popular older desktops where I am able to do so. I don’t have all of my old imagery in here in Seoul but when I get back I can have some reference here to know what readers would like to see.
I’ve been mulling over iPad/iPhone versions of some images as well which could easily be included in the zip along with the others and would not take much time to add in the future. So at any rate, let me know your thoughts! Thanks!
Lens for Sale
Surely there is someone out there who would like to be the proud owner of this fine 50mm f/1.2L lens for Canon EOS mount cameras. Its a fantastic lens offering a beautiful DOF control and low light capability. Those who know my desktops and other digital imagery from the last year and a half or so have seen it in action and what it can do. Own a little piece of my photo taking history heh.
I have decided to part ways with it for something wider, a 35mm lens. Because it is my only lens I simply need something a bit wider for some of what I need it for and so here it is, yours for the taking. It is a used lens but the only sign of use is there along the edge of the front of the lens a couple little scratches that are only seen if you look closely and in no way effects the lens’s performance. I really love this lens and hate to part with it but I cant afford to buy another new lens without selling this one first.
I am asking $1200 USD and shipping in the US is free and probably around $15 or so for international shipping though it would be easiest to sell it within the US. It comes with everything it originally shipped with as seen below and payments will be accepted through Paypal.
If you are interested simply send along an email using the link in the links section to the right or the link at the bottom of the page. Thanks!
Tiny Canvas
Those of you who have been following the site for a while know that I like to divide my activity on the web out into different places rather than stick every little thing into one blog. For the most part, I do this to keep the content focused on the various sites I try to keep up.
You Disappear, which is WAY overdue for a bunch of new albums I have discovered since my last post, is for my love of quiet music. Flickr is used to be part of that community and share photos on a more regular basis, more of my film work is usually posted over there. Drifting Through is my tumblr page for random discoveries and bits of creative inspiration. Twitter I use for slightly more personal snips of daily life and is the closest to a facebook type update page as you will see from me as facebook for some reason just seems weird to me heh. Fiftyfootshadows is my home and is a place to post desktops, share stories, and talk about photography from time to time. Expect a design refresh as well as a couple of new features and ideas to come into light here soon. There is also a project that I have been working on for a few months now with another photographer and I will post more on that soon as I am nearly done with a redesign for that site as well.
So at any rate, the reason for my writing here today is simply to announce officially to the 50ft readers another little corner for me to hide things in on the internet. An additional tumblr page called Tiny Canvas. As you may remember I recently posted a bunch of pretty nice images from my trip to India which I took with my iPhone and it was then that I realized that it was a pretty fun, viable source of capturing photos during the moments in my every day life that may have gone unnoticed. I have talked about starting up a photo blog for iPhone photography and I finally got around to setting one up and have started adding to it. I decided to use tumblr for it because it is super easy to post to with my phone and any one else using tumblr can follow me there pretty easily as well or simply use the RSS feed to follow along. I’m sure some of you will find it fun or interesting to dig through from time to time. Heres a link again, incase you missed it.
While I have your attention, does anyone out there know of a service online that could pull together my activity on the web through RSS feeds and display them on one site together? Like a John Carey hub online to make it easy for anyone interested to just get everything I do online in one convenient package. I’ve been looking for a decent solution for a while now but have not come up with anything just yet. Thanks
India 120 help
Hello everyone, I wanted to take a moment here to ask for a little help with my photo processing. I try not to ask for anything around here but I am really starting to wonder what is to be found on my medium format rolls from India that I took on my Hasselblad but I simply dont have the money to get them developed! All I need is around $40-50USD to get them all developed and so I thought I would make a request for a couple of dollars from readers to see if I can get them done. With the holidays and bills and the trip I just don’t have enough left around to get them developed.
If anyone cares to help me out with the entire $50 for the cause I will happily also let you pick any of the images from the rolls and I will order a 12×12 print of any image from the rolls. I plan on scanning them in and I will make a special gallery for you to pick one from where you can see all the good shots from the rolls before anyone else 
Any help though would be fantastic and hugely appreciated. If anyone would like to have something in return for helping out I’m sure I can work out an 8×12 of any desktop image for anyone who gives $25. I will be making print sales a more permanent addition to fiftyfootshadows.net but it will most likely cost a bit more than that when it does happen so it may be a good time to buy a print of your favorite desktop. As with my other print sale there are a handful of desktops that I can not print for various reasons but I will work with you to make sure you’re happy!
Also, the prints will most likely not get to you until after the holidays… sorry about that! Just a symptom of the process.
Really at the moment I am honestly just trying to raise a few dollars for the photos and if you can not afford a print or whatnot even just $5 would go a long way I think. Like buying me a cup of coffee hehe… I will hold up this offer until I manage to get them developed. Hopefully sooner than later.
Just send me a mail if your interested in a $25 print or the $50 india120 print at john(at)fiftyfootshadows.net otherwise you can use this handy donate link below for little bite size help.
Thanks for reading and for the ongoing support of my project here on fiftyfootshadows.net. As the new year kicks in I have plans to touch things up around here and begin posting a good bit more often. Otherwise, I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and I will talk to you again soon!
India
Well looks like the time has come, I will be in India until December 3rd traveling by train all over the place. Who knows what will come of this trip but I am most certainly excited about it. I want to thank everyone who supported me with print orders and those who did not get in on time we will work it out when I return. I may stop by here to say hello if I find some wi-fi for my iPhone which is the only technology I will have with me. So Needless to say there wont be much happening here over the next three weeks but I will return with a bunch of new photos to share I hope.
Wishing everyone all the best, thanks again for reading, I’m not sure if I could ever say that enough. See you again in a few weeks! -J