Imre Z. Balint, BSc, MPM, MBA

I'm having a blast writing. My book on how to make longboards is about 85% done. Most of the text is there, but I still need some images of decks being glued up, along with those that have a design. As you might guess, that means I actually need to build those decks. Good news is that I have three sanded down nicely, awaiting for their graphics to be applied. That's definitely easier said than done, but I'm hoping my brain will come up with something to adorn those boards. Then I can finally take a few more photos, and finish up that opus. But being one of those people that can't seem to keep busy enough, I've already started on another project. I've always wanted to write a work of fiction, and have finally dug in. This is actually not the first time I've attempted writing one though... in fact, this is my third attempt. Writing a strong work of fiction is by no means a simple feat. My first two attempts failed, as I simply lacked the knowledge required...

My "Concepts of Photography and More" ebook is now available! Well, I actually self-published it back in November 2019, but I figured I should really update my blog I once kept so regularly manicured. Before I spew more text onto the page, here's the link so you can check it out and grab yourself a copy: Concepts of Photography and More It's quite scary to see how time passes by. My last post before this was in 2014, in which my life took a lovely twist. That year was special, as I started teaching at a local polytechnic school. I love my job, the school too, but does take away from one's free time. No complaints though, for I am employed, and times are tough, so I am grateful. Nonetheless, I managed to spend what time I could between my busy schedule of marking assignments, helping with home renos, and building longboards (yup, I do this too), in order to finish my first book. Really cool journey, and an even greater respect for all authors. Two years o...

Ever visit a website where if you start to scroll then certain elements on a page will stick to a particular location, like a navigation bar that stays put at the top of the page? Sometimes even a link will also appear from a side of the document which allows the user to jump back to the top of the page with a single click. Well that's what this tutorial is about. In fact the concepts I'll be discussing can actually be taken a step further and you'll be able to create other "sticky" elements on your page (like a social media link list that can slide into view). With this walk-through I'm assuming you're somewhat familiar with jQuery and CSS, so as with pretty much all things jQuery please download the library if you want to try this for yourself. Overall this example is really easy, so even with minimal experience it should be a snap to get this working on your site. First let's take a look at how this works. Click here to view the example and ...

Not only is it a full moon today, but it's also Friday the 13th. So it's only fitting that I tackle a scary topic: CSS only dropdown menus that work on mobile devices! Ok, so really it's not that scary and I'll try to make it as painless as possible... don't mind the machete. First off, it's nice to see what we're trying to accomplish. Because this example is geared for mobile type devices only you should be viewing this example on such a platform, or if you are using a desktop computer, pretend that you can only "tap": http://www.imrezbalint.com/blogexamples/csstargetmenu.html The actual presentation of the example is not critical; you can create your own design in pretty much whatever manner you wish. The focus here is that on a mobile device one can tap a menu to see the dropdown list that will then stay open until the user taps another menu item or the "Close Menu" option. Secondly, I have not bothered to create media queries ...

This is the first of hopefully many Web technology related blog posts I'll be writing. More specifically these articles will be involving JavaScript / jQuery and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). In this tutorial I will be using JavaScript to analyze which Web page a user is viewing and then apply a CSS style to the relevant menu element to provide the audience some visual feedback. Please download jQuery as it is requited for this example. I often use the library to simplify parts of my code and to gain some benefits like not having to worry as much about coding cross browser compatibility. First off, let's take a look at exactly what we're trying to do (click the pic for a larger size). Take a look at the URL bar. You'll see that it contains the text, "www.imrezbalint.com/videos.php". Now look at the navigation bar of my site. See how the VIDEOS link is highlighted? Well that's the work of the script we're about run through. Now you're pro...

Calgary is getting a hefty helping of snow and it has motivated me to do two things, one of which I like and the other not so much. The latter has to do with plowing the snow off the sidewalk, which stinks as the snow is terribly wet and heavy (at least it's a good quick workout though). But it has also motivated me to write up a quick blog post (about time, eh?) regarding taking wintery photos. I'll keep this short and sweet as I'm really busy with my business venture, but I hope you'll find this information useful. Overexpose - To newbies this tip might sound crazy. If you're shooting a scene that is already bright white for the most part, why on Earth would you want to overexpose the image? Wouldn't that blow out the highlights? Well in most cases no and instead you'll likely get the proper exposure. To understand this, we must understand how the camera meters. I happen to have a video on this topic, click here to view it. In a nutshell though, the c...

Finally made some time to complete part 2 of the solar eclipse time-lapse post. Let's get right into it, but first a quick warning message you all should read if you're not familiar with taking photos directly of the sun: Without proper solar filtration, there is a very real chance that you could cause serious and irreparable damage to your camera equipment, and more importantly serious or permanent eye damage such as blindness. If you do not feel comfortable with such photography, I do not recommend doing it... even what I did can be considered borderline (and I actually don't really recommend my method either), but I'll explain my actions below. Ok, now with that out of the way I'll start with a quick list of equipment used: - Olympus E-3 - 50-200mm Zuiko lens - 2X tele-converter - camera hand-held - Variable ND filter ... DIY type Nothing really stands out from the list above until you get to the last item, a do-it-yourself (DIY) variable ND filter. I ...