Welcome to Windinsight

This is an attempt to respond to some emails and thoughts that may be of general interest and to be in touch.
As the site and situations change from time to time a dated post will also be made.

Dec 2009

December 31st, 2009
Re: It's Resolution time again. Time to think about objectives and resolutions in general and to begin reviewing the site and make some changes for the coming year.

Am not entirely sure about the effectiveness and value of blogging just yet. Hopefully some of these responses and thoughts will answer questions and communicate some useful information. The site has been fun over the years and has helped me to improve technical and photographic skills. Now writing skills will be worked and am finding it difficult to complete a post and leave it alone. It must also be noted that the numbers of those who contact are very few compared to the number of site views but the questions and comments received are appreciated and welcome.

(preamble) When you're young it's more important to have realistic educational and career objectives on a timeline, a clear focus each day on priorities and then simply doing what's important to get the job done. New Years gives us all, young and old, a timely opportunity to review the past year and to rethink our priorities. This includes regrouping unfinished hopes, taking a serious look at what's significant in our aspirations, and creating an appropriate timeline to get the works going. At my stage in life, it's important to realize that objectives must be carefully considered as the slope underfoot is becoming less certain and more precious each year. Life's ticking alarm clock may ring at any moment. (Love those dramatic metaphors) Hey, whatever works, whatever it takes. That said, let's try to begin...

Photography, in this case, has become a bit more like a public diary. It's fun to be able to share moments with friends and be able to have a record of those good times. But, it also demands that the numbers on the camera and the views are both technically acceptable and the very best that they can be. (Keep reading, this must be going somewhere.) Logically then, (oh, oh) this means that (here it comes) a new camera (oboy. good luck on this one) with significantly more embedded technology is included in plans for 2010. Ha! Another worthwhile site based resolution just took shape. See how easy this is! The mind is such an amazing tool, and the site provides the best excuse, eh?

Wandering about as stated seems vague. But it involves putting in distance on foot and body everyday. It's not just the great exercise, but also looking to photograph something worthwhile. Like finding and getting that elusive "perfect shot" in this less than perfect world. Photography gives us a view of the world that reveals a condition, captures a cherished moment, or simply refects some of the beauty that surrounds us each day that often goes unnoticed. It certainly seems that wandering about is an ever on-going objective for me not unlike the photojournalist but without that demanding assignment and harsh timeline.

Which brings me to thoughts about procrastination. This site often lags behind a bit and there are many pics that do not get archived or are never used. This has always been the case since day one. If something doesn't get done in a few days it most likely won't. Something current happens and we simply go with it. Spontaneous and sporadic is good enough as a site objective. (Will have to repost that on the main page and not feel amiss when a main image doen't get changed or taken that day) There's no advertising or numbers pressure. The site follows life like yesterday's news and that's ok. Often the very best shots go by when we're blasting about on the water truly enjoying the moment with the cameras stowed ashore waiting for the next break...

The site will not express political or religious views. No paid advertising is used. The site does not generate income. It is directed and fueled only by the love of surf & sand, almost anything water & wind-related, family (for family and friends), and worthwhile contibutions from site traffic. We did have a classified section that moved some surf and wind-related gear around but that was simply a no cost attempt to help promote our sport. There were a few shots and moments that were somewhat spiritual but that just inadvertently accompanied the landscape through the lens. Hopefully, no embarrassing shots will ever be used. With all that said the site has a life of its own and to that end it will continue optimistically into 2010.

Wishing everyone the very best in the New Year and thank-you.

December 29th, 2009
Re: The perfect camera to own, a few of us have discussed this before...

On the trail just before Christmas a doe startled me dashing away from her concealed thicket. I was carrying my 40D and a 17 - 55 mm lens which would not have been of much use to try to get off a shot of the white tail bounding away. (Tv shutter priority setting was 1/125 hoping to capture a nice woodsy~snowy~winter moment)

To add to the challenge the camera and lens are bulky. 'What would have been better to carry to get the doe shot ?' began working in my mind. Surely a smaller (adjustable) camera with a wider lens range would be perfect companion on these morning walks. So the dream began and my mind's unbridled journey kicked into passing gear once again.

Looking through Photolife Buyers' Guide (a freebee) Canon's new EF-S 55 - 250 (f/4 -5.6) combined with the new Digital Rebel looked like an absolute winner. With video to boot! And, the EF-S lens would actually be an f 88 - 400mm with the Rebel's smaller sensor. About half the bulk and a huge zoom! Perfect! Problem solved. Except for the fact that I didn't win the lottery again. Not to mention the fact that the new EOS 5D Mk2 and the new EOS 7D, as well as a new videocam, are also working on my mind in other extremely high priority situations, exactly like this one. (Dream on Mitty!)

Crappola. It's somewhat like the windsurfer dialogue deep within that goes something like ~ desperately need another sail or a slightly smaller board. The elusive what's the next piece of equipment that's absolutely necessary to both self-actualize and be completely fulfilled in this lifetime. Does anyone else ever feel this way?

A wonderful Christmas came and went and so did the intense need to buy a new camera or anything else for that matter. And on a serious second thought the EF 88 - 250mm isn't really short enough for those large, open landscapes. So hey, what about the Sigma or Tamron 18 - 200mm or the 30 - 300mm? (hmmm, to be continued...)

Tomorrow morning, I'll simply lug the big, heavy, old f 70 - 200mm workhorse on the 40D in case the doe show crosses my path somewhere on the trail between St. Davids and Firemen's Park. And, be thankful...

December 21st, 2009
Re: What were the camera settings for the shot on Gustavsson? (more pics -> Travels ~> Miscellaneous)
   click to enlarge

aside: We had some great shots and videos using our point and shoot cameras. NB: No flash is allowed and spectator max zoom is 75mm.
For dSLR ~ use sports mode or Tv/shutter priority and experiment with 1/1000+ sec. and ISO's 800+. Try using Image Stabilization if you're not panning so the camera response is quicker. You may have to use manual focus to shoot through net or plexi. Use spot focus setting to track the subject.

(to get the shot above ~ was using daughter Beth's) Canon 5D Mk 2
Tv (shutter priority) 1/4000 sec., ISO's 12800, f ~ 8, zoomed to (max allowed for fans) 70mm, I.S. off,
(Canon EF 24mm - 70mm L IS 2.8), AF - spot focus went through Plexiglas this time, centre weighted exposure,

December 18th, 2009
Re: Improving composition ~ Study the pictures in magazines, calendars, ads, and newspapers. What makes the picture capture your interest? The pros that shot these are earning their living and must have great results to ensure other assignments. Research "Rule Of Thirds" then use that grid on your camera. Look for photography manuals that deal with composition, weddings, portraits... Reread and use your camera manual again. Check out books illustating the works of the great photog icons like Yousuf Karsh, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Bateman,... to name just a few. Browse liberally at your local bookstore before you buy anything.

So, next time waiting at the dentist's office study the magazine pictures, don't read the articles... Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, Fashion, Architectual Digest are all great starters....

It can an extemely humbling experience as well as a hugely motivating one.

December 18th, 2009
Re: (followup) Hide the sun if you can (to "improve" the exposure). It's behind the trees here. ~ Again, 1/125 sec. was used. (left) Note the smaller, less "blown out" area in the tree where the sun was burning through. Could have "cloned in" a few branches but didn't. The shot has a bit more colour but is lacking the more interesting, reflected sky colour in the shoreline ice chosen for Thursday's main pics. (a personal choice)

(click to enlarge) yet another with a wee burst of sun on the trunk of the tree (above)...

December 18th, 2009
Re: What camera settings did you use to take the pictures used (Thursday afternoon) on your website? (2 answers)

a. Landscapes work well using 1/125 sec. shutter speed with lower ISO's for good quality pics. Use the shutter priority setting.

b. When shooting landscapes 1/125th sec. is my usual choice (when using any lenses 10mm - 125mm). It was later in the afternoon when the left hand shot below was taken. It was shot into direct sunlight so I underexposed it f -1 so most of the info wouldn't be blown out. ISO's were set at 200 and the Aperture Value resulted in an f 32 (for a tack sharp front to back pic) The pic was shot using shutter priority mode and the lens zoom was 70 mm.

Lightened the pic's exposure a bit using "Shadow Highlights" in photoshop adjustments, as the downloaded pic was underexposed. (Still is.)

Keep in mind when you're hand holding a longer zoom lens shooting landscapes if zoom is 200mm ~> use minimum 1/200 sec. shutter speed, ...zoom 400mm ~> use minimum 1/400 sec. shutter speed, ...60 mm ~> 1/60th sec., ...500mm ~> 1/500 sec., etc. etc....

The "handholding a long lens" rule would be ( zoom focal length ~> use minimum 1/focal length sec. shutter speed) This should eliminate blur from shake caused by handholding. Or, it's OK to use image stabilization for landscapes if you have it.

(Please click on the thumbnails to enlarge the pics)

The pic on the right was simply shot at 1/125 sec. less than a minute later with no adjustments or fuss needed because the light was coming from behind. An easy exposure. Please let me know if any of this needs clarifying.

I have another shot looking west with the sun hidden behind, but showing through the trees. That reduced the exposure challenge of shooting into direct sunlight. I'll try to post or attach it later.

December 16th, 2009
Re: Changes ~ Check back from time to time because occasionally a change is made to a posting to clarify, expand, or correct the communication. Please let me know if there's an error or a worthwhile suggestion to include.

December 16th, 2009
Re: Wetsuits in Florida this winter ~ South Florida ~ take a 3/2mm fullsuit as well as a rash guard and a 2mm -> 3/2mm shorty, carry along a 4/3 in February if you have room even though the average water temperature is reported to be around 68 - 72⁰ F.

Mid to North Florida ~ February can get cold so take whatever you own, a 4/3 full suit for sure but 5/3 full suits will be just fine some mid February days when it blows hard and cold out of the north. Bikinis, bathing suits, baggies, shorties, and full suits 3/2 - 4/3 are used depending on the daily conditions, your age, and how much time you need to spend in the water getting going Yurii. Hope to connect with you.

PS: Yes, a 14m² -> 16m² kite will definitely give you more time on the water as Florida winter wind can be generally light.

browse >> http://www.windinsight.com/index09f1.html << do a copy & paste or go to Main Page -> Travels -> Florida 2009

left North Beach, Miami in mid January centre & right Indian Rocks/Tampa early February and mid February above

December 15th, 2009
Re: Any advice about ~ How do you work the video camera etc. when you windsurf. Get a waterproof point and shoot camera with video. New cams have High Definition and zooms that now work well. Use a camera with a wide angle lens (about 27mm - 35mm) to get a broad view.

Attach the camera to your helmet, or mast, boom, wherever and experiment. There's a model used by a fellow windsufer, Sandros, that is 35mm and straps to almost anything. It also comes with a larger focal length.

Here's a pic of an older waterproof Olympus attached to my helmet using a modified can opener and Sandros' strap anywhere video cam. Caution - don't overtighten the 1/4" stainless securing bolt/locking nut into the softer plastic base of the camera (below left)...

(Please click the thumbnails below to enlarge the pics)

Check out the great videos Sandros made at >> http://www.youtube.com/user/surfraker << please do a copy and paste in the URL

Set up the camera for the conditions of the day (sun, shade, etc.) Listen for the start and stop beeps when you press the start/stop button, sometimes you're not off or on when you think you are! Practise walking around with the camera turned on for a while so that when you're videoing you can keep the horizon straighter and your subject in the field of view. It takes a few times to get it kind of figured out ok.

A MacBook is used with iMovie 06/09 to edit the results and then compress the result into an acceptable format for YouTube, Facebook, iPod, or a DVD.

December 15th, 2009
Re: Interested in learning to kiteboard ~ Start online with Google/Yahoo/whatever search you like to use and type "learn to kiteboard", add an urban center or location nearby to where you live or want to go like Toronto, Outer Banks, Miami, Nassau, etc. The search should appear as "learn to kiteboard Miami". Large urban centers near lakes and oceans will likely provide seasonal instruction.

The cost for lessons is around $100 per hour. It's worth taking lessons from certified insructors who have equipment for you to use. Look for an instructor with a boat or a jet ski, as it saves a lot of precious time. (Crash their kites not yours is a good way for beginners look at it.) Try to negotiate a package/better deal, you may be able get a bit more on-water instructional time. Take the time to shop around. Kiteboarding can be quite dangerous but with instruction not only is your learning curve much easier but the overall rusults for you are much, much safer. That's why there are so many kites in the air today.

Your friends who are kiters may not be the best teachers. If you damage their equipment the cost to learn can go way up, including friendships. Anyway, I think that they'd rather be kiteboarding on windy days.

Take wakeboard lessons so you're not trying to learn two skills at once. Snowboarders and wakeboarders have the advantage of knowing how to manoevre the kiteboard.

A new kite with bar and lines can cost $1000 - $1500, a good beginner kiteboard with footstraps can cost $300 - $500. A seat or chest harness will run around $100 - $200. And yes, you'll need and want a wetsuit, and an ever so cool pair of XL long shorts to wear! (baggies from our surfin' days - but, no Archie sandals please)

Older used kites, especially from 4 - 6+ years ago, are not nearly as safe and user friendly as the new models. Be sure to do some kite research before you buy one.

A 2m² to 3m² trainer kite can cost $150 - $300. Buy one and take the time to learn to use it.

In Toronto both Silent Sports and Boardsports can help you with summertime lessons. In St. Catharines, Andy has some great deals on new kiteboarding equipment at the Ski Pro Shop. Kiteboard instructional videos & DVD's are informative and help you remember all of the moves and safety tips you'll need. Most boardshops carry them. Real Kiteboarding located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina at Salvo offers weekly "Learn to Kiteboard" camps with full accomodation. Check them out.

December 14th, 2009
Re: Advice for beginning a website ~ Get help from a programmer or someone knowledgeable to save time and reduce aggrevation. My daughter Beth helped with the initial creation of the website about seven years ago, and both daughters, Beth and Maggie, who are hugely competent helped me to understand and develop the site. Purchased some books explaining html and built the site to its current state.

Go to the top toolbar and click on "View" then click "Source or Page Source" to see how the page actually appears in html.

Have a clear focus and clear purpose in mind before you begin a website. Write it down to make sure it says what you intend to do. Then look for a fitting webname that can be registered. Windinsight began as way of showing the lake three - four times a day and reporting wind conditions for windsurfers in 2003 when we lived on Sunset Bay, Lake Erie. A deep interest in photography began and too the beginning of an on-going photo-journal.

December 14th, 2009
Softened the text colour and will create an index in a few days (thanks)...

December 14th, 2009
Re: Taking pictures shooting into sunlight which result in dark, (*underexposed) hard to see faces.
a) Point and shoot cameras. If the subject is close/nearby use a flash, or a fill flash.
b) A dSLR camera - a flash works well or try underexposing the picture 1/3 - 2/3 (or more) of an f stop to capture the background which will most likely otherwise blow out and use a centre weighted exposure (and a spot focus) on your camera to cover and expose the subject correctly.

Correcting/Adjusting the picture.
(using a Photoshop program) You can select and manually adjust the exposure using "Levels" in Photoshop "Adjustments" by sliding the right hand bar on the histogram to the left. Also select the "Shadow Highlights" option in "Adjustments" to lighten the dark areas from an otherwise underexposed pic which results when shooting into sunlight.

( An *underexposed "before and after" pic adjusted in Photoshop just using Shadow Highlights correction)

(if possible try have the sun behind you lighting the subject before you shoot (or use a flash) to avoid the problem involving backlight)

There are many great "reference/how to" manuals and books in the Photog Section at Chapters, Coles, Libraries, covering exposure, shutter speed, compostion, etc. Get Santa involved. Get shameless me involved. I do dSLR tutorials, see site & tech info above.

December 13th, 2009
Re: Have you considered an interactive blog format? Might be worth considering if there was one with some controls involving the postings made. Otherwise, anyone who visits the site could post a question or concern that could remain there for a few days unanswered if we were away. Some of the posted questions or comments might simply be inappropriate or offensive. A multitude of spamshots from internet search robots, and other postings like the bizarre and inappropriate Yahoo comments noted last year (involving hookers etc.) following their news articles could appear. Having a "sign in and post" might work for selective site traffic but that still involves many similar challenges and costs that haven't been researched and considered at this time. Hopefully we can simply keep this thing useful, informative, cheap, and cheerful!

The site has an interesting life of its own that sometimes pulls me along. The site also has a specific, stated objective on the main page. This Blog should simply reflect the site's content, focus, and input from viewers. This involves photography, surf, wind, sails, kites, wind driven boards, related gear, wind driven boats, and wandering about.

By responding to some emails that are judged to be of general interest or to communicate a change or an occurence affecting the current state of the website is the purpose of this communication.

December 13th, 2009
    Re: Any info about windsurf gybe videos? A great windsurf "improve your gybe" video is Turn For The Better 2
>> http://www.totalvid.com/Windsurfing-Videos/Turn-For-The-Better-2/ <<. It can be previewed, purchased, or rented from the URL link above. (do a copy paste)   It appears that this vid is now a single in a new package.

We all watched this vid a few times in Cape Hatteras this past October trip after also attending a great evening workshop session with Andy Brandt at Sailworld Hatteras hosted by Andy McKinney in Avon. Everyone was not only motivated to improve higher wind turns but actually made notable and improved gybes over the week.

I bought my copy of Turn for the Better 2 at Silent Sports in Toronto in a 2 disk package set. Number (#2) is the more favoured as it concentrates on the many complex forms and variations of the elusive short board/higher wind turn. It's an older vid as the boards and rigs are from the mid - late 90's but the teaching for those who are "visual learners with good auditory skills" is both fun and very, very good.

December 12th, 2009
(a somewhat technical response re: using autofocus to always achieve perfect pics) Yes, autofocus does often help with image sharpness but not always with many zoom telephoto shots, so I can't rely on "set it and forget it" even if my vision was perfect.

Handholding the Canon 40D with the 50 - 500mm lens for example requires increasing both the ISO's and the shutter speed. With the 40D's small sensor the zoom lens becomes 80 - 800mm. To compensate for the slower f4 - 5.6 Zoom the ISO's are set to 200/400 in bright sunlight and 1000+ in lower light conditions to get shutter speeds of 1/1000 sec. to 1/4000 sec. needed to both capture and freeze movement and to compensate for handholding (shake). Image stabilization isn't desirable for action shots, it slows down camera response time too much. Downside ~ Image quality suffers with higher ISO's moreso with my older Canon 5D~1, the 40D is a somewhat better...

Always try to use the smallest ISO number possible (i.e.. 50 - 100) for the best overall image quality. (2009/2010 high end Nikon and Canon dSLR cameras have ISO ranges up to 25,000 and handle higher ISO's much, much better resulting in good image quality even at an astounding ISO setting of 3000 - 6000)   So, it's really worth being on Santa's nice (not naughty) list!

December 12th, 2009
Re: No new pictures for the past three weeks or so. Had successful cataract surgery in left eye late November. Vision is becoming wonderful again. The left eye is near perfect. Surgery was delayed because of the H1N1 threat in hospitals. Won't be able to get the right eye done till spring, travelling again in January. Am finding eyeglass(es) simply don't work anymore, a contact lens in the right eye for now should. Have an appointment for a new right contact lens next week which will correct this difficulty and can comfortably get back to driving, taking more pictures, and wandering about. Looking forward to taking better than ever pictures. Both (Canon) cameras are now working well again, with a new shutter mechanism on the 40D and the sensor cleaned on the 5D. The MacBook has been upgraded with Snow Leopard 09 and iMovie 09/Garageband 09/ etc. Having fun with harmonicas, writing some new tunes and spending time with our grandson. He loves the videos we made for him.