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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. |
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Blog entries occasionally change and clarify a bit after rereadings and rethinking... |
| Dec 2009 | Jan 2010 | Feb 2010 | Mar 2010 | Apr 2010 | May 2010 Jun 2010 |
Jul 2010 Aug 2010 |
Sep.Oct.Nov Dec.2010 |
Jan.Feb.Mar. Apr.2011 |
Journal 2011 | *index |
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Sunday, June 27th ~ Re: Violent and Non Violent G20 Protests
Why the violence? Like many Canadians I'm both embarrassed and angered by the violent protestors involved in Toronto's G20. The cost and placement of the G20 upset me as do world and economic conditions that need desperately to be addressed. That said, the violence, the burning, the smashing, and destruction are simply not acceptable. The excellent photographs below were taken by Steve Russell and Lucas Oleniuk of the Toronto Star. The pic on the right is from Reuters. This tangent isn't a part of the site's focus or scope other than the photos in the Star were strong enough to get me going. Photojournalism would be an interesting career choice. Here are a few links found looking for some answers... Who are some of the G20 protestors? (looking for answers) Why some people protest... (looking for answers) More G20 protest pictures from the Toronto Star Photoblog |
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Sunday, June 27th ~ Re: Tamron 18 - 250 IF (3.5 - 6.3)
Just added a Tamron 18 - 250 to the lens bag. It's the smallest large lens available (except for the 18 - 270) and a great size for simply carrying around as a point and shoot. So, it should help in more extreme conditions where a bulky carry and lens changing interferes with getting a shot. It should also prove acceptable for doing quick and easy video with the EOS Canon 7D because of its size, weight, and zoom. The shots below were taken in overcast/rainy conditions at 18mm with the 40D, slightly cropped and selectively sharpened just a bit using Photoshop. (So, image softness at the edges and vignetting should not be much of an issue) It's considerably less expensive than its more recent and slightly larger brother the 18 - 270. That savings plus money received from returning empties to the LCBO will (eventually) be invested in a more stable GoPro headcam and a Zoom recorder for the 7D. And much later an EF 24 - 105 L4 that also came coupled with the 7D for a reasonable cost, if foresight and deeper pockets had been a blessing in my life at that time... The 18 - 250 becomes a 28 - 400mm on the EOS 7D and 40D because of the small sensor's X 1.6 crop factor. Nice. It's a much slower lens f 6.3 @ 250mm (400mm) but in sunlit condition using a sweet f 11 +/- it should help get a step closer to shooting improved video. |
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Sunday, June 20th ~ Re: Focus and ISO settings
Have noted some improvement in picture quality! Started by setting the ISO's to auto using the shutter priority mode. Selected 1/1000 sec. and the auto focus to full central screen. While shooting the ISOs were automatically set to their highest quality and the f stops became the variable. ISO's of 100 - 125 were the norm in bright sunlight and the shutter speed was adequate for shooting kiters and windsurfers. Could easily reduce or increase the shutter speed to suit the given situation and circumstance. It takes a bit more patience to check the focus blinkies on the screen to ensure that the subject(s) is (are) being covered. Single spot focus works well on slower moving days but the f stops, as you would expect, give results that have less depth of field. An interesting (new) choice to consider while shooting using any DSLR camera with an automatic ISO setting and the choice of a shutter or an aperture priority. The more focal blinkies in the foreground and background the greater the depth of field will have to become. The following shots are showing at a low 200Kb and 72 DPI (dots per inch) for easy email/electronic transfer... (left to right) - ISOs Auto, shutter priority, 1/1000 sec., exposure compensation -2/3 10lk125 ISOs auto (100), focus blinkies most everywhere forcing a high f 14 (a larger depth of field) 10lk126 ISOs auto (100), focus blinkies on foreground resulting in some blur in the background (f 8) 10lk128 ISOs auto (125), focus blinkies only on the windsurfer resulting in a smaller depth of field (f 5.6) ISO settings of 100 (to 125) give the best image quality results... |
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Saturday, June 19th ~ Re:
a few video blurs - Wednesday, June 16th,
Keeping an eye on the numbers and the focus while shooting video is a handful. The times when the vids were blurry is simply bad camera work. Shot the video very late in the day and was in a bit of a rush to get somewhere else. The loop (short clip) zoom was huge, he was way out there. It was a lucky point and shoot just to catch the shot. Will keep at it, there's always a next time. A Few Video Clips From Long Beach Last Very Windy Wednesday |
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Friday, June 18th ~ Re:
Focus, zoom telephoto blur, and the other numbers that add up to making the shot good...
It was windy on Wednesday and conditions on Lake Erie's north-east shore were great (except for the huge bouncy chop). Took some shots from the west point and got some fair to good results, but was generally disappointed in the image quality relating to focus and zoom blur. Shooting with the slower Sigma 50 - 500mm lens 4 - 5.6 (actually 80 - 800mm with the 1.6 X magnification of the 7D's sensor) was a part of the challenge, but I believe that camera settings could have been improved. Chose to use a higher shutter speed 1/2000 - 1/3200 sec., ISO's @ 640, centre spot auto focus, and an exposure compensation of -2/3 to do the job. These settings yielded f 8 - 14 which blurs most distant backgrounds in the zooms. The final pictures will be reduced to less than 200 Kb which is email/low electronic transmission quality so the picture resolution as shown on the site is quite low in any event. In the future ISO's will be set at the lowest setting for picture quailty. Will also try using the auto ISO setting. Only spent 20 minutes taking pics and shooting some video and so missed shots and people who were not on the water. Higher f stops should help to improve image clarity by increrasing the depth of field. Shutter speeds of 1/1000 - 1/1500 sec. should be adequate in freezing the motion. The use of more focal points will also help. It's easy to miss when only one focal point is being used to track a subject. pics below (left to right) 10lk90 - telephoto blur - zoom + crop = 1200 - 1500mm 10lk121 - autofocus off subject, otherwise a pretty good shot 10lk88 - good exposure, good focus, but the sun's in the wrong place, his hat's shielding his face, but John's profile shows well 10lk98 - shooting into sunlight, f 8 yields a small depth of field |
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Monday, June 14th ~ (update) The computer's still acting up...
The MacBook only works consistently well when we take it for service to have the problem corrected. Two trips to the Apple store and an intermittent loading problem remains. Archives being used ~ haven't taken any windy shots in the past four days, but did get a few cute shots of our amazing grandson this weekend including one with his science project. Using a basketball he demonstates the earth's rotational spin on its axis and how gravity keeps us from flying off. This pretty much ensures him a place with Stephen W. Hawking (research chair) at Waterloo University (Theoretical Physics) next semester, at least in my opinion... Settings on the Canon 7D ~ No flash, shutter priority, ISO's 1250 - 1600, 1/60th - 1/125 sec., AWB (auto), ~ Canon EF 70 - 200 L 2.8 |
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Friday, June 11th ~ Re: Comments about the sailboat pics from Wednesday...
The setting considerations were for early evening, overcast conditions, and good focus.
Wind and weather conditions were quite variable and simply
couldn't get the camera out for a few interesting shots that passed by during windier periods.
Shutter priority, ISOs - (1600+), a few at 1/250 sec., most shot at 1/1250 sec. Used the Canon EFS 17 - 55 (2.8) and the Sigma EX 50 - 500 (4 - 5.6) on the Canon 7D. It was a bulky onboard carry. Waiting for boats to line up or show in an interesting way is a combination of both luck and patience. Composition on the move in a powered-up sailboat heeling at 20 degrees in 10 - 15 knots of wind is way more challenging than waiting for an oriole to make a move while sitting comfortably with a ready camera. (next blog entry) Not to mention that taking pictures isn't the priority on-board and that the camera and lenses do get in the way at times. In a few of the shots the ISOs were boosted for shutter speed and depth of field to the point where the pics became somewhat noisy. There's no Image Stabilization on the 50 - 500mm so higher shutter speeds compensate for shooting moving subjects from a moving surface. In any event Image Stabilization slows down the camera shutter response time and would have been turned off during this particular shooting sequence. A small, compact Tamron or Sigma 18 - 200mm or a 28 - 300mm would be an easier lens to both carry, and get more shots of interest in windier conditions. These lenses are slower (f 4 - 5.6) and less accurate overall, but should provide good results. (On the wish list) |
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Thursday, June 10th ~ AF check
Have been having a few unexpected blurs with the auto focus on the Canon EFS 17 - 55 (2.8) Not sure why. It just came back from having its zoom repaired. Turned the AF on the lens on and off. Cleaned the contacts. Turned the Image Stabilizer off and on a few times. Tightened the battery grip. Checked and reset the auto focus drive settings in the camera menu to ensure it was enabled. Reset the AF to spot focus - centre right 2 and sat outside patiently posed and watching the bird feeder. (ISOs - 1250, 1/1600 sec., f 8) An oriole approached, fed, and flew away. Squeezed off a few shots. Focus seems to be working ok. Will have to watch carefully and check after each shot for awhile. Could have been that the spot focus was off target causing the previous blurs. It did look spot on in the utility browser image review. May have to use more focal points. Something else to remember and be concerned with... (Aside: The two shots below have been significantly cropped in Photoshop and along with the 1.6 magnification of the 7D's smaller sensor show as taken with about a 150mm - 180mm lens.) |
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Thursday, June 10th ~ The Tooth Fairy brought it, honest Nancie. Perfect. An 800cc BMW off road cruiser. At the front door. Hey, with a trailer I could pull 2 boards and three rigs around the world. Endless summer, hello! Pokka pokka pokka, ok, that's author James Thurber's Walter Mitty lucidly dreaming he's a fighter pilot dodging the Red Baron's gunfire. Vrooom vrooooom vrooom, likewise, I reluctantly squeeze out of my deep, deep reverie, take a few deep, deep breaths, open my eyes, check the flash and ISO settings to get on with trying to capture some of the essence this marvelous off road machine. Followed editor Dan around for an hour and squeezed off a few shots wishing that we could exchange our basic transportation mode for at least a few hours, or a few years... |
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BMWs F800GS test |
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Sunday, June 6th ~ Re: Where are the bike shots being used?
Here are two recent links showing some of the preview online pics taken. 2010 Suzuki RMX 450 2010 Husaberg FE570 |
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Friday, June 4th ~ Re: Being responsible.
Dan always has asked for and received permission to ride in the areas for the bike tests. And, we clean up after ourselves unlike the jerks in the pick up truck who dumped their home repair crap beside the parking lot where we made ready for the bike test. Looking back I've met a few irresponsible riders along the Bruce Trail on ATV's, dirt bikes, and mountain bikes. It's unfortunate that a few idiots can give these sports a bad rep. However, that said, the same is true about the foolish actions of a small minority of boat owners, cars on the road, bicyclists, pedestrians, you name it. People are people. Did a bike test with Dan this morning. Had to wear sunglasses to protect the new eye so didn't do all that well with some of the fotog numbers. The bike was a Suzukui 450 Enduro. Following him about and thinking about how responsibilty factors into what we all do from day to day began to work in my mind. A recent example in the Outer Banks (and many beach areas) is the plight of the piping plover. These small birds now have much difficulty nesting during the late spring and early summer. 4WD trucks, sunbathers, watersport enthusiasts, all disturb the birds during this critcal part of their life cycle and as a result their diminished numbers put them in the endangered species. There's a small war going between the environmentalists and the locals who are fighting to keep beaches open during the nesting season. Who's right? Business suffers when fishermen can't drive their trucks along the sand roads that lead to the fishing areas. Close the shoreline and the beach access roadways and fishermen, watersport enthusiasts, sunbathers, won't come and fill the motels, restaurants, and support local business. What the locals either don't understand or don't care about is the plover is a significant link in their ecological chain. Life (and livelihood) above and below it, ultimately including us and ours, will be affected if the plover dies out. Everything is connected. The earth suffers another small but significant hurt. Save a bird, kill an island.. the piping plover ~ an endangered species |
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So, if my kite looks like a hawk and frightens plovers it's my reponsibilty not to kiteboard during nesting season. Likewise, throw my trash into a litter barrel. Recycle paper, plastic, batteries, metal, and waste all responsibly. It's a living concept and quite frankly both our future and existence is at stake. As large and as old as this earth is it's becoming less able to sustain life as we know it. Mankind enjoys different recreational lifestyles and has throughout history. Mind, muscle and adrenalin are inextricably mixed in our quest to test our human courage and personal limits. From chariots and football to jousting and skydiving we have a long history of an active sporting passion. So, let's keep it in the stadium and under some measure of safe regulatory control Bucko! Rock on. Responsibly. |
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| Tuesday, June 1st ~ done... (Line from what 1978 movie?) |
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| Monday, May 31st ~ Having cataract surgery in my right eye tomorrow (Tuesday). Site will report with archived pics for the next short while. Looking forward (within a few days) to seeing improvements in everything! |
| Sunday, May 30th ~ I was asked for any pictures of Jake taken over the years. His passing was both a blessing for him and a sad challenge for many of us who came to know and love him. Not sure which shots will appear for his tribute and obiturary but these were some of my absolute favourites. He was such an amazing dog. The two shots on the right are somewhat bittersweet looking back as they were titled ~ Just Head For The Light Jakey Boy! |
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| Saturday, May 29th ~ The shots of the Husaberg 570cc were taken with a flash (ETTL -1 2/3) and 2/3 of a stop underexposed. Got his eyes to show behind the goggles. ISO's for the morning shoot were 320, 640, and 1280 (to get various depths of fields). Used the shutter priority setting. Camera shutter speed was set at 1/250th sec. (max for flash) |
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| Saturday, May 29th ~ Removed the UV lens filter on the Canon EF 24 - 70 shooting into light while sailing on open water this past Wednesday evening. No problem with any lens flare this time. The lens coating(s) on the Canon EF 24 - 70 (L 2.8) worked well to eliminate any sun and incoming light problems as happened a few weeks ago (with an inexpensive, protective UV filter attached). |
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Sunday, May 23rd ~ Shooting into light with
a fast lens is always a bit chancy. The incoming light can blow out parts of the picture
(so - the camera setting was underexposed a bit).
The larger aperture openings available on the Canon EF 70 - 200mm L 2.8 yield some soft, pleasant background/foreground boket.
Fresh spring leaves on the trees and algae on the bottom underwater helped with the emerald greens.
Some blue sky is reflected on the water surface as well in both shots.
Settings - Canon 7D ~ underexposed 2/3, shutter priority, 1/500 sec., IS0 320, resulting in (R) - f 2.8 & (L) - f 4 |
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Saturday, May 22nd ~ It's been a busy month. Waiting for
warmer water, good wind, and all of my new passwords to sink in without having to rely on a cheat sheet. It used to be so simple before YouTube -
(my personal Waterloo as descibed below - blog entry May 20th) The zoom on my 17 - 55mm lens is away being fixed and thankfully borrowed my daughter's amazing Canon EF 24 - 70mm L 2.8 for a few weeks. It caught some sun flare shooting into last Wednesday's bright, early evening race. Sometime good, sometimes not so good. Will try to better control the angle into which the shot is being taken next time. The (protective) UV lens filter may also be contributing to the flare and will remove it for the next similar situation. Maybe it's time to try working with a polarizing lens add on... (Oh, oh, it's bad enough that I'm already totally distracted, almost overwhelmed, enough on board with jib responsibilities, deck meat placement, offering up light hearted quips of optimism & encouragement, spin help, and camera photo op conflict. My crewing days on the Silent Lady may already be numbered. Argh!) The two shots below are examples of a fast lens, along with using a higher ISO setting, picking up some interesting reflected sunlight/flare spots (L) and also unwanted lens flare (R). |
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Thursday, May 20th ~ Google is a very large company.
So large that they neither receive or reply to emails regarding YouTube. They say they can't with
millions and millions and millions of users and their many, many problems. I think I understand.
YouTube is a part of the Google family. And, it's free.
There's an inter site menu of all of the problems that you can conceivably have with a fix. Except for me and mine. Sometime in the last year my wife began receiving messages from subscribers about my YouTube account. Wasn't sure why. I've never included her email in my profile or personal account information. She has a GMail account and has for some time. So I tried to upload a video a week ago and maybe I didn't use the correct password. Not sure. I change it periodically. Not sure why things stopped but they did. No upload. So there's a prompt that something is wrong so I ask for a password change. The info doesn't come to my email. It goes to my wife. Long, tedious, story cut short. After an onerous few days I finally am able to upload the video using my channel name (windinsight) which defaults to my wife's email and then I use her password to log in. Terrific. Then her email does't work. So we now have to work through her settings to keep our Google accounts working. So much for the for better or worse part of our marriage vows. Somewhere in the distant past I think I remember giving Google permission to manage my account periodically and do what they have to do. I agreed to it at the time not really knowing what or why. Hey, what's an aspiring videographer to do? So, it seems that when I was using a Yahoo email account (I did have a dormant Gmail account) Google somehow took my wife's GMail account and placed it in my YouTube Account. I finally found her email placed somehow in my account settings. It's there in my email options and I can't change it no matter what I try to do. So I Google-Blogged the situation which I located somewhere deep within their help menu and found another user with the same problem. His response ~ Get over it pa, me too. Maybe I should simply be thankful there's a destination for my vids. And, he called me pa. Pa. Ok, maybe being 70 qualifies me for a pa status. Terrific. Type cast and dependent on my wife's email password. Am not making this up. All I want to do is to try make a decent video someday, before eulogies. Maybe the Google robots searching this account will get me acknowledged. Hello up there! Love you Google! Honest. I could try writing a real Dear Google letter and mail it the old fashioned way. Or telephone California. Hello, and welcome to Google, if you know the extension of the person you wish to talk to dial 3, and please stay on the line, your call is important to us.... Ah, the digital, electronic age of miracles. (Took the direct link to their Blog off in case I received an inappropriate response here) You can find it by Googling this problem (caution - there's a lot of weird stuff going on out there) or do a copy-paste using the following thread in your URL http://www.google.pl/support/forum/p/youtube/thread?tid=276a12f1b1586cd7&hl=en
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Saturday, May 8th ~ Went to Sportsball with Grandson
Grant William and Sean. Was shooting in a gym lit with fluorescent lights. The shots below were taken at 1/250 sec.,
f 3.5, ISO 1600, white balance set to auto. A slight pink hue was noted using a White Balance fluorescent
setting ~ centre shot below. Sean's shirt may have added to the hue, and the fluorescent lights could have
been been pink as well. (not sure) (WB set to auto worked well for the rest.) Used the EF Canon 70 - 200mm 2.8 on the EOS 7D |
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Tuesday, May 4th ~ Did a shoot with editor Dan Paris
and a Spanish (factory) 250 cc Gas Gas. Dan braved the hill and we got some pretty good shots off.
The test was done on a very small piece of private property with the owner's permission.
Canon EOS 7D - shots are 1/3 - 2/3 underexposed in the dappled light, 1/250 sec./flash @ -2 to -3 flash reduction, and ISOs @ 640 (remember that ISO 640 is less noisy for some strange reason than ISO setting 500 on the 7D)...
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| May 3rd ~ Home, unpacking, reorganizing the van, garage, and wind gear. Washing cars, cutting lawn and preparing the gardens. Doing a neat motoX photo-shoot tomorrow morning. Life is good. |
| Dec 2009 | Jan 2010 | Feb 2010 | Mar 2010 | Apr 2010 | May 2010 Jun 2010 |
Jul 2010 Aug 2010 |
Sep.Oct.Nov Dec.2010 |
Jan.Feb.Mar. Apr.2011 |
Journal 2011 | index |
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