[Yoyo]

Well, the fine-print is a crop from the full size image, so all the pixels there are right out of the camera. The large one is the upload of the initial crop, and the medium one is rescaled to a Fark friendly size. After poking into this a bit more today, the JPG file I uploaded was 101kB, and downloading it again from Flickr it’s only 36kB, so there’s definitely some fishy things going on behind the curtain. I tried uploading the image again as a PNG, but it still seems to be getting all pixelly between the letters. Maybe I should just buy some server space.

[Yoyo]

I hate to break it to Jesse, but society’s standard of beauty has been unreal since the ancient Greeks at latest. The first time Hef showed a bikini model on Playboy, he had her navel airbrushed out.

Also, photography isn’t real. No one travels around with a personal lighting crew. Just like digital photography is the evolution of something before it, PS is likewise. Photography may have been the death knell of realist painting, but those techniques still exist.

[Yoyo]

Great shots this week. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to add my 2 cents, since I was on the road from KC to Houston to home. I did get some nice shots of desolate places though. Luckily, I can use most of them for the “stoned” theme coming up soon.

[Yoyo]

I still remember years ago when Kodak unloaded all their silver holdings when the price of silver was up. That signaled the beginning of the end for Kodak. Of course, the price of silver is back up again.

[Yoyo]

I should be able to make it. I’m only the next state over. Send me an email reminder. 😉

[Yoyo]

When you say the military uses Nikon, you should be more specific. It has been my experience that the Army Public Affairs branch uses Nikon digital still cameras for documentary and photojournalism purposes, and some rather professional grade gear I might add. However, it seems that the Engineers (including yours truly) prefer Canon for more technical tasks like ground and aerial route reconnaissance or construction progress documentation. If you want to see some awesome high-speed photography, I recommend the work put out by the Army artillery test center in Yuma, Arizona, or the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The arty guys have no problem taking pics of 6″ projectiles leaving the barrel that are so sharp you can read the hand writing on the side of the shell.

[Yoyo]

I want to travel the US and take stereo 3d pics of Americana. Olde tyme main streets; war memorials from the time when wars were like lung cancer, quick and painful; scenic vistas along the side of the highway; no-tell motels; art-deco and art-nouveau theaters; roadside diners; neon signs; et cetera. I don’t know about the one-a-day schemes, but I’d settle for one pair of keepers each week. And, for what it’s worth, this year is 366.

[Yoyo]

I got scads of loot this year! Let me regale you all with reviews.

First and most spendy and also most awesome: Canon 28mm-f/1.8 USM. It’s awesome! Much better than the 50mm-f/1.4 USM for inside shots. The length is almost exactly standard for the Canon APS-C sensor (i.e. focal length equals sensor diagonal). Even though it’s half a stop slower than the 50mm, the shorter focal length means you can make up for the aperture by lengthening the shutter speed without getting unacceptable blur (i.e. shutter speed no slower than the reciprocal of focal length in mm), so overall the 28mm about half a stop better in low light than the 50mm, and I love me some low light photography.

Second, an unexpected purchase: Strobies Delta Remote, universal radio frequency wireless remote. http://www.interfitphotographic.com/downloads/delta%20remote%20instructions.pdf I was looking for an extension cord for my wired remote, and the price on this one was too hard to resist. Plus it’s RF, so no line of sight is needed unlike the Canon IR remote. They also have it packaged with cords for Nikons.

3. two axis macro rail. It’s perhaps really not for macro, since the rack and pinion drive is about 1″ per revolution, but I intend to use it for stereo 3d stills. The lateral measurement marks are in centimeteres and have two zeros on both sides of the top mounting base where the camera sits. At least it has measurements marks. It was inexpensive, and it’s a single unit with two axis movement instead of needing to stack two rails or some such thing, but I don’t really know that I would ever need two linear axis gear drive movements at the same time.
4. grey card. works great for setting white balance also.
5. HP mid-grade glossy paper. My brother wants to get some pics of his wife’s cat before the poor little kitty leaves this world. I figure this should work better than 20# white…
6. A little something caught my eye, and it screamed, “I’ll be perfect for Orionid! He’s always building things!” So someone is getting a surprise belated X-mas (gag?) gift once I get a delivery address. (Personal delivery area is limited to between Kansas City and El Paso.)

I almost got a new tripod and gear drive head, but then I found my trusty lightweight (video) tripod in my car’s trunk. I want to get something more massive and rigid eventually. Maybe I’ll check out the selection at Bass Pro or Cabela’s before I head back home from KC? 🙂

[Yoyo]

Here in NYC I see listings for Photo Meetups and Photo Walks which routinely start at $99 just to attend a photo walk in a public place and be escorted around, say, Central Park….

So much of this kind of thing is the brainchild of someone nefarious enough to grasp that silly people will pay good money to do things they could for free if a label is applied such as group or class.

“Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” – H. L. Mencken

“It is morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money.” – W. C. Fields

Need I go on?

[Yoyo]

I’m waiting to see shots of a komodo dragon in the snow.

[Yoyo]

I think we need to make it a rule U-Man is no longer allowed to use his children as subjects. And maybe NBD‘s pug too… TOO CUTE

Thanks, K. A guy at work just commented that I’m going to be bummed when my kids are all past the cute stage. I agree. But there’s no way I’m going back to having a baby in the house!

/I would be fine if it happened…but it’s not my first choice.

I know “past the cute stage” all to well. I got some (school) portraits of my nieces this past week in a letter from my sister-in-law. Last time I saw them at X-mas last year they were still attractive, but this year it’s “kill it with fire” for all 3 of them. Maybe it was just a bad week and they all had the mumps, but that’s the last time I would ever hire that photographer. Hopefully they’re grow out it soon.

[Yoyo]

Can someone en-vote-ify my 3rd entry? Somehow I forgot to check the box on that one.

[Yoyo]

…we are supposed to get our digital prints on cd after 6 months (which is this month, still waiting)…

Hah! My brother had to wait over a year for his to finally arrive 😆

I think these examples show that there is more to being a professional photographer than just taking good pictures.

[Yoyo]

And it’s from Microsoft Office, so you know it’s got to be easy enough for a field grade staff officer to figure out.

I hope you guys are smarter than Navy nuclear puppets. I mean officers.

Of course I am smarter than a Navy nuclear officer. I’m smart enough to know that job sucks. I’m also smarter than a field grade officer. I’m an line officer.

I did have to do some tweaking to PPT to get it to work like I wanted, but when I do the assembly for the second time, it should come out better.

I also shot all new pics last night, but it’s hard taking macro-self-portraits. And using the laptop as a remote doesn’t make it any easier.

[Yoyo]

My problem is getting the triptych to come together on Photoshop.

FIRST – Click “New” and make a new empty image 2000x2000px
…
SEVENTH – Use “Save For Web” to resize to Fark size before uploading.

I expect to be using Power Point and “save as” .jpg . It’s what I’ve got available. And it’s from Microsoft Office, so you know it’s got to be easy enough for a field grade staff officer to figure out.

[Author]

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