2005
End of the Month Rant
Most of the postings lately have been about birthdays. Let’s see, birthday’s this month were for Skylar, Little Gordon, Yen, Lotte, Doug and Kevin this month. Did I miss anyone?
A lot of photo opportunities present themselves at birthdays. So I took it was an opportunity to take photos with the D70s. Pictures of Yen’s birthday (when we took her out to dinner at Straits @ Santana Row) and of Lotte’s birthday (at [Buca di Beppo’s] in the City) will be posted on the [Photos] janella.us. Fina took most of the photos at Lotte’s birthday. The photos out of focus are the ones I took :) It was funny see Fina with a Nikon since she’s such a Canon person. (Man, should have taken a picture of her holding the camera!) I still need to post photos from Lotte’s and Skylar’s parties. Remember to log in to see the ‘big picture’.
Podcasts
iTunes 4.9 was released earlier this week. With 4.9 it now makes it easier to download Podcasts. What are Podcasts? Short and simple, it’s like a radio broadcast you can listen to on your digital music player (see [Podcasting]) Podcasts can be anything from news to business reports to independent music programs and beyond. I don’t think Podcasts are bound by any FCC rules so content can be almost anything. You don’t need to have an iPod or use iTunes to listen to a Podcast, so do a search on the Net and check one out.
Current Podcasts I’m listening to:
- KCRW's The Treatment
- Cinecast
- digital photography tips from the top floor
Apple did announce one this week that sucked: iPods now come with color screens by default! Ugh! Oh well, the price you pay for wanting an iPod. You knew it was going to happen.
Feeling blah
I’m a little under the weather. Tuesday morning I woke up with a dry throat and my nose felt dry as well. Wednesday found me staying in bed most of the day. Today my nose is just running here and there. I thought it was allergies, but usually my eyes itch, which is currently not the case. What makes it worse is that it really isn’t comfortable staying in bed with the weather being so damn hot! I had a little ramen in Mt. View last night that helped out.
Ugh. I hate summer colds.
Etc.
Plans for the weekend? Still working on it. Farrah’s lucky to have a four day weekend. Me? Three days, which I’m not complaining about (or am I?)
Black Eyed Peas - Monkey Business
Still, there are plenty of early Peas-heads who remain disgruntled about the group's leap to the pop world. But go ahead and call them sellouts. Lead lyricist will.i.am doesn't mind. "It's cool. It makes me feel good because that means they really liked our first record."
I wouldn’t say I’m disgruntled, I just liked their old sound better. Not sure I’m getting into their new album. It’s pretty much pop, with a lot of contributing artists (Jack Johnson, Sting, Justin Timberlake…). It’s can be catchy stuff - which pop is supposed to be right?
For more on how B.E.P. feels about their changing sound, [read this CNN article].
Father's Day and Aloha Kitchen
Today we had Father’s Day breakfast/brunch at Aloha Kitchen in San Jose on 1041 East Capitol Expressway.. Uh, the food was so good. I had the Samin with BBQ Chicken and it was delicious!!! Farrah’s dad had Samin as well, her mom Portuguese Sausage and eggs, and Farrah had Hawaiian Pancakes.
Farrah’s dad struck up a conversation with another customer. The talk started off normal - How you doing? Where you from? The guy talked about what street he used to live on. Funny thing was that Farrah’s dad new exactly where that was and the neighborhoods' residents specifically! So the guy would say, “Yeah, there is this short guy who lived in a house down the street…” and Farrah’s dad would reply, “Oh, you mean at 1084?" Amazing.
Later that day Farrah and I took my mom to visit my dad’s grave. It’s been over ten years, but still…
Dance Recital Rehearsal
I went to Kayla’s dance recital practice to take some photos, because there is more freedom to use a tripod or move around during the practice session All of these photos were taken with the aperture wide open to f/1.8 using the 50mm lens. Average shutter speed hovered at 50 so I got some blur here and there. Take a look at the photos and make any comments you’d like.
In order to see photos of Kayla herself you will need to have a Flickr account and be on my Friends or Family list. It’s easy to sign up for an account. Just [go to here]. After signing up do a search for me, sith_kicker, and add me as a contact. If you need help, just email me!
The Self Portrait Thing
Well, I broke out the 50mm lens - which I’m going to use for Kayla’s dance recital practice - and took some self portraits. They turned out ok I suppose. I think I’m a little too close to the camera. Do they look a little washed out? I’m sure I can fix it in post-processing if I really wanted to - or knew how. I shot them in RAW format so this allows for easier tweaking of the image without degradation. What do you think?
By the way, I’m cross posting this blog entry. It seems that ‘LiveJournal’ has introduced a new feature called tagging. It helps in categorizing postings, which the blog software WordPress did very well. This gives me the ability to separate post by types easier. If the tagging works pretty well, perhaps I won’t have to maintain the [LTF] blog separately after all.
Batman Begins
Rating: **** out of 5
Quick shot: The movie chronicles the Batman’s beginnings.
What I liked about the move:
It’s back to the serious Batman. The storyline is very well structured, good acting all around, and Gotham City looks like an actual city. Plus Batman’s toys are pretty cool as well.
What I didn’t like:
Bale’s Batman voice didn’t do it for me, except for one scene where he was very effective. Go catch this movie either in primetime or a matinee. Worth seeing!
Cool Site: Challenge Darth Vader
Can Darth Vader read your mind? Visit [this web site] and challenge a Lord of the Sith. He did guess correctly what I was thinking! Weird.
Two Weeks
Well, I have had the D70s for two weeks. I’m loving the freedom of taken the shot and seeing the results right away, but with an SLR type camera! I know that’s how it is supposed to be with a DSLR but I’m still getting used to the feeling.
I have been messing with [aperture priority] and shutter speed the last week. The reason I have been is I want to take photos at Kayla’s dance recital. Taking photos has been a hit and miss affair. The conditions are:
- dark theater - only stage lighting
- no flash allowed
- no tripods allow (I've seen monopods though)
- distance to stage varies seats are all over
I have had various success and failure in taking photos. I’ve used high speed film (1600), opened up the aperture, steadied my hand various ways, all with mixed results. This year will hopefully be different.
What I am planning to do is take photos during the practice session. Susana said I can bring a tripod during that session and set it up - as the practice isn’t video taped. The lighting conditions will be the same. From what I understand of the advice given by the [nikonians.org] messageboard I should:
- use the fastest lens I have (which is the 50mm 1.8)
- have the aperture wide open
- and hope the shutter speed is around 100 or so
I can adjust the ISO as needed. We’ll see how it works. I’ll post some results later.
This photo of drinks was taken under low lighting conditions, no flash, aperture wide open - using the 18mm-70mm lens. The shot was taken hand held, steadied against the table. Farrah took the photo:
Anyway, wish me luck.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Rating: *** out of five
Quick shot: Boy and girl meet. Boy and girl get married. Boy and girl are spies for competing agencies and don’t know it. Boy and girl must kill each other, or die trying. Will this have a happy ending
What I liked about the movie: Good action - gun play, hand-to-hand combat, and car chases. Good chemistry between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Fair and snappy dialog
What I didn’t like: The distracting choice of hand held camera movement during some quiet moments during the film. The latter third of the film had issues resolved suddenly.
Overall a good matinee movie.
Writing Here and There
I think I mentioned a post or two ago that I was starting a new blog. Yeah, another blog. This makes a total of three blogs!!! Well, actually it’s more like two. There is:
- [weblog] janella.com - The main blog. I use this to keep family and friends updated on what is going on with life's events. It also serves as the main method to hear about new photos taken and posted involving those life events.
- [360].yahoo.com - My work blog. I write here to keep some friends at work informed of what's happening in my life. It almost mirrors [weblog] janella.com, so if you read this blog you really don't need to visit here...unless you want to see what my coworkers are writing about. 360 is a beta weblog offered by Yahoo!
- [LTF] janella.us - The new blog! A weblog to chronicle my adventures in photography. We'll adventures is a strong word. More like stumbling and fumbling through the learning process.
Having a separate blog has helped me focus my thoughts, and allowed me to write more about the task-at-hand. [weblog] gives me the freedom to write about anything, whereas [LTF] allows me to specifically write about taking photos. I’m not sure if the writing is composed well, but it is the most writing I have done in some time. Plus you won’t need to read about it here - and if you want to read about it you can go [there]. I hope you do take some time to read it over, and feel free to make any comments both encouraging and critical.
Who knows, managing three blogs may become cumbersome - it’s not cumbersome at the moment - so it may well change.
Oh well, it’s time to go do something.
Later.
Keep Shooting
Some photos I took on my day off this past Wednesday. The weather was a little overcast, which minimized some of my outdoor shooting as it was raining a little. I liked the [Legion of Honor], but preferred seeing the sculptures inside over the paintings. I’ll need to go again because I didn’t feel comfortable shooting pictures inside the building, even though you can! Just no flash photography or shooting during the special exhibits (I think?)
Need work on my composition - but I’ll keep at it!
Dinner and Photos
I’ve been able to get some more reading and shots in the last day. Last night Farrah, Yen, and I went out to look at fabric and dinner. I was able to take a few outdoor shots - around dusk) and indoor restaurant shots with the D70s' built in flash. The flash photos look a little saturated, and the outdoor photos needed adjusting as well. The results are the adjusted photos here:
You can see more photos by logging into the Flickr album. Of course you need to be a ‘friend or family’ to see those extra photos, so sing up for a Flickr account today!!!
I’ve been also messing with shutter speed. These shots have the aperature wide open and the shutter speed very slow. Check the EXIF data for more info.
Sun Time
Not much happening today. My picture opportunities have been limited. I spent about an hour and a half walking around the [Sunnyvale Art & Wine Festival]. Good time to take in some sun. Boy was it crowded though. I kept running into people. I did come across some vintage cars on display.
I took a couple photos here and there, nothing exciting. You can see more on the set @ [Flickr]. Oh well, I’ll try to look for more photo opportunities tomorrow.
Finally - Some Shooting
Well, I’ve finally started some shots with the D70s. I haven’t read all of the instruction manual. In fact I have probably read less then 10 pages of a 100 page manual!!! I just wanted to get out and start shooting.
Yesterday, I got a 1GB 80x Corsair Compact Flash card. I was hoping to get the [Lexar 1GB 80x Compact Flash card]. Now the Corsair is not on the test and approved list of cards, but it is working and I hope it lasts me for a while. If it starts freakin' out on me I’ll need to go to Costco to pick up a SanDisk Ultra II card which is tested and approved.
I took some test shots yesterday of Farrah while she was talking on the phone with Yen. You can see some feet shots on the [Flickr] album.
Today I took some shots of Lucky and Bixby and Tigger too! I also took a few shots of cars that were on display at the Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival in downtown Sunnyvale.
I’m shooting in the RAW format which is new to me. Take a look at the pictures and please make any comments on the photos you can. I’ll need to read up more about it. Ok, I’ll go read the manual now.
Friday = Lazy Day @ Work
It’s been a pretty quiet day so far. Not heavy on the work stuff. I’m using the time to study some photo techniques. Problem with studying it is wanting to apply it after reading, which I can’t do.
We had a BBQ for lunch here at work. Burgers, ribs, salad, dessert. Not too bad, though I know I can cook better ribs :)
Plans for the weekend? A lot of picture taking.