Friday, October 21, 2011

showing off again

Yesterday I took my tiny high definition video camera around the garden to make a record of the flowers that I have in bloom at the moment. Today I put the shots together with some music.
I suggest you click on the title at the top left of the video embedded in this blog so that you can watch the video in Youtube.
The sides are trimmed off , which I find irritating!
Here it is


AJ

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Smaller and smaller

I just had to share this with you!
In the mail today was an ordinary looking envelope. Inside it was something that is far from ordinary looking. This is one more of my Ebay purchases and although the description told that it was "the smallest USB memory stick" I still did not visualise that it would be quite as small as it is.
Here are a couple of photos to give you some idea of why I had a surprise.


The thickness of the entire memory stick is the size of the plastic bit in the mouth of the regular USB memory stick! and . . . . it is 16G ! The cost? five cents short of $15 including postage from Singapore.
I have formatted this midget and it is now ready to be used. (Formatting makes sure that there are no Trojans lurking on the drive).
I love Ebay shopping!
AJ

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Morning light

I enjoy taking my dogs to the park for a walk and because they are big dogs and feel rather responsible for me, I walk early - before there are other people with dogs out walking! They are too strong for me should they decide to chase off any opposition! So far I have managed without a problem. The trouble is, as summer rolls nearer the daylight starts earlier and earlier! I will soon have to take one dog at a time "just in case" - but that means twice the distance for me! The dogs are always on their leads - or I would spend most of the morning trying to find them!
When we walk along the footpath the two dogs trot side by side and right at my side - so they look very well trained. That is until the outside dog decides to suddenly sniff at a tree trunk and shoots off to the left. The sudden pull manages to catch me off balance and I very nearly get yanked over the back of the dog that is still beside me (usually Byron). That might sound quite funny but I can assure you that it doesn't feel very funny at the time! Whoa!
Our morning stroll takes us into the Hinterland Park - which is deserted at this time of the day. Most times I do not see anything striking enough to take out the camera - which is always in my shoulder bag along with a collection of blue plastic bags for doggy-do pickups, and my mobile phone should I need rescuing! But one morning the light was beautiful and I managed to juggle the dogs - who both wanted to sniff different trees since I had stopped walking - and firstly captured the light racing through the trees in a small area of wetlands.
There is a saying "The best camera is the one you have with you" and this little camera is just so handy. It was left behind on the coach driven by my tour guide son, back in 2007 (I think) and was never claimed. I sent away for a battery charger and another battery and it has been my constant companion since then. I have no qualms about letting my little grandchildren use it. It seems to be almost indestructible! Besides which I love to see the world through children's eyes! So this camera is the one that lives in a handbag and when I am using the Nikon D90 it stays in there!
Another shot from that walk in the park is this one of a spider's web.
Not being able to play with depth of field with a little point and shoot camera, it is quite difficult to get a satisfactory picture of a web. Against the brightness of the sky it has disappeared and yet to my eyes it was quite visible. Another difficulty is with using the LCD screen as against using a viewfinder. Knowing that the focus is on the right part of the photo is tricky!
To be honest, I have used some of my Photoshop skills to enhance the colour. (If I hadn't told you, would you know?) Yes, another downside of a P&S camera is that changing the white balance and exposure to get the right results is not comparable with the controls on an SLR. But the photos were "almost there" and just needed a little warmth added. So "The best camera is the one you have with you" plus a little skill with Photoshop!
AJ