Playing with equipment

Some months ago I purchased a "macro/wide lens" from a seller on EBay. A true Macro lens costs hundreds of dollars but this combo set of lenses cost me a huge $45. I haven't used them much because I had a loan of a Canon D40 that was fitted with a true (expensive) macro lens. I have had to give that back to the owner so my cheapie set has been brought out of moth-balls!

This is what I am talking about. The macro/wide lens is in two parts and can be used together or individually. I used the wide lens last week on interior shots for a holiday resort. It did the trick! Of course there is a fair bit of lens correction to be done to remove the fish-eye effect of a wide angle lens. Today I was trying out the macro and I will show you later what I mean by "lens correction".
To begin with I tried the macro (the picture above left) on its own on text.

Then I removed it and moved the camera further away so that I could take the same text without the lens - I positioned the lens as close as I could focus, which was quite a long way further away from the page.

As you can see, I have indicated the coverage with the macro lens - and you can see from the two photos of the camera, the distances from the page. I used one of the children's rulers to show the relative distances.
From text I moved on to flowers. I selected some carnations out of the bunch.

On the left, no macro and as close as I could go to focus on the centre flower of the three. The picture on the right is with the macro and on wide angle - 17mm with the camera as close as I could focus. - very similar distances to those pictures of the text.
From that same distance I zoomed in to 55mm and here is the result.

Because aperture used has a huge effect on the depth of field I had selected f/14 and let the camera decide the Speed. for all the photographs Manual focus was used and the wireless remote was also used for every shot. I wanted to avoid any camera movement that may be cause by me pressing the button.
Then I put the "wide" part of the lens onto the macro lens and from a distance of35mm to the nearest flower, this is what I captured.

The picture on the left is as it was taken - the lens is so wide that the edges of the housing are included in the shot. In Photoshop Elements I used Lens Correction to remove the barrel distortion, then cropped the image which resulted in a very natural looking photograph of a bunch of carnations (actually they are "pinks" which is a cousin of the carnation!)
If you want to see the pictures larger, click on the first of the pictures and you will be able to view each of the pictures by either clicking on the pictures at the bottom of the screen or by using your arrow keys.
My goodness! I do ramble!
AJ

Photo play

I just love taking photographs and my second love is manipulating them to get the best from them. Personally I am not one for black and white photography. I love colour! After seeing a particularly striking photograph this morning that looked so much like a photo that I took on my travels last month I decided to do a bit of black and white conversion. The photograph that inspired me was of a stand of trees backlit, the sun was forming a bit of lens flare in the centre of the picture. My own photo of a stand of trees was taken just as the sun was sinking low in the sky behind me. I loved the pattern created by the tress and by their shadows.

If you were to look at earlier postings in my blog you will find a similar image taken in this same stand of trees of a sunrise. The effect is very different.
Many people, when manipulating black and white images, go for very strong contrast. Heavy blacks rather than bright whites. I prefer a softer look - but I guess we are all different!
Another aspect of photography that I enjoy is capturing a subject with a very narrow depth of field. This next picture is also from my same trip - and even taken on the same day! These are the sorts of photographs that can be enjoyed "at the moment" but when my family take a look through my legacy of shots would be tossed aside in favour of shots of people!

The focus is so narrow that only part of the head of the grass is in focus - and yet the other grasses give an atmosphere of place.
I like this - but my family (my critics!) would want to know why I took it! (And not really want to know!)
AJ

Feeling crafty

Yes! The girls were packed and waiting when I turned up on their doorstep and became quite impatient when Colin and I sat down with a coffee to chat with their mother!
Once we were on our way we called in to do a little shopping and I gave each of them three dollars to spend in the "cheap shop". It took ages to choose something! That made walking around the grocery shop far more tolerable for them! Unfortunately for me Woolworths had run out of their cheap bread so we had a second grocery stop this time at Aldi. Colin stayed in the car with the children while I went in. That way I was able to leave the car running and the air conditioning on! I gave a sigh of relief when I encountered several displays of Easter chocolates! It would have been difficult dragging the children away from them!
I did weaken at the sight of an Easter activity book for $2.99 and into the trolley two of them went!
Once we were home the girls were eager to get onto the activities.
Little baskets and models were made from the push out card shapes but when it came to the tracing I made thick card shapes from the designs and the children drew around them before cutting out the shapes from coloured copy paper.

Kayla is cutting and sticking the paper shapes she has drawn and cut out.
I was amazed at how long the children worked on these paper projects. They are quite difficult and involve a bit of curling and folding too but I only had to show them once and they were able to do it for themselves.
Here is what the girls are making.

Chantelle holds her paper daffodil for the camera. We had to stick a thin strip of firm card along the back of the stem because the flower was a bit heavy for it. The circle of paper is enough to make the daffodil stand upright.
Going to bed is not easy! It is half an hour since they were tucked in and goodnights were said and they are still keeping each other awake! They don't normally share a room but when away from home they are happier together! But for the fights over the bed clothes! I will go and settle them. They have another exciting day ahead of them for tomorrow.
AJ

Home and hosed

It is so strange that now I am back home I have less time to write in the blog than I managed to find while I was away. The children came around through the day and I always like to find plenty for them to do. They are both computer savvy so I have downloaded a great little game that the seven year old really enjoys. It is called Easter Eggstravaganza and is a "hidden object" game which is exactly the right amount of difficulty for her age group. (I can't find some of the objects so it is too hard for Granny!)
The five year old was having fun with one of the on line games from ABC Games that required my presence over her shoulder. The attention span of five year olds is very much shorter than that of seven year olds!
In the evening we met and entertained a friend of my son's and finished up with Colin asleep in the lounge while I caught up with the one episode of "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" that I had missed last week. (We have a Tivo that can be set to record any number of programs, I never miss mine!)
Today I will be driving over to pick up the little girls again. They are on school holidays and I have told them they can have two sleep overs together so they are quite excited about that! They will be clock watching because I also told them that I would be at their house at ten o clock and they were to be packed up and have their car booster seats ready for that time!
So no photos for today's blog but with the sun shining today I have no excuses! Except that I will not be putting any photos of the girls in the blog (at their mother's request). Its a pity because they are very beautiful little beings and I love them to bits!
AJ

On the road again

The little red Corolla was working hard today. A reasonably early start from Taree took us through some beautiful green and healthy countryside - which we didn't allow time to stop and photograph - because we were "on a mission"! The evening before we had been aiming to reach Karuah and the oyster sheds so that Colleen could get a few dozen rock oysters. Unfortunately it was after six when we got there and of course, nothing was open! Great disappointment. However we did a little exploring and noticed the setting sun making a beautiful display over the estuary. I couldn't help myself, the car was stopped and I took several pictures. Here is one of them.

We reached our motel in Taree soon after eight - it was just as well I had run earlier in the day to warn the proprietor that we would be late and our approximate arrival time. We were only ten minutes later than my estimate!
We were surprised to find that we had exactly the same motel room that we had stayed in on our trip down to Canberra.
Next morning the sun was rising behind the paddock of cattle through the trees behind the motel. I had glanced through the small window behind the kitchenette and noticed the mist on the ground and the glow of the sun on its way. I grabbed the camera and dashed around the end of the building and down across the lawn to the stand of tall trees and rattled off half a dozen shots as the light changed.

I tried all kinds of different things - with the trees and with a few and will only a couple. It would have been good if one of the cows had come close to the fence that was just behind the trees - but apart from looking up to see who was looking at them not one of them moved any closer!
This shot is half way through the stand of trees. A little later and the sun was up and the pattern of shadows across the grass made yet another great shot!
We drove into a coastal town called Nambucca and found Colleen her oysters. They are freshly "shucked" (what a horrible word!) this morning and put in brine in bottles - so she has eight dozen of them to enjoy! We put them in the car refrigerator to keep them cool.
Just as we were about to turn off the highway onto the Linkway at Mudgeeraba the phone rang and it was Colin! I was able to ask him to get Colleen's car up to the road so that we could transfer her case from my car to hers. A cup of tea and a chat and she was on her way to Brisbane in her own vehicle.
It has been a great week and I appreciated her company on the long drive down and back again.
AJ

Last day of the Canberra Convention

The last morning of the convention was really (and I mean REALLY) interesting. Firstly we had a young man speak who talked about the cameras he used for different video projects. This was of major interest to all the “tech heads” especially when Patrick Gallagher talked about the really expensive high definition cameras and the little toy that has become so useful for adventurous video makers, the Go-pro (or some such name!!!!) The camera is tiny and can be strapped to bike handle bars or the toe of a surfboard or on the dash of a car that is dropped from a crane and it will survive anything that it faces. Several speakers through this week use one for awkward or dangerous angles.

After talking about the cameras used for short film making, Patrick went on to talk about the cameras that were used in Parliament for recording proceedings in the chamber. He is one of the camera operators and they work from an office below away from the proceedings and controls eight cameras with joysticks and buttons to change feeds from one camera to another.

The second speaker was one of the coordinators of ABC Open. This is an exciting project that is less than two years old and is in 45 regional centres around Australia. The program is aimed at both teaching people who have never used computers, cameras or the internet how to use them by giving projects and the means to complete them. The spin off is that there are now lots of fascinating stories of real people that can be accessed by the people who created them and the rest of the world too. I must find the web site and take a closer look at what has been done there – it all sounds so exciting that I want to be involved myself! I believe the address is http://open.abc.net.au  but I will check and edit this link if it is incorrect.

Colleen was waiting for me when the sessions were over and after lunch and farewelling as many people as I could we packed the car and set off for Taree. Of course we managed to strike the peak hour traffic but it was never stationary so although it was a long trip we made base by 8.20pm (we left about 2.00pm) After checking in we raced into town to the Chinese Restaurant we so enjoyed on our first stay here and luckily found it open.

We took a photo of ourselves as we waited for the meal to be cooked!

 Cheesy grins to a hand held camera from AJ and Colleen

The food was brought back to our motel room – which again is the same room we had when we first came through Taree! Room 16. There were real plates and metal cutlery so we dined in style! The family are all eager to have us home! The phone has been running hot! It took us eight hours to get here from the Gold Coast so I guess it will take the same length of time to get back there. That is including time for stops along the way – and lunch. It has been a great week.

AJ

Video talk

Being in Canberra makes me appreciate the heat and the humidity of the Gold Coast! Thursday morning was foggy – not foggy like I once encountered on the Yorkshire Moors where visibility was so limited I couldn’t see the other side of the two lane road or even whether there was a corner ahead, but foggy like steam on spectacles! I think I had my coat on for the best part of the day – and I was indoors! (complain, complain!) Sitting still does not warm you.
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A lot of “Official” stuff was dealt with in the morning. Nothing was changed and nothing improved. I really have no idea what my official role is supposed to entail. When the issue of judges was raised and the FAMM president asked if clubs would appreciate having twelve FAMM approved judges to pick from to judge their major video competitions there was a very negative reaction. So amazed was I by this response that I swallowed my own ideas on the subject. I get a distinct impression that these club members are unwilling to accept change and jump in to stop any suggestion of change. Sigh.
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There was a fair bit of discussion about music and copyrights. It is a difficult issue and a real problem for amateur video makers who wish to show their videos to fellow club members and most likely only shown the one time, without fear of reprisal. The majority do not like the Royalty Free music that is available because they need music that dominates the sound track and Royalty Free music is not designed for that, it is for creating a mood and is usually quite short.
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Videomakers need friends who can create music. I would imagine there are composers around who would love to try their hand at creating a musical sound track for a short film. The difficulty is . .. . . to find someone!

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Two excellent speakers gave inspiring talks to us. One, a young man with lots of passion and ambition is sure to go places because he has so much confidence in his abilities and so much energy to see that it will happen. I am sure we shall hear more about Daniel Sanguineti.
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Our second speaker is a scientist with the CSIRO and he also is responsible for a short (science)film festival. As well as showing some of the incredibly crafted videos from previous competitions he talked about the sorts of things that video judges looked for. It was a valuable talk.
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Later in the evening we watched more videos that had been sent in by the Video Clubs – each club sent along the five best movies from the past two years (the convention is held biannually) and when the lights came back on the winners were announced. One video was awarded first prize but the club that won the coveted FAMM Shield was the club that acquired the most points from the scoring of all five videos.

This year the shield went to Newcastle Video Movie Makers.

AJ