Real

Invert - Does any IPS do the trick as far as getting you closer? Im starting to get people interested in my work around here and I have had to make a few prints. Took a few smaller test prints to get the colors just right. only spent a few cents but since I do aspire to turn this into some sort of part-time gig with some more training and such, I think a monitor thats correct would be a good start.

Blowing out whites is stupid unless its done for a specific reason. I find a lot of wedding photos look great with the whites blown out because it gives it an airy, dream like state to the photo. However in general, even when I do HDR (which is the bulk of my landscape/macro shots) I only HDR it to get tone depth. Not to blow out the darks and whites and add that stupid grungy look. Yuck. HDR is meant to give you even more range than the human eye can pick up. Not destroy a photo. I like that photo. Im reminded of Stay Puff for the size and general shape.

Last few colors of fall and then the final photo - seed pod from dying flower.

Thanks for the sarcasm. Much appreciated. I hear it a lot. Its admirable to try and get the perfect image out of the camera on just the first try but its really nearly impossible. I think its almost harder with digital as opposed to film. Film you have a better chance since you have more control. Quite frankly on digital you have less control (though you have more options) simply because you cant control exactly how the camera processes the image. Not all the White Balance situations work well. Even on the best cameras. Same for exposure and metering. I think my black and white stuff I did on film came out better out of my camera than some of my stuff does with all the fancy options I have. Then again, I used a grey card and lots of other traditional things when I took my B&W images. I dont ever do that anymore. I just shoot it in RAW and let my program sort it out. I could do it before I shoot, but why?

Well, if you use digital, your camera is altering it and processing it anyways. You generally cant stop it from doing certain actions. On top of that, if you go back to original photography in a dark room, how could you get your photos from negative to paper? The act of using a enlarger and such would be considered "Post processing" since you control the output of the light on the paper. I did this in my first photography class. Processing is essential. Its nearly unavoidable.

I do a fair bit of stitching just never tried to do it that way. I recently rented a 10-22 and that was a fantastic piece of glass. Too bad I wouldnt utilize it enough to warrant the price tag on it. I need to get out, do some more macro while we still have things with flowers and such on them. Another few weeks and itll all be dead.

Ive thought about doing that kind of insane stitching. I have the telephoto lens for it now. Nice stuff. Hows the mill in color? Or was the color just not nearly as nice as B&W?

Scott Speed is quoted as saying that the speed didnt matter, I think Ill go with him. If they were going 100mph and several of them were racing that close, you'd still see that many in the accident. What killed him wasn't the speed, it was the fact that he launched head first into the wall. I have seen 50mph crashes in open-wheel racing (Indy or F1) that resulted in a car getting airborne and coming to rest upside down. What if a guy does so and as he comes down, his head lands on the roll bar? Or wedged against a wall? Speed contributed but not like people are thinking. The real reason wasn't the speed, it was 34 cars on a track made fro 28 tops. Really, should have only had 24ish. Yes, the race that track flat out which is in and of itself dangerous because it makes the race like a NASCAR restrictor plate race but instead of it being on a 2.5mi D Oval its on a 1.5mi D Oval. It contributed but they aren't going to slow them from 220 to 100. They would at most reduce them to 200 and really, Dan still launches head first into the wall simply out of dumb luck. His car rotated perfectly and he most likely sustained unsurvivable head / neck trauma thanks to the way his car landed. BTW that track had banking ADDED to it for NASCAR because it was flatter. NASCAR didn't like how flat it was and complained the racing wasn't good. Wait, racing wasn't good or safer? NASCAR does everything it can to increase the "racing" but racing means cars closer together. This is why we have restrictor plate racing because if we didn't, sure the cars would impact the walls harder but you wouldn't have "The Big One" at Dega and Daytona. You'd have 2-3 cars wrecking, cars doing their jobs dissipating energy and the guys maybe shaken up. But the leagues want close racing. In NASCAR, its not as big a deal but in open wheel its highly dangerous. Everyone's making the speed to be the problem. It wasn't even close to the core problem. Its too many open wheel cars all running at the same speeds in a very, very close group. They were going 4 wide.... four wide!!!! That's dumb. Had that been on a 2.5mi oval like Fontana, Michigan, etc - Dan Wheldon still has a huge chance to drive as long as he drives up over someones wheel and launches himself. But yes, with a lot more track you wouldn't see 15 cars in that crash, I will give you that.

I loved listening to Carmelo talk about how they are battling for the guys who dont make a lot of money. Or in his case, the players who make MAX. Really? You are fighting for them? No, youre fighting for your future even though just ONE contract @ max is enough to sustain multiple families for the rest of their lives. Lockouts in general are a joke. Im glad the NFL had some sense and realized "Basically any deal is good here" but the NBA, once again is showing their greed and idiocy. Canceling games and the players are looking like jack asses. I dont think the players realize what the owners sank into them. Taking chances with basketball teams and then striking it rich DOES entitle the owner to being RICH. Just like a successful business entreprenour who nails a great idea and makes a bunch of money. Players need to realize without any owners there is no basketball.

Absolutely love this phone. I bought the extended life battery for 25 when I got the phone. Now I can surf 4G for about 12 hrs straight. I went from 7-7 on a full charge and had my Fantasy Football app open and refreshing constantly from 1230 to 630. Such a fantastic phone.

The speed wasn't so much the factor. If you even slowed em down to 200 instead of 220, it was the way he hit. Once you get airborne in an open wheel car the head is now exposed in such a bad place. I have seen almost all of the deaths in open wheel racing of any significance and they all share an eerily similar thing - the car gets airborne and impacts a wall from the top. These cars can handle, distribute and dissipate 230+ mph hits IF they hit with the cars exterior, not the top of the car. The cars just aren't meant to get airborne but that's also one of the dangers in open wheel. Slowing them down isn't the answer. Nothing is really the answer. The cars are designed to break apart at impact and when they impact the sides, front or back, they do their thing and 99/100 times the driver walks away. In that 1 instance where they don't impact the wall like they should, you get this result. I've been around and into open wheel racing for 20+ years. The worst incidents weren't the worst because of their speeds but the uniqueness of the impact. Earnhardt, Greg Moore (VERY similar to Wheldon), Jeff Krosnoff (Cart wheeled against the catch fence - exposed his head more). I've witnessed quite a few in my years of watching, they've almost all been crashes unlike any others. Speed was always "there" but wasn't IMO the reason. Truly a tragedy and racing lost a great, great driver and persona. RIP Dan Wheldon. He did what he loved till the very end.

Yea, thats haulin. The way it takes that overbank between the dive loop and loop

Its done tomorrow, the BF3 that is. And yea, thats all I have as well. Downloaded the Forza4 demo and wow its perdy. Just one problem. Ever since I got into iRacing, I CANNOT race with a joystick anymore. I need a steering wheel.

Battlefield 3. I have a feeling I may skip Skyrim or pick it up for when Im done with Battlefield. But Ive waited a long time for this to come out. Ever since MW2 got old Ive wanted something more than a run and gun game. Treyarch butchered the COD series and in black ops sniping was a waste. Obviously because they wanted the "OMG RUN YOUR ASS OFF AND SHOOT!" style of play. Not my style. I like the team based, class based games. That and something with a bunch of realism. Bring on BF3. Been playing the Beta like crazy and it looks as good as Forza 4 and has all the makings of epic shooter.

Dont they use track like that for kickers too? Im betting thats either a piece for the final brakes or the block before the station and they just have to install the motors and kicker wheels. Could be wrong, but I thought at one point they had kickers with motors that were positioned vertically.

Just because you are great in the regular season or in meaningless games doesnt mean you are great when you need to be the most. Again, ask Lebron James. How many MVP's? Scoring titles? Im a Colts fan but I could tell you Peyton would swap out all of his stats for a few more rings. Romo still has yet to prove he can succeed when his team needs it most. I dont doubt hes got great 4th quarter stats but when it counts, he just doesnt have it. He still makes some terrible, terrible mistakes that by now he shouldnt be making at the rate he does. Im not trying to be a dick, I think Romo has a lot of potential. But...he hasnt conquered his demons when it matters most. 2006 - botched hold for game winning FG - But it was a respectable 89.6 2007 - NFC Divisial - 64.7 Rating 2008 - Final game of the year - needs to win to get in over Eagles - 55.8 Rating 2009 - NFC Divisial Playoff against the Vikings - 66.1 2010 - I wont even go there. But in his 4 playoff appearances his QB Rating is a 69.05. Ill dog on Peyton (whom I love) because his playoff record isnt stellar either. Hes a stats machine and while he hasnt had the best team ever at times, hes pushed them as far as he can push. Sometimes he failed, other times it was other players. But Peyton did succeed once. But Romo's "crunch" time stats are dreadful.

I have not begun to sell yet. Not sure how it works. I have some clients lined up for pictures i took of their kids racing but thats it. Not sure which way i need to go yet. Thinking about freelance as a side project.

Few more fun ones from a shoot a few days ago. Currently renting a Canon EF-S 10-22 Super wide angle. Pretty fun to play with, not that easy to get photos just right. Gotta work sorta hard to get the angles down. Looked like common house fly from normal eye but looking at macro, who knows. One more Carpenter Bee - this one finally was far more in focus. Little guy stood a lot more still this time. Even if the wind was pretty bad. My place of work flanked by the Maumee River and the Highlevel Bridge in the distance. Maumee Theatre Fun with framing.

Yes. Predicting that Romo will collapse is almost as sound as predicting the Sun will rise. Him and LeBron need to hook up and go on a hunt to find where their game goes near the last part of a game. Its just funny because Jones still stands behind him. Anyone else, hed have let go. I think hes got a man-crush on him or something. A BIG LOL to the Vikings too. That whole team chokes in the second half.

Is he? lol. Sorry, cant stand the Cheatriots. Tom is the best Qb to ever throw the slant/out routes - ever. Considering that makes up 95% of all the pass plays they complete. It works for them but he rarely throws anything other than 2, maybe 3 routes. But 4 INTs? I dont even want to hear about 2 of them being flukey, he shouldnt have thrown them or thrown them better. But I love that, in typical Brady/Patriots fashion, in the press conference no one assumed responsibility for that loss. Just "Sometimes the ball doesnt bounce your way" No Brady, maybe throwing 4 INT's lost your team the game. Own up to it sir, stop passing the blame. I cant talk about my team. We are down quite possibly one of the best QB's to ever live and could be beaten by a Junior Varsity High School Football team. My best friend is a Jags fan, we are trying to figure out if our teams will be combined 2-30 or not.

I still have a few, I will mold one later into a Magnum lift hill in his honor. As said, many of the Arrow rides are not looked favorably upon now but in their time, no one pushed the envelope farther or faster than they did. He was a huge part of paving the way for where we are now and HUGE contributor to the Golden Age of Coasters we experienced from the 80's to late 2000s. RIP Mr. Toomer. I will go ride Magnum at least 8.1 times next time I am there.

Auto bracketed yes: -2 @ f/10 1.6sec ISO 500 -1 @ f/10 3.2sec ISO 500 0 @ f/10 6 sec ISO 500 The shot of the ride in motion: Custom @ f/10 1/2sec ISO 250 I shot the first set in 500 by accident. I should have had my ISO down to around 250. I have been finding out that HDR at night requires you to under develop your shots. Too much brightness will get blown way out in HDR unless you control it there - which can be done. You wont get the cool color bands if you shoot longer than about 2/3rds a second. 1sec and it all blurs together. Its gotta be 1/2sec or shorter. I then processed that shot in all 3 programs for the end result.

Hey, it produces some nice shots! Actually, for HDR, I figured the mast would look really cool since its illuminated all the time by the lights above. Threw in the photo of the chairs and it came out really cool. I have 2-3 others but lens flare killed them. Still working on that. HDR at night is pretty hard I've been told by a few pro's over on G+.

Trust me, the camera didnt do the bulk of the work here. Was a lot more technique involved with these shots. WindSeeker HDR Here's how I got this one: 3 photos of the tower BY itself. Just 3. I could have done 5 but the lights at the top were changing soon and I wanted to make sure all of them had the same color light. I then took a picture of the ride up in swing - just 1. I processed the 3 photos through Photomatix Pro and then brought that into Photoshop. I then layered the the photo of the swings on top and changed the layer properties to lighten. Truthfully, I don't know what it did except it basically layered the two together perfectly. Brought it back out of PS and into Lightroom since I prefer my controls there and finished my editing. Voila, final product. HDR Windseeker. I think its pretty sweet. WindSeeker HDR

Few more before I head up to Cedar Point tonight for some Halloweekends pictures. Looks like the clouds are breaking and even if some hang around that should provide some eerie scenes.