ziparumpazoo: Tree covered in pink frost (Default)
untitled-6684

I've been playing around a bit with Lightroom - it's about as complicated a piece of software as I can handle for post-processing without getting frustrated and finding something better to do. The other night gave me some really good material to work with:
low light, long exposures, and empty spaces... )

In other news... two things actually -
1. iOS7 seems to have killed wifi on my iPhone 4s. Which would be more annoying than anything if it weren't for the fact that some process or another is still running in the background that I can't kill and is draining my battery at an alarming rate. I've even gone so far as reset it to factory image, but no luck. We'll see what the Apple store people have to say about it today, even though it's off warranty. I feel naked without it at the moment.

2. Google's Photo is using Picasa as their in-browser photo editing tool now. This is probably old news, but new to me. I use the app and like it a lot for it's simplicity and control, as well as it not depending on a bunch of pre-set filters heavy on the retro look. (you can use those too, but they're not your only option)

*Eta: it's not iOS7 to blame, but one of the four hundred or so times I've dropped my phone that broke the antenna. Crud. Need Velcro fingers or something...
ziparumpazoo: Tree covered in pink frost (Default)
Went to go stargazing and this happened:

2013-5988

Six more of varying degrees of interesting )

Related, I got two separate requests for pre-orders on the yearly calendar I put together this past weekend. In years past I've just been uploading the photos to Walmart, filling out the template, and then having them printed at the closest store to whomever was picking up the order. Price/convenience/quality, it was the easiest, however now that I'm printing more than a handful, it makes sense to use it to partially finance my hobby. Just trying to figure out how to do it without a) a huge investment on my part, and b) not losing the trust of the people interested in the first place.
ziparumpazoo: (Angry Birds)
Excerpt from a recent email I sent regarding the bird situation in my yard:

Here the drama is unfolding this afternoon between a sparrow who wants the birdhouse on the play structures (and I can never figure out why such twitchy things like birds feel safe nesting where kids are climbing and yelling six inches from their eggs, but whatever), and the European Starlings that have already claimed the birdhouse and judging from how the noise has escalated from them this week, have eggs in waiting. The starlings sound like half-chewed squeaky dog toys. The robins, who are competing with the starlings over who has dominance over the choice branches in the willow, are upset with the killdeer next door, who are extra shrieky because the bunny has a nest of babies under the deck where the good rocks are and keeps chasing them off. And then in the midst of all this, there's some threesome flirtation going on between the little yellow finches, the female having forgiven the male last year from falling off the branch when he was courting her, or else she's found a new, less clumsy guy who can hold on to a branch in a strong wind, and last year's suitor is chasing them around the yard in a fit of either jealousy or woe.

I'm sure if I watched long enough, I'll see some interconnecting theme tying all these individual species' stories together like a Guillermo Arriaga movie.

The cast:
starling ...The Starling
killdeer ...Lady Killdeer
rabbit ...Bunny
goldfinch ...Jilted Finch
IMG_4318 ...Robin
ziparumpazoo: Tree covered in pink frost (Default)
From the front, they're these little espresso-cup sized birds with the red head tuft and the pretty song are cute, but from the back they might belong to the vampire family instead:
IMG_5397

spring is soooooo far off still... )
ziparumpazoo: Tree covered in pink frost (Default)
We are under a winter storm warning.
IMG_5291

pleased with my cheap knock-off Cokin graduated NDR filter )

Also, not sure if I've linked this before, but I did pick up a very cheap circular polarizing filter to stack with my more expensive once to make a variable ND filter. Works as advertised, and an easy way to determine if you'd actually get use of a neutral density filter without shelling out a lot of money.
ziparumpazoo: (Angry Birds)
Or rather taking pictures of them, apparently. I don't have any particular fondness for bird-watching, but they do make interesting and challenging subjects. I realized I have more pictures of birds from the last month of vacation, than I do of anything else. Here's a sample:

bird1
Clearly, this bird thinks it is Batman.

bird-spam heavy )
ziparumpazoo: Tree covered in pink frost (Default)
Because [profile] a_loquita, [personal profile] supplyship, and [personal profile] mrspollifax kept me up late last night (a real hardship, I know! ;), I was still awake while this very active storm cell passed overhead.

lightning3

will the last person out of Asgard please remember to turn off the bifrost? )
***
If anybody's interested, I'm thinking of putting together a post on how to photograph lightning and other bright night subjects. y/n?
ziparumpazoo: (DockPhto)
It's not that I'm taking any fewer pictures, just that I think I'm becoming more critical about which ones I release into the wilds. Probably the same goes for writing too; more time thinking about the angle and what I want to say than just dashing off words and being surprised at what comes out. I'd like to think of it as maturity, but don't tell that to the rest of myself.

IMG_4385
Winter wheat. Spring wheat is still green right now. I was really hoping for some lightning this morning, but couldn't hang around to see what panned out.

two birds and one moon )
ziparumpazoo: (Angry Birds)
Well most of them aren't kittens per se, but if it works for Sheldon Cooper...
Soft Kitty )

(*posted elsewhere yesterday, but kitties! yeah.)


ziparumpazoo: (DockPhto)
IMG_3834

So I'm by no means an expert on photography. I don't even know half the terms I probably should. I learn by experimentaion. "If I adjust this dial, the pictures look like this." "Oooh! That button does that, but don't ever do that in broad daylight or you'll burn your eyes out fool!" Stuff like that. I dislike Photoshop, not because I'm a purist, but because I don't have the patience (or spare time!) to learn how to make it do what I want it to do. So, I hack and slash at it until I can figure out how to make the pictures I want to make with the least amount of special equipment. At the risk of sounding pompous, one of my favorite tricks demonstrated below the cut:

Tricking the light (sensor), and other pictures )
ziparumpazoo: Tree covered in pink frost (Default)
And it's making me feel all twitchy. Gifted for Christmas, this is the loudest sweater I have ever owned. You could lose me in an electrical storm with this on:

I wonder if my family is trying to say something about my closet of browns, blacks, and forest greens? (with the occasional muted blue thrown in for color)


My 'little' brother is an arborist and a New Year's baby, so my sister made him a cake last week. Considering we come from a family that doesn't place a lot of value on art and the creation thereof and were never encouraged, she has some mad skilz with baked goods:
Tiiiiimmmmbeeeerrrrrrr! )
ziparumpazoo: Tree covered in pink frost (Default)
I probably have the best-documented, 10 minute commute ever. Or else I need to get out and explore a little more...but there's only so much free time and good light at this time of year.

IMG_3415
Something is afoot with these three. They've been frolicking and outright silly each time I passed their field in the last couple of days. They were a little camera shy this morning though.

I am a curious thing, I am )
ziparumpazoo: Tree covered in pink frost (Default)
But the rare years that is does, it's brilliant.


IMG_3223

three more )
~
ION, I'm trying this Dreamwidth thing again. Mostly because LJ's posting interface keeps eating my posts lately. I'm not leaving LJ, just being opportunistic and using the tools that are working. Also, pardon my journal stalking while I try to sync up both flists.

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