Table Tennis from above

I was recently reading a book from a photographer who has a strong preference for shooting from above. This got me intrigued, and I also wanted to try it, however, I do not have the resource (or the nerves of steel) to rent a helicopter and strap myself inside the open door to shoot like that. I do, however, have a 6th story office window that overlooks a popular downtown square. A safe and easy place to start! So over the next couple of days, I will share with you some pictures I took from my window, all the while feeling like some kind of stalker! (Please note in advance that my zoom is not really powerful enough for what I was trying to do, but it's not bad!)

Every summer some lovely organization brings out various games and toys each morning that stay in the square all day. This even includes a Table Tennis (Ping Pong) Table! These two guys were quite good, and I'm very pleased you can actually see the ball as a ball-like object, not a vague blurr! (If you haven't spotted it yet, it's yellow and on the left side of the table, coming at the man in the plaid shirt.) I like action shots, I like sunny shots, and this fits the bill. I don't like the guy in the top left who is yawning, but I couldn't crop him out effectively.

1/640 sec exposure, f/5.7 aperture, ISO 125, 100mm focal length

Blurry bird

This little guy is out of focus. I may as well admit that right off the bat! However, there is a reason I'm sharing this anyway.

There are many steps involved in becoming a good photographer. One that I've been struggling with it right place, right time. In the past, a bird in flight has been nearly decapitated. With a faster shutter speed, this would have been a great picture, because the other elements are all there. He's well within the frame, the rest of the picture isn't too busy, there's no wires or other interfering objects. It's maybe a smidge dark, and issue that would have been exacerbated by a faster shutter speed, but that's a risk when shooting in the shade.

I was zoomed waaaaaay in and looking up about 1 storey to get this image and several other uninspiring pictures of this guy and others.

1/400 sec exposure, f/5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 85.2mm focal length

Random Saturday: Smilie

I recently had to open a new jar of peanut butter, and this is what I found when I took the foil off!

Happy eats to you too!

Lines, lines, everywhere a line...

So many incredible lines going on here!

I lined up the image with the lights across the top, and I think I should have used the top or bottom of the windows instead. I took several where I used one of the verticals as my point of reference, and that wasn't good at all, the whole picture ended up looking skewed.

1/100 sec exposure, 3.5 aperture, ISO 100, 9.2mm focal length

Spot the bird

Can you find the bird in this picture?

Remember that if you click on it, you get a larger image.


 (scroll down if you need help finding him)






Here's a cropped version. Spot him now? He's staring right at you!

1/400 sec exposure, 5 aperture, ISO 80, 47.5mm focal length

Introducing Lord B. Huffington

I don't think I have yet introduced you, dear readers, to my little Huff - the Lord Brambles Huffington. LBH, Huffington, or Huff, came to my acquaintance at Whippletree Junction on Vancouver Island over Christmas. He has already had some interesting journeys, meeting two dogs, taking a trip on the ferry, being relegated to the Greyhound with the "unwashed masses", learning to toboggan (he wasn't very sure about this "snow" thing), and then coming to work with me. I had declared April 4th to be Bring your Bear to Work Day. (It's much quieter than Bring your Son/Daughter/Child to Work Day.)

I will tell you that His Lordship was NOT impressed with the working woman's life.

Lord Huffingtong wasn't very impressed with the pile of paperwork I saved for him.

He declared this to be an inaccessible workplace, as the phone is not bear-sized, and no alternative options were provided. The keyboard wasn't good either, it's not really sized for bear paws, even small ones.

I'm a little worried about what Huff might have been telling Dexter, who lives at my work.

So there is a snapshot of LBH's day in the office! He was disappointed we didn't get a 2 hour lunch at the revolving restaurant, on the company tab. He thought we had to arrive too early and stay too long. He didn't like the quality of the pens provided (none were gold, or even silver, plated). And the decor was definitely not up to his standards. Not a single Victorian-era original piece of furniture and no originals by Picasso, Degas, or Michaelangelo.

Then again, our home isn't like that either. Poor, hard-done by bear!

Protecting your images from thieves

If you are like me and want to share your pictures with the great wide world, you might be wondering how you can make sure other people don't claim your work as their own. From my research, the short answer is: If you want a <i>guarantee</i> that no one can steal it, don't share it.

Okay, so now that we've gotten past that, let's assume that you are comfortable with some level of risk, but you'd like to at least make it difficult for someone to take your work. The following sites have various pieces of advice about how to go about protecting your stuff!

iPlus 360 has a quick explanation of 3 different ways to protect your work.

About.com has a page with many different methods.

BloggerStop.net has several methods. I don't agree with everything they say (I think watermarking is a good method, and they are negative about it) but it's worth a read anyway.

Note that watermarking doesn't have to be straight across the center of the image, the way it's shown on iPlus 360 above. That was just one example of how to do it. I would recommend not putting it too much off to one corner, or it can simply be cropped out of the way, but I'm sure you can come up with a compromise between those two extremes.

Random Saturday: Car

Last Saturday, a random house I passed. Today, a random car!

It's a cell phone picture, it's nothing fancy, photography-wise. But it's a really bright, cheerful car! (And it's parked on the yellow line.)

Brick and Shadow: Challenge Brick

Another thing I've been reading about is the power of side lighting. In my head, I always equated shadows with bad, but the pictures they use as examples are really stunning. So I thought I would try it.

It's very true that without the shadows on this stone brick, you lose most of the texture, and you don't get to see how rough and beautiful it is. I have to remember not to always shoot only in full light or full shade. 1/640 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length, macro on

Challenge Brick, take 3

Here's a 2-in-1 so I don't bore everyone to tears with a million days of bricks. Today, painted brick!

The paint here is cracking and peeling in really interesting ways - it looks almost like eyes and a nose. I also like the way the 2 colours work together. 1/320 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length, macro on

I admit it! This doesn't look like brick. You'll just have to take my word for it that that cracking paint is on brick. And looking very cool with the texture of the brick underneath and the cracking on top combined. 1/200 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length, macro on