"Do not wait;
the time will never be just right."
~ Napoleon Hill ~
Image by: mnapoleon
Operation: Hijacking the Camera
Some of you may have read my post lamenting the fact that my hubby Chris bought a new camera and hasn't been sharing.
Well….
He went out of town! So I snagged it and started a little
experimenting. I’ve only got a few days before soccer season starts in order to
figure out how to take amazing pics. The new camera is a Sony SLT-A65V, and it’s
actually the new-and-improved version of my old camera. So I’m already familiar
with some of the buttons and functions. But there are quite a few new options
that I’d never seen before. Like the Sweep Panorama!
To use it, you have to pan the camera in one direction as it snaps continuous shots of your scene, creating one panoramic image. I tried it first just holding the camera in my hands, but the end result was too blurry. So I attached the camera to our tripod and tried again.
Using my favorite free photo editing software, Picasa, I zoomed in and cropped it to see how clear the picture really was, and I was amazed!
Pretty crisp, right?
Now the most important function for me to be familiar with is taking continuous action shots. Unfortunately, I was home alone looking out on a very inactive backyard.
Hmmmm…where could I find a cooperative action
model. Someone willing to work with me…
Okay, Oreo wasn’t exactly willing. But he said he’d humor me
as long as he was paid well with treats.
I already knew this camera would take better action shots
than my old one because the manual says it can record 10 images per second! I
took Oreo into the backyard with me and told him to stay…
COME!
(My daughter Ashleigh says he looks like a bunny here.)
Ooooh, the agony of running...
Yuck! They're so blurry! I wonder if I'm doing something wrong? I’ll have to investigate this more later.
Meanwhile, I moved on to testing the differences between the
AUTO, AUTO+ and MACRO settings. When I think MACRO I think flowers. So I took
three pictures, one with each setting, of my purple petunias (which despite our
massive heat wave and my brown thumb, have continued to flourish). I honestly
could not find any real difference in picture quality between them.
AUTO
AUTO+
MACRO
But I found a HUGE difference in the quality of images I cropped. Here's the original shot I took of my mother-in-law's day lily:
And here it is zoomed in and cropped. Check out the awesome detail! It must be the higher pixels.
This will come in handy when I have to take shots further away from the action and I need to crop them later.
Overall, I’d say Operation: Hijacking the Camera has been a
success. Saturday is the big day. The first soccer scrimmage of the season.
Wish me luck with MY new camera! Bwa, ha, ha!
All Photographs © Holly Bowne
Motorcycle Mama
I’m not ready for this and I feel an eye twitch coming on.
It’s our first summer with both kids having jobs. When our oldest
got her first job, we established a 50-50 rule. Fifty percent of each paycheck would
be saved for college, the other 50% was theirs to divide between spending, personal
savings goals and charity.
On a recent sunny afternoon, our newly employed, just-turned-18-yr.-old
son Joshua casually said, “Guess what I’m going to use my 50% for, mom?”
“What?” I asked, only partially listening.
“A motorcycle!”
“What?!” He had my full attention now. “Noooooo, Josh!
You’re---you---you can’t… You’re only eighteen!” I sputtered.
He arched a brow.
“You haven’t been driving long enough.”
He raised his other brow.
“It’s too dangerous.” I shook my head. “You could have an
accident and die!”
“Mom,” he said calmly. “You’ve always said, if your number
is up, it’s up. So if I’m meant to die in a motorcycle accident, then that’s
the way it will be.”
AAAARRRRGHHH! Why…WHY do our children throw our own words
back in our faces this way!
“All right. That does it. I’m telling!” I stormed out of the
room in search of his father.
“Chris!” I said, finding him working on his laptop in the
family room. “Do you know what your son just told me?” And I informed him of Joshua’s completely
scary proposal.
I should have known better.
I finished speaking and noticed an eerie light glowing
behind his green eyes. Turning back to his laptop, his fingers flew over the
keyboard for a moment. Then without a word, he picked up the computer and went
to find Josh, me trailing in his wake.
“Hey buddy?”
“Yeah, dad?”
“Mom just told me what you want to do.” Chris sat the laptop
down in front of Josh. “I just found this motorcycle safety class we can take
together next month.”
“What?!” I shrieked over Joshua’s “Cool!”
“You’re helping him?”
What is it about boys and motorcycles? Chris didn’t even
have the grace to look sheepish! Within days they’d both purchased helmets,
gloves and Josh bought some sort of armored motorcycle jacket to wear.
Here is Chris (not Josh!) wearing his helmet in order to get
used to it while they watched T.V. together. Ugh!
A couple of weekends ago, they finished the intense safety course. Enduring 90 to 100-degree temps wearing full regalia, they put in twenty-four hours of skills training and testing plus an hour-long written exam requiring a minimum score of 80% to pass.
I must confess, I was proud when I learned that with each
phase of training, people dropped or got knocked out, but both my boys made it
through. (There was even a guy who’d been riding motorcycles for over 30 years
who failed the course!)
But now…NOW they’ve each obtained their official motorcycle
licenses, and Josh is using his free time everyday to scour the web for used
motorcycles.
Yesterday, I observed him as he sat hunched over the laptop.
“So Josh, do you think you could give the same passion and intensity to--”
“Nope!” He answered without looking up from the screen.
“How did you know what I was gonna say?”
“Because I know you, mom!”
“Well, I’m just thinking if you gave that same intensity to
your homework—”
“Mooooom!”
“Gee, it’s only college.
Your future. Your life. Nothing compared
to a motorcycle.” I grumbled.
“Yup.” He grinned, still not looking at me.
Brat.
Quote of the Week
"Rose colored glasses are never made in bifocals. Nobody
wants to read the small print in dreams."
~ Ann Landers ~
Image by: rnjtc1
Up, Up & Away
My hubby Chris had a business trip to Germany not too long ago. On the day he was leaving, he studied the clock and informed me, “It’s about 5:30 p.m. now. We need to make it to the airport by 8:15 p.m. at the latest. That should give us just enough time to get there and back before I have to leave.”
“Get where?” I asked.
“Howell.”
“Howell?! Why do you want to drive all the way to Howell right now?” (Just for the record, the city of Howell is a good 45-minute drive from our house.)
“To get pictures of the hot air balloons taking off,” he said with a grin.
The city of Howell hosts a Hot Air Balloonfest every summer. We’ve only gone once before, but it was pretty amazing. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked, doubtfully.
“Yup,” he said, gathering the camera equipment.
You see, Chris got a new camera--er, I mean I got a new camera. It’s a Sony SLT-A65 and it ROCKS!! I keep saying “I” in an attempt to eventually psych him into thinking that it really is MY camera.
Up until he bought this particular one, every other camera he’s bought over the years has been as a gift for me. Unfortunately, I admit it; I’ve never been particularly good at sharing them. I think Chris just got tired of my selfishness, so he went out and bought himself this new-and-WAY-improved version of mine. It’s so phenomenal!
We both love taking photographs! While I’m not a professional, I enjoy playing one on vacations and at my kids’ sporting events. And if I’m being totally honest, I also enjoy the ecstatic appreciation I get from fellow team parents whenever I share the awesome shots I’ve managed to get of their kids in action at said sporting events.
I’ve been so busy though, I haven’t had a chance to really
try out the new camera. Chris, however, has been playing around with it for
months now. He promised he’d share as we journeyed to the Balloonfest.
He didn’t.
Probably getting even with me for all those times I wouldn’t
share (even though he claims that wasn’t the case.) Says he simply got caught
up in taking photographs. Like this awesome shot!
And this…
Check out the super clarity he captured using the…er, MY
200mm zoom lens!
Somehow, some way--even if I must resort to subliminal
messages while he sleeps--that new camera will be mine. Stay tuned. Bwa, ha,
ha!
Photographs © Chris (Sigh. Not Holly. Sigh even bigger.) Bowne
Photographs © Chris (Sigh. Not Holly. Sigh even bigger.) Bowne
Quote of the Week
"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man
contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral."
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ~
Image by: Snowpeak
Quote of the Week
“If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it;
every arrow that flies feels
the attraction of earth.”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~
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