I’ll send you pictures instead.

They married on a blazing hot day, in a private enclave, on a beach on Jamaica’s north coast .  From what I can tell, it was casual, relaxed - no long boring speaches - and fun.  Good luck to you both, JJ & J.

Yesterday evening I went in the garden to shoot flowers.  The ones I took in sunlight were as sharp as a tack.  The ones I took in shade had noise.  I should have moved the white balance, not just the cloud setting.  Keep practicing, shutterbug.  All the Photoshop in the world won’t completely repair a bad picture. If you notice with the dark white flower - I think it’s an azalia but don’t quote me - I tried to lighten it but only managed to create noise, whereas the flowerbeds were perfect.  So there you have it.  Hope it helps you, too.


]]> http://ceconn.com/say-cheese/2008/08/01/my-take-on-canon-powershot-sd1100-is/feed/ http://ceconn.com/say-cheese/2008/07/22/canon-powershot-sd1100-is/ http://ceconn.com/say-cheese/2008/07/22/canon-powershot-sd1100-is/#comments Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:00:14 +0000 shutterbug http://ceconn.com/say-cheese/?p=182

Winning On their Minds

After fawning the way I did over the previous PowerShot, I wasn’t happy with it after all. I took it to a bicycle race shoot. It just didn’t perform as I’d hoped. Most of the shots were blurry. No wonder. It did not have image stabilization. Why was I under the impression that all point and shoots had IS? Probably because in the old days, when I was using my 35mm film point and shoot, I’d never heard of image stabilization and my pictures turned out real nice every time. Times change and not always for the better.

I’m practicing with this camera as I am going to Europe and want to take a picture of everything. This camera also has a viewfinder which is nice for people like me who’d been accustomed to using a viewfinder rather than live-view.

I’ll take it out again tonight for a bike shoot and we’ll see how it performs. I’ll keep you posted.
Bike shoots are not easy because what I really want is that perfect blur. That is, the cyclist is sharp but the background is blurry. As you can see from my previous post, I got the ideal blur with that one cyclist. Let’s hope I get a lot more tonight.

I will report tomorrow.

I’m so excited.  I got a new toy, namely a point and shoot.  Why a point and shoot?  Because we’re going on a trip overseas and will be travelling around.  As much as I wanted to take my big camera, it’s heavy and the lenses are heavy and the backpack is heavy.  It’s just too much to carry.

Being a “Canon” person, I bought a PowerShot SD750.  It is so cool.  Why, it even does film clips.  That is very useful especially when you create photo shows.  Stills interspersed with video can be very effective, I should think.

It’s a lot to learn with all the features packed into this little thing.  Oh well, I’ll be happy for the next little while, I’m sure.  Just as soon as I figure out how to use this little gem.

During the summer, all summer long, every Tuesday night, there are bike races just up the road from here. It’s a fun way to try your hand at panning, which is what I like.

I have to say, it’s a whole heap harder than it looks. For example, you see a group of bikers coming round the corner. Choose a rider to focus on, press your shutter release button half-way down, thereby focussing on that one rider. Without releasing the button follow your focussed rider until he is right in front of you, click the shutter and continue to follow him with your camera after you have released the shutter button. That should give you a nice motion blur all around the rider but have the rider in focus.

I don’t mind telling you, it takes a few tries.  My problem is always the same - I tend to click too early.  It takes some discipline to wait till he’s right in front of you - click - then follow through.  This picture gives you an idea as to how it should turn out.  Notice the blurred background with biker and bike in focus.

Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t turn out the way you’d hoped.  Like everthing else, it takes lots and lots of practice.

Well, that’s the joy of a digital camera.  Click away - no worries about using up film.

Charlie and I got to Square One about 6AM.  They were still setting up but there were quite a few people there already, warming up, jogging up and down a little.  The portable toilets were all set up waiting for them.

The crowd kept gathering.  In the end there were nearly 12,000 participants.  Mayor Hazel McCallion gave a rousing speech urging them on and then - BOOM - the cannon went off and the marathon began.

You just have to admire that woman.  She is 87 years young.  Her voice is strong and so is her handshake.  She has run Mississauga for the past 25 years or more and never campaigns.  Despite that, she ends up with 97% of the vote.  Go figure. 

Back to the race.  As soon as the cannon roared, they were off.  I can only imagine running for 42 kilometers.  Are you kidding?

We drove around to what we thought would be a good place to take en-route pictures.  After waiting and waiting, I started to take other people’s pictures and, wouldn’t you know it, Arnold came whipping around the corner and I MISSED HIM.  He yelled out at me but he went too fast and I couldn’t take the picture in time and then he was gone.

The nice cop at the corner talked to Charlie and suggested we go to this other place to hopefully catch Arnold again.  It worked.  We had just parked the car and I had just got to the front, focused and - tada - he was there and I got him.

Well, now it was time to head to the finish line.  After being stuck in traffic, we ended up turning around and taking another route to the park where they will be ending up. We found Jo or, should I say, she found us.  We waited and waited and finally I saw him.  Wouldn’t you know it? I was stuck behind some people and no matter how much I yelled  “Move!”, they didn’t and a blurry picture was the best I could do.

Well, it’s better than nothing, right?

I’m sure I’m speaking for Arnold when I say that this day must have been one of the highlights of his life. After all, you never forget your first time, do you?

Good work, Arnold and Jo.[slideshow=id,width,height]

Anyway, here are a few for sharing. Enjoy.