March 26, 2010

Friday Apollo

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March 22, 2010

Assignment Monday: P is for...

"Póg mo thóin" of course!

Another macro image. When the novelty wears off, Mondays will return to its usual programming, which is spotty postings of random images.

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March 19, 2010

Friday "OMG It's Snowing!" Apollo

On the last day of Winter, I chose to exercise my privilege as the foodlady to torture Apollo. Don't be fooled by these pictures, he was NOT happy about having to wear goggles and boots.




Last year, it snowed here in Denver in April. And it snowed on the last day of Summer. Since September, we've had about 60 inches of snow. And the weather guys are saying we could get up to 18 inches today.
I don't mind too much, actually. But I'm definitely glad I didn't plan on a road trip for this weekend.

As a side note - I absolutely hate those boots made by Ruff Wear. The rubber part is stiff and it doesn't conform to Apollo's feet, and inevitably ends up on the top side, with the cloth portion on underside. Supposedly the doggy socks - yep they make them now - helps with that, but I don't believe it. I will be on the lookout for a better-designed set for next year.

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March 17, 2010

I visited the Arctics

And took pictures while I was there. Here's one from my trip. And yes, it was cold!



I'm having entirely too much fun with the macro setup.

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March 15, 2010

Assignment Monday

A few months ago I got a hankering to do some macro shots, but I didn't want to put a lot of money into a new lens that I'd use only occasionally because I have an eye on a pricey $10,000 camera - it hasn't even been released in the States yet. Expensive tastes. Anyway. I did some poking around and discovered that there are some very cheap workarounds called extension tubes. They range from $10 to $100 or so; I ordered the cheapest one for $10 - free shipping too - and eagerly waited for it. It was shipped alll the way from China.

When I finally got it, two weeks later, I tried it on my camera and...it didn't work! CRAP! I was pissed and confused. Kinda like how you'd feel if someone pissed on you.

Reading up on the extension tubes, I discovered that I needed an old fashioned lens with an aperture ring. Some of Pentax's newer lens don't have one because the camera's on-board computer can control that. And none of my lens have an aperture ring. At first, I was a little mad about that. What if the world ended and I wanted to be able to take pictures? But then I realized...I wouldn't have any way to charge up the batteries. Or download the pictures. My brain can be a strange place sometimes.

Back to the drawing board. I hit the ever-informative internet and found out that ALL of Pentax's lens are backward compatible up until a certain date - sometimes in early 70s, I believe. None of the other major camera producers can lay claim to this - they all change the mount system every few years. Hallelujah! I'm so glad I went with Pentax when I was first looking into professional cameras.

But I digress. Backward compatibility meant, in short, I could order an old manual lens very cheaply. I found and bought a nice 50mm f2.8 lens off Ebay for around $12. I actually got lucky with that buy - other similar lens were selling for around $40 or so. After waiting over a month (the seller took forever to put it in the mail), it finally arrived yesterday.

FINALLY!

Here's an image I took without the tube...
With the tube - the macro shot
Both pictures are of a pack of "gels" - translucent colored cellophane that's used to tint the flash.

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March 12, 2010

Friday Apollo

In 70s vibe giving me the stinkeye

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March 5, 2010

Friday Apollo

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A mix of personal-yet-not-too-personal blogging and photoblog.

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