Listening to the Voices in my Head

Full Moon, December 25, 2015

This was the first time there has been a full moon on December 25th since 1977. The next time this will happen is 2034.

Composite image, 1st image focused on the bird, 2nd image focused on the rising moon.

Canon 7D2, 100-400 L IS II, 1.4x MkIII.

We have twins again!

Two Red Wattlebird chicks, offspring of the senior resident adult pair. (Canon 7D2, 100-400 L IS mkII, 1.4x MkIII extender)

Heading towards Dec 25 2015 Full Moon

Handheld Canon 7D2, 100-400mkII with Canon 1.4x mkIII extender using 'back button' focusing.

Olympus OMD EM1 Firmware 4.0 Focus Bracketing

As I typed yesterday, the focus bracketing update works exceedingly well when photographing a subject that is on a low horizontal angle, but doesn't do too well when your subject is vertical to the camera/lens.

Gear used: Olympus OMD EM1, Zeiko 12-50mm macro function lens. ISO 400, 1/8 exp, f/8.0. Processed in Photoshop CS6, loading into layers, auto aligning, auto blending.

Auto Focus Bracketing, 30 images, 4mm differential.



Manual focus bracketing selecting 30 focal points.



As you can clearly see, the orchid in the 2nd photo is sharper all over, whereas the Auto Focus Bracketing left a goodly amount of the image blurry. I'm quite sure that with a bit of erasing certain parts of the Auto Focused layers, you can get the same results, but that is for the more adept and patient photo editors.

Olympus OMD E-M1 with 4.0 firmware update.

First off, the update opened up a bunch of new things, like focus bracketing, and focus stacking (*a few addendums with focus stacking, but that will be later). Both are designed to allow you to use your macro lens, camera and tripod, taking multiple exposures at different parts of a subject, and then with software (Photoshop, Helicon) stack the images (hence the word focus stack) to make one clear sharp image from front to back.

I set my EM1 up to take some shots. I noticed that the Focus Stacking option was greyed out. A bit of research, and I discovered you can only use focus stacking in camera if you use the *Pro lenses, or the 60mm macro (I have the 50mm macro), and that you're limited to 8 shots. To me, that leaves too much of your subject not in focus.

Moving on:

Focus Bracketing: Allows you to take as many photos as you want (don't go nuts, or you will fill your card), but you will have to stack them in your software of choice. You can pick how far back you want the camera to focus (for this, I picked 20 images, 4mm).

What I found out, though, it doesn't work very well with a subject that is vertical with the camera/lens, that the subject has to be laying flat(ish) so the focus starts at the front of the object, and goes to the back, unlike manual focus stacking where you can pick different parts of the subject regardless if it's laying flat down, or standing up in front of your lens.

Keeping that in mind, leaving your subject flat(ish), the results are pretty damned impressive!

Boo is in the house!

Boo (named by a friend in the U.S., so I am exempt from the 'if you name stray, you have to keep it' rule), after almost 2 months of patience and caring, is now in the house. More specifically, in the large bathroom, with food, water, and as you can see, the Cubbycube.



Boo is a very lucky kitty, as he was abandoned. If I had called the council or animal control, since he is intact male, not microchipped, he would have been dubbed as 'feral' and put down, regardless of how friendly and loving he is. Does this look 'feral' to you?



He will be missed, but this little guy is a success story. Not every abandoned pet is given a new Forever Home, but this sweetie is.

Dear New Receptionist at South Street Vet

No, I am not 'refusing' to get the possibly abandoned kitty scanned for a microchip. I just don't think the poor mite would like to be caught, hogtied, and stuffed in my bike basket as I have made it abundantly clear I do NOT have a car, and Wing gets home after the vet is closed. And when he gets home it's between 9 and 10pm.

So, take to an after hours place? Sure, if you pay.

Yes, I know you are new there, but your phone skills leave much to be desired.

And you question my flyers lack of phone number? Sorry, but I don't post my phone number publicly anywhere, which is why I gave my gmail address.

Kitty in Question:

WARNING! This is a rant about unregulated guns

If after another mass shooting (no matter what political/social spin or 'reason' for said shootings) the first thing you do, is hold a '2nd Amendment Party' (ignoring the 'well regulated militia part yet again), you are part of the problem.

If the first thing you do is buy more guns, you are part of the problem.

If you all you do is offer thoughts and prayers instead of DOING something about assault weapons/universal background checks, you are part of the problem.

If you support politicians who want to deny health care to everyone but themselves, while voting down sensible gun reform, you are part of the problem.

The UK had a mass shooting at a school, killing dozens of children, and gun reform was passed by CONSERVATIVE government.

Australia had a mass shooting, killing dozens of people, and National gun reform was passed by a conservative government.

In the U.S., Assault Weapons ban enacted in 1994. The number of mass shootings drop.

8 years ago, the Assault Weapons ban allowed to lapse (Thanks GOP). And it's gotten to the point that there are more mass shootings in the U.S. than there are days of the year.


Just to name a few: 6 people shot and killed. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords critically injured...nothing done. Aurora Colorado, 12 people were killed and 70 others were injured. 20 babies and 6 adults slaughtered in Sandyhook Elementary School, CT.. nothing done. 33 dead at Virginia Tech.. nothing done. Charleston S.C., 9 people shot and killed.. nothing done. Planned Parenthood 12 shot, 3 dead. Now, San Bernadino shooting, 14 dead, 21 injured.. nothing done (with the notable exception of THIS one being called an act of terror, even when one done just a few days prior wasn't.).

All these shootings done with either assault weapons, high capacity ammo clips, and/or combination of both.

Correction, something was done. That ghoul, Wayne LaPierre from the NRA crawled out of the shadows and peddled more guns with catch phrases "Bad Guy with gun/Good Guy with a gun" (let's forget the two good guys with guns sitting in a diner who were shot and killed by bad guy with a gun.) NRA solution, add more guns to an overwhelming number of guns already out there. Rather like adding more whiskey to a drunk driving problem.

You want to use high powered assault weapons, trot your ass to a military recruiter.

You say you need it for protection, and you keep it in a gun safe? Sorry, it's not protection. This idiotic obsession with unregulated guns is deadly. This lust for assault weapons is insane. Do you really thing a Bushmaster is going to protect you from a tank or drone strike, or other military action? Do you really thing access to such a weapon will?

The days of when the 2nd amendment was needed is long past, and this amendment needs to be changed. Just like the amendment that allowed people to own other humans as slaves. And the amendment that gave women the right to vote. The amendment that got rid of the 3/5th of a person status for 'non-white' people.

Amendments can be and have been changed. The 2nd amendment is in desperate need of an overhaul that is long past due.

So, keep your thoughts and prayers, Governors, Senators, Representatives, and pull your thumbs out of your asses, and crowbar the NRA out of your wallets and decision making, and actually DO something about the problem.

Been updating/upgrading software.

If you don't want to get stuck renting CC from Adobe just to keep current with the latest Camera Raw files, there are some great alternatives. They all can be used as Standalone. Two can be used in Lightroom, and one can be used as a plugin in Photoshop CS6. (Earlier versions of OnOne work in CS5) Each one of them you can save the results to use in even earlier versions of Photoshop, or other photo editing programs.

On1 Photos Tools
DxO
CaptureOne.

Did some price checking, and two of them cost a little bit more than renting CC for one year, BUT upgrading them afterward cost less than Adobe's Rental program.

Dear Mr Rafael Cruz Jr.. pull your head out of..

Whatever ditch or orifice you have it.

You were asked about how the GOP is cutting off women's access to birth control, and your comments were not only dismissive, but self centered. You went on and on about how YOU and other MEN had condoms to use.

Hello? Women.. birth control. Or are you saying that only men can and should have the option of engendering children or not? That women can't decide to NOT get pregnant and take steps to prevent it?