Category Archives: Photos

Zoom more?

3

The foxes will curl up in the middle of the garden and sleep, they will also stretch out and appear to be asleep. But I can’t get close enough.

I’m using a Tamron 70-300mm and right outside the back door this is the full view.

And this is as close as it will focus. Ignore the fact it isn’t in focus – the point was how much of the frame I can fill with his face.

Is another lens the only way I can get closer or would a converter be a good route?

Another post with fox in the title.

Reply

These are taken using the Sport mode and the remote control. This is why they are slightly wonky, out of focus and the foxes don’t look relaxed (relatively speaking). A robin swooped in for one – pity it didn’t focus better.

And two closer cropped from above:

These were all taken with the Canon 50/1.8 and have not been altered apart from resizing/cropping.

An image question

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Because J now has her (increasingly liked) macbook she also has iPhoto. This means it is worth my time creating something usable. So I am going through all the photos and putting them in a folder which will be their primary tag / keyword. Then I have the choice of what to use to create the libraries.
I’ve been looking at Aperture because it’s cheap on the MAS and that appeals. The trial version is quick, does events/faces/gps and more importantly does things like sharpen and some other basics which I use a lot. So this one program means I don’t have to open the image in a graphics program (usually PSE 8) to then save and do the next part with. The keyboard shortcuts look nice too. iPhoto has been slow each time I have used it and although it does some image changing that slowness annoys me. But both programs make galleries.
So, is it better to use Aperture to do everything and export the gallery for J to use, or to use iPhoto to create the gallery and use Aperture just for those images I want to enhance. Which would be better to use as the main program? I’ve used neither, I do like tinkering with images to learn, Aperture handles RAW so I can really mess with pictures and is at a price which is okay. I think the answer is Aperture but I have no idea of the real world bumps that will be there. Another opinion is always good to have.

Which way did you say it was?

9

The stairs have – until in time I forget – a new respect from me. I slipped, hurt my hand and partway down the stairs managed to stop the fall. I then saw the mess above and promptly fell the rest of the way down. (Later when I was back J said that I must have got religious because she heard me say something like “Mary mother of god”. I said there was no way I would have said that and P said that I hadn’t either, that I had very definitely used the mofo word. At least once.) Anyway, my hand either hit the end of a step or the end of a step and J’s stairlift or the stairlift rail. (The stairlift rail takes up about 1/3 of the available space). Fairly obvious I needed the hoispital so while J called D to get me there I came upstairs, took the required photos (as you do) and then sat in shock for a few minutes. Nasty thing is shock – worst I had was after a motorbike accident many years ago). Anyway, off to A&E.
At least down there it was easy to see what was wrong so I fairly whizzed through. 2 injections into the base of each finger after xray showed the really bent one wasn’t broken and the index was. Then the doc pulled the middle finger back into place – I felt it pop – and the index also – I felt a grind. The piece of bone that holds the ligament to the first knuckle from the hand is broken. Apparently that finger will flex back very well in time. The index has a splint, the middle has nothing. Thankfully the middle finger is stable and not wobbly at that first knuckle so the 10 layer finger-to-elbow plaster was not needed. Anyway, I have all the right painkillers for the next 24 hours as the worst comes and goes, the knuckle and underside of the middle finger are going dark and it is not possible for me to play Modern Warfare 2. Too painful. I may have to read instead. Typing feels strange too – having to use my left ring finger and I don’t type properly anyway so typos are a’plenty.

What was quite unusual was that while every nurse/doctor/radiologist/receptionist asked me what was in my hands and how I got them in there not one asked why. That made a very welcome change.