Knuckledragger

/me sputters. BRB selling my GLite +DPS so I can buy a case of 12.

I own an EF 50mm F/1.4 and an EF 50mm F/1.8 Mk I. The F/1.4 has full time manual (nice) and USM (quiet focusing). It's really sharp when it wants to be (seldom when I want it to be) and has distressing tendency to backfocus. I almost always use my 580EX speedlite and its AF-assist beam when using my 50/1.4. The EF 50mm F/1.8 is noisy and lacks FTM. It does have hard stop infinity focus, which is essential for long exposures in the dark where AF is useless. The Mk I has metal lens mount and a distance scale window. It's construction is very similar to the EF 35mm F/2. It sells on the used market for a lot more than a Mk II, but far less than a 50mm F/1.4. The EF 85mm F/1.8 has a fair amount of CA (chromatic aberration) wide open, but otherwise kicks ass. </lens geek>

Let's see here... First two shots were basically unedited. I set a custom white balance in my camera by using a $4 Chinese knock-off Expodisc. That's why the street lights are such an intense white color. I got the "sun star" effect in the first one by closing down the aperture to F/22 and doing a 30 second exposure. The second shot was done at F/10, IIRC. Third shot was taken with my IR-modified PowerShot G2. Most of what you are seeing is the weirdness of infrared. I did spend quite a bit of time working over the levels and going at with the dodge and burn tools in PS. Level control is very important when working with infrared photos, I find. Shot #4 is again basically no edits. I did some spot-removal, that's all. The final shot is pseudo-HDR made from one RAW exposure in Photomatix, and then cleaned up in Photoshop. HDR gets a bad rap, but I enjoy it in small amounts. I tend to go for "subtle" HDR compared to the over-the-top cartoonishness that plagues so much of the technique.

I have to do about two acres of that. Damn, dude. --- I slept terribly, got up too early, packed up the car, caught a ferry boat, drove across the state, got home, felt like death warmed over under a McDonald's heat lamp, took a two hour now, just woke up and am now getting re-acquainted with my music system. I missed my Quads. Later tonight will be wah wah guitar, but right now it can has be food time please.

How long have you been listening to 'stats anyway? You must have started in high school. ..or whatever is the viking equivalent.

I'm leaving MV tomorro. I haven't taken nearly as many photos as I'd have liked, and edited even fewer [hello dead FireWire port!] That said, here's a few that I did get through: EDIT: Fixed some links. Click through for respective Flickr pages with tags notes and EXIF.

I have an Otari 1/4" 2-track R2R tape deck that has balanced (and only balanced, IIRC) I/O. Of course, I don't really use it. It has its own 19" rack-case and is heavy to Krell-like levels.

Shots I wish I took:

Welcome (back) to the world of photgraphy, Reks. Sorry about your ...well, you know.

Paid $65 for the privilege of my own "Geraldo" moment. No, not being thwacked in the face with a chair by a Nazi Skinhead. There's been a safe in the back of a closet in the MV cottage for longer than I've been alive. For as long as I've been in charge of the house, the safe has been open and empty. It has an interior compartment which was secured with a peculiar 19th century "flat steel" lock. The locksmith removed it in about 10 minutes, talked my ear off for another 20, and then gave me a bill. Of course the compartment was empty.

Shh. I forgot to post it yesterday.

ThinkGeek :: iCade - iPad Arcade Cabinet Now if they can just get it to run MAME...

Nice. Welcome to the 12L Club. Personally, I put a few carefully cut piece of scotch tape over the LEDs.