Tiny Vacation.

I've been meaning to get into some tilt-shift effects for a while now. Basically that means creating an artificial depth of field using post processing techniques. But up until recently it just seemed like a lot of work. Not so with tiltshiftmaker.com just upload your image and select the focal band. Of course, its pretty simple so you'll need to be laid out correctly. Quite a lot of my photos are already macro with healthy doses of DOF, so there's a limited selection of shots it'll work with. Here's a few of the best ones I've come across so far.

The Country Gets Its Blossom On.

Ah, that wonderful time of year when the leaves are filled with flowers and the streets are lined with slack jawed gawkers. I drove through downtown yesterday by accident and decided that maybe I should head back over on foot today with my camera. I like to think that walking with purpose separates me from the rabble pouring out of tour buses. 'No, I'm not here to see the monuments, and wander aimlessly. I have a goal and limited light, move.' But you can't wait for the endless line of visitors to clear from that perfect shot, so they usually just end up part of it. And I guess that's fine. Part of the spectacle of the cherry blossoms is the human contingent out to see it, right?

Photo Amble.

I wonder if I'll eventually feel less skeezy about walking around with no particular goal just taking pictures of random stuff.

Lady Killer Invasion.

Well, I saw my first ladybug of the year, folks. You know what that means. Its time to begin the vigil again and save the world from coccinellidae revolution. Sure you laugh now, but lets see you laugh when you have 7 ladybug assassins sent to dispatch you while you sleep.

And just cause I know you're wondering, yes it was very nerve wracking to get close enough to take this picture. I don't have a telephoto lens yet.

Snap.

Well, I pulled the trigger (or maybe I should say shutter release) on a new camera.  I've been thinking about it for a while now.  You may recall that I was debating buying a camera or a TV the year before I bought my TV.  Anyway, I did my taxes this week and decided it was time to get all up ons with a DSLR.  For those of you who don't know, that means 'fancy camera box'.  I went into the project thinking that I'd just spend my tax refund on it, but that's not gonna cut it.  Although it is cheaper than my TV was.  So far.  See, I went for the XTi kit which is the body with a 18-55mm lens included (so I don't have to shop around right away) for about a benjamin more.  All the reviews said it was an ok lens, worth about the hundred, but you get what you pay for.  So I will eventually want to get another lens, which at 300-500 for a reasonable one will boost me up beyond flat TV range.  But I figure I'll feel better about myself going out and taking pictures than sitting around watching movies.

Anyway, I hope to share a few nicer shots here once in a while, but don't worry, I'll still thrown down the angry diatribe now and then too.  It won't be a camera blag.  (Oh btw if you're lookin for a camera blag, DPS seems pretty cool.  I'm gonna look to do their weekly assignments if I can.  The first rule of photography club is 'don't talk about photography club')

Speaking of angry... I checked out my Picasa Web Albums the other day (clearing out space for all the great pictures I'm gonna have) and I noticed a new unlisted album called Daily Placebo.  It was a listing of all the images I'd uploaded to Blogger's servers since December.  There weren't an excessive amount cause I've been slacking a bit in the visual aid department, but there were about 50.  I did a little checking around and found this entry over at Blogger explaining what's up. They're commingling services so its easier to keep track of images you have hosted online.  Which is true, it was always tricky keeping track or managing uploaded content.  But I also see that they detract from the (granted, recently expanded) free space your account is allowed at Picasa Web.  And they're working to transfer all the images I've ever uploaded to Blogger into that account.  Whoa there boys.  I always liked that you could upload whatever to Blogger and have it hosted in perpetuity with no discernible limits.  I'm not really chomping at the bit to pay 25 bucks a year to host the trivial pictures that sometimes accompany posts on DP.  And I'm pretty afraid I'll fill up that 1 Gig of free space right quick.  I mean, I just bough a 2 Gig card and I think I may need another.

So I guess I'm not really angry, just surprised.  It would have been nice if they'd provided this as an opt-in kinda program.  I know that it'll take a while for 2k images to overtake my gig of free storage, but I'm a disk space scrooge.  ( Just picture me diving into a money vault of free disk space.  Oh man, I need to buy some Duck Tales)  I think its also a little off putting that I have three times the space for email as I do for pictures and I know for a fact I can shoot a gig of pictures in about three hours.

Captured Moments.

High speed photography is neat, and you get some especially intriguing shots during sporting events. Check out Sports Illustrated's 41 most interesting pictures of the year. Like this one of a defender giving someone the old reach around to try and prevent a goal. They're putting pretty high quality cameras every where these days.

• SI.com - Photo Gallery - The Year's Most Interesting Pictures

You may get to the point where you see the picture at my right and ask yourself "what the hell is going on there?" Well, that's "sepak takraw". Think volleyball and soccer all mixed up into one sport. Sounds pretty kick-ass, right? But they aren't just playing hacky sack over a net. They sometimes spike the ball with a bicycle kick and then land on their feet. Holy crap. Where can I watch me some takraw?

• Sepak Takraw - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Caption Mangling.

Its that time of year again; the best photos of the year from TIME. Most of the pictures don't really lend themselves to funny captions, but this one just calls out to me. "The make-a-wish foundation grants Eddie's last request. He gets to feed the velociratpors ."

• TIME: The Best Photos of the Year 2006