Monday, May 31, 2010

Super weekend in Kingston


Jule and I went back to school at Queens "Mini U" and got to hang with the parental units. Great fun! No biking, though.
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You don't see this every day ... Smoke!

Morning commute - Smoke!


Forest fires near Montreal have the whole of eastern Ontario covered in a blanket of stinky smoke. It was hard to breath on the ride in.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Victoria Day & our 28th anniversary weekend

It was a sunny 34C with the humidex. The first poppy of the season greeted us. It was a day to take it easy. A day to sit in the shade and read about people's bike trips. To think about bike trips already made and those being planned. On a walk around the park out back, we noted even the ducklings were trying to beat the heat by seeking out any available shade. It was the next best thing to a swim in the pond. (or a Rolo ice cream pop!) :)








Friday, May 14, 2010

Morning commute - just ducky


Mama, Papa and one of the aunts take the brood out for a swim. Unlike goslings, these guys really take to the water independently, zipping a meter or so with bursts of remarkable speed. Very entertaining.
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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Morning commute - bonus shot

 
I'm really pleased with this shot. The picture itself is nothing special, but the exposure was tricky. To get the background building properly exposed, the camera wanted to underexpose the flowers way too much. So I metered for the flowers and reduced the exposure by 1.67 f-stops to bring the building's exposure down, and then added unadjusted fill flash to bring the flowers back up. Had I reduced the fill flash by about .5 f-stops or so, you'd not notice the fill flash effect and it would've looked like a totally natural photo. :)

It's interesting that pixels work the same as silver halide crystals in high contract lighting situations. I guess photography is photography.
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Morning commute - tulips


At the War Museum.
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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Morning commute - where am I?


Connecting with Ottawa River bike path, 5.1 km from home, at 20.7 kph. Only 12.4 km to go ...
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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Shopping trip




Jule got a new lime green yoga mat, but I wasn't allowed to get the pretty yellow Prospector. :)

Morning commute - string of pearls

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A bit too cool blue. Didn't notice the WB was set for incandescent lighting. It's like the old days - shooting Type A film (Tungsten balanced emulsion, for indoor shooting) outdoors. Prints had a blue cast. And when we shot the daylight-balanced stuff indoors, all the shots were mellow yellow.

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Low light shooting




















Top: Jule, under flourescents. Handheld @ ISO 3200.
Middle: Night shot. Handheld @ ISO 3200.
Bottom: Homemade Iron Skillet Pizza. ISO 500.