Now Playing

Now Playing At The Forest Kineto Theatre

Our Family Wedding

Apr. 2,3,4,6

Doors Open at 7:30pm, Show starts at 8:00pm

Locked And Loaded For The Dragon’s Den

I have yet to find a simple somewhat classy “holster" type lens holder that I can use during shoots – specifically weddings.  I’d like something that will hold a 24-105mm L lens while I’m shooting with my wide and vice versa, but so far can only find things like the Tamrac system – which tends to move around a lot, the Shootsacs by Jessica Claire, which are Way more than a simple lens holder, or this – which I actually don’t believe would fit a lens, but the idea is closer to my thinking since it would allow the weight of the lens to balance better along your side.  If you have any ideas, or have experience with different lines of lens holders, please feel free to share – I’d love your input :)

Found this item, called the Grab-It Pack Gadget Holster at www.ThinkGeek.com  it’s a bit too McGiver for me yet but… if I could sew and create as easily as I just “photochopped” the above image into the image on the right, I’d make what you see with no big buckle clips, instead, simple velcro there, no second wrap around pocket, and possibly made in a brushed leather to make it a little more dressy/classy looking.  Sounds like an item for the Dragons Den – anyone wishing to make up a prototype, I’d be happy to be the tester.  These could even be designed with the photographers logo’s in them!

 

 

 

 

Follow Up:  Thanks For Your Response Jeanette – Just had to share !

 

And then there is the HoldSLR at www.holdSLR.com  - now despite the great McGiver look I could have if I go with the above, a slight change or two to the holdslr may be more to my liking :)

A Story Without Words

I received this in an email recently and have always been impressed with this amazing craft and how it can be used for such good.  Always good to share a good story…even without words!

Note: The origin and author of this touching little story without words has been on the Web for some time now without credit cited for its creator. I am unable to find it’s original source. If anyone has accurate information about its origin, I'd appreciate knowing in order to assign credit.

      

Monday Morning Dew Drops

 

It was time for the bus and the kids had to take one last peek at the little flowers growing at the side of the house.  Suddenly my little girl comes up to me and informs me that the crocuses with the little sprinkles of water on them would make a nice picture – what can I say, when she’s right she’s right!  Thanks for your help today Amy!

Energy Savings After Earth Hour

Earth Hour – the hour when we turn off our lights all across the world for one hour and save energy.  This was the event in our home, and millions of others around the world this evening between 8:30 and 9:30 PM.  We do try to reuse reduce and recycle as much as possible, though I’m sure we could do better, sometimes though, it’s just a matter of information.  Which leads me to this post.  Today we picked up an energy saving device that no doubt has been around for a while, but I didn’t realize it.  I’m sure you’ve heard of the two stage toilets, they are quite common now, but I did not realize that simply by purchasing a basic package, now on sale for less than $30 at Canadian Tire, you can make any toilet in your home into an energy saving two stage flusher!   The item is called HydroRight, and seriously, is very simple to install – doing my part to help you from flushing away the savings!  Happy Earth Hour!!

Our Little Girl’s Twin ???

You have no idea how many times I have had someone come up to me and say – “you know there is this commercial on tv with a pony and a little girl who looks just like your daughters double”.  Well, honestly I do see the similarity, the shoulder length brown hair with cow licks, the beautiful big chocolate chip brown eyes, and the cute little smerks…but my baby is cuter…REALLY!! :)

          Ally Bank Pony Commercial

Now Playing

Now Playing At The Forest Kineto Theatre:

Shutter Island

Mar. 26,27,28,30

Doors open at 7:30 PM, Showtime 8 PM

Photoshop Textures

I seen so many Photoshop Textures, but Matt’s textures are by far the Finest I have ever seen, check them out Here.

Playing With Fire!

So, I thought I would just spend sometime playing with fire today.  This was my first attempt playing with fire while holding a camera in the other hand.  Might get something a little more interesting on another day once I’ve found my bbq lighter, but old matches make for limited play time :)

Signs Of Spring

Just when you think spring is here it goes and gets chilly again – ahh, but there are still signs of spring all around us!  Enjoy!!

 

 

Seeing The Cross

Have you ever gone for a walk and just looked around to see if you could find a cross?  They are everywhere!  As we approach the Good Friday, take a look for the cross; and feel free to send me your shots with your name, I’ll be sure to post them here for you :)

Now Playing

Now Playing

At The Forest Kiwanis Kineto Theatre

Valentine's Day

Mar. 19,20,21,23

Show Time 8 PM, Doors open at 7:30 PM

All Tickets $5

The Living Last Words

Don't miss the  Easter Drama   April 1st and 2nd

Date:  Thursday, April 1, 2010

Time:  8:00pm - 9:00pm

Location:  Elim Bible Chapel - Arkona Ontario

8457 Townsend Line

Imagine the response to various witnesses of the Cross;

The inquisitive cross builder

The contemptuous Soldier

The scornful Priest

The sympathetic sibling

The anguished Shepherd

The grieving mother

The heart broken disciple

The astonished centurion

http://www.elimbiblechapel.com/LivingLastWords.htm

Lightroom Presets

Presets have got to be one of the fastest ways to give an image a unique look.  There are absolutely hundreds of thousands of adjustments you can make within Photoshop, or by running numerous actions to get a desired look, but certainly, if you are into adding an effect to your pictures,  the faster method is to use your presets in Adobe  Lightroom.  Adjustments, and tweeking are still options once a preset is applied, and since it is being ran in Lightroom, everything is non destructive :)   There are sights that allow you to test, and download for free some very cool preset – My favourite being: Preset Heaven !

 

New Magnetic Gorillapod!

So it appears that I forgot to press “publish” yesterday, and the blog never went out – ooops!  It is an interesting one though, so, I’ll repeat :)…. Joby has come out with a new Gorillapod – Gorillapod: the ingenious little tripod that grips to almost everything!  Well, you can get it now in the magnetic version.  One major tip though – don’t bother with the look alikes and imitations, the name brand Joby Gorillapod is built with quality, and it’s just not worth risking your camera to the cheaper imitations!

Photos Courtesy of Joby.com and photojojo.com

 

365’s

I was just thinking this morning that I am so glad I haven’t started a 365, as I would definately be behind.  The project itself seems like lot of fun though, AND, can be a great photographic learning experience!  For those of you who have not heard of a 365, let me explain - (copied from Lifehacker)

At first I thought the idea was along the lines of the popular YouTube video where the girl takes a picture of herself every day for three years, but it's actually broader than that. You take a picture of anything (the Photojojo post suggests varying your themes) and post it somewhere (like Flickr) where you can keep all 365 of your photos.

As photo uploading gets easier and cameraphones get better, the commitment required to do something like this isn't that bad. Alternatively, if you have a webcam or something along those lines on your computer (like an iSight), going the picture of yourself every day route seems even easier. So if either of these ideas trip your trigger, it's time to get documenting.

Sound interesting?  Take the plunge.  There’s no time like the present to start your own 365!

 

It’s That Time Again!!!

It’s Starts Today!  Vancouver British Columbia is poised to host The Paralympics 2010 with Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing, Ice Sledge Hockey, and Wheelchair Curling.  Sadly the coverage is nothing close to that of the Olympics which ended only 2 weeks ago, but thanks to the internet and streaming  video, Canadians, and those all over the world can get involved and celebrate with our Paralympians by tuning into Paralympic Sport TV  .  Join in and celebrate, check your local listings for live broadcasting, and check in a Paralympic Sport TV for full coverage!

Now Playing

Now Playing At The Forest Kineto Theatre

Dear John

All Seats $5  Show Time 8PM  Doors Open At 7:30PM

Photoshop Class

The date is set – Saturday, April 24th will be the day we conquer some photoshop!  The class is scheduled to go through the basics of photoshop including the 5 interfaces: Menu, Options, Toolbar, Palettes, and Image Area.  As we work our way through we will be creating our own Bacon Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches using the tools we learn.  This class is designed as a beginner class, and will have the option of more detailed instruction in follow up classes, but will give you a major starting point to get more out of this amazing software.  To get the most out of this day, participants will need, or be able to share a laptop loaded with Photoshop.  The cost is $65, and class will be a one day event in Arkona, with a pot luck lunch, and lots and lots of learning fun!  Space is limited, so please contact me by email if you are interested in taking part in a great day of learning.  Heather@capturedinnocence.ca

HST Tax to add 8% Extra to What You Buy

 

We as Canadians tend to simply sit back on issues like this and say, “oh well, I guess they are going to do what they are going to do”.  That’s the typical Canadian response – lets take a different response this time and stand up to the governments rip off of Canadians – this 8% tax hike will have a Huge impact, and it will only prove to get worse.  Put a stop to Dalton McGuinty’s plan, sign the petition against the tax grab by clicking Here and simply filling out your information…it took longer for you to read this than it would to stand up for yourself as a Canadian, so please sign the petition, and lets put a stop to Dalton’s latest rip off!

Say No To An Additional 8% In Tax Hikes

Here are just a few examples of what will be affected by the Tax Hike:

Internet usage

Hair Cuts

Electricity Bills

A Cup Of Coffee

Buying A Newspaper

Postage

Filling Your Car With Gas

There's quite a story behind the Olympic flowers

By Trey Kerby

After every Olympic event, rather than receiving their medals, athletes are given a bouquet of flowers. At the Beijing Olympics, roses dominated the bouquets. In Turin, it was rhododendrons, azaleas, and camellias. This year, it's green mums and hypericum berries.

The bouquets come from Just Beginnings Flowers and Margitta's Flowers in Surrey, British Columbia. Their entry was chosen from 58 contending florists. June Strandberg, the bouquet designer and owner of Just Beginnings, teaches floristry to women who have left prison, are recovering from addiction, or have been victims of violence. It's a pretty amazing program, and Strandberg has even taken it behind bars, where she educates convicts. She believes it's her work with these correctional programs that secured the Olympic contract.

For the Vancouver Olympics the florists made 1,800 bouquets, 1,707 of which will be given to medal-winning athletes in the Olympics and Paralympics. The flowers are grown locally, but they aren't in season during February, so additional supplies were flown in from Ecuador.

The flowers were chosen to represent British Columbia and Canada, and are intended as keepsakes for the athletes. There are even strict regulations for the bouquets presented at the flower ceremonies. Per IOC protocol, bouquets must be 20 to 30 centimeters tall and about 25 centimeters across.

Though these flowers might look like something you give your mom at a homecoming football game, a lot of thought and planning goes into choosing and making these bouquets. When you consider the societal benefits behind these flowers, it almost makes the bouquets as valuable as the medals.

Story Courtesy Of: Yahoo Sports

Aperture: How It Affects Your Photography & Why You Should Care

Found This Great Post By “The Discerning Photographer”, below I have posted a chunk, please visit their site for the complete article :)

 

Aperture: How It Affects Your Photography & Why You Should Care

Posted by DiscerningPhotog on 3/03/10 • Categorized as How To

Aperture diaphragm, Canon 70-200 mm f2.8 lens. (Copyright 2010 / Andrew Boyd)

Aperture: Now there’s a real ‘Photography’ word! Do you understand what ‘aperture’ refers to and how it affects your photography? Here I’ll explain exactly what it is and why you should care.

Simply stated, “aperture” is the hole in your lens that allows light to pass through to your CCD (charge coupled device) during an actual digital camera exposure. The size of the hole has a big impact upon your photos.

So what does this mean for your shooting?

Let’s start with how aperture works in your lens/camera setup.

If you’ve ever taken a lens off of a DSLR, held it up to a light and looked through it, the ‘default’ position that the lens will be in is at the largest, maximum aperture(sometimes even larger than the maximum aperture). If you’re looking through a 200mm f4 lens, for instance, then the wide-open hole will correlate with the ‘f4’ position on the camera. This f4 position will let the most light in, and also be the position with the shallowest depth of field. This just means that except for your point of focus, most of the other elements within your composition will tend to be out of focus. (‘Bokeh’ photography is all about this type of shallow depth of field shooting.)

Higher f-stop numbers correspond to smaller aperture holes: f2.8 or f4 will be a relatively large aperture (hole), while f11 or f16 will be a much smaller hole.

With a modern DSLR, you can see this by stopping your lens down to f8 or f11, then peering through the front element and pushing in the depth-of-field preview button. You’ll see the wide-open aperture hole suddenly contract down to a much smaller octagonal shape.

Try different f-stop numbers and you’ll quickly get a sense of how this works.

How does this affect your images? As you stop the lens down, say to f8 or f11, the hole gets smaller, and more things in front and behind your point of focus will appear sharp in your photograph. So large apertures = shallow depth of field; small apertures equal larger depth of field in your photograph. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending upon the photo you’re trying to shoot. The trick is learning to be in control of this phenomenon.

To really start to see how this can work, I suggest you operate your camera in a fully manual mode. As you change the aperture, making it larger or smaller, you’ll need to make a corresponding change to the shutter speed you’re using, since these two adjustments are dynamic and always work together. For instance, if your exposure is 1/125 sec @ f 8 and you want a shallower depth of field, you’ll need to open up the aperture, say to f2.8 or f4. Since you’re now letting all of that extra light into the exposure, you’ll need to increase the shutter speed to compensate and keep the overall exposure correct. I’ll address the creative and critical importance of shutter speed in another post, but for now, just use your camera meter to make the correct adjustment when changing the aperture.

Image at left is shot at f2.8, the image at right at f14. (Copyright 2010 / Andrew Boyd)

For the complete article, please visit: The Discerning Photographer