Heli Video Productions

This is such a neat idea.  I saw this yesterday on Michael Andrew’s Blog, and instantly thought – My husband it going to love this – he is right into flying and model airplanes.  I am more the one who likes helicopters, and I think these guys have really made a smart move with this little helicopter contraption.  Mind you, you would have to really be talented in running remote control helicopters before  placing such and expensive piece of camera equipment on it, but once you have mastered this – What A Fun Job!   Check Out Heli Video Productions Here

Aerial video with a Canon 5D , 7D helivideo.com from Eric AUSTIN on Vimeo.

Now Playing

Now Playing at the Forest kineto theatre

How to Train Your Dragon

Apr. 30, May 1,2,4

All Tickets $5

Show Time 8 P.M.

SeWEET Ride!!

Would you believe this vehicle is local?  I have seen Jaguars on tv, and pictures in magazines and maybe the occasional every day looking Jag on the street in the GTA, but a 1961 Jaguar Mark II in Lambton Shores?  On top of that it’s for sale!  Take a look at this car, completely restored using genuine parts from the UK.  If you are interested and want to talk to the owners, click HERE or HERE. Yes, it’s actually for sale!  The price is on the video, feel free to share this with anyone you know with an interest for Classic Classy Cars!  Trust me, it’s worth taking a peek!

Local Windmills

 

Windmills in Lambton Shores are not an unfamiliar site.   Some hate everything about them, others think they are beautiful to watch.  Whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, they are here and are among the top 5 forms of energy resources acourding to Science Ray only next to Bio Mass and Solar Energy

How it works: I’m sure you have already heard about wind energy and its potential. Large wind farms are connected to electrical grids thus producing electrical energy that can be used for different purposes.

Advantages: Wind power is easily renewable and cannot be easily diminished. Many countries started using it widely. In Denmark, 19% of electricity usage is from wind energy. In Spain in Portugal, the percentage is 9% while Germany accounts for 6% usage.

Disadvantages: Animal impact. Wind turbines have a negative impact on birds, which can be killed or injured through collision with the rotating blades especially while seasonal bird migration. To reduce this impact, most wind turbines are built outside of bird migration corridors.

Information from ScienceRay.com

Kermit Takes A Plunge!

What happens when the kids go off to school and Mommy gets a hold of their toys ?  I practice water shots of course !!  Poor Kermit, he was sitting in the bathtub, all ready for a water fight, little did he know he was going to be cannon balled by a Polly Pocket dish of water from above!Summer is getting closer and many of us will be hitting the beach, but there are a few things to keep in mind when you take your camera to the beach:  1:  Electronics and water don’t mix – be very very careful, and if you do happen to make the mistake of getting your camera wet – right away – PULL THE BATTERY, and leave it for 48hrs.  I’m not guaranteeing this will save your camera, but it could.  2:  Trying to capture those water splash shots - up your shutter speed, and have fun catching the water drops in action.  3:  To get a very smooth glowing type look of running water, a slow shutter speed is what you are looking for.  4:  One last camera safety tip – Sand and cameras don’t mix well at all either – those little particles can get into your camera or lens and cause you a huge repair bill – avoid taking your camera on a windy day to lesson the chance of getting flying sand into your camera.

Photoshop Class

Today is the day we delve into Photoshop in Arkona!  Below are just a few of the examples of the practical projects we will be working on as we go through the interfaces of Adobe Photoshop. 

 Layers

Opacity & Fill

Selection Tools

Using FX

Textures

Transform

Blending Modes

Layers

History Brush

Brushes

Image Adjustments

Layer Masks

Layers

Text

Clippings Masks

FX

Cropping

Brown’s Blossoms

You know summer is near when you see the blossoms – it is early, true – but so pretty to see.  The blossoms are in full bloom, and despite last nights frost – still look white and fluffy!  These are just a few shots from Brown’s  Red Barn Fruit Farm this morning; including my favourite tree – don’t ask me why – not sure if it’s the shape, the ease to climb, or what it is – I just like this one particular tree -  I can almost taste the sweet cherries now!

 

Now Playing

Now Playing At The Forest Kineto Theatre

The Bounty Hunter

Showtime 8PM  Doors Open At 7:30PM

All Tickets $5

Training Day

 The Lambton Mutual Aid Training Day took place this past Saturday – and I can tell you one thing – I am NOT ready to be a firefighter!  Firstly the equipment – though toasty warm (yeah) was extremely Heavy, and once loaded down with all of the additional safety gear, that has got to be so cumbersome and awkward.  Then, the drills – and oh, there were a lot of drills, ones where you climb down ladders face first – nope – I don’t do heights so well, or perhaps crawling through a cramped booby trapped maze…in the dark…timed – claustrophobia would set in well before I hit mid point, or simply trying to see clearly when your oxygen mask fogs up.  I was seriously done by the end of the day and my job was totally from a photographic stand point.  The majority of these guys that took time out on Saturday to train in one of 5 areas offered in this one day course – where volunteers.  I won’t try listing all of the towns represented there as I’m sure I will miss at least one, but - Thank you to all of our Fire and Rescue Personnel, you are very much appreciated!  Also, for those of you who have sent emails or have been requesting images through Dave Kaz., there will be a disc available to you once the editing process is completed, I believe one copy will be given to each department where you can make copies as you wish.

 

  

Thanks to Dave Kaz of the Arkona Fire Department for setting things up so I was able to take these pictures throughout the day :D

Textures

One of my favourite photographers in the US, who is simply a master with photoshop textures is Matt Nicolosi.  He has his own line of textures that are available online, and yesterday I found this tutorial of his on textures in photoshop.  The unique thing about this tutorial is that he shows you how to adjust a texture layer without changing the other variables in your texture – no layer masks are used in doing so:  It “pulls texture from a reference area, and applies that reference to a target area”.  I did a quick test on a image, and all I could say was – WOW!  It worked so perfectly and is so straight forward!!  Very Cool Stuff !

Arkona Community Website

 WWW.EVERYTHINGARKONA.COM

I JUST found out about this site late last week – thanks for the tip Wendy :)   Arkona has this cool website running that includes everything from Community Events to Recipes, It’s called EverythingArkona.com, and  it even has a section completely devoted to Classifieds!  The nice thing about sites like these is that we as a community can really take advantage of the ease in which we share information.  Take a look, and post your community event or classified ad today !

imator.com

Here’s an easy little site that allows you to whip up a quick gif file online.  It’s one of the ‘easy as 1,2,3’ sites.  Simply upload your images, place them in the order you would like, and click “make animation”.  You can email the gif directly from the site, or download it.  There are also options to change the background colours, speed, and image size.  If you are thinking of having a little fun with some action shots, imator is the online site to get the job done.     

Now Playing

Now Playing At The Forest Kineto Theatre
Alice in Wonderland

Apr. 16,17,18,20

All Seats $5  Doors Open at 7:30, Show Starts at 8:00PM

Starring: Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover

Running Time: 100 min.

Warnings: FRIGHTENING SCENES - NOT RECOMMENDED FOR YOUNG CHILDREN Detailed Observations: - Scenes containing some grotesque images in a fantasy, comedic or historic context - Scenes that may cause a child brief anxiety, or fear - Limited embracing and kissing - Tobacco use - Restrained portrayals of non-graphic violence

Synopsis: 19-year-old Alice returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl, reuniting with her childhood friends: the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter. Alice embarks on a fantastical journey to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen's reign of terror.

Mommies

I have three friends who in the not so recent past have given birth to twin girls – Twin Girls, can you believe the estrogen levels in those homes in 10-15 years?  Well, add to it, that for each of these Moms, their twins where numbers 4 and 5 in the family!  These may not be Duggard size families, but to be a Mommy in a larger size family, and have twins takes a lot of energy and selflessness.  So to Janine, Kelly and Lisa and all the Mommies out there, I just wanted you to know, you’re doing an Incredible Job as your raise your little Treasures!

A Parents Prayer  © Althea A. Anker

Thank you God for
The children of mine
Who teach me things
That blow my mind.
They entertain themselves
In the funniest ways.
I pray that the innocence
They possess never goes away.
I pray they will
Grow up and be smart,
And I pray that they will never grow apart.
I pray that they will call home
Whenever they are near a phone.
I pray that they never feel alone.
I hope they turn to you
Through guidance and prayer
And know that you and their parents
Will always be there.

Cool Download

Here’s something that’s fun to do with your pictures.  Say you want to do a little digital scrapbooking, or simply show off a series of pictures; this is a Free easy download that will arrange a collage for you and you determine the shape and other parameters.  You can Download It Here from ShapeCollage.com. 

There are a number of these free downloads out there, including ones that make your images into a mosaic – Very Cool – just be careful you don’t get any additional unwanted’s if you are downloading ;)

 

 

Photoshop CS5

Just posted today:  Adobe Announces CS5 in Press Releases

The amazing advancements in photoshop are simply hard to keep up with…at least price wise that is.  I mean the software is completely amazing!  But to upgrade each time they come out with the latest version is a little hard on the pocket book, at least at the rate they are going.  It is worth the upgrade for anyone who seriously uses Photoshop, it’s just a hard pill to swallow sometimes.  I looked it up, and it’s a $799 bill for just the upgrade from what I currently have – though I know there are cheaper sources to get only what you would like.  I would certainly recommend the Adobe Store for a download of the software, I’ve used this method in the past, and would give it high praise.

Photoshop’s content aware software demo:

 

Ok, so maybe it’s not as smart as the first video, but it can do this…

Teeth Whitening

One of the things that is really important when making adjustments within photoshop is to have it look as though there were no adjustments made :D.  In this case of my ever willing-non volunteering hubby gives his GQ pose wearing his ever cool bicycle helmet.  We’ll use this shot so that you can see the 3 steps made of teeth whitening.  We often tend to go over board and have our subject end up looking like they are wearing a bright white hockey mouth guard – not good.

Firstly, as  with most everything in Photoshop, if there is one way to do it, there are probably at least 3 or 4 other ways as well.  This method is not the easy one step “dodging” method, however, you will end up with a better result.

1. First click on the quick mask icon (or press “Q”)  2. Using an appropriate size paint brush, paint over the section you wish to change.  3. Next, click “select”, and then “inverse”, this will allow only the section you have painted to be selected, you will see your selection surrounded by “marching ants”.  4. Now you can go ahead and make your specific changes – first step: lower the saturation to get rid of the yellowy look, : Click: Image> Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.  This will make a major change all in itself, however to finish off your touch up you can also go in under: Image > Adjustments> Brightness/Contrast, and make additional changes here.

Click Here To Learn More At The April 24th Photoshop Class

Warm Weather Wishes…

The chill is back!  When I went outside with the kids to catch the bus this morning I was dressed in coat, mitts, and my little “ear bags”…It Was Chilly!  I am so looking forward to the warm weather of summer, so I thought I would go through a few pictures from last summer and found this little critter.  Now I realize this little guy and all his slime doesn’t exactly make you think pretty or yummy thoughts, but, well, I’m female, and my brain travels from thought to thought to thought in the blink of an eye.  Which brings me to Ice Cream!  Because Warm weather means sunshine, and flowers, beautiful ponds, and froggies, which make big bubbles when they crock…which kind of look like ice cream scoops…how’s that for stretching out the “6 degrees of separation”?!  Well, one of the things we look forward to around her in the summer is ice cream!  And the kids have noticed that Sue has got her sign out up at The Old Country Store letting people know that the yummy stuff is stocked…so I thought I’d just give you a list of thirteen interesting facts about ice cream, courtesy of Dr. Spock.

1. Legend has it that the Roman emperor Nero used to send his slaves scurrying to the mountains to collect snow and ice to make flavored ices, the precursors to ice cream, in the first century.
2. The first written mention of ice cream in this country can be found in a letter from the 1700s, which admiringly describes the ice cream and strawberry dessert a Maryland governor served at a dinner party. Initially, just a treat for the elite (including George Washington, who is said to have consumed enormous quantities), the first ice cream parlor in this country opened in New York City in 1776. In 1845, the hand-cranked freezer was invented, allowing Americans to make ice cream more easily at home.
3. Americans consume the most ice cream in the world per capita, with Australians coming in second. In 1924, the average America ate eight pints a year. By 1997, the International Dairy Foods Association reported that the figure had jumped to 48 pints a year.
4. The most avid ice cream eaters in the U.S. don't live in Hawaii, the South, California, or any other hot clime. Instead, in 1999, it was reported that the good citizens of Omaha, Nebraska, ate more ice cream per person than any other Americans.
5. Vanilla is the most popular flavor in this country, snagging anywhere from 20 to 29 percent of sales. Chocolate comes in a distant second, with about 9 to 10 percent of the market.
6. Immigrants at Ellis Island were served vanilla ice cream as part of their Welcome to America meal.
7. One of the major ingredients in ice cream is air. Without it, the stuff would be as hard as a rock.
8. Among the most unusual flavors of ice cream ever manufactured are avocado, garlic, azuki bean, jalapeno, and pumpkin. Perhaps the weirdest of all: dill pickle ice cream , which was marketed to expectant mothers. Sales were disappointing.
9. One out of every five ice cream eaters share their treat with their dog or cat. (Can the day of liver- or tuna-flavored ice cream be far behind?)
10. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan declared July as National Ice Cream Month, citing the food's "nutritious and wholesome" qualities. He decreed that patriotic Americans should mark the month with "appropriate ceremonies and activities."
11. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest ice cream sundae in the world was made in Alberta, Canada, in 1988. It weighed nearly 55,000 pounds. The same year, a baking company and a sheet-metal firm in Dubuque, Iowa, teamed up to produce the world's largest ice cream sandwich, which tipped the scales at nearly 2,500 pounds. And, in 1999, Baskin-Robbins created an ice cream cake at a beach hotel in the United Arab Emirates that weighed just under 9,000 pounds.
12. Ice cream novelties such as ice cream on sticks and ice cream bars were introduced in the 1920s. Seems like kid stuff, but today, adults consume nearly one-half of all such treats.
13. While popular lore claims that the ice cream cone was invented at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, a New York City ice cream vendor actually seems to have created the cone in 1896 to stop customers from stealing his serving glasses. He patented the idea in 1903 and it took off in popularity at the World's Fair the next year.

Now Playing

Now Playing At forest kineto theatre

Remember Me

April 9,10,11,13

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, Chris Cooper, Lena Olin, Tate Ellington

Running Time: 111 min.

Warnings: SEXUAL CONTENT - DISTURBING CONTENT Detailed Observations: - Use of expletives - Sexual references - Crude content - Occasional upsetting or disturbing scenes - Bullying - Embracing and kissing - Implied sexual activity - Tobacco use - Restrained portrayals of non-graphic violence

Synopsis: Tyler, a rebellious young man in New York City, has a strained relationship with his father ever since tragedy separated their family. Tyler didn't think anyone could possibly understand what he was going through until the day he met Ally through an unusual twist of fate. Love was the last thing on his mind, but as her spirit unexpectedly heals and inspires him, he begins to fall for her. Through their love, he begins to find happiness and meaning in his life. But soon, hidden secrets are revealed, and the circumstances that brought them together slowly threaten to tear them apart. Remember Me is an unforgettable story about the power of love, the strength of family, and the importance of living passionately and treasuring every day of one's life.

Free Watermark From MCP Actions

Are you looking to stamp your logo or brand onto the images you want to show off to the world?  Or wanting to give that finished look by adding a gallery frame around your work ?  Jodi of MCP Actions has created a number of incredible actions you can use in photoshop; whether is giving a creative look to an image, or giving your client that perfect skin, MCP Actions has some great products to get your images looking their best.  You can also find some free PS actions here including a water mark action !  Check it out Here.

6 Years Today !

6 Years ago today we met you face to face. 

The thrill of seeing you for the first time is indescribable, the times we have shared;   your giggles, your tears, and quiet moments,  are simply unforgetable.   And the honour of being your Mommy is absolutely unimaginable. 

Love You Little Man!

 

 

 

 

Long Exposures

With these beautiful sunsets we are getting recently I have been doing a few more landscape shots.  Trying to come up with some cool ideas in my mind of a landscape with interesting lighting.  Though I’m sure my exposure will be somewhat longer than usual, since I am wanting to use a really low ISO setting, I’m not planning on a full night shot.  Thought I’d post this tutorial though, as this guy is actually doing a 365 on night shots, and hey, that’s worth looking at :)

Easter Weekend

 

 

Our family had the opportunity to take part in two Good Friday events yesterday.  One in the morning at the St. Christopher’s Parish in Forest, and one in the evening at Elim Bible Chapel here in Arkona.  Both were very meaningful and thought provoking as we remembered the risen Christ Jesus who died on a Roman Cross, was buried, and after three days claimed the victory for us all.  I am thankful today, because For Me He Died.

Living Last Words

This Evening At Elim Bible Chapel At 8 PM. 

All Are Welcome

To Come Out And Remember.

Child Care Provided.