366 of 2012 - Day 31

366 of 2012 - Day 31. My father made this little clock for me. He used a watch face for the time piece. I love it. Our theme this week is morning and though this isn't a sunrise, it is what I see in the morning on the bookshelf across from my bed. It's part of my morning routine; it's part of my sanctuary.

Taken with my Canon PowerShot G12 on Auto (I know, I know...) - f/2.8, 1/30 sec., ISO-400, 6 mm focal length, max aperture 2.96875, pattern metering, no flash. Unsharp Mask, High Pass Filter applied, Levels and Curves adjusted, cropping and text added in Photoshop.

366 of 2012 - Day 30

366 of 2012 - Day 30. Picaboo's challenge and theme for this week is capturing a sunrise / morning'. I didn't think I'd have an opportunity to explore this theme, this week, since a January / February Vancouver sunrise is a rare thing. Driving to work, I passed by some lovely shots, but I was running late (as usual) and there aren't a lot of convenient places to stop along my route. I was determined to get a shot, even if it was a bad one. And this one is pretty bad, yet still I kind of like it. I was at a stop light, taking the photo from inside my car. And I'm talking literally from inside my car, because I didn't have time to try and get the camera out the window. It was the definition of 'snap shot'!

Taken with my Canon PowerShot G12 on Auto (through my car's windscreen) - f/3.5, 1/80 sec., ISO-160, 12 mm focal length, max aperture 3.625, pattern metering, no flash. I sharpened this slightly with Unsharp Mask and added a very slight High Pass Filter in Photoshop, while I cropped a bit and added text. I had played with Hue / Saturation, but found I liked the original better.

366 of 2012 - Day 29

366 of 2012 - Day 29. Bowl of Origami Cranes. Yup, I fold 'em. I'm pretty sure they sneak around at night wreaking secret havoc upon the world. You never can tell with Origami Cranes.

Taken with my Canon PowerShot G12. I can't remember the settings, though the details of the photo are: f/3.5, 1/30 sec., ISO-800, 16 mm focal length, max aperture 3.625, pattern metering, no flash, Fluorescent white balance.

366 of 2012 - Day 28

366 of 2012 - Day 28. My mum has this little silver spinny thing that is just beautiful when it spins; it reflects light and is just spectacular! I took a few shots and liked these two best.

Taken with my Canon PowerShot G12 on Auto, f/2.8, 1/30 sec., ISO-320 (upper photo), ISO-200 (lower photo), pattern metering, no flash. Unsharp Mask, High Pass Filter, cropping and text applied in Photoshop.

366 of 2012 - Day 27

366 of 2012 - Day 27. Come on Spring!

Taken with my Canon PowerShot G12 on Auto; f/4, 1/40 sec., ISO-80, no flash. I had originally tried a manual setting, to adjust White Balance to Cloudy, but it wouldn't focus on the spot I wanted focus on, and I was rushed and opted for the Auto. Unsharp Mask, High Pass Filter, cropping and text done in Photoshop.

366 of 2012 - Day 26

366 of 2012 - Day 26. These are shots of beads of water that were on my car's windscreen, this morning. A slightly different angle gave me a completely different background color.

I'm still waiting to get a lens cleaning kit - I'm amazed I'm getting half decent pictures at all. But again, there are advantages to posting a 72ppi image online that I would not be able to get away with if I were printing these images.

Taken around 7:30AM with my Canon PowerShot G12 on Auto - f/3.2, 1/30sec., ISO-80, pattern metering, no flash. I didn't play with the White Balance as I liked the color.

This shot's details are the same, except the F-stop is f/2.8 instead of 3.2 - everything else is the same. Both shots were cropped, and Unsharp Mask, High Pass Filter and text applied in Photoshop.

366 of 2012 - Day 25

366 of 2012 - Day 25. Seagulls. This first picture is a crop of the original shot, below.

I learned an important lesson today - look at your lens every now and then because you never know when a little (or not so little) finger print may have found its way onto the special bits of your camera.

Taken with my Canon PowerShot G12 set to P (program), using the defaults except for the white balance setting which was set to Cloudy. The smudge was on the lens at the time; I'm amazed you can see anything clearly, though this is the type of case where reducing to 72ppi is in my favor. F-Stop f/4, 1/320 sec. exposure time, ISO-80, focal length 6 mm, max aperture 2.96875, pattern metering, no flash, auto white balance (on Cloudy). I liked both shots. I applied Unsharp Mask and a High Pass filter (though they didn't really make that much difference) and tweaked the Levels slightly in Photoshop, when I cropped and added text.

366 of 2012 - Day 24

366 of 2012 - Day 24. Weeb's My Little Pony collection (well, a small part of it) was the subject of today's photo. Picaboo is challenging us to learn to use the White Balance features on our cameras. So I did some playing around again today, remembering to take notes on what I did.

Below, taken in my kitchen with my Canon PowerShot G12 on Auto. I used a tripod, and my only lighting was the crap fluorescent light above me and the crap little light on the stove that I turned on for added fun. F-stop f/3.2, 1/50 sec. exposure time, ISO-640, focal length 9mm, max aperture 3.34375, pattern metering, subject distance 150mm, auto white balance. I applied Unsharp Mask and a High Pass Filter on this photo before cropping and adding text in Photoshop.

The rest of these shots were taken the same as the one above, all in the kitchen, all with the tripod and no flash.

1. Camera set to Auto and is the photo I featured, above - F-stop f/3.2, 1/50 sec. exposure time, ISO-640, focal length 9mm, max aperture 3.34375, pattern metering, subject distance 150mm, auto white balance, no flash, used a tripod.

2. Camera set to SCN and used the Beach setting - F-stop f/3.2, 1/30 sec. exposure time, ISO-400, focal length 9mm, max aperture 3.34375, pattern metering, manual white balance, no flash, used a tripod.

3. Camera set to SCN and used the Foliage setting - F-stop f/3.2, 1/40 sec. exposure time, ISO-400, focal length 9mm, max aperture 3.34375, pattern metering, manual white balance, no flash, used a tripod.

4. Camera set to SCN and used the Snowy setting - F-stop f/3.2, 1/30 sec. exposure time, ISO-400, focal length 9mm, max aperture 3.34375, pattern metering, auto white balance, no flash, used a tripod. I also used a timer for this shot, as the camera was indicating that I was not stable, even with the tripod.

5. Camera set to P (program) and used the default setting, adjusting the white balance to the Florescent setting - F-stop f/3.2, 1/50 sec. exposure time, ISO-500, focal length 9mm, max aperture 3.34375, pattern metering, manual white balance, no flash, used a tripod. I also used a timer for this shot, because it was still set up from the prior shot.

6. Camera set to P (program) and used the default setting, adjusting the white balance to the Tungsten setting - F-stop f/3.2, 1/50 sec. exposure time, ISO-800, focal length 9mm, max aperture 3.34375, pattern metering, manual white balance, no flash, used a tripod. I also used a timer for this shot, because it was still set up from the prior shot.

7. Camera set to P (program) and used the default setting, adjusting the white balance to the Cloudy setting - F-stop f/3.2, 1/50 sec. exposure time, ISO-500, focal length 9mm, max aperture 3.34375, pattern metering, manual white balance, no flash, used a tripod. I also used a timer for this shot, because it was still set up from the prior shot.

8. Camera set to P (program) and used the default setting, adjusting the white balance to the Sunny setting - F-stop f/3.2, 1/50 sec. exposure time, ISO-500, focal length 9mm, max aperture 3.34375, pattern metering, manual white balance, no flash, used a tripod. I also used a timer for this shot, because it was still set up from the prior shot.

9. Camera set to P (program) and used the default setting, adjusting the white balance to the auto 'AWB' setting - F-stop f/3.2, 1/50 sec. exposure time, ISO-500, focal length 9mm, max aperture 3.34375, pattern metering, auto white balance, no flash, used a tripod. I also used a timer for this shot, because it was still set up from the prior shot.

There ya go. Thrilling stuff, eh?

366 of 2012 - Day 23

366 of 2012 - Day 23. I'll be honest, I don't remember what settings I used on any of these shots. Picaboo challenged us to play with white balance settings. I was playing with settings, and Auto wouldn't let me adjust the white balance, so played around until I found a setting that would let me alter them.

I can tell you that this photo was taken with my Canon PowerShot G12, f/3.2, 1/40 sec. exposure, ISO-800, +1 Step Exposure bias, focal length 8 mm, max aperture 3.34375, pattern metering, no flash, used a tripod, white balance manual (though I've no idea what setting). Now that I'm thinking about it, this could have been on Auto as I was flipping back and forth to see what the differences would be.

Okay, so I didn't learn a ton, but I did learn a little bit about the white balance settings.

I was playing around with settings here. I can't remember what they all are. Next time I do this, I need to keep a pad of paper and a pencil with me.

Edit to add, next day: A friend of mine pointed out that Lemon is wearing Strawberry's dress and Strawberry is wearing Raspberry's dress. Weeb loves changing these little dresses around. They're designed marvelously and I don't have to help her at all, and they're pretty sturdy material, to boot!

366 of 2012 - Day 22

366 of 2012 - Day 22. Picaboo's 2nd week challenge was 'Transportation'. I didn't have a picture for that topic in week 2, but I do today. This is a shot of Weeb's bike wheel. A bit of her pink scooter is in the shot, as well.

Taken with my Canon PowerShot G12 on Auto, f/2.8, 1/8 sec. exposure time, ISO-1600, 6 mm focal length, max aperture 2.96875, pattern metering (I have to start using some of the other metering settings), no flash. Adjusted Levels and Curves, slightly, and applied a slight Unsharp Mask in Photoshop, where I also cropped and added my signature.

366 of 2012 - Day 21

366 of 2012 - Day 21. Tibboh the Terrible napping with Weeb's little kitty friend. This was NOT Tibb's idea. LOL

Taken with my Canon PowerShot G12 on Auto, f/2.8, 1/20 sec., ISO-1250, 6 mm focal length, Max aperture 2.96875, pattern metering, no flash. I adjusted Levels and Curves in Photoshop, and applied an Unsharp Mask, going WAY overboard, but I liked the effect. Cropped and added text.

366 of 2012 - Day 20

366 of 2012 - Day 20. Our arctic weather warning is coming to an end, but not before a bit more snow (we haven't really had that much), and some freezing rain. We don't typically get temperatures so cold, so we, in Metro Vancouver, are not used to the ice. Icicles are rare. I was surprised to see them on the complex lamps this morning.

Picture below taken with Canon PowerShot G12 (on Auto), f/4, 1/50 sec., ISO-80, 6mm focal length, max aperture 2.96875, pattern metering, no flash. Levels adjusted, Unsharp Mask and High Pass Filter applied in Photoshop while I cropped and added text.

Picture below taken with Canon PowerShot G12 (on Auto), f/4, 1/50 sec., ISO-200, 6mm focal length, max aperture 2.96875, pattern metering, no flash. Levels adjusted, Unsharp Mask and High Pass Filter applied in Photoshop while I cropped and added text.

366 of 2012 - Day 19

366 of 2012 - Day 19. Spot the squirrels. I don't know what they were up to in this tree. There had been 3 of them, chasing each other around. I don't know if they were fighting, playing or... well, that other thing. It was the coldest day in ages, so it could be they were just running around trying to keep warm. I like them much better in the trees than crawling into the walls of my house then getting trapped, dying and stinking up the place.

The shots below were taken with my Canon PowerShot G12 on Auto. They turned out not too badly, given I was shooting through a layer of plastic, through a dirty sliding glass door and at the trees a house or two away.

This shot was altered in Photoshop. It was cropped quite a bit and I made a silhouette effect by over adjusting Levels and Curves in Photoshop. Before alterations, the photo details are: f/4.5, 1/250 sec., ISO-80, 30mm, max aperture 4.34375, pattern metering, no flash.

This photo, below, is the same as the one above, with the adjustments to Levels and Curves hugely reduced.

I like this shot too, maybe because of the snowy evergreen tree beside the tree the squirrels are playing in. Details are: f/4.5, 1/250 sec., ISO-80, 30mm focal length, max aperture 4.34375, pattern metering, no flash.

366 of 2012 - Day 18

366 of 2012 - Day 18. No more cell phone food pictures. I did two. I'm done. It's snowing today. And it's wickedly cold! I'm talking relatively here, since it doesn't generally get very COLD in the lower mainland of BC. We're expected to break records today (for our area) in terms of temperature. It's expected to get anywhere from -15C to -20C with the wind chill (that's nearing 0F for your Fahrenheit inclined).

This shot was taken just outside my front door as the snow was starting today. It's a SOOC shot (straight out of the camera), with adjustments only to size and adding text, which I do in Photoshop.

Shot with my Canon PowerShot G12, on Auto - f/2.8, 1/30 sec., ISO-200, 6mm, max aperture 2.96875, pattern metering, no flash.

366 of 2012 - Day 17

366 of 2012 - Day 17. I really, REALLY don't like cell phone pictures. Well, not MY cell phone pictures, anyways. But Picaboo's challenge, this week, is to take a cell phone photo with the theme of 'hungry'.

My family makes THE best dill pickles. Seriously. My Grandma F had the original recipe, I think, though it may have come down several generations from either her family or my grandfather's.

I took this with my actual cell phone - a... uh... an old Samsung something or other. It's a few years old. It's a PRL, I think. Like yesterday, I'm not especially fond of this photo either.

366 of 2012 - Day 16

366 of 2012 - Day 16. I'm not a fan of cell phone pictures or pictures of food, generally, but Picaboo's challenge for this week is 'to take a photo with your cell phone', and the theme is 'hungry'. Weeb had hot chocolate after school today because it's snowy out and it's her reward for eating her whole sandwich at lunch (parenting at its best). I took the shot with my iTouch. It's SOOC, except for cropping to 72ppi and adding my signature.

366 of 2012 - Day 15

366 of 2012 - Day 15. I'm a bit late to the Bokeh party. It was the Picaboo theme for Week 1 of this year. I don't have a DSLR camera, so I didn't have any luck getting any shots of our Christmas tree lights using a Bokeh effect with the tutorial provided. It didn't help that we'd taken down our Christmas tree the day before I joined the Picaboo 365 Project, so I didn't really have much in the way of 'pretty, light-y subject'.

Luckily, as I was driving home from my folks' place Saturday night, someone on their block still had lights up, so I stopped the car, turned around and parked across the street from the still wonderfully, light-y decorated home.

Yup, (wait for it...) I thought I'd give it a shot. *snicker*

So I tried every automatic setting, hoping I'd get a decent blur. Took me a while, but I think I finally got it. I set my Canon PowerShot G12 to the Automatic P setting, which I have learned is the Program setting. I didn't actually program anything. So basically I just fluked out. Winning!

Above: Shot with Canon PowerShot G12, set to "P" - Program (using default settings), f/4.5, 1/6 sec., ISO-1600, 30mm focal length, max aperture 4.34375, subject distance 560 mm, no flash. I cropped the shot quite a bit, using Photoshop. No other alterations to the shot.

Above: Shot with Canon PowerShot G12, set to "P" - Program (using default settings), f/4.5, 1/6 sec., ISO-1600, 30mm focal length, max aperture 4.34375, subject distance 560 mm, no flash. No alterations to the shot, other than cropping to 72 ppi and adding text.

Above: Shot with Canon PowerShot G12, set to - actually I'm not sure. It was one of the automatic settings. I know it blurred a bit and I moved the camera to see what would happen. Shot is f/4.5, 1 sec. exposure time, ISO-800, 30mm focal length, max aperture 4.34375, subject distance 4.3 m (not sure why this is different than previous - I was still in the car), no flash. No alterations to the shot, other than cropping to 72 ppi and adding text.

Above: Shot with Canon PowerShot G12, set to - actually I'm not sure. It was one of the automatic settings. I know it blurred a bit and I moved the camera to see what would happen. Shot is f/4.5, 0.8 sec. exposure time, ISO-800, 30mm focal length, max aperture 4.34375, subject distance 5.9m (not sure why this is different than previous - I was still in the car), no flash. No alterations to the shot, other than cropping to 72 ppi and adding text.

Above: Shot with Canon PowerShot G12, set to Auto, I think. Shot is f/4.5, 1/15 sec. exposure time, ISO-6400, 30mm focal length, max aperture 4.34375, subject distance 4.6 m (not sure why this is different than all previous - I was in the car the whole time - maybe I adjusted the zoom?), no flash. No alterations to the shot, other than cropping to 72 ppi and adding text.

366 of 2012 - Day 14

366 of 2012 - Day 14. I actually took this photo yesterday and quite liked it, but had another I wanted to use for Day 13.

This was the view from my car in the morning as I was heading to work. That glowing ball in the sky is the moon, not the sun. The sun was starting to rise, behind me.

Shot on Auto with Canon Powershot G12, f/4, 1/25 sec., ISO-800, 18mm, no flash.

366 of 2012 - Day 13

366 of 2012 - Day 13. This poor rhododendron bud was loving the warm weather then the frost came. Looks pretty though. Taken today outside of my office with a Canon PowerShot G12, f/2.8, 1/30 sec., ISO-200, 6mm, no flash. Applied Unsharp Mask in Photoshop.

366 of 2012 - Day 12

366 of 2012 - Day 12. Frost on the Periwinkle vines outside my house around noon today. Shot with Canon PowerShot G12, f/4, 1/30 sec., ISO-160, at 6 mm, no flash.

I moved the camera just slightly and got this alternative shot. I quite like them both. As usual, 72ppi doesn't quite do justice to the photos, though with the one below, it helps out since it appears a bit blurry at a higher resolution. Shot with Canon PowerShot G12, f/3.5, 1/30 sec., ISO-160, at 6 mm, no flash.

366 of 2012 - Day 11

366 of 2012 - Day 11. Wonko's Ukulele. I thought I had some good pictures of frost on my car windscreen this morning, but sadly, everything I tried to take photos of did not impress me.

I took this with the Canon PowerShot G12 on Auto settings. Looking at the details, it's f/2.8, 1/13 sec., ISO-1600, taken at 6mm with pattern metering (that's a default, isn't it?). The flash is off because I never use my flash, except accidentally. I need to get into the habit of checking these details. Maybe it'll get me into the habit of manually applying the settings.

366 of 2012 - Day 10

366 of 2012 - Day 10. I took these first couple shots of mesh crown that belongs to my daughter (I wear it more than her, but I really know how to work a mesh and ribbon crown!). As usual, these are taken with my Canon G12 on Auto. I found the camera really struggled to figure out where it wanted to focus and though I really like this shot, and the one below, I have realised that I need figure out how to focus on a specific area of the photo before snapping the picture.

I have a couple dozen shots of this beautiful polished slice of Geode. It's quite pretty, but it's so polished and reflective, I couldn't get a good shot without a ton of reflections, which I didn't like. The crystals stand out nicely in this shot, though it does not do the gorgeous layers of rock any justice!

I took this shot of the moon this morning. It's not great. There is zero focus, but I still like how it looks against the clouds.

366 of 2012 - Day 9

366 of 2012 - Day 9. Weeb doing her homework and Seagull in muddy / snow goose destroyed field. Both shot with Canon G12 on Auto, because I'm not really feeling inspired today.

366 of 2012 - Day 8

366 of 2012 - Day 8. I don't know what these bushes are. The berries are both red, but with one, the berries are scattered and on the other, they hang in little clusters. Taken with Canon G12 with Auto or Foliage settings; I can't remember.

The first shot, Levels, Curves and Unsharp Mask were tweaked with Photoshop. The second shot is SOOC, except for the text.

366 of 2012 - Day 7

366 of 2012 - Day 7. I'm pretty sure these are mushrooms. They're growing in the bark-mulch outside our complex. If they aren't mushrooms, then they're something considerably more gross. Taken with a Canon G12 on the Foliage setting. This is a SOOC (straight out of the camera) shot. Well, except for the text and size reduction.

366 of 2012 - Day 6

366 of 2012 - Day 6. I have no idea what this plant is. I'd go so far as to say it is NOT a blue berry bush, despite the rather blue berries on it.

Plus I ripped my fingernail today. It hurt.

Both taken with Canon G12 on Auto, though I think the berries shot was set to Foliage. I played with Levels and Curves and Unsharp Mask in Photoshop for both. I cropped the finger nail shot quite a bit.

366 of 2012 - Day 5

366 of 2012 - Day 5. I prefer close up shots (I do love the Macro feature on my camera), but I couldn't pass up a chance to snap this display of Snow Geese as they... flocked? Swarmed? I took the photo from my car using a kids/pets setting on my Canon G12. I did some tweaking of Curves, Levels and Unsharp Mask in Photoshop. And as always, reduced to 72ppi, it isn't nearly as impressive as it is at a higher resolution. Though truth be told, it's not FANTASTIC even at a higher resolution, but it is slightly interesting, so I'm going with it.

SNOW GEESE 2012

If it looks like a duck and sounds like a goose and is destroying your kids' school field, it's probably a Snow Goose in Metro Vancouver in January.

Snow Geese, as it turns out, are not all white. I don't know why this surprises me, yet it does. I haven't had an opportunity to get as up close to these birds as I did today, walking to pick up my daughter from school. We'd gone out looking for them last weekend, but saw only Seagulls, and though the gulls were there today, they were hugely outnumbered by the Snow Geese.

It is much easier to navigate Seagull poop on school walkways than it is to avoid Snow Goose poop. I did not include a picture. You're welcome.

These geese completely destroy school fields. You can hear sounds of... cannons? They must be some kind of cannon or air rifle, because hey, this is Canada and we don't really do the gun thing around here unless we're in some kind of gang. Goose gang? Anyhow, you hear these booming noises coming from some fields and then moments later, the sky is littered with Snow Geese by the thousands as they just move to another school field. I've heard them honking over the house for the past two afternoons. I'm glad I brought my camera with me on my otherwise dreary January Metro Vancouver stroll.

This shot does not do justice to the field of white in this school field. There were a LOT of Snow Geese.