Remembering PRESTAGS

Orroral Valley, Easter Monday

European wasps were a distraction at (very late) lunch, so I set a Kinglseys distraction for them. They are evil looking little bastards and quite strong. Straight out of camera jpeg from D3300 + 85mm micro (but compressed for upload).

crop of same

European trees starting to turn. The rest are D90 + 18-105 with minor tweeks

Cockatoo on the wing as shot and a crop

 - 

Orroral valley

Exploding Yoghurt

These yoghurts were out of date and swollen - I had taken them out to squeeze them into the compost bin ...

I was talking on the phone when behind me I heard this crackling noise - I turned to witness the exploded yoghurt squirting itself all the way across the sink - about 4-5 feet I reckon.

the splash pattern shows how much pressure it shot out with ...

you can see it made it all the way across the sink ...

Another (bigger) jumping spider

lots of character.

Food

Thygo's 'chicken curry with the works'

closer view:

Hunter Gatherer

A couple of GumTree freebies, and an ebay catch.

 

after quite a bit of watching, found this manfrotto monopod and head with removable plate and ability to flip the camera 90 degrees. Tried it out for moon shot this evening too.

Spider in my hair?

So, I'm sitting at the table with the laptop. Not that long come in from putting the ducks to bed.

Feel something on the side of my head, and brush it off. Behold it is a little black and white spider. Not a white tail. Not a redback but with some body shape similarities. Pretty sure it isn't a male redback either. Maybe the spider ended up on me from fetching chook eggs out of the bushes or from the chook shed.

[edit - on the Australian spiders Flickr group there is a very similar spider - https://www.flickr.com/photos/125933031@N05/33498504190/in/pool-australianspiders/ - I bent through bushes to get chook eggs - I suspect that is where the spider came from]

It was extremely docile, hardly moving. And when I got a glass and tried to slide a piece of paper under it, it hardly moved - I thought maybe I had damaged it but on inspection I don't think so. So docile, I could cut the piece of paper to a size to go in a container for photographing - he/she hardly moved. 

So, given it was so docile I thought I would try some macro work. Some results are below. Got out the tripod (see below too for the setup), tried 3 different lenses and eventually played with off camera flash and had a go at hand-held.

The on tripod shots utilised live view (kind of hard to get at the viewfinder the way I had the tripod). On the D90 at least I discovered that you can zoom in while in live view in order to see even more closely what the focus is like (didn't go back to D3300 to test it).

At the end of the shoot I released the spider outside.

Setup

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I don't have a scale mark but you can see the spider is quite small - it is just visible beside the tripod leg clamp opposite the red arrow.

D3300 + 18-200 @200mm

Tried this first. Note, that despite the greater zoom magnification, the minimum focus distance limits how close I could get.

100% crop (rotated 90 deg)

D3300 18-55 @55mm

Despite the shorter focal length the humble 18-55 could be focused quite close, giving a more or less equivalent image to the 18-200.

~50% crop (100%crop cut of the spider's legs)

both the 18-55 and 18-200 will give greater depth of field - I think these are shot at f8.

D3300 85mm macro - as shot

These are shot at f36 and I needed to shine a torch on the spider to enable the camera to focus - at f36 the aperture is so small that not much light is getting through to the sensor. The flash enables adequate exposure however.

(The first shots with this combo the camera was still set at f4 and the depth of field was very shallow so that most of the spider was out of focus).

D90 85mm macro - off camera flash - as shot

D90 85mm macro - hand held + off camera flash

All in all I was pretty happy with this opportunist, amateur naturalist shooting.

Accidental photo adventures, noise reduction

So, on the way home at sunset. Sort of racing to get to a vantage point.

Pull over at foot of Mt Taylor and head up the path, and I go through a little mob of kangaroos - seemed I could have almost reached out and touched one they were so quiet. Took some less than amazing sunset shots - too late.

On the way back down I tried to photo the roos - it is quite dark by now but trying to push the 50mm f1.8 and the D90's ISO to get a useable shutter speed. Focus was OK but digital noise was clearly visible.

So, had a play (blunder) around in Nikon's free Capture NX-D software.

first image here is side by side of full image - L after noise reduction, R before noise reduction (snip jpeg of the side by side window in Capture NX-D). Noise is not so evident at this magnification.

next is zoomed in of the side by side, also a snip jpeg. Not really sure what I am doing but I also did some sharpening as well as noise. L= post noise reduction, R= pre noise reduction - noise very evident at this magnification.

I am amazed at what this yielded.

 

 

Anticipation of endorphins - Steam status

A reason I got a macro lens - jumping spiders

Looking at great photos of diminutive Australian jumping spiders was one of the things that made me hanker after a macro lens.

I see them outside every now and again. Today, there was one just outside the backdoor, and BBQ preparations had to be delayed while I scrambled to dig out camera, flash and tripod. Macro lens was already on D90 and slapped on the little SB400 flash. Tripod proved next to useless in the situation - spider was on the wall beyond the railing so there was no way to get the tripid close enough. Tried using it as a monopod but that made getting the angle hard. Resorted to hand held. I reckon the end of the lens was 2-3 inches away from the spider.

Hand held worked out OK, though it was very hard to find an angle where I could get most of the little fellow in focus, even shooting at f32 the depth of field was quite shallow. The orientation of shots is unchanged - so if the spider is facing down, that is the way he was on the wall too. Some minor exposure adjustment, sharpening. Some are cropped.

First shot is uncropped to give a sense of just how small the spider is - he is sitting adjacent to the mortar between the bricks.

a crop of the same shot

nice one of the big front eyes, as shot, then as cropped

 

cropped

Adventures in exposure

of digital sensors

I had occasion to have to walk to Kingston to get passport photos taken.

I took the camera with me, and took a few opportunistic shots on the way and return.

I played with shutter speed at the bridge over the creek, where there is a mini rapid as the water runs over steps.

SHUTTER SPEED First - fast shutter speed - brief exposure - freezing movement.

on the way back, supported by the bridge railing a slow shutter speed - long exposure

a crop of each shows the different effects - the fast shutter reveals individual water droplets, while the slow shutter speed makes a creamy image.

while waiting for the prints, I mucked around with the contrasty scene of the cafes. Red square is where the focus point was, rough red circle is where I pointed the camera first to get a light reading, and locked that reading in.

Matrix metering - camera is making a compromise based on all the light coming in. light sampling at the focus point - balanced over all

matrix metering again but I think with different metering point - in tree shadow - brighter over all

centre-weighted - camera uses light around chosen point but still takes account of the whole scene

first metering in the centre (running of memory, might even have been metering in the light?) - camera takes account of bright areas and reduces exposure

then centre weighted metering in the darker tree area before focusing on the centre - trees well exposed but not a white out in the light

then spot metering - the camera uses information from just that spot to calculate the overall exposure

first in centre - not bad balance but shadows are dark,

then metering in the tree shadow - trees exposed but white out elsewhere

Sunset, Prestags quiz - crop circles?, filing cave

Gorgeous sunset this evening, had a quick attempt to capture it. Not that satisfied. Vantage and angle didn't do it justice. So many blasted power lines as well.

What has the chicken discovered?   PRESTAGS QUIZ - can you tell me what it was that caused this?

 

Filing cave

Viewfinders - the good old days and the pluses and minuses of technological advance

Python asked about autofocus vs manual focus of the moon shot.

Old-school film SLRs tended to have fabulous, large, bright optical ('analogue') viewfinders - the bump on them is just for the prism. The bump on dSLRs also has a pop up flash crammed in there.

(The optical viewfinder is like a periscope that allows you to 'see' what the lens sees because of the mirror, which flips out of the way when the shot is taken. Other styles of cameras with optical viewfinders would view the scene but never in perfect alignment because the angle would almost certainly vary, even if ever so slightly.)

this pic shows the relative sizes (ie views) through different camera viewfinders. Generally for FX cameras - ie sensor the same size as a 35mm negative - the viewfinders are bigger. For DX cameras they are correspondingly smaller.

I was shocked when I did a side by side comparison of my then still in use Pentax ME-Super with my brand new Nikon D60 (DX) - the Pentax viewfinder was enormous by comparison. Basically giving 1:1 apparent view with the standard 50mm lens. I think the view on my Pentax is similar to that on the celebrated and venerable Olympus OM-1 (also film camera). The entry level Nikons (D3x00, 5x00) are smaller than the D90. Even the large brick top of the line FX Canons and Nikons still have smaller viewfinders than some of their old film predecessors.

 The new SLT and mirrorless cameras don't have an optical viewfinder but an eyepiece looking at a digital viewfinder. These are generally much larger, comparatively, even for small (DX and smaller) sensor sizes. The technology is improving and these now apparently are quite good, overcoming original problems of the processor keeping the image refreshed without jerking eg when following movement.

In the old days, before autofocus cameras (implemented on later film cameras, my Pentax is manual focus only), manual focus was aided by a split ring etched on the viewfinder prism.

when the image is in focus the hatching around the outside disappears and the internal halves should line up perfectly.

This works well if you have a long line to 'cut and join' or contrasting items. If you are trying to focus on something small it is still tricky.

Most dSLR lenses,especially zooms and even more expensive ones, are set up for AF and although they have focus rings they tend not to have a lot of fine adjustment. Prime lenses (single focal length) have more travel.

You can get replacement focussing screens for dSLRs with a split ring etched on them. 

I have toyed with getting one but I have wondered how well it will work given my poor vision and the already small viewfinder size of my cameras.

But that was part of the romantic attraction of the film SLR - 50mm lens only and split ring manual focus - to get composition and focus the shooter had to do it themself.

 

this post would not have been possible (practicable anyway) without the digital technology aids of Dr Google and the Snipping Tool.

the last 'macro' adventures of 2016 ...

that sounded dramatic didn't it. when in fact it just happened that these pics were taken on 31 December 2016, downloaded and mildly post-processed on 1 January 2017 and uploaded to this blog on the same day. Nikon D3300, Nikkor 85mm f3.5 micro, Nikon DB600 flash.

Started with a mudwasp under the laundry window ledge - an accidental subject, as I noticed it fly under the ledge. He/she was not a cooperative subject and wouldn't stay still, and if I tried to get closer flew off. Hard to get and keep focus hand held. 

Then I noticed a fly on the laundry window frame. he/she was much more cooperative, and I did get to the minimum focus distance to get the maximum macro. Focus was assisted by being able to lean on the wall,

All shots taken with external flash and with aperture very small (ie f26-f32 - narrow lens opening to get maximum depth of field to try to get the whole insect in focus). These are what I think were the best ones. 

MUD  WASP

as close as I could get with 85mm

 

crop to get balance of detail and noise. If I zoomed in more digitally it starts to look poor - suspect I couldn't hold still enough and have actually not focussed on the wasp's head but the mud nest / back leg.

As an aside, I couldn't find a pic of this compact black wasp to try to get an ID on (but I'm sure someone has described it ...). The mud wasp that does come up in searches is slim and with yellow bits -  http://www.ozanimals.com/Insect/Mud-Dauber-Wasp/Sceliphron/sp.html

The little mud construction probably contains paralysed spiders.

 

FLY

For scale, context - fly on side of wound out window. Frame is 1.5 inches (38mm) thick, so the fly is maybe 12mm long.

 

pre-crop jpeg, processed from RAW tweaking exposure, sharpness

 

crop of above image (less than 100%). It is not the blowfly Lucilia cuprina but something else. - I think it is Calliphora augur - the lesser brown blowfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliphora_augur 

.

true macro shot - as close as I could get, so no cropping but 1:1 reproduction in the image frame. The fly flew away after this - I obviously got too close - front of the lens is maybe 1-2 inches away from the fly. Processed for exposure (reduced -1.0 EV, or 1 'stop')

I am pretty happy with this shot, though the framing is flawed. 

 

And the images give the joy of the splendour of creation - Benedicamus Domino !!

Venite adoremus

In principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum.

Hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per Ipsum facta sunt, et sine

Ipso factum est nihil quod factum est.

In Ipso vita erat, et vita erat Lux hominum.

Et Lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt ...

Erat lux vera quae inluminat omnem hominem venientem in mundum (Jn 1: 1-5, 9)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ...

That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. 

Ad hoc curry

So thygo did a big stir fry on Sunday. Throwing in garlic, ginger, chilli (all out of a bottle), a range of vegies, chicken, sesame seeds, honey, peanut butter, soy sauce, curry powder.

Tasted pretty good I have to say.

Opportunistic macro

Getting Carl's soccer ball out of overgrown garden bed.

Notice field pea volunteers (from straw).

Then notice there is a little spider on one of the pea pods.

Then notice she is sitting on an egg sac. She looks like a tiny, tiny wolf spider (which end up carrying their hatchlings around on their back).

So a quick set up on the tripod and macro lens ... She was determined to stay on that egg sac, regardless of what was going on nearby.

Shot with Nikon D3300, 85mm macro lens. Each pea pod is a bit over an inch long, the spide was probably 8mm long. Each picture is cropped a bit (but not 100%).

 

Back to the future

the mega camera site Digital Photography Review https://www.dpreview.com/  has a feature called 'Throwback Thursday'

this week's was the venerable Nikon D40 https://www.dpreview.com/news/7683242978/throwback-thursday-nikon-d40 : the comment thread is quite interesting too.

I had the D60, 2nd successor - almost identical body but 10MP vs 6MP CCD sensors + a few little tools - sensor cleaning, active D lighting. Patrick has it now. I suspect I took some of my best pictures with that camera in the flush of youthful enthusiasm.

D40 had bigger pixels and was very well reputed. Typical Thygo buyer remorse - probably should have bought the D40 at the time. Cést la vie. The early dSLRs had CCD vs CMOS sensors and many contend these give different, and depending on your taste, preferable colour rendition. I suspect I agree.

I now have D90 and D3300. D3300 is a lineal descendent of the D40. Now with 24MP, up to 128000 ISO, video, other bits and pieces. I still reckon the D60 body was more comfortable and controls easier. I am still undecided whether I have an advance over the D90 with the D3300.

I am now seeing if I can pick up a D40 body at a good price (some people ask almost as much as a brand new D3300!) to have as a 'beater body' - walk around in daylight, rough and tumble.

Comparison picks below - probably just nostalgia but I still reckon the D40/40x/60 body design was very nice - uncluttered, clean lines. Nice feeling solid polycarbonate construction (the newer ones feel very light - probably as strong but doesn't feel the same).

 

 

 

It's Arrived!

I went to EB today to pre-order Civilisation VI, and it turns out today was the release date. Totally awesome.

Even better, I picked up a 25th Anniversary Edition with extras including six mega cool coins.

Awesome beyond Awesome.

Don Quixote returns

Here are some pics with my new-ish (2nd hand) lenses.

55-300mm howling at the moon (300mm on Nikon D3300) (on tripod, image sharpened a little, exposure adjusted +0.3, cropped). pretty happy with the sharpness and detail.

85mm micro (=macro) on Nikon D3300 of plum trees starting to bloom (on tripod with some flash) no cropping, tried for close but also with maximum depth of field - around f22. About 4 inches away. quite happy with sharpness. photographing little flowers even in a light breeze is interesting ...

I will have to see how it goes handheld with insects or spiders. Hoverflies make great subjects but I have to find them ... 

Kansas in trouble again

I think Paul used to have a rule: "Never play Python when he has cavalry." He needs to explain that rule to Kansas. This attack has gone three times better than I expected. My plan was just to shell the city so that it stopped producing. I have now cut the supply lines to the city and if he does not have some off map reinforcements, it is going to fall.

What is clever about ATG is that capturing an enemy city does not make me much stronger as the enemy populace refuses to make weapons of war. Thus you do not steam roller in this game. I have done well because while the Chinese strength is militia, the Confederate strength is in rangers - elite infantry. I can turn any flank I want, but I can't hold against a human wave attack. However, if the human wave has no ammunition, I am in with a strong chance. And if they lose this much of their army, its good night Kansas.

In the south I tried an experiment of putting a smaller number of rangers into armoured cars. This lets me concentrate on a small part of the line and then pour reinforcements through. That has gone very well and Kansas will lose badly here if he chooses to defend the centre.

Who wants to give it a go?

Python Magnus Omnia Vincit

Kansas has capitulated in Advanced Tactics Gold (Empire on Steroids).

You guys should give this a go. It is fun, easy to play, loads of options that gives lots of opportunity for asymmetric strategies and you get through turns really fast.

There is even a YouTube for people who cannot read.

 

It costs US$30. Perfect for a friend's birthday present: http://store.steampowered.com/app/310390/

Little walk on western base of Mt Taylor

Little walk near sunset on Monday afternoon.

Amazed at reach of my 8x40 binoculars.

Played around with different camera lenses.

No clouds so sunset a bit of fizzer.

Last time I did this walk I saw heaps of kangaroos, Monday just 2 that went past me.

Awesome Valentine's Day Gifts

Happy Valentine's Day!

Will this be a mushy post? Of course not!

My much better half was happy with her gift, but not as happy as I was with the awesome Valentine's Day gift I received in return.

It is almost two years to the day since I threw away the microwave oven in my crusade against EMF. My Valentine's Day gift was a small convection oven, a Breville Smart Oven Pro, that can do anything a microwave does only better.

I have already tried it out, and it heated up a pizza in no time. Home made pizza went in for 10 minutes. Perfectly cooked! Absolutely awesome.

The US Civil War

No, I have not looked in the brown envelope yet. I have been too busy admiring the absolutely awesome production values of GMT's game: The US Civil War. Thank you again Python for this fantastic Christmas present.

I managed to obtain control of the dining room table for 20 minutes, just long enough to admire the mounted map. Two enormous sections.

General Lee surveys the map and definitely approves. Washington is well within striking distance.

Everything in this game is full colour and to the highest standard, from the rules to the counters to the cards to the dice (one set for each player). I need more space - a big house like the Python has.

Aristo: World's Greatest Budgie

Paul and his family are extremely sad today because their pet budgerigar, Aristo, passed away one day before his tenth birthday.

Aristo was amazingly intelligent, had a huge vocabulary, and was the most photographed budgie in history. The house is noticeably quieter without his comforting background chatter.

We had Aristo since he was a baby, and as the girls grew up alongside Aristo he was always a star in their various projects.

Aristo was even a TV star, having appeared on Paul Murray Live on Sky News channel. There was a competition where viewers had to send in a photograph of themselves watching the show, and I sent in a photo of Aristo watching the show which they broadcast:

I'm sure he's chatting away in the great aviary in the sky.

A rare but sweet victory

Normally Thygo is trying to tenaciously and/or tenuously defend against the mathematicall and tactically superior Paul and Python. However, with the help of a good handicap, Python leaving his Generals out in the open, and Uncle Paul spending his treasure on nukes, Thygo has won a game. Well at least Paul resigned. I must say thought that Paul's nuke strategy was really frustrating my attempts to form up new armardas ...

The map:

KFC Philippines

KFC in the Philippines has some legendary products.

Check out the KFC Double Down Dog which is a hot dog inside a fried chicken 'bun'.

There is also the KFC Double Down Burger which is "No Bun, All Meat". There was something like this in Australia for a brief period, but we aren't a patch on the Philippines when it comes to KFC creativity.

Also note the Cheese Top Burger in which the cheese is grilled on top of the bun.

There is a KFC Pasta Bowl for those who like pasta.

And there is a rice meal, the KFC Chicken Ala King.

And there is even a KFC Crispy Butter Chicken for those with a more Indian taste.

Yep, it looks like Asia has all the great ideas when it comes to KFC. Not to be out done by the Philippines, KFC in Korea has its own version of the KFC Double Down Burger (Korea) which is KFC plus a meat patty. Included is a slice of bacon so this beauty gives you chicken+beef+pork.

Love their work.

Awesome Wedding Anniversary

Congratulations to the Python who has reached 30 years of marriage.

I have consulted the different gifts that go with each anniversary and 30 years is definitely the big one.

A momentous anniversary like this deserves a special wedding anniversary cake. Something like this would be brilliant:

Quiz - what is it?

Can you guess?

Ducklings and shelters

Ashleigh's 2 new ducklings hatched about a week ago now. Waiting on Bluebell's 9.

I have been working bit by bit on a moveable shelter for them to be out on the grass but safe. It has finally been completed and I am quite happy with my handywork - a fair amount of recycling but some new elements.

Ducklings

Duckling shelter

Bluebell

Awesome T-Shirt

A Christmas present from the Python. Thank you!

A Week Since Christmas

Already a week since Christmas. How come holidays go so much faster than normal time. Santa was good to me at Christmas, and I received a device that I have been after for quite a while (below, left) which makes life easier for an old man like me. Our budgie Aristo received a bird gymnasium, which he actually quite enjoys.

I also received a confederate sniper, complete with a pumpkin jacket, to join my confederate collection. And speaking of the South, my Mum gave me a steak marinade, which we road-tested last night and it was delicious.

Christmas lunch was my favourite. That means no turkey, but rather a magnificient Aussie roast lamb followed by rich Christmas pudding.

There was much other feasting, including Nanie's famous Spag Bol on Christmas Eve, and plenty of salami, smoked salmon and olives.

 And a little quiz for Python. Does he recognize this:

18 December - O Adonai

Today is the 2nd O antiphon, O Adonai.

To listen to O Adonai  click here

The composers of these offices had a little hidden meaning too if you read the capitals in reverse:

 

Food on Saturday

Bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomato, baked beans.

Yum

 

 

A Worthy Winner

The 2014 World Beard and Moustache Championship has announced the winner: Mr Madison Rowley. He certainly has a most impressive beard and is a worthy winner:

 

Not a hint of a pony tail.

Why Are Puffy Dogs Puffy?

Speaking of dogs, why are Puffy Dogs called Puffy Dogs?

I think I know the answer. Because when you cook them they puff up.

The secret of a good Puffy Dog is to include sauce and cheese inside the dog, as well as having a dipping sauce. Just like the Giant Pork Sausage in a Roll with a Pancake this is another Saturday morning breakfast treat. Special thanks to #2 daughter who cooked these dogs.

Secret Ingredient

Saturday mornings are special, particularly if there is a little sleep in. And Saturday morning breakfasts are a treat: the 'Saturday Morning Special' being the pork sausage roll.

There are many secrets to this breakfast: the fresh bread roll which must be baked on the Saturday morning, the Danish butter, the giant pure pork sausage. But the secret ingredient is the pancake, which adds a sweet note to an otherwise savoury delight.

Awesome

Newly arrived and so awesome that I had to create a new category called "Awesome".