Programs, Podcasts, and more...

 

The new year has started well for me.  On January 1, I received an email from the North American Nature Photography Association telling me that one of my photos I had submitted was being showcased on their website for the day.  This is the second time they have showcased one of my photos.  I have received

any emails from people interested in the classes and I hear that the workshop scheduled for the 18^th at the National Archives has quite a few people registered.  The Fayette Photo Club had the first meeting of 2008 last night and many familiar faces were there – plus a newbie.  It was a great meeting!

 

Sunday I bought a new laptop.  The old laptop was making me a little nervous.  I need it for a presentation coming up and it has been going so slow, not shutting down properly, and well – I just was afraid I would show up to do the program and the computer would crash!  The new laptop has Vista.  So far, I have no problems with it.  Yesterday I used it to edit a photo – got what I wanted – saved it to my jump drive.  I then carried the jump drive to the office, plugged it in the desktop, and printed the photo.  I don't kn ow for sure – but I think since my printer is old – well – it may not be Vista friendly.  The new laptop has a good size hard drive, even though that was not as important to me since I have also purchased a new portable hard drive.  The feature I really wanted was the working memory – this one has 2GB.  My old laptop only has 512, which is the reason it chugs along so slowly these days. 

 

I have also added some new software.  I purchased Photoshop Elements 6 when it first came out.  Now I am learning it and liking it.  Inside the box were other offers (of course there were!).  One of the offers that caught my attention was for Essentials 2.  This add on (or plug in as they call it) for Photoshop Elements has four features.  One feature, "Make It Better" seems like an "auto fix" to me.  I looked at it yesterday and really did not care for the "better" version of my photo.  "Cut It Out" is one I have not used, along with "Frame It."  They do just what they sound like – "cut it out" gets rid of the back ground in your photo and "frame it" adds frames to the photo file.  The feature that caught my eye and really pushed me to order this program is "Enlarge It."  I used this feature yesterday and love it!  Last November, I sent photos in to the jury for the Southeastern Flower Show.  One of my photos was accepted in the contest.  They sent back to me specifics on matting and framing – which is why I was at the frame shop yesterday.  The proof I had submitted was 8x10 but I wanted to put a larger size of that photo in the show.  I did not know how large I could go with that photo without getting distortion in the print.  Up until yesterday, I had only printed this photo as 8x10 or smaller.  When I printed it at 11x14 it looked okay – but I could see some tiny places where it was starting to *pixel out on me (yes – this is my new phrase, I invented it – "pixel out" see below).  This was when I got out the laptop and loaded the photo on with the new programs.   Enlarge It allows you to increase the size of a photo up to 400%.  This does not mean every photo can be increased that much – but it will bump up the size to fit your needs.  My very slightly, pixely-looking 11x14 became a very sharp and great-looking 12x16 – I mean it looked GREAT!  This was as large as I wanted to go with it .  The specifications for framing said nothing over 30"x30" – and I was planning on putting a 4-inch mat around the photo, plus the frame – so I think I am just under the limit.  I am very pleased with this program if I only use this one feature.  This will come in very handy when I am working with old family photos and would like to make them much larger.  It is also a plus to have when you want to crop out just a part of a photo – this gives you a smaller file, of course, than the whole, original, large file.  You could then use this feature to bump up the crop to the same size as the original file – or even take it larger.  Here is a link to the website: http://ononesoftware.com/products.php?type=es.  When you purchase Elements 6, there is a coupon for Essentials 2 in the box to save $20 off the price.  Since I love this Enlarge It so much – the Genuine Fractals 5 program is looking verrrrry interesting to me.  Hmmm, increasing the size of your original by 1000%!!!

 

OK – enough about the program……How about podcasts?  My favorite photography podcast of all time is Brooks Jensen's Lenswork - on photography and the creative process.  This is the same Brooks Jensen and Lenswork that is the wonderful magazine of black and white images.  The magazine is wonderful – each issue highlights three photographers and their work.  Here is the link to the Lenswork website: http://www.lenswork.com.  Even if you don't have an iPod or other mp3 type of device, you can listen to  podcasts on your computer.  I download mine through iTunes and do put them on my iPod.  If you don't have an iPod – you can still have an iTunes account – for free!  The podcasts are free!  They are short – most not over 5 minutes and very enlightening.  Although the magazine is purely B&W – the podcasts cover many subjects and really make you think.

 

Oh – and did I mention I have a Wacom Intuos3 on the way to my door?  More on this when I get it and figure out how to use it….

 

 

*pixel out – when you push a digital photo just a little too far and it look like it.

Happy New Year!

I have been thinking it over for the past couple of days – trying to come up with a good "start of the new year" kind of topic.  Well, the best I have thought of is, "how to edit yourself."  Really no one can tell you how to edit yourself – I think the big thing is sometimes we need a push to force us to edit.  The beginning of the year is a good time for that push – also home remodeling pushes us to clean up, out and streamline things.

 

As I sit here and look around my desk (and the rest of the house) – editing is needed!  (and, in fairness, editing is happening)  The remodel is still in progress – meaning that things are still a mess.  The kitchen is almost complete.  Painting is about halfway finished.  New furniture arrives on Friday, old furniture has been moved to the basement, and some will be picked up for a donation the same day.  By the end of the month the flooring on the first and second floor will all be replaced.  When we first began this a couple months ago, I knew it was going to be a task.  Task sounds smal l, doesn't it – this is a large task.  What I really did not completely think about is that in order to replace the flooring EVERYTHING must come out of a room.  Everything!  It is like moving and not really moving out of the house.  I had the same epiphany about the kitchen cabinets.  I remember sitting in the living room one night and having mild panic set in when I realized new kitchen cabinets meant all the old cabinets had to be emptied!  I have never lived (as an adult) in a house as long as I have lived here.  Normally we would move – and I mean move – across the country (or at least a few states).  When we would move – we were f orced to clean out things that have been stored and saved for some reason that had become lost on us.  When we would move – we would move to a home with new things, carpet, appliances, the works – all new!  We needed to edit.  We did edit – the move forced us to do it.  I still need to edit – I have three weeks before the flooring guys arrive expecting me to be ready for them.  I need to be.  The kitchen cabinets are fine – they look great and all the kitchen stuff has been edited, and what was kept has been rearranged in the new places.  Now if I could only keep everyone else from moving things when they use them!

 

Next week I have the art center class beginning.  On Wednesdays I teach a beginning digital photography class at the Fayette Art Center.  I have most of my material prepared for this class already – so I am very ready for this.  Recently I removed the Microsoft Digital Image program and Photoshop Elements 3 from my desktop and replaced them with Photoshop Elements 6.  I have learned most of this new program and I am still getting up to speed with it.  On the 18^th of Jan I will present a lecture/workshop at the National Archives in Morrow on restoring old photos using this program – I still need to work with it to learn more of the ins and outs of it.  Also, I plan to add a Photoshop class at the art center beginning in either February or March.  This morning I ordered a companion program for Elements – Essentials 2.  I am anxious to get this one and see how easily it works. 

 

But back to editing – my desk needs some editing – some cleaning – some filing away the papers and items from 2007 to make space for 2008.  I have a couple photo sessions on my memory card that I need to edit and look over, deciding on what to save, what to play with and what to delete.  Recently I went through all the photo files saved to my hard drive (sort of) – saving those to DVDs and clearing my hard drive space.  I even deleted some.  When I say "went through" that means the files of photos – not photo by photo – gosh I would still be doing it if I did each and every single photo.  I am really bad about downloading everything on the memory card and not culling enough to delete ALL of the photos that I know I will never want to look at a second time.  I am pretty good about deleting a stinker on the camera and sometimes one or two during download – but then there are many lurking, taking up space, that are really, really, really bad photos.  This is a good week (what is left of it) to get out the calendars, get set up, and plan the next few weeks (months?).  The photo club meetings are already set up – but I need to talk to a couple places about some field shoots coming up soon.  My filing system is not working – or at least it does not work if I don't file.  There are prints and copies of handouts I pass out at workshops in different places.  I need to get them in one spot.  My camera ge ar has gotten scattered around over the holidays and with the couple little trips I have been on.  I need to collect all the gear in one space so when I look for the monopod I can find it next time!  I would love to set aside specific office time and stick to it – give myself time to do all the little tasks I need to do plus spend some uninterrupted editing time on the computer.  Since this is "resolution time" and I don't usually make them – since I usually break them – maybe I will make just one – to set up a normal time a few days a week to spend "in the office."  When I say office time – well that needs control too – that does not mean time spent updating the iPod and creating playlists – although many of my podcasts have something to do with art or photography…so that is still "working" – right?

 

Oh and about the hawk spotting while traveling via the interstate – I was the passenger on the road trip from Atlanta to Charlotte – I spotted 24!  On the way home from the grocery store yesterday I spied one on the power lines on Redwine Road. 

A Trip To Virginia

 

If you are on the road for travel this holiday – be on the watch for birds of prey.  With the leaves off of the trees, it is easy to spot the hawks sitting high watching for prey in open fields or along the roadside. 

 

Last week I drove from our home to my hometown in Virginia.  Since I was driving and had to keep an eye on the traffic, I did not get to "hawk watch" as well as I can when I am the passenger.  This time of year you can see them along the road – sitting high in the bare trees.  Even just driving around your local areas – they are there to be seen.  In the past month as I drove my daughter to her weekly class in Hampton, we spotted a hawk (I believe it was a Red-Tailed Hawk) on the power lines near the Atlanta Speedway.  It was perched in nearly the same spot more than once – looking down and out over a clear area. 

 

The hawks prey includes smaller birds – sparrows, American Robins, starlings, and doves to name a few.  The size of the prey depends on the size of the hawk doing the hunting.  Hawks will also eat rodents – chipmunks, tree squirrels, and mice.  Just the other day I was standing near our new bird feeder and thinking about the circle of life it represents.  Around the post at the ground I saw sunflower seedlings beginning to sprout – I knew they would not make it since it is December.  But, in the spring we just might see a sunflower or two from the dropped seeds.  Those seedlings are choice food for slugs, snails, and chipmunks.  Just as the birds, chipmunks, and squirrels love to eat the seeds and maybe even the seedlings of the sunflowers – the feeder is feeding another creature – the predator.  Hawks love backyard bird feeders.  The feeder brings out the smaller birds and rodents.  Hawks sit on their high perch watching and waiting.  When the right time happens, they swoop down and grab their prey and take it off to another perch.  Think about it – most of the backyard feeders are placed where we (people) can get a good view of the birds.  If we are getting a good view – so is the hawk.  When I toss out old carrots, apples, and such for the bunnies, chipmunks, deer, and what ever else happens by, I toss th em near the edge of the woods thinking I am giving the animals a bit of a chance with some "cover."   The food chain of the backyard feeder – seeds can become seedlings, then plants or food for animals – the birds and rodents can eat seeds or plants or become food for the hawks.

 

As we traveled across most of 4 states, I saw 5 hawks – a couple in flight.  If those had been perched, I may not have noticed them.  If you ever drive on Interstate 85 north of Durham, you can spot a sight.  Years ago there used to be a large nest, not made of small twigs and grass – but made of branches from trees.  This nest was at the top of a powerline pole as you crossed Falls Lake.  I can't tell you when – but at some point the powerline was run onto different poles.  Now there are two tall pol es there with a building platform at the top.  One of these poles has a huge nest on the platform.  The nest had to be built by an osprey or an eagle.  I have never seen a bird at this nest or any of the other times I have traveled by the structure.  I Googled to see if I could find any information on the nest – I have not found anything about it. 

 

We hear so much about the drought locally.  The drought reaches to North Carolina and Virginia.  Although Virginia has had some rain and their lakes don't look to low – in North Carolina it is another story.  The Falls Lake mentioned above looks like acres of mud flats with a small creek running through it.  The lake areas in South Carolina around Lake Hartwell were also very low and some looked to be only a small stream where there had once been a cove.

 

I did not stop to take photos of any of this.  I did take photos while on the short trip. 

 

I traveled to the property my grandparent's home is on and the property where my great-great grandparents home once stood.  The only thing at the old homeplace now is the ruins of the kitchen.  Near these ruins there would be many daffodils blooming in the early spring and a nice little patch of asparagus.  The property is very familiar to me and yet very different.  I remember the trails and the way down the hill to the lake.  Where my granddaddy's garden once grew there are many small trees – it does not look like a garden was ever there.  The old well where I used to get a cold drink on a hot day is gone.  My grandmother had the w ell filled in – she was worried that someone would allow their children to roam free on the property.  I remember one day standing in the little well house, getting a drink from the bucket.  I looked up and saw a huge black snake lying on the ledge near the roof.  I remember my grandfather plowing the garden by himself, by hand.  He would grow tomatoes, beans, corn, peppers, turnips, cucumbers and squash.  I would stand in the garden and pick cherry tomatoes from the plants – they were delicious.

 

My grandfather's bean poles are left leaning against the old pear tree.  The tree looks like it has not had a pear on it for years.  The bean poles have not been used for years either.  The fence he had surrounding the garden area is falling down and green with moss and lichens.  I see the gate left open and remember the time the horse cut the corner at the gate a little sharply and a nail scraped my leg as I rode through it.  The old stable area is quiet, but it looks like something is using it for a home.  There is a hole chewed in the back wall and a place dug under a board.  The hen house is dark and silent.  The old apple and persimmon trees look like the pear tree – a long time since anything grew on them.  Here and there you can see old stobs of small trees that a beaver has cut off and taken away to help build its dam.  I remember seeing the beavers slap their tails on the water as a warning when my grandfather and I would walk down the hill.

 

As my aunt and I continue our walk, we head down the path to the lake.  I remember going down this path with my grandfather many times.  I remember him pointing out the chinquapin bush to me as we would pass.  He and I would fish there many days.  He would tell me that if I dug the worms, he would take me down the hill to fish.  I gladly dug the worms.  He always baited my hook.  In a stump, down near the water, there is a roll of barbed wire.  My grandfather must have left it there many years ago.  The water level in this lake is a little low.  My aunt and I can see deer tracks coming down the hill through the leaves.  At the bottom of the hill there is a small place where the deer have been sliding in the mud as they make their way to the edge for a drink.  Since the weather has been mild, there are many ferns showing bright green in the brown leaves that litter the ground.  I took a few pictures there that day.  When I go back, I will take some more.

Meteor Showers

The Geminid meteor shower is coming!  One of the best meteor showers of the year peaks in the early morning of December 14^th.   You have the Perseids in August, the Leonids in November – now it is December and here come the Geminids.  Meteor showers get their name from the constellations they seem to come out of.  Perseids come from near the constellation Perseus – kind of in between Perseus and Cassiopeia, but closer to Perseus.  The Leonids seem to radiate from the constellation Leo.  So – following that train of thought, the Geminids are found shooting out from the constellation Gemini.  All three of these famous meteor showers happen around the middl e of the month they are associated with – so remember next August – the Perseids can really be spectacular.  I remember one year laying on a lawn chair to watch Earthgrazer meteors streak across the sky.  An Earthgrazer is a meteor that skims along the Earth's atmosphere like a stone skipping on a pond.  They are big, bright, and very pretty.  Earthgrazers appear with the meteor shower is near the horizon.  This shoots the meteors more horizontally rather than coming down at a more vertical trajectory.

 

Head outside Thursday night after 10 p.m. and look toward the constellation Gemini.  If you can't find Gemini – look for Orion.  Almost anyone can find Orion's belt – Gemini is not as easy to spot. Gemini is close to Orion.  After midnight the number of meteors seen per hour will increase until dawn Friday morning.

 

There are a lot of fun websites about meteors and space things.  There is one place where you can find the "near Earth objects."  That can get a little freaky to read what is coming close and when.

 

Here are some links of interest.  The first one is a story on this year's Geminids.  You can sign up with NASA for email alerts for anything space related.  For the next couple nights – you can go outside to spot the space station flying over.

 

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/03dec_asteroidshower.htm

Info on the Geminids next week

 

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/skywatch.cgi?country=United+States

Go here – click on your state – click on the city (or closest to you) this will show when the International Space Station is flying over.  I missed it early last evening -- I have another couple chances -- today and Thursday.

 

http://www.spaceweather.com/

Go here to find out about the latest on Sun spots, near Earth asteroids, and see some really cool photo galleries of space related objects and clouds.

 

Now if I can get everyone in the neighborhood to turn off their outside lights!!!