Are you looking at me?

This is one of the successful shot I had before the revelation.
What revelation? funny, just thinking about it makes me feel ashamed.
You know that I 'grew up' with digital cameras that have deep or large field of view (DOF) like Fuji S7000 and Kodak Z740. 
All these years, my frame of mind is to keep the aperture as large as possible 
to attain shallow DOF, you know, like those pros. :-P 
When I go out to take photos I usually has three sessions (sounds like a pro photographers :-P)
First is Tele, where I usually use Olympus TCON 1.7 or just Leica from my FZ50. 
I took pictures of birds and sometimes BIF, if the lighting condition is friendly enough for my TCON light-eater ~_~
which most of the time lock my f-stop at a small aperture on high speed exposure. 

After I got a sprained neck for looking upward with a relatively heavy camera plus Tcon, pressed at my eye for about an hour, I sit down, take off the Tcon and start on Macro. Looking for butterflies, large to medium size bugs or anything that interest me. 
After I scared them all away, then I put on my Micro explorer to ......... ants and small bugs. 
This is the part where it gets really frustrating for me. 
With the micro lens on, the DOF is really really shallow. Paper-thin DOF, that even if I breathe a little, the object falls out of focus, not to mention the wind, breeze, moving objects, sigh. 
Let me tell you a secret, I have hundreds of out of focus micro pictures which just a few milimeters away from becoming a good photo. 
It always looked good and perfect on the camera LCD, 
but once I transferred them to my laptop and view it on screen, 
the results was always disappointing. 
It's not until few weeks ago that I just realize that I always set the aperture as large as photographically possible. I start at 2.8, which of course that was the culprit behind the paper-thin DOF. 
Now, I always try to set the aperture as small as possible. The result is getting better. I got more hits than misses. But then again, small aperture, less light, dark picture pfh..
What I need is macro ring flash or light..ha ha...a never ending quest..

 

File size: 773863 bytes
File date: 2007:10:08 13:19:10
Camera make: Panasonic
Camera model: DMC-FZ50
Date/Time: 2007:10:08 11:03:50
Resolution: 2048 x 1536
Flash used: Yes (manual)
Focal length: 25.8mm (35mm equivalent: 217mm)
Exposure time: 0.0010 s (1/1000)
Aperture: f/4.0
ISO equiv.: 100
Whitebalance: Auto
Light Source: Flash
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Auto bracketing

I think I...mmm

I've been watching Korean drama Full House. I thought I told myself years ago that I didn't want to watch anymore drama. Last time I watched Kdrama was Autumn Tale or Endless Love and that's 7 years ago. It was too time consuming and emotionally dragging. I only watched it because Song Hye Kyo is the main actress there..:-). Now or to be exact few weeks ago, I got tempted and fell into the temptation. I started to watch Kdrama again. And just like a donkey kept falling on the same hole, I watch it because of Song Hye Kyo. You can't blame me..she is the cutest girl in the world he he he. To think that I'm already married, I felt like college student falling in love with TV idol..ha ha.Anyway, the story was standard drama, long and tiring but the girl..The Girl..

image property of Sidus.

On my sidebar

I put link of my photobucket album on the sidebar. In case someone wants to see how I see the world through shutter..:-)
Not the best picture though, but I put my best shots there.
Well, I shoot average hundreds of pics on one outing but only few are keepers. Still learning and learning.

a trip to Mitchell park last week

File size: 583188 bytes
File date: 2007:09:17 19:39:23
Camera make: Panasonic
Camera model: DMC-FZ50
Date/Time: 2007:09:17 13:47:52
Resolution: 2048 x 1536
Flash used: No
Focal length: 88.8mm (35mm equivalent: 748mm)
Exposure time: 0.0025 s (1/400)
Aperture: f/3.7
ISO equiv.: 100
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Auto bracketing

Letting DSLR go

After countless nights pondering, thinking, considering and reconsidering..mostly financial wise and unwise..he he. I have come to a painful conclusion that i cannot afford a DSLR.
There are many reasons behind this decision. actually, I have enough budget to buy XTI or D40x or E410 with basic kit lens plus extra battery. but those packages alone would cost me around 800-900 dollar. What do i get? a very expensive camera with 18-55mm lens plus a spare battery and that’s it. But of course a very good camera IQ wise. good low light performance. virtually noise free image at all ISO, instant start up, almost no shutter lag and high continuous burst rate. I can go on with all the advantages of DSLR. but i won’t have telephoto, external flash, video recording capability, live view and tilting LCD which proved to be very useful when shooting above your head or very low or in such a difficult position that you cannot peek into the EVF. Well, my best option would be fz50. with just a bit over 900, i get a 10mp camera, 35-420mm focal range, plus 1.7 Tcon which will change my focal range to a whooping 714mm. i also get macro close up lens. in-camera image stabilizer. and external fully TTL flash. extra battery. it’s just plain simple. i will have to spend another 900 dollar if i want to get 400mm lens for DSLR. of course, image quality and the tiny sensor of FZ50 is no match to Canon CMOS sensor. but if I really think about it, it won’t be a problem. I can live with little bit noise on my pics. I’ve tried Nikon D40 low light performance, it was good. but Tamron 70-300mm at night and low light left nothing to be desired. I was waiting for a friend of mine to come back to AZ, because i want to see photo result of sigma 70-300mm. because If I buy DSLR I’m gonna get Sigma APO 28-300mm. very ideal for walk around lens. Well, I had chosen my path, I got my FZ50, with Olympus Tcon 1.7, Plus Raynox Micro Explorer. So far, I'm satisfied with it. I know the FZ50 limitation, and I know it's way beyond my skill for now. That's not a problem. However, deep down inside, I still long for a DSLR. Someday..maybe someday..:-)

so little time so much to do...

I’m beat up. if you notice, there’s no post in my blog for ......., except for few pictures. I’ve been working 7 days a week, hardly any spare time to relax. and by the time I have the chance to sit in front of my laptop, I prefer to browse or play games. posting blog is in my hundredth list. rather sad, because these past few months held special times for me, for us. 3rd of June was our anniversary. the day we get together and 4th of June was our wedding anniversary. Our big day, a year ago. well, sometimes I just need to sit down and relax to start writing. a privilege that lately I don’t have. For example, right now, I’m sitting in a corner, on my break, typing on my PDA. I was planning to bring my laptop with me this morning, but sometimes i think 15inch is to cumbersome to lug around with. anyway, not having the time to post doesn’t necessarily means that i don’t have any idea. I have couple of things in my mind that i need to put down..

another try at panorama shots

I'm back, but only for a moment..:-)

After 25 days, finally I have the chance to post. I've been quite busy this past few weeks. Well, I've sold my soul to the devil..:-)..long story guys. maybe next week I'll tell you about it.
Earlier today I took a slow ride to Tempe Town Lake., wanna catch the sunset and doing some birds viewing. This is some of my shot. I didn't get lucky for the bird but I do have some beautiful sunset pics.
As soon as the sun starting to set, I begin to complain (to myself) about my camera. I took about 80 shots, but mostly blurred, even shots that I thought good turned out to be out of focus when I transfer them to my laptop. In the tele-end around 300-380mm, my camera really struggles to find the focus, and when it finally did, it focused on the wrong object or false focus. Yeah, I kept saying to myself, "It's the person who takes the picture not the camera". So I guess I have yet to learn to use it.

On “I Just Wanna Be Average”

I've just finished reading Mike Rose's “I just wanna be average”. I know from a brief googling that he was anything but average. He is a professor in the School of Education, UCLA with many awards, a successful writer and teacher. But somehow I can relate to his story, his personal experience during high school that he was misplaced into a Vocational Education due to test result confusion. His test result was apparently got mixed up with another guy named Tommy Rose, who didn't do well in the test. Starting from that point, he was labeled “slow student” and be located in a special class for students who did not perform well academically.
I'm not really familiar with Vocational Education in United States, but I do know that in my country we have similar school. After graduating from junior high, students are then continue to senior high and then university. However, there is other path, after finishing junior high, student can take vocational school. A school which I believe prepares the student for employment right after graduation without having to continue to higher education. Vocational school gives the student basic level of skills for getting a job.
Anyway, that's not what I want to talk about. During the formal education period, I always placed (due to my below average performance) in the lower achievement tier. I never dream of being a top ten students in class, let alone in school. My objective was merely to pass the class and go to the next level. I've had my share of failure, I stayed for 2 years in 4th grade of elementary school. Fortunately, my parent took it well. I had no problem, I was too young (or too ignorant) to even realize that I had wasted 1 year of my life, my parents money and lost almost all of my friends.
Life goes on, I graduated elementary school, breezed through junior high and senior high. Although I feel that I didn't actually breeze, I muddled. I was always just a few grade points more from not passing the class. So, I was really an average student (if not below average). I strifed to be average, I learned, read, memorized, I did everything what I had to do, but half-heartedly. Chemistry classes confused me, Physics made me dizzy, Math frightened me and Economics gave me a headache. I really agree with Rose about how curriculum does not liberate the students, but occupies them. It really does occupied me.
University life was a bit different. I ended up in some private university in my hometown, taking English major. I like English, I like reading and even though I despise public attention, I at least can speak in front of my friends. There I learned that English was not that easy, it was not simple. All these years studying English in public school really deteriorate my English. That was the moment where I meet my most hideous foe in English, in my own term “the math of language”. Grammar, I hate grammar, I cannot stress enough that I don't like grammar. Why? Because I'm bad in grammar, just as I'm bad in math and in many other subjects. I'm lost, even analyzing the simplest sentence left me puzzled. But I still like English, I still read books and poems, listens to songs. I tried to speak English as much as I can. But still, even in University, studying a major which I really like, I'm still an average student. A label that i cannot get off from...

About Writing

I'm not sure if I like to write. I just feel that I can express myself (and thoughts) easily in written forms. When speaking I tend to mixed up, little bit stuttering, and say the wrong words at the right time, the right words at a wrong time, and even say the wrong words at the wrong time (doubles the humiliation :-). With writing, situations are different. I believe that during the process of writing, I (accidentally) rearrange my jumbled, unsystematic thinking into a little bit organized form, a skill which probably comes from instinct (I believe instinct is not exclusive for animal :-)
I've spent 18 years of formal education, which most of the years includes teaching me how to write. Since the first grade of elementary school, junior high, senior high, through the last months of my university time, they (teachers and lecturers) told me to write and write and write. The ultimate achievement (to my caliber) was my bachelor degree thesis. I wrote about 80 pages of bullshit (doesn't necessarily meant that what I wrote there was not true), I did it with all my might, all heart and soul, 100 percent effort (I wasn't born with sparkling mind) and I was satisfied, very satisfied indeed. After having spent 4.5 years in learning theory (which at that time and sometimes up till now I believe has little or no contribution to my successful or unsuccessful working life), this thesis writing was the gate to get me off this circle of formal study, the long and winding road to working life. I finished my thesis in about 4 months but it took me two academic terms. To be honest, I saw it merely as a means to graduate and get a diploma. I wrote about linguistic, about grammar, but do I really care about grammar, do I? I know, that's a question with a big question mark that I should ask myself. I didn't care, though I know pretty well that actually I should (or must) care, at least for my own sake. Nonetheless. I passed, and graduated somnambulantly (a word that I create :-). But even after the ultimate achievement, I did not pick up any writing skill at all. I'm bad in almost all aspect of writing. Accuracy (grammar), clarity, developing and organizing ideas, I totally flunked.
Apart from that, I have to be grateful that I like to read. I haven't read a lot, but I read quite a lot of good writing. I read the works of people with excellent writing skills, witty (in written form), sharp and yet fun to read. I envied those people, having the ability to use the perfect words at the perfect time, sometime with ease. While I even still struggling with the monstrous Academic Writing that my wife confronts me with.
I'm tired of my incompetence, inability to speak and write clearly, systematically and accurately. So, few hours ago, I picked up a very thick book about writing that I bought for my wife months ago. I start to read about writing. What it is all about, the skills, the talent and the effort. I also polish up or to be exact, re-build my accuracy.
I cannot promise anyone, not even myself that my writings will be good, no. But hopefully, I will at least improve and that, I think my friend, should be just around the corner..^_^

Striking resemblance

[Spoiler Warning, for those of you who haven't read these books and are planning to, are advised to read this afterward]

I've been wanting to write about this ever since I finished reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress. I'm not sure whether other readers notice it or not, I've tried googling but no one seems to share the same thoughts. I've read all four of his books and I like them. Well, not sure how to say it (I'm not a reviewer :-), I enjoy reading his novel, the story goes how I want it to. The good guys always wins and the bad guys got it bad (which probably the standard plot formula of all times for both movies and novel he he..). However, there's this characterization similarity that I began to notice after I read three books. The first one I read was The Da Vinci Code, which I have to admit, it was because all the hip and hype about it (pretty much based on the controversy of the book). Then I read Angels and Demons, which actually Langdon's first adventure. Do you see the similarity between these two books?
The antagonist in The Da Vinci Code, Leigh Teabing a.k.a The Teacher, Langdon obviously trusted this guy since he decided to come to Leigh's château when the police were on their tails, but later in the story as the plot advanced, Leigh was behind Aringarosa and Silas. He was the one who controlled them.
In Angels and Demons, Carlo Ventresca a.k.a Camerlengo a.k.a Janus, he seemed to be the good guy at the beginning of the story, he assisted Langdon in their search. But in the end, he turned out to be the evil mind.
So, come to the next two books. Deception Point and Digital Fortress.
In Deception Point, William Pickering, Director of NRA, a.k.a The Controller, one person that Rachel Sexton really believes, he actually was the one behind all the killings and as a matter of fact, was the one who finally ordered to have Rachel eliminated.
And finally in Digital Fortress, Commander Trevor Strathmore: Deputy Director of the NSA, head of Crypto, who was secretly in love with Susan Fletcher, and the one who seemed to be the hero, was the one behind all the manipulation and fiasco.
And you know what, all main antagonists, all of them had means or accomplice. In Angels and Demon there was the Hassassin. The Da Vinci Code was Silas, Deception Point has the Delta Force team, and Digital Fortress has Hulohot as the assassin.
I'm currently waiting for Dan Brown's fifth book, The Solomon Key. I am wondering, how the plot would end up.
Mmm, what do you think guys?

In the verge of giving up

Damn (sorry..), I'm just few breath away from giving up. After 10 days, I'm still stuck in 8th line of Cavatina. Remember my previous post about barre chords? I still can't make them sound even after I pressed my index finger as hard as I could against the fretboard. What's wrong with my finger? I can't remember when was the last time I face obstacle this hard in learning a song. My mind begin telling me that perhaps it's not my level yet. Maybe five years later...of maybe never..pfh..

Browser

Long time ago, after I got frustrated with Internet Explorer, before Opera becomes free. There was a browser that I always used, Firefox by Mozilla. I was really amazed by it's capability, user-friendly, reliable and free :-). Tabbed browsing was my favorite feature. I was a crazy browser and downloader, opening many downloads in many windows is not uncommon. Browsing up to 10-15 pages at a time. You know, “right-click, open in new window and save target as” has become a routine for me. I remember when I was downloading Garfield comic strip (Yeah, Gotta love that cat), imagine opening 1 month comic in 30 windows, waiting for the page to fully loaded. It's just some Internet activities that IE can't handle (IMHO).

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against Microsoft, I always use Windows as my OS, never try anything else. I worked with Microsoft Office all the time, except for now, where I chose not to buy Office 2003 and use Open Office instead (it's free :-). But for best browsing experience Firefox is way better than IE (probably until now).

There was one thing that made me curious at that time, everytime I read some reviews for browser in computer magazine, Firefox was only the number one browser for free category. While Opera was best all round browser (around 2004-2005). So I download and installed Opera shareware (with the advertisement and all) and found it even better than Firefox. And I've been using Opera since then. The feature that I really like is mouse gesture, I practically cannot live without it. I use it all the time and this feature really helps me, it makes easier to navigate between pages, going back and forth, scrolling through endless windows.
However, I'm still installing newer versions of other browsers (Firefox and IE) only for comparison and compatibility issues that sometimes come up.

Well, nothing is perfect, still looking for the best browser out there...

Macro shot

Camera make: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
Camera model: KODAK Z740 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA
Date/Time: 2007:04:22 13:37:17
Resolution: 1024 x 768
Flash used: No
Focal length: 6.3mm (35mm equivalent: 38mm)
Exposure time: 0.033 s (1/30)
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO equiv.: 140
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure: program (auto)

Some changes

After two days of editing, tweaking, headache, looking for help here and there (thanks to bizwhiz), I finally made it. This blog now has three columns and graphic header, with just a brief introduction to basic HTML, something that I never pay attention before. Blog editing turned out to be as fun as blogging. Well, now a new label for post related to blog editing.

little about labels..

Last week I started giving labels to my posts, even to my older posts. Up till now, there are 4 labels. Oh Life, Photography, Poem and Games.
Oh Life is about my life, is about my daily experience and sometimes about my thoughts. Photography is picture post, basically contains pictures that I've taken, added with EXIF data. Poem (which become more and more rare :-) is my poem. I have some more poems that I'm planning to upload later.
And last, Games. I'm not sure why I have this labels. It was about unfinished post on video games that I wrote weeks ago. I lost interest in finishing it and ended up uploading my console collection picture.

There you go..
little about labels..

This afternoon, while I was browsing, looking for information about the release of Canon 1D Mark III, I came upon an interesting site owned by a photographer. One thing that interests me the most is Panoramic Photograph but not Panoramix the druid from Asterix series :-). Panoramic photography is about joining (stitching) multiple images that cannot be covered only by one shot. In his site he displayed many great panoramic photographs that even cannot be covered by the wide angle of human eyes. So, interested, intrigued,inspired, I jumped off the couch, grabbed my camera and tripod, off I go to make my own panoramic shot.

My apartment's living room was my first object. I located the tripod in a point that I think is the center of my apartment. Locked the tilt handle and start taking picture. After about 10 shots, I transferred to my laptop and start stitching. To my surprise, all shots have different exposure, different focus and at different angle. I couldn't possibly stitch them perfectly. I guess Panoramic Photography is not as simple as I thought,

Then I began to look for some answers in Internet. It turn out that even the professionals are using special software for stitching, for joining the pictures together. So they can join those pictures seamlessly. Still one question though, how do they locked the exposure, the angle and focus distance. I'm afraid the problem lies in my camera. My camera is auto focus only, no manual focusing, no custom white balance, all are set automatically. Well, so much for my new career in Panoramic Photography, I'll just settle with macro and ultra zoom for now..:-)

Mmmm, can anybody give me Canon 1D Mark III please.. I won't be able to use it to its fullest, but I think I can learn..he he he...

My favorite bookstore

If you ask people, which bookstore is the best in US, most likely the answer you get will be BORDER or Barnes and Noble or Amazon. They have a wide variety of books, vast collections and cozy atmosphere. I enjoy occasional visits to the nearest Border store in my neighbourhood. But if you ask me which bookstore is the best in US, I will surely answer, Goodwill. Why? Well, you can't beat the prices there. Books are sold very cheap there. The inventory is not as grand as other book store, but I can live with that. I have all Dan Brown's books from there, not new but in good conditions. I bought The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, including The Hobbit, all four of them just less than 4 dollars. I consider myself as shelves hunter (my own term ^_^). Hunting for good and cheap books. I can scan all bookshelves in Goodwill in less than 30 minutes, that's the only time I usually have, before going to work. A little stiffness in my neck is just a small price to pay after six or seven shelves..:-). Anyway, I believe a lot of people also buy books there, especially during the 50% off day. Once I saw this one lady with a trolley full of used books.
Now, the problem is what am I going to do with my growing book collections, I have to take them all back to Indonesia eventually. How much should I pay for the shipping. I could end up paying a lot of money to send those books to Indonesia.
That's another thing, I still have one year here. In the mean time, I just keep building my own library by coming to Goodwill every 50% off day..:-)

Froggie

Camera make: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
Camera model: KODAK Z740 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA
Date/Time: 2006:01:10 16:32:31
Resolution: 800 x 615
Flash used: Yes (auto)
Focal length: 13.7mm (35mm equivalent: 82mm)
Exposure time: 0.011 s (1/90)
Aperture: f/3.2
ISO equiv.: 80
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure: program (auto)

Those nasty barre chords

It's almost 2 AM, I'm still awake, accompanied by cold pizza, my guitar, and 6 size font-prints of Cavatina tabs. Stuck in the fourth line out of 32 lines. My fingers and wrist hurt because of bending and twisting in an inhuman position :-). Those barre chords, I just can't get them to sound. Other people seem to crunch easily like potato chips. I checked in Youtube, and found out that at least half a dozen people are playing this piece like a piece of cake. Damn those barre chords
But I will not give up,I will climb that 32 line..Hopefully..:-)

Bee and Lotus

Camera make: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
Camera model: KODAK Z740 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA
Date/Time: 2005:12:17 11:24:59
Resolution: 800 x 625
Flash used: No (auto)
Focal length: 6.3mm (35mm equivalent: 38mm)
Exposure time: 0.0010 s (1/1000)
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO equiv.: 80
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure: program (auto)

Funny things about me and guitar. I just can't get enough of them. I have more guitar than I ever need. I'm not guitar maestro, not even a good player but I just love 'em. they're so sexy, sleek and slender.. :-). 
Being away from home, means being away from my guitars. 
Right now, they're sleeping peacefully in carton boxes, tens of thousands of mile away from me. 
Finally, on my birthday, I gave myself a present.  I bought a guitar. My sleepy fingers, I awake them, slap them, bend them. I play again and this time, Cavatina by Stanley Myers accompany me..

Brain check..

16th of February

my mind was bothered by something these past couple of days. I was feeling like a high school student going for an exam. I don’t know when was the last time I use my brain to actually memorize something. I was planning to take food handling test to obtain food handling card. I was given a 6-page book about food handling. I was saying to myself, damn I have to memorize all these. I don’t know whether I can still memorize, I don't even know that I still have brain. ha ha. and you know what, today I took the test, and you know what again, I passed, not on!y passed, but I got a perfect score, no mistakes..ha ha. I was shocked, astonished, anything..I didn’t expect to get a perfect score, not even near . well, I guess my brain is still up there and somehow it’s still working. :D. Well, nonetheless, the test was easy, multiple choice, no essay. so not really a big achievement. the bottom line is, now i am a qualified food handler..:P