Love'n It!

It's late and I really need sleep - especially after the last couple weeks. I'll write more soon, but for now I had to share the excitement I have of my new camera. I bought a Canon EOS 30D yesterday - and I am love'n it! Moving to Canon's (new) 5th generation digital SLR from their 1st generation digital SLR is a huge step. My D30 (yeah, watch the placement of the 'D's) served me very well for the last 3 years. I couldn't be more happy with it. Every senior portrait session, every snapshot I've taken - has been with that camera. It is a very reliable, solid, amazing camera. However, I did start bumping into its limitations, both knowingly and unknowingly. The ability to blow up a portion of an image and make a print from it is huge and something that only an 8MP camera can deliver (my D30 is a 3MP). There are many more great features with this new camera that I am exploring, but those will have to wait for another entry. It is very late and I am very tired.

My tooth/jaw/mouth are recovering. Each day is better than the last. I was able to work half a day on Saturday and enjoy a mother's day celebration today. Hopefully a full day of work awaits me tomorrow. I have Vicodin to last me through tomorrow, so I hope the pain subsides completely by then.

Goodnight

Wishing & Hoping

The last couple weeks have been rough. Last Monday (May 1st) I had a tooth that hurt so much I had to leave work and make an emergency dental appointment the next day. Turned out that I needed a root canal. Fun. Well, they said it was a two-step procedure, so they opened the tooth up and dug around for awhile and packed stuff down in the tooth to kill whatever was left, put a temporary filling in it, and referred me to an oral surgeon. What they didn't tell me was that there was going to be a lot of pain until I could have the rest of the root canal done (must have slipped their minds).

Well, Wednesday of this week I went to the oral surgeon to have the rest of the root canal done. He was a nice guy and things started off alright, except for the fact that he was drilling down into my tooth, but then he said something that no patient would like to hear; "Wow. I only see one of these about every 10 years." He was referring to the way my root of that tooth grew. I guess it split and curled and that's not normal. Well, he finished up and was very happy with it. I went on my merry way expecting when my mouth woke up for the pain to be gone. I was wrong. My mouth woke up later that afternoon and my jaw was in serious pain. Not knowing if that was normal, I took Advil and tried to sleep. I ended up calling the dentist that night and getting Vicodin. That helped a little, but it completely rendered me useless.

Thursday I was not able to go into work. Today when I woke up and wasn't any better. I called and the dentist thinks I have an infection, so along with more Vicodin he prescribed an antibiotic. Well, turns out I'm allergic to that antibiotic. I had to call and get another antibiotic...and pick up some Benedril to combat the rash that has developed all over. So, now, hopefully...the rash will subside, the infection will go away, and my mouth along with my hopefully dead tooth with be happy.

On a positive note, I have been home for the last two days. I got to sleep, take some pictures of the girls, sleep, sleep some more, watch TV, and do a little more sleeping. Did I mention Vicodin makes me sleepy? :o) 

6 New Apple Commercials

These are GREAT! My favorite has got to be the "iLife" one. Watch them all, they are only 30 seconds each. VERY funny!

http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

Software & Photography

Well, as I have posted before, I am now working at Excel Photo (a professional photo lab in Salem) in I.T.. I get to spend all day around photography and yet I am in the computer field. It is more than I could have ever asked for.

As part of my job last week, I was asked to test some new imaging technology. Athentech Imaging has released new technology to enhance a photograph, pixel by pixel. It corrects color and tint and beyond. Currently, the only software vendor utilizing this technology in consumer-level software is Bibble Labs. Bibble 4.7 has this "Perfectly Clear" technology in the form of a single checkbox. Simply check the box and the photo magically is enhanced. Better than that, images can be batch processed to save time. I am simply amazed by the technology and in awe of the results.

Below is a sample of the advantage of shooting in RAW format and then utilizing "Perfectly Clear" technology. I took the first image (yes, that is exactly how it came from my camera) and converted it from RAW to a JPG using Capture One. At the point of that RAW conversion, I bumped the exposure compensation up to brighten the image. After that I opened in up in Bibble 4.7 (Click here to download the 2-week trial) and applied the "Perfectly Clear" correction as well as a couple other options in Bibble. The bottom image is the final result. A printable and usable image. Download the trial and try it for yourself. You will be amazed!

FYI: Bibble 4.7 is $70 to $130 depending on your needs. Capture One is only for RAW images and there is a "LE" version available for $99. Yeah, they are more that free software like Google's Picasa2 and Gimp, but they are a must have if you find yourself shooting in RAW and using a PC. Apple's Aperature would be the Capture One equivilant on the Mac. I would still recommend Bibble on the Mac. They have both PPC and Intel Mac versions and you get a lot of bang for your buck.

The Death of an Essential Tool

Well, it happened. I plugged in my 4GB ArcDisk USB flash drive into my computer to copy over a photo I had edited at work and nothing happened. It had been slow, needing to seek for long periods of time and getting a little warm when in use. I thought a low-level format was in the near future, but I was wrong. I took it apart and found that the media it used was none other than the innerds of an iPod mini - a Hitachi 4GB Microdrive. At first I thought this was good news. This meant that I could try and read the CF card in a card reader, my camera, etc. and maybe get the data off and use it as a 4GB CF card. Well, the problem was not in the $5 USB connector with plastic shell, it was with the $150 CF card. Major bummer. This is a tool that I use daily. I carry things back and forth from my home desktop and laptop to work, church, friends and family's computers that I backup/restore/fix. I had many software tools and data that I have come to rely on in my pocket wherever I went.

So, I am in the market for a replacement. At the moment I will be using any possible media I can find as a poor substitute. If anyone has any suggestions on good reliable smallish USB drive, please e-mail me.

My New 27.4 Megapixel Camera

No, I didn't go out and buy a new camera. I shot a roll of film in my Canon EOS AE2. Yes, that's a film camera. Work gave me a roll of Kodak professional film and will develop anything I shoot for free. We have a couple Kodak film scanners that are amazing at work. I was curious just how large of an image it could scan and I was amazed. It can scan 35mm film at 6333x4332 (about 27 megapixels). What does that mean? Well, it means that you could print an 8x10 of a very small percetage of an image. No, I don't plan on shooting everything film now, but it was a fun experiment. Here is a link to the Easter day photos I shot in film:

http://www.ouralbumonline.com/easter/

You'll need the flash player to view them, but according to Google Analytics, 96% of you have a suitable version of the flash player already, so if you have no idea what I'm talking about, chances are high that you have no need to know :o)

Mikayla's Easter Photo Shoot - Take 42

Click to enlarge.

Mowed the Lawn in a Stained Shirt Today

Yup. Went to work in the same shirt too. That's what happens when you get up at 4:45am and try to get ready for work in the tired darkness. Thankfully, it was just my white undershirt that was stained yellow badly. I noticed it when I looked in the mirror after I had been at work for 5 1/2 hours. I quickly buttoned my Excel Photo denim shirt that I was wearing unbuttoned and untucked. It went through the dryer and it is small for an XL. Either that or my body has gotten bigger. Probably a little of both. Anyway, all is well now. I just know now to look in the mirror one last time before leaving the house.

While I was at work today, I got the following e-mail from Krista:

" Just to prepare you - I've heard lawn mowers all day, the grass is decently dry, and this is supposedly our last sunny day for quite a while. *hint, hint* "

Needless to say, the lawn got mowed. It was a very nice day today and even though it was mowing the lawn, I enjoyed getting outside.

Well, it's 9:30pm right now...time to head to bed...

Mikayla with Flowers

This is another shot of Mikayla from our first photo shoot. More will come, I promise. And yes, grandma, there will be plenty with color ;o)

It's hard getting up at 4:45am. It is 10pm right now and I feel like I am going to drop. I am trying to post more regularly, but once the girls are in bed and I have time, the computer is not my first choice. I really like the schedule, it's just going to take some getting used to. I love being home before 3pm!

Enjoying a Saturday at Home

This morning I got my camera out and took some pictures of the girls. After Mikayla's nap, we put her in her Easter dress (thank you grammy for fixing it) and took some pictures. We will call that shoot #1 of many. I have a Gary Fong Lightsphere on order that will help a LOT with lighting, so we may wait until next week or weekend to do shoot #2.