Flip the Bird When the Weather Doesn't Agree With You !

This is one of the reasons I like to shoot RAW files with my camera.

I have plenty of RAW photos so, when it's too cold, windy and cloudy outside, I stay inside and, flip birds.

Today, I decided to try something different with this Grey-faced Buzzard Eagle.

First, I created a JPEG that was overexposed by a value of +2.

Then, I made another one, underexposed, by -2.

The photos were re-named IMGP6670L, 6670M and 6670H for Low, Medium and High.

Blended together in Adobe Photoshop Elements, I got an HDR photo.

It seemed like the photo would look better with the critter flying from left to right.

All I did was hit Image, Rotate, Flip Horizontally and it was done.

I flipped the bird !

Working with an older version (Elements 8) I'm looking at doing an upgrade.

Right now, they are all the way up to Elements 11 and have plenty of new features.

More about HDR Photography

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The Canon G12 Captures the Camouflaged Butterfly (Photos)

This series of five photos was produced from one RAW photo file taken with the Canon G12.

The pile of leaves has one of those ninja butterflies, I run into sometimes.

Can you spot the camouflaged butterfly ?   Me neither.

Using the 12 Megapixel (MP) RAW file to produce a second JPEG photo at 6MP brings the little master of disguise into view a bit more clearly.  But, he's still hard to spot.

So, I went back and made another photo at 3MP, enlarging the critter a bit more.

And for anyone, like myself, who doesn't like putting reading glasses on,  I went back to the original RAW file to crop the photo down to 1 Megapixel.  See him, now ?

Just in case,  I made a 5th JPEG at some secret dimensions,  I consider unfit for printing,  but you can see the camouflaged butterfly pretty clearly.

The Canon G12 hasn't been around me long enough for a full blown Mad Mike's Review.

But, I'll tell you this, right now.  For a hand held point and shoot camera it takes some awesome pictures.  I'm usually the one screaming at my shooting partners about failing to use their tripods.  But, I had put mine away for the day when I spotted this butterfly and just grabbed the G12 out of my cargo pocket and started snapping away.

They have some super deals on these Canon G12 cameras going on right now at

ADORAMA CAMERA


If I would have waited,  I could have had an extra hundred dollars beer money in my pocket !

SHUCKS


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PIXELS AND CROPPING 

A Whatchamacallit Kinda Day in Bise Okinawa (Photos)

Today the better half and I went to the village of Bise in Okinawa, Japan.  She'd never been there before and has been bugging me to take her ever since she saw the first photos I shot, way back when of the fukugi trees lining the streets in the little town.  More about the whatchamacallit in the photo above, later.

The wife fell in love with my new CANON G12 and wanted to shoot the fukugi trees.  She knew I'd be packing my tripod and camera gear to do some photography so, she wanted to try some, too.

The first thing we ran into driving on the narrow, main road going into town was this water buffalo pulling a cartload of tourists.  My camera bag was in the back seat.  By the time I pulled off the side of the road to make room for the contraption and had my camera ready to shoot, the water bull was passing.  I snapped this quick shot with the PENTAX K5 through the open, driver's side window.

The Missus took this photo of whatchamacallit plants with the Canon G12.  All of a sudden anything that resembles those elephant ear plants, no matter what shape, or color they are, has become an elephant ear plant.  She could be right but, for now, they're just whatchamacallits, to me.

We wandered the streets of Bise and shot photos of the trees, all kinds of flowers and it was kinda fun.  I still have a pile of photos to develop and look at.  Then, serious research begins.

The Canon, the wife was shooting, I set to fully AUTO MODE so, her photos are JPGs, right out of the camera.  If and when I ever get the new camera in my hands, I'll switch it to fully Manual Mode and be shooting RAW files.  Not sure yet if its the Canon, Pentax, or the RAW converter program I use but, the color in the Pentax photos sure looks better than what the Canon created, to me.

While the Canon Lady was (ahem) composing shots of the (ahem) elephant ears, I pretended I was shooting them, too.  This big, fat, juicy caterpillar was munching on an elephant ear plant so loud I could almost hear him.  The wife would scream if she saw the rascal.

He was probably just eating a leaf that was dying, anyway.  But, whenever she sees one of these things in our garden she acts like it's some kind of humongous snake. HELP!   ANACONDA!

Maybe it'd be a good idea for me to study up on these critters.  They look like they might just turn out to be a really pretty butterfly.  Probably a great big one, too.  But, for now, they're just whatchamacallits like the rest of the stuff I don't know.

Greenstuff squirts out of them when you step on one.  Squirts pretty far, too, if you stomp on one really hard (ahem) so I've been told.  Anyway, this guy just got his picture taken today and got to keep munching away because (ahem) nobody saw him.

The whatchamacallit character in the first photo I bought from this gal who runs a seashell shop.

We became friends on my previous trips to Bise and I'm always forgetting to bring photos I promised her. 

The wife bought some trinket and I got me the character.  I may make a logo out of him someday.

Anyway, once I got home, I grabbed the G12 and snapped the photo of the handsome-looking dude at the kitchen table using the wife's special camera settings while she was busy doing something else.

I'll have to sneak out of the house with that camera sometime and see what it'll do with my settings on it. 

A thorough review of that little puppy is coming soon.  Please standby...