March Break Slideshow

Okay, so yes, the discovery of Movie Maker has made me slide show crazy. But I can't help it, it's just so easy, and so cool. And it solves a pretty good problem for me. I get really annoyed when people just take my photos of the Internet, and don't even bother to let me know, that they are stealing something that I worked hard on. It may sound bitter, but only if you take it as a given. I realized that to protect my ownership of individual images, and still share them with the Internet (and also my mom, who bugs me to post pictures often) i can make them into a slide show. This is a pretty good example.
For reference the bio on YouTube is: A slide show of photos and videos made on March Break when 8 Walkers (Jane, Mike, Melly, Trev, Alex, Maggie, Abby, and Kendra) and Rio all visited Grand Bend for a few days. the video follows us hanging out, walking to the (frozen) lake, painting the house, and seeing the Tundra Swan migration.

All the music is by Weezer, on albums before they sold out.

Archipelago Photography: insulae de cogitum lumenque, maritus cum nomen.

Digital Negatives

A lot of people, when hearing the word "negative" and "photography" in relation to each other, would firstly think of a digital photo, photoshopped into negative.
15 years ago, most people would think of film negatives. Another by-product of this new digital world. I often express how much I miss film, but please don't take it as anything negative about digital. I love digital photography, but I just wonder "Why can't digital and film co-exist?"
Archipelago Photography: insulae de cogitum lumenque, maritus cum nomen

Stop-Motion

So this March Break I tried something that I've been meaning to try for a while: Stop-Motion Video. I took a few old Playmobil toys and wrote myself a little story. Then I set up the toys and my camera. I made a photo, moved the toys as little as I could, then moved it again, and repeated. I made 395 photos along the length of this story. Lay them out in a video with each taking about 0.8 seconds and you have some stop-motion.
Aside from the story, I do wish that I had taken better care to make the motion in the photos match up with real time; so that the scenes would all take the amount of time that they would in reality. Instead of some scenes being too quick because a lack of pictures.
Technically speaking, it was a lot more simple than I had originally thought. A few considerations: 1)It is beneficial to use a small-memory setting because the quality of the photos is not paramount as they are going to be in a video and it saves space like crazy. 2)Make sure not to adjust the camera except in slow, broad strokes, where it only moves a little bit per frame 3)And finally, don't even bother without a tripod. It's 100% essential.
Archipelago Photography: islands of thought and image, connected with a name

An Octodecem of Classic Literature

I've realized recently that I've been reading books way below my reading level. I finished reading The Historian about a year ago and ever since I've been reading essentially kids books. There were a lot of great series started when I was a kid and as they continued I kept reading them. Except now they're pre-teen books and I'm almost 18.
So, I made myself an ultimatum this march break. I picked out 18 (the Latin word for 18 being octodecem, hence An Octodecem of Classic Literature) of the classics as pictured above. I am going to read these 18 before I myself am 18. That's what I've decided. The books are
Frankenstein
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
Journey To The Center Of The Earth
Around The World In 80 Days
The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Three Musketeers
Moby Dick
Wuthering Heights
Oliver Twist
A Christmas Carol
A Tale Of Two Cities
Pride And Prejudice
Kidnapped
Treasure Island
The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyl And Mr.Hyde
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

(For those who were wondering, the tunnel-motion effect in the second two photos, was done by zooming in while exposing the picture, causing the gold lettering on the surrounding books to blur in a line towards the main book. the two photos are supposed to represent me choosing which books my first and second would be.)

5 Days of A Quiet Archipelago

Alright everyone, it's march break, and I'm headed somewhere warm and sunny! Just kidding, it'll be just as gross as it is here. I'll be off blogging for a week as I'll be somewhere without Internet. So, take care, and have a happy St.Patties!

Just What We Need...More Snow

Because this is the winter that never ends, we've had another bout of snow! The odd thing about this one, is the way it sticks to everything. Because it's so close to zero, the snow is able to stay frozen, but just barely so. That makes the snow really thick and heavy, and also really sticky. No fun to shovel.

But while everyone in London (and area) woke up concerned for the amount of snow, the world has much much bigger problems. There was a massive earthquake in Japan yesterday. The fifth largest ever recorded. This earthquake has led to a massive tsunami system ravaging the pacific seaboard on all sides.
So while snow is vexing, keep the world's perspective in mind. As to what will become of this natural disaster, only time will tell.

When Equipment Will Not Suffice

It does not matter what type of equipment you have, there will be a time when it is not enough. Whether you are using a point a-shoot, or a full DSLR with a tripod, it happens to everyone. (The only time you are able to avoid this is in professional studio work. Many of us do not do that, so it's no help to us.) There are a few things you can do once you get to your photographic wits end. And they all require some type of sacrifice. Having problems with zoom? If you just can't get close enough to the subject, write down the photo number, and later on, crop it in to the distance you want. You will lose quality, but sometimes it is worth it.
If it's an exposure problem there are a few things you can do. Too little light, too fast movement? You're going to have to suffer through the pain of really grainy photos. If you make your ISO as high as it will go, you will have better luck capturing the image. Another thing to remember is that the more 'zoomed in' you are, the less light that is coming in, and the more blurry your pictures will be.
I chose these pictures as examples because they are from one of the biggest photo-problematic places I often go; South Coffee House. The lighting is low, the performers are often far away (for a 18-55mm lens), and the stage lights are unnecessarily blinding. Photographing the acts requires some very specific exposure settings, and some cropping later on. As for photographing the audience, it costs some very painful ISO levels and a unavoidable 'cell-phone camera' level of quality. But a well composed-grainy photo is worth 10 badly composed 50 ISO photos.
If there's anything to say in conclusion, it's that the equipment is ALWAYS less important than the composition. Composition is paramount to everything else in photography. Always.
Archipelago Photography: insulae cogitum lumenque, maritus cum nomen.