First thing you’ve gotta do is set your camera to Aperture Priority (usually an “A” or “Av” on the mode wheel), then set your camera to “single point focus” (you should find this pretty easily in the quick menu). The next part is key: fiddle with the thumb wheel until you’ve got the lowest possible F number (also called “F-stop”) and the lowest exposure time. Then, and this part should be obvious, but I’ve seen people who aren’t aware of it, make sure your point of focus (usually a little red dot you see when you look through the view finder)  is on the object you want to appear in focus.

This is called minimizing the depth of field. In other words, you’re minimizing the range of distance at which objects appear in focus. I’ve taken and noted a couple of photos here to demonstrate.

Oh ya, I finally got a lens hood for my 18-55mm lens that works well. I had one of those stupid “tulip” lens hoods, but at low focal length you could actually see it in the photos leaving these hideous black area around the edges of the photos. The new one I got is a bayonet lens good similar to this one (actually, I think that’s the one but I got it for a couple of bucks cheaper). It works like a charm.

The profound take-away from this movie, though, was a quick conversation between John McCain and Sarah Palin, right before his concession speech after being defeated by President Obama, where McCain tells stupid that she was to become the new leader of the GOP. He advised her not to allow extreme values consume the party. He then takes the stage to find a crown chanting stupid’s name instead of his. This was where, in the movie, he and Steve Schmidt realized that it was too late. One thing I didn’t know was that McCain’s initial pick for VP was Joe Lieberman! Who’d-a thunk it? This was a fact the they stressed pretty hard, and I’m sure Schmidt would’ve been much happier if it happened. Oh well!

It’s an eye opening film. Watch it!

I’ve gotten some new glasses recently, and it’s some pretty interesting stuff. First were the Gunnars. Thanks to the great folks at Today’s Vision in Spring, I got a pair of Gunnar Digital Performance specs. On average, I probably spend about 6-8 hours per day in front of a computer screen, typing my life away, kinda like I’m doing now. Recently, I’ve begun to experience headaches or my eyes just begin feeling heavy after the first few hours. The Gunnars are tinted slightly yellow (and have some other fancy things done to them that I don’t understand), filtering wavelengths that cause strain on your eyes. Immediately, I began to notice that I was able to stay an entire 6 hours in front of a screen, without a break, with my eyes feeling just about as fresh as they do in the morning. Because of the tint, I have to take them off for any photo editing that I do.

Warby Parker

Ever since I was introduced to it by an old friend, TOMS have always been a personal favorite. The simple shape, coupled with the selection of the creative designs, make it a great product. Though they aren’t the most durable shoes, the thought that you are doing something good make up for it. TOMS’ one-for-one model is a brilliantly sustainable way help a lot of needy people, while feeding consumerism. Warby Parker takes on the same approach to eyeglasses. They styles are all 50s-ish, hipster plastic frames that sucked me right in; 90 bucks for a complete pair, AND they’ll give a pair to a kid? Sold. But wait, there’s more. Seeing as how they don’t currently have many showrooms in the states, and how most people are skeptical of buying things like glasses from the internet (considering that trying them on is kinda important), they run a “Home Try-On” program where you can pick 5 pairs and they’ll send them to you for 5 days. Meanwhile, you try them all on, ask all your friends about them, and then order the one(s) you want accordingly! I chose the Fillmore in Revolver Black.

I’m using a Pandigital Photo scanner (http://www.pandigital.net/search.asp?Mode=Product&TypeID=9&ProductID=26). It’s a simple little thing that scans normal-sized (photos 4″ tall or less, even panoramics) at 600 dpi. It can even scan negatives. Again, its a simple device and gets the job done quickly. So far, I’ve scanned about 2400 photos.

I’m using Photoshop Lightroom to organize the photos. If you aren’t using it already, stop whatever you’re doing (reading this, obviously), and GO GET IT! It’ll change your life.

The thing that makes this all worthwhile (and motivates me further), is all the awesome feedback and input I’m getting from family and those included in the photos. Many of them have not seen these photos in more than a decade (if not more, or if ever). I’m organizing and uploading them on Facebook, based on how I think they should be grouped (usually grouped by the format and subject matter of the original photos. The family who are responding are helping even further with the organizing effort by identifying what year the photos were taken and what’s happening in the photos. This allows me to tag, geotag, and group the photos accordingly. Fascinating.

Humiliated.

Deceived.

Ignored.

These seem to be the recurring themes of my life. The motifs of the story of my life. Today I was greatly and deliberately humiliated when I reached out for help in a desperate attempt to save my day. Now, here I am, yet another day lost to a rage that is barely controllable. Therefor, and thankfully, I been able to retire for the day with the weight of the world on my shoulders. I would love to take this opportunity to think of all the beautiful people that make me happy, but being so far isolated from my dearest of friends, some taken from me due to my own stupidity, others still with love for me, I find it difficult to find anything to think about to cheer my mood. Except for one thing. One distant sparkle of hope.

This sparkle is in truth a raging flame that I feel will be extinguished once exposed to this deep, dark pale of anger and conflict. I’ve always found it difficult to keep those who gravitate toward me due to an elusive promise of the future. I don’t want anything or anyone to make me happy. I just want to be left alone. Left alone to rot in my own humiliation. With no one close, there will be no one to harm.

I also got a filter kit for $3 off E-Bay. It included a fluorescent light filter, UV filter, polarizing filter, and lens hood. The 55-200 lens also came with a hood of its own, but it won’t fit on the 18-55 lens. Using some stale credit card rewards, I also ordered a 35mm f/1.8 Nikkor. Can’t wait to see what I can do with that!

Another cool thing that I ordered with those point was a Wifi enabled SD card that is capable of transmitting the photos directly to my computer using a wifi connection. It also has a 4gb internal storage capacity.

What’s sickening about this all is that CNN and other news agencies had huge stories about his death out only minutes after the announcement was made by Apple that Steve Jobs passed. WTF? This means that CNN had a long eulogy pre-written, and they were just waiting for him to die in order to be the first to have it out. Sick is the world we live in today.

I’ve lost a hero.

Elusive is my vision yet simple are my needs. I need to get away. I need a major change. I need to move forward without looking back. I’ve done it before. I know I can do it again and as many times as I have to.