On my mind

Live Blogging Test

2008-08-20T14:06:00.000-04:00

Live Blogging Test

Ping.fm

2008-07-10T15:51:00.001-04:00

You may have heard of Ping.fm. If you haven't it is just thing that pulls all your social networks together. You can mass post to all your micro blogs, blogs, statuses and so on. You do however need a beta code so I'll give you one "dreamofping". Test it out, it is free and I am liking it so far.

Iron Man

2008-06-24T10:44:00.001-04:00

Iron an Review/Backstory

On Monday the 16th of June I, and my family saw Iron Man. I usually enjoy comic book movies but this one I liked much more than the others. There was something about it that made it much better than the others (i.e. Spider Man, X Men etc)

The movie starts interestingly with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in a hummer with U.S. soldiers. We don’t know why he is there but you can make the assumption of where they are. You know nothing of Mr. Stark at this point other than he’s rich and well known.

If I tell you anything beyond this point it will ruin the movie for you so I will just give some back-story information of Tony Stark. Tony’s father started a company (Stark Industries) many years ago. His father worked on the Manhattan project (if you don’t know what that is wikipedia it). The company was taken over by a partner in the business but Tony returned at reclaimed the business. Anthony Stark lives normal celebrity’s life but after a life changing experience in the middle-east decides to make a change.

I very much enjoyed this movie and compared the The Incredible Hulk it was an Academy Awards film. A review of The Hulk is coming soon.

Low Light Photography (Manual Modes)

2008-06-19T23:13:00.000-04:00

Low light photography is one of if not the biggest challenges of photography. This has a lot to do with technique, and with your camera.

Terms

I'll be using these terms to explain how your camera adjusts for low light and how you can get sharper images at night or in a dark area.

* ISO: Your camera's sensitivity to light
* Aperture (displayed as f/5.6 or similar): How much light your camera lets in also adjusts depth of field (how much of the picture is in focus)
* Shutter speed: how long your shutter will be open, contributes to blurred motion
* Sensor: it is the film of the digital age. What used to be film has been replaced by a digital sensor this processes the image and then is written to the memory card
* RAW: this is a camera format like jpeg but unlike jpeg it is uncompressed and saves all the data from the shot. Most Point and shoots do not have it but most DSLRs do. It provides greater versatility in post processing
* photoshop: I use photoshop as a general term to describe image editors
* Noise: similar to film grain caused by high ISOs or the amount of pixels on a sensor (the closer the pixels the worse the light sensitivity and more grain)

Your Camera

I would like you to go into that scary manual mode on your camera. That's right get out of the auto or program mode. Adjust some things, see what they do.

Shutter Speed

The shutter is the main problem of low light photography. The faster the shutter the less the blur. The problem is that the less the shutter speed the darker the image so we need longer shutter speeds at night or in the dark.

Aperture (fstop)

The hole made up of the aperture blades is called the iris. The iris allows the light into the camera. The smaller the hole the higher the f#. Lenses come in different aperture ranges such as f/3.5 – f/32. That is the aperture range of my 18mm – 55mm Nikkor lens. The lower the fstop the less of the picture will be in focus. If you are shooting macro photography or will be in a dark environment you want a lens that has a very low aperture. A fast lens is about f/1.4, give or take a few stops. The depth of field is the amount of the picture in focus.

How to Hold Your Camera

While settings are all well and good it's important to hold your camera correctly. IF you hold your camera by the corners like thumbs on the bottom of the camera and both index fingers on the top with your arms extended. STOP IT! This is the worst way you can hold your camera. You wand to hold the side of your camera with your right hand and put your left hand under the lens carriage (even if you're a point and shoot user) that's how pro photographers shoot and that's how you should shoot. Keep it close to your body. You want to use a stance similar to shooting a gun. Shooting a gun relies on steadiness and balance. Photography is similar in that you need to be steady so you get less camera shake.

Products that can help

There are maybe three options worth mentioning that can help steady your shots when you need to shoot with a slower shutter speed

Tripod
The one everybody is familiar with the big bulky set of legs that are annoying to carry around and have a set up time that your family doesn't want to deal with. Great option, it's what I use. It's the sturdiest and best for a DSLR.

Monopod
Has one leg and is for a little help it doesn't stand on it's own. Virtually no set up time, lightweight and can be used as a walking stick while hiking. This only helps with vertical camera shake not left right camera shake.

Beanbag
Most pros know about this but not a lot of amateurs. This is a beanbag made for photographers that sit on a table or some other flat surface and can take long exposure shots.

How to adjust settings

Products can help but real photography is in how you adjust your settings. If you know how to adjust setting you can get the look you want as well as reducing camera shake. Here is the order in which I adjust my setting for a night time shoot. I’ll say a cocnert or something low light but not a landscape.

ISO: Adjust to 800 or 1600 depending on darkness do not adjust to 3200 or Hi
Shutter Speed: Adjust to a lower shutter speed that you feel confident in hand holding. The lowest I can go is 1/10th 1/6th. Don’t adjust to the lowest but adjust to the exposure needle.
Fstop: Adjust according to your need and your wanted depth of field.

There are obviously other factors but this is usually how I do it if I just want a clear sharp shot in the dark. I didn’t talk about flash I will talk about using flash well in another post. I will also talk about purposefully blurred shots in a later post. I hope that this helps you to be able to take better low light photographs.

Thanks for reading, and get out of the green box

Jordan

2008-05-17T16:23:00.000-04:00

On My Mind
Things That Take Up My TIme
Tech Podcasts

Today on the series wasting my time I'll be talking about the tech podcasts that waste my time (or at least take it up). These are my favorite ones I listen to so not all of them. Some are from CNET some are from TWIT and some are just independent.

Buzz Out Loud

Buzz Out Loud is a podcast by CNET (Computer networks inc.). BOL is a tech podcast that covers tech news both mainstream and from the tech world.

The podcast is hosted by Molly Wood, Tom Merrit and is produced by Jason Howell. They say that they are CNET's podcast of indeterminate length but they usually last about thirty minutes.

Buzz Out Loud Links
Wiki: http://buzzoutloud.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
Live video stream: http://www.watchbol.com/
Show notes blog: http://www.cnet.com/8300-11455_1-10.html

The Real Deal

The Real Deal is a podcast by Tom Merrit and Rafe Needleman. This is another podcast by CNET but very different from BOL or The Buzz Report. The Real Deal is there to eliminate some of the FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) surrounding one tech topic a week.

The format is usually them giving the technical definition and then breaking that down into plain english English. The topics could be copyright, law which isn’t directly a tech topic, but it is connected to it, or something like social bookmarking sites which is a tech topic itself.

I like this one because it helps me to understand some of these things that they talk about in other podcasts. It will turn you on to some great sites and give you a better understanding of how stuff works or what exactly stuff is.

The Daily GIz Wiz

I must preface this by saying that this podcast isn't for everyone. The reason I say this is because the humor is interesting and a bit different (not bad just interesting).

The is podcast (as the name suggests) features one gadget a day. It is by the TWIT broadcating network created by Leo Laporte. The podcast is hosted by Dick Debartolo and Leo Laporte.

They feature the gadget then read listener email. It is a fun show in my opinion. It is only a few minutes every morning.

MacBreak Weekly

MacBreak weekly has both an audio and video version. I will be talking about the audio version.

The podcast is a obviously a weekly podcast with a panel of hosts (Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann,
Andy Ihnatko, Scott Bourne, Alex Lindsay, and the occasional guest)

It is about Apple in general not just the computers but ipods, iphones and whatever apple is up to that week.

net@night

net@night is a weekly show hosted by Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur. They talk about what's on the net. Great sites, interesting videos, podcasts or whatever is on the net.

They typically do an interview with someone who is the creator of a new website that they find interesting.

I enjoy the show it has turned me on to a few sites which I'm sure you'll hear about in the next couple of weeks.

net@night link
http://twit.tv/natn

Thanks for reading. I hope this will open you up to some new podcasts.

Jordan

New Sort of Series

2008-05-05T22:46:00.002-04:00

Hey,

Sorry I haven't been blogging recently I don't know what my deal is I just haven't had the time with school wrapping up and all. I'll be trying to get stuff out more regularly. blogger just released a new feature that should make that easier for me.

Any way, I just wanted to let you in on an idea I had. I will go through my bookmarks and itunes and whatever else and make recommendations on podcasts, websites, whatever I feel like. Just wanted to give you the inside info on what's coming up.

Thanks for reading my less frequent blogs and hope you will keep checking back.

See you real soon
Jordan

Nintendo Wii

2008-04-28T15:32:00.002-04:00

Yes I got one my parents surprised my sister and I with one. It is awesome. Guitar Hero III is hard but really fun. Just wanted to say how excited I was. I will probably get a review out for all ya'll sometime soon. I've attached a Wii advert if you don't know what it is or would like to watch it.

Off to play Guitar Hero

Jordan

The Most Blogworthy thing I've seen

2008-04-09T17:57:00.006-04:00

Maybe not the most blogworthy thing ever but pretty close. Here it is Sulu singing On the Road Again. Yes, you heard that correctly Sulu from Star Trek singing country music. It is truly amazing.

So without further ado here is Mr. George Takai.

Here is just a bonus. It is a BBC show called Extras starring Ricky Gervais. On this episode David Bowie makes a cameo appearance. Ricky Gervais's character is on a sitcom that isn't doing so well. He says the BBC interfered and it's been reduced to catchphrases and such. You will see the end of him explaining his sad life and then the song David Bowie writes about him.

Groomer Has It

2008-04-05T12:50:00.006-04:00

I'll get the review of the movie we saw (Nim's Island) out shortly but I thought this was much more entertaining. This was something that appeared during the Regal Cinemas First Look prepreview thing instead of trivia or what have you they show clips and ads from upcomming moviews or TV shows and this was one such ad.

Groomer Has it is a show that will play on Animal Planet soon. It's a sort of Apprentice, meets Top Chef, meets ridiculous horrible idea. 50% percent drama, 50% grooming and 100% ridiculous. I'm sure my sister will watch it, I might even watch it it's so ridiculous (I love horrible TV). The video really speaks for itself so watch and comment what you think.

Isn't that just ridiculous? I know, I know it's horrible but the movie didn't bring me near as much pleasure as that clip. I'm sorry for the low definition but I couldn't find a higher def version on Animal Planet. Please leave comments about just how ridiculous it this is.

Thanks for reading

Jordan

Nim's Island Review

2008-04-05T06:34:00.003-04:00

Yes I actually saw this movie. I saw it yesterday with my Mom, Dad, and Sister.

Here's the plot, Dad and Daughter live on undiscovered "secret" island. Dad goes out on expedition to collect some sort of sea thing. The girl is very into reading adventure books and her favorite one is the series called "Alex Rover" a sort of Indiana Jones type book. Meanwhile the real Alex Rover (Alexandra Rover) the writer of the Alex Rover stories is trying to finish her latest book but needs some information about volcanoes so she emails Nim's father to ask about it (yes they have email on the undiscovered island I'm guessing satellite). Like I said before her dad is out on expedition so Nim starts to do research for Alex as her dad's research assistant. I won't continue but suffice it to say that there's a big storm out there that her dad gets trapped in and Alex has to make a big decision that would change her life drastically. One odd bit in the storyline was that Alex's sort of courage the thing that made her go through with her big decision is her most well known character, Alex Rover, ironic isn't it? That her well known character has the same name as her the one who is affraid to leave her own home.

Now the review part.

I didn't want to go to this movie but thought it turned out to be pretty good. IF I was a real movie reviewer I would say "It was completely unrealistic and could never happen in real life" but since I have a brain and a shred of creativity and imagination I can say the the writer and the director wanted it that way and it is in no way supposed to be believable. I liked it, I said I liked it. I can't express how much I didn't want to go but it turned out well and if I can enjoy it while I"m trying to not enjoy it I'm sure you can enjoy it if you want to see it.

I am sorry for the latency of this review. I am not sure if it this movie is still in theaters I wrote some of it quite a while ago but didn't have the time to finish it.

thanks for reading
Jordan

A Crowded World From a Different Prospective

2008-04-03T14:27:00.004-04:00

This will be published in next weeks WDW Peak Seasons newsletter check it out at wdwpeakseasons.com they also have a book WDW Peak Seasons Maximizing Your Disney Vacation. This is my second time writing for Scott and the WDW Peak Seasons newsletter and I look foreword to writing for the newsletter in the future.

A Crowded World from a Different Prospective

This idea was sparked by a quick trip down to WDW with my family on the week after Easter.

The Quick Trip Setup.

It's Easter Sunday, we're at some friends house hanging out and playing games, we leave get in the car and my parents tell my sister and I to looking the trunk, what do ya' know there are suitcases and everything we need for a Disney vacation! They told us that we were taking a quick trip because our schedule is ridiculously busy for a couple months and we wouldn't have a lot of time to relax. So we set off for WDW very shocked and surprised.

My Opinion on a Crowded Period

I've been there for peak seasons before but never Easter. I was expecting it to be similar to the other peak times, maybe even a bit less crowded than standard peak times but I believe this is one of the bigger peak seasons. I noticed the crowds first when we went to the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot. Epcot has an enormous capacity so you know it's crowded when it's shoulder to shoulder crowds.

I've been there in June and I've been there in January but nothing can compare to the Magic Kingdom during Easter. We got there in the night time around seven, and it was so crowded that when we went to Big Thunder Mountain the fastpass time was at midnight. I find that ridiculous. In an off peak time I could have waited in the standby line with a minimal fifteen minute wait but not during Easter. If you're there for Easter or any other time the Spectro Magic Parade is what can save you. Wait till everyone goes to watch the parade and you go enjoy the attractions.

One thing that bugged me was when my dad was trying to make some last minute dinning reservations. Okay, yes we should have made reservations a hundred and eighty days in advance but we didn't I really don't need to hear that again, back to the topic at hand. He was talking to the person on the reservation line and he asked about pricing for a restaurant or something and found out that there is "special" pricing for peak seasons. I don't know how I didn't know this but apparently it's happening. I wouldn't even mind it if they raised prices all around but it, for some reason bugs me when they raise prices for peak seasons only. That’s just something to keep in mind when planning your next peak season trip.

After going there during Easter and other peak times Easter would be towards the bottom of the desirable times list. I would rather go during Christmas when there is special stuff going on and I might even rather go in summer because of the crowds. It's redeeming quality is the weather. That is the on reason why I would go in eater over summer. I hate heat and humidity sure, I live in Florida but I still hate the heat. My favorite time to go to WDW is February. I find February to be one of the least crowded times. I also enjoy it because it hits in between school breaks which is a great strategy for off peak planning.

Thanks for reading my opinions on traveling to WDW during Easter. Enjoy your next trip to Walt Disney World and don't forget to use WDW peak seasons for planning your trip.

My Experience as a Server

2008-03-28T22:49:00.004-04:00

No I haven't gone into food service. I served food at a rehearsal dinner for friends. It may not sound fun but the people I served with were great and I really enjoyed it. We did three courses, a salad course, an entree' and of course don't forget dessert! It's fun until you wait tables for a job because when you do something as a job you are required to do so and that's no fun. Chores are a great example of this. When I have to do chores I don't enjoy them but when I do something 'cause I want to, it feels good, you did someone a favor. Just something I thought of while catering a party for free. I enjoy the interaction, and it makes me feel good to see people sitting relaxing and enjoying their food. These people had traveled today and I'm sure most are nervous about tomorrow. I gave them relaxation, in the form of service.

Thanks guys (I know you read my blog) for giving me a chance to make people happy. I wish you both a wonderful marriage.

Everyone else thanks for reading.

Jordan.

Surprise, "We're going to Disney World!"

2008-03-26T09:27:00.002-04:00

I'm sorry I was planning on getting a weekly update out but it will be a monthly update. My parents surprised me with a trip to Walt Disney World. It was fun we went down for the flower and garden festival. They have many topiaries, exhibits and different kinds of flowers. I will post pictures as soon as I process them.

Keep checking back for a trip report and pictures.

Thanks for reading
Jordan

Picnik.com

2008-03-20T15:46:00.005-04:00

I would like to apologize for the lack of blogs this week. I'm realizing I can't post quite as often as I would like. This week has been really busy.

In the past couple of weeks I've recommended a web site to a few people. The website is called picnik.com a free online photo editor. It is entirely free and entirely on line. This would be great if I was working on a computer that didn't have an image editor installed on it. It is ad driven therefore it is free however there is a premium version available for pay which expands the functionality and eliminates ads. The ads consist of a banner on the bottom of the page (do not click banner ads ever) There are multiple was to export your edited file the options are detailed blow.

Save to your computer (asks where you would like to save)
email (enter email address and it sends the image to you)
email to upload service (give you options such as photobucket etc. I put in my bloggersend address and it will immediately post it to my blog)

Screenshots from picnik

This works amazingly well for blogs especially those created here at blogger.com. When you sign up for a blogger.com blog you can have an email address where you can send stuff from like your phone or wherever and then you can have it posted or saved as a draft. I use the email option and send it to the blogsend email address and it automatically posts it. This working with my picasa web album makes my workflow very simple and quite efficient.

Good luck with your photo editing.

As always thanks for reading!
Jordan

http://www.picnik.com/

It's Alive... or I guess I mean working

2008-03-18T14:01:00.002-04:00

I just remembered that my old non working video camera can take an SD card. I'm going to try to put together a quick video summary of my week. This is just a concept but I think it's a cool one. This is assuming that the file formats work with my editing software and everything else goes alright. I hope you will like it. It sounds like a fun thing for me to do.

Thanks for reading. Check back to see if I get this working.

Jordan

My Recent Trip to Walt Disney World

2008-03-15T11:19:00.005-04:00

Hey,

I don't have a real blog for you today, I'm sorry. I've decided to take the weekends off from blogging. On occasion there may be a special extra blog if I really want to share something.

Today as I sit bored while my Dad is in a meeting I thought I'd share this with you. These are pictures from my recent trip to Walt Disney World. Click the link below to view a Picasa web album of images.

Pictures from my recent trip

I am the photographer of these images, therefore I own the copyright. These pictures may not be used in anyway without my approval.

Check out my pictures and tell me what you think.

Jordan

Flash Can Freeze Motion

2008-03-12T21:14:00.003-04:00

What is your flash for?

You probably think your flash is just there to provide a bit of extra lighting when you need it. But did you know that your flash actually can freeze motion?

label on CD was sharp enough to read I blurred it using
Photoshop Elements

What else can your flash be used for?

Flash can be used to freeze people in a night picture but it can also freeze moving objects like you see here. This pic was taken with me dropping a CD, my flash on rear curtain sync (a setting which makes the flash fire at the end of the exposure), and my camera on "bulb" (bulb is kind of like pulse on your blender the shutter stays open until you release the button). You camera can do this to an extent without all these fancy settings. A well timed shot can do this also.

So, it's a pretty cool affect. Something that can be done with your on camera flash and any object. I hope to discover some other cool effects that I can share with you. Thanks for reading.

Vantage Point Review

2008-03-10T18:47:00.003-04:00

Earlier today (Monday 10/3/08) I saw Vantage Point. I had seen the previews and thought it looked good so today my dad and I saw it (4:10 Regal Cinemas). I was expecting a good alright action movie the typical kind of deal. In some ways, that's what I got. In others, not so much. My impression would be that a civilian with a home camcorder tapes the murder of the president of the United States. That was not the case. There were a few spins I did not expect.

I thought it was good. The majority of the story takes place in multiple flash backs of an event from different people's perspectives. This movie had a great creative spin to it I wasn't expecting. I won't ruin the story so i won't tell you what happens. I really enjoyed this movie. I would probably see it again. I would highly recommend it.

Image from chicagotribune. com

U2 3D Movie Review

2008-03-07T12:18:00.004-05:00

Last night (6/3/08) I saw the U2 3D movie. This is some of the best 3D I have ever seen. They did a good job of not making it cheesy 3D. What I mean by this is they made the 3D show depth. I like the shots with mic stands in them. The mic stands really popped out at you and the Edge looked like he was actually there. My second favorite shot was when Bono was speaking of some things and he kind of drew some things in the air. I don't really know how to describe it but he drew these things in the air and they became animations. This was the best 3D I've seen. The shots where it looks like you are in the crowd are amazing. I like that they didn't play to the camera a whole lot it showed what it's actually like it didn't make you feel like you were watching a movie. This film makes you feel like you're there... almost. The only problem I have with this movie is that the energy level is so high and all I can do is sit in my seat and watch the movie. I liked almost everything about it. an awesome band and an awesome movie. Go see this movie!

Images courtesy of www.U2.com

Now on Twitter

2008-03-06T15:37:00.003-05:00

You can follow me on twitter. www.twitter.com/jmichael92

What is twitter?

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Bloggers can use it as a mini-blogging tool. Developers can use the API to make Twitter tools of their own. Possibilities are endless!

How do I use it?

Tell us what you're doing in 140 characters or less! Send your thoughts, observations, and goings-on in your day. Whether you're "eating an apple" or "looking foward to the weekend" or "Heading out of town" it's twitter-worthy. Join us here. All of your personal information including your phone number is, of course, confidential.

But... what is the point?
As it turns out, your best friend is probably interested in knowing if you're "loving the new Radiohead album." And yes, your Mom may want to know if you're "skipping breakfast in favor of a latte." You might want to know if your significant other "feels like taking a road-trip." Find out what your friends are doing; keep each other abreast of your quotidian rituals.

Every Song Tells a Story U2 Crumbs from Your Table

2008-03-05T10:52:00.006-05:00

This morning in English class I was asked to:

Find a song that was meaningful to me
Find and write down the verse that was most meaningful to me
Write about the overall meaning of the song

I decided to use a U2 song "Crumbs from Your Table" I probably went a little overboard but here is what I came up with. It's long but I encourage you to read it. I hope it inspires you to do something to make the world a better place.

“Where you live should not decide
whether you live or whether you die
three to a bed
Sister Ann, she said
‘Dignity passes by’”

Song: Crumbs from Your Table

Artist: U2

Lyrics by: www.u2.com

In this song Bono speaks of crumbs. Not as real crumbs but as the bare minimum, the crumbs, the leftovers. This song is directed at us the listener but also to large countries, countries that give the bare minimum to help make impoverished countries livable. This verse really speaks to me because it is the blatant truth. The first two lines “where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die” That is blatant and the message is clear, something that us and countries like ours need to hear. These countries cannot go on this way people dying from treatable diseases, dirty water, and the like. There are ways to help and there is no reason not to.

There are many U2 songs that I could have used, I also considered using a song by Derek Webb that revolved around a different subject. I listened to a few songs to decide. This is the song that I immediately thought of, a song that can teach you something, a song played by a band that aren’t hypocrites a band led by a person who does something to help make places livable.

We get too caught up in our everyday lives and worry about trivial things when this should be one of our main concerns. While we’re worried about or computer that crashed or our cell phones not working if you look at a song like this and you look at statistics these things seem so trivial, so selfish. From now on when I take pictures with my six hundred dollar Nikon camera I’ll think about what a hypocrite I am that I say these things and I don’t do anything about it. I’m just a teenager but I can help. There are definitely ways that the worlds largest, and richest countries can give more than crumbs, more than the leftovers too small too eat, too small for anyone to care about. We can say that we believe that all men are created equal but when we overlook an entire group of people we are through our actions denying this and saying that all men on our economic level are equal.

This is a sad thing that must be changed.

On Camera Flash

2008-03-04T20:21:00.004-05:00

Whether you have a Point and Shoot, one of those camera between a DSLR and a point and shoot, or even a DSLR. Most cameras have a built in flash. You might think it's fine for taking casual pictures, and it can be if you want your pictures to be washed out and overexposed. But if you want something that looks more professional or at least want to get rid of some red eye, and make your subject look the right color than you can't use your on camera flash the way it is.

I have a Nikon D40 which is a DSLR but these tips work for Point and Shoot users as well. In fact, I learned these because of the need to tone down the on cam flash from my point and shoot.

Method One: Bounce flash
As of now all I have is a pop up flash not a fancy hot shoe flash like you see pros use. These types of flashes can usually tilt so you can bounce it off the celling. You can achieve a similar effect using a piece of white paper and a celling (celling must be white or close to it). You must make sure the paper and the celling are white because if not the picture will have a colour cast easily fixable in Photoshop but easier to do it right the first time.

take a square or rectangle of paper larger than your flash and hold it under the flash angled upwards towards the celling but not straight up. Take one picture with the card and one without the difference (in my case anyway) was outstanding. It made my picture have color! Something I had not yet achieved with an on cam flash.

Method two: Diffusion
Diffusion is the second method I use. Take the same piece of standard thickness paper and put it a ways in front of the flash just enough so that the flash does not spill over the piece of paper but not so close that it is touching the flash. Take a shot and see the difference. This makes the light softer similar to a softbox what a lot of pros use to shoot models and most other subjects.

Last Method: Turn down the power!
This method is one that only recently I have been able to do. My previous cam could not do this but my D40 can. I've been turning down the power to 1/32 power and shooting as a kind of fill flash. It works well in daylight but not night because it is still too bright, in which case I employ one of the other methods on top. This will not cut down on the harshness and sheer fake quality of the flash. Only the output power, or brightness.

I hope these will help you take better pictures in low light. My advice is avoid flash when possible. It does help the subject stay sharp but I prefer natural light. It make the scene seem more real and to me when I use flash, it makes everything flat and I don't like that. I take pictures to show what I think this subject looks like or how I feel about the subject. And quite honestly I don't usually see an object as a flat washed out thing.I see it as a three dimentional abject one that has different colors and textures. For me flash ruins this. You may thing otherwise, these are just my opinions.

Please keep reading, and please leave comments. I would like to here advice on what type of stuff you would like to see here. Whether it be how to photograph a certain subject (eg. food, sports, landscapes, anything) Or something about trip planning, doesn't have to be Disney any place. If I think it's a good idea I'll bolg about it. I may not get to it right away but I'm sure I will use it sometime. If I don't know about how to photograph something, or don't know something about trip planning I'll learn and that can be fun, an informative for both of us.

Thanks for reading.

Lightbox Disaster

2008-03-04T20:17:00.001-05:00

Okay, it's not really that bad. I went on what I thought it should look like but once I got it build I realized the box I had was too small. As soon as I get a new bigger box it should work. .

Keep checking back to see how I fix the screw up. I'm thinking of some other topics to write about while I fix this.

Bigger $3.00 Light box

2008-03-03T16:56:00.002-05:00

I'm currently building another cheap lightbox. So far the materials I bought include

White posterboard $1.00
black posterboard $1.00
white foam core (for light reflector) $1.00 on sale usually $2.00
Tissue paper (for light diffusion) $1.00
Box free from World market $0.00

I'll take some progress pictures showing how I did it and how to use these materials. If this project doesn't fail catastrophically I'll post some pictures taken with this one. It should let me take pictures of slightly larger items than the shoebox version.

Please keep reading.

Be Kind Rewind Review and Summary

2008-03-03T08:44:00.007-05:00

Last night (Sunday 2 March, 2008) I saw Be Kind Rewind. I liked it. I thought it would have been more funny to me if I knew all the movies they "sweded" (remade).
I had some knowledge but wasn't too familiar with the movies. They made remakes like Rush Hour 2, and Ghost Busters It was kind of Stupid. Not in a bad sense but in a jack Black humor kind of sense. There was a little more thought than I expected and a deeper storyline.

What is this Movie about

Jerry (Jack Black) somehow by and odd series of events get magnetized and erases an entire video store's catalog of movies. They then recreate these movies in there own style. While these movies are only twenty minutes they are bigger hits than the original.

So now the review.

The good things about this movie are it's story line and humor. Some of the bad is there is a bit of language and some questionable humor. The language wasn't much but there was a little. I was able to look past this stuff and was able to enjoy the movie. I would recommend this movie for teens and adults. I think a child could enjoy it but they probably won't get some of the humor because they most likely haven't seen the movies. My sister was still able to enjoy the movies but it probably wasn't as funny to her as it was for my parents and I. I do recommend it. Don't get me wrong it's not an Academy Awards film but it's an amusing little movie. The only tings I can compare it to are Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre'. Go see it or netflix it whichever you feel like.

Thanks for Reading

Image by msnbcmedia.msn.com

Disney Trip Report 27 - 29 Feb, 2008

2008-03-02T15:29:00.004-05:00

Day One Wednesday 27 February, 2008

Day one of my quick Disney trip. We (Dad, Sister, Mom, and I) left later than expected but we still go there around 4pm. We checked in at our resort (Pop Century). My mom was tired so she just wanted to take a nap in the room. So my sister, dad, and I went to the Magic Kingdom to get some rides in. We rode many rides while we were there. The waits were not very long.

Taken Wed 27 February, 08

One of the rides we went on was The Haunted Mansion. This ride was recently updated. I love the updates. They've added a few scenes and retouched the old ones. It looks much more fresh than the old one. And the sound actually works on this "Haunted Mansion 2.0".

We also went to Pirates of the Caribbean which was also recently redone. The updates are sijmilar to the Haunted mansion in that they both have added scenes and both have freshened up the old ones.

This night the Spectro Magic Parade did not run. When crowds are low they don't run the parade every night.

We ate at Pinnoccio's Village Haus is Fantasyland. I got the smallest salade I have ever seen and an order of delicious Figaro Fries without the bacon because I'm vegetarian. My dad and sister split the Turkey and bacon pressed sandwich and also split and order of Figaro Fries.

They were not running the Spectro Magic Parade this night but they were running Wishes the fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom. This night we decided not to stay and watch Wishes but decided that we would watch it the next day when my mom could watch it with us.

We went backk to the resort for some rest for the full day of our short Disney experience.

Day Two 28 February, 2008

Day two was our only full day of our quick trip. Before my group got up I went to the extra magic hour morning at the Magic Kingdom. The park we were actually going to today was Epcot. So I saw two park openings in one day. Usually we don't get to any but today I saw two. At the Magic Kingdom they do a little show. They pick a family of the day to ride in on the train and open the park along with Disney characters.

I was at the front of the pack when the park opened and I immediately ran to the top of the train station to get an empty picture of Main Street USA. Once I got the shot I received a call from my dad telling me that he and my sister were at Epcot and to meet them at a certain place.

I got there right as Epcot was opening. The park was open but they didn't drop the rope that let you into the different part of Epcot. I saw them as soon as they dropped the rope and we ran to Soarin' to get fastpasses. We got fastpasses but went ahead and rode because the wait time was only twenty minutes so we rode it.

We were to meet my mom at the same place I met my dad and sister. We got a bite to eat at the Land Pavilion and then met my mom. Once we mety her we saw the Circle of Life movie. It is a movie about not destroying the Earth with the characters from the Lion King.

We rode Soarin' with our fastpasses and then tried to decide what to do next. My dad wasn't feeling well so we were trying to figure out how my Mom, Sister, and I could still do stuff and he could rest. Our final decision was for him to take a nap and to drop us of at the Animal Kingdom.

At Animal Kingdom we check the schedule to see when the Lion King stage show came on. It was in about an hour so we grabbed some lunch. We went to the Yak, and Yeti counter service part but they had NO vegetarian options, not even like a kids meal. So we went to Flame Tree Barbecue. I got a large salad and my mom and sister both got roasted chicken kids meals.

We went to Festival of the Lion King for the first time. I really enjoyed it. It was different than other show. They had acrobats dressed as monkeys another acrobat dressed as a bird kinda thing. They also have ginormous puppets of Simba, and Pumba from the Lion King. It's really a great show, and I encourage you to see it if you find yourself in Disney's Animal Kingdom. We then went to the hotel to figure out what else was in store for us that day.

We chose to go to the Magic Kingdom to see wishes and ride my sister's favorite ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We got there and found it enormously crowded because the Spectro Magic Parade was about to start, which stops movement on Main Street. We fought our way through the dense crowds and finally got to Frontierland where Big Thunder is located. There was absolutely no wait so i rode it the first time and my dad and sister rode it twice.

We got a spot for Wishes, we were a little off center of the castle our backs to the Crystal Palace. I had a good view for photography so I set up my tripod and took some pictures.

Taken Thursday 28th of February, 2008

That wraps up our quick Disney trip. This trip was a little different than the trips we have been doing recently. We did more attractions this time than usual. We typically go to World Showcase hang out there and go to the Fort Wilderness Camp Ground.

I really hope you enjoyed my trip report. I enjoyed writing it. So far I enjoy blogging and I will continue. Please read my future post. The topics may be different every-time you read, but you'll never know until you read.

Images Copyright Jordan Michael

Disney Trip Report Feb 27th - 29th

2008-03-01T09:11:00.006-05:00

For those of you who didn't know I was at Walt Disney World earlier this week. It was a really short trip. I had to go down there to look at a room for an event later this year. So I took a couple days before the real work.

I will post the trip report tomorrow.

Make Your Own Mini Lightbox

2008-02-29T22:04:00.012-05:00

My first real post is a photography one. Have you ever wanted to create those perfect ebay shots. Well... with a shoebox, a flashlight, and a piece of paper you can. No this is not a Macgyver episode.

These images were both taken using this technique.

Here are the steps

Gather supplies
flip shoebox on its edge so that the long side is laying on the table
cut a whole big enough for your flashlight's head to go through on the top of the shoebox
lay the paper in the box so that there is a shallow curve going towards the top of the box
When you shine the flashlight through you should be able to see a circular pattern as seen in the first image.
TO achieve a totally white background (image #2) turn the flash on and diffuse it with a bit of paper.

Completed lightbox

There you go. A cheap, if not free, mini lightbox. This is really only good for small items like the ones shown in my images.

If you can give up five minutes of your time you can get some very surprising results from this little box. I was messing around the other day and stumbled upon it. I hope it works as well or you as it did me.

images copyright Jordan Michael.

First Blog

2008-02-29T17:17:00.003-05:00

This is my first blog ever. I've been meaning to do one but was too lazy I finally decided to stop procrastinating and start a blog.

What is this blog about

This where I'll share my thoughts on things that I enjoy or things I hear about.

What I enjoy

I enjoy Photography and Disney they are my favorite things.

While I will post some Disney pictures or my thoughts on Disney stuff this isn't just a Disney blog it's about what I'm thinking about.

I hope you enjoy and hope you read more.