The Golden Hours

For a lot of photography the golden hours are the hour starting from dawn and the hour before sunset.

Most times this is an excellent time to shoot pictures. The saturation is nice and the pictures look full and deep.

With the processing in the DSLRs now its easy enough to fake it. When you would rather not have that saturation as in this morning you can edit it out. Unfortunately that takes time. I spend too much time editing now.

The problem I run into in tone mapping is the program does not like that saturation. Add that to a zoom lens and you get a graduation color shift. It is something I really hate. Oh well. I did get a lot of good shots today crewing for the "Bob" with one O. Not many of him because I was crewing but a lot of everyone else. The tops shots so far today are below. Run through tone mapping then edited for the wide view. They look fantastic at full size.

KKisses prowls.

 Bold!

Bright!

Get Er Up!

Ecstatic Smiles.

Nibbles.

Sunrise.

For most of the shots today I stayed with the photograph setting. Some like the last were paint 1. I was trying to shoot framed, wide, and possible polar shots at the same time. Crazy really.

I did get my shopping done, balloon fueled, truck and fan fueled and trailer sorted as well as edit a bunch of shots from today and eat a bacon sandwich! All in all a productive day. Tomorrow we get to sort out my envelope and maybe fly.

Lets keep it short tonight.

Happy Bottom Riding Club.. nuff said.

http://flavorwire.com/413585/photo-gallery-stylish-pilots-of-the-early-20th-century/view-all/

Radio. Do you listen anymore? I do. But not often.

http://gizmodo.com/do-you-ever-listen-to-the-radio-anymore-1270435760

Keep America Private. What happened to keep the govt out of my house and off my body? Or something like that.

http://gizmodo.com/how-to-fight-back-in-the-nsas-war-on-encryption-1270158751

And this is all Blast From The Past.

http://geekologie.com/2013/09/vintage-fallout-bunker-features-a-full-h.php

I was too bored with the TV show ideas.. for now.

A little light reading

Last night I did some sifting through the net. Too bad most of it is like a cat box. I did find a little blog about some Hollywood mysteries. Yes.. The Bob Crane one was there and also Norma Jean and the Black Dahlia. What peaked my curiosity was the Natalie Wood murder. I didn't know Christopher Walken was on board the boat also.  Then there was the silent screen director who was on the lam, left wife and children on the East coast and popped up in the West. He was supposedly killed for narking on another actress's drug connection. And another one also on a boat had connections to Charlie Chaplin. As I said... lots of kitty litter all over. I think I will do some more cat box dissection tonight.

Tomorrow I am going to go out and help a friend get in the air. In a balloon. Yeah... Okay.. flap your arms.. run.. run faster! No. Hmm.. seems I say No a lot. Must be channeling my 2nd year alive.

Sunday its out to Fiesta field to meet up with the AAAA and maybe fly. The main thing is to get my balloon set up right and checked. After that maybe we will fly. I don't like flying from the Fiesta field. You ask why.
Here are the reasons.

When you launch from Fiesta field your going to go in one of four directions.

 North your going to the pueblo and a long day getting off. Not because of the Puebo itself.. but because it huge and you have to be escorted. East and your looking at the mountains and houses. South your looking at businesses until after the airport. West you have to get over Corrales to find a landing spot that isn't hiding horses. Each direction you must ascend to altitude of 1000 feet until your ready to land. Now I don't mind 1000 feet above the ground.. Its just terribly boring. Its great to use to get where you want to be or to have a look see but all in all the fun is close to the ground or in the river.

So.. its not that I don't like the area.. its that its restrictive. If the FAA ever got around to adjusting a certian FAR to include Hot Air Balloons as well as Helicopters I would be flying on that side a lot more. Confusing? Okay.. Here is how it goes. You as an aircraft must be high enough that if you lose your power plant ( IE engine ) you must be able to glide to a landing. Helicopters are set at 1 ft. (surfaceish )since if the are low its safer to land. Uh..... Duh for HAB's. If your one foot off the ground and you lose your burner.. hay.. you land! Wow! But the FAR has not been updated and its taking forever to get it through some bureaucrats skull. So there. I like flying on the West side where there is a bunch of open land to do touch and go's and generally fool around.

Enough talking.. Here are a few shots I "wide edited" today that I like. They give me ideas.

Blue Cathedral Rock.

487 Steam.

10 Cents.

49Duce!

Nob Hill House South.

Alien Crossing.

Yep. Lots to edit still to do... There are massive amount of ideas pinging around my brain. Got to get some to the printer.

Super Links.

I do add a tiny bit of salt to my coffee to cut the nasty taste. I like coffee but not black or without sugar or milk.. or a cup.

http://lifehacker.com/make-better-lemonade-with-a-pinch-of-salt-1264278277

A good blog on first world problems.. suck it up! I can add to these probably without end. What makes the section are the sad pictures for the background. They are hilarious.

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/21-first-world-middle-class-problems-people-actually-posted-on-twitter

The idea of a smart watch is so old .. and yes it states in the blog that it goes waaayyyyy back. Too bad they keep missing the point of the "Smart Watch". It should be primarily a watch, but also should be able to announce and or tone who is contacting you. That is one thing I liked about the blackberry. I could easily link a sound or song to a person or mail service or both. So when someone I want to know contacts me I know it and can answer it or if its someone I do not want to hear from I can ignore it and go on about my business without lifting and enabling my phone. There are apps out there to do such to your phone but most work sometimes and or not all the time. So I would buy a smart watch if it could allow me not to pick up my phone and turn it on all the time.

http://gizmodo.com/i-actually-really-want-a-smartwatch-1257227834

Last but no way least.. 25 memorable moments on television. Only two do I think worthy of the list. Mainly because of the impact and they were not massaged by the "mEDIA" ( say it like your saying Crap-weasels..and yes I meant to lower case the m in Crap-weasels )  1. 9/11 2. The American ice hockey team beating the Soviet team at the Olympics. 3. Lucy!

http://flavorwire.com/413227/the-25-most-memorable-moments-in-tv-history/view-all/

Nowadays the television is completely full of garbage. I know that you could swing a rabid monkey around a 10 by 10 foot room and hit a better idea for a show than 98 percent of whats on now. Maybe tomorrow I will make a list of show subjects. its Friday... go get a drink.

Comment

I read somewhere today...and I cant remember where... it was from a photographer who said "find what you like to do and beat it to death"! Okay, maybe it was less graphic than that and I 'm ( probably ) paraphrasing but you get the gist.

Oh.. and the answer to yesterdays picture....was.... The side of a steam train boiler that had been painted white. Those bumps were the huge rivets. Where you ask? Chama New Mexico.

Ah, yes. Back at it.. So.. beating it to death. You know what's coming... I love polar edits. So I am gonna beat it to death. Now that I am getting the hang of it I'm tweaking totally non polar type shots. Ill post some here in a moment. It took more steps and I didn't fuse a bunch of them because I didn't think they needed it. I am going to spend some time soon and clean up the better edits but its far too much fun to see what happens every time the process runs to stop now.

Uh.... I write as I speak on this page. Nuance and funny spelling. And yes I know I just put "I,Oh,Ah,Uh".

Only 27ish days to FIESTA! Chatted with a couple who are coming out to Fiesta that Like Powers novels too. We are going to be talking a mile a minute.

This weekend we are going to pull Patturns highperactive out, get her straightened out and cold inflate to make sure the sensor is in place and is staying there. Probably fly the next weekend. This weekend is to make sure it is all settled.

Some select polar edits... look away if your stomach is weak.


Cyclic Steam.

Open In Back.

Pressurized.

Gallery 1.

Joking Around.

Nob Hill House.

Half Past.

As you can see I fused some and I didn't touch others. I could have, but I didn't. Time to go locate more.

You can go eat now......

Links.

Oh yay! Lets photoshop everything. No.

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/18-strange-examples-of-how-not-to-retouch-a-photo

Speakers. Les annoy everyone around you. No really. I have a set of speakers from the 1980's and they still work. Will these work in 33 years?

http://lifehacker.com/best-bluetooth-speaker-1257393611

We are in the middle of the group. Not bad. Can  get me some lower cost bandwidth.

http://gizmodo.com/americas-internet-inequality-a-map-of-whos-got-the-b-1057686215

Only $999. So many things.... LOL. How many things...

http://www.gizmag.com/acer-t272hul-display/28957/

wooo... off to look for photographs to can mess with.

Too fast or too slow

When is it time to go fast and when is it time to go slow? I seem to need a small voice to say... okay.. slow down and think this one through before you move. Then there is a need for me to move faster but there is no way to do that. Maybe its just flat out frustration that I am dealing with. Things I need to know I don't have time ( read, minute to minute quiet time ) without interruption to read. Nor is there the ability to test and try out the process because everything is LIVE and you cant screw with it. Its a Catch 22. I don't like it and I am not the only one. Then there's the part about waiting for outside input or answers. You can grow old waiting for that. It must be frustration. OK.. I will keep repeating to myself.. do what you can and don't sweat what you cant. Hmmm.... I have to make a sign to put on my cube wall.

I did get in and stitch my sensor down on my envelope. It was crazy that I can never remember what gore the sensor is on.. yeah. 12! So it was in a super hot trailer where I sewed it down. All it does is stop it from dangling into the envelope. It just likes doing that now and I don't know why. I have to check it this weekend to make sure its working. Did you know I have a hole in my envelope? Besides the Crown and two turning vents... Yep. Check it out.

This is the port for the RF sensor to enter into the envelope and down that sleeve. It keeps slipping farther into the sleeve...sigh

This is the RF send unit. The turtle. Its velcro strapped to the outside of the envelope with a thick piece of fabric between it and the envelope and also has the strap go up and under the housing to keep it further away from the heat on the skin of the balloon.

And the awesome crown ring. This is where all the load tapes ( black strapping ) attaches at the top. It has a cool bronze gold color. The white string is an innovation and attaches the crown fabric to the ring so you can pull the crown back up. A very nice thing.

 

Lots and lots of stitches to keep everything together.

At last I was able to get the envelope back in the envelope bag.. Its all a mess of ropes and lines and fabric. Definitely going to have to pull it out this weekend and get it back to ship shape.. or boon shape. Then I locked my keys in the trailer! Yay me! Most excellent! Jumping into action I try to cut the lock.. no joy.. okay.... lets drill it out... great.. that works.. little bits of lock everywhere... and its open! Cool! Oh.. the spare key is in the house all the time.... yayme.

Ahhh.... so much for that. I am done... came in.. cleaned up and because I could I did some not so normal polar edits on non polar things... again.. because I bloomin well can!

I like this one because of the people and the total jamming of things in the shot.

The lamps on this one are cool. Both shots are on Central.

Road-wize. I could clean this up some more but its just a test to see if it works.

Alien Observations. Yep. Love the balloon polars. Its a load of fun. Don't care. Love the Dandelion center.

Yeah that was A-OK!

Now off to do some more wide edits.. Oh! I wanted to post one more for you to try and figure out what it is...

 Guess...... and off to link some links.

Evernote.. I'm using it but not nearly as much as it could be used or as fully as it could be used.. too tired.. but an update.

http://lifehacker.com/evernote-for-windows-finally-gets-reminders-a-new-clea-1251792735

I don't have an accent!! And I never ever use local slang.. ever.. Yup!

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/09/04/107-Regional-Slang-Words/#!idzjv

Beautiful knife! Gorgeous! Granted I am not allowed to have anything sharp.. but wow... Oh.. and NO.. 500 dollars?

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2013/09/03/damascus-steel-pocket-knife-is-stunning/

Pana po'o

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2013/09/04/untranslatable-words-from-other-languages/

Have a good eve.

Moosday

Yep! Moosday!  Tuesday with heavy shading of Monday. Okay.. some one dumped a bunch of Monday in Tuesday. Its everywhere and it is not coming out of the carpet! The ceiling is missing and the most of the walls look palsied.

Who's gonna clean up this mess?

No time today to look for  and edit shots today so your going to get some wides (my word) from yesterday. Na Na! Cranked up on the tone. I really have plans to do some different things but no time to do any of it. No time and as much as I detested the last chilly winter I don't like this wet heat. What happened to the darn dry heat? I can deal with that but not being able to get rid of this wet, old sock feeling suckith! Can I please gets some 72 degrees and soft breezes? Come on!

Oh.. yes.. no.. today it was all about bandwidth service that cant do what we need.. have to get a refund... Strange requests that are going to be hard to fulfill. Looking at my office ( galley sized cube ) and trying to decide why I want to clear it out and minimize. Yes, lets make more work for myself. Please! But I do not like how messy and unorganized it is now.

I could paint but I think painting the cubicle fabric walls might not go over well. I will have to think about it more....


Right up there.

Na!

Volcanic visit.

3 dollars.

Kicking it in.

Wells Cargo.

You know you've been Kissed.

A few.. and I mean few from last nights bout of editing. These are much cooler full sized. I think they will go 30 inches on the side.

If I get a chance I will go hunt some more shots for more wides while I do not have the time to go "TAKE" pictures.

Blinks.

Even though there are caveats to your phone compared to a ...say windows tablet.. I use virus software whenever possible.

http://lifehacker.com/do-you-use-antivirus-protection-on-your-phone-or-tablet-1242873423

And I think things should be preserved but not trumped up. I'm this I agree with the German Govt.

http://gizmodo.com/should-germany-spend-millions-preserving-nazi-rally-gro-1245820655

Crazy side of everything...

http://lifehacker.com/find-the-sweet-spot-between-boring-and-crazy-weird-1244907083

Wooo removing people from pictures... wooooo... can i just put them in different positions?

http://lifehacker.com/remove-people-from-your-photos-with-this-photoshop-scri-1245505649

Go away!

LOL

Short Week on the way.

Cant believe the weekend is almost over. Monday was my day to get some things cleaned up but that fell through when I found my front right tire flat. So locating a compressor and filling it up.Disconnected the trailer, flipping the truck around to put the front tires on the pad. Started checking for nails or whatever.. nothing... but I could hear a hissing sound. Decided that getting it down to Sams club as quick as possible was the smart idea. Getting down there and losing about ten pounds of air on the way and amazingly enough was served right away. Sadly the tire was beyond help. At 50,000 plus miles I knew they might go out soon.. but this soon>???!! Seems that across three pads of the tread were cracked into the interior. Crap! So now, 450 dollars later I am waiting for the tires to be delivered. I left my rim and old tire there with them and they put my spare on to get me home. Hopefully Wednesday I will have two new tires on the front. Not sure I feel comfortable leaving my rim down there but its better than the back of my truck out front for two days. Not too happy about forking out 400 bucks this close to Fiesta but better than it going out on the road during Fiesta! Half a dozen of one six of my empty wallet. LOL.

Oh, by the time I got home it was too late to do anything else and the fire ants had decided it was time to party on the Bball court.. Ah well. Since I was stuck I widened some shots. Just misc here and there. I selected these five for their nice look.

Funny that its "Boots and Bonnets" day!

The last one is my favorite for the day. Power Glide with a Safety Star. You get ff with a warning when pulled over with those. LOL

Links for the night. Don't expect much.

This site has been worth the trouble to click the "GO" button. I am still digging through it and there are some fun and cool things here.

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/01/category-funny-pics.html

They still are spying on you you know...

http://gizmodo.com/how-the-nsa-misleads-the-public-without-technically-lyi-1238670780

So much possible fun in all this crazy building and psycho control.

http://io9.com/chinas-brand-new-abandoned-cities-could-be-dystopian-m-1238731420

Do not park your plastic car near this secret weapon...

http://jalopnik.com/londons-newest-skyscraper-is-melting-cars-parked-near-1239950513

And sadly...

http://io9.com/rip-frederik-pohl-the-man-who-transformed-science-fict-1241405614

Sigh... No other good Authors are allowed to move on... do not pass go.

Labor Day weekend work

Yes, I spent Sunday morning finishing up the Cloudbouncer Edit. About a total of 6 hours of work. Between processing shots and compressing them to collecting all the information necessary for each section then compiling it and lining it up. After that its content and position, verification of information and then positioning again. Last is putting the separate sections together. Between the requests for posting and where it should go to correcting errors it goes to about 6 to 10 solid hours of work. Is it worth it? Yes, when I am done I get a good feeling. Does it look good? I hope so. Does the CB need updating as to the way its compiled.. you bet. But that takes time and time is in short supply. I am working on it though. I have a possible front page set up done. Normally the CB has to be a size divisible by 4. This month and last month there are 28 pages. I would rather it be 24 pages but with the amount of information and the size of some of the ads as well as readability... 28 is about average. Now it is off to have a two or three person overview to see if I missed something or any dates of other minute adjustment is needed. Hopefully not and it can be shoved out on Tuesday. We shall see. ( Addendum. It has cleared the President YAY! )

Since there was no flying at the last AAAA meet in Rio Rancho I had to grab pictures from older meets. I just edited them for a different view. I did get some pictures from the Picnic so that was nice. Yay.. and Whew!

Here are some of the shots I am going to play with this afternoon...

Some varied and interesting pictures. All have already been tone mapped. Next is to see if its worthy of a wide angle edit or a polar edit. Off to do that after lunch.

Links.

Hah! Pretty good costumes at this convention parade. My brother and sister in law were there. Not too bad.

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/cars-of-the-dragoncon-parade-photo-dump-1234991268

Now this will make you scratch your head. Completely funny though in the "what were you thinking" area.

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/18-weird-and-crazy-construction-fails-that-will-leave-you-puzzled

And since Hollywood noir has been brought to my attention and there are so many quirky corners to the place... here is another.

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/08/31/The-Stairways-to-the-Stars/#!h5kLd

Last and just interesting... interesting like.. HUH?!

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/30-bizarre-yet-real-gadgets-accessories-from-the-skymall-catalog

Ahh.... nice weekend!