Dogs and Pillows

Posted by dkrashb on May 12, 2013

Tisen looking ridiculously comfy

I thought today’s collection of iPhone images (shot using the Camera! app) made for a good comparison–perhaps even providing an explanation between shooting action and shooting a still subject.

For anyone who has been keeping up with this blog long enough to know that I often post photos of Tisen (my dog) sleeping and far less frequently post photos of him doing something more exciting, perhaps the comparison of what iPhone photos of an excited Tisen running around with Big Dog vs. a sleepy Tisen enjoying the comfort of pillows will make my preference for Lazy Tisen photos understandable.

Yes, that is a custom-made American Leather throw-pillow my dog is propping up his butt with

There are several things that make the iPhone as a camera challenging when shooting Excited Tisen. First, the iPhone is slow. One thing to remember is that it will start taking the picture at the point when you let go of the volume-up button or lift your finger from the screen–not when you start. This is important when you’re trying to take a picture quickly. When Tisen is prancing around with Big Dog in his mouth and I’m trying to get an adorable image of Tisen carrying a toy that’s almost as big as he is, getting the camera to take the image at the moment I want it to is important. Otherwise, I end up with images like this one, where Tisen is not caught carrying Big Dog, but rather the moment after he dropped Big Dog and started sliding to to the floor relatively gracefully.

Tisen sliding into the down position

This is called missing the shot.

I do this a lot with the iPhone. It’s hard for me to retrain my brain to release the volume-up button after spending so much time learning to depress a button to take a picture. Some day I will be able to switch back and forth

Another way to increase the odds of catching something like an Excited Tisen with the iPhone is to use the Fast Burst setting in the Camera! app. While this reduces the resolution of the images, it allows for the camera to shoot multiple images in rapid succession. While it’s still a lot slower than, say, rapid fire with a DSLR shooting JPEGs, it’s still a big improvement over the normal amount of time between shots, when you use this feature, you push the button and hold and it will shoot until you stop or the memory fills. It does not, however, help freeze the motion of Excited Tisen–that is dependent on shutter speed, which is a different issue.

An almost sharp shot of Tisen carrying Big Dog

Shooting Sleepy Tisen is a much easier option in many respects. He holds still, I get to try different angles. It’s easier. However, one of the short comings in this scenario is how the iPhone over exposes his white fur. There’s not much that can be done about this other than using the flashlight feature to try to brighten up his dark spots. This has the disadvantage that once the flash starts, Tisen quickly turns into Excited Tisen.

Tisen licking the fur fuzz off his lips after dropping Big Dog

Dinner Date

Posted by dkrashb on May 11, 2013

Tisen giddy with excitement

Tisen is experiencing the emotion of conflict of interest. He loves Twiggy and he loves his mommy. He just isn’t sure how to love both of us at the same time.

If Tisen and I were two humans with the same relationship, we would be in therapy.

I have never understood possessive, jealous people. Any guy I ever dated back when I was a single person (E-gads! It’s been decades ago!) who had issues with me having friends, having a career, and having interests separate from his didn’t last long. (Well, excepting my first “adult” boyfriend, but that’s another story.) I guess because I identify with Tisen in more of a mother-son sort of way, his possessiveness and jealousy seem simultaneously more strange and more tolerable.

Twiggy giving “the Look” that probably results in her getting what she wants 100% of the time

Perhaps more tolerable because I don’t actually have to argue with Tisen and convince him that he’s nuts for being upset that I’m petting Twiggy. I just pet Twiggy and let him deal with it.

It’s also more tolerable because it’s amusing to watch Tisen flip back and forth between wanting to play with Twiggy and wanting to remain between her and me. When Twiggy moves away from me, he grabs and toy and follows her, trying to get her to play tug-o-war or keep away. When Twiggy comes back my way, Tisen drops his toys, dives head-first onto the sofa, often landing completely across my lap.

Twiggy decides to take advantage of the fact that there are 3 humans present who are capable of rubbing her belly

Of course, Tisen eventually wears himself out and decides he really can share me. Then Twiggy happily sits next to me and raises a paw so I will rub her armpit.

I got out my iPhone and attempted to capture a few images of our favorite dogs (in Tennessee–no offense to Paris and Bonnie who are, of course, our favorite dogs in Ohio).

Twiggy extends her neck to place her head directly under her daddy’s hand

Low light and motion are not ideal conditions for shooting with the iPhone. One thing that might have been helpful would have been to turn on the flash. I’ve found using the feature in Camera! that turns the LED light on like a flashlight works better than using the LED like a flash. It helps the phone find focus for one thing. But, I think I end up with a faster shutter speed this way. I’ll have to test this theory.

In any case, with so much excitement going on, catching either dog in a moment of “paws” (sorry for the pun) was a bit challenging. Without the LED light on, the iPhone takes a very long time to find focus and fire, which makes getting decent images of moving dogs even more challenging.

Our guests and Tisen (Big Dog is also on the floor, partially cut out of the frame)

This is the kind of situation where, if you want an image to capture a memory and you’re not really after a specific look, the iPhone is just fine. But if you really want a stop-action kind of shot, a DSLR would be a much better choice. Or even just a point-and-shoot with fully manual control and higher ISO settings.

None-the-less, I enjoy any pictures of the dogs.

A Walk in the Park

Posted by dkrashb on May 10, 2013

The native lens in the iPhone does not make for a great way to capture Great Blue Heron

Today when Tisen and I made our morning round of the park and I spotted a Great Blue Heron hanging out on the railing of the bridge, I promptly reached into my pocket and pulled out the only camera I had with me, my iPhone.

Now, I use my iPhone for work even though it’s my personal phone. This is an example of what corporations now call “work-life integration.” I remember when it used to be called, “work-life balance.” I have the advantage that I need only have one phone number and one device. The company has the advantage that they don’t have to pay for my service. I suppose it’s win-win.

I’m sneaking up on the heron. Can you seem him yet?

I mention this because one of the really horrific disadvantages to using my personal iPhone for work is my company requires special security before they’ll allow corporate email on a mobile device. That security prevents the camera from starting without unlocking the phone. It also forces me to use a long password with special characters that, on average, take me 3 attempts to type in correctly.

So, back to our Blue Heron, here I am, walking in the park. I spot a Great Blue Heron on the railing up ahead. I tell Tisen “Wait” as I pull my phone out of my back pocket. While holding the leash and trying to see the screen in bright sunlight and with sunglasses on, I use my thumbs to key in my password.

Can you see him now? (Hint: he flew to the left)

Cultural note: the phrase “All Thumbs,” as in, “She tried to enter her password, but she was all thumbs,” should have been a really strong indicator to the inventors of smart phones that a keyboard requiring you to type using only your thumbs might not be the best answer.

I get an error message. I look up. Heron hasn’t moved. I enter my password again. I get another error. I curse under my breath and check the bird again. Still there. I try a third time and just as I am about to hit the return key, Tisen moves, pulling the leash, which moves my left hand, which jerks the phone and causes me to hit an extra key as I hit the return key. 3rd strike. My phone is now counting down until the self-destruct sequence begins. I frantically enter my password one more time. The planets align! I get my phone unlocked, my camera app open, and the heron is still sitting there!

Now you can at least see a silhouette!

However, as you can see from the photos, perhaps there are times when it truly is better not to have a camera at all. The Camera! app was not set in rapid fire mode. It took far too long to shoot to capture the heron taking off from the railing. Of course, with no optical zoom (my mini-telephoto lenses back at home), I’m not sure it’s possible to actually tell where the heron is in most of the images in any case.

Tisen giving me the “Oh mom, you’re so crazy” look

Vintage Twiggy

Posted by dkrashb on May 9, 2013

Miss Twiggy looking cozy in black and white

Well, it’s 12:48AM. I just finished working (although I took a break to go to an Audubon Society meeting for a couple of hours). Just for fun, I added up how many hours I’ve worked since Monday morning. I’ve worked 35 hours so far this week. I guess that’s not so bad. But, it looks like I have some longer days ahead of me and I’ll probably be working this weekend.

Miss Twiggy looking a bit like lemonade

Such is life.

But, in the interest of self-preservation, this is going to be a really short post.

I did a little experiment with Hipstamatic the other day. Our friend and his dog, Twiggy, joined us for dinner. Twiggy was lying on our sofa on top of the blanket we use to protect the sofa from the dogs. Twiggy and the blanket were an almost perfect match.

A more realistic coloring on Twiggy and Sofa, but still a bit yellow

I pulled out my iPhone and used Hipstamatic with the Jimmy lens (I think) and tried it with both the color and black and white tintype film.

I wanted to get Twiggy blending into the blanket in color, but for some reason the images all came out more yellow than they looked in real life. I did not adjust any of the images–these are how they came out of Hipstamatic.

Final black and white version–I didn’t notice how she holds her back feet until just now

Here Comes the Sun

Posted by dkrashb on May 7, 2013

Tisen getting comfy under the booth–he turned out to be a big attraction

Given the size of Chattanooga, I am always surprised by the number of celebrations the city hosts. Besides music venues, festivals, concerts, and fireworks, there seem to be a large number of parades. Although, I guess it has been since Christmas that I was aware of a parade. I’m sure there have been many, none-the-less. 🙂

I didn’t actually know what this weekend’s parade was for until I googled it just now. I ended up on the Walnut Street Bridge manning a booth for the Chattanooga Audubon Society along with another volunteer. We didn’t really know what to expect–it was a first for this event.

The parade opened with the rental bikes available all over the city at convenient locations

As it turns out, it might be a long time before there is another parade on the Walnut Street Bridge–the parade was in honor of its reopening as a park 20 years ago. It’s a fantastic place and one definitely worth celebrating. Our job, however, was to sign up as many people as possible for our email list, give those who did sign up free passes to the Audubon Acres property, and pass out Toostie Pops to children who showed interest.

Next came a mini choo choo belonging to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga–well, it’s back there behind the bikes

As a sideline, I hoped to point out interesting birds to passers by and had binoculars and bird books set out for that purpose. As usual, however, we were out in the middle of the afternoon at the worst possible time for birding. We did see a Great Blue Heron and some Rock Pigeons, but nothing very exciting.

The thing that was the most amazing about sitting out on the Walnut Street Bridge on Sunday afternoon was the sun. The weather was supposed to be rain all weekend. When I looked at the weather channel app on my iPhone, the chance for rain dropped from 100% to 90% about noon on Sunday. When we drove out to Audubon Acres to pick up lunch and load up the stuff we needed for the booth, the rain had slowed to a mist.

I don’t know if the sunshine made these dancers especially enthusiastic, but they sure were having fun

By the time the van was loaded and we were back on our way to the Walnut Street Bridge, the rain had stopped. When we arrived on the bridge, I pulled on my rain jacket for warmth–the sky was dark and threatening and the wind was blowing hard. By the time we’d been there a half an hour, I was pulling off my jacket and putting up my umbrella for protection from the sun instead of the rain.

Tisen tucked himself back in the corner under the shade from my umbrella and drank more water than I’ve seen him drink in a long time.

It was like the parade organizers had special-ordered the weather. This respite from the rain lasted long enough for the parade to conclude, our van to be re-loaded, and for us to drive nearly all the way home before the clouds blew back in and the rain re-started. I really think I need to get to know the parade organizers better.

The dancers may have been the highlight of the parade

Hawk Hunt

Posted by dkrashb on April 26, 2013

One of the best wren shots I’ve managed to capture–this little guy posed about 6 feet away from me

On a Saturday afternoon, with only 1 day left in a “Birdathon” (a competition to find as many bird species as possible in a 3-week period), what’s a girl to do after returning home from spending 3 ½ hours wandering around a wetland looking for birds?

You guessed it–go look for more birds. Never mind that it’s the afternoon and not exactly prime birding. Never mind that I’d just spend all morning walking around straining my neck. Never mind that I had a dog that needed to go for a walk.

There was still a good chance of picking up a species or two in the afternoon, I would drive to the trailhead to reduce the walking, and Tisen would just have to go birding with me to get his walk in.

The only question was where to go. Since I hadn’t been up to Stringer’s Ridge during yet and I knew there were Cooper’s Hawks nesting up there last year and I didn’t have Cooper’s hawks on my list yet, I thought Stringer’s Ridge was a good place to go. Besides, if anyone is likely to be up and active during the middle of the afternoon, it’s a Cooper’s hawk.

Tisen peering back at me through trailside brush

Tisen and I gathered up our respective equipment–binoculars, birding book, and camera in my case; Pink Elephant in his–and made our way to the car after a brief potty break for Tisen.

Stringer’s Ridge is close enough to walk to from our place, although it’s probably a good mile away and part of that mile is up a steep climb. I was happy I’d decided to drive as we made our way through the neighborhood and up to the parking lot, my back was already aching from the wetland walk.

We parked in the empty lot and I enjoyed being able to let Tisen walk off-lead for a change with no one else around. Tisen was pretty happy about getting to explore, too. One problem with birding with Tisen is that he doesn’t really do a great job flushing birds for me. He tends to scare them off in the opposite direction. I found myself contemplating whether I should try to train him like a hunting dog to circle around and flush the birds towards me. I decided it probably wasn’t worth the effort.

My sweet boy coming back to Mommy after wandering aways ahead

There weren’t many birds for him to scare away that day. The occasional drumming of a distant woodpecker reached our ears and the ubiquitous Carolina Wren seemed to be following us along the path, but no Cooper’s Hawks were to be found. Thankfully, as we made our way along a loop trail that gave us a nice walk through the woods that was probably less than 2 miles long, I heard a Wood Thrush singing its glorious, wistful song. If you’ve never heard a Wood Thrush, you owe it to yourself to give it a listen. You can play its flute-like song here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Thrush/id

New Flash

Posted by dkrashb on April 21, 2013

Tisen looks nicely lit for this quick-and-dirty shot with the flash on camera

I recall working pretty darn had to get a decent exposure with my manual flash

I’ve been doing well on holding steady with the photography equipment I have. I had the small splurge on small accessories for my iPhone along with a few dollars worth of apps for my iPhone, but otherwise, I haven’t bought anything for quite a while.

Then, I got frustrated with my inexpensive manual flash unit when I last pulled it out. First, it doesn’t have an auto-focus assist function for low-light focusing. Second, I have to take about 3 shots to figure out the right power settings on the flash (or buy a light meter). Third, it won’t do high-speed sync (meaning I end up with black bars on my photos if I have too fast a shutter speed and my only option is to choose a slower shutter speed even when that’s not what I want. Finally, I can’t do rear-curtain sync. This is a feature you don’t think about until you try to shoot motion in dim lighting.

So, having these irritations right about tax return time combined with the realization that the price of the Speedlite I’ve been lusting after has dropped significantly since I last fantasized about owning it led to one of those late-night purchases that made me feel a little queasy when I woke up in the morning and realized what I’d done.

I put the card up to create catchlights in the eyes–another feature I was missing–but Tisen refused to look at me and even closed one eye

While it’s not the most expensive piece of equipment I’ve ever purchased, I tend to think of things as being “expensive” or “inexpensive” based on how much use I get out of them. My tripod had a higher price tag, for example, but I use it all the time and it will last the rest of my life. I feel the same way about my lenses. While camera bodies are expensive and quickly out-dated, they last years and the camera body is the one piece of equipment I use for every shot I take. A flash, on the other hand, is an occasional add-on accessory for me, not something I need 80% of the time.

In any case, I decided I should start learning how to use the thing immediately in order to increase the odds that I will be happy with having purchased it. I tried to get Tisen to help me work on using rear-curtain sync, but he was resistant and seemed to think I was mad at him because I kept coaxing him onto one side of the room, making him sit, and then, when he started walking, pointing a big, black machine at him that kept flashing. When he started cowering when I called him, I decided I needed to enlist Pat’s help.

Not quite what I was going for–was working on a trail leading up to a solid Tisen but me-thinks I have some learning to do

Pat was not more cooperative and I didn’t have any better luck getting the image I was looking for. But, I was pleased with how nicely the automatic abilities of the flash unit to choose the exposure worked. I got far better exposures with ¼ of the effort. That’s encouraging.

Pat got a little more solid, but he’s still see-through

In Memory of Tiger

Posted by dkrashb on April 20, 2013

A comforting friend during a stressful time (Tisen at the vet with Tiger)

The Tyger

-William Blake

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Tiger can be partially seen at the far left

With great sadness, I write of the loss of Tiger. Tiger was one of our small, furry family members. Tiger was a good friend to Tisen. He patiently allowed Tisen to carry him around like a doll–never complaining or even struggling.

Sadly, Tiger disappeared about 3 days ago. He’d accompanied Tisen on a walk, hanging from Tisen’s mouth when last seen. He then disappeared somewhere in the park. Several searches failed to find Tiger; we’ve decided it’s time to acknowledge Tiger is gone for good.

Our Tiger didn’t have such a fearful symmetry–his long and floppy legs wouldn’t hold his weight, let alone allow him to spring unexpectedly upon prey. He didn’t strike fear in anyone’s heart. I suppose the silly expression undermined ferocity.

Tiger looks like he’s wearing a hat, but it’s really Duck behind him

Around here, Tiger wasn’t valued for his fierceness–he was valued for his squeak. He was a Tisen favorite. Unfortunately, Tisen got hot while carrying Tiger and set him down so he could pant. Mommy wasn’t paying attention and we’d made a lap around the park before it dawned on Mommy that someone was missing.

My favorite Tiger story is from about 6 months ago. I was walking through the park and Tisen had dropped Tiger on that day as well. I’d picked up Tiger and then run into a man with his dog. We exchanged greetings and dog information and then he went on his way.

In a recent family portrait, Tisen seemed to seek Tiger out

A few minutes later, Tisen decided he wanted to carry Tiger again. We walked along at a quick pace with Tisen proudly holding Tiger in his mouth. We caught up to the man and his dog in the process. When the man saw Tisen with Tiger, he burst out laughing and said, “Oh! That’s his tiger! I was wondering!” Proof that when I suspected people thought I suffered from a disorder that caused me to compulsively carry stuffed animals, I wasn’t being paranoid.

I will miss having people wonder why I am carrying a stuffed Tiger with me through the park. Tisen, however, seems to have moved on–he happily grabbed Hedge Hog when Tiger was no where to be found.

The first time Twiggy came to visit, she put Tiger in her pile

Zoom Zoom (x4)

Posted by dkrashb on April 13, 2013

I think his face looks distorted (shot with the 8x attachment on), but my husband thinks Tisen looks normal

I intended to take one of my new iPhone toys to the common-area balcony so I could test it on some distant scenery. However, I failed to notice how late I was working until it was well after dark.

Instead, I set up my iPhone with the 8x optical zoom lens in the office, positioned a bright lamp over some of Tisen’s toys, and decided to see what happened.

Since the lens was compared it to a Sigma 500mm lens, I thought I would pull out my DSLR and my 100-400mm lens for a comparison point. As it turned out, there really isn’t a comparison.

The un-enhanced iPhone lens captured this much of the scene:

4mm? Really? Wow.

By comparison, with the 8x zoom lens on, it captured this much:

As tight as the iPhone could get with the 8x telephoto attachment

Focus was a big problem–the way the tripod is designed, the clamp that holds the iPhone blocks a portion of the screen, making it difficult to touch the exact area you want to be in focus. In the wide angle shot, this resulted in focusing on the lens on my Canon, which was sitting on a full-size tripod right next to my iPhone on its mini-tripod. At least, that’s what I think it is–it seems to be the wrong color.

When I look at the difference between the two images, it does appear that Tisen’s cow is about 8x closer, although I’m not exactly clear on the mathematical formula one uses to calculate that.

Since I’d gone to all the trouble of setting up my 5D Mark III with the Canon f/4.0-5.6 100-400mm lens, I thought I should go ahead with the comparison, fair or not. Here is the Canon at 100mm:

At 100mm, the Canon is still far tighter than the iPhone

As you can see, this is not at all comparable to the iPhone without the zoom lens. I was surprised to realize for the first time that the iPhone lens is a 4mm lens! Now that is wide!

At 400mm, Tisen’s cow shows just how badly she needs a bath:

I was quickly bored with shooting Tisen’s toys. I decided Tisen was a more exciting subject. I rotated the lamp around in attempt to shed some light under the desk where he was hiding while all this was going on.

I tried to back up with the Canon to do more of a comparison where Tisen looked the same size in both the iPhone and the Canon images. I had to back up far enough to be outside the lens’ minimum focusing distance, then I zoomed in a bit at 220mm to get something close to the size of the iPhone image.

My Tisen holds still for a portrait shot (DSLR)

I don’t know if you can see the quality difference in these low resolution images, but it’s quite obvious to me when I make this comparison what is superior about the DSLR. On the flip side, if you’re posting low-resolution images to Facebook, the iPhone images are probably all the quality you need.

Tisen holds still, but the iPhone doesn't quite do him justice (iPhone with attachment)

Tisen holds still, but the iPhone doesn’t quite do him justice (iPhone with 8x attachment)

Breaking a Lens

Posted by dkrashb on April 12, 2013

Twiggy decided on a dip in the river before the storm started

This evening, I slipped out with Tisen in a hurry to get him out and back in before it started to rain. A storm was promising to break lose at any moment–the smell of rain hanging in the air as if the deluge was over instead of yet to begin. Whether it was the tickle of electricity forming far away in the clouds or the accumulating energy evidenced by the swirling winds, Tisen and I both had extra spring in our steps.

We didn’t make it very far before we ran into some neighbors–everyone was out with their dogs. Tisen made a couple of new friends and caught up with several old ones. Then, Twiggy and her daddy arrived on the scene. Tisen was beside himself.

I let Tisen follow Twiggy, his favorite trail leader. We meandered along and followed the dogs. Distracted by Twiggy’s feminine wiles, Tisen was suddenly oblivious to the impending storm.

Tisen looking worried after the first clap of thunder

When a loud clap of thunder sounded, he became momentarily airborne and immediately started looking for shelter. I had trouble keeping him out from under Twiggy’s daddy’s feet as underneath our friend seemed to be the best shelter Tisen could find.

We made our way back, but not in time to avoid a good soaking. I was prepared with my rain jacket, but it rained so hard, my pants were dripping and my sandals were soaked by the time we made it back to the building. Tisen was soaked through.

But I was smiling–it was our first summer storm.

The image that caused me to play with the positioning of my lens

When Pat came home, we sat on the balcony for a bit, watching the clouds and the rain, listening to the sound of gallons of water falling from the sky in a giant curtain of water hitting the pavement below. I had the sudden urge to take a fisheye photo of the sky and the rain and the distant ridge.

The fisheye lens for the iPhone attaches purely by magnetism. I made the mistake of fumbling while trying to get the lens centered around the phone lens. The lens popped loose and we watched in slow motion, our mouths opening, sound forming, and a long, “Ohhhhhh . . .” coming out of mine as the tiny lens tumbled to the floor of the balcony, landing at my feet, and rolled. It rolled for what seemed like 10 minutes while I stood frozen in place, still forming the word “Ohhh” and watched it roll right off the edge of the balcony and fall, and fall some more.

The bent rim of the lens after its fall

Still in slow motion, I leaned over the balcony and watched for another 10 minutes as the lens fell 7 stories to the patio below, and suddenly, the one piece became at least 2. I sighed and reminded myself it was a $20 lens, not a $2000 lens, but really, I haven’t gotten $20 worth of fun out of it yet.

I was able to retrieve the pieces and it may even be repairable–we’ll see.

The pieces of my broken lens

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30

nomadicmainstream

Combining living on the road with a mainstream lifestyle

Category Archives: Dogs