greatbear: (arethahat)
Okay, trying to change the course of late winter weather here at Mayhem Acres according to Groundhog Rules literally has it colder with accumulating snow in the front yard, and warmer melting snow in the back. The front yard faces south, making the little microclimate anomaly that much more interesting. Hey, I'm trying. lol

Thanks to everyone who brought me happy birthday wishes. It made my day. It does help the aging process be a bit of fun. I did a lot of sleeping yesterday (and this morning) while letting the painkillers deal with the latest injuries, aches and pains. Today is all about having TV sets on showing everything football related. Not to mention a lot of cool commercials. I can take a break from my somewhat anti-commercial stance while the ad industry actually tries to show their really creative sides, rather than the constant race to the bottom.

Many years ago, a German family down the road a bit were good friends with Mom and I. They were delightfully old-school in a lot of the things they did, as far as dinners, companionship and personal touches. One of the things me and Mom delighted in was the homemade cards they would bring (rather than mail) to us on the special days like Christmas and birthdays, often accompanied by incredible baked goods still warm from the oven. We were saddened when they moved away, but Mom had kept in touch. Those cards would still come to her in the mail. I had missed that sort of personal touch as the years alone moved along. That was until a year, and a day ago. Unbeknownst to him, LJ's delightful [livejournal.com profile] designerotter/Joe has kept that tradition alive, not just for me, but also to those whom are fortunate to have him in their circle of friends. He draws uniquely personal and contextual cards based on the life and interests of his recipients. Not only does this act showcase his incredible talent, more to the point it demonstrates his involving himself in the lives and entries of his LJ friends, something even more meaningful. He makes and posts dozens of whimsical cards each year, and brings smiles and happiness to everyone who sets their eyes on them. Proof positive that even online-only friendships are just as valid as long-term next-door neighbor friendships. Truly an inspiration for me, and, given my difficulty in even making stick figure drawings, a real art form.



How can that not make your day?

Thank you, Joe, and everyone else who sent well wishes. I am humbled.

♥♥♥
greatbear: (Default)
It's about time someone does this. I've always been a fan of tilt-shift photography, the method of using a special lens or a bellows on a still camera to either impart a very narrow depth of focus to a scene or used to "correct" a scene taken from an oblique angle in order to ensure parallel lines in a scene remain so (useful for taking photos of tall buildings from street level, for instance). Such a technique was easily accomplished with the big medium and large format cameras in the earliest days of photography by shifting or tilting the front part of those cameras that held the lens. In later years, special lenses were developed (heh) for 35mm cameras. It seems in recent years the art of tilt-shift photography has exploded with the availability of the special lenses and digital SLRs, and people are trying their hand at the craft. I'm one of them, and I hope to pick up a T-S lens once my finances are back in order (read: I'm back to work). But I digress a bit.

Something I can never recall seeing was any sort of motion photography using the T-S technique. It might have been done in years past for special effects in movies, but it was not widely known outside of that industry. In the last couple years, some digital SLR cameras have picked up the ability to shoot high-definition video. A lot of people poo-pooed the the feature, saying it was not needed, or that it was more suited to entry-level "consumer" point-and-shoot cameras. Well, someone has finally wedded the tilt-shift lens to video and has come up with this little ditty below. It's a very simple process, but seems to only have been easily doable with the convergence of the new lenses and HD capable SLRs. Speed things up a bit, and you have the most amazing flea circus you'll ever see. In the case of this particular movie, it was not even shot in video mode, instead the camera was set to take successive stills as fast as was possible, then combining the stills to make a HD movie. Quite a bit more involved, but with simply remarkable results.



I'm so doing this one day.

(Hat tip to [livejournal.com profile] wrascalbc!)

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Phil

December 2016

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