Fun with stitching

I use a program called Autostitch to generate landscape pictures from independent captures. I have to admit I'm in love with this thing, as it allows me to do things like this :)

Mixed feelings about this whole insomnia thing...

So this morning I got up at 4:40, yet again. Please don't get me wrong, I *love* the shots I get at this time of the morning, but I have to admit I'm getting a little grumpy about the whole lack of sleep thing...

Here we're starting to peak a bit

I fully realize I'm somewhat addicted to light, but sometimes I try and balance it out with a tree or something :P

Over here I was startled by a bird flying directly overhead, which ended up by the telephone pole by the time I was able to capture him.

Him and his buddies on the tree branches

Tornado warning

This is just not looking good...

Sent from my BB Z10, that totally doesn't look like an Iphone ... totally doesn't.

A hint of sunshine

This was part of the fifteen minutes of sunshine we got today. It's currently raining "à boire debout" ... :)

Sent from my BB Z10, that totally doesn't look like an Iphone ... totally doesn't.

Sometimes insomnia rocks

I'm starting to enjoy the fact that sleep abandons me at five or so. :D

Sent from my BB Z10, that totally doesn't look like an Iphone ... totally doesn't.

Photo walk

So my daughter conned convinced me to go on a photo walk with her yesterday. two and a half hours later, I was feeling pretty much dead. we did see a few nice things though :)  Anna thought I should post one a day, but this gives me an excuse to go out more often :P

BlackBerry upgrade

So my phone got an os upgrade yesterday. The camera seems to still work, though I have to admit I'm looking forward to trying out the HDR features when I get a chance :)

Sent from my BB Z10, that totally doesn't look like an Iphone ... totally doesn't.

Sometimes Insomnia pays off

I'm an early riser at the best of times, but sometimes I can't sleep past 5am. Today, I was rewarded for it :)

Weather incoming

I've got a piece of software that takes amazing panoramic pictures... unfortunately the best way to view them is in the software itself. The export isn't too bad though :)

Sent from my BB Z10, that totally doesn't look like an Iphone ... totally doesn't.

Oh, for crying out loud

It was supposed to rain today.

Sent from Anna's phone

Fun with filters

So I'm working from home this morning and I glance out the window; it's bright sunshine, the temp is about -20C and there is ice fog on the river. There *is* a sun there, I swear, but the camera refuses to capture it, instead giving me a large white area where the pixels were simply over saturated. Since I was barefoot while taking the shots, I decided to add a light blue hue to pass on how my feet felt during the shot :P
P.

Rainbow Sundogs

Meant to post this one a while ago.  Taken on a cold, clear morning, Jan. 11.  Sadly, I was unable to capture the bright rainbow colours in the sun dogs.

A Moment

Heading out to the van, I had just moments to try and capture the sunrise before the spectacular colours where gone.  The photo does not do it justice.
Sent from Anna's phone

Incoming

Walking to the library with my daughter, we can see - and hear! - a fast moving storm.

Cold mornings...

(Philippe)

There was a four or five minute window where the light was hitting things just right, before the sun burned everything away...

Floating

IMG_5081crop50%
Originally uploaded by amkb

A pair of hot air balloons as seen from our balcony. What a view they must have up there!

Click on the image to go to my flickr page and see a few more photos.

Playing

It's that time of year again. Music from the annual Edmonton Folk Festival is drifting in through our windows, and out our south facing windows we can see the crowds on the hill. Every year I think that maybe this year, I should get tickets and actually go to the festival. I only ever hear rave reviews.

Then I see the crowds on the hill and realize that, as much as I'd love to check it out, I just don't have the temperament for it! *L*

Instead, I enjoy the view and take a few pictures. Once it gets dark, I like to start playing with the camera. For tonight, I'm particularly happy with this one.



There's a bit of noise reduction and local tone mapping done to this, plus it's 50% of the original size. The timing worked out rather well. I started off zoomed in as far as I could, then while the shutter was open, zoomed all the way out again. (Nikkor 70-300mm lens) In the second or so that took, the stage, which faces away from our balcony, suddenly lit up with a bright blue-ish white light, adding an extra element to the photo.

Road Trip 2011, part two

I've added a few shots to my flickr set of some of the areas we checked out while in Manitoba. Here are a couple of them.



This is taken from Fraserwood Park, in my home town. You see that building way in the background? When I was a kid, that was my first school. It was a two classroom school, though at the time I went, it was K-3 (it used to be K-6), all in one classroom. The other was used as a gym. Where I'm standing to take this photo was nothing but a marshy area. Now it's a park with a pond, public bathrooms, hand pump, areas large enough for RVs to park, with firepits available.

What you can't see from here is the house we used to live in. There's also a hockey rink and a sports club (which now owns the old school building) and a play structure, basketball court and baseball diamond. My kids were pretty young then, and spent many happy house exploring. One year, we gathered some frog spawn from one of the ditches and raised them in a makeshift tank. Out of the many eggs, only 5 froglets survived, and we released them in this pond.

Also released in this pond was a huge snapping turtle! I have no idea if it's still there. A friend called us up one day, asking for help. She'd seen something odd on the side of the highway, in an area surrounded by farmer's fields. It turned out to be a snapping turtle the size of a steering wheel! With no water in sight, and no idea where it came from, it was brought over to our place and we soon let it go in the pond. I must say, driving the car with that thing in a bin on the seat beside me - a bin it barely fit in! - was rather nerve wracking. Especially when the darn thing almost got out!



This is a Purple Martin tower by the marina in Gimli, Manitoba. They don't hang around long, but when they do, they eat a whole lot of mosquitoes, so a fair number of people build "apartment style" birdhouses to attract them. This tower is the largest such structure I've seen.

Click here to see more photos.

Double rainbow

Taken east of Foam Lake.

Surrounded

Thunderstorms all around us. Taken east of Clavet, Saskatewan.