Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[outragous76]

Could someone please try to upload a picture to 'TynyPic.com'

I can access the site, but when I try to upload something it just given me a continuous 'Uploading, please wait' message.

e-mail them, and ask them to turn it off and on again? 

[RED-DOG]

Could someone please try to upload a picture to 'TynyPic.com'

I can access the site, but when I try to upload something it just given me a continuous 'Uploading, please wait' message.

e-mail them, and ask them to turn it off and on again? 

[Woodsey]

Q: What is ET short for?

In my line of work endotracheal tube.

[RED-DOG]

In essence, to have a shallow depth of field you want a low f-stop. On most modern cameras there's a 'portrait' mode which will achieve this because portraits work better with low depth of field too. use the centre focus bit and the 'hold' facility.

Your high-end compact will certainly have both of these - all you need then is to avoid any shaking at your end. I'd think that you also have a multi-shot facility too on either the portrait or a 'sport' setting. Take lots, discard most, is a pretty good rule these days - after all, a deleted digital photo has a cost so tiny as to be ignored.

Right Dave, with your advice in mind, this is an attempt at shallow depth of field.

[rex008]

Try this:

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Put in the relevant numbers (focal length and f stop will be on the front of your lens, if there is a range of f-stop, the highest number will be the one at the longest focal length (full zoom), and see what the DOF calculation gives you.

You may want to reduce the amount of sharpening you apply with picasa as well - this will sharpen the background too, which isn't necessarily what you want.

[RED-DOG]

Try this:

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Put in the relevant numbers (focal length and f stop will be on the front of your lens, if there is a range of f-stop, the highest number will be the one at the longest focal length (full zoom), and see what the DOF calculation gives you.

You may want to reduce the amount of sharpening you apply with picasa as well - this will sharpen the background too, which isn't necessarily what you want.

That's handy. Thanks.

My main problem is having to crop too much because I can't get close enough. (Yet).

[Rod Paradise]

Have many of you ever played pinball? Almost every cafe had one of these when I was a young man. They were incredibly popular and hugely addictive, even though the only reward for 'Winning' was a re-play.

About 9 years ago I bought one. Only cost me £300, which I thought was a bargain at the time. Got really quite good at it, but played less and less. When we moved house 3 years ago the glass got smashed, plus some other bits need some TLC, and it's still sitting in the garage, waiting for me to do something about it...

This one:


When you hit a certain bonus, the rotating flashing light on top actually starts up. It's fantastic .

You can pick them up on ebay still, but I think 3 of the 4 main manufacturers have gradually gone bust in the last 20 years, so they are getting pretty rare.

Hang on to it imo it will only get more valuable. What's more, I'll be able to pop round to yours and while away the odd hour on it when I get old.

Was one of my favorite's of the 'newer' type pinball machines. Favorite of all time was probably the Terminator.

+1 on the keep it!

[kinboshi]

I remember playing this a lot when I was kid:

Click to see full-size image.

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?gid=476

(and what a site that is!!)

[RED-DOG]

I remember playing this a lot when I was kid:

Click to see full-size image.

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?gid=476

(and what a site that is!!)

Lol. You're not kidding.

[rex008]

Talking of good bird photos, first one on here is quite impressive:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-16831745

[rex008]

We had one of these in our uni bar

Click to see full-size image.

The little glass case on the top had a fish that wiggled at certain points. Easily pleased, me.

[bobAlike]

Anyone remember Ground Shaker. Spent hours playing this at my Dads cafe.

[kinboshi]

Talking of good bird photos, first one on here is quite impressive:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-16831745

Used to have a Hoopoe visit my parent's garden when I was young (about the same time I was playing the Centaur pinball machine).  Haven't seen one for 20 years now.

[kinboshi]

Talking of flying things - these are brilliant, but at the same time a little sinister:

[AndrewT]

I, for one, welcome our new nano quadrotor overlords.