help!

For blogger.com...

how do I get it so that when I type a lot of stuff, the blog entries will only appear to have a few words.. like it will have the first paragraph of stuff then have a "..." at the end, and when clicked on you can read the entire thing.

How? Please help@!

oh yeah...

i need to learn how to use this whole blogging thing too.. :)

http://flickr.com/photos/ascirc/

(shhh!)

Well, it's the first friday after coming back to school....hm...

In baseball some players are marked "second half" players because they perform better, statistically, after the 1/2 mark of the baseball year (all star break/game.) I'm not sure if that really applies to myself as far as school goes. I kinda tend to fade during the second semester...I'm not sure why. I suppose it's because everything feels like it is downhill from here. Well, luckily I was able to get some good grades this past semester (sorry, I wont share them) but that only means that the "standard" has been set pretty high. Let's just say that if I want to improve this semester, I'll need to get straight A's...hmmph.

Well anyways, this semester looks pretty difficult as far as school work goes. Not a good sign, because other things like track and final projects will be going on. There are a tonnn of stupid projects I have to do for some of my classes. Lots of work ahead...

So this photo. I hope you can see my little secret...I'll admit I edited rather quickly. Can you notice it? (but don't point it out!!!)

Oh yeah, I've also realized that I wont get as many google hits now that I do blog-flickr comments. You see, before I wrote so much diverse stuff on photos that if one types in "how to finish homework" on google you will get one of my photos. It's kinda cool to see what google searches turn into hits for my photos.

Well, the only one I don't like is that I get lots of "blow job" hits from flickr....oh well.

My Gosh, She Has A Macro Lens!!!

Back at the Academy of Science in San Francisco. Despite not having a lot of stuff, it's still quite an amazing place to shoot if you have the right equipment.

IF you have it.

I feel sorry for the point and shoot users who can't get an exposure in the aquatic areas. Ah, what a shame. I was in that position once- with the E900 at the "max" settings, exposure was still hard.

Problem? Most people don't put their P+S in manual mode (Unless your really into photography.) So, therefore, they resort to the flash, which hurts the animals.

I also found that in general, photography was rather difficult there. In the "amazon room" where there was a collection of free flying butterflies and birds, they were usually pretty far away, except for a few "feeding areas" where they would go. I did not see many telephoto lenses either, and I know that at 200mm it was still quite short. In reality, 400mm would have been great but...well, who brings a 400mm lens to a place like that?

And there are the "caged" animals (plastic boxes or nets). That may be the only time the P+S may shine- but still, a good macro lens makes a huge difference. This photo is quite sharp.

I think they need to add some more birds and butterflies to the exhibit- that would be awesome. In a similar place in Canada, they had some amazing birds there (here they were these kinda small-ish finch looking birds) and also things like turtles, and other mammals like some monkeys, a sloth..etc. Well, still a fun place, and it's not too far away.


And more on the photo:

Not much editing done actually! I noticed the fella was under a spotlight so I just framed it in such a way that the background was mostly dark. Meter away at the top of the head, and the effect is done.

I could have pushed this picture to the max and done a super-HDR type of thing, but I decided to leave it be. No reason in making it look too unnatural.

As always, there is a lot of editing to be done to perfect the image. Namely brightening the areas around the eyes as the shadows there are killer.

-indeed, a flash would have helped...

Well, if it means not hurting the animals I am down with that.

Today:

Lots of work to do :( Homework over the winter break...horrible! Well, it is raining outside and my family is pretty much going to stay inside for the day, so I can;t really venture out or anything. Well, I could, but I would get yelled at for not doing homework ;)

Hah!

I just realized I can change my blog name any time. Sweet! Time for a new name for 2009. No more 5 am blogs...

Etceteration Federation. I've had that name in my head for a long time. And "blue ivy" but that's for the band name that lives in my head.

well, maybe I shouldn't use that as my blog title. Well, sure, why not. I can change it later..

New year!

Jan 1st is my flickr birthday. It's been one year.

One of my resolutions is to use this blog more! I will officially start using it this year. Yay! It will include my photo descriptions and other such things. Sweet!

Oh...

and the title of my blog...

I don't think I'll be waking up at 5 am like I use to this school semester. Oh well, the name is still nice.

-just don't expect a lot of 5 am posts, ok?

:)

-KD