wtr sptlght

wtr sptlght, originally uploaded by billaday.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage...

Year 3, Day 51

unShure

unShure, originally uploaded by billaday.

I bought the Shure KSM32 10 years ago, when I was recording 9 bands for my senior project. It's a killer vocal mic, great on acoustic guitar, nice on a guitar amp, and works really well for a drum overhead. Basically, it rocks. I plan on using it much more often with some upcoming podcasts.

This looks nice large on black.

Year 3, Day 50

Rules of podcast engagement

Rules of podcast engagement, originally uploaded by billaday.

After much thought, time, and research, I have decided that this book, Podcast Solutions, is everything one needs to know about how to podcast.

Dedicated to Pat the Sound Guy.

Year 3, Day 49

iLife

iLife, originally uploaded by billaday.

I love the new iLife '09. So far, I've really only spent time with iPhoto. Faces & places are amazing. Here's why.

Faces is a new choice in your library. You click on a few picture of people, a square shows up around their faces, and you type in a name... like on Facebook photos. This is FAR from automatic, but it helps organize picture by person, which is a fantastic tool. I've spent hours typing names in photo by photo, but it's been worth it. In a few software updates, this should be beyond impressive.

Places also rocks. I've been using HoudahGeo to geotag my photos before sending them to iPhoto and Flickr. And I still love and use HoudahGeo. But now, I can see my photos on a map in iPhoto. I used to have to go to Flickr to show people my maps... no longer. As with Faces, Places is still a little tricky to navigate; I expect it to also be amazing quite soon.

Year 3, Day 48

fenced in

fenced in, originally uploaded by billaday.

I like selective color. Only the fence is green here. On that note, I have been using the hue/saturation adjustment layer much more recently. It gives me control over 6 different color ranges. I've been just tweaking the saturation in this adjustment layer.

On a tangent, my new favorite Photoshop shortcut is Shift Plus, or Shift Minus (Shift +/-). When you've selected the move tool (v), push shift plus, and you cycle through layer properties. Very cool.

Year 3, Day 47

rllr cstr

rllr cstr, originally uploaded by billaday.

Sorry I haven't uploaded photos this past week. I've been prepping for my new class EDUC 515. Look for upcoming photos of podcast-related stuff.

Year 3, Day 46

USB

USB, originally uploaded by billaday.

Ah, the USB cable. It has transfered lots of information that I needed it to. Thanks for bussing.

Year 3, Day 45

frozen vine

frozen vine, originally uploaded by billaday.

It was one of those rainy day. I didn't want to go outside for anything... work, food, or taking pictures. I heard a melody outside (as I was taking out the trash)--this candle holder thing was getting hit from roof drops. It was playing a melody, 1 down to 5, over and over. So I begrudgingly squatted down in the rain, and took a few pictures. I must admit, it was way cooler being stumbling onto this than anything else.

Year 3, Day 44

wshr

wshr, originally uploaded by billaday.

If you wash it, they will come.

Year 3, Day 43

table and wall at Starbucks

table and wall at Starbucks, originally uploaded by billaday.

Coffee places seem to have cool reflections on tables.

Year 3, Day 42

Obama

Obama, originally uploaded by billaday.

President Obama was not in my classroom today. That's actually me, holding a mask in front of my face. Today, we talked about dreams, working hard, and hope. So did President Obama.

Year 3, Day 41

sew what

sew what, originally uploaded by billaday.

Sewing machines are a pretty crazy invention. I don't know how they sew so quickly. My hands are way slower... I guess that's why someone invented a machine that works faster. How do they work anyway? Hmmm.

Year 3, Day 40

Maggie inside

Maggie inside, originally uploaded by billaday.

Here's the effect I imagined when I bought my new f1.4 lens. Eyes: in focus. Everything else: out of focus.

Here's a tip: when the aperture is that wide open, make sure to take plenty of extra pictures. Only 4 out of 50 pictures had Maggie's eyes in focus.

Year 3, Day 39

the captain

the captain, originally uploaded by billaday.

Argh!

Year 3, Day 38

cut

cut, originally uploaded by billaday.

I seem to be using the paper cutter at work a lot more lately. I guess that happens to kindergarten teachers occasionally.

Year 3, Day 37

ruby slippers

ruby slippers, originally uploaded by billaday.

One of my favorite parts of the photo-a-day project is being forced to come up with a shot I like every day. It was getting close to sleepy time and I hadn't taken any shots I really liked. So I meandered around my house taking random, lame shots of stuff, waiting for something to catch my eye. But nothing did. Toothpaste, lame. Faucet, lame. Picture frames, lame. Finally, after having giving up mentally, I looked down and saw my wife's awesome red shoes. After playing around with the depth of field and lighting, I eventually came up with this. Had I not forced myself to shoot something better, this shot never would have been.

Year 3, Day 36

Green flowery flower centerpiece

Green flowery flower centerpiece, originally uploaded by billaday.

I've never really seen lime green flowers before. I wonder what these are called (besides green flowery flowers).

Year 3, Day 35

Enemy of the State

Enemy of the State, originally uploaded by billaday.

I totally stole this idea from Mike's photo-a-day. It's a cool shot, and I wanted one, too.

Year 3, Day 34

forked

forked, originally uploaded by billaday.

Ever since reading Photo Idea Index, I've been wanting to take a shot of a fork.

Year 3, Day 33

Vintage Everet

Vintage Everet, originally uploaded by billaday.

Have I mentioned I love my new lens? I do.

I know that eyes need to be in focus in a photo. With this lens, though, they really need to be in focus. And, it's really hard to get eyes in focus with an aperture of 1.4. Lots of my people pictures are already trash cuz I barely missed focus on the eyes. I'm glad I shoot digitally--me and my wallet would be sad otherwise.

Year 3, Day 32