Potential Bummer

Spent a nice weekend at my Mom's in St. Alban's Maine. Took the opportunity to get up early every day and take pictures. She has a beautiful peaceful place on a lake, and it gave me a lot of options. Was up at the crack of 6 and spent a couple hours each morning out in the cold till my fingers got numb.

Getting back to the house, I reviewed my pictures and was dismayed to see major dust on every picture, whether I used the standard or zoom lens. The spot was there. That means the dust was in on the sensor. Oh groan. That bummed me out bad. Tried brushing the inside of the camera with my camera brush, and I tried blowing on it. I later learned that that is a major rookie mistake. I could have scratched the sensor and that would cost big $$. Luckily, I don't think I did, but I did blow more lint on the sensor than I had to begin with. The immediate solution to clean up my pictures was Photoshop. Thank God for that. The pictures below show before and after using PS.

Before:

After:

Farm on Big Indian Lake

Image was shot with Telephoto Lens from about a mile away at 8:20 am.

Speed 1/2s; Aperture f/25.8; ISO-200;

Yesterday I went to my local camera shop and picked up a Digital Bulb blower. For a while it just seemed to move the big particles in the camera around, but at last I got it out!

So lesson for the day is....keep a bulb blower handy. You don't want to touch the sensor, and dust is bound to get in your camera when switching lenses. It was only $8 as compared to the $65 and 3 weeks that the camera store quoted to clean the sensor for me. Luckily it worked.

And no, I did not use Photoshop to get any dust particles off of the blower. They are all there.

Em

Almost done with the bricks

Hey gang. Hope you all stuffed yourselves sick yesterday, and enjoyed time with family. I did. Great day with family. Two delicious meals, and hopefully I can work of some pounds this morning while I battle the crowds during the Black Friday sales. The alarm is set for 4am, and then I'm off to Walmart. This is the only time of the year I like to shop. Sick, aren't I? It reminds me of racing through Boston traffic. Nothing like a good merge thru the Callahan tunnel to freak Sue out. Ah good times. But that's a story for another day.
Anyway, to complete this weeks' series of Boston's North End, here is a shot of a window in the Old North Church. Looked like original glass to me, but who knows? It was old, and very interesting to me. Great old brickwork. One of these days I'll have to do the whole Freedom trail in Boston. Beautiful things to see and a lot to learn about our past.

Window to the Past

Shot was taken on 10/16/2010 at 4:13pm. Speed 1/60s; aperture: f/5.6; ISO-400.

Well I'm off to Maine for the weekend to visti family, so I'll put on my thinking cap for next weeks posts. I promise....No more bricks...

Have a great weekend and stay out of my way if you are going to the Gilford Walmart Black Friday sale...

Em

Open for Soul Saving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope you have a wonderful day with your family, as I will. I have a wonderful family, and am a very lucky man.

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Anyway, continuing on with our tour of Boston's North End, Ashley and I passed St. Leonard's Church on the corner of Prince and Hanover St. The church was built in 1873. Today's shot was of the Peace Garden outside the church. I got a kick out of the neon "Open" sign. It was a sharp contrast to the flower garden and statues outside. I was surprised not to see a hot dog or canoli vendor outside drumming up more business.

Open for Soul Saving

This Holy shot was taken on 10/16/2010 at 3:56 pm. Speed: 1/50s; aperture f/5.6; ISO-200. Standard Lens.

Well, we are going out for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, so we don't have to get up early to prepare dinner. So, I'll worship at the church of St. Mattress, and hopefully get a chance to sleep in. And if I'm not struck down by lightning, I'll be back Friday with some more shots.

Thanks for stopping by!

Em