Silently Shouting » dslr

Surprise Gift from Niklas

Marie — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:44:48 +0000

Shockingly, Niklas bought me a flash for my precious-and-best-damn-camera-around d90. Even more shocking, his name wasn’t on it! Although I imagine if the option to engrave “Niklas” onto it had been available, he would have done it.

I haven’t played around with it that much because…well I don’t know! I guess without Kate around I feel less of an urge to show off aforementioned camera. That and I am waiting for Elnore to come back home. I will show something of her later in this post.

But I did take a quick comparison!

Without Flash

With bounced flash

I love what it did with her hair. Also, I hate her eyes.

Also also, Elnore will be shipping home soon! She is finished with her new faceup and looks lovely. She still looks like Elnore to me, although maybe all Dilluis look like Elnore to me. :V

For reference, her old faceup.

We Look Back

Marie — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:53:30 +0000

Something I had been thinking of doing for awhile is a look back at my first photos of the dolls compared to their most recent headshots. I hadn’t gotten around to it until now because looking at those past photos is just damn painful. Oh my is it painful…. Which is why I now pass that pain onto you! But to show Jan I care, I will now put in the read more tag.

OK first up Caraline:

Oh. My. Sweet. Jesus.

Caraline

The Twins:

...

Katsuro

This is so painful

Ayleena

Elnore:

What a lovely printer

Elnore

I’m rendered speechless by my own lack of talent. Holy Jesus! Somehow those old pictures are worse than I remember. Amazing what a difference brushing your doll’s hair makes! Although neither that shot of Ayleena or Elnore was really ever meant for anyone but Kate to see, it doesn’t really excuse it. And there is no explaining the blur effect going on with Caraline. Too excited to care at the time.

Over the course of two years in the hobby I learned how to take decent pictures with my old camera, which is the primary reason why there are no “before and after” shots of the tinies. Over the last I don’t know how long…four months, I’ve began wanting to actually experiment a bit thanks to now having a dslr. Might as well get my money’s worth before Jan steals it! I’m finally starting to feel more comfortable being in full Manual mode (although for quick snapshots I’ll probably still go Auto for now *lazy*) and I think the next thing I’ll want to play with is off camera lighting. Well that and filters.

I know it sounds like tooting of my own horn or patting myself on the back, but these days every now and again I’ll take a picture and be like “oh snap! awesome! ”

The things that help?

Tripod
Controlling the background/props
Tripod
Lots of light
Tripod
Paying attention to the rules of composition

I love the IRS!

Marie — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:54:29 +0000

I know those are words rarely heard, but right now it is true! I went to the IRS website to check on my refund status, and was told there was a mistake. Not good news, right? Except this mistake meant I would be getting $300 bucks more! HAHAHAHAHA!

This means I will be getting the Nikon D90 soon! EHEHEHEHEHEHE!

Although Kate’s “suggestions” about me getting Nynaeve are tempting, I’d rather wait until summer at least. *looks at*

Between the refund and my savings account, this camera will cost me so little! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Do I seem excited?

Christmas Shopping Time

Marie — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:26:09 +0000

I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. Well, I bought one of dad’s gifts, and Kate’s are done (once they get to my house…), which is only two people, so maybe I am not “almost done”! However, I’m closer to being finished than normal. I am not looking forward to having to ship out said gifts, especially since, as of right now, the only time I’d have to do it is on a Saturday. I guess the lines won’t be too bad if I go right when the Post Office opens.

I’m on a diet; that diet being “don’t spend money on food while at work”. Since Volks (surprise surprise!) rereleased the Yo I want sooooooooooooooo bad, I find myself having to budget for it. I want to win it, and at the same time I don’t, because Volks likes to ship via UPS which in turn likes to leave stuff sitting outside the front door. Not an issue when I was lazing around, but now I’m just so paranoid. I’m wondering if I could call them and ask to hold it or deliver some other day or something. I really don’t like the idea of a $400 doll sitting outside! Of course, I’d have to win the “privilege” to buy her, first.

OK, the other thing is, I really want a new camera. Cameras cost money. Especially the ones I like; heck, the point-and-shoots I like are around $300-400. Not to mention, I still need to buy everyone their Xmas crap. The Yo isn’t that big of an issue since I have around $200 in my doll fund (although, that was the camera fund), so there is that bright note.

I still can’t decide between Nikon and Canon. I’m leaning heavily towards Nikon, but the Canons are cheaper. And it’s not like I could go wrong picking one over the other. I’m looking at either a D80/90 or a Rebel xsi (or whatever the hell it’s called). Or maybe I’ll look into some other Canon EOS systems. I know I want at least 10 megapixels.

Haha! I just bought this camera mag at the store and it came with a brochure for Canon DSLRs. They are trying to win me over.