I Can See!

What is this?
Night Vision!


See my complete review here.

Who Does Picasa Think They Are?

If you upload photos directly to Google's Blogger service like I do (instead of linking them over from Flickr or SmugMug or ImageShack or PhotoBucket) they are automatically placed in a Picasa Web Album.

But Picasa is mainly known as a free photo editing app that Google offers as an alternative to PhotoShop, for anyone who hasn't heard of IrfanView.
(I'm not hot-linking any of these services because I assume y'all know how to use web search engines).


Anyway, WTF is up with these screenshots of the exif data from my last batch of photos?
Exif data is settings information from your camera and editing software that gets embedded as a small file within your .jpg image file.
It hides there doing no harm, and in fact can be quite useful.
If I come across a photo on the web that arouses my curiosity, it only takes a second to right-click on the image and select 'Properties' to see all of the important camera settings along with a bunch of crap that makes no sense.
Try it.

It's faster for me to check a camera setting of mine on the web rather than using my off-line exif reader, and that's what I was doing when I noticed the above bullshit.

Rest assured, I use PhotoShop.
Just who does Picasa (Google) think they are to take credit for editing done on another program?
And why do they let one P-Shop reference slip by, when apparently they can take ALL the credit if they want?

This kind of sneaky crap infuriates me.
They have no right doing this, but on the other hand I have no way to fight it besides moving all of my blog posts (5 years worth!) somewhere else.
It would take me months, and Google/Picasa couldn't care less anyway since they're hosting all of my stuff for free.

If you go back to my last set of Spurs pics, only the Coyote shot lists PhotoShop in the exif. That's a mere ONE out of 6 photo files of mine that haven't been altered without my permission in a single blog post.
This smells like fraud, lying, and bullshit.



And if you use Gmail, I would suggest that you take the necessary steps to disable "Buzz".
It's another new and invasive thing the big G has done without your knowledge.
Did you get a Gmail warning of what Buzz does?
Of course not.

Walker Ranch Park

One of my very favorite parks, but it has been discovered by everyone else.
Fortunately, the majority use the main entrance on West Ave--even parking on the grass and any other place where they can fit.
Sheep.
I use the "secret" lot at the end of Rhapsody, where there's always a few open parking spaces.

I have to time my photos carefully to keep a half-dozen random strangers out of them.

The zig-zag footbridge over Salado Creek has been the subject of some popular photos of mine, but this is the first time I used it solely as a high vantage point.
Timing is important again because people walking across (make that kids bouncing across) can set up a wicked vibration that'll ruin photos taken at longer shutter speeds like these.

Pure luck here.
Didn't have time to think or compose, and I really like it.


As always, if I post a photo in black & white it was taken with my Sony F828. This camera has a filter on the lens which blocks nearly all visible light, and is set to record only the infrared spectrum.
This is where the bright foliage and dark skies come from.
Now that using the F828 is as close to second-nature as shooting with my dead F717 was, expect to see more IR work from me.
Especially now that spring has arrived and the drought is over.



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More Spurs Game

Sometimes Timmy gets away with fouls like this. You can bet if Joey Crawford was ref-ing, this would have been a T.

View from the smoking deck.

The Coyote launches T-shirts into the stands. Not an easy catch, for fans or photographers.

I never leave a game early.
It's disrespectful to the team and the fans in your section who are trying to watch the game's end.

Winners head to the locker room.

Final score.

I wish I had gotten a shot of Manu's monster block on Kevin Durant.
That play is still being talked about weeks later.
It was a great game.

More From The ATT Center

First Spurs home game after the "Rodeo Road Trip" saw the OKC Thunder come to town.
We didn't smell any lingering evidence of the previous tenants, btw.

Bill Land and Sean Elliot do the televised pregame show, with bonus dipshit waltzing into the frame.

First time-out huddle.

Rookie sensation DeJuan Blair sinks a freebie.

Winner of the commercial break pedalcar race.

Richard Jefferson blocks George Hill's attempt to show the love.

More to come...

Hang On!

Where will this guy end up?

In the laps of these people!

Let's take a moment to admire the horses.

Back to the action.

Our seats weren't as good as these views make them seem.
The Rodeo is one of the only events at the ATT Center where anyone can bring in professional cameras, so I take advantage of it.