pierces

I am an avid fan of burgers. While a long-held aversion to personal hugeness limits my consumption of them to a reasonable level, I will choose a burger from a menu more than any other meal (except maybe tacos). The Carl’s Jr. Breakfast Burger has been an occasional weekend treat for a long time but over the last couple of years, a non-combo price tag of over $7 has inspired me to build my own. My penchant for DIY has led to a long list of things that have given us far more bang-for-the-buck than “store-bought” could ever provide. The burger pictured here is no exception. Even with a quality Angus beef patty and extra sharp white cheddar, it cost less than $3.50 to produce. Best of all, there was no glamorous menu photo vs. reality slap in the face. Breakfast of Champions Dave

Pictures taken between Monday, April 15 and Sunday, April 21. No spectacular natural phenomena this week. Go find something interesting or just plain pretty and share a picture of it. Rules: See above That's it. This isn't a contest. All photos taken this week are welcome (not just cruising). Prizes will not be awarded. Discovering the joy of photography is the prize. The idea is to get folks out using their cameras for more than vacations and toddler birthdays. Post one. Post many. Up to you. Have fun with your camera and share your fun with others!

Almost time to pull the trigger. Most decisions have been made and parts ordered. Thermaltake released an improved version of the P3 case, so I decided to upgrade. This means my current computer will remain intact, making data transfers much easier and will be a much prettier hand-me-down than originally planned. I bumped up the cooler (part of the new case decision) and since the second storage SSD I decided to add was still available bundled with a RAM kit, I bumped the RAM too. The Graphics card choice changes almost daily and I'm still waffling over the size and brand of the NAS storage unit, but it looks like a 4-bay unit from either Asustor or QNAP are the current finalists. Tracking spreadsheet: Despite all the research and fuss, I still enjoy building my own PCs. I only have to deal with it every 4 years or so and I get exactly what I want. I also end up spending a lot less than buying a ready-made custom unit. Fun stuff. Dave

I have the 70-300 G full-frame lens and use it on my A6600. It is an excellent lens with good sharpness and autofocus. The 70-350 is a newer lens and based on my experience with Sony lenses, I would expect it to be at least equal to the 70-300 in image quality and performance since it's a G. If you plan on sticking with the APS-C bodies, the 70-350 is a great choice. If you someday plan a shift to full-frame, the 70-300 might be a consideration. The 70-350 gives you a little more reach, but it will have noticeable vignetting on a full-frame camera. Dave

SO....eclipse. We had 52% coverage here, so I thought I would go ahead and take a few shots. The solar filter from 2017 was a normal filter ring with an aluminized plastic film as the filter medium. Apparently, oxidization is the foe of a 7-year-old aluminized plastic filter. Oh, well. I settled for a pinhole projector made out of a UPS receipt held over a napkin. Not falling asleep in sixth grade science class finally paid off! Dave

Spring has arrived, though the springy warmth we are used to isn't due until later this week. The unusually chilly weather hasn't seemed to have much affect on the plant-based residents of our neighborhood with blossoms popping out everywhere. Our tiny tangerine tree is covered with them as is the Blood Orange tree. Our drive towards a low-water, low-maintenance yard is in a transitional state with most of the traditional sources of blossoms following the avocado tree and Phoenix palm into plant heaven. Our neighbor is ahead of us in the landscaping department and already has some established plants, including the peach tree that is close enough to our wall to become the subject of this week’s 1st Annual Pretty in Pink Peach Blossom Festival photo. Just Peachy! Dave

Pictures taken between Monday, April 8 and Sunday, April 14. Any CCers heading to the band of totality to take some photos? Let's see them! Rules: See above That's it. This isn't a contest. All photos taken this week are welcome (not just cruising). Prizes will not be awarded. Discovering the joy of photography is the prize. The idea is to get folks out using their cameras for more than vacations and toddler birthdays. Post one. Post many. Up to you. Have fun with your camera and share your fun with others!

This is why we buy nice cameras! Dave

Our family gathering for Eastermas 2024 was on Saturday since Pastor Dan had to work on Sunday. We watched the weather forecast for the previous 10 days with every day adding to the certainty that there would be heavy rain all day. The plans for the egg hunt were abandoned and the family event planners came up with a Christmas-like opening of Easter gifts packed in boxes. Why “Eastermas”? Kim’s big heart and serial gifting has turned Easter into a springtime Christmas. As a result, I have been calling it Eastermas for years with an uncharacteristic lack of sarcasm. As for the rain, it quit about two hours before the gathering and while it was too wet for an egg hunt, nobody had to walk between the raindrops to get their food. It was a great day. Happy Eastermas! Dave

Pictures taken between Monday, April 1 and Sunday, April 7. Did anyone get a picture of the volcano erupting in Oklahoma? If you did, please post it! Rules: See above That's it. This isn't a contest. All photos taken this week are welcome (not just cruising). Prizes will not be awarded. Discovering the joy of photography is the prize. The idea is to get folks out using their cameras for more than vacations and toddler birthdays. Post one. Post many. Up to you. Have fun with your camera and share your fun with others!

Happy Easter from Longfellow! Dave

After more than a week of spending all my free time on the latest addition to the back yard, the new gazebo is pretty much done. I still need to add a few bolts anchoring it to the deck but since there have been no tornado alerts for a while, I may wait until tomorrow. We are nearing the end of the project that we started back in mid-2020 when panic outpaced reason and everything was shut down. We decided to make a place where family and friends could gather when all other options were taken away. It has been a great success, having hosted many a happy gathering. Next up is more decking. This will not only serve to expand non-temporary seating but will advance our other agenda. We are winning our war on dirt...one square foot at a time. Almost There Dave

Pictures taken between Monday, March 25 and Sunday, March 31. Egg-laying rabbits running wild this week... Have your camera ready! Rules: See above That's it. This isn't a contest. All photos taken this week are welcome (not just cruising). Prizes will not be awarded. Discovering the joy of photography is the prize. The idea is to get folks out using their cameras for more than vacations and toddler birthdays. Post one. Post many. Up to you. Have fun with your camera and share your fun with others!

The healing tool in Lightroom is good for small touch-ups, spots, and (very) minor object removal. If you need to remove something more substantial or do a more complete cleanup, Photoshop is a much better choice. Especially with the new object removal brush. One thing to note is that with the Lightroom healing tool, the source area of the spot healing isn't always perfect but it can be moved by dragging it. I was lucky with the file structure. Having used PCs pretty much since there have been PCs, I've gotten used to storing files in a hierarchical structure with groups, subgroups, etc. and used the same method when I started storing digital images. Turns out this is pretty much ideal for sorting and grouping images in Lightroom. I also batch rename images from a particular source (so and so's birthday party 2018, Alaska 2013) as well as naming files individually, which makes searching for particular images much easier. The batch rename feature in Lightroom is very flexible and easy to use. It has useful options like renaming to a keyword/keyphrase with the original file number or keyword/keyphrase with a sequence which makes it very handy for displaying and sharing photos. I especially appreciate the ability to drag images into a particular order in the thumbnail window, highlight them and add a sequence to them in that custom order. Also, if you haven't already made use of the facial recognition feature in Lightroom, keyword tagging images of people with their name makes future searches extremely easy. It also provides entertainment. While it's remarkably good at identifying faces, some of the things that it thinks are faces are quite humorous. Dave

The 70-350 might be worth taking. There are bits and details that you just can't get with a 150mm equivalent lens. This shot of a lucky traveler kissing the Blarney Stone would have been a little less detailed with a shorter lens. Dave