Dawg Pics
Senior Member
I was going to say something similar. The B&W is a wall-hanger. I love images of elder hands doing what they have always done: playing the accordion, crocheting, kneading dough etc.
Dangerous Spouse Pics
- Thread starter Dangerspouse
- Start date
I was going to say something similar. The B&W is a wall-hanger. I love images of elder hands doing what they have always done: playing the accordion, crocheting, kneading dough etc.
Clovishound
Senior Member
I rode motorcycles from age 14 to 18. Strictly for transportation, although I did take my Honda 350 "Scrambler" out in the woods for fun once in a while. Not really a dirt bike, but I enjoyed riding trails in the woods with it on occasion.
I remember one time I was riding a trail after a decent amount of rain. I had to "portage" around a really deep puddle in the main trail. Ended up going through a narrow gap in a couple trees and got the frame hung on a small downed tree under the mud. I couldn't really get off and push it, so I tried rocking back far enough to get some traction on the bottom of the mud. Finally managed to get out, but was covered with mud from head to foot. Stopped by my girlfriend's house on the way home to borrow their garden hose before the mud dried too much. She got a really good laugh out of that.
Never really got motorcycles out of my blood, but have never really had the money to indulge without cutting back something I wanted more. The thought of getting out on the road today on one does not appeal to my sense of wanting to stick around this mortal coil for my four score and 6. That's rushing up pretty quickly as is.
I remember one time I was riding a trail after a decent amount of rain. I had to "portage" around a really deep puddle in the main trail. Ended up going through a narrow gap in a couple trees and got the frame hung on a small downed tree under the mud. I couldn't really get off and push it, so I tried rocking back far enough to get some traction on the bottom of the mud. Finally managed to get out, but was covered with mud from head to foot. Stopped by my girlfriend's house on the way home to borrow their garden hose before the mud dried too much. She got a really good laugh out of that.
Never really got motorcycles out of my blood, but have never really had the money to indulge without cutting back something I wanted more. The thought of getting out on the road today on one does not appeal to my sense of wanting to stick around this mortal coil for my four score and 6. That's rushing up pretty quickly as is.
Dangerspouse
Senior Member
Cool story, and a very understanding girlfriend, lol!
I hear you about road bikes and their rather alarming habit of killing their owners. I actually have a very nice road monster, a 1977 Kawasaki KZ-1000 that my father gave me as a wedding present. It had been his, and he restored it to pristine condition and also tricked it out for street racing. The engine is over-bored to 1180cc, it's got progressive shocks, 4-into-1 pipes, rearset pegs, drag bars, trick carbs, etc. etc. But for various reasons I had to put it in storage some years ago. However I am now in the process of getting her back on the road, partly to help defray gas prices. I may not use it as my work commuter (100 miles a day, leaving at 3am), but for grocery runs and after-work appointments, it will probably be safe. I hope.
And it's a real looker:
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Clovishound
Senior Member
The problem with bikes as a money saver generally doesn't work out. Unless you can replace a car with a bike, the extra insurance and maintenance will normally pay for far more gas than you would burn in a guzzler. I live in the warmer half of the country, but no way I could replace my car with a bike. Between rain, and the cold weather we get in even our relatively mild winters means I couldn't get by with just a bike. Add to that the inability to haul anything of any size or weight, and it just isn't practical.
Now if you just want a bike to ride, that is a different story.
Now if you just want a bike to ride, that is a different story.
Dangerspouse
Senior Member
I have to disagree with you there, and it's based on experience. I've had road bikes since I was 17 and got my license. In college, there was a 2 year stretch where that was all I had because I couldn't afford car insurance, gas, higher maintenance, etc. It saved me TONS going exclusively 2-wheels then. After I graduated and started making an income I did get a car, but also kept bikes (a Yamaha RD400, Kawi Triple 400, Bultaco Metralla, then that KZ-1000). They've always been less costly than car ownership, and not just on the gas mileage front. And unless that situation has changed drastically over the past 7 or 8 years that I haven't been able to ride, I really think that will still be the case.
Rain and cold are not a problem for me. I've dealt with it all. And I'll still have my SUVs if I need to haul anything large. We're talking grocery runs, doctor's appointments, and casual country rides here, not picking up masonry.
I certainly respect your opinion on this, and I understand your objections. But in all honesty, none of them are factors for me. My dad had me riding when I was 4, I started seriously racing at 11, and have had more bikes in my garage than I have teeth. I agree they are inherently more dangerous than cars, but...that's all I agree with. I've got almost 6 decades worth of riding time under my belt, and none of it tells me I can't do it again at the cost savings I've come to expect.
Of course, when I crash and burn I'll come back here and tell you I was wrong :beaten:
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bluzman
Senior Member
A KZ1000 almost caused a very embarassing moment for me many moons ago.
In 1990, after not owning a motorcycle for many years, I bought my first Harley-Davidson, a Sportster. I began riding with a group who enjoyed long (300-400 mile) day rides and quickly decided that something more comfortable and with a bigger gas tank was needed so I traded the Sporty for a used 85th Anniversary (1988 model) Electra-Glide Classic. It was the first of several "baggers" I would own over the years.
Anyway, I was on my way up PCH on a Sunday morning heading for a breakfast place I liked in San Luis Obispo County when I saw some riders on the side huddled around one of their bikes. I stopped to see if they needed help. The bike in question had a loose muffler bracket and no one had a wrench to tighten the offending bolt. OTOH, I had a tool kit in one of my saddle bags so the the problem was quickly solved.
I put my tool kit away mounted up and was preparing to leave when a CHP motor officer pulled up on his KZ1000. Once he was sure everything was ok, he too prepared to leave. I began slowly rolling and checking traffic when the cop, who was just ahead of me, took off. He accelerated so quickly, I thought I had stalled and started to put a foot down before I realized I was moving...damn near dumped it.
Well if you are ever so unfortunate as to find yourself in North Jersey, look me up. We'll set you up on one of our spares and you can see how much your skills have deteriorated
Oh man, open wheel dirt racing sounds AWESOME! I hope you've got some pics of that you can post!
Most of my years were spent in micro sprints 9 seasons I ran a supper sportsman for a year they are basically heavy sprint cars with lower power carbonated 358CI engines.
Here is yours truly in the blue #75 at Silver Springs Speedway in 1985.....
You really got my nostalgia going :encouragement:
Dangerspouse
Senior Member
What a story! LOL! That was great
Oh man, that Kawi Police Special KZP-1000 is legendary (and the bike that starred in the old CHiPs tv show). I'm not surprised that thing pulled out like a rocket sled. It, like most police spec vehicles, had rather more impressive specs than civilian models. Looked really cool too!
https://www.bikebound.com/2019/01/27/kawasaki-kzp/
Dangerspouse
Senior Member
WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO! Fantastic! Oh man, that looks like SO much fun. Good for you, man! Great pic too, whoever took it :encouragement:
That is a track photo, the track had a photo stand and there were a few "official" photographers. I am greatful for track photographers, being a car owner,mechanic and driver they are the only "racing" photos I have.
Some old school respected friends belived it bad luck to take photos yourself. I don't consider my self overly superstitious but I have to admit when I raced I was a bit.
Dangerspouse
Senior Member
Had an outing yesterday with my local camera club. We went to High Point State Park at the top of, and highest point in, New Jersey. Got special permission from the Park Service to bring in two of my dirt bikes, and some performance cars for a photo shoot in a portion of the parking lot. A beautiful day, and a lot of fun. The highlight for me (and a lot of others!) was the replica AC Shelby Cobra 427 that one of our members built. It's the Superperformance kit, if you're familiar, and took about 130-thousand dollars to build from the rolling chassis. I trailered up mine and my wife's competition motorcycles and set them up on rocks, which is their natural environment. A great time was had by all!
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Dangerspouse
Senior Member
For this weeks "2 Color" challenge (who in the world thought that would be a good idea?), I kinda went down a longer road than I intended, lol. I spotted one of my cat's toys - a comical little stuffed fish on a comical little plastic fishing rod - and thought it would make a good subject, as it is 2 and only 2 colors. But then I thought I should put it into some kind of context, rather than just a boring picture of a cat toy.
That led to trying to find other objects that matched at least one of the colors. After a while I hit on a bottle of Windex spray cleaner, the liquid of which was almost the same shade of blue as the fish's. After trying various containers, I settled on a glass custard bowl. There wasn't enough Windex to fill it, but that left enough room to drop the fish partially in. I didn't want to submerge it, because the cat still puts it in his mouth daily.
The shot I got was ok, but not very interesting. So I hit on taking a second picture with some action, and trying - for the first time! - to try to merge them. So I took a series of shots where I dropped an ice cube into the Windex and clicked the shutter just as it splashed. I picked the best one, then watched a ton of videos on how to merge photos in PhotoShop.
Of course, I sucked at it. It also didn't help that I must have moved the tripod or something between shooting the fish, and shooting the splash. The splash shots were decidedly out of focus. Plus I used too slow a shutter speed, which makes the droplets way too soft. And the lighting could be better to bring out their definition.
But, for a first attempt, it wasn't a complete disaster. So as much as I'd like to go back and do it again, changing a few things I see now that are problematic, I just don't have time before the deadline. So I'm entering what I've got, and let the chips fly where they may! Or maybe let the fish fly where it may, in this case
That led to trying to find other objects that matched at least one of the colors. After a while I hit on a bottle of Windex spray cleaner, the liquid of which was almost the same shade of blue as the fish's. After trying various containers, I settled on a glass custard bowl. There wasn't enough Windex to fill it, but that left enough room to drop the fish partially in. I didn't want to submerge it, because the cat still puts it in his mouth daily.
The shot I got was ok, but not very interesting. So I hit on taking a second picture with some action, and trying - for the first time! - to try to merge them. So I took a series of shots where I dropped an ice cube into the Windex and clicked the shutter just as it splashed. I picked the best one, then watched a ton of videos on how to merge photos in PhotoShop.
Of course, I sucked at it. It also didn't help that I must have moved the tripod or something between shooting the fish, and shooting the splash. The splash shots were decidedly out of focus. Plus I used too slow a shutter speed, which makes the droplets way too soft. And the lighting could be better to bring out their definition.
But, for a first attempt, it wasn't a complete disaster. So as much as I'd like to go back and do it again, changing a few things I see now that are problematic, I just don't have time before the deadline. So I'm entering what I've got, and let the chips fly where they may! Or maybe let the fish fly where it may, in this case
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Dangerspouse
Senior Member
So I recently purchased a studio strobe, and thought I'd give it a trial run yesterday. Since I intend it for mostly portraits and product photography, I set up my ever willing test subject "Heady Lamar" on the table and put a shoot-through umbrella on the strobe.
I've never used a strobe before, so the fact that the "instruction booklet" included with the unit was both extremely shy of "instruction" AND plagued by an over abundance of Engrish, meant it took me a while to set things up and figure out how to fire the damn thing.
Once I did, I then needed to play with the settings just to see how it worked.
What I did first was the time honored portrait technique of leaving the flash off and adjusting the camera settings so everything is almost pitch black. That takes ambient light out of the equation, meaning you have 100% control of the light in the shot just by adjusting the flash intensity (and any modifiers).
This is what that looked like for this test:
Perfect. I turned the strobe on and took my first shot:
Wow. A completely different experience than using soft boxes. But I certainly wasn't happy with the heavy shadows, so I started to work on it. I figured I could turn the strobe around and bounce the light off a wall, and move Heady and the lamp farther from the backdrop. I took Heady off the table, and when I turned back around to grab the lamp....
*sigh*
So much for that session.
I fired off a couple more shots, and figured I might as well enter one of them in the "Caption" weekly challenge going on since at least a couple are in focus. I had intended to use a perfected Heady + Light picture, titled "Light Headed", but I dunno if it will work as well with a Dell picture. The shot above might have been good for that title, but it's out of focus. Maybe one of these:
I didn't move the strobe for those, so there is still the heavy shadow thing going on. But waddaya gonna do. Sometimes life hands you lemons. Or a 17 pound cat....
I've never used a strobe before, so the fact that the "instruction booklet" included with the unit was both extremely shy of "instruction" AND plagued by an over abundance of Engrish, meant it took me a while to set things up and figure out how to fire the damn thing.
Once I did, I then needed to play with the settings just to see how it worked.
What I did first was the time honored portrait technique of leaving the flash off and adjusting the camera settings so everything is almost pitch black. That takes ambient light out of the equation, meaning you have 100% control of the light in the shot just by adjusting the flash intensity (and any modifiers).
This is what that looked like for this test:
Perfect. I turned the strobe on and took my first shot:
Wow. A completely different experience than using soft boxes. But I certainly wasn't happy with the heavy shadows, so I started to work on it. I figured I could turn the strobe around and bounce the light off a wall, and move Heady and the lamp farther from the backdrop. I took Heady off the table, and when I turned back around to grab the lamp....
*sigh*
So much for that session.
I fired off a couple more shots, and figured I might as well enter one of them in the "Caption" weekly challenge going on since at least a couple are in focus. I had intended to use a perfected Heady + Light picture, titled "Light Headed", but I dunno if it will work as well with a Dell picture. The shot above might have been good for that title, but it's out of focus. Maybe one of these:
I didn't move the strobe for those, so there is still the heavy shadow thing going on. But waddaya gonna do. Sometimes life hands you lemons. Or a 17 pound cat....
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Bikerbrent
Senior Member
Your strobe looks promising (and your black cat approves also)!
Dangerspouse
Senior Member
He's a very agreeable pest :cat:
Dangerspouse
Senior Member
Love the strobe effect on Dell's eyes
Thanks! It wasn't an added effect either, that's just how his eyes look!
Reflectors that come with strobes tend to yield hard light. That's because they are small and aren't diffused. But when looking on Amazon, it states the strobe accepts standard Bowens mount modifiers. Do you have any of those? You'll need to change modifiers to soften the quality of light or diffuse the light either with your shoot through umbrella or some type of reflector that includes a white diffuser such as this one by Westcott (there are definitely less expensive reflectors out there).
The shoot through umbrella will spread the light much more than a softbox. An umbrella definitely has its advantages, but if you are shooting in an environment that is extremely bright, you'd be wasting a lot of light because it spreads all over. That means the light output reaching your subject would be less than if you were using a single diffused softbox (meaning more light will be focused on your subject simply due to the design of a softbox). Metal Beauty Dishes don't offer as soft light as the fabric softboxes/beauty dishes. Then reflectors tend to be one of the hardest lights out there.
Either a softbox would be the next step to controlling the spread of the light, or a fabric beauty dish such as this Glow EZ Lock Collapsible Beauty Dish which constricts the spread of light slightly more than a softbox also is softer and more controlled.
Fabric beauty dishes tend to come with either a silver or white interior. The white ones give the softest light. Silver ones yield a little more specular highlights (slightly more contrast). BUT if both a white and a silver beauty dish are double diffused, the results are practically identical. Just giving you a little food for thought.
Danno
Senior Member
Love the strobe effect on Dell's eyes
The pictures are very cool... Creative. I was going to say that your cat's eyes are a bit on the spooky side. A cool cat... but spooky... There might be a couple song lyrics in there somewhere.
Dangerspouse
Senior Member
Thanks Cindy!! Yes this does accept Bowens mount attachments, so I'll be looking to add some modifyers in days to come. I appreciate all the info!