Learning in the Snow

The new camera is incredibly fun to play with, but at the same time it is also rather unforgiving. With the little Sony camera you pretty much know you're going to get something decent so long as you have good light. With the new Canon camera if you mess up your various settings you can totally botch a picture that should turn out beautifully. Michelle and I took yesterday's snow storm as a learning opportunity, and both went out and played around with the Macro lens.

This picture is of a door handle with snow piled up on top of it. All of the photos have been shrunk down to 25% of their original size to make them web friendly.

This picture is of some dead vines wrapped around a narrow bamboo stake.

The snow was rather heavy and wet so it stuck to even these thin thorny bush branches.

It is a little hard to see in this photo, but the two bottom panes of the windows on the shed have fallen out. I'm not sure exactly when it happened but I think the cold finally did in the edging. If we get some warmer weather I'll try and get them back in.

We couldn't stay out for very long even with the camera covered in a plastic bag as the snow was coming down really heavy. One of the lessons I learned from this set of pictures is that I need to f-stop up with the Macro lens or to much of the photo will be blurry. I look forward to many more pictures in the new year!

On a sour note I've been doing a lot of research into the Orphan Works Bill that is currently before Congress and already passed in the Senate. In all reality every photo on our blogs would be up for grabs by anyone who wanted to use them, or any of the text for that matter if this Bill should pass. While I can understand that it could have some positive applications by those that wouldn't abuse it, it is incredibly ripe for abuse. In reality it means anyone could use any photo on our blog for any purpose they want with some paperwork saying they couldn't find the owner of the photos or text for that matter. I really truly hope this bill doesn't pass in its current form.

I've read both versions in their entirety and it is no different than requiring all property owners to register every plant and tree on their property and every possession in their homes and offices at their own expense. Failing registration, they could all be taken freely so long as the thief checked to make sure the object wasn't registered, reported they took an un-registered item with documentation on their search, and labeled it as such in the pawn shop. These rules being followed the owner can of course sue the thief in order to recover the fair value of the taken item if they should find out about the theft, but the thief would not have to stop using the item or give it back. More importantly you could only file a lawsuit in federal court against the thief, which would cost at least several thousand dollars and you could not recover court costs from the thief making the lawsuit pointless. Truly disgusting.