Pretty sure this is how the robots will see the zombies… (just entertaining Heather by playing with the webcam).
Robots versus Zombies
July 4, 2015 2:27 pm
Author: Kyle Dickerson
Let There Be Light!
July 2, 2015 10:46 pm
I saw a deal on Slickdeals yesterday for this entry-level studio lighting kit from Cowboy Studio. For $45 it comes with 3 light stands, 2 white umbrellas, 3 light & umbrella holders, and 3, 45-watt CFL daylight bulbs (~225-watt incandescent equivalent). I certainly wasn’t expecting professional quality components, but they’re better than what I had for staging a picture (which was nothing but my off-camera flash).
First, I’m quite pleased with Amazon. I placed the order Wednesday afternoon with 2-day shipping, and it arrived Thursday morning. Can’t argue with that.
Second, I’m quite pleased with the products. Definitely worth $45. Many of the components are plastic, rather than metal, but I even so they seem pretty sturdy. For hobbyist use they seem like they’ll be fine.
Heather, as usual, was super excited to find out what was in the box that arrived this morning, so I told her she could help me test out the equipment after work.
So here are a few test shots. The only lighting used was from the kit. I’ll probably get a shoe mount to hook up my flash with one of the umbrellas at some point so I can get more power and a faster shutter speed; or maybe just some brighter / more-directional lights.
The setup for these photos was 2 lights behind an umbrella in-front of her to the left at about eye-level and the 3rd light & umbrella below, behind, and to her right.
Really decent soft lighting!
The first picture is Heather’s natural face when I ask her to look at something. Not sure why she looks so sad. Afterwards Jess came in and got Heather laughing. Since she’s moving around so much the images aren’t as crisp, but that’s where the flash would help. She also stood up, so the lights on the left were now below eye-level, so her eyes ended up shadowed in this next picture since her head is tilted back.
Heather’s Dance Recital
June 27, 2015 10:15 pm
Heather has been in a toddler dance class for the past year. They had their recital today. Heather thought it was the most amazing thing ever. I think she burned through 3 days worth of energy reserves during and after it.
The studio strictly forbids anyone recording video during the performance (they’re more than happy to sell you a DVD for $40 though). So I only have photos. Their pricing only really irks me because they charge admission for the recital at $16 per person. At a rough estimate they brought in around $10,000 at the recital (held at the high school), seems like they could afford to provide the video at a reasonable price (considering everyone has to pay for their own costume, makeup, shoes, and to be in the class in the first place).
They had a picture day a few weeks ago and we bought a print from that so we’d have at least one high quality picture of Heather in her costume:
At the recital the lighting was challenging. To compensate for low light, I used a wide aperture (and thus shallow depth of field, making focus difficult) and still needed to apply a rather aggressive noise-reduction algorithm. And then my task was complicated by the guy in front of me who, just as Heather’s class came on stage, pulled his cellphone out to take pictures. We were sitting in the third row, so our heads were actually below the level of the stage, which is why the dancers are cut off at the shin in every picture. So the pictures aren’t amazing, but I think they get the gist across.
They gave each dancer a little medal after the performance. No matter what we say, Heather is convinced this means she “won” and was the best dancer. She is incredibly competitive. We have no idea where she gets it from. If anything, we go out of our way to downplay any competitive aspect of the activities she participates in.
After the recital I asked her where she wanted to go for dinner to celebrate. She chose Chick-fil-a. We left at about 3pm and she fell asleep on the way there and on the way back and then went to bed at about 6:15pm (hence why we left for dinner around 3pm). Going to bed she was complaining that her stomach hurt and her head hurt. I think she’s just beyond exhausted; hopefully she’s feeling better in the morning.
As we were leaving the theater, Heather got tripped and fell pretty hard. She was crying and one of the studio’s employees (possibly the owner) gave her a fancy cookie from their concession stand to try and cheer her up (you can see the cookie in the last picture below).
Enjoy the photos:
Railtown and Mercer Caverns
12:09 pm
The next day after Columbia, Mom and Dad were headed up to Idaho. We went and visited Railtown 1897 State Historic Park and then Mercer Caverns.
We arrived just in time to catch the 12:00 train. It was hot. If you can, you want to sit on one of the cars with open sides; the breeze keeps it much cooler than the cars with just open windows.
At the halfway point the train stops and the engine decouples and then hooks back up on the other side to take us back.
While that was happening all the kids were piled up at the end of the train watching. I was standing at halfway back in the car to make room. Then I hear Heather screaming for me.
As I work my way up to her I discover that she’d gotten her head stuck in the gate at the back of the car. Before I can get to her a woman helped her get her head out. Heather then turned to her, thinking it was me, and really lost it. At that point I was only a step away though, so I picked her up and carried her off to try and calm down.
After she calmed down we went back to the end of the car to look out again. The crowd had dispersed by this time so it was mostly just us and another little boy. For unknown reasons Heather pushed the boy so I grabbed her arms to discuss why that was not acceptable during which she kicked him [sigh]. So I picked her up again and carried her off screaming. That part was less than great.
It could have been more relaxing. I would recommend against visiting when it’s over 100 F out.
We got back in the van, bought some cold water, and headed off towards Mercer. At least underground it would be cooler.
On our way there we crossed this bridge. This sort of highlights California’s water problem. You can see where the water level is supposed to be and used to be. The little pull-off here has a plaque commemorating this location as the location of one of the first ferry crossings for this water. At the moment you’d have to work your way pretty far down the cliff to cross the water.
We stopped for lunch in Murphys, which we discovered is apparently a somewhat hoity-toity little town that was having some sort of festival so it was packed. After contemplating driving back the opposite direction to find some less crowded food, we eventually decided to be adventurous and just go with it. So we found a parking lot and loaded up the strollers.
We had been heading for the Murphys Grille, but then stumbled upon Peppermint Stick (which didn’t sound like a restaurant when we saw it on the GPS receiver). But they had food and ice-cream which, again, it being over 100 F sounded like a good idea. We enjoyed some really tasty and plentiful burgers and shakes.
After lunch it was time to delve into the earth where it was blessedly 55 F. We were concerned we might get chilly in shorts and t-shirts, but let me assure you, the tour is only long enough for the cool air to feel nice. Heather did end up wearing her jacket, but we ended up just carrying our other jackets the whole time.
I didn’t take the camera into the cavern as I was concerned I might end up needing to carry Heather, so I only have pictures from my phone, but the lack of light was mostly too difficult to get any pictures worth looking at. But I did get this one near the entrance:
On the cavern tour Heather was a perfect little angel. The heat seems to really affect her ability to concentrate and maintain her self-control.
After the cavern tour it was time to pile back in the van and head home.
Columbia, CA – Old Timey Town
11:34 am
For the past couple of weeks Mom and Dad have been wandering around the western states and last weekend we met up in Columbia, CA. It’s technically a State Historic Park, but it’s still an actual town too. The main street and surrounding area is a preserved gold-rush era mining town (though they have paved the road).
But, before we talk about the town, let’s back up a moment to the night before. The only arrangement we’d made with Mom and Dad was to meet them in Columbia Friday morning. Then Jess and I decided drive out Thursday night to give us a better chance of getting an early start in the town before it got too hot (forecast was for over 100 F).
I called the hotel at which we had booked a room for Friday night, but they were sold out for Thursday. So I found another hotel a couple towns over and booked a room there. As it turned out that was where Mom and Dad were staying.
We left town late Thursday evening to avoid sitting in traffic (it was going to be a ~1.75 hour drive already). Heather eventually fell asleep and we pulled in to the hotel’s parking lot around 10:30pm. After groggily working her way up the stairs to our room, Heather was startled by Mom stepping out of the room right next to ours to say, “Hello.” Turns out, grandparents popping out of doors unexpectedly late at night was not something Heather was going to tolerate. She pretty much lost it.
Anyway, we eventually got to sleep and Heather was somewhat less wary in the morning.
In town we had a blacksmith put our name on a horseshoe (this was something Jess was super excited to do):
We also did candle dipping (again, something Jess was super excited about):
We had lunch at one of the restaurants (with sarsaparilla) during which Heather had a few meltdowns; heat and hunger didn’t combine well for her. As it turned out, we then left Heather’s water bottle at the restaurant and didn’t notice for several hours. When I went back to get it the worker greeted me with, “Oh yeah, you had the screaming blond-haired girl. She was memorable.” Yah….
We took a stagecoach ride which was set upon by a bandit:
Heather panned for gold. She found some rocks, which she declared to be her treasure, but nothing of value.
And we had some ice-cream to cool down from the heat:
And Heather enjoyed spending time at the antique bowling alley:
It was a good time. It was hot, but most of the buildings were air-conditioned and the old trees along main street provided nice shade.
Apparently the real secret is to go during cooler months and rent one of the cottages (there are cottages and hotel rooms available only through the ReserveAmerica system as they’re run by the Park Service). The cottages don’t have air-conditioning, but they seem to have plenty of room and are reasonably priced.
Bonus pictures:
