Visitor! Decadence! Kitty!

I had a visit (in person) from my cousin Leah (of The Goat's Lunch Pail) on Wednesday! She had to come into the city for a few things and needed a native (well sort of) guide. We went for lunch when she got here which was quite an experience, one I am sure she is blogging about, if not today, then soon.

We then went and did the bit of running around she had to do and she was kind enough to drive me over to do some errands that I had to do. Then we came back to my place and ate two wonderfully decadent desserts! Each! By the mighty horns of Thor's helmet! They were good!

While we were having our lunch, we had brought my camera and it's manual along and Leah was helping me out with learning the manual features. She is a photographer and journalist for those of you not familiar with her blog. We took a few silly photos and got the manual settings explained in small words of two syllables or less so that I could understand them and maybe remember them.

I went out later Wednesday night, after she headed home and tried to get some shots of the almost full moon. Even with a tripod, they were shaky so I need to practice some more. When I came back in though, I tried out a few shots of the cat, here are the best. I photoshopped colour in & out of a couple.

The purrfect pose and I don't know how that colour came to be, but I liked it.


Rub my tummy! It was a bit blurry and I couldn't get the colour balanced so removed it.


This is kind of neat. Except he moved before the shutter closed.



He is getting bored and tired of me taking his picture.


And has now given up all hope of getting to go to bed anytime soon.


We had a wonderful day, got some shopping done, ate far too many sweets and played with the camera. There is more, but I think I will wait a day or to to get the final results before I confess all.


Have a good day all.

WWC: Close up & Background

Wow, this weeks words were a challenge! What to take a close up of? What the hell to use as background?

Then I was out shopping, waiting for the bus and I noticed across the street, something that would have been a GREAT background photo. I pulled out my phone and snapped off this picture. You can barely make out that there is a house roof behind the gravel.



The city is finally getting around to extending our Light Rail Transit and there is construction everywhere! When I saw the pile of gravel (taller than the house), my heart went out to the people who now have it as a background. Too bad the photo didn't turn out! I was on my way to buy my new camera and the closest I have come to there since, is the other side of the high rise you can see on the right. I might get there again before the pile is reduced too much, but, who knows.


So, now on to the photos I took with my new camera!

Close up:

Can you guess what this is?

This was an accident how it focused this way, but I like it.

This was not an accident and I really like it.



Sibu, first thing, when I sit down, has to be cuddled.... he likes to be close up!

This is over the back of my head.
Then he winds up sitting on my shoulder facing the computer screen. (WARNING! The blog administrator strongly advises against clicking to enlarge this photo, serious damage could occur to your retinas and/or monitor! The Blog Administrator accepts no responsibility for any damages incurred should you fail to heed this warning!)


This was him trying to figure out the camera.

Background:

This is the background of my apartment complex.


And across the fence, the background of the school.Background traffic noise.

Background people noise, waiting for buses.
The temporary bus transfer point, while the regular one is being reconstructed for the LRT and the mall itself is undergoing renovations. Major background noise and smells!

Background music.

Background music player.


Did you enjoy? Maybe you would like to participate next week? Then stop over and see Tink's blog Pickled Beef and get all the details on joining the fun.

Well, I finally did it!

I went and purchased a new camera! I have been playing with it since I got home last night and so far, I am very happy with it. It is an Olympus SP-550UZ, it has 7.1 Mp and 18 X Optical Zoom. Now, it is going to take me some time to figure out all that it can do, but here are a few of my first photos with it.

No flash, in my living room, with some zoom, last night.


Around noon, I stepped out onto my patio and zoomed all the way, then had to back off. I think it is about 20 feet to the tree.

Maximum zoom, click and see the craters! The little ones!

About 20.30 hrs looking West (duh) down my front road.


I had to climb to the third floor landing to get this shot, but I like how it turned out.


I tried to get another shot of the moon later, but it must have been possessed, all I got were these ghosts!



Note to self - buy a tripod.


Well, not bad for the first few shots! I hope to have a better grasp on it by Tuesday for the WWC. I know that it will take a lot longer than that to figure out the manual settings and all the other things it can do, but, I will be taking fabulous photos before you know it!

Good night all.