Evony

This has nothing to do with photography but you have to try this game. I am so addicted to it now. Here is the site. It has my name as a referral http://kirkgrove.evony.com/

Smoke photography

Talking about the previous post on smoke photography.I will post a link at the end of this post. I never heard of smoke photography until I came across this site when looking for ideas and this seems like a pretty cool idea. There is a lot of editing involved. Generally, I'm not a big fan of editing,however, lately I've been seeing some of the very creative and cool stuff that can be done with editing(If done right of course). Here is the link to smoke photography, you have to check this out it is really cool stuff. Here are examples. http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/10/05/celebration-of-smoke-photography-and-smoke-art/

Here are techniques http://digital-photography-school.com/smoking-allowed-investigating-smoke-art-photography and here is another one http://photocritic.org/artsmoke-photographing-smoke/.

Home all week

Well, since I am laid off from work this week I get to spend some quality time home alone with my son. Hopefully I get some creative ideas for photos. Maybe we'll go out somewhere. Or I have been contemplating some smoke photography. Who knows maybe I'll come up with something.

Lightning

Maybe I will get lucky and have a lot of lightning and get some good shots.

Rainy Day

I had high hopes about going out on a hike today. I was looking forward to taking some photos. But the darn rain has ruined my plans for today. Oh well there is always next week.

Sorry

I apologize for the long delay in posting. It has been a real busy summer thus far and I assure you that I will have a new post either tonight or by the end of the weekend. I thank everyone who has visited my blog and I hope you enjoy the photos.

Starved Rock

I'm going to be camping at Starved Rock state park next week for a couple of days. I'm hoping to get some awesome shots.Wish me luck.

Articles

Here are some great articles that were sent to me on taking photos of space. I hope everyone enjoys them.If you come across any spam or pop ups please let me know and I will take the link out. http://www.photography-colleges.org/100-free-online-tools-and-resources-to-take-pictures-of-space/

Fire got me into trouble

The infamous backyard fire.

The trees are on fire!

Well I was sitting in my grandmas back yard playing with matches and before you know it the little brush that I was playing with turned into a big fire. By the time the fire department got there the whole back yard was up in flames and I was scared to death.

So if any kids are reading this remember playing with fire is bad.

Missing shots

I missed some great shots this past weekend but they were uncontrollable circumstances.

Holiday weekend

I hope everyone had a great Memorial day weekend.

SLR vs. Point and shoot

 Well I've finally got my first SLR camera and I have a great point and shoot as well. Lets start with the point and shoot.

 The point and shoot I have is the Fujifilm s1000fd which has some great features. It has manual controls but not really full manual controls like an SLR. The picture quality with this camera is excellent. It has a 12 times zoom and the macro feature is pretty good for not being a true macro. 

 Problems with this camera are very long shutter lag, no image stabilization,can't shoot in raw and not many accessories for the camera,like filters which would be a big plus for the camera.

 Now moving onto the SLR. I bought the Sony A200, the camera so far is great the features are better then the Canon XS which I did a comparison between the two. There is virtually no shutter lag on this camera at all. It has a 9 point auto focus,it has face detection eye focus. The camera takes excellent photos in raw and has great manual features as all SLR cameras should. 

 The only downsides that I have found with the SLR is that it is much larger than my point and shoot which I don't mind that. And dust dust dust is a problem. I have had it for about 2 weeks and I have already had some dust on the sensor which was easily blown off but still a pain. 

 I highly recommend buying an SLR over a point and shoot.

This is by no means a complete list of pros and cons for both cameras.

Sorry

I apologize for no new posts lately.I've been very busy . I got my new DSLR a few days ago and I'm playing around. Hopefully this weekend I will have some new photos to post.Just bare with me.And thank you for visiting my blog.

SLR

 Well the SLR is on it's way. I can't wait for this thing to get here. I didn't go with the big boy but instead I got the cheaper model.

 I was going to buy the Canon XS but after doing countless hours of research I chose to get the Sony A200. The features are better and I like the way the camera looks and Sony is having a credit deal right now. The only thing it lacks is the live view but who cares about that.The image stabilization is built into the camera which I hope I like that. 

All and all I can't wait to get this.

COCO Keys wasn't as fun as you'd think

Unbelievable, my wife and 3 year old and I go to COCO Keys water park this past weekend. We get there,now mind you this is an indoor water park,it's raining outside like cats and dogs and a little lightning,well they tell us it will be a hour or an hour and a half before we can get in the water because of lightning. What the heck I thought the purpose of going to an indoor water park was to have fun in crappy weather.

So finally, we got to get in the water and I wanted to send my son down one of the four water slides they had. Come to find out they are only aloud to open one slide at a time because of safety reasons. Now I am so damn furious at this point but we continue to play in the water and go in the lazy river. Well, 20 minutes later everyone has to get out of the pools again because of lightning. RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR So we left.

We paid 25 dollars a person to get in this place and what a terrible time. My wife is supposed to call and try to get our money back. We'll see!!!!!

Saving

 I've been saving and selling some unused items so I can get my new SLR. I am so exited,I can't wait to get this thing. Not to much longer to go now. 

This WII is just taking up space

And the wife is right again

Here ( Wii ) Go

I would have to say the most useless thing in my house would have to be the WII that I insisted my wife and I buy. We rarely play it.

What a waste of money. It looks fun on TV but most of the games are just boring. And yet again the wife is right.HA HA

One day I'll roll in a new Camaro

The dream car.

Camaro Concept

Most would say Lamborghini,Bentley, maybe even Porsche.

I live right by Ogden Avenue In Illinois and you can find every car dealer imaginable down this little stretch of road.

The other day I was driving past the good old Chevy dealer and I see this beautiful black shiny new Camaro.This car had my mouth down to the floor and wishing and trying at the same time to talk my wife into letting me buy it. Well needless to say I am still driving the same old vehicle I have been for the past two years.

If pot is legalized, I expect increases in tax revenue

Although, it will never happen but if it were to the government would make so much revenue in taxes we might pull ourselves out of this economic turmoil. MAYBE.

Lyman woods in Downers Grove Illinois is lovely this time of year

My favorite outdoor spot.

This is a little forest preserve that I like to go to. It's nice and quiet and there aren't many people. There is a good abundance of wildlife as well, the wildlife includes deer,coyotes,owls,hawks,ducks,geese, and many different species of birds.