Panoramic Pictures and Some Water Shots

Today I went on a trip with my grandma and sister to a lake. It was the perfect opportunity to take some beautiful panoramic pictures. Enjoy! And don't forget to click them if you would like to view them in their entire awesome glory.



This is on our way down a hiking path toward a boardwalk along a lake. It's a different lake from the one at which the subsequent panoramas are set.



Here is a view taken during some of our first few moments at the other park.



This is my favorite one. This view is from the opposite side of the lake, down where we found some hungry ducks and cool shade.



Okay, apparently I lied about the other panorama being taken during some of our first few moments, because I took this one earlier.



I would rank this one as a solid second favorite. I love the clouds, especially.



Nothing is particularly wrong with this one, but for some reason I am not fond of it. Least favorite for sure.

Now for the water pictures. We came across a fountain on our walk and I decided to try out a Best Shot setting I hadn't used before - softly flowing water. I wasn't sure that a rushing fountain qualified as softly flowing water, but I gave it a shot anyway and overall I was pleased.











I am having an inordinate amount of fun with this camera.

:-)

Panoramic Photos

You may remember this commercial featuring an adorable kid showing the world how easy it is to create a panoramic photograph on Windows Live Photo Gallery:



This idea intrigued me the first time I saw the commercial, but for some reason, I pushed it to the back of my mind shortly thereafter, and it remained forgotten until this evening when I decided to seek out the video online to see exactly how panoramic photos are made.

Unfortunately, I do not have my camera with me, so I can't practice with new pictures at the moment. However, I already have a few vacation pictures that were fortunate enough to overlap, and I used them as practice. Here is my result:



The image looks a little odd at the tops and bottoms because of the angle at which the computer had to "stitch" the photos together. Chris did not take these pictures with as much precision as someone who sets out to create a panoramic picture, so the end result looks slightly weird. The dock is not supposed to be curvy, for one.

But you get the idea. Even this slightly distorted result looks awesome. I love panoramic photographs. I think they will change the way I do photography. I can't wait to get back to my camera and test this out some more.

And it really is as easy as the commercial makes it seem. I found that video on YouTube, and less than ten minutes later, I had Windows Live Photo Gallery installed and I was choosing pictures to turn into a panoramic.

Because the commercial is not meant to be instructive, here is another related video I came across that shows a fictitious panoramic photography competition between Alexa, the girl who made the tent, and a 70 year old man. It ends up being a teaching tool (to a certain extent) as well as an amusing video.

We love Peggle

I hear those words every time I babysit for two of my favorite kids, B- and L-. (Dan - as you can see, I am taking a leaf out of your book.)

A few weeks ago, I introduced them to a highly addictive game called Peggle. You may be familiar. If you're not, I have to warn you - set aside a large chunk of time to play this game, because you won't want to stop until you finish. And then you'll want the sequel, Peggle Nights.

Both of which I own.

:-)

Today the girls finally finished the trial levels and reached a Peggle Master they've never met before - Spork Splorkan. They loved that he looks like some alien from Monsters Vs. Aliens (don't ask me which one, because I have no idea), but they loved his space blast talent more.



A space blast occurs when you hit a green peg. It explodes, illuminating all pegs within a short radius. It's really useful. It also makes a cool noise, and you should have seen the looks on the girls' faces when they did their first few space blasts.

Oh, wait...

These were the looks on their faces.

(I couldn't resist trying out my good ol' (new?) Casio - this is Best Shot Portrait mode with flash.)




L- has the most vivid facial expressions.



...especially in this picture. She looks unimpressed by what B- is showing her.



I wish I knew what the dialogue was for this picture...




...and for this one. Unfortunately, I forgot. It seems like subtitles would be fascinating, judging by the hand gesticulations B- is providing. Perhaps she is imitating Splork Sporkan's tenticles?



And here we have B-, doing a lovely pose in spite of my recommendation that nobody pose, since the natural pictures were interesting enough.

Today, we finished three of Splork's levels. I can only imagine how their faces will look when they see the next magical power...