http://www.elizabethcarmel.com/
Monday, July 7, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
FIRE IN THE SKY
(AP, June 29, 2008) "The Big Sur fire has burned about 32,500 acres (13,150 hectares) and destroyed 16 homes since it was sparked by lightning on June 21, the U.S. Forest Service said.
Firefighters have contained only 3 percent of the flames and the Forest Service could not estimate when the fire would be brought under control.
A 10-mile (16 km) stretch of the coastal Highway 1 was closed for a fourth day, and the community of Big Sur remained threatened. Evacuation advisories were issued throughout the area, but the local chamber of commerce said most businesses were still open.
Big Sur is heavily wooded, with steep slopes running down to the Pacific Ocean. The terrain creates one of California's most dramatic landscapes -- and slow going for more than 1,000 firefighters on the scene.
Its 90-mile (145 km) stretch of coastline lies between the quaint town of Carmel in the north and San Simeon, home of Hearst Castle, to the south. The area is a popular destination for campers, surfers and nature lovers. Novelist Henry Miller lived there for 18 years.
A library honoring Miller's legacy said it was closed until further notice. The Esalen Institute, a spiritual retreat frequented by Jack Kerouac and Joan Baez, said it was closed at least until Sunday. But Hearst Castle said it was still open.
A total of 31 fires were burning in California, according to the National Interagency Fire Center of Boise, Idaho, covering 333,838 acres (135,000 hectares), an area 23 times the size of Manhattan.
The biggest fire, covering 60,000 acres (24,300 hectares) at Los Padres National Forest, to the east of Big Sur, was about 89 percent contained, and was expected to be completely under control by Thursday, according to the Forest Service.
California fire officials are bracing for a busy fire season, which the weekend's lightning strikes started sooner than expected, because the state's rainfall has been below average for two years, leaving grass, brush and timber bone dry in many areas. (Reporting by Dean Goodman, editing by Anthony Boadle)"
ลองถ่ายรูปท้องฟ้าช่วงไฟป่าเมื่อสัปดาห์ก่อนไว้ แล้วมาซ้อนไว้บนเส้นทางที่เต็มไปด้วยหญ้าแห้งเพราะขาดน้ำ จะได้เห็นว่าช่วงนี้ไฟป่าน่ากลัวแค่ไหน ก้นบุหรี่เพียงอันจิ๋วก็คงจุดแม่พระเพลิงให้โหมได้ในพริบตา
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Close Up Filter Study - Part 1 Metering and Light Compensation
Ingredients: Nikon D40; 55-200mm AFS-DX lens (non-VR lens), Canon 500D Close-Up filter; Tripod, Remote control. (I don't use flash -- just personal preference)
How I Did It This Time: The yellow rose right here, I used metrix metering. At f/5.6, speed 1/250, ISO 200 the picture was very soft and I have to use unsharp mask in Photoshop to sharpen it quite a bit.
Then I changed my metering mode to: SPOT and CENTER-WEIGHTED and didn't see much difference. The picture is much sharper as seen here in the peony flower shot.
Another thing is that if I increase light compensation by +0.7 stop, my picture is much brighter. The comparison here is before and after light compensation.
Before
After
Saturday, June 21, 2008
A Night at the Opera at A Ball Park - Part I
Last night I went to an Opera at the Ball Park. It wa
s a great fun! Tons of people, perhaps the whole city showed up. San Francisco Opera's Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donezetti with Natalie Dessay as Lucia was projected on a giant screen cristal clear. The performance was fantastic and it was Miss Dessay's debut in San Francisco. The sound was first rate too. We even got to sing 
"Take me out to the Opera" during the intermission like the baseball's seventh inning stretch. About the opera itself? I'll let you know about the story and my impression in part two. Stay tuned. Meawhile, you can read about it here http://sfopera.com/o/260.asp. Take me out to the opera,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me seat at the Opera House.
I don’t care if it’s Mozart or Strauss,
For it’s “root, root, root, for the divas,
Bring a friend or a spouse,
For it’s “one, two, three cheers for you”
at the Opera House.
(The original song is below. You can sing along and change the words accordingly).
Monday, June 16, 2008
Help!!! I accidentally deleted my music playlist with Comments
Is there a way to get them back? I downloaded the new version of Bocelli's "Les Feuilles Mortes" and thought I'd delete the old one without realizing I deleted the comments that went with it.
If I can't get them back. I'm very sorry for those of you who took time to comments. Please help me put the comments back again. Thanks. Sorry Guys.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Tribute to Tim Russert (1950-2008)
Today, Tim Russert, the Washington NBC Bureau Chief, the host of Meet The Press, an ace political Journalist, and a great human being whom I admired just passed away at age 58. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and loved ones.
We will miss you, Tim.
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
May God be with you and bless you:
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.
May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.
May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.
an old Irish Blessing
Retrieved from "http://immortalpoetry.com/Irish_Blessing"
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