What is this f-stop that camera nerds talk about, and why does it come up when explaining why my phone camera isn’t as good as their costly camera?
Focal-STOP AKA f-stop is the “aperture” opening of a camera lens, allowing light to come in. Clear as mud, right? For years people told me the F-stop or Aperture (why does it have two names? Just pick one) is about how much light the camera lets in. They said it like it means something and keep repeating it over and over again because the first 99 times you said it didn’t sink in, but the 100th time… I’m not still mad about it…..
Part of the confusion must be because it has two different names and then talking about the numbers being fractions even though the camera shows whole numbers. I don’t know why it’s in whole numbers vs. the factions. I can only assume it’s because most people hate fractions or because it was easier/clearer to show whole numbers on the analog camera.
Finally, it was explained to me on my second photo trip, and the clouds parted to illuminate my teacher with angels singing a heavenly song. The f-stop/aperture is about focus; the lower f-stop number, for example, 3, means the camera is only focusing on 3 points. A low f-stop creates photos with great detail on one item, like a person or flower, but the background is blurry. A high f-stop, like 20, creates 20 focal points in the photo, so the whole picture is in focus.
The f-stop is 5.6 on this photo; see how the background of the grass is just a green blur.
The f-stop is 22 on this photo; see how the whole photo seems to be in focus.
You now know what the f-stop is, which is half the battle, but how do you use it? On most cameras, there are preset or automatic modes labeled A, S, P, and M. The A is the aperture, the f-stop; again, I don’t know why it’s f-stop everywhere else aperture to select the mode. The aperture mode lets you change the f-stop number, and the camera adjusts all the other elements around the f-stop number you select. So go forth and use your F-stop…it just sounds like a dirty word, doesn’t it??
Let’s be honest most Parental Advice is philosophical in nature: If people don’t like the real you, then they are a fool; well, I’m not “insert name” parents, and everyone’s favorite you will understand when you are older. So below is usable, practical knowledge for everyday life from Parents.
Always go (bathroom) before you leave. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been stuck in traffic and thought, it’s a good thing I went, I would be bursting otherwise.
If the 18 wheelers are hauling (going fast) then no speed traps ahead. This one is starting to become outdated with the rise of waze.
Put newspaper in the kitchen trash can, then put the trash bag in the can. The newspaper will absorb bad smells.
When buying/renting a home make sure it has a covered place to park your car. It might cost more money, but it’s worth it to never have to scrape ice off your car windows. This advice doesn’t apply to places that never get below freezing
Never get black floor tiles, it will show every speck of dirt and water droplets. You can’t just wipe it up with a paper towel you have to get down and clean it, it takes effort.
Very rarely does your college major apply to your job. This doesn’t apply to people that want to work in Medicine, Law, Engineering, etc.
Upgrade or fix issues with your new home before you move in. You will think/say I’ll fix it later or if we DIY we will save money. Wrong! You will not upgrade itself and when you hire someone you end up with handwashing dishes in your bathroom sink. Save up the money to renovate along with a downpayment and other moving costs.
Wash your hands before you eat, use your foot to flush public toilets, and grasp door handles using your shirt as a buffer. You might have laughed at this one before COVID-19 but you aren’t laughing now.
Picture it Machu Picchu just 30 feet shy of 8,000 feet or 2,430M, and intact and Inca Citadel. So perfect the design its stone buildings need no mortar and had built-in plumbing. I was sitting under a shade-giving umbrella in the cafe near the entrance, which is where the bus stop to bring in new travelers and take the weary ones back down the mountain. This is perfect because I don’t climb/hike/walk up any mountains. I saw our guide for the entire Peru trip was at the stop and pointed to the cafe where I would wait until it was time for our group to leave. I was early, so it was just 2 or 3 people from our group, out of 30.
I would look up every couple of minutes and saw some other people on tour waiting around (in direct sunlight like people who don’t burn in 3 minutes), so I kept on reading. I thought the group would wave me over when it was time to depart. The group thought I was a grown adult (not really, I’m still not an adult), and I would join them myself (like an adult would).
The next time I looked up (darn you book for being so entertaining), I didn’t see anyone from the group. I waited for the next bus thinking our guide would take the next one up to collect everyone else. It wasn’t just my group boarding. It was everyone on the mountain that doesn’t want to walk down. I waited around two bus trips and realized I just needed to go down myself, and it’s two US dollars to get down, so no issue.
At the bottom of Machu Picchu is a town called Machupicchu, Machupicchu Pueblo, or Aguas Calientes. It is literally a one-road town, and the road goes from the train station through the restaurants, hotels, B&B, shops to the Bus station. This is where you queue up for the ride up the mountain. So even I, with no sense of direction, could make my way back to the train station. Our guide told us before we left the train station that we all meet up if we break off to explore; we just had to be at the station before the last train left.
I walked to our restaurant, saw the group, and regaled them with my tale of woe. The tour guide was the most upset, thinking she had lost one. To prevent any repeat performance, she had me set in the front of the bus for the rest of the trip. The moral of the story is if you want a front seat on a tour bus, get a little lost.
The real point is don’t panic and communicate better; I should have asked my guide can you come and get me when we leave. Or just worn a bigger hat to keep me in the shade while I waited for everyone else.
Below is a beautifully rendered map to help orientate everyone.
This gravesite is one out of nine thousand three hundred and eighty-five in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, one of the resting places for American Troops that died in Europe during WWII. It’s a sobering number. Instead of mourning their death, lets us rejoice that they lived.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”- Gen. George S. Patton
Deborah Sampson. I take the word men to mean all mankind. She cut off her hair, bound her breast, and enlisted in the American Revolutionary War. She was born on December 17, 1760, in Plympton, Massachusetts (Go SOXs!), and at the age of ten, was sent away to be an indentured servant to a family within Massachusetts. For those new to the term, it means you are a slave (work but no pay) but for a set time limit (usually 7 to 10 years). In April of 1781, she disguised and enlisted in Captain Webb’s company in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment, under the alias Robert Shurtliff. She was wounded twice during her Army career, the first was a shot in the thigh, and she removed the bullet herself. She dug the bullet out of her own thigh without medical help because she feared discovery by seeing a doctor. The second wound was a bullet to the shoulder that resulted in a fever (I’m guessing due to infection), hospitalization, and discovery. Rather than disgrace or jail time, she was honorable discharge in October of 1783 and went home.
The Red Coats are back.
Jimmie W. Monteith. Born July 1, 1917 (so close to July 4th) and raised in Virginia, and like so many of us, when to high school (played sports), college, and then an average 9-5 job. He was there in France on D-Day, stormed the beaches like a Bass Ass, walked into a mind field, and guided US Tanks into firing positions. He keeps going out in the open to secure the lines; I don’t know what his last words were, but the phrase You and What Army come to mind. Lt. Monteith was awarded the Medal of Honor and rest with his brothers in arms at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.
View from inside Bunker on Normandy Coast.
John Steele. Born in the City of Metropolis (are we sure this guy isn’t superman?) in Illinois, he is the unstoppable paratrooper. He enlisted and joined 82nd Airborne Division, where he broke his leg during the Sicily drop; he fixed it with duck tape (not really, please don’t try to “fix” a broken leg with tap) and hopped back into Italy campaign taking names from Salerno to Naples. Then it off to England to prepare for D-Day; he and thousands more parachuted into Sainte-Mere-Eglise behind enemy lines before the ships landed on the beaches. On his way down, he was hit in his foot, and his parachute was caught on the steeple of the Church. He hangs there for hours trying to get loose before some Germans came to investigate, to see if he was really dead. He was captured and three days later busted out and made it back to the Allies side and another trip to the hospital. His tale doesn’t end there; he parachutes into Holland and is in the Battle of the Bulge. He made it to the age of 57 before cancer took him, but you can still see him on the Church roof in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, on the ready line.
John Steele keeping watch.
Havildar Lachhiman Gurung. Four feet of fury. He was born in Nepal but at 4 feet and 11 inches (1.5M), was too short to be a stormtrooper, or enlisted in the British Indian Army during peacetime. This seems odd because when it really matters, you let him in, but it’s a no when nothing is going on? In December of 1940, he enlisted in the 4th Battalion, 8th Gurkha Rifles on the 13th of May 1945 when it hits the fan. He was operating the forward post (person in most danger) when an estimated 200 Japanese soldiers attacked; spoiler alert, it didn’t end well for them. Three grenades landed in his trench; he returned two, but the third went off in his hand. He shrugs, grabs his rifle in the left hand, and holds off the enemy for four hours. That’s not a typo; his hand is gone, and the right side of his body, including his eye, is badly injured, but he stands tall and holds them off while yelling, “Come and fight a Gurkha!”. After the war, he returned home to his farm and fought like a Gurkha until the age of 92. I didn’t see any mention of it, but I’m pretty sure he and Daniel Inouye are brothers from another mother.
Most battle sites are like this, unremarkable until you know.
Whose life will you celebrate today? How about all those in the medical field thought out history that has fought to keep us alive. Mary Seacole, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Percy Lavon Julian, Desmond Doss, Mary Edwards Walker.
Given the COVID-19 era we are living in, it might be worth looking up Ignaz Semmelweis. This is a sad tale; Ignaz figured out that washing your hand would decrease the mortality known in the 1840s. He couldn’t explain in detail why because germ theory wasn’t widely studied, understood, or accepted until decades later. Ignaz died young, at the age of 47, in an Insane Asylum. It’s unknown what illness he had, given medical records and knowledge of the time, but the knowledge that washing hands and equipment could save lives but was ignored must have factored into his health. He was a real-life Cassandra, cursed to know the truth but never be believed.
Make a list of everything you want to pack and when you pack the item in your bag, cross it off the list. Keeps you from repacking if you want to double-check.
Pack twice the amount of medication you will need for your trip, if you are going for one week then take enough for two. You don’t want to get caught short on Medicine if you have a delay.
You will forget something, but as long as you have a wallet and medicine you have all you need. You can buy anything else.
If you always bring back gifts from trips then double pack the suitcase. Pack all your stuff in the smaller suitcase and Russia Doll it into a bigger suitcase. No extra bag fee on the way out, and when you return home you have double the space for gifts and other stuff you purchased.
Put your wallet, ID/Passport, and tickets in a small bag you can hold otherwise you spend a lot of time searching for these needed items.
Collapsable bottle for carry-on luggage, most airports have water bottle fill-up stations so you don’t have to worry about water fountain germs. We have all seen a kid put their mouth over the entire spigot, yuck.
Get four-wheel luggage, sometimes more is more and four-wheel luggage is better than two.
Get some luggage organizer bags, I use to scoff at them but they do stop the consistent need to unpack and repack when looking for clean shocks.
For general packing: Walking shoes, hat for shade, multiple slot USB charger, extra underwear, and socks (For a 7-day trip pack 9 pairs of both), pocket umbrella, small spray bottle with rubbing alcohol. The spray bottle is for your feet after using the shower/bath to keep from getting foot/toe fungus.
I’ve been to many places, so I do get asked this question; I usually reply with a few more questions to help them narrow it down. I now pass the checklist to you all, hold for applause, and as the Rock said in Moana, You’re Welcome.
Question 1: How much time do you have? I feel I need to clarify for any European readers that you don’t get a lot of vacation or holiday time in the US, which is why college kids and almost retirees are the two groups that visit Europe. That’s because they are the two groups with a lot of time and money, well the college kids don’t have money their parents do. This means in the US, the question of time is an important one. If you only have one week off, then don’t go to Australia, it’s wonderful but depending on where you live that 2-4 days of travel. It’s not worth it, mate. Please wait until you have 2 or 3 weeks and then another week to recover because the jet lag is brutal on that trip (but worth it).
Question 2: How long are you willing to travel? If you don’t like planes or driving, it narrows down to large Coach Bus travel or Train. Are you okay with flying but want a direct flight because you have been burned with layovers before (I feel you)? See how we are narrowing down to places you are willing to travel to. Next, what do you want to see?.
Question 3: What are you looking for? Do you love the nightlife and want to boogie, then start looking for cities in your travel area. Looking to go back to nature and stay in a yurt for a week (I mean why, but okay), then start looking for National and State Parks. Don’t forget State Parks; they can be hidden Jems. Want to go someplace with culture and nature then start with a city you like and see what kind of day trips are nearby. For example, Miami is next to a couple of national parks, so you have the nightlight, fine dining, and then the next day allegators. I’ve never had any issues with any day trips I book using https://www.viator.com (They don’t pay me); Viator is the middle man and deals with the booking. You don’t have to use them; you can book direct, but it gives you an idea of the type of day trips available in the area you pick.
Question 4: I want to go on a Spa Trip. Sorry, I can’t help you there, if I want the Spa, I’ll save the hassle of travel and stay at home for a week.
The first two questions narrow down the area you can or will travel to; the third question helps you to really think about what you want and leads you to one or a few places. Then you compare the places; which are cheaper, closer, and has the most actives you want to do? Or write the places on paper, put it in a hat, and pick one.
It also helps if you start a list of places or actives you want to do someday for future travel plans. When you have a 30 mins break on train/metro/waiting for a plane, look around on Pinterest or Instagram and see what catches your eye. If you already have a pre-made travel list, it is easier to decide when you have a long weekend and are itchy to go somewhere. It is also useful to find some travel websites and sign up for last-minute deal notifications. If you already have a list of things to see/do in multiple places, then you can jump on the deal.
P.S. If you have never traveled before, please travel in-country before going international. It’s like training wheels; this way, you know what’s going on even if you don’t speak the language. I only speak English, but I’ve seen the airline safety video so many times I don’t need it in English anymore. At this point, they could mime it to me.
You are on vacation, and you want some fabulous photos of your trip (to make everyone at work jealous….oh, and precious family memories), but the sky is a dull, dreary, weary, overcast meh. It’s not a moody mystical fog or darkly lit storm clouds. It’s just blah.
Dull white/light grey overcast sky on a winter day.
You can’t come back to this same place every day to get the perfect sky; you are far from home and have to return to work in a week. Maybe you will come back one day, but you don’t know that all you have is this day, and it’s been cursed by Seth/Loki/Adad/Perun/insert your local mythical deity. What do you do???
There are a couple of options when this happens, but first, go ahead and take the photo; you might be able to do something with it later. Or get a friend who is great at photoshop to replaces that sky.
Step one, get close. If you are visiting, gardens get in close on those flowers. In a zoo, get up close and in that cage…oh no, wait, don’t get in there with the animals; just zoom. Are you looking at a city skyline, zoom in on one of the buildings. By zooming in, you are removing some or all of that lackluster sky.
Step two, move your feet. Walk around; don’t stay in the same spot, go left then go right, crouch down, or if you can, get to a higher location. It sounds cheesy, but a slight change can greatly impact your viewpoint. The first photo was my starting point of view; I moved to the left and zoomed in on some trees.
Close up on trees with an overcast sky.
Step 3, edit. I took my tree shot, cropped out the horizon and buildings, and then made it black and white. This is how you can go from the first photo to something more interesting to look at (below) but wait; there’s more.
You can also do a Gradient Fill or Gradient Map on your photo to give it bright light and colors. I use PhotoScape X (please note they do not pay me; I just love the app); it’s an App you can buy on Apple’s App Store for $39.99, but some other programs/apps can do the same thing.
A gradient fill is a graphical effect that produces a three-dimensional color look by blending one color into another. Multiple colors can be used, where one color gradually fades and changes to the other color, such as the one below.
A Blue, Purple, and Red Gradient Filter was added to my tree close-up.
Gradient maps are a tool that creates a new adjustment layer that chooses a new color for each pixel of a certain value. The darkest areas of your gradient replace the shadows, and below of your image, the middle replaces your general exposure, and the end replaces your highlights. In other words, it replaces the colors in your photo with the colors of your choosing.
Yellow, Brown, and Orange Gradient Map effect added to a tree close-up photo.Yellow, Red, and Hot Pink Gradient Map effect added to a tree close-up photo.
And now you know what to do with overcast skies, and knowing is half the battle.
Does anyone know what the other half is, asking for a friend?
What is it about orange traffic cones that make people go 35mph in a 55mph three-lane highway (for metric users, doing 60 in a 90 zone)? And are they the same people that slow down when going up a hill?
If a group of crows is called a Murder of Crows, then there is a triple homicide of Crows in my neighborhood. On the upside they caw so loud I always know when sunrise and sunset happen.
If you are from the present or near future, then join me with virtual travel, which is all we have due to COVID-19 and #LockDown2020. If you are reading this in the future, you surely remember these days of endless Netflix shows and fearing the sound of a cough. For those in the distant future, this time period is in history books, and old people tell you where they did during the COVID 2020 period. Or the whole thing is forgotten, and COVID-19 is a tricky question in some trivia quiz.
Regardless you are here reading this, and I am sorry you have to read what I write; English is my first language, but I hold it in great disdain. There are no rules, and nothing makes sense, like why does ph sound like an F when we have the letter F for the F sound?
My plan for this blog is to provide practical or useful travel and camera tips. I’m always mad at “travel cheaper” books or articles that include just show up at the airport and get on a cheap waitlist. I don’t know about you, but I have a job, and I don’t have vacation days to waste sitting in an airport. Join me on my travels if any of this sounds fun, funny, or helpful.
