Puffer Posted November 14, 2015 Report Share Posted November 14, 2015 12 hours ago, FastFreddy2 said: My international linguistic skills ended when I chose not to take French in the third year. Didn't actually do any in the second year, but I'd learned enough in my first year to get a decent pass in the end of the second year exams, much to the astonishment of myself and the French teacher. At junior school I used the little French we had been taught to ask if a fellow pupil could use the loo. Teacher was impressed. While on a motorcycle in France, and ever-so-slightly-lost, I asked one of the locals in French, where the big white mountain was. Impressed with my question, she gave me directions in the fastest French I've ever heard. I think I made out 3 of the 50 words spoken. Since I obviously had impressive skills with French ladies, it's one of my life's regrets I didn't learn a second language. ... I have no claims to be a linguist (cunning or otherwise! ) and did not take to learning French at grammar school, although I did pass at O level on my second attempt and can just about make myself understood if in Frogland (which is rarely). Strangely enough, my wife (who lived/worked in Brussels for some time) fancies herself as a French speaker but I don't think she is any better than me. Neither of us is qualified enough to have French letters after our names . I also studied Latin at school for three years, hated it and was glad to give it up. But I found Latin both interesting and useful when immersed in my legally-based work in later life and I then wished I was more accomplished. It was useful too, when on a narrowboat holiday, to remember in medio tutissimus ibis: 'it is better to steer a middle course'. When overseas, whilst rarely being able to understand or speak more than a smattering of any foreign tongue, I do find myself unconsciously adopting a pseudo-local accent. I think this is quite common, and applies equally when elsewhere in the UK, e.g. north of Watford or west of Reading. It's by no means hard to become a Bristolian or a Brummy, for example, without special effort. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted November 14, 2015 Report Share Posted November 14, 2015 Actually no. The point of a £2000 lens is not always to get everything pin sharp. For portraiture and still life photography professional photographers, such as myself, happily pay good money for the wider aperature of an expensive lens specifically for the creamy bokeh that can be achieved. It is a very desirable effect it depends on the type of photography you are doing. Lenses are tools to be used in a variety of applications. My 135 f/2 Zeiss can achieve pin sharp results for landscapes stopped down, and gorgeous bokeh when opened up for portraiture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted November 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2015 22 minutes ago, Shyheels said: Actually no. The point of a £2000 lens is not always to get everything pin sharp. For portraiture and still life photography professional photographers, such as myself, happily pay good money for the wider aperature of an expensive lens specifically for the creamy bokeh that can be achieved. It is a very desirable effect As you will. I have taken portraits of people who were (in practical terms) penniless, right up to and including a couple of millionaires, and their immediate families. ALL have bought my images, and been very happy with them. One sitter, an elderly portrait artist in his own right was impressed with my interpretation of him, as was his wife who insisted she have an enlargement of her husbands image I made. I've produced images of people that made them look attractive, when they were 100% sure that them looking attractive wasn't possible. The fact I haven't wanted to turn something I describe as a hobby into a full time job, is a personal decision, not a a reflection on my skill (which I start to feel this discussion is turning into.) I've even been (emotionally) forced into doing two weddings, which I'd always said I would never do. The images so pleasing, the 'mature' bride of the second 'gig' actually liked what she saw, despite being very very very anti-photograph prior to her wedding. Sadly her husband passed a couple of years later, and the photograph of him on the Order of Service? One of mine. I would never spend £2000 on a lens that wasn't capable of pin sharp imagery. What I want by way of depth of field is something I should be choosing, not the lens maker. While I'm fully aware that large apertures not providing full depth of field is a law of physics that lens makers haven't for the most part, found a way of breaking. It's a technical fault. It's that simple. You are being unrealistic if you are saying it's something lens makers would design in, rather than design out, if they had a choice. I spent nearly 3 years studying photography at an Art College, gaining a formal qualification that entitles me to immediate Licentiate entry to the Royal Society and allow me to legally have letters after my name to confirm membership. My portraiture module got me a distinction. Being further lectured on how I should and shouldn't take photographs doesn't sit well with me, no matter how skilled you might be or how long you've spent taking portraits. The famous portraits I've mentioned, typically of the 30's and 40's, were handicapped by low light levels from incandescent lighting. This often meant the use of larger apertures producing an often unattractive soft focus (out of focus) part of the image. When making a promotional image of an actor or politician, I can't see where eyes and lips being the only thing in focus, as better than the whole person being in focus? The exception to this, is where the face of the person being promoted, is separated from a crowd or busy background, by the use of differential focussing. But this separation is intentional, not the 'dressed up' technical limitation of the equipment being used. I'm happy for you know the name for a Japanese term for what otherwise would be considered a technical limitation of lens design. But please make better use of your time than trying to convince me it's anything other than that. I doubt there's a lens maker in the world that would want to design it in as a feature, rather than design it out, so it's not 'a feature', it's a fault. It's the result of an unsolved optical problem. I'm also happy that some portraitists describe it as a 'creamy' effect. I'll bear that in mind when I have my eyes tested next. I'll tell the optician I have 'creamy' vision, and don't really need glasses. I'm sure he or she will insist I need to see as well as I can, whatever the circumstances... I feel the same way about lenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted November 14, 2015 Report Share Posted November 14, 2015 (edited) I'm not lecturing. I don't care enough. Edited November 14, 2015 by Shyheels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heels Posted November 15, 2015 Report Share Posted November 15, 2015 About 6 years ago I bought a canon Ixus 96. That did the job I needed it for. Also bought 3 or extra memory cards for use when I went holiday. That packed up, Only last 2 or 3 years. So I boiught a Nikon, that has now starting to play up. I been wanting to take photos to up load onto this site. I can use my phone to take photos of just my shoes on their with own with out me wearing them. That simple and easy enough to do. I have tried to use my phone for leg shots with me wearing heels and the results tend to be poor.I just can't get the right angle to get a good photo. The other day I tried to use my camera to take full lengh photos of myself wearing heels. The plan was to place the camera on a table on use the 10 second timer on the camera. That didn't work either. Kept on chopping my feet off! Tried to tilt the camera at a small angle to show part of the floor in front me but still get a full length shot of me wirhout chopping me head off. What kept on happing was the camera kept on falling over. I have bought another small tripod to cure the problem I did have another tripod but that broke. I mentioned ealier that I had 4 memory cards, well three of them have packed up. Camera can't write to them for some reason. Computer can no longer read the last memory card if I just use the slot for the memory card built in the computer. I had to buy a memory card reader and that works at the moment. If I use my phone to take photos I can easy share onto Facebook without using a lead but if I want to send private photos straight onto my computer I have to use a lead. Bluetooth seems to be working between computer and phone but the moment I try sending a photo to my computer it fails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted November 15, 2015 Report Share Posted November 15, 2015 Not sure how you are setting up your shot, but you might consider using a Gorilla pod. These are brilliant little flexible tripods with wraparound legs that can be attached to railings, chair backs, lampposts, almost anything, they are small and lightweight and come in sizes suitable for everything from iPhones to DSLRs. They vary from a few inches high to just over a foot. Brilliant little pieces of kit to take on holidays etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heels Posted November 15, 2015 Report Share Posted November 15, 2015 I did say I just bought another mini Tripod. If I really wanted to I,m sure I could make something.up to hold the camera in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted November 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 On 14/11/2015, 15:16:10, Shyheels said: I'm not lecturing. I don't care enough. Really? You are certainly labouring a point you don't care about .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted November 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 On 15/11/2015, 13:30:02, Heels said: I did say I just bought another mini Tripod. If I really wanted to I,m sure I could make something.up to hold the camera in place. As a suggestion .... Full body photo's: Set the camera height about the mid-point of your height. This could be at table height. Try to get the front of the camera vertical, as this will reduce the amount of distortion apparent on the final image. (If taken at head height pointing downward, your feet will be tiny. If taken from the floor, your head will be tiny.) Some cameras use the information available when pressing the taking/shutter button. Meaning, the focussed point at the time of taking the image (background to your photo) and the brightness level (from a bright wall) may not help getting a good photo. I've had to practice this recently, and used a bit of 4" inch soil pipe for pre-focussing while using a timer... The taking angle is quite important though, and can be used for 'artistic' merit if you are trying to highlight something of interest. If you want to accentuate your shoes, or the height of them, make that part of your image the closest part to the camera. You are right to use a tripod. Media cards: These are not to be trusted, and I empty mine regularly. I recently bought a 32gb card for my phone, for about £9. How good can that be, despite being a branded item? I'm not a great Bluetooth fan. Okay for small bits of data, but a bit slow for large files unless you are using 3.0 equipment which has a better potential. I remove cards on my cameras (to car reader in computer) but use cable on my phone. Either is significantly faster than B/T 2.0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted November 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2015 While on the subject of media cards .... Had a long chat today, with a fella who I know through his trade (heating engineer) and him being one of one men in my actual social circle that knows I wear a heel. Hadn't talked for a bit, so we were on the phone for quite a while. Seems he now records every business and customer conversation he has. He doesn't always keep copies (most of it is inconsequential) but he does keep some. One he did keep, was of an employer who sub-contacts out (genuine) engineers to people looking to employ one, often at short notice. By all accounts this company will surely be seen on the BBC Watchdog programme, some time in the future. The M.O. is this; 'We get you into the customer on the cheap. After that, what you find as a problem, is up to you. We recommend any dirty water in the central heating system means they need a (£600-£1200) power flush. Don't sell them a quality boiler at a quality boiler price, sell them a cheap boiler at a quality boiler price." He lasted a week. He went to a similar company looking for work, and was shown another sub-contractor's invoices for three one week periods. These were invoices for pay, not invoices for work. Averaged £3,000 per week. While people who can afford to be 'over-charged' might not even notice the overcharge, nor maybe even care, that won't be true of every customer. Mrs Freddy thinks everyone is innocent ..... and I think just the opposite - as far as most tradesmen are concerned. So my mate is owed £1000 for the week he worked. He imagines he'll struggle to get paid. His 'ace in the hole'? Every conversation he had with the company, including the one where they spent almost an hour chewing him out for not fitting a cheap boiler at a quality boiler price, all recorded. Mostly thanks to cheap storage media. It's allowing a lot of social injustice to be recorded and reported. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puffer Posted November 26, 2015 Report Share Posted November 26, 2015 If your mate is a really decent bloke who genuinely dislikes these business tactics (as appears the case), perhaps he should (i) get his money (after exerting whatever pressure is necessary): and (ii) give his scamming evidence to Trading Standards (etc) regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted November 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2015 I rather fancy he's like most of us. Get the money he's owed, and let the rest of the world get on with whatever it wants to do. The companies he has had contact with, seem to be large well organised businesses. As he said to me, many of their customers will be very pleased with the work carried out. What they don't know, is that they've been overcharged. What doesn't help, is that British Gas are amongst the worst for over-charging, so the bench-mark price is quite high. Nor do BG use the best products on the market, though they are amongst the most expensive suppliers. Also, many people in London are more concerned about service, than cost. A millionaire living in his own home, or had concerns about a second or third property let out somewhere, will want work done quickly and done well. Cost is a secondary concern, or even less of a hurdle if their heating packs up completely in winter. One couple mentioned, had a £600 repair bill involving temporary removal of a boiler. Rather than pay that, they opted for an upmarket replacement boiler, installed with 10 year guarantee for circa £2700. For "peace of mind". The boiler was going to cost £1400, but the company who got the introduction for the £600 job (that was sold after a call-out charge of £45) said my mate should have given them a £500 boiler and charged them £2700. (The £600 job was the one that involved the boiler removal and new expensive parts, the call-out charge of £45 is just to get the engineer to the door, and 30 minutes labour.) My mate wants to make a living, not 'scalp' customers.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted December 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2015 On the strength of me having joined the modern world with a phone that looks like it's smart, Mrs Freddy has bought the model I decided was too expensive for my first venture; the Moto G 3rd Gen. A significantly better camera, and lens I suspect. Better quality/more fluid graphics. I am gutted. Before I bought my phone I read two comparisons between the phone I purchased, and the Moto G 2nd Gen. The extra £50 for the 'better' phone wasn't felt to be worth it by the reviewers, so I bought the £99 phone. Having had a short play (setting up) the newer 3rd Gen product, I think herself got a really good deal on her phone. It just seems better with everything. What does concern me though, is the intrusiveness of the Android operating system, and some of the applications that can be added to it. For example, I was tempted to add the "iPlayer" app this evening, so I would the weather programme away from my usual location. The app wanted access to my stored pictures/media, my phone number, and any number that was calling me. Really? When I've attempted to add new contacts to my contact list, Google wants to squirrel them away 'for security' too. If I don't agree, at this point; no new contacts. (I think I can get around this with .vcf files - but should I need to?) The conclusion I have reached is this .... If I wanted to design a fully integrated system where I would know where a person was, 24/7, who they spoke to, when they did, who they emailed, who they messaged..... What their interests were, what they shopped for ..... <You get the picture?> I would be providing the outline structure of the Google Android operating system. Almost nothing is kept from the phone. And I say 'almost' because I'm sure there must be something you don't have to tell it, though as yet, I don't know what that might be .... Mrs Freddy spends time on the F/B forum keeping in touch with friends and family. It seems the F/B app on her new phone, doesn't have an 'off' function. Literally, it's designed so you can't turn it off once it has been launched.... It's possible to force a shutdown by going into the phone settings and closing it there, but who will do that (who even knows it can be done there?) With the 'location' function switched on, it would mean both Google and F/B could track my wife everywhere she goes, 24/7. Who needs that information, I don't.... Another really really really weird thing happened tonight too. While scrolling through her phones "history" log for a previous page visited while searching for Christmas presents on Google, some of my search history appeared on her phone, from May this year? Neither of us has these phones then, and search history is regularly deleted off the only 'live' computer in the house.... Where was that record of searches/sites accessed stored and how did it get on her phone? Seeing that pop up, actually shocked me. I am unsure what I will do about my phone. I have priced up an almost indestructible 'candy-bar' un-smart phone with a battery that lasts 3 days, even if used and most of the time it probably suits my phone needs better than the Moto I have. I'm increasingly aware of how obtrusive these 'smart' things are, and I'm not overly keen on that aspect of the device, as it's effectively 'spying' on my life. "Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get me." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted December 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2015 Further info on the Moto E vs Moto G ..... While in London's West End last Sunday night, Mrs Freddy used her new phone. I emphasise new, since she has had no time to become expert with it. However, she managed to take better photo's with her phone than I managed with my dedicated camera. In fact she took better quality photo's than our grandson (phone expert obviously) and myself with my digital compact. She also took her first 'selfie' with grandson, and had it up on FB within minutes. And only minutes later still, she was getting compliments and 'best wishes' from her friends for her night out in London. It won't be long before I hear the words ..... "I don't know how I managed without it." ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted December 24, 2015 Report Share Posted December 24, 2015 It is amazing the changes technology is bringing. My wife takes excellent pictures on her phone as well, although we are not connected up to social media at all. The mobile phone market is cutting deeply into the compact camera market. If you are just shooting jpegs, and for personal web and social media use, there is little reason to carry a dedicated camera these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted December 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2015 3 hours ago, Shyheels said: there is little reason to carry a dedicated camera these days. Absolutely right. I had bought my "E" phone as the bare minimum replacement for a (literally) falling apart candy-bar type phone. At the time, the 3rd Gen "G" wasn't available. The quality/speed of the onboard camera on the G takes some beating, and at a realistic price too. My upper/upper limit for a phone would just about have allowed a purchase. If I could find a home for my current phone I would upgrade and it might allow me to carry one piece of technology, rather than two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted December 24, 2015 Report Share Posted December 24, 2015 Alas my gear gets no lighter... I generally need to visit a physio after an assignment to get my back, shoulders and neck into alignment after schlepping a hefty camera bag around the traps for days on end... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heels Posted April 24, 2016 Report Share Posted April 24, 2016 Over the past few weeks I have been taking photos of every pair of high heels I own in my collection. I now own 52 pairs of high heels. I done this so I can keep track of what styles of heels I own and make it easier for me to buy more in the future. I am trying not to keep buying the same style of heels I already own. I would put these photos up in the gallery but once I put them up I can not remove them and I would like to keep my gallery tidy. When I do sell the odd pair of heels, I would also want to move the photo from the gallery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted April 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2016 On 24/04/2016 at 11:07 AM, Heels said: Over the past few weeks I have been taking photos of every pair of high heels I own in my collection. I now own 52 pairs of high heels. I done this so I can keep track of what styles of heels I own and make it easier for me to buy more in the future. I am trying not to keep buying the same style of heels I already own. I would put these photos up in the gallery but once I put them up I can not remove them and I would like to keep my gallery tidy. When I do sell the odd pair of heels, I would also want to move the photo from the gallery. I can understand that. I don't know why we aren't allowed to delete anything in our own gallery? I got around it for a while, by using Google Picasa, and then linking photo's in posts here, that could be looked at only if I allowed it. I'm sure there are others out there (Flickr) that do much the same thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted May 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2016 I'm not making the time I need to publish the 'candids' I take while out and about. In the edit I mostly spend time getting subjects vertical, cropping to points of interest (outfits), removing distractions, then removing any indicators of identity. It's the last bit that can sometimes be time consuming. The process of uploading isn't quick either. For some reason they need to be presented 'square' to avoid on-screen cropping. It all adds time. I'll try to do more, but I'm about 2½ years behind ... . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted September 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2016 On 03/12/2015 at 11:53 PM, FastFreddy2 said: On the strength of me having joined the modern world with a phone that looks like it's smart, Mrs Freddy has bought the model I decided was too expensive for my first venture; the Moto G 3rd Gen. A significantly better camera, and lens I suspect. Better quality/more fluid graphics. I am gutted. I might have upgraded.... Last year I bought the 'entry level' Motorola E, with basic 5mp camera, I added a huge capacity micro SD card, and a 'hard knock' proof cover. Was great for use as a media player. Also did (just) well enough for the occasional work or work-related picture. Was/is a terrible phone though. I talk to 2 people regularly, and both complain about lack of quality. Another two, I struggle to hear them. It's been a long time since I've lost a signal in a weak area over a regular car route, but this phone loses it at that place. Had two or three other issues, but none so bad I wanted to break the phone. Unsurprisingly to most, (but it surprised me) turning it off and back on again, cured the two worst. This year, Motorola did a slight upgrade to their Gen 3, with a G4 version. Similar spec, but not identical. More program memory, up from 1 mb to 2mb. More internal storage, from 8mb to 16mb. The processor has a faster clock speed too. Has returned to dual SIM. Oh, and the screen is a tad larger, though not significantly. Camera and function is identical, which is not a problem to me. The image quality of Mrs Freddy's efforts have been annoyingly good. All this for £130 and two year warranty. (No included accidental damage cover.) "Sim free" phone only deal. Not sure if I'm going to keep it though. As long as I don't open the box, I've a couple of weeks to decide and can return it with no complications if that's what I choose to do. It's been offered as a combined birthday/Christmas present. Which is quite nice given Mrs Freddy didn't get one from me this year. ("Finish the house" was her first, second, and third choices. ) The phone quality being poor (again) is a worry of course, but .... Having now had around 10/11 months use of an Android driven camera phone, "candids" are practically out-of-the-question. They are just not designed for it. So ....... Jury is out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted November 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2016 I kept the phone. Not dual SIM as I'd read (G4 Plus for that I think) but the phone is a big improvement - as a telephone. Android 6 (Marshmallow) is not as nice as 5 (Lollipop) and many people have struggled to move data around. I still haven't managed to push images back onto the phone unless I remove the data card and store new images on that. Deletions are easy. Otherwise, the phone is very good. Tried doing some videoing at a music gig last week. Auto-focus struggled a bit with low lighting, and there was absolutely no base in the recording at all. I guess a iPhone would have performed better, but is £300-£500 more expensive depending on the model. I'm still happy with my £130 phone. If you like to have a lot of 'apps' on your phone, this one might be for you. 2gb+16gb storage on-board. Plus you can add data cards that Android 6 will map as integrated storage, and also encrypt the whole lot. Have added some more 'street' shots from early 2013. The past 6 months has been pretty disappointing, in that I've hardly seen anything of interest. In truth I suppose I may be spending less time in places where I'm used to finding heels being worn? Summer wasn't great. It was warm, but not so predictable it encouraged travel. My personal finances haven't been great either, so I've not spent much time 'window shopping'. Am I getting too old for self-indulgence? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted November 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2016 "New" images remain difficult to come by (indication of a "flat's" trend,) or my dwindling social life? Added some pictures today from almost 3 years ago, so still got some 'in the pipeline' to post in the Gallery section. What's finally arrived, is my second encounter, with a fella shopping for heels in a large department store. I will try to produce a separate thread for that. Can't believe it will have been 3 years come January ... Where does time go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted September 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 Just added some pictures, taken 4½ years ago. Where has my life gone? And I've so far forgotten to do that 'man in heels' special. Must pull my digit out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puffer Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 11 hours ago, FastFreddy2 said: Just added some pictures, taken 4½ years ago. Where has my life gone? And I've so far forgotten to do that 'man in heels' special. Must pull my digit out! If you must, but don't frighten the horses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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