Juggling Mike

Last year marked the first year I bought an Apple product. This year is the first time I buy a Sony gaming console. After skipping the Playstation, Playstation 2, and PSP, I have decided to purchase a PS3 Slim. It was never the size that prevented me from buying one; it was the price.

As a gaming machine, I found the Xbox 360 to be overall superior. While each have their pros and cons, it all comes down to the main element: the games. Very little games on the PS3 interested me, and those that did were often available on the Xbox as well. The PS3 was also too expensive (in my opinion) as a bluray player. I’ve seen players drop down to 150$ on sale, which meant dropping a minimum of 400$ for the PS3 was too much. That said, Sony does have some interesting exclusive games on their console, but everybody have their own tastes, and their line-up did not whet my taste buds. Even today, there are only three games that are exclusive to the PS3 that I would like to play.

Anyways, I have been happy so far with my Xbox 360, but with the arrival of the Slim this week at the tempting price of 299$, I caved and brought a Sony into my home. I haven’t had much time to play around with yet, but so far, it is pretty impressive. I purchased the new Batman: Arkham Asylum game to go with it, but after playing with it, I think I would have preferred it on the 360. My problem lies not with the game itself, but with the Playstation controller. I am just not a big fan of the layout. I know, I know, the layout has been used for so many years now, how can it be anything but perfect? Maybe it is great for others, but in my case, I much prefer the 360 controller and its layout. I find the thumbsticks more responsive and the triggers easier to use. That said, the Dualshock controller has better shoulder buttons and a dpad that actually works like it should. Hopefully overtime I will appreciate it more.

There are some benefits of the PS3 over the 360. It has integrated wifi, free online, and of course, the bluray player. I already own the 360 HD-DVD player, but since my Xbox is an older generation, it does not come with a HDMI output. My TV goes up to 1080p, but ONLY with a HDMI cable. The Playstation is the first console in which I can actually use my television to it’s full potential. I’m not a car simulation fan, but Gran Turismo 5 Prologue looks damn nice. I still haven’t tried a Bluray disc yet, but I’m hoping to remedy that this weekend.

While I still love the Xbox 360, I am happy to finally own all competing consoles. I’m a little poorer, but my entertainment system is much more richer.

1 Comment »

Yesterday, I headed off to the Montreal Botanical Gardens to take some infrared photography. I recently purchased a 77mm Hoya R72 Infrared filter, and I was itching to try it out. It was a cloudy day, with a little bit of rain, so while I found the results pretty nice, I was less impressed than some shots I had taken in the past. Usually, my pictures come out with pinkish trees and an amber sky, which looks beautiful in its own, but I always strive to get a blue sky through Photoshop. This is not my best work, but I want to share the output with you anyways.

For those who don’t know what infrared is, check out the article on Wikipedia. In short, before taking my picture, I add an infrared filter on the lens of my camera which blocks out all visible light, and only lets through infrared rays above 720nm. This delivers a picture that is mostly red, which I then process on my computer. The end result can give multiple interesting results, such as white vegetation and murky dark water. Some people physically modify the internals of their camera to only take infrared pictures. This has many benefits, such as no post processing, but it prevents you from taking any normal pictures. Regardless of your method, the pictures usually look incredible and seem to pop out from a dream sequence.

Take for example this bonsai tree. On the left is the original picture, and on the right is the infrared version. The infrared picture looks as if it is a fake tree and the colour of the leaves have all disappeared.

Here is another example of before and after. This was taken at the Japanese Gardens, and you can clearly see that the vegetation lost their colour and the water has a darker appearance.

Since I can’t see through the viewfinder with the filter on, I am forced to set up my picture beforehand and then take a second picture with the filter on. Sometimes, I will merge elements of both pictures together to create a different visual experience. In the next picture, I incorporated the Chinese lanterns from the original picture into the infrared landscape. In reality, these lanterns had also lost all their colour to the infrared filter.

Keep reading for the rest of the pictures.
Continue Reading »

6 Comments »

We are currently going through a heat wave here in Montreal, and while I detest it when it is too warm, I spent the entire weekend outside. I’m bursting with Vitamin-D, and I felt great!

I spent Saturday chilling with some friends, where we drank Vodka (and Rum and Triple Sec and Jagermeister and beer) and played Bocce. Sunday, I visited the tam tams at Mount Royal. I got to see duct-tape medieval fighting, jugglers, slackliners, hippies galore, and tribal drummers. We played some frisbee and football and then finished the night with an amazing vegetarian supper (thanks again Dave & Lorraine!). I took Monday off so that I could go visit the Botanical Gardens. While it was hot, it was not as sunny as I wanted it to be. My goal was to shoot infrared pictures, and the more sun there is, the better the pictures turn out. Nonetheless, I managed to get a couple of good shots, which I will share in another post.

They are announcing more sun for the rest of the week with high heat and humidity warnings. I will try my best to go outside more often and to finally take advantage of this summer!

No Comments »

This past Saturday, we headed off to watch the fireworks on the rooftop of a friend’s apartment. He lives right beside the old port, so we had a great view of the colourful explosions. I had brought along my tripod and camera to try my hand at capturing some of the fireworks. While my shots do not even compare to the pros, I did manage to get a couple nice shots. In the one image I am sharing below, the explosion looks small, but since I was at a distance, it was actually quite large.

While I was there, I also took a panoramic shot (about 200 degrees of rotation) of the view which you will find below. You can click on the image to see a larger shot, but be warned that it weighs at a hefty 500kb.

4 Comments »