Harvesting Sweet Potatoes

This summer I decided to give sweet potatoes a bigger piece of real estate in

my garden.  I like the flowers, my wife likes the potatoes.  I grew them last year

as an experiment, we had a store bought sweet potato that started to bolt. So, like

any good gardener geek, I planted it.  We got a few potatoes but the best surprise

were the flowers.  See video click here.  This year I planted two full beds and a

corner bed with the little seed potatoes from last year.  I trained the vines up

the fence to maximize growing space. As you can see below, we got quite a

few sweet potatoes and plenty of seed potatoes for next summer.

So one left over store bought sweet potato has now become several meals

and I still have two beds to dig.

Back yard gardening is no joke, it's good eats. 

GoPro Hero2 Macro Test Shots

A couple weeks ago, I shot a video of crazy ants carrying away a dead lizard.

The video is very funny but technically it was crap...... out of focus.

It got me thinking, GoPro cameras are very good POV sports cameras but

they have no macro capability.  So I went digging in my camera heap and

came up with this GoPro Frankenstein below.  Funny thing, it works.

See the test video here.

It's a very simple temporary set-up, I used two rubber bands to hold

a small macro lens in-front of the GoPro housing.  You could use tape as well.

The little macro lens is part of a Bower Super Wide angle lens I got for

my Sony camcorders.  The macro lens unscrews from the wide angle element.

There is a permentent way to put a macro lens on a GoPro but it requires

taking the GoPro apart and screwing in a new lens.  So?  Do you have an

old macro lens in your pile of photo gear?  You may just have a way to get

 cool macro shots with your GoPro.

Crazy Ants

My garden has been under a frenetic assault by Crazy Ants.

Crazy Ants you say? Oh yeah they are crazy!  I have no idea what specific

kind of ants these are, if you know please leave a comment below.

I posted a video today, click on this link to watch.  

The video speaks for itself, there is nothing these ants won't try to conquer.

I have watched as they have taken anything dead for a walk.

These ants forage in mass and take no prisoners.  All very good

until they broke the first rule of my science project/ victory garden.

They tried to take my house.

Saturday morning we had to call in an airstrike and nuke the invading army.

Did it work?  We will see.  

The question now is who will clean up the dead lizards?

GoPro Hero3 Wish List

Update 2: I have a new post about speculation surrounding a new Hero 4
Check it out, click here.
and a new video check it out, click here.

 

Update: I purchased a Hero3 Black Edition and have now done

a review and first look.

Check out my new blog post here.

And my new YouTube video here.

 

Ah, the inevitable product cycle. If you are a regular reader of this blog, or

viewer of my Youtube Channel you know that I am a big user and fan of

GoPro Cameras.  Not quite as fanatical as an Apple fan.

It has been almost a year since the last GoPro Camera came out and I figured

I would make a video and post of my wish list for the next Hero.

I own most of the product line and make everything else I need from scratch.

Above and below are my three Heros, the Original Wide Hero the HD Hero

and the newest Hero2.

So what is on my wish list for the next Hero?

1.  The camera needs a 1/4 20 tripod mount

2. It needs to be black. The fact is the Hero

is being used for professional tv

 production and it needs to blend in,

 not stick out. 

3.  It needs exposure lock or some form of

manual settings for exposure and

color balance.

 That is the quick wish list, I am not one of these folks that expects DSLR

features out of a three hundred dollar POV camera.  However, there are

new competitors coming into the market and some features can be

tweaked easily.  I was going to post a review of the Hero2, but I never

got around to it.  I did want to mention, I like the new lens and sharper

sensor, I like the half second interval in time-lapse mode. I like the LED

light on the top and bottom of the camera, see below.  And last but not

least, I like that you can choose to put the LCD screen on the camera.

I like POV cameras to be small and cheap, I hope GoPro continues

to make their cameras and accessories expandable so I don't have

 to go buy new accessories with every new model. HUM HUM

Are you listening Canon and Sony? 

Feeding Frenzy

After a thorough soaking last night, I stepped out into the back yard this morning

to find a feeding frenzy.  I haven't see this much activity all summer.

Green bees, Miner bees everywhere. The Green bees jump on each other,

I don't know if they are mating or fighting, but check out the two shots below.

If you want to see more Miner Bees, above, check out this video.

Gulf Fritillarys, below, made their return after being absent most of the summer.

Mrs. Getawaymoments, captured an excellent shot of a Mud Dauber below.

The sight of these guys give me chills, creepy.

Today's big surprise, the arrival of our first documented visit by Florida's

own state butterfly, the Zebra Longwing.

I found them hard to photograph, they are not fast but they are constantly

on the move.  If you don't have some butterfly/bee friendly plants in your

yard, you should pant some you will not be disappointed.

Milky Way Astro Time-Lapse with Canon T4i

I'm always searching for dark skies, it's a necessary ingredient for astro time-lapse.
Most of the great astro time-lapses are shot in the dark corners of the planet.
Here in the United States that usually means the southwest.
Unfortunately, I live in Florida which has light pollution everywhere.
I shot a Moonset last May with some success.
A few weeks ago I had the chance to shoot part of the Milky Way
on a no Moon night in northern Virginia.
I did not have complete darkness, the lights from Dulles International Airport
were glowing in the distance.

I shot the time-lapse and stills with a Canon Rebel T4i (650D) with an EFS 17-55 2.8
ISO1600, 30 second exposures at 2.8 with a 2 second interval.
I used a Neweer RS-60E3 intervalometer.

Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum

When you walk into the main entrance you find yourself on a balcony looking out

on a hanger filled with aeronautical history.  In the distance, in the next hanger

sits the Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103).  I had been to the Smithsonian

Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum before but the arrival of the Discovery

gave me a great excuse to come back for another visit.

On July 13, 1995,  I watched Discovery launch(STS-70) from the press mound at KSC.
It was a great experience I will never forget.

On that mission she deployed a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) which is pictured
above her in the picture below.

As a Florida resident I watched dozens of shuttle launches from a distance, many from
my driveway which is about 120 miles from Kennedy Space Center.
From that distance or even on TV the shuttles looked powerful, even elegant.
Up close it's a much different story, it's hard to believe that Discovery flew at
17,000 miles per hour.  I am very happy that the Smithsonian did not clean Discovery
before putting her on display.  She is filthy.  The signs of an abusive re-entry are visible
all over the orbiter.  On many of the heat tiles you can see linear marks showing
the direction of re-entry.  It's an amazing specimen everyone should see in person.

I found this curious item in a display case next to Discovery.
It's an Apollo timer.  Fans of this blog and my Youtube channel know where this
is headed, that would make a nice GoPro panning unit.

The "Hazy" is a great museum with much to see.  Below are a few snapshots of
a few of my favorite planes and some history making aircraft.
Best thing, it's free. Second best thing, there is empty floor and roof space
which means this museum will be growing.  There is a restoration hanger with several
planes being restored as I write this post.
So, if you visit our nations capital make the drive out to northern Virginia and see
one of the best air and space museums in the country.