Yes it’s been a few weeks now; the longest period without an update for a while. Hopefully this marks a change in the influence Depression is going to have in the future. A couple of weeks ago a few things happened at the same time that hopefully will amount to an epiphany with regard to my experience of Depression. I’ve managed to engage a few new treatment directions, and hopefully will regain some traction with regard to support at work. Nothing’s firmly in place yet, but hopefully by the end of the week.
Archive for the ‘Health’ Category
Is that Sgt Peppers I Hear Somewhere…
2015 -
05.24
While I was shooting Macro, practising my Focus Stacking, Stefan was out with his Fisheye giving it a try. Apparently this is what my world really looks like at the moment. Got to confess, there’s days it feels like it too.
As the Week Awakens…
2015 -
05.10
There are few simple pleasures more enjoyable for me than waking up and watching the dark turn to dawn then to day while it rains solidly. Awesome sound, and the slow revelation of a world being refreshed by rain is wonderful and nourishes my soul!
Stack It On…
2015 -
05.03
Normally a post on photography would be going on Shards of Arcadia but in this instance I’ll put it here for the moment as it’s more a summary, and I think I will be adding a “Techniques” page to Shards of Arcadia when I want to expand on it.
I suppose the important point for me today about this is that I was reading some photography sites, and stumbled across a technique for enhancing the Depth of Field (DoF) for Macro & Landscape shots. Now this technique’s probably no surprise to the more experienced Macro shooter than myself, but I was blown away by what it will offer me. I’ve struggled with how to achieve “maximum” DoF with my Macro shots, and have often been wondering how others achieve considerably better results. Was it the gear? Well no, they were using gear of a similar calibre. Was it far more light? Once again not particularly. I’ve bought a flash ring and although it helped to some degree, it brought with it some other problems even though it resolved the difficulty of lack of light and using small aperture. It seems that there’s a technique / process that’s called by a number of names, but I found it first as “Focus Stacking”.
Without going into a too technical diatribe that most of you will be completely bored with, I’ll simply outline the process. Some of you may be familiar with High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography. It produces a striking image by the crafting together of multiple shots of the same scene or subject at different exposures, to create a composite image with a greater dynamic range overall than any single original shot. It creates some very powerful and wonderful shots. “Focus Stacking” is conceptually similar in that you take a number of shots of the same scene but shift the focus point ever so slightly for each individual shot. Once again software is used to “composite” all these shots into one image that reflects the multiple focus points thus representing a greater DoF.
So what you say? Well for those of us who enjoy Macro photography which is probably most notable for it’s “detail”, it’s a boon! You’re able to present the viewer with an image which has more of the subject in focus and more of that interesting detail to be seen. Of course outside of the software to combine the images, not much is really needed to make this happen. However to do it extremely well, I see a number of additional pieces of hardware coming down the track. More on that later.
I’m excited!
Cardboard Everywhere…
2015 -
03.30
I’ve been on a board games spree this last month, catching up on all the titles I’d been putting off last year. But now that I’ve cleared those credit cards, I’ve been catching up. Latest to join the cupboard of “board gaming goodness” are the following titles listed below.
Descent: Journeys in the Dark Version 2 and all the expansions for it.
Descent: Journeys in the Dark Version 2 conversion kit for Version 1.
Android.
Merchant of Venus.
Battle of Five Armies.
Eldritch Horror and Mountains of Madness Expansion.
Last weekend the Photography took a second place to the gaming. Speaking of Gaming, I have finally got to play what will most likely be the last computer game I buy: Pillars of Destiny. I’ve been looking forward to this games for months. The wait is over and it’s every bit as good as I’d hoped. For fans of the BG I & II, Icewind Dale and Torment games, look no further for you reprise of a dose of good old fashioned RPG.
And as an aside there’s a nice new Macbook Pro on it’s way too. The PC is being donated to a friend who no doubt will relish every windows moment! The PC hasn’t been used since over a year ago when I bought the 27″ iMac.
There’s No Price on Friendship (except perhaps Pride)…
2015 -
03.02
Today I renewed an old and for a time “broken” friendship. I’m gladdened and appreciative that it’s been returned in kind. It’s the second significant and important friendship I’ve managed to renew in the last few years. These are the things money just doesn’t buy no matter how much you have or don’t have, all that’s required is effort and willingness to put into it.
Hop, Step, Stumble, Hop…
2015 -
02.24
It’s been a less than perfect start to the week from a work perspective. Missed two days so far due to Depression / Tiredness from the raised dosage of Anti-Depressants. So I’m currently steeling myself to be able to get into work tomorrow instead of working from home, just to keep the momentum on getting to work.
So clearly I’m still not fully on the up & up yet with this round of strategies. But by the same token, I’m not trying to lift myself up completely from below ground level. I’m not devastated with Depression to the point I can’t get out of bed. And my days are back at least into the correct cycle of day / night & sleep pattern even if I’m sleeping intermittently over that 20:30 to 04:30 period.
So all in all I suppose I’m winning more than losing at this stage.
Summer Breeze Makes Me Feel Fine…
2015 -
02.14
Well the last week was tiring but positive. Getting to work was a successful venture at this stage. Worked from home three days and got to work the other two. That was as arranged, and helped significantly. The same for this week. Monday, Wednesday & Friday again. After that we’re mixing up the days again.
The day after my last post I ordered the Nikon D810, and it arrived on the following Thursday just past. The price had risen $100 in the last month. No sign of that stopping. It’s defintely a great beast, but I’ve had scarcely any time to play with it yet. I’ve managed to charge up the batteries and configure the settings to match my preferred settings similar to the D600 and the D7000. I may need to changed those for this camera, it’s some different processor technology and image capture technology. Still I need a starting point for comparison!
I’ve also ordered memory cards and a sensor cleaning kit while I’m at it.
The final components of the order I placed about three weeks ago for ensuring I had the complete kit of Descent: Journeys in the Dark Ver. 2 have shipped. Interestingly the last to ship was the Australian Supplier, all the overseas orders had arrived weeks ago. And they wonder why they’re struggling to have people buy locally.
So enjoyed some rain for last couple of days, done the usual phone calls to catch up with friends, housework, been for a walk and played with the Moggies. It’s warming up now, and a bit bright, but I may still take the new beast out for a bit of a run.
Hopefully all the Rapids are Behind…
2015 -
02.08
Well it’s been a fairly positive week. Five days back at work, and a plan for the next few weeks. I’ll work from home alternate days, basically on BAU, it’s easy to track so keeps people happy. I’m feeling better within myself again, I certainly have a bit of positivity back. I’ve been pretty tired after the week, but that’s ok, sleeping much better now. So far I’m only waking up about once in the middle of the night. For me that’s fantastic progress. I also seem to be getting to sleep quicker.
I’ve not done much with the Photography over the last few weeks. But I’m going to swing back into it over the next week or so. I just need to get back into the routine of work again first. Currently that’s one of my prime tasks, once that’s back in tune, I should have the available energy to devote to my other goals.
I’m hoping to pick up the Nikon D810 soon, possibly within the next 6 weeks. The price is creeping up so I’d rather get it sooner than later.
A Happy little Worker Be(e)…
2015 -
02.02
Well Monday arrives, and so far things have started smoothly, awake as usual before the alarm, about 04:30 with Furbags on bed. So no committee meeting before getting out of bed. Can’t really adequately express right now how good THAT WAS for a change. So it’s Breakfast, Drugs, Coffee, make lunch and it’s off to work I go like a happy little worker bee.