Newness and Stuff.

Wow, that title certainly makes me look smart.

Anyway.

I know it's been a while, but, really, I've been sort of busy. For the past two or three weeks (whoa, maybe more) I've been helping my dad, who is a handyman/contractor, cleaning up shingle tear-off from a roof he's working on. We just finished the job today. Tomorrow? We start another one...joy. But really, I'm not complaining because all of this work is going to pay off my new appendage, Jupiter, the magnificent Canon Digital Rebel XTi! That's right! I got my dream camera!!!

I'm very excited about my new "toy" and I've been casually adapting to the Digital SLR, which has more differences from my Canon S1 IS than I thought it would. Here are a few of the major ones:

For one thing, I cannot take the picture looking at the LCD screen; I must use the viewfinder. I can only view the product on the LCD after I've snapped a shot. There are advantages and disadvantages to this: the advantage is that having the camera up close to my face does help with image stabilization...plus peering through the little viewfinder makes me look a lot more professional. The disadvantage is that, since I am looking through the lens, I do not see what the actuall photo will look like. In other words, if I were to change to a really fast shutter speed, like 1/2000, the viewfinder would not show me that that speed won't allow enough light to enter, giving me a dark photograph. With my old camera, I saw exactly what I was getting. No complaints though. This will force me to pay more attention to my settings and fine-tune my skills.

Another difference is that this camera allows me to change lenses. This means that I can build up a library ranging from a macro lens to an infared lens to a telephoto lens and so on, adding to my capability to take the kind of shot I want without major photoshopping. One downside is that good lenses are kind of expensive. Also, not every lens will give me the zoom capability I had with the S1 IS.

Finally, a major difference that was the reason for my purchasing this particular model is the fact that it has 10.1 megapixels. This is compared to the 3.2 on my S1 IS. Yes. That is a BIG deal. This means I can crop without degrading quality as much and I can make much bigger, much sharper prints.

Today I did my first portrait shoot with Jupiter, and the photos look great. I can't wait to edit them and post them for the clients to see, but my personal laptop is out of commission for a little while. The AC adaptor broke (well, actually, it broke, then Daddy fixed it, then it broke and Daddy fixed it, then it broke again anyway) and I had to order a new one. It should hopefully be here in a week or two. I do have access to two more computers in the house, but I'm not very comfortable spending as much time as I will need to to edit the shots. I may have to do it anyway.

My gorgeous sister and niece are coming to town tomorrow to be with us for my niece's 1st birthday, which will be great, but that means I have to go and do some house cleaning...ew.

Have a great week, readers.

Pitter Patter of Little Critters

Just about a half-hour ago I was sitting on the couch, just relaxing, when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye near the television. My first thought was," Ew, big scary spider!" but I was wrong.

It was a mouse!

And I don't say, "Mouse!" as in, "Eek! Mouse!" I say is as in,"Aw, mousie!!! I want him!"

I love little critters like that...even if they are supposed to be pests.

The cute little brown mouse crept behind the television, and I calmly called out to my dad that there was a mouse in the living room. My father and I tried to corner him behind the TV where he hid, but he was out of our sightline, so dad gave up and went back down stairs. While my dad was out of the living room, the cute little mouse attempted sneaking off to a safer place, but to no avail. I watched him climb along the cords coming from behind the television, and he eventually darted away and into the coat closet (I think).

Gosh, he's a cute little guy. I realize that he's not good for the house, leaving little droppings and chewing up things, but I don't want him to get hurt. I'd love to safely catch him and either keep him caged, or take him somewhere away from here to live his short life unharmed. He's adorable. If my mom were back home from California, she'd think so too.

I hope we'll be able to trap him humanely...I love rodents!


UPDATE:
I caught him! He managed to make his way downstairs, where my dad called me down...in an attempt to corner him, he darted into the bathroom where he was trapped. I was alone with the scared little guy for a few minutes and finally managed to catch him about half way under a cup, as well as by the tail (it was chaos). He was squeaking, of course, and was a little skinny, but adorable nonetheless. I took him out back to the alley and set him free....I feel better now :)