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08:38am
"Last call. usually you didnt have 2 worry about catching the bus.
now a 2nd overflow bus isnt guaranteed anymore."
Friday morning and in spite of buying my greyhound ticket in advance, it didn't really guarantee a seat on the bus. This case there was just enough people to justify a overflow bus. With rising gas prices, expect greyhound to raise the limits on how many passengers are required for a second bus. Simply get there early.
Rained all morning
on the way to Toronto
03:33pm
"3pm and finaly on the way 2 an. high humidity. got more mem n tapes.
had 2 buy cr2025 4 cam. set time n blank 30 sec"
I headed to my Bed and Breakfast then headed down to College street
computer stores to buy some needed supplies. Namely miniDV tapes along
with 256M Memory Stick Pro for the camcorder. I had then noticed that the
date time wasn't set and behold.... no battery for storing the settings
in the camcorder. I installed the clock battery then blanked 30 seconds
of video on the miniDV tapes by recording with the lens cap on. A tip from
a friend who said if a tape screws up, it won't take out any footage. Not
unlike Paradise Comicon footage which I just managed to recover.
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Odd using flash in the middle of the day outside? No. As in this
case, it's overcast light is dim. The flash in second photo helped bring
the metallic sheen of the armour right out. Since the paint is slightly
reflective the flash was effective in this case. At least, more than any
post processing would ever do.
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05:10pm
"Got my sticker 4 masq. it was noisy w/ staff yelling 4 quiet"
It was noisy in the line-up for stickers. It was largely due to ceramic
walls and floor along a bank of windows which all reflected sound. People
ended talking louder and louder until it got to level that con staff had
to quiet everybody. At least they lady handing out the masquerade
stickers was dressed for the job.
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First day of a con is always full of energy. I manage to try something different with a few photos. Typically alot of people just stand there. There are times it's hard to convince people to break out of the mold. First is a typical 3 quarter shot which shows off the costume nicely. As she was walking away I asked her to stop and look back. This photo which the crowd blurring in the background is awesome alternative photo.
Okay Zorro shouldn't be wearing glasses for one but the first is a typical full or frontal photo. Pretty flat with no dimension. Second is 3 quarter view of just the head using flash. The flash dropped off the background leaving the face silhouetted.
Not all alternative shots have to be facial. It can get right down.... well this case, down to the floor. No I didn't lay down on the floor. I crouched down then held my camera as best trying to still see the LCD screen. It took a couple of tries to get this one. The first was ruined by the lights in the ceiling which washed out the picture. By changing the perspective of the subject it added a whole lot more to the photo. With digital photography and memory cards being SO cheap, it makes sense to try new things. After all, you don't have to print or even keep every picture. So many people were deleting alot of pictures because they didn't have larger memory cards, they miss looking back and seeing what worked and what didn't. For me, I found more techniques by taking several photos of the same person. Just remember the one adage to photography.... You will always have time
to take a second picture.
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08:01pm
"YakiTori wonton sushi dragon not as good"
Once again, I ate at Sushi Dragon. However the yakitori wasn't crispy as last year as I remember it. However Sushi Dragon is close by and never really packed. Service was okay and timely.
Disco Ninja Turtle
This had to be the most bizarre cosplay to date. A RC car cosplaying
as turtle dancing away on the dance floor.
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I usually take several photos of the same subject, some with flash,
some without. For some reason, the second photo which I used flash added
a tint to the photo which added a wood or natural tint to the photo. In
second thought, I might have just be under one of the flood lights from
the ceiling.. I can't be sure. Also the red eye added to the wildness of
the characters.
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Video Gaming at Anime North
In the rear lobby of Doubletree was gaming section. Several video game consoles lined the walls. The one which had a crowd was pop star game which actually kept track of the pitch of the singer.
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PVC figs at one of the dealer's tables
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Photographing outside at night poses it's own problems Case in point. I was lucky that the background was white garage doors which helped reflect the flash and filled the background. However, most flash effective range is 10 feet. My SD300 camera is MUCH less. You can see from original how the light falls off the background. Lucky I had enough room in the picture to crop off most of the falloff, leaving a nicely light background. Tips? Zoom out a little of your subject to allow for post processing of cropping off the falloff of the flash. If you want that spooky mood, don't correct for red eye to give that vampire look. ;) If there is no wall then you might want to use your setting and forget the flash. Push the camera as far as it can go then try to post process the picture like the one below ... letting the night silhouette your subject.
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End of the day, and time to head back to my room. One guy begged to take a photograph of him.
I mounted the bus then the subway which was filled with con goers with thier own baggage.
I tried to get to the internet cafe but the guy on nights was closing shop and would have nothing of me nor answer an single question on when they be open in the morning. Sigh. I need some sleep.... zzzzz.
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