Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Action...

This is one of the easiest shots to take with your dslr...coz other than the focus settings you can leave everything else as automatic....


these are canon menu names - nikon folks find your own... :P


> set focus to automatic (that it will usually be)
> set shooting mode to P (program auto)
> optional - on a bright day lock in your ISO at its lowest

> set drive mode to continuous shooting

> set auto focus (AF) mode to AI Servo AF

> Optional - make only the central Auto Focus point active (AF Point selection menu)


catch a car with the central point and press trigger half way to focus & lock in

press trigger full way while following the subject with the central point....and keep trigger down letting the camera shoot away....


review and select good pics in computer & not LCD display (very important) :))


and of course, remember to change it back to One Shot from Servo AF before shooting stills.... else you will be wondering what on earth is wrong with the camera next time you try a still...

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A Tricky Digital Examination ...

Do not be fooled if your doctor says you need a "digital rectal examination"....

there is nothing "DIGITAL" about that examination...

thats doctor's language for saying he/she is going to use his/her DIGITS to exam your body part in question......!!!!


Monday, January 11, 2010

"Sticking" with the old....

tired of your non-stick pans?

tired of being "gentle" with them ?

tired of using the soft side of your kitchen sponge to "gently" clean them? really feel like using the HARD side and scraping their bottom clean?

left it on high heat and returned to see the non-stick surface disappearing in smoke??

tired of getting a new set every year to replace the last years because they are now super glue pans?

back home and back in time, mom used to have one flat cast iron DOSAKALLU to make dosas,fry fish, fry eggs, whatever...and another deep dish "cheenachatti" for appams, curries and other stuff...

she has gone through a lot of non-sticks, but still has and uses the two iron ones...and i checked with her and found they were gifts she got during their wedding...so the two really are OLDER than me !!!

couple years bk, we got ourselves a real heavy cast iron skillet....and so far, we are loving it more every day....

its been through heavy use, daily fried eggs, almost daily fried fish, and weekly dosas and appams....

and it looks as good as new.....

and you use it right...nothing really sticks...waay better than non sticks....
and even if something does, you can scrape its roots out with a HEAVY METAL spatula...not the soft feather touch ones you need for the non-sticks...

and if you forget it out on the hot stove...it just sits there, like its the best place on earth.....

and best of all...when its your turn to do the dishes...you can scrape its ass clean like there is no tomorrow....

so its been 2 years...and we did go through a couple less non-sticks in this time than normal...but get back to the cast iron...coz this now really feels like a step forward...not back...
:))

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

a test match of a hiatus...

watched a one day game after a long long time....maybe 4-5 years...
was browsing around on espn360.com and i noticed india vs. sri lanka idea cup available. put it on....

and i had to note these down along the way....
:)

it is 8.5 hours long, but you can do whatever you want while the game is on...read, work, check mails, just look at the screen when you hear the shouts...either the crowd, the players or the commentator....the game really does not mess with your day at all...

very odd watching the game without any advertisements between overs...you are not used to seeing replays of a boundary hit on the last ball of the over, or the start of strides of a paceman's first ball....

umpire drew a circle above his head after a no ball, and "free hit" was displayed on screen - googled that one immediately.... :))

ravi shastri seems to have taken over from siddhu....
"that really was a biriyani over.."
"that ball found the boundary like a tracer bullet.."

i dont know which commentator it was but yuvraj was looking at the bat quite often and he said "what are you doing bat? you are not making that sweet sound with me!"

dhoni somehow looks younger and fitter??

the espn feed continues right through half time break...there was laxman sivaramakrishnan on the pitch doing a mic test...he was singing "one two three......" in carnatic music....and then shouting at someone in tamil "nee soupaa? naan maggi noodles da..."

the only guy i knew in the sri lankan team was sangakkara....and for good reason...they showed the number of matches each guy on that team has played, sangakkara was close to 250, next one was 89, followed by 30.....