Crikeys! It worked! Yay!

The Lytro camera is an amazing thing. I won’t pretend to understand it fully, but it’s a light field camera, and it captures the entire light field, which allows you to refocus the photo after it has been taken. It seems ideal, at this point (I’ve been playing with it for about a week), for close-up photos with something cool in the background, portraits, or relatively complicatedly framed photos where there’s a lot in the photo at different distances from the camera itself.

This photo was taken at Graue Mill, in Hinsdale, IL. Graue Mill is a working museum–there’s an actual mill inside that grinds up corn and wheat. You can purchase freshly-ground cornmeal and wheat flour there in little cloth bags. It was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Salt Creek, which I’m fairly certain will burn your skin off if you spend too much time in it, runs past the mill and used to power the wheel, but I think now it’s run on electricity. It’s right next to Fullersburg Woods which has lovely walking paths and a nature museum.

Go ahead and click around on the photo. That robin was in her nest when I tromped up with my camera. I didn’t notice her at first. Then she hopped out of the nest and scared the crap out of me (I have a feeling I scared the crap out of her first) and went and sat on that branch. I wish I’d changed the exposure a little, because it’s a little dark. But it’s a nice example of what the Lytro camera does.

Here’s some flowers I snapped along the path near the mill. Refocus to your hearts content.

I like this one, even though I was a little too close to that main flower, so it’s a little hazy. I need to learn how to use the “creative mode” on the camera, which supposedly lets you get so close to the subject you’re touching it. I think it’s pretty, though.

But I think this one will stick. I rather like it. And now, I have to add content. Frequently.

I think, for now, I’m going try adding some photos to this post. Because I’m trying to figure out how to make the neat slideshow work. I got it to work on one post, but I don’t know how I did that. It was some kind of magic, and I kept clicking on things until it worked. I used to know more about how this stuff worked. But I stopped paying attention and now there are all these new features and tricks and words in support forums that I don’t understand. I can’t keep up.

And that “cultural happy hour” Don De Grazia talks about in that article? It’s starting soon. 5-8 p.m. every day. Everything from dance lessons to writing and comedy workshops to movies to book discussions and more. I’ll post a calendar when it’s set. (Though the bar is open at that time now, so head on in for an after-work drink!)

The Underground Wonderbar is located at 710 N. Clark Street, Chicago, between Huron & Superior.

Reading Under the Influence

Some old content will disappear. Some will be refiled. And we’ll be off in a new direction. Don’t laugh so hard! You’ll hurt yourself or get an aneurism or something! I’m really doing it!