Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cousin Josh
Joe Martin Stadium
Bellingham, Washington, USA

We're visiting my sister in Bellingham Washington, where all Anthony's American cousins will get together for the first time in four years (this time with one more than last time).

We happen to arrive just in time for cousin Josh (7½) getting to be a bat boy for the first time, at a Bellingham Bells collegiate summer league game. He's attended many games and sat near the dugout, so he knew the players and was super excited at this opportunity (especially since one must normally be at least 11 years old, but they interviewed him and decided he knew enough about baseball to perform his duties appropriately).

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 160mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos
Helping the Coach
during pre-game practice

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 150mm — ¹/500 sec, f/3.2, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pre-Game Photo Op
with his favorite player, second baseman Ryan Yamane out of Colorado State

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
National Anthem
next to head coach Gary Hatch

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 45mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Saying “Hi” to the Family
on the way back from picking up a foul ball

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 35mm — ¹/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Consultation
with the dugout manager

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/400 sec, f/4.5, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fetching a Ball from the Infield

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/400 sec, f/4.5, ISO 180 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fetching a Bat

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/400 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
All Smiles
in the setting sun

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — ¹/400 sec, f/8, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Our Seats
courtesy of a friend of Marty (Josh's dad, my brother in law)

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Reverse-Angle View
Anthony watches the opposition take a strike

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 180 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Slice of Americana”
with some “creative” processing

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/400 sec, f/4, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Balls for the Ump

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Base Hit

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 45mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Watching the Action
from the Dugout

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mid-Inning Entertainment
with the Bellinghamster team mascot

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 27mm — ¹/100 sec, f/8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Groundout to First

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Finer Points
Uncle Marty explains baseball to Anthony

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Stance
taking a personal moment on the way back after fetching a bat

Anthony is quite the soccer fan, and didn't really know much about baseball, but we saw two games two nights in a row, and he learned quickly, so he's developed an interest. We'll be going to another game next week.

Sigh, I spoke too quickly with my previous post.... the nasty Lr5 Publish bug is not fixed in the Lr5.2 beta.

UPDATE (Oct 25): Possible workaround discovered: see here.

I tested for this bug during the runup to 5.2 and though it was fixed, so either it became broken again in the final 5.2 beta build that Adobe released to the public, or, more likely, I just didn't test well enough. 🙁

In either case, the bug remains at least to some extent, so as per my initial post, those working in Publish with Lightroom 5 are advised to make their selections with the filmstrip instead of the grid, or you risk that your photo/metadata changes are applied to a completely different set of photos than it appears.

Adobe has just released a Lightroom 5.2 beta build, the follow-on from Lightroom 5.0 released a month an a half ago. (There is no “5.1”.)

This build fixes the big Publish-selection bug introduced in Lr5.0. Adobe doesn't suggest using a beta build for real work, but FWIW, I deem the risk from the known 5.0 bug much worse for me than the risk of unknown new bugs in the 5.2 beta, so I'm already using this 5.2 beta for my real-world master catalog.

Unlike most Lightroom dot releases, this one has more than bug fixes and new camera/lens support... it actually has a few new features, including a feather slider for the spot-healing tool. Further details and the download link at Adobe's “Lightroom Journal” blog.

Continued here...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — ¹/50 sec, f/2.8, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shoe Shopping at Home
at my sister's home, via Zappos.com

I'm currently on a trip to The States, visiting my sister's family in Washington State, and later my folks in Ohio. I took the opportunity of being here to give shoe retailer Zappos.com a try. My feet are water-ski narrow (US size 13½ width AA), a size that shoes simply aren't made for, but some makers do offer a “N” (narrow) or even “B” (super narrow) sizes, which is at least a step in the right direction to the “AA” (ultra-crazy narrow) width I really need.

So, prior to my trip, I searched Zappo's huge inventory for size 13½ or 14 in the various narrow widths, and placed my order for lots of shoes to try, so that by the time I got here, dozen pairs of shoes, socks, and shoe inserts waiting for me.

Zappo's thing is that they pay for shipping both to you, and if you decide you don't want something, for the return as well, so this kind of “order a bunch to try and keep only a few” thing is exactly their business model.

(Still, with my hard-to-fit feet, I felt that I would be ordering so many to try that it might be considered an abuse of their system, so asked whether I could pay for shipping, to which they essentially replied “No, silly, we'd never let you do that. Order away.”)

So it was fun to go through the various pairs of gym shoes, running shoes, hiking shoes, and dress shoes. For sports stuff, I found time and again that Brooks brand just fit me the best, so I've a new favorite there. For other brands, I generally had to replace the insole with a special narrow arch-support insole; in addition to extreme narrowness, my feet have absolutely no arch. These insoles are more than $40 for a pair, but they make the difference between comfort and pain.

I kept a bunch and sent back the rest, then promptly ordered more when I realized that the running shoes I kept were not appropriate for side-to-side movement of playing soccer with Anthony. UPS says that order is “out for delivery”, so four pairs should be arriving today, with three going back tomorrow.

The problem with this business model is that it works so well, and I find myself scouring Zappos.com for interesting styles that I've seen out on the street. But I'm limited by luggage weight and space (and then storage space at home in lack-of-space Japan), so I must show restraint.

Probably the last of these for a while, as I'm off tomorrow to travel for a few weeks, but here's a sequence of different-aperture shots taken looking down a railing on the covered bridge in the gardens of the Heian Shrine (平安神宮) in Kyoto Japan, where my previous post left us.

Animatable (4 frames) — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view different apertures
写真の上をマウスであちこちにゆっくり動かすといろいろな絞りの影響を見えます。

Though with fewer shots, this scene perhaps makes for a better example than the one I posted the other day in “The Effects of Aperture on a Subtle, Tranquil Cluster of Cherry Blossoms”.

Still, the shutter-speed one from earlier in the month (“The Effect of Shutter Speed on the Appearance of Flowing Water”) is better yet.