The Coffee House

[Gary A.]

I have worked on some old houses and find them interesting. Life was sure different back then.

I do construction management and 'discovery' on older buildings is always problematic. I converted the old, 1940-ish, Hollywood and Vine Jimmy Doolittle Theatre into the new and improved Ricardo Montalban Theatre. Talking about change-orders.

 

[pgriz]

As a contractor, figuring out what's there and what has to change is always an issue, especially if the previous "upgrades" were organic (the kind that kinda grew into that place, usually performed by homeowners that are light on building knowledge). I've learned to quote fixed-price on the obvious stuff, and time-and-materials on the unknown stuff. In fact, it is not uncommon to charge a consulting fee for doing some "exploratory surgery" to figure out what's actually there. And then, once we know, there comes the question of whether to upgrade at least to code (usually expensive), or to figure out some other way that won't require getting a third mortgage. Then there's the matter of unforseen consequences when you fix just part of the problem without taking a holistic or systems-wide approach. Usually the best thing to do is do a proper investigation and with that knowledge come up with a game plan. However often the cost of doing the investigation is almost equal to what other contractors would charge for doing the original job. I do a lot of edukating of prospective clients.

 

[bribrius]

shot Christmas parade last night. 104 photos. ended up deleting the entire string. freakn light sucked they all came out like chit.

 

[bribrius]

Did some "un-plumbing". I'm removing some of the old cast iron drains to make way for the new plastic pipe.

Here is a piece of the cast iron that had to come out.

View attachment 90789

I still have the one running from the basement up the two stories but the part that crossed the basement floor was going to leak so I ripped that out and replaced with pvc.

 

[Gary A.]

For Leonore - This was for sale on ebay. Might be the answer to those pesky headaches.

I want one. I need to prevent "WAR CRAZED SWELLED HEAD" and "DARK BROWN TASTE" ... (and probably "LOVE").

 

[Gary A.]

shot Christmas parade last night. 104 photos. ended up deleting the entire string. freakn light sucked they all came out like chit.

I like the challenge of shooting in bad light. Often, getting something in bad light has more drama than a similar subject in good light.

 

[bribrius]

I get ya, but on a Christmas parade you kind of what people actually visible it wasn't really a drama kind of thing..

 

[bribrius]

either high iso noise or shutter blur. shooting f6 or less and still running +6400 iso at the lowest shutter speed I could go. you know the deal.

 

[Gary A.]

Firstly, why were you shooting at f/6?

I get ya, but on a Christmas parade you kind of what people actually visible it wasn't really a drama kind of thing..

Now you're making an excuse why not ... when you should be thinking of what you can do next time to make it work ... to make it happen. Remember, lemonade is pretty good stuff.

You did shoot 104 images ... so I'll give you credit for trying. When I was starting out ... can't even imagine how many hundreds or thousands of rolls were tossed. Even when I was on my game my keeper rate was around 1:36.

Gary

 

[sashbar]

either high iso noise or shutter blur. shooting f6 or less and still running +6400 iso at the lowest shutter speed I could go. you know the deal.

Just some things to bear in mind:

1. Wide lenses will give you DoF at wide aperture.
2. Street lamps, brightly lit shop windows and adverts, car lights etc are your friends.
3. Exposure compensation is your tool - think of stopping down if there is some side light - and you get your drama king.
4. Topaz DeNoise is magic with Nikon files if you do not overdo it.

 

[limr36 5]

For Leonore - This was for sale on ebay. Might be the answer to those pesky headaches.

Yup, I think that ought to do the trick

I also wonder what "dark brown taste" is.

 

[Gary A.]

For Leonore - This was for sale on ebay. Might be the answer to those pesky headaches.

...
I also wonder what "dark brown taste" is.

I've never encountered any substance properly identified as such ... but, I am reasonably sure that it would not be a delightful taste and the prevention of said taste, is most likely, a worthwhile endeavour.

 

[snowbear121 53]

I also wonder what "dark brown taste" is.

Coffee & beef gravy, burned beyond recognition?

 

[limr36 5]

I also wonder what "dark brown taste" is.

Coffee & beef gravy, burned beyond recognition?

Ewwwww...

 

[bribrius]

either high iso noise or shutter blur. shooting f6 or less and still running +6400 iso at the lowest shutter speed I could go. you know the deal.

Just some things to bear in mind:

1. Wide lenses will give you DoF at wide aperture.
2. Street lamps, brightly lit shop windows and adverts, car lights etc are your friends.
3. Exposure compensation is your tool - think of stopping down if there is some side light - and you get your drama king.
4. Topaz DeNoise is magic with Nikon files if you do not overdo it.

yeah, I dropped the ball here. I should have stood in better lighted section. About the only thing that came out was some really crappy hdr.