HDR is is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.
The sky was quite dramatic this morning so and it was a perfect time to try out my first HDR image.
This is the original image right out of the camera (no enhancements):
This are 2 enhanced HDR images (notice the dramatic sky)
It has been 3 and a half months since I had my accident. In someways the time has flown by in other way the time has seemed to crawl. The good news is that I am healing and that with every passing day I gain strength in my leg.
With all this down time in my life, the most I have had in years, I have had plenty of time to mull over experiences and day to day life. I am quite amazed at all the activities and day to day routines that are just that routines. We do them without thinking, they are like breathing. Here are some of the small things that I have taken for granted in my life and have come to appreciate in the last few months.
1. Putting on socks. Now this is routine for most of us, but it has new significance when you can’t reach your feet and you are asking a 2 year old to help you.
2. Going to the bathroom at night. It’s much easier when you don’t have to pop a couple of pills and wait 15 minutes for them to kick in before you can get out of your bed.
3. Disciplining children. It’s demeaning to tell your kids you are coming over there to put them in a time out and they say “you can’t walk!”
4. Playing hide and seek. It’s much easier to play when the kids don’t fall asleep while counting waiting for me to hide.
5. Making dinner. Try making dinner, sitting in a wheel chair or standing on one leg.
Along with the things that you take for granted are the everyday annoyances of being out in public while in a wheel chair. I never really thought about it before, but I am amazed at how wheelchair unfriendly our society is. There are many buildings that are not wheelchair accessible, 7-11, MACS, Tim Hortons and other convenience stores. Grocery stores are hard as well, if I wasn’t able to stand up to reach things, I am not sure how you would reach the top shelf without searching the store for someone to help you.
People are just as bad. I am tired of people looking at me while I am wheeling around, and I’m not talking about kids either, them I can understand. But adults, have you really never seen a person in a wheelchair before? Yes every time I am out in the ‘chair’ I get looks from adults and I am not saying little looks, I am talking about stares. There have been a couple of times that I have felt like saying “do you want a picture?’ And I have actually, on one, occasion asked a lady if she wanted a picture. she gave me a disgusted look and walked away.
On another occasion my dad and I were going to get ice cream with the family. We went to the ‘wheelchair accessible’ door. This door had no automatic opener so my dad and I struggled to open the door, all the while there were a group of people standing in front of the door and they never once asked if they could help. So in a voice that they could hear, my dad said sarcastically, “Thanks for helping us with the door!”
I have a new appreciation for disabled people.
Most of us have these people in our families. They may not be a retiree, but they are someone who has a lot of free time on their hands, not to mention a basic working knowledge of what the kids today are calling “email!” I guarantee you know what I am talking about.
I am talking about the person that has enough time to read all those emails that begin with “FWD.” And if that isn’t enough the said person has enough time to press “forward” button in their email program and send that email to everyone in their address book.
I have noticed that since a certain person in our family (you know who you are) has had some more free time on their hands the numbers of emails that begin with “FWD” have more than double quadrupled (that’s right i said double quadrupled).
Now this is not a problem, I am just making an observation that when your family acquires a retiree, be prepared to receive a substantial increase in email activity.