Hand Coding

Some friends and I went to the Dallas Stars game last Friday. I hadn’t been to a hockey game in a couple years and so I was rather looking forward to it. Plus, I had brought my camera along to see if I could get some shots.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that hockey can be deceptively tricky to photograph. On one hand, it’s somewhat dark inside the arena, but at the same time, longer shutter speeds can more easily blur the action. The general solution, I suppose, is just to use higher ISO settings. (I went to ISO 400, myself, but in retrospect, probably should have bumped that up to ISO 640 or even ISO 800.)

What may be the most squirrely bit about photographing hockey, though, is that the ice is really white and it can throw off one’s exposure. Most cameras judge exposure by trying to ensure that each shot has an average overall brightness of medium gray. What ends up happening in this case is that the camera sees the white ice and thinks that the shot is overexposed; so, the camera lowers exposure until the ice is back to a medium gray (which, of course, actually means that the ice is now underexposed).

To counteract these types of exposure issues, I ended up adjusting my camera’s exposure compensation to +2/3 stop; that pretty much took care of it. The shot that you see above is a panorama made from ten shots stitched together. If it helps put its dimensions in perspective, if you consider that a widescreen HDTV is 16:9, this image would be around 20:9.

Our chum Nick hooked us up with some tickets for the Rangers game on Sunday and I took my camera along to see if I could get a few shots. The game was super fun and I think the Rangers may have even won—to be honest, as long as I get some beer in my gullet and ballpark munchies in my pie-hole, I’m almost assured to enjoy a ballgame (and this was no exception).

The one part I wasn’t quite sure about was how my shots might turn out. The game started at 7:05 p.m., I believe, and given that we we’re in Texas and it’s August, the sun was still a good ways over the horizon at this point. So, for the first hour or two, I didn’t have that many chances to take shots—the sun always ended up in the corner of my frame and was blowing out my sky. After the sun started to go down, though, the lighting situation got a bit more manageable.

During the sixth inning, I walked around to the seats behind home plate and tried my hand at a panorama from that area of the stadium. I ended up taking fifteen shots and I’m generally pleased with how it turned out. Pro Tip: If you’ve opened fifteen RAW files and you’ve just told Photoshop to stitch them all together, you may as well go get a sandwich. You may even have time to brew a cup of tea while you’re at it.

TVPredictions.com is reporting that neither NBC nor ESPN will be broadcasting Wimbledon in HD. Are we still living in 2001?

NBC and ESPN both said this morning that they will not broadcast the 2007 Wimbledon Tennis Championship in High-Definition.

Adam Freifeld, a spokesman for NBC Sports, told TVPredictions.com today that NBC would not show Wimbledon in HD. He did not elaborate on the reasons behind the decision. […]

It’s as if NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker just doesn’t care. Well, actually, he said as much himself, commenting that “I’m not overly concerned about it at this point [...] if viewers will be less interested in unscripted programming that’s not in HD when the rest of the programming is in HD.”

The US Open is currently underway and it’s the last tennis major of the season. I can't say that it’s my favorite of the tennis majors :-/. I can’t really put my finger on it, but I think it may be the harsh lights that make it harder to watch (since many of the games are scheduled at night).

In any case, I found the tv schedule posted at CBS Sportsline (for both the CBS airings and matches shown on USA). Posting all of the times here could be lengthy, but here are the QF/SF/Final matches:

• Tue, Sept 7, USA, 11:00 am - 6:00 pm: Men’s 4th / Women’s QF
• Tue, Sept 7, USA, 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm, Men’s 4th / Women’s QF
• Wed, Sept 8, USA, 11:00 am - 6:00 pm, Quarterfinals
• Wed, Sept 8, USA, 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm, Quarterfinals
• Thu, Sept 9, USA, 11:00 am - 4:00 pm, Men’s QF / Mixed Doubles Final
• Thu, Sept 9, USA, 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm, Men’s QF /Women’s Doubles SF
• Fri, Sept 10, CBS, 11:00 am - 6:00 pm, Men’s Doubles Final / Women’s SF
• Sat, Sept 11, CBS, 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Men’s SF
• Sat, Sept 11, CBS, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm, Women’s Final
• Sun, Sept 12, USA, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm, Women’s Doubles Final
• Sun, Sept 12, CBS, 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm, Men’s Final

I’m on the Penguins newsletter mailing list and I learned that they’ve lowered ticket prices (so often, it seems that sports teams just want to raise ticket prices).

In the D level, which includes 2,399 seats, the price per game for a full season ticket plan drops $9 — from $39 last season to $30 in 2003-04, a reduction of 23.1 percent.

In the F level balcony, which includes 1,112 seats, the price per game for a full season ticket falls $8 — from $28 to $20, a reduction of 28.6 percent.

The result is that more than 6,900 seats — 40 percent of the Arena’s capacity — are now available for $30 or less on a full season ticket basis. […]

Of course, most of the article talks about the reductions for season ticket buyers, but it also mentions that individual ticket prices will be lowered and that the new individual ticket prices will be announced over the summer.

It’s not often that I go to Penguins games, but that’s mostly because I’m so far away from Pittsburgh most of the year. All the same, perhaps I’ll try to fit in a Penguins game next time I’m in town.

The 2003 Masters at Augusta will be held this weekend. It looks like Woods is the favorite and a win would be his third in a row:

Will history once again be re-written as the 67th annual stroll down Magnolia Lane begins this week? Only time will tell, as two-time defending Masters champion Tiger Woods will try to become the first player in history to win this event three consecutive seasons.

Last year, Woods joined Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo as the only back-to-back victors in the Masters. Nicklaus turned the trick in 1965-66 and Faldo accomplished the feat in 1989-90. […]

I hope all the golfers play well, but it’d be more interesting to have a close game than a run-away win by Woods. Apparently, even what Woods will be wearing is news (yeesh, it’s like the Oscars).

Interestingly enough, there’ll be no commercials this time. With the controversy surrounding their male-only stance, Augusta National Golf Club didn’t want to harm any of their advertisers with a potential boycott.

I enjoy watching golf, and I’ll try to fit in some of the Masters this weekend. Watching golf is always more fun in a group, so feel free to invite yourself over for the final round ;).

Annika Sörenstam, an excellent golfer in her own right, has accepted an invitation to play in the PGA’s Colonial tournament in May. This isn’t the first time that a women has played in a PGA Tour event, but the last time was in 1945.

At first, I wasn’t sure how to feel about this. But, I think it’ll be interesting, and I look forward to seeing how it turns out. As long as they play by the same rules, I welcome women in traditionally men’s sports.

I found this handy site listing the tv air times for tennis and it confirms that the Australian Open men’s final is on Saturday (at 9pm CST, which I suppose is mid-day in Australia).

I might normally be inclined to TiVo it and then just watch it the following day (sans commercials, natch). But, if you’re a tennis fan, we could watch it together over a few brewskies or something.

As a Pittsburgher, I looked forward to the Steelers/Browns game this afternoon. And, throughout most of the game, it wasn’t looking good for the Steelers (they still trailed 33-21 with just over 10 minutes remaining). But, they managed to score two touchdowns within the last three minutes to pull it off:

The Cleveland Browns never have gotten over The Drive by John Elway. Now they’ve got to live with The Comeback by the quarterback who was once supposed to be the next Elway.

Tommy Maddox, the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year, led one of Pittsburgh's greatest comebacks by throwing three touchdown passes in the final 19 minutes as the Steelers rallied from a 17-point deficit to stun the Browns 36-33 Sunday in an AFC wild-card game. […]

Next, they play Tennessee on Saturday (4:30/3:30c). If that game interests you, you're welcome to join me on Saturday.

Well, I look forward to the US Open finals tomorrow, as it’s Sampras vs Agassi (just like old times!).

Sampras’ revival at this tournament is the stuff of legends. Not only has he gone 33 events without a win after taking his record-breaking 13th Slam title at the 2000 Wimbledon, but he was a virtual non-factor all summer. But after reuniting with his long-time coach, Paul Annacone, and discussing his state of mind with his now pregnant wife, actress Brigitte Wilson, Sampras was able to pick himself off the canvas. […]

It aires from 3-6pm CST on CBS and if you’d like to get together for some tennis-watching, just let me know :).