Many high-schools in our area create banners for their sports team to display in the gym during the season. Sometimes the photographer that does your official team photos will offer to make such banners, but that may cost $40 or more per player. Here is how to do it for about half the price and with more flexibility.
Continue reading “How to create banners for your sports team”
Month: August 2019
Ergonomic keyboards
I have spent a large chunk of my life typing on a keyboard, but I did not start having tingling and pain in my hands until I also began using a smartphone. In other words, repetitive stress was not bad enough until my posture worsened as well. Or it was only a matter of time… so I started looking into ergonomic keyboards.
In any case, I switched to the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard but that only helped for a while. My right hand was especially a problem because of the mouse use. I even tried switching the mouse to my left hand, but that was a disaster. During this time I also tried getting massages and chiropractic help, but that would only ease the symptoms for a while.
Next I tried some other keyboards like Typematrix 2030 and Kinesis Freestyle. In the meantime I also switched to a Mac Book Pro, and the trackpad was definitely better than a mouse. However, every change would only help for a while and the symptoms would return.
The only keyboard that finally had a lasting impact was Kinesis Advantage. The main reasons for that were:
- unique positioning of keys
- ability to place the keyboard in my lap when sitting
- space in the middle for my trackpad (with some velcro)
- they use it in Man in Black!
Now finally my right hand could be in a more natural position, and I did not need to move either arm too much while typing, clicking, or dragging.
Other things I did were exercises, stretches, walking, and the standup desk. Even with the standup desk I found it important to switch to sitting occasionally because when I would get tired I would end up slouching anyway.
From a developer to a photographer
Ever had a blog and then did not write anything for five years? Here is how it happened in my case.
Kids got bigger, got into volleyball, and one day I found myself trying to take pictures of fast moving subjects in badly lit gyms with no flash allowed. Phone cameras are not designed for that, and even a decent digital camera can not handle that situation with a kit lens (I had Canon Rebel T3i at the time.)
After some research I got a Canon 70d with 85mm f/1.8 lens and that worked quite well for a while, but then we were getting into high school and I wanted to find something with a little more reach and faster focus.
Canon did not seem to have anything significantly better in my price range, so I switched to a Nikon D500 (refurbished, of course.) At first I used Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G lens because I still needed a fast aperture, but that did not give me any additional reach (and I still had to switch lenses to take a team photo…)
And then I found out that Sigma actually designed a lens specifically for indoor volleyball! OK, that is not true but almost… Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 Art lens has it all – fast aperture and zoom that covers just the right distances for me. It is quite heavy but I love it. See my instagram account for some more volleyball shots I got with it. One of them even got published in a local paper.
Once I figured out how to use the camera in difficult settings – and I had to go all manual and all raw to get as much quality as possible – it seemed easy to try other types of photography. I was right in some ways, but I also learned there is much more to learn, so I kept my day job after all. Some of those other photos are available on Flickr.