A Wide View – of a County Fair

A Wide View – of a County Fair

Kevin

When visiting an agricultural fair – known commonly as a county or state fair – I generally use a hand-held camera with two interchangeable lenses covering wide-angle and telephoto.

Recently having changed my wide-angle lens, it is now a bit wider than before. It was 93º angle along the wide part of the image, but a different lens now goes to 104º angle. Some other cameras, even mobile phone cameras, can give an even wider view … if you explicitly change to the wide camera. However, switching to such wide angle requires a bit of forethought and imagination how that view might look.

As the angle of view gets really wide, some optical distortions are to be expected. The widest angle may cause straight lines to curve, commonly known as barrel distortion. If lines remain straight, parallel lines can readily appear not parallel; this is commonly called keystoning or perspective distortion. Some of these distortions can be undone digital image processing.

This first image is the original from the camera, shot with a 14mm lens. Notice that the walls of the building are neither vertical nor parallel. Expecting this shot might require some distortion correctly, I intentionally, I left a bit of room on the left and right side. The image is perhaps a bit under-exposed, but a histogram of the image shows that the shadow detail is good and only the extreme highlights (windows & door) are blown out.

In post-processing this image, you might choose to only increase the overall brightness. But I planned from the beginning to correct for the perspective distortion. The second image here shows my edits to perspective, brightness, and color. Notice the walls of the building are straight and vertical.

Here is another example where the wide angle of view results in distortion and I chose (when making the shot) to compensate in post-processing.

After:

Corn maze at the Acton Fair
Migrating from Canon EF to Canon RF

Migrating from Canon EF to Canon RF

Kevin

Upon purchasing an R-series camera body last year that uses the RF lens mount, I did not replace all lenses at the same time. I bought an EF-to-RF adapter. which allows using old lenses on the new camera body. One of the old lenses that I did not replace was an EF 17-40 mm. This summer, I bought an RF wide zoom lens to replace it.

The photo here shows a physical size comparison. The 14-35 focal range is similar to the EF lens that I had been using but is a bit different. I do wish the RF lens included 40mm. In time, I will likely learn to really value the extra wideness of 14mm.

The red line around the lens indicates an “L” series lens. And note that RF lenses with RF mount include an extra control ring at the front, which is configurable. So, an L zoom has three rings (focus, zoom, function).

RF zooms that include wide angle focal length:
RF 14-35 mm f\ 4.0 L
RF 15-35 mm f\ 2.8 L
RF 24-70 mm f\ 2.8 L
RF 28-70 mm f\ 2.0 L
RF 24-105 mm f\ 4.0 L
RF 24-105 mm f\ 4-7.1
RF 24-240 mm f\ 4-6.3

Additionally, Canon offers a few RF-S zooms with wide angle. Additionally. These lenses are made for camera bodies with smaller sensors, such as R7, R10, and R50 cameras. RF-S lenses will fit onto camera bodies designed for RF (EOS R6, R5, R3, R, R8, and RP) without requiring any adapter but the image will be cropped and give the image an appearance like a longer focal length. An 18mm RF-S lens on an R7 captures an image as you would expect for 18mm, but on an R6 would give a result like 28 mm.

Similarly, Canon’s older EF generation includes EF lenses and EF-S lenses. However, an EF-S lens will not fit onto a full-frame camera body designed for EF lenses.

Tall Ships coming to NYC and Boston in July

Kevin
Tall ship Esmerelda (from Chile) during the parade of sail at Boston, 2017
Tall ship Esmerelda (from Chile)

The parade of sail at Boston in 2017 was spectacular and I’m very much looking forward to the upcoming 2026 events, coinciding with the USA 250th anniversary.

NYC / July 3: Parade of Sail – class B ships
NYC / July 4: Parade of Sail – class A ships (30 ships)
BOS / July 11: Parade of Sail (60 total, 28 class A)

What is class A and class B?
Class A: square rigging OR overall length greater than 40 meters (131 ft)
Class B: traditional rigging AND overall length less than 40 m AND water line at least 9 m (30 ft)
Class C & D have length less than 40 m

Some ships will participate in both parades, for example USCG Eagle. Some will not; for example, I believe Virginia (Bath ME) will participate at Boston, not NYC.

July 9, class A Tall Ships travel from NYC to Boston. Some may travel through the Cape Cod Canal, while others travel around Cape Cod.
In Boston, the 2026 event will exceed the 2017 event, which included 56 ships.

New York City

The July 3 parade route passes through the East River (Manhattan to the east and Brooklyn & Queens to the west).
The July 4 parade route travels under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, past the Statue of Liberty, and up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge.
https://sail4th.org/schedule

If you want a photo of the tallships with the Statue of Liberty in background, you probably want to be at Governor’s Island.
However, access to Governors Island will be unusually managed. Normal ferry to the island is $10 round trip but that is suspended on July 4.
For the July 4 parade of sail, tickets to Governors Island are currently selling at $200 per person.

>> https://www.vibenyctours.com/post/sail4th-250-how-to-see-the-tall-ships-without-the-battery-park-brawl

July 4 viewing locations in Hoboken: Pier A Park, Elysian Park, Steven Park, Maxwell Place Park, Sinatra Park
July 4 viewing locations in Jersey City: Exchange Place, Liberty State Park

Boston (July 11)

Here’s a link to a map of the parade route. Public viewing areas are shown in green; Red is where ships will be berthed.

>> https://www.sailboston.com/map/

DJI Drone Security Audit – No Vulnerabilities Found

Kevin

Search Assist

The U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) called for a formal security review of DJI drones (and Autel Robotics) to assess any potential risks to national security; the task of doing this review was not assigned to a specific agency and, as result the review was never done. As a consequence of doing nothing at all, DJI drones were placed on a U.S. formal naughty list (December 2025). Some speculation suggested that was always the plan – no US agency was ever going to conduct the required review.

DJI hired a US cyber-security firm to do that review. The audit found zero vulnerabilities. Some features of that audit include:

  • * PCB-level teardowns with attention to emissions from specific circuits
  • * Attempts to hack the radio signal, including jamming and malformed packet injection
  • * Supply chain integrity checks against the Hardware Bill of Materials

Of course, the use of a third party does not fulfill the NDAA audit requirement and many people with doubt the report’s veracity. However, as this is the first audit of its kind (ever), it does establish a precedent.

DJI aerial drones are widely used for agriculture, law enforcement, search and rescue, professional photo & video, and consumer photo & video. At costs below $10K, the features of DJI aerial drones has been unrivaled; there has been no comparable American-made products. National policy makers are probably hoping that the DJI ban will make room for some new American-made products that will disrupt DJI dominance.

More from DroneXL: https://dronexl.co/2026/05/28/dji-ondefend-security-audit-air-3s-matrice-4e/

Link to the report: https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2026/05/DJI-Technology-Inc.-Security-Assessment-Executive-Report.pdf

Interactive Map of All Trees in Your City

Interactive Map of All Trees in Your City

Kevin

Available free online, some cities have detailed interactive maps of all trees.  Well, maybe not ALL trees.  Most maps have some errors or missing data, perhaps because the data is not perpetually verified and maintained.  Some maps are specifically “street trees”, meaning it may not include trees in parks or on privately-owned land.

Sometimes a map may show the genus, but the exact species of a tree is not known.

You might use one of these maps to identify the species for a particular tree. Or you might use it to locate unknown instances of a specific species you are seeking.

Here are some links to online tree maps that I have found helpful.

Philadelphia PA – Tree Map (2023)

NYC Tree Map

New Haven CT – Street Tree Inventory Map

Boston MA – Street tree inventory

Cambridge MA – Tree Map

Portsmouth NH – Tree Viewer

Portland ME – Tree Viewer

Cherry Blossom Watch – 2026 Northeast *Update*

Cherry Blossom Watch – 2026 Northeast *Update*

Kevin

Despite cold weather in February, cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. bloomed earlier than expected. The National Park Service declared peak bloom at the tidal basin March 26. My early prediction (ten days ago) was off by four days.

Much like a dashboard GPS device might say … “Recalculating …”

March 26 : Peak bloom at Washington D.C.
March 31 : Kwanzan (late-season cherry) begin bloom at Washington D.C.
April 7 : Peak bloom at Philadelphia
April 15 : Kwanzan (late-season cherry) begin bloom at Philadelphia
April 19 : Peak bloom at Boston
April 27 : Kwanzan (late-season cherry) begin bloom at Boston

cherry blossoms at the tidal basin

Cherry Blossom Watch – 2026 Northeast Edition

Kevin

Washington D.C.

March 1st, I wrote this to a friend: “Temperatures in January & February 2026 were colder than average, which may suggest peak bloom first week of April. However, the National Weather Service is predicting warmer than average temperatures in March, which would accelerate it to end of March.”

March 12 in Washington, the range of predictions regarding peak bloom at the tidal basin suggest March 28 at the earliest and April 7 at the latest. Currently in Washington D.C., according to the National Park Service, the early-blooming Okame Cherry trees were in bloom while the Yoshino Cherry trees at the Tidal Basin had reached the florets visible stage.”  While Okame flowers may be affected by frost this week, blossoms that have not yet appeared and will not be affected.

On March 17, both D.C. and Boston will experience a hard freeze as temperature drops below 30º F (-1º C).  Furthermore, most of this week, the daily high temperatures in Washington D.C. are very similar to temperatures in Boston Massachusetts.  That’s unusual. 

Unless the weather in D.C. does something very peculiar in the next 10 days, Yoshino peak bloom should hit between March 30 to April 2.

Boston

In light of how the season is developing in Washington D.C., what does that imply for cherry bloom around Boston?  It’s really too early to predict, but …  maybe the Okame Cherry begin blooming by mid April and the Yoshino peak bloom around last week of April.

Though it is true that spring weather advances from south to north, the progression is variable from year to year.  Some years, spring progress can stall around New York City such that all points north remain on the cold side and flowering trees bloom late. Unfortunately, a prediction of winter’s end from Punxsutawney Phill is useless.

Editing Photographs with Topaz Labs AI tools

Editing Photographs with Topaz Labs AI tools

Kevin

Three recent examples to share, each created using AI tools from Topaz Labs. Though I have long relied upon photo tools from Topaz, the AI features are quite new, added within the past several months.

The first image here shows restore and recolor an old black & white photo. This was done using a Topaz online tool called Mosaic. Each use of the online tools requires some AI credits. Use these enough and your credits will be exhausted, requiring purchasing more credits.

In general, the result is quite impressive but there is a flaw. Look at the middle finger of the man’s right hand – the color is the same as the chair.

The second and third images here show two separate attempts to fix a photo of a cardinal in a cherry tree. I shot this in New York’s Central Park last spring but my camera wasn’t the best and I was too far away.

The first attempt employed Topaz Photo AI (desktop app) and a new AI model for wildlife, which is still in beta test.

The second attempt uses Topaz Gigapixel AI (desktop app) and a new AI model called Redefine Realistic, which is still in Beta test. This model can optionally use a prompt and you can see the prompt I used (“improve details in the red bird”). Not only does the result show detail in the feathers, but now the bird has an eye. However, the bird’s beak isn’t quite right and now has a nostril.

The changes to the bird are a bit heavy-handed and Gigapixel AI did not limit its changes to only the bird; some undesirable artifacts were introduced to the flowers and in the soft out-of-focus background. This implies a bit more work in Photoshop to blend the revised bird image onto the unmodified background image. I might choose to blend some of the different results from Photo AI and Gigapixel AI.

Though Gigapixel is commonly used to increase image resolution, you can see here that I did not upscale the image (Upscale = 1x).

The desktop apps (Photo Studio and Gigapixel AI) allow choosing either cloud computing or local computer resources. I chose to use my local computer, which does have a GPU. The sound of my computer suggested the GPU fans were spinning fast and Windows Task Manager told me that the GPU was running at full capacity. Using cloud computing will consume AI credits but using the local computer does not require any AI credits.

Editing a Photograph with Adobe Firefly AI

Editing a Photograph with Adobe Firefly AI

Kevin

Though AI can be used generate entirely new images, I was curious to try editing an existing image. I started with this image of colorful houses:

Aiming to reduce the color palette, I asked Firefly to change the colors to only use a list of nine specific colors. I expected most of the colors to change but it only changed the green house at the bottom right. That certainly has real-world application because the green is a temporary construction color, the underlayment for new siding. But I was expecting most of the houses to change color.

I then changed the prompt but the result was the same as before.

Then I asked: make this image look like a coloring book.

Then I asked: make this image look like a coloring book using only eight colors. It made every house the same exact color.

Although I was going to make another attempt at refining my AI prompt, my free AI credits were exhausted after five or six attempts. Continuing would require paying a monthly fee. The cheapest plan was $9.99 per month and the unlimited plan was $199.99 per month.

It is clear to me that a text prompt is likely to not get the desired results and multiple attempts are commonly required … which could use up credits very quickly.

Creating Photographs for eBay

Kevin

When selling online, quality photographs and video are important so that the item looks good. This month, I sold some old equipment on eBay. Most are items that are in good condition but I haven’t used in years. One item was a camera lens, a lens for Canon EF mount that I have replaced with Canon RF equivalent.

The photo here shows how I made my photos for eBay. I don’t have studio space for such photography; this is my everyday desk. I pushed my computer monitor off to the side and setup two LED lights.

If you are making photographs, not video, you might use flash/strobe lights. If you’re shooting video, then you need constant-ON lights. I use the same lights for both; not using flash. Because the light has a slight blue cast, I use a slight orange filter over the light to correct it; alternatively, color can also be corrected in post-processing.

In the specific case of this old ballhead, it has moving parts and an interested person sent me a question, asking if the movement was smooth. To answer the question, I shot a quick video and added it to the auction listing. (Video is not always necessary, but it can be.) As I need to have hands on the item I was demonstrating, that means I can’t have hands on the camera; either the camera needs to be on a support (tripod) or enlist the help of someone nearby.

Before uploading images to eBay, I intentionally resize them according to eBay guidelines. If I understood correctly, eBay recommends that the longer edge of the image should be 1600 pixels. Video can be up to 1080p, but I resized my video as 720p.

Having sold a few items … I used that money to buy another lens. (I’m not earning money by selling a few things online.) Buying used photography gear online can be a bit more challenging than selling.