I finally got to test out the neutral density filters (2 ND4’s) that I got for my birthday. The idea of a neutral density filter is to reduce the amount of light that comes into your lens so that you can leave the shutter open for longer. Why would you want to do that you are asking? Lots of reasons, but mine had to do with running water. Check it out! By the way, the shots were taken on the Baden Powell Trail in Deep Cove, British Columbia.
J’ai finalement eu la chance d’essayer mes filter “neutral density” (2 ND4’s) que j’ai eu pour ma fête. L’idée derrière ces filtres est de pouvoir reduire la quantité de lumière qui entre dans ta camera pour pouvoir laisser le “shutter” ouvert plus longtemps. Pour faire quoi vous vous demandez? Il y a bien sûr plusieurs raisons, mais les miennes étaient surtout liées à l’eau en forest. Voyez pour vous-même!!! En passant, les photos ont été prises sur le sentier ‘Baden Powell’ à Deep Cove en Colombie Britanique.
Calm Stream — View On Black.
Lush Stream — View On Black.
Quiet Pool — View On Black.
Green Stones — View On Black.
Today, April 22nd, marks the 40th official Earth Day. By the way, according to the “about” section of Earth Day’s website, more than 1 billion people participate in Earth Day activities, which makes it the largest secular civic event in the world!! Get out there and be green!
Aujourd’hui, c’est le
jour de la terre! D’après le site officiel du “jour de la terre”, plus d’un milliard de personne participe au jour de la terre, ce qui fait de cet événement le plus grand événement séculaire au monde!! Allez! Allez! Sortez et soyez vert!!!
Australian Fern, 2006.
According to Toronto newspaper The Star, Toronto observed an 8.7% dip on it’s energy curve. Here is a nice comparison of the Skyline before and during Earth Hour from their website.
Another fun source of images of Earth Hour across downtown Toronto is at blogTo.com, where you can see this interesting graph of energy consumption during the day of Earth Hour. Mind you, that graph is across Ontario and so the dip may not look as pronounced as Toronto’s experts have suggested. However, I think we do see a little bit of a change in consumption right later at night. I saw a very different graph earlier today, of Toronto’s energy, but I can’t seem to find it online. Too bad.
For the curious, here is the energy consumption of yesterday, according to ieso’s website. Keep in mind that yesterday was much warmer than on March 28th, and so the comparison isn’t ideal.
You can sort of see the effects of Earth Hour on the curve, but, to be fair, the real difference is in people’s head, which has always been the idea behind the Earth Hour’s movement. So, in that sense, I think that Torontonians really participated well and even if it didn’t have quite the effect on the energy consumed of March 28th 2008, I personally think it was a wonderful event and am glad we participated as much as we did. I sure hope we do better next year though! The challenge is on!
