How is it going with the depth of field assignment?  Working here in Smithers I have been reminded about a few things with depth of field.  When you look through your camera you can’t tell what the actual depth of field is going to turn out like in your final image. While you compose your image, the camera holds the aperture on your lens open as wide as it can until you take the picture, then as you press the shutter release button it closes the aperture down to the setting you want, opens the shutter and takes your exposure.  Instead of just guessing at what your final depth of field will be, there is a way, on most digital SLR’s to check, the depth of field preview button.  You will likely have to look in your manual for this, but on Canon models the button is on the camera on the lower side near the base of the lens barrel, on the left hand side (when you are taking a picture).

The button near the lens base on the right hand side of the picture is the Depth of field preview button, check your camera manual to find yours

Using this button is simple.  Set your aperture, compose your picture, press the button and look through the viewfinder.  Keep in mind, that, if you are using a small aperture your screen may get very dark.  Remember, this is what closing down your aperture actually does — it lets less light onto your image.  But if you look very closely you can see what in your image will actually be in focus in your final picture.

A lot of people are going to get cameras this holiday season, or have them from the last few seasons.  They have a basic SLR and the kit lens.  There’s a lot you can do with these simple combinations, but they’re limiting as well.  I’ve been involved in a few discussion forums for these mid-level beginners and wanted to echo a post here about an individual who was looking to upgrade, primarily interested in wedding photography, but wanted advice on path forward.

“Agree with others, 18-55 kit *can* take a sharp photo, but it’ll be a challenge if you’re handheld, in low light, and don’t have a high-contrast subject that’s moving. The variable aperture also makes using Manual difficult, try Shutter Priority (Tv) or Aperture Priority (Av) first to get comfortable with working your exposure. If using a flash head, try fooling with bounce flash and Program mode (P). If you have an older Rebel without a thumb wheel, then you won’t really be able to use Manual for anything beyond posed shots, because you’ll only have one of three exposure parameters (shutter, aperture, sensitivity) assigned to the index wheel. Oh, thoroughly read the manual for your camera as you explore each setup. Some people are able to know just the basics and get great stuff, some people need to really dig and understand the nuance. Find out which you are and how much effort you’re willing to put into your craft before laying out cash. Regarding upgrades, I’d stick with the Rebel and first invest in glass. That 50 1.8 is a good choice, you can even get them used for $75 or lower, although they are a bit long on a 1.6x Rebel, almost 85mm. It’ll take some getting used to, which isn’t a bad thing. The 50 1.4 is an even better choice if you can drop a few hundred. Zooms, I’d say go for the 17-55 2.8 IS.. it doesn’t say L (no weather sealing, etc) but it’s L-quality glass. Every bit as good as the 16-35, 24-70 or 24-105 for under $1000. And if you don’t have one, get yourself a 580ex or 580exII flash head and rechargeable batteries (I like Ansmann 2700mAh AAs, they’re a bit pricey but pay for themselves over time) or an external battery pack. Learn to use bounce and fill-in flash and your photos will improve dramatically. More light means smaller aperture and faster shutter, which means more sharpness. More light also means greater saturation. I’m of the philosophy that photography isn’t cheap. Yes you can get by, and yes in the end, it’s the photographer not the camera. You can get some amazing photos with a $250 point-n-shoot, I know… but the proper kit makes it possible to get 500 amazing photos in a night as opposed to just 10 or 20. That’s once you’re ready to “go live,” you can learn everything you need to learn on the Rebel with one decent (fixed aperture) zoom, a prime or two, and a flash head. Best of luck and let’s see some of your photos as you progress!”

Click the photo to see Bryan Carnathan’s excellent review of the latest Rebel offering from Canon, the T1i, an incredible bang-for-buck DSLR package.

620 // November 25, 2009

Here in the mountains, I can see the stars so much more clearly than down in the city. Aren’t they beautiful?

So,  hopefully you didn’t have any difficulties with my directions (it seems my wife felt my wording was somewhat comical).  Here are the results of our test shots we were using a Canon Xsi with a 17-85mm lense set at  a focal length of 56mm.  So what are the differences between the images?

f32 and 8 seconds

f11 and 1.0 Second

F5.6 and 1/4 Second

We were focused on the salt shaker in the middle of the objects.  With the lower ambient light levels we had to use a tripod to get steady shots.  There are two main things that happened with the images.  At the very small aperture (f32 you can clearly see both the foreground and back-ground images are in focus (as well as the background plug-in, and the fridge and well, just about everything).  As you move to larger and larger apertures, less and less of these things are in focus, at f5.6 there is much less in focus.  Look at how less distracting the background in the f5.6 image.  An f4 or larger also has much less in focus.  If your image needs the information in the background use the small aperture.  If not, use the large aperture.

What else changes between the images?  In fact, it is not actually evident in these images but if you look at the exposure information the image, the difference is there.  The shutter speed.  Changing your aperture will always make a corresponding and opposite change in shutter speed.  Always keep in mind that the two are related.

Now to move on a little further we are finally moving on to this weeks actual assignment.  Use your aperture.  Take your camera out to an area where you usually like to take photos.  A park or a section of the city — anywhere that you find interesting subjects to photograph.  But go over several days and photograph the first day with a large f-stop (remember small aperture).  You may need to increase your ISO speed or more effectively use a tri-pod in order to deal with the slower shutter speed.  Shoot so that what you have in the photograph is supposed to be in your picture.  A large f-stop will require you to really concentrate on your foreground and background.

The following day work exclusively in a small f-stop (a large aperture).  Use this f-stop to help isolate your subject in your images.  When you change your f-stop you change how you photograph.  Learn, what the different f-stops do in your photographs and pay attention to the differences.  Soon you will be using this incredibly powerful tool to help improve your photographic compositions.

Good luck and happy shooting.

Jenny Lake

For this post and the next two posts we’ll be using the above image.  It was taken by me on an afternoon in early October 2009 at Jenny Lake in Grand Tetons National Park with a Canon 5D MK II in Manual exposure mode and manual focus.  Post Processing was done in Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Just by looking at this image try to figure out the possible exposure settings used to capture this image.  Ask yourself what focal length was used, would the focal length fall under wide angle or telephoto?

How about the aperture, shutter speed and ISO?  Does this scene have a shallow or wide Depth of Field (DOF)?  What does that information indicate about the aperture used?  Remember, a shallow DOF is created using a large aperture like f/2.8 and a wide DOF is created using small aperture like f/11.  Can you guess what shutter speed was used, was it a fast shutter speed like 1/1000 s or a slow shutter speed like 1/30 s?  Is there enough noise present in this image to indicate a high ISO was used?  How about the amount of light available?  Was the light low enough to warrant the use of a high ISO like ISO 3200?

………………………………………………………………….

answers below

………………………………………………………………….

The lens used was a Canon 17-40mm L at 17 mm.

The aperture was f/9

The shutter speed was 1/500 s

ISO 100

The next post will look at the composition of this image.

Okay, so we’ve talked about the basic components of exposure now lets start to look at each in detail.  This week we are going to look at the effects of aperture.  So lets start with a small exercise.  Start by putting your camera into aperture priority mode (on a Canon this is the Av, setting on the dial).  Now, take three objects, about the size of a salt shaker — in fact salt shakers would be perfect. Now place them in a line near one end of a table, one closer to the camera, one about a foot further away, and another a foot further away again.  Now, with your camera set to it’s largest aperture (smallest f-stop number) take a photograph of the three shakers (make sure you can see all three).  Now set the camera to an f-stop somewhere in the middle take another.  Now the smallest possible aperture (largest f-stop number).  Now check the photographs, how are they different?

Setting Up A Ftp

Well, since many of us have always wondered this, here it is. Long and drawn out. Also, before attempting this, realize one thing; You will have to give up your time, effort, bandwidth, and security to have a quality ftp server.
That being said, here it goes. First of all, find out if your IP (Internet Protocol) is static (not changing) or dynamic (changes everytime you log on). To do this, first consider the fact if you have a dial up modem. If you do, chances are about 999 999 out of 1 000 000 that your IP is dynamic. To make it static, just go to a place like h*tp://www.myftp.org/ to register for a static ip address.

You’ll then need to get your IP. This can be done by doing this:
Going to Start -> Run -> winipcfg or www.ask.com and asking ‘What is my IP?’

After doing so, you’ll need to download an FTP server client. Personally, I’d recommend G6 FTP Server, Serv-U FTPor Bullitproof v2.15 all three of which are extremely reliable, and the norm of the ftp world.
You can download them on this site: h*tp://www.liaokai.com/softw_en/d_index.htm

First, you’ll have to set up your ftp. For this guide, I will use step-by-step instructions for G6. First, you’ll have to go into ‘Setup -> General’. From here, type in your port # (default is 21). I recommend something unique, or something a bit larger (ex: 3069). If you want to, check the number of max users (this sets the amount of simultaneous maximum users on your server at once performing actions – The more on at once, the slower the connection and vice versa).

The below options are then chooseable:
-Launch with windows
-Activate FTP Server on Start-up
-Put into tray on startup
-Allow multiple instances
-Show “Loading…” status at startup
-Scan drive(s) at startup
-Confirm exit

You can do what you want with these, as they are pretty self explanatory. The scan drive feature is nice, as is the 2nd and the last option. From here, click the ‘options’ text on the left column.

To protect your server, you should check ‘login check’ and ‘password check’, ‘Show relative path (a must!)’, and any other options you feel you’ll need. After doing so, click the ‘advanced’ text in the left column. You should then leave the buffer size on the default (unless of course you know what you’re doing ), and then allow the type of ftp you want.

Uploading and downloading is usually good, but it’s up to you if you want to allow uploads and/or downloads. For the server priority, that will determine how much conventional memory will be used and how much ‘effort’ will go into making your server run smoothly.

Anti-hammering is also good, as it prevents people from slowing down your speed. From here, click ‘Log Options’ from the left column. If you would like to see and record every single command and clutter up your screen, leave the defaults.

But, if you would like to see what is going on with the lowest possible space taken, click ‘Screen’ in the top column. You should then check off ‘Log successful logins’, and all of the options in the client directry, except ‘Log directory changes’. After doing so, click ‘Ok’ in the bottom left corner.

You will then have to go into ‘Setup -> User Accounts’ (or ctrl & u). From here, you should click on the right most column, and right click. Choose ‘Add’, and choose the username(s) you would like people to have access to.

After giving a name (ex: themoonlanding), you will have to give them a set password in the bottom column (ex: wasfaked). For the ‘Home IP’ directory, (if you registered with a static server, check ‘All IP Homes’. If your IP is static by default, choose your IP from the list. You will then have to right click in the very center column, and choose ‘Add’.

From here, you will have to set the directory you want the people to have access to. After choosing the directory, I suggest you choose the options ‘Read’, ‘List’, and ‘Subdirs’, unless of course you know what you’re doing . After doing so, make an ‘upload’ folder in the directory, and choose to ‘add’ this folder seperately to the center column. Choose ‘write’, ‘append’, ‘make’, ‘list’, and ’subdirs’. This will allow them to upload only to specific folders (your upload folder).

Now click on ‘Miscellaneous’ from the left column. Choose ‘enable account’, your time-out (how long it takes for people to remain idle before you automatically kick them off), the maximum number of users for this name, the maximum number of connections allowed simultaneously for one ip address, show relative path (a must!), and any other things at the bottom you’d like to have. Now click ‘Ok’.
**Requested**
From this main menu, click the little boxing glove icon in the top corner, and right click and unchoose the hit-o-meter for both uploads and downloads (with this you can monitor IP activity). Now click the lightning bolt, and your server is now up and running.

Post your ftp info, like this:

213.10.93.141 (or something else, such as: ‘f*p://example.getmyip.com’)

User: *** (The username of the client)

Pass: *** (The password)

Port: *** (The port number you chose)

So make a FTP and join the FTP section
Listing The Contents Of A Ftp:

Listing the content of a FTP is very simple.
You will need FTP Content Maker, which can be downloaded from here:
ht*p://www.etplanet.com/download/application/FTP%20Content%20Maker%201.02.zip

1. Put in the IP of the server. Do not put “ftp://” or a “/” because it will not work if you do so.
2. Put in the port. If the port is the default number, 21, you do not have to enter it.
3. Put in the username and password in the appropriate fields. If the login is anonymous, you do not have to enter it.
4. If you want to list a specific directory of the FTP, place it in the directory field. Otherwise, do not enter anything in the directory field.
5. Click “Take the List!”
6. After the list has been taken, click the UBB output tab, and copy and paste to wherever you want it.
If FTP Content Maker is not working, it is probably because the server does not utilize Serv-U Software.

If you get this error message:
StatusCode = 550
LastResponse was : ‘Unable to open local file test-ftp’
Error = 550 (Unable to open local file test-ftp)
Error = Unable to open local file test-ftp = 550
Close and restart FTP Content Maker, then try again.

error messages:

110 Restart marker reply. In this case, the text is exact and not left to the particular implementation; it must read: MARK yyyy = mmmm Where yyyy is User-process data stream marker, and mmmm server’s equivalent marker (note the spaces between markers and “=”).
120 Service ready in nnn minutes.
125 Data connection already open; transfer starting.
150 File status okay; about to open data connection.
200 Command okay.
202 Command not implemented, superfluous at this site.
211 System status, or system help reply.
212 Directory status.
213 File status.
214 Help message. On how to use the server or the meaning of a particular non-standard command. This reply is useful only to the human user.
215 NAME system type. Where NAME is an official system name from the list in the Assigned Numbers document.
220 Service ready for new user.
221 Service closing control connection. Logged out if appropriate.
225 Data connection open; no transfer in progress.
226 Closing data connection. Requested file action successful (for example, file transfer or file abort).
227 Entering Passive Mode (h1,h2,h3,h4,p1,p2).
230 User logged in, proceed.
250 Requested file action okay, completed.
257 “PATHNAME” created.
331 User name okay, need password.
332 Need account for login.
350 Requested file action pending further information.
421 Too many users logged to the same account
425 Can’t open data connection.
426 Connection closed; transfer aborted.
450 Requested file action not taken. File unavailable (e.g., file busy).
451 Requested action aborted: local error in processing.
452 Requested action not taken. Insufficient storage space in system.
500 Syntax error, command unrecognized. This may include errors such as command line too long.
501 Syntax error in parameters or arguments.
502 Command not implemented.
503 Bad sequence of commands.
504 Command not implemented for that parameter.
530 Not logged in.
532 Need account for storing files.
550 Requested action not taken. File unavailable (e.g., file not found, no access).
551 Requested action aborted: page type unknown.
552 Requested file action aborted. Exceeded storage allocation (for current directory or dataset).
553 Requested action not taken. File name not allowed.
 Active FTP vs. Passive FTP, a Definitive Explanation

Introduction
One of the most commonly seen questions when dealing with firewalls and other Internet connectivity issues is the difference between active and passive FTP and how best to support either or both of them. Hopefully the following text will help to clear up some of the confusion over how to support FTP in a firewalled environment.

This may not be the definitive explanation, as the title claims, however, I’ve heard enough good feedback and seen this document linked in enough places to know that quite a few people have found it to be useful. I am always looking for ways to improve things though, and if you find something that is not quite clear or needs more explanation, please let me know! Recent additions to this document include the examples of both active and passive command line FTP sessions. These session examples should help make things a bit clearer. They also provide a nice picture into what goes on behind the scenes during an FTP session. Now, on to the information…

The Basics
FTP is a TCP based service exclusively. There is no UDP component to FTP. FTP is an unusual service in that it utilizes two ports, a ‘data’ port and a ‘command’ port (also known as the control port). Traditionally these are port 21 for the command port and port 20 for the data port. The confusion begins however, when we find that depending on the mode, the data port is not always on port 20.

Active FTP
In active mode FTP the client connects from a random unprivileged port (N > 1024) to the FTP server’s command port, port 21. Then, the client starts listening to port N+1 and sends the FTP command PORT N+1 to the FTP server. The server will then connect back to the client’s specified data port from its local data port, which is port 20.

From the server-side firewall’s standpoint, to support active mode FTP the following communication channels need to be opened:

FTP server’s port 21 from anywhere (Client initiates connection)
FTP server’s port 21 to ports > 1024 (Server responds to client’s control port)
FTP server’s port 20 to ports > 1024 (Server initiates data connection to client’s data port)
FTP server’s port 20 from ports > 1024 (Client sends ACKs to server’s data port)
In step 1, the client’s command port contacts the server’s command port and sends the command PORT 1027. The server then sends an ACK back to the client’s command port in step 2. In step 3 the server initiates a connection on its local data port to the data port the client specified earlier. Finally, the client sends an ACK back as shown in step 4.

The main problem with active mode FTP actually falls on the client side. The FTP client doesn’t make the actual connection to the data port of the server–it simply tells the server what port it is listening on and the server connects back to the specified port on the client. From the client side firewall this appears to be an outside system initiating a connection to an internal client–something that is usually blocked.

Active FTP Example
Below is an actual example of an active FTP session. The only things that have been changed are the server names, IP addresses, and user names. In this example an FTP session is initiated from testbox1.slacksite.com (192.168.150.80), a linux box running the standard FTP command line client, to testbox2.slacksite.com (192.168.150.90), a linux box running ProFTPd 1.2.2RC2. The debugging (-d) flag is used with the FTP client to show what is going on behind the scenes. Everything in red is the debugging output which shows the actual FTP commands being sent to the server and the responses generated from those commands. Normal server output is shown in black, and user input is in bold.

There are a few interesting things to consider about this dialog. Notice that when the PORT command is issued, it specifies a port on the client (192.168.150.80) system, rather than the server. We will see the opposite behavior when we use passive FTP. While we are on the subject, a quick note about the format of the PORT command. As you can see in the example below it is formatted as a series of six numbers separated by commas. The first four octets are the IP address while the second two octets comprise the port that will be used for the data connection. To find the actual port multiply the fifth octet by 256 and then add the sixth octet to the total. Thus in the example below the port number is ( (14*256) + 178), or 3762. A quick check with netstat should confirm this information.

testbox1: {/home/p-t/slacker/public_html} % ftp -d testbox2
Connected to testbox2.slacksite.com.
220 testbox2.slacksite.com FTP server ready.
Name (testbox2:slacker): slacker
—> USER slacker
331 Password required for slacker.
Password: TmpPass
—> PASS XXXX
230 User slacker logged in.
—> SYST
215 UNIX Type: L8
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> ls
ftp: setsockopt (ignored): Permission denied
—> PORT 192,168,150,80,14,178
200 PORT command successful.
—> LIST
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list.
drwx—— 3 slacker users 104 Jul 27 01:45 public_html
226 Transfer complete.
ftp> quit
—> QUIT
221 Goodbye.
Passive FTP
In order to resolve the issue of the server initiating the connection to the client a different method for FTP connections was developed. This was known as passive mode, or PASV, after the command used by the client to tell the server it is in passive mode.

In passive mode FTP the client initiates both connections to the server, solving the problem of firewalls filtering the incoming data port connection to the client from the server. When opening an FTP connection, the client opens two random unprivileged ports locally (N > 1024 and N+1). The first port contacts the server on port 21, but instead of then issuing a PORT command and allowing the server to connect back to its data port, the client will issue the PASV command. The result of this is that the server then opens a random unprivileged port (P > 1024) and sends the PORT P command back to the client. The client then initiates the connection from port N+1 to port P on the server to transfer data.

From the server-side firewall’s standpoint, to support passive mode FTP the following communication channels need to be opened:

FTP server’s port 21 from anywhere (Client initiates connection)
FTP server’s port 21 to ports > 1024 (Server responds to client’s control port)
FTP server’s ports > 1024 from anywhere (Client initiates data connection to random port specified by server)
FTP server’s ports > 1024 to remote ports > 1024 (Server sends ACKs (and data) to client’s data port)

In step 1, the client contacts the server on the command port and issues the PASV command. The server then replies in step 2 with PORT 2024, telling the client which port it is listening to for the data connection. In step 3 the client then initiates the data connection from its data port to the specified server data port. Finally, the server sends back an ACK in step 4 to the client’s data port.

While passive mode FTP solves many of the problems from the client side, it opens up a whole range of problems on the server side. The biggest issue is the need to allow any remote connection to high numbered ports on the server. Fortunately, many FTP daemons, including the popular WU-FTPD allow the administrator to specify a range of ports which the FTP server will use. See Appendix 1 for more information.

The second issue involves supporting and troubleshooting clients which do (or do not) support passive mode. As an example, the command line FTP utility provided with Solaris does not support passive mode, necessitating a third-party FTP client, such as ncftp.

With the massive popularity of the World Wide Web, many people prefer to use their web browser as an FTP client. Most browsers only support passive mode when accessing ftp:// URLs. This can either be good or bad depending on what the servers and firewalls are configured to support.

Passive FTP Example
Below is an actual example of a passive FTP session. The only things that have been changed are the server names, IP addresses, and user names. In this example an FTP session is initiated from testbox1.slacksite.com (192.168.150.80), a linux box running the standard FTP command line client, to testbox2.slacksite.com (192.168.150.90), a linux box running ProFTPd 1.2.2RC2. The debugging (-d) flag is used with the FTP client to show what is going on behind the scenes. Everything in red is the debugging output which shows the actual FTP commands being sent to the server and the responses generated from those commands. Normal server output is shown in black, and user input is in bold.

Notice the difference in the PORT command in this example as opposed to the active FTP example. Here, we see a port being opened on the server (192.168.150.90) system, rather than the client. See the discussion about the format of the PORT command above, in the Active FTP Example section.

testbox1: {/home/p-t/slacker/public_html} % ftp -d testbox2
Connected to testbox2.slacksite.com.
220 testbox2.slacksite.com FTP server ready.
Name (testbox2:slacker): slacker
—> USER slacker
331 Password required for slacker.
Password: TmpPass
—> PASS XXXX
230 User slacker logged in.
—> SYST
215 UNIX Type: L8
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> passive
Passive mode on.
ftp> ls
ftp: setsockopt (ignored): Permission denied
—> PASV
227 Entering Passive Mode (192,168,150,90,195,149).
—> LIST
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list
drwx—— 3 slacker users 104 Jul 27 01:45 public_html
226 Transfer complete.
ftp> quit
—> QUIT
221 Goodbye.
Summary
The following chart should help admins remember how each FTP mode works:

Active FTP :
command : client >1024 -> server 21
data : client >1024 <- server 20

Passive FTP :
command : client >1024 -> server 21
data : client >1024 -> server >1024

A quick summary of the pros and cons of active vs. passive FTP is also in order:

Active FTP is beneficial to the FTP server admin, but detrimental to the client side admin. The FTP server attempts to make connections to random high ports on the client, which would almost certainly be blocked by a firewall on the client side. Passive FTP is beneficial to the client, but detrimental to the FTP server admin. The client will make both connections to the server, but one of them will be to a random high port, which would almost certainly be blocked by a firewall on the server side.

Luckily, there is somewhat of a compromise. Since admins running FTP servers will need to make their servers accessible to the greatest number of clients, they will almost certainly need to support passive FTP. The exposure of high level ports on the server can be minimized by specifying a limited port range for the FTP server to use. Thus, everything except for this range of ports can be firewalled on the server side. While this doesn’t eliminate all risk to the server, it decreases it tremendously.

It’s time to pick up our camera’s and start taking some pictures.  I will start with a discussion of the three basic components of exposure.  Exposure is the art of making sure the image we make in our photograph is the correct brightness to actually represent what we are photographing.  In fact we are able to make our photograph both brighter or darker than the actual image, and usually some parts of our image show up as brighter and others as darker.  This is an unfortunate characteristic of the sensors we use to take photographs.  For now, however, lets just take a look at the basic building blocks of our exposures: aperture (or f-stop), shutter speed, the ISO setting, and most importantly the amount of light available.  Though you can change all four of these factors, we will assume for the time being that we are working with natural light (not flash or strobes — we will get to these later), so we will focus on the first three, aperture, shutter speed and ISO.  This weeks assignment will actually focus on aperture but we will need to talk about all three so we have a basic picture of how they fit together.

The adjustment of these three factors adjusts the brightness of our image.  For a given amount of light in our environment there are combination’s of these factors that will work to make the exposure you want, and combinations that will not.  Given that you want a certain artistic outcome in your final image, if you choose any two of these, there will not be a choice in the third.  In fact, there are limits on all of them that may make the combination you want to use impossible.  You always have to balance these things together.  They each affect the amount brightness in your image in a different way. As well, each of them also have different secondary effects on our images.

1. Aperture or F-stop. The aperature is literally a tiny opening somewhere deep in your lenses that allows a certain amount of light to pass.  We can make this hole larger, or smaller in order to allow more or less light in for a given amount of time (shutter speed).  This hole is measured in a unit called the f-stop.  The larger the F-stop number the smaller the hole and the less light it will let in.  So an f-stop of 32 is actually smaller than an f-stop of 8.  The largest f-stop a lens has is often referred to as the speed of the lens.  A lens with a smaller f-stop number, a larger opening, is referred to as a faster lens — because it will allow us to use a faster shutter speed in a given lighting condition.  Aside from the amount of light that a given f-stop will allow onto our pictures, the aperture also affects the depth of field of our image.  Depth of field is how far into the foreground and background our photograph is in focus measured from the subject that is actually focused on. A smaller aperture will allow less light to expose our photograph but it will make more of our foreground and background in focus around our subject.  This may or may not be what we want.  If our background is distracting it may be better to use a larger aperture (smaller f-stop) to make sure it is not in focus.

2. Shutter speed.  This is how long we actually expose our image sensor to the light produced by the scene.  The basics are actually quite intuitive.  If you leave your shutter speed open longer more light will come in and your exposure will be brighter.  Keep in mind however, that if your subject moves during the exposure time it will cause the image to blur.  More importantly, if we move while the shutter is open our whole picture will blur.  A faster shutter speed will minimize this affect.  In general we want to use a shutter speed that is at least as fast as the focal length of our lens is long (don’t forget the crop factor of your camera).  So if your lens is a 200mm lens and you are using it on a 1.6x crop factor camera the actual focal length you have is 200*1.6=320mm so your slowest shutter speed you should try and handhold that lens at is 1/300th of a second.  If you want to use a slower shutter speed you will need to use a tri-pod or some sort of image stabilization system (available on lots of newer lenses)

3. ISO speed.  On a digital camera the ISO speed is how much amplification the camera applies to the exposure in the camera.  On a film camera it is how sensitive your film is to light.  A higher ISO setting is one in which your sensor or your film will make a properly exposed image for a lower amount of total light (ie shorter shutter speed, or larger f-stop, or smaller aperature).  Unfortunately, in both film and digital there is a negative impact to a higher ISO setting.  They are kind of the same thing (not really but similar).  A higher ISO film is grainier,  the “dots” that make up the image are larger, so there is lower resolution.  A higher ISO setting on a digital camera is “noisier”  there will be more individual pixels in the image which are over exposed or exposed in a weird color, in effect, there will be light colored specs in the darker portions of your image and your resolution is not as good.

So — how do the three of these things work together?  Lets simplify things a little.  You will usually want to use the lowest ISO setting you can which will allow you to set the other two where you would like.  When you are starting out, set your ISO as low as possible and check your exposure for the other two settings.  Can you get a fast enough shutter speed so that your image is sharp? Can you use the f-stop that puts everything you want in focus?  If not then you may have to increase your ISO — otherwise leave it where it is.  As for shutter speed and f-stop if one goes up the other will have to go down to maintain the same amount of exposure (brightness) in your picture.

Before we go any further you will want to ensure that you know how to adjust each of these settings on your camera. Grab your manual and look up a few things. What dials change f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO speed?  Do these dials change if you are in a different picture taking mode with your camera?  Tomorrow we will start our assignment by looking more precisely at the effect of aperture on our images — so make sure you understand how to put your camera in either aperture priority mode or manual mode, and how to read your in camera light meter to properly adjust for a correct exposure with different apertures (i.e. choose the correct corresponding shutter speed)

Until tomorrow — happy shooting

Enforcement Procedures for High to Very High Occupational Exposure Risk to 2009 H1N1 Influenza – US Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration – OSHA Instruction – Directive CPL-02-02-075 – 20 November 2009

“This Instruction establishes agency enforcement policies and provides instructions to ensure uniform procedures when conducting inspections to minimize high to very high occupational exposure risk to the virus identified as 2009 H1N1 influenza of workers whose occupational activities involve contact with patients or contaminated material in a healthcare or clinical laboratory setting.”

“a seven minute exposure…”

I’ve been playing with a digital camera for over a year now, but am still very much a newbie when it comes to understanding how the camera treats light. So, today I started my first, in what I hope to be numerous, experiments to learn about digital photography and light. I can read about it until I turn blue. I just have to take pictures and play with the settings to “feel” the light. That’s my goal pretty much, to feel the light, to just know how it will be translated by the camera.

I’ve been experimenting with the settings on aperture or shutter priority and wondering why when I change the settings the pictures look almost identical in most cases. Today I broke that barrier – I used the M setting on my dial! This was quite an achievement for me. I will be no means understand all the complexities of photography, but I don’t have to in order to set it to Manual. This was liberating. I now understand that when I adjusted a setting the camera compensated to make what it thought would be a good photograph. It really tried to save me from myself, but I don’t want to be saved anymore!

I must admit that what got me started on this weekend is that I finally made it back out yesterday to take pictures (suppose I’ll have to post that, in the meantime you can check my Flickr additions) and was once again surprised. The ones I wanted didn’t come out very well, too much light and the ones I didn’t count on came out pretty well….well hmmm, this is all to do with light and maybe I can do something about it.

So, today I happened to be reading an article on the Digital Photography School’s website about exposure! Cha ching! I hit pay dirt! Exactly what I need to understand. In it, Darren Rowse talks about the Exposure Triangle and suddenly things started to click in my brain (I admit I am a bit thick-headed). Now it’s time to experiment, and for me that means to the extreme, after all, I want to feel the light. I admit that I still have a long way to go, but now I feel like I’m finally on that train to the place of understanding.

Unexpected Lessons with Aperture

I’ve been experimenting with aperture to blur the background, to place the foreground into focus. But today’s lesson taught me that when adjusting the aperture, you are adjusting the light too. This is the part I’m still working on, but I made some progress today. With a larger aperture (f/5.0), shallower depth of field, more light is let in because the opening in the lens is larger. The following picture illustrate this.
Both photographs: 1/800 ISO 200

f5.0

f/11.0

Here’s one more set. Both photographs: 1/125 ISO 100

f/5.6

f/16

Experiments with Shutter Speed

Although I read about adjusting shutter speed for action or in dark light, I needed to see what happens in normal daylight. So in the following you’ll notice that the shutter speed indeed affects, in a rather dramatic way, the amount of light – even in daylight. Now I think I’ll have to do this about 1,000 times to fully get it, but here’s to a start.

1/400

1/1250

This was shot at night with a 30 sec exposure.

Photography is all about light.  Three controls affect the amount of light reaching the camera’s sensor: aperture, shutter speed and sensitivity. Each one also has a creative impact on the image.

And now for the fun bit.  Some smart folks have divided each of these three controls into “stops” as shown in the following table. Each stop up doubles the light. Each stop down halves the light. This allows the photographer to change the creative effects while maintaining equivalent exposures.

The following four images have equivalent exposures.

With the above tools and some knowledge of artistic composition, you are on your way to great photos. Now go and have some fun!

Exposure – The Absolute Basics of Photography.

I often talk about specific areas of photography in this blog, but sometimes, I forget to cover the basics.  This post it is time to get back to the basics and make sure you remember the elements essential to good photography.  The most important thing to understand in photography is exposure.  It is essential that we capture the right amount of light to create a good photograph.  This is true in both film and digital photography; the rules apply equally to both.

Several components come together to create a proper exposure.  Although our cameras today can do terrific things with exposure in automatic mode, we’re here to help you understand how to do that on your own.  By learning to control your camera manually you’ll be able to be far more creative with your photography than running in auto mode will ever allow. 

For digital photographers it’s more important for you to get a good understanding of exposure than it is for a film photographer.  In digital you do have the ability to edit your photos before they’re printed, but it’s critical that you have good data in the image you capture.  That’s where it becomes essential to understand exposure and apply that knowledge to record a good quality image in the first place.

One rule above all others can help you learn to adjust exposure readily while you’re out shooting, the Sunny 16 Rule.  The Sunny 16 Rule: with your subject in full sunlight, use an aperture of f/16, at a shutter speed of 1/ISO.  By using this rule as a starting place for setting your camera, you can be very flexible in making well-exposed images, while maintaining your control over creativity.  This takes practice, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t learn it right away.

The elements that we must consider for creating a proper exposure are: 

• Amount of light on our subject. -  Sometimes we can control how much light is on our subject, and others, we’re going to deal with whatever light is available.
• F/stop (Aperture) – How much light we allow to come through the lens is controlled by our f/stop.  The f/stop is simply a method of controlling the size of the aperture (opening) the light is passing through as it comes through the lens.
• Shutter Speed – How long we allow the light to come through the lens.  We want to control the length of time we expose a shot to capture the right amount of movement, or to stop the action.
• ISO Speed – The speed at which our camera is recording the image.  ISO is directly tied to the quality of our images and we want to keep it as low as possible (i.e. 100) to maintain the best possible quality.  If we have very little light available and need a fast shutter speed, we may need to increase the ISO.  Just keep in mind that this will have a negative affect on the quality of the image.

I talked previously about using the correct f/stop for your subject (to control depth-of-field) and the correct shutter speed (to deal with motion), so this column is intended to help you bring it all together. 

If you want to make a portrait, you want to have very little depth-of-field, so you’ll want to use a wide open aperture, like maybe f/4.0.  So if you set your camera to Aperture Priority mode and set the f/stop to f/4.0, you can use the camera to take a meter reading on your subject.  Get near enough to your subject to NOT cause a shadow, point the camera and push the shutter release half-way down.  This will display the shutter speed in the viewfinder for you, so make a note of that display (yes, you need to read your manual to understand everything in that display).  Then switch your camera to manual mode, set the f/stop to f/4.0 and the shutter speed to whatever the meter reading provided on the display.  If your meter reading showed a shutter speed of 1/100^th of a second, then set the shutter speed to 1/100^th of a second.  Step back to where you want to shoot from and start shooting.  This will make your shots far more consistent than using an auto, or semi-auto mode.  Do the same thing with Shutter Priority mode if you want to use a particular shutter speed.  Once you’ve practiced this technique for a while you’ll learn to make adjustments on the fly fairly quickly, and you will be more comfortable over time.

The illustration I’ve included here might help you understand what you’re seeing inside your viewfinder.  Although this is a typical Canon display, it should be easy to translate to whatever appears in your particular display.

The Top Ten Reasons Your House is Not Selling (Reasons 7,6 and 5)

By Michael Hughes November 20, 2009

 7.         Reason number seven your home is not selling is you have an inept listing agent. The agent doesn’t screen potential buyers to see if qualified. They have no idea when the best time of year is to put your type of home on the market, what % of homes sold in your area in your price bandwidth, how many buyers are in the market, in your price range, or how many months of inventory are currently on the market. They are not internet savvy and there is no written global marketing plan. They do not give you feedback immediately after showings and communication may be lacking. They have no intention of doing any more than the 3 P’s. PUT a sign in the ground, PLACE it in the MLS and PRAY it sells! Call me for an appointment. I will show you how we market homes the Sotheby’s International Realty way.

 6.         Reason number six your home is not selling is, there is a Surplus of homes on the market and yours is not the best in the price bandwidth. What to do? Talk to me to find out the quantum number of buyers in the market around your price bandwidth and if you are properly priced for your demography.  If you’re trying to sell in a flat market, you’re not only competing against all pre-owned homes in the same demographic but also vacant new construction as well.

 5.         Reason number five your home is not selling is Ineffective marketing. Do you have a written marketing plan? I do. Computers and the Internet also have changed the face of real estate. According to the National Association of Realtors, today more than 89% of all home buyers start their search on the internet. The best real estate agents are computer-savvy. Having your listing on numerous websites is a particular boon when working with an out of town buyer who is up at 2 am in southern California and can’t sleep and is surfing the internet because he was just transferred here to be the new CEO of Google in Boulder. Suffice it to say that if your real estate agent isn’t listing your home online through the company web site, the local MLS, and numerous other internet sites (at least 50-100 well known and branded websites) you may not be getting the exposure necessary to find a buyer.

Contact me today if you or anyone you know needs real estate help….
e-Mail michael.hughes@sothebysrealty.com  Direct 303-359-6627 Website:www.bolderrealestate.com

“These cases encourage debtors and other parties to defensively use the mortgage securitization servicing system to prohibit servicers and other non-lending parties from enforcing rights under a mortgage. This trend, if it continues, may have significant impacts for consumer-debtor lawyers, as well as law firms that enforce mortgages and participated in mortgage loan securitization.”

“A note and mortgage may go through multiple transfers. Documentation of these transfers is imperfect, and many assignments were not recorded at the local real estate filing offices.”

“The creation of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”) further complicated matters.”

“For instance, if a debtor raises these or similar defenses, it may only be necessary for the servicers and the mortgagees to complete and file the proper assignment documents.“

The fabricated fraudulant assignment.

4closureFraud
http://4closurefraud.wordpress.com/

by Isaure Cointreau

work by Abigail Box

Are you an artist?

That is the most difficult question  one could ever answer. It is like saying: who are you? In this respect, my thoughts are we can just try to be because there is no right or wrong definition on the account of art with a capital A.

However for those who want to get a chance of exposure and get feedback upon their work (like I do) , Q-Art is the way to go. Introducing a forum for visual art and visual culture students and graduates from across London’s major art universities, they have been for over a year focusing on creating a interesting web between young emerging artists.

Anyone can join in and that’s the beauty of it. Show your stuff during the convenor reunions and get a chance to hear people talk about your work in an objective way. I believe that grasping multiple and different ideas from the public reactions helps. Because the artist’s work is always personal, his eye is chained by his  personal vision. However,  listening to other’s thoughts and impressions can give a constructive contribution to one’s work.

At the end of the academic year this organization holds a major exhibit of all the 41 artists that have been exposed in the “critic sessions”. Isn’t that the chance of a life time?

These events are open to all, even those not showing anything – if you are interested check out for the next show or assembly at http://www.q-artlondon.com/

Indymac Bank F.S.B. v Yano-Horoski

“Upon the Court’s own motion, it is

ORDERED that the Adjustable Rate Note in the amount of $ 292,500.00 dated August 4, 2004 made by Diana J. Yano-Horoski in favor of IndyMac Bank F.S.B. shall be and the same is hereby cancelled, voided, avoided, nullified, set aside and is of no further force and effect; and it is further

ORDERED that the Mortgage in the amount of $ 292,500.00 which secures said Adjustable Rate Note given by Diana J. Yano-Horoski to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. As Nominee For IndyMac Bank F.S.B. dated August 4, 2004 and recorded with the Clerk of Suffolk County on August 16, 2004 in Liber 20826 of Mortgages as Page 285, as assigned to IndyMac Bank F.S.B. by Assignment recorded with the Clerk of Suffolk County in Liber 21273 of Mortgages at Page 808 shall be and the same is hereby vacated, cancelled, released and discharged of record; and it is further

ORDERED that the Plaintiff, its successors and assigns are hereby barred, prohibited and foreclosed from attempting, in any manner, directly or indirectly, to enforce any provision of the [*7]aforesaid Adjustable Rate Note and Mortgage or any portion thereof as against Defendant, her heirs or successors; and it is further

ORDERED that the Judgment of Foreclosure & Sale granted under this index number on January 12, 2009 and entered in the Office of the Clerk of Suffolk County on January 23, 2009 shall be and the same is hereby vacated and set aside; and it is further

ORDERED that the Notice of Pendency filed with the Clerk of Suffolk County on July 27, 2005 under sequence no. 172456, which was extended by Order dated September 2, 2008 shall be and the same is hereby cancelled, vacated and set aside; and it is further

ORDERED that the Notice of Pendency filed with the Clerk of Suffolk County on August 29, 2008 under sequence no. 199616, shall be and the same is hereby cancelled, vacated and set aside; and it is further

ORDERED that the Clerk of Suffolk County shall cause a copy of this Order & Judgment to be filed in the Land Records so as to effectuate of record each and every one of the provisions hereinabove set forth with respect to cancellation of the instruments and items of record; and it is further

ORDERED that Plaintiff shall pay to the Clerk of Suffolk County, within ten (10) days from the date of entry hereof, any and all fees and costs required to effect cancellation of record of the Mortgage, Notices of Pendency and any other fees so levied; and it is further

ORDERED that within ten (10) days of the date of entry hereof, Plaintiff’s counsel shall serve a copy of this Order upon the Clerk of Suffolk County and the Defendant.

This shall constitute the Decision, Judgment and Order of this Court.”

2009 NY Slip Op 52333(U)
Decided on November 19, 2009
Supreme Court, Suffolk County
Spinner, J.
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.

Decided on November 19, 2009

Supreme Court, Suffolk County

Indymac Bank F.S.B., Plaintiff

against

Diana Yano-Horoski, Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota National Association as Trustee for Soundview Home Equity Loan Trust 2001-1 and Kimberly Horoski, Defendants.

2005-17926

Steven J. Baum P.C.

Attorney for Plaintiff

P.O. Box 1291

Buffalo, New York 14240

Diana Yano-Horoski

Defendant Pro Se

8 Oakland Street

East Patchogue, New York 11772-5767

Jeffrey Arlen Spinner, J.

This is an action wherein the Plaintiff claims foreclosure of a mortgage dated August 4, 2004 in the original principal amount of $ 292,500.00 recorded with the Clerk of Suffolk County, New York in Liber 20826 of Mortgages at Page 285. The mortgage secures an adjustable rate note of the same amount with an initial interest rate of 10.375%. The mortgage encumbers real property commonly known as 8 Oakland Street, East Patchogue, Town of Brookhaven, New York and described as District 0200 Section 979.50 Block 05.00 Lot 001.000 on the Tax Map of Suffolk County. Plaintiff commenced this action by filing a Summons, Verified Complaint and Notice of Pendency on July 27, 2005. The Notice of Pendency was extended by Order dated April 28, 2008 and a Judgment of Foreclosure & Sale was granted on January 12, 2009.

Thereafter and in accordance with the Laws of 2008, Ch. 472, Sec. 3-a and in view of the fact that the loan at issue was deemed to be “sub-prime” or “high cost” in nature, Defendant seasonably requested that the Court convene a settlement conference. That request was granted and a conference was commenced on February 24, 2009 which was continued five times in a series of unsuccessful attempts by the Court to obtain meaningful cooperation from Plaintiff. In view of Plaintiff’s intransigence in its continuing failure and refusal to cooperate, both with the Court and with Defendant’s multiple and reasonable requests, the Court directed that Plaintiff produce an officer of the bank at the adjourned conference scheduled for September 22, 2009.

At the conference held on September 22, 2009, Karen Dickinson, Regional Manager of [*2]Loss Mitigation for IndyMac Mortgage Services, division of OneWest Bank F.S.B. (“IndyMac”) appeared on behalf of Plaintiff. IndyMac purports to be the servicer of the loan for the benefit of Deutsche Bank who, it is claimed, is the owner and holder of the note and mortgage (though the record holder is IndyMac Bank F.S.B., an entity which no longer is in existence). At that conference, it was celeritously made clear to the Court that Plaintiff had no good faith intention whatsoever of resolving this matter in any manner other than a complete and forcible devolution of title from Defendant. Although IndyMac had prepared a two page document entitled “Mediation Yano-Horoski” which contained what purported to be a financial analysis, Ms. Dickinson’s affirmative statements made it abundantly clear that no form of mediation, resolution or settlement would be acceptable to Plaintiff. IndyMac asserts the total amount due it to be in excess of $ 525,000.00 and freely concedes that the property securing the loan is worth no more than $ 275,000.00. Although Ms. Dickinson insisted that Ms. Yano-Horoski had been offered a “Forbearance Agreement” in the recent past upon which she quickly defaulted, it was only after substantial prodding by the Court that Ms. Dickinson conceded, with great reluctance, that it had not been sent to Defendant until after its stated first payment due date and hence, Defendant could not have consummated it under any circumstances (Defendant, through Plaintiff’s duplicity, found herself to be in the unique and uncomfortable position of being placed in default of the “agreement” even before she had received it). Plaintiff flatly rejected an offer by Plaintiff’s daughter to purchase the house for its fair market value (a so-called “short sale”) with third party financing. Plaintiff refused to consider a loan modification utilizing any more than 25% of the income of Plaintiff’s husband and daughter (both of whom reside in the premises with her), the excuse being that “We can’t control what non-obligors do with their money” (the logical follow up to this statement is how does the bank control what the obligor does with her money?). The Court found IndyMac’s position to be deeply troubling, especially since a plethora of sub-prime loans in this County’s Foreclosure Conference Part have been successfully modified with the lender’s reliance upon the income of non-obligors who reside in the premises under foreclosure. The Plaintiff also summarily rejected an offer by both Plaintiff’s husband and daughter to voluntarily obligate themselves for payment upon the full indebtedness, thus committing their individual incomes expressly to the purpose of a loan modification. It should be noted here that Defendant did not even request any waiver or “forgiveness” of the indebtedness aside from some tinkering with the interest rate, just a modification of terms so as to enable her to repay the same. It was evident from Ms. Dickinson’s opprobrious demeanor and condescending attitude that no proffer by Defendant (short of consent to foreclosure and ejectment of Defendant and her family) would be acceptable to Plaintiff. Even a final and desperate offer of a deed in lieu of foreclosure was met with bland equivocation. In short, each and every proposal by Defendant, no matter how reasonable, was soundly rebuffed by Plaintiff. Viewed objectively, it is apparent that Plaintiff’s conduct in this matter falls within the definitions set forth in 22 NYCRR § 130-1.1( c)(2), which might well warrant the imposition of monetary sanctions.

On the Court’s own motion, a hearing was held on November 18, 2009 in order to explore the issues herein. At the hearing, Ms. Dickinson appeared as well as Mr. Horoski. IndyMac claimed a balance due, as of September 22, 2009 of $ 527,437.73 which included an escrow overdraft of $ 46,627.88 for taxes advanced since the date of default but did not include attorney’s fees and costs.. Plaintiff was unable to tell the Court the amount of the principal [*3]balance owed. Mr. Horoski advised the Court that according to two letters received from Plaintiff, the principal balance was said to be $ 285,381.70 as of February 9, 2009 and $ 283,992.48 as of August 10, 2009. Plaintiff stated was that Defendant must have made payments though it was conceded that in fact no payment had been made.Plaintiff insisted that it had remained in regular contact with Defendant in an effort to reach an amicable resolution, that it had extended two modification offers to Defendant which she did not accept and further, that due to her financial status she was not qualified for any modification, even under the Federal HAMP guidelines. Plaintiff denied that it had “singled out” Defendants, simply stating that her status was such that she fell outside applicable guidelines. All of these assertions were disputed by Defendant.

That having been said, the Court is greatly disturbed by Plaintiff’s assertions of the amount claimed to be due from Defendant. The Referee’s Report dated June 30, 2008, which has its genesis in a sworn affidavit by a representative of Plaintiff (presumably one with knowledge of the account), reflects a total amount due and owing of $ 392,983.42. The principal balance is reported to be $ 290,687.85 with interest computed at the rates of 10.375% from November 1, 2005 through August 31, 2006 ($ 25,118.62), 12.50% from September 1, 2006 to February 28, 2007 ($ 18,018.66), 12.375% from March 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008 ($ 39,126.39) and 11.375% from April 1, 2008 to June 24, 2008 ($ 7,700.24) totalling $ 89,963.91. Plaintiff also claims $ 20.00 in non-sufficient funds charges, $ 295.00 in property inspection fees and $ 12,016.66 for tax and insurance advances. The Judgment of Foreclosure & Sale dated January 12, 2009 was granted in the amount of $ 392,983.42 with interest at the contract rate from June 24, 2008 through January 12, 2009 and at the statutory rate thereafter plus attorney’s fees of $ 2,300.00 and a bill of costs in the amount of $ 1,705.00. Even computing the accrual of pre-judgment interest of $ 18,299.18 (using Plaintiff’s per diem rate in the Referee’s Report) together with post-judgment interest at a statutory 9% through November 19, 2009 (an additional $ 31,740.90), the application of simple addition yields a total amount due of $ 447,028.50. This figure is $ 80,409.23 less than the $ 527,437.73 asserted by Plaintiff to be due and owing from Defendant. The Court is astounded that Plaintiff now claims to be owed an escrow advance amount of $ 46,627.88 when, under oath, its officer swore that as of June 24, 2008 that amount was actually $ 34,611.22 less. Moreover, it now appears that the elusive principal balance is either $ 290,687.85, $ 285,381.70 or $ 283,992.48.

It is the province and indeed the obligation of the trial court to assess and to determine issues regarding credibility, Morgan v. McCaffrey 14 AD3d 670 (2nd Dept. 2005). In the matter before the Court, the pendulum of credibility swings heavily in favor of Defendant. When the conduct of Plaintiff in this proceeding is viewed in its entirety, it compels the Court to invoke the ancient and venerable principle of “Falsus in uno, falsus in omni” (Latin; “false in one, false in all”) upon Defendant which, after review, is wholly appropriate in the context presented, Deering v. Metcalf 74 NY 501 (1878). Regrettably, the Court has been unable to find even so much as a scintilla of good faith on the part of Plaintiff. Plaintiff comes before this Court with unclean hands yet has the insufferable temerity to demand equitable relief against Defendant.

The Court, over the course of some six substantive appearances in seven months, has been afforded more than ample opportunity to assess the demeanor, credibility and general state [*4]of relevant affairs of Defendant and Plaintiff. Although not actually relevant to the disposition of this matter, the Court is constrained to note that Defendant is afflicted with multiple health problems which outwardly manifest in her experiencing great difficulty in ambulation, necessitating the use of mechanical supports. Moreover, Defendant’s husband, Mr. Gregory Horoski, suffers from a myriad of serious medical conditions which greatly impede most aspects of his daily existence. Nonetheless, both of these persons, together with their adult daughter who resides with them and who is substantially and gainfully employed, receive income which they are more than willing to commit, in good faith, toward repayment of the debt to Plaintiff and indeed, despite their physical challenges, they have appeared at each and every scheduled conference before this Court. At each appearance, they have assiduously attempted to resolve this controversy in an amicable fashion, only to be callously and arbitrarily turned away by Plaintiff. This has been so even in spite of the Court’s continuing albeit futile endeavors at brokering a settlement.

As a relevant aside, the scenario presented here raises the specter of a much greater social problem, that of housing those persons whose homes are foreclosed and who are thereafter dispossessed. It is certainly no secret that Suffolk County is in the yawning abyss of a deep mortgage and housing crisis with foreclosure filings at a record high rate and a corresponding paucity of emergency housing. While foreclosure and its attendant eviction are clearly the inevitable (and in some cases, proper) result in a number of these situations, the Court is persuaded that this need not be the case here. In this matter, Defendant is plainly willing to make arrangements for repayment and both her husband and daughter are likewise willing to allocate their respective incomes in order to reach the same end. Were Plaintiff amenable, she would presumably continue to maintain the property’s physical plant, pay taxes thereon and the property would retain or perhaps increase its market value. Plaintiff would receive a regular income stream, albeit with a reduced rate of interest and without sustaining a loss of several hundred thousand dollars. In addition, no neighborhood blight would occur from the boarding of the property after foreclosure which would, in turn, avert problems of litter, dumping, vagrancy and vandalism as well as a corresponding decline in the property values in the immediate area. In short, a loan modification would result in a proverbial “win-win” for all parties involved. To do otherwise would result in virtually certain undomiciled status for two physically unhealthy persons and their daughter, leading to an additional level of problems, both for them and for society.

Since an action claiming foreclosure of a mortgage is one sounding in equity, Jamaica Savings Bank v. M.S. Investing Co. 274 NY 215 (1937), the very commencement of the action by Plaintiff invokes the Court’s equity jurisdiction. While it must be noted that the formal distinctions between an action at law and a suit in equity have long since been abolished in New York (see CPLR 103, Field Code Of 1848 §§ 2, 3, 4, 69), the Supreme Court nevertheless has equity jurisdiction and distinct rules regarding equity are still extant, Carroll v. Bullock 207 NY 567, 101 NE 438 (1913). Speaking generally and broadly, it is settled law that “Stability of contract obligations must not be undermined by judicial sympathy…” Graf v. Hope Building Corporation 254 NY 1 (1930). However, it is true with equal force and effect that equity must not and cannot slavishly and blindly follow the law, Hedges v. Dixon County 150 US 182, 192 (1893). Moreover, as succinctly decreed by our Court of Appeals in the matter of Noyes v. [*5]Anderson 124 NY 175 (1890) “A party having a legal right shall not be permitted to avail himself of it for the purposes of injustice or oppression…” 124 NY at 179.

In the matter of Eastman Kodak Co. v. Schwartz 133 NYS2d 908 (Sup. Ct., New York County, 1954), Special Term stated that “The maxim of “clean hands” fundamentally was conceived in equity jurisprudence to refuse to lend its aid in any manner to one seeking its active interposition who has been guilty of unlawful, unconscionable or inequitable conduct in the matter with relation to which he seeks relief.” 133 NYS2d at 925, citing First Trust & Savings Bank v. Iowa-Wisconsin Bridge Co. 98 F 2d 416 (8th Cir. 1938), cert. denied 305 US 650, 59 S. Ct. 243, 83 L. Ed. 240 (1938), reh. denied 305 US 676, 59 S Ct. 356 83 L. Ed. 437 (1939); General Excavator Co. v. Keystone Driller Co. 65 F 2d 39 (6th Cir. 1933), cert. granted 289 US 721, 53 S. Ct. 791, 77 L. Ed. 1472 (1933), aff’d 290 US 240, 54 S. Ct. 146, 78 L. Ed. 793 (1934).

In attempting to arrive at a determination as to whether or not equity should properly intervene in this matter so as to permit foreclosure of the mortgage, the Court is required to look at the situattion in toto, giving due and careful consideration as to whether the remedy sought by Plaintiff would be repugnant to the public interest when seen from the point of view of public morality, see, for example, 55 NY Jur. Equity § 113, Molinas v. Podloff 133 NYS2d 743 (Sup. Ct., New York County, 1954). Equitable relief will not lie in favor of one who acts in a manner which is shocking to the conscience, Duggan v. Platz 238 AD 197, 264 NYS 403 (3rd Dept. 1933), mod. on other grounds 263 NY 505, 189 NE 566 (1934), neither will equity be available to one who acts in a manner that is oppressive or unjust or whose conduct is sufficiently egregious so as to prohibit the party from asserting its legal rights against a defaulting adversary, In Re Foreclosure Of Tax Liens 117 NYS2d 725 (Sup. Ct. Kings County, 1952), aff’d on other grounds 286 AD 1027, 145 NYS2d 97 (2nd Dept. 1955), mod. on other grounds on reargument 1 AD2d 95, 148 NYS2d 173 (2nd Dept. 1955), appeal granted 7 AD2d 784, 149 NYS2d 227 (2nd Dept. 1956). The compass by which the questioned conduct must be measured is a moral one and the acts complained of (those that are sufficient so as to prevent equity’s intervention) need not be criminal nor actionable at law but must merely be willful and unconscionable or be of such a nature that honest and fair minded folk would roundly denounce such actions as being morally and ethically wrong, Pecorella v. Greater Buffalo Press Inc. 107 AD2d 1064, 468 NYS2d 562 (4th Dept. 1985). Thus, where a party acts in a manner that is offensive to good conscience and justice, he will be completely without recourse in a court of equity, regardless of what his legal rights may be, Eastman Kodak Co. v. Schwartz 133 NYS2d 908 (Sup. Ct., New York County, 1954), York v. Searles 97 AD 331, 90 NYS 37 (2nd Dept. 1904), aff’d 189 NY 573, 82 NE 1134 (1907).

An objective and painstaking examination of the totality of the facts and circumstances herein leads this Court to the inescapable conclusion that the affirmative conduct exhibited by Plaintiff at least since since February 24, 2009 (and perhaps earlier) has been and is inequitable, unconscionable, vexatious and opprobrious. The Court is constrained, solely as a result of Plaintiff’s affirmative acts, to conclude that Plaintiff’s conduct is wholly unsupportable at law or in equity, greatly egregious and so completely devoid of good faith that equity cannot be permitted to intervene on its behalf. Indeed, Plaintiff’s actions toward Defendant in this matter have been harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive to the extent that it must be appropriately [*6]sanctioned so as to deter it from imposing further mortifying abuse against Defendant. The Court cannot be assured that Plaintiff will not repeat this course of conduct if this action is merely dismissed and hence, dismissal standing alone is not a reasonable option. Likewise, the imposition of monetary sanctions under 22 NYCRR § 130-1.1 et. seq. is not likely to have a salubrious or remedial effect on these proceedings and certainly would not inure to Defendant’s benefit. This Court is of the opinion that cancellation of the indebtedness and discharge of the mortgage, when taken together, constitute the appropriate equitable disposition under the unique facts and circumstances presented herein.

After careful consideration, it is the determination of this Court that the indebtedness evidenced by the Adjustable Rate Note dated August 4, 2004 in the original principal amount of $ 292,500.00 made by Diana J. Yano-Horoski in favor of IndyMac Bank F.S.B. should be cancelled, voided and set aside. In addition, the Mortgage which secures the Adjustable Rate Note, given to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. As Nominee For IndyMac Bank F.S.B. dated August 4, 2004 and recorded with the Clerk of Suffolk County on August 16, 2004 in Liber 20826 of Mortgages at Page 285, as assigned by Assignment recorded with the Clerk of Suffolk County in Liber 21273 of Mortgages at Page 808 should be cancelled and discharged of record. Further, Plaintiff, its successors and assigns should be forever barred and prohibited from any action to collect upon the Adjustable Rate Note. In addition, the Judgment of Foreclosure & Sale granted on January 12, 2009 and entered on January 23, 2009 should be vacated and set aside and the Notice of Pendency should be cancelled and discharged of record. For this Court to decree anything less than the foregoing would be for the Court to be wholly derelict in the performance of its obligations.

Upon the Court’s own motion, it is

ORDERED that the Adjustable Rate Note in the amount of $ 292,500.00 dated August 4, 2004 made by Diana J. Yano-Horoski in favor of IndyMac Bank F.S.B. shall be and the same is hereby cancelled, voided, avoided, nullified, set aside and is of no further force and effect; and it is further

ORDERED that the Mortgage in the amount of $ 292,500.00 which secures said Adjustable Rate Note given by Diana J. Yano-Horoski to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. As Nominee For IndyMac Bank F.S.B. dated August 4, 2004 and recorded with the Clerk of Suffolk County on August 16, 2004 in Liber 20826 of Mortgages as Page 285, as assigned to IndyMac Bank F.S.B. by Assignment recorded with the Clerk of Suffolk County in Liber 21273 of Mortgages at Page 808 shall be and the same is hereby vacated, cancelled, released and discharged of record; and it is further

ORDERED that the Plaintiff, its successors and assigns are hereby barred, prohibited and foreclosed from attempting, in any manner, directly or indirectly, to enforce any provision of the [*7]aforesaid Adjustable Rate Note and Mortgage or any portion thereof as against Defendant, her heirs or successors; and it is further

ORDERED that the Judgment of Foreclosure & Sale granted under this index number on January 12, 2009 and entered in the Office of the Clerk of Suffolk County on January 23, 2009 shall be and the same is hereby vacated and set aside; and it is further

ORDERED that the Notice of Pendency filed with the Clerk of Suffolk County on July 27, 2005 under sequence no. 172456, which was extended by Order dated September 2, 2008 shall be and the same is hereby cancelled, vacated and set aside; and it is further

ORDERED that the Notice of Pendency filed with the Clerk of Suffolk County on August 29, 2008 under sequence no. 199616, shall be and the same is hereby cancelled, vacated and set aside; and it is further

ORDERED that the Clerk of Suffolk County shall cause a copy of this Order & Judgment to be filed in the Land Records so as to effectuate of record each and every one of the provisions hereinabove set forth with respect to cancellation of the instruments and items of record; and it is further

ORDERED that Plaintiff shall pay to the Clerk of Suffolk County, within ten (10) days from the date of entry hereof, any and all fees and costs required to effect cancellation of record of the Mortgage, Notices of Pendency and any other fees so levied; and it is further

ORDERED that within ten (10) days of the date of entry hereof, Plaintiff’s counsel shall serve a copy of this Order upon the Clerk of Suffolk County and the Defendant.

This shall constitute the Decision, Judgment and Order of this Court.

Dated: November 19, 2009

Riverhead, New York

E N T E R:

______________________________________

JEFFREY ARLEN SPINNER, J.S.C.

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