Month: March 2011

After steeping the zest of 30 Meyer lemons in 2 bottles of 151 proof grain alcohol for 46 days, today I added a little over two quarts of simple syrup to the golden liquid that I had strained through coffee filters and then squeezed out every last drop. The clear golden liquid turned an opaque lemony yellow when the two liquids combined and it was limoncello! Then I poured this precious elixir into seven 500ml bottles, snapped on the flip caps and set them in a cool, dark place while the limoncello mellows; they say it should set for a year. I don’t know if I can wait that long!

Lens at 56mm
ISO 640
f/5.6
1/50
SOOC

This guy, a bodyless fake-rock head nestled in among the azaleas in my entry way, always makes me smile when I open the door. He faces the doorway so I can enjoy him and he smiles pleasantly to my guests as they leave. As I look at him, he kind of reminds me of my Dad. Hmmm. Until this very moment, I never saw the connection. It must be the nose!

35mm lens
ISO 200
f/1.8
1/250
SOOC

Spring Cleaning is an imminent threat, and the long overdue sunshine is pointing out every pile of dust and cobweb hidden for months by the overcast skies. It isn’t prudent, I suppose, to document my shortcomings as a housekeeper. However, my intense interest in photography trumps any embarrassment I might have about the webs and dust in my home, especially if those webs and dust offer an opportunity for a photo of the day. Today’s case in point: the window over the front door has always been a challenge to keep free of cobwebs because it is so high up. The bottom of the window is at least 13 feet from the floor and since I am not one to climb ladders (even 2-step step stools cause my knees to quaver) the cobwebs that collect in and around this window tend to stay there and collect their own dust.

The Sunny f/16 rule seemed to work in this situation.

Lens at 300mm
ISO 200
f/16
1/200
SOOC

“I have a magpie mind. I like anything that glitters.” — Lord Thomson of Fleet

The sun was out today, more than it was behind clouds. I decided it was a good day to go up to the park where I haven’t been to check on the magpies in 5 years, ever since they decided to build the high school behind the park and remove many of the magpies’ nesting trees, majestic valley oak trees that were in the way of “progress.” In 2006, I was a Magpie Monitor for a study UC Davis was conducting on the effects of West Nile Virus on the Yellow Billed Magpie, a bird that lives in the Central Valley of California and no other place on Earth. That spring I followed seven nests and counted 23 surviving chicks.

Today, I was happy to find there were a few pairs of magpies still able to nest in the park, although there are now fewer oaks and those that remain are succumbing to age, weather, and “progress.” I heard the magpies first, and followed the chatter. I watched a group of three (prior year nestlings often hang around for a year or more) as they flew from oak to oak. I never identified their nest site but saw that the oaks held several of the huge stick nests that the magpies refurbish every year.

I liked this photo because the one magpie had just spread his wings to take flight. The next bird down was moving up to the top to follow the first, so he’s a bit out of focus. The colors are fairly accurate because the oaks are just starting to leaf out and they look more yellow than green.

Lens at 200mm
ISO 200
f/8
1/160
SOOC

Is March going out like a lamb? There was actually a break in the cloud cover off and on today and I came across a small flock of sheep when I took a back route to the store this afternoon. I pulled over and ran across the road to take some photos. This guy and a white one galloped over to greet me and stayed with me as I walked back and forth along the fence line to get some shots.

Lens at 24mm
ISO 200
f/14
1/80
SOOC

I spent a fabulous day getting reacquainted with my Goddaughter, Caitlin, whom I hadn’t seen in more than 30 years and of course, meeting her two adorable children. Miles enjoyed posing in his newly acquired Groucho disguise. Today was mostly about having fun and getting reacquainted so photography was not my primary focus. But I did learn that even when I am using the camera more as a “point-and-shoot” than as a serious camera, composition and camera adjustments are still critical. I just need to remember to make the appropriate adjustments so I can get decent photos. I think this picture of Miles preparing to become Groucho is priceless.

Lens at 200mm
ISO 3200
f/5.6
1/50
SOOC

After failing at several much more interesting photo opportunities this morning (Mady the visiting Golden Retriever, the waning gibbous moon actually visible this morning, even the over-exposed Bobo waxing ecstatic over my brother’s attention) I decided to try playing with light coming through a small stained glass duck. What I had in mind was not what I got but I thought the end result was interesting in that the shallow depth of field made the virtually flat object almost appear three dimensional.

35mm Lens
ISO 1600
f/1.8
1/1600
SOOC

I’ve never made a silk purse but when I used to sew, I used lots of silk thread. I still have piles of old wooden spools of silk thread and I thought they’d make an interesting composition, especially on this dreary rainy day. Here are a few of those spools. Some are marked 15 cents. I wonder what they would cost now?

35mm lens
ISO 640
f/1.8
1/125
SOOC

Today is my Mom’s 94th birthday and I was planning to drive over to Santa Rosa for a family birthday party, but the weather intervened so I stayed home. My decision to stay home was due to three factors: the weather, my step daughter’s concern about my driving in bad weather, and my husband’s ghost. I know that sounds pretty whacky and I guess it is, but let me explain. My husband was a worrier and driving in bad weather was something that always concerned him. His daughter has assumed the role of “worrying about Carol driving” and called me at 6:30 this morning to tell me of her concerns. There are high wind warnings; flood advisories abound; heavy rain is predicted this morning when I would be driving to Santa Rosa; and thunderstorms and hail are predicted for this afternoon when I would be driving home. But, what actually made the decision for me was the appearance of my husband’s ghost. I know that sounds ridiculous but on more than one occasion this phenomenon has occurred and when it has, related events have caused me to associate it with my late husband. So, I now assume that whenever it happens, it is the presence of Ron’s ghost.

This phenomenon is the mysterious illumination of the light on my piano. This light turns on and off by touching the metal. I’ve had the light for years but the mysterious illumination has only occurred a few times and only since my husband’s death. This morning when I came downstairs at 6 AM, the light was on. I was still half asleep and it didn’t register at first. But when I opened the front door to get the newspaper, a blast of wind, rain drops, and oak leaves blew inside. I knew then that the light meant Ron was concerned about my driving in this weather. Then Beckee called with her concerns. So, my picture of the day is my husband’s ghost in the form of the light over my piano.

Lens at 62mm
ISO 400
f/5.6
1/200
SOOC

Last night I learned that “bokeh” is photographers’ lingo for Specular Highlights. Bryan Peterson refers to specular highlights as the out of focus points of light in a photograph; he also says the shape is determined by the size of the aperture. The only perfectly round “bokeh” occur when the lens is wide open; any other aperture produces an octagonal reflection. When the sun came out today, I tried to capture this phenomenon, a challenge because the sun drifted in and out behind massive cloud formations.

I don’t know whether the wide open lens is perfectly round. It doesn’t look round to me. In fact, they both look slightly octagonal. The first photo was taken with the largest aperture (f/5.6). I’ll have to experiment with other lenses to see if the bokeh look rounder. I think my 35mm prime lens results in perfectly round bokeh. If the sun comes out again, I may add another post using that lens.

Lens at 200mm
ISO 100
f/5.6
1/160
SOOC

Lens at 200mm
ISO 100
f/11
1/40
SOOC

The sun came out briefly this afternoon despite the prediction for thunderstorms and hail. I ran outside to see what I could see. I saw my neighbor who came over to talk flowers and I maneuvered back to her side of the street and discovered her calla lilies were covered with rain drops. The sun went behind a massive cloud while I snapped away, white balance set for cloudy weather. The photo was a bit underexposed but increasing exposure adjustments in Aperture didn’t improve it measurably. Instead, I applied curves which improved the color of the lily and made the water drops pop.

Lens at 170mm
ISO 200
f/5.6
1/1000
White Balance Cloudy
Curves adjustments

It’s the first day of spring. I sure didn’t find it outside today what with the pounding rain, howling wind, flood warnings, and cold weather. I found a little spring inside, in fact, I found a few!

35mm
ISO 400
f/1.8
1/80
SOOC

It started with a smiley face.

Lens at 18mm
ISO 200
f/22
3 seconds
SOOC

And then I couldn’t stop myself. Dark closet, small light. Nothing else to do today. This is supposed to be a dog.

Lens at 18mm
ISO 200
f/20
6 seconds
SOOC

I ran across my “No Jive 3 in 1 Yo-Yo” recently and remembered how much I loved Tommy Smothers when he went into his “State of Yo.” At that time, a friend gave me the same Tom Kuhn custom yo-yo that Tommy Smothers used. Here’s a clip of the Smothers Brothers, about that time, performing “Yo Yo Man,” accompanied by the Boston Pops. If you look closely, you can see that Tommy is using the “No Jive 3 in 1 Yo-Yo.” This song reminds me that I’m going to see Yo-Yo Ma at the Mondavi Center in April. I wonder if he uses a yo-yo during his performances?

To me, a yo-yo must be used to be appreciated. So today I set out to get an action shot of my prized yo-yo. Not so easy, especially when you’re the photographer and the performer. So I did the next best thing. I attached the yo-yo to a rod, let it swing, and snapped away.

Lens at 200mm
ISO 1600
f/18
1/2.5
SOOC

My great grandfather, a native of Ireland, became a United States Citizen in 1873. I have his naturalization papers and I thought it would make an appropriate Saint Patrick’s Day post. I find the wording of the requirement that he “entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to every foreign Prince, Potentate, State or Sovereignty whatever, and particularly to Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland,” fascinating. I wonder, are citizenship papers worded that way today? Because it is St. Patrick’s Day, and because I don’t have any shamrocks growing in my yard, I substituted a shamrock relative, oxalis, that I will, for today only, not consider it a weed. Plus, it added a little appropriate color to the composition.

This photograph posed a lighting problem; I used an OTT light to simulate sunlight and I set the white balance to sunlight. However, after experimenting with different white balance, ISO, shutter speed and aperture settings to achieve a realistic looking color for this yellowed 138 year old document, I decided to change the entire composition to sepia. I purposely used a shallow depth of field because I wanted to showcase just some of the words related to renouncing allegiance to Victoria.

35mm
ISO 250
f/4
1/160
Sepia

Mother Nature has been dumping lots of rain here; rainfall is several inches over normal to date with more on the way. Small creek flood advisories are posted and lots of creeks in the area are overflowing their banks. I was photographing the bike trail that had disappeared under the roiling waters of Dry Creek near my home when a young woman in bright red boots appeared from under the bridge. She sloshed along the submerged path carefully maintaining her balance. I was surprised to see anyone navigating the flooded banks, a foolish act even if the water over the path was only a few inches deep. One can clearly see how fast the water moved as it splashed around the submerged tree a few feet away from the woman. Despite my trepidation about the woman’s actions, I loved how her boots brightened an otherwise dreary scene.

I had trouble with exposure today. I set the White Balance to cloudy but the sun came out every once in a while. I had to make adjustments to the White Balance in Aperture and I applied curves.

Lens at 48mm
ISO 320
f/5
1/320
White Balance set to Cloudy
Additional adjustments in Curves and White Balance

Despite what happened to Julius Caesar on this date, the Ides of March was traditionally (at least “back in the day”) a day of celebration. I’m celebrating that I captured a photograph between raindrops today. I planned to photograph the first freesias (my favorite spring flower) in bloom but discovered that the unopened buds made a much more interesting composition and the water drops (yay! water drops) made them even more interesting.

35mm lens
ISO 200
f/2.2
1/200
White Balance set to Cloudy
Cropped

Many years ago, I bought a grotesque papier-mâché mask at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. I still love it today and it sets on a shelf downstairs. On my second date with my future husband, I answered the door wearing it. I thought it was enormously funny; he almost had heart failure. As grotesque as it is, it makes me smile.

I played with sepia tones and vignettes today.

35mm lens
ISO 250
f/2.8
.400000s (1/2.5)
Curves, Black and White and Sepia, vignette

There’s a high overcast today and these ornamental pear blossoms caught my eye when I was leaving the gym this morning. I thought the white blossoms against a white sky might be interesting. I set the White Balance to cloudy, set a wide open aperture and adjusted the shutter speed until I got the shot I was seeking. This was the last of about twenty shots.

Lens at 130mm
ISO 200
f/5.6
1/320
White Balance Cloudy
SOOC

I found myself out and about unexpectedly at midday today and I decided to try photographing my old nemesis, the waterfall feature at a strip mall a few blocks away. Of course I neglected to attach the lens hood so I have a spectacular lens flare and I underexposed the shot while I was trying to stay out of the glare of the midday sun. I was purposely trying to smooth the water so I used a slow shutter speed. And Aperture came to my rescue (sort of) with a little tweaking here and there.

Lens at 105mm
ISO 200
f/16
1/40
Curves