Month: October 2011

Of course today’s challenge is “spooky.” I have some wine glasses that I bought a few years ago for a party that fit the bill (except for the sparkly diamond in one finger) so I poured some ketchup in the glass, tipped it over and let it ooze down the inside of the glass. I had to take the photo early before there was too much light in the room; I used one OTT light and I added a “flash” of sorts with my tiny light that I turned on for a fraction of a second to give a little more light to the reflection.

Focal Length 35mm
ISO 100
f/16
1.6 seconds
W set to sunny (once again I forgot to change it)
SOOC

Today’s Flickr daily challenge group topic is “tape.” I was mulling it over in my head as I drove home from the gym this morning trying to decide if I would use the challenge topic or something else, and there, on the side of the road, was a long curly string of VCR tape. I couldn’t pull over there to photograph the “dead” tape but that got me to thinking about all the old audio tapes I had laying around and the ridiculous problems one has with audio tapes after they’ve been played too many times and they wear thin and get caught in the tape player and you end up with a jumble of tape and the loss of some favorite music.

I long ago got rid of my audio tape decks but for some reason kept a tape recorder that we got when we got our first computer, a Texas Instruments TI99; we used the tapes to record Basic programs and feed them back into the memory of that miniscule, by today’s standards, 16k RAM. So I decided to recreate a common disaster. I thought I’d be funny and tape two ends back together with piece of duct tape for a double entendre but that didn’t really work out.

I did decide to change the photo to black and white. I thought the black and white treatment lent itself to the decades old technology.

Focal Length 35mm
ISO 100
f/10
1/3 sec
Black and White

When is a square a triangle? Today’s daily challenge is “triangle.” When I ran across Ron’s speed square, I knew that had to be my photo. And there is the conundrum. It’s a square but it’s a triangle.

I set it on the oak tool box (that has never been used for tools) that sets on the shelf at the top of the stairs with incandescent lighting from overhead and behind. Then I added my OTT light to create more contrast and changed the white balance, set to sunny because of the OTT light, to warm the tones of the gold wall behind it. After I looked at the photo, I realized that there were all sorts of triangles in this photo, not just the “square” and an odd-shaped polygon or two.

Focal Length 35mm
ISO 100
f/9
.8 seconds
WB set to sunny with slight color adjustment
SOOC

I liked the look of this train passing behind a fence.

Focal Length 35mm
ISO 100
f/16
1/100
SOOC

I struggled today and tried lots of different photos and lots of different Photoshop effects but found nothing that I deemed good enough for a photo of the day. So I turned to my reliable, of late, inspiration, the Flickr “Our Daily Challenge” group. Today’s challenge is “through a hole.”

I was busy all afternoon and by the time I got to the grocery store, I was tired and hungry. As the Courtesy Clerk at Nugget Market walked me to my car, he asked if I had more plans for the day. “Well,” I said, “I’m learning photography and I have a blog where I post a photo I take every day. Today I’m looking for a photo that exemplifies ‘through a hole.'” It was then that I looked at him and realized that his ears were “gauged,” the practice of enlarging the holes in one’s ears until they are gaping holes. I never knew that’s what the practice was called. I only remember seeing issues of National Geographic Magazine, with natives in various remote continents with their earlobes stretched grotesquely with huge disks. I wondered what this young man will do when the holes no longer have plugs in them and start to sag. Despite my misgivings about the future of his earlobes, which we discussed, by the way, he was a good sport and posed for me so I could take photos of the holes in his ears. He plans to continue enlarging them. I guess I shouldn’t worry about him. Afterall, when I got my ears pierced in 1966, all my family members were aghast except my grandmother, who, I found out when I first saw her after the “piercing,” had her ears pierced in the late 1800’s and had stopped wearing pierced earrings when the practice went out of fashion in the early 1900’s. So, I guess as they say, what goes around, comes around. Just not always the same way.

The photos I got were rather lackluster, though, and despite this young man’s help at trying to hold his ears so that I could get good photos, they were rather uninspired. My fellow photoblogger Melinda suggested I try changing it to black and white so I did. I used the blue filter to get this effect and I rather liked it. I also cropped the photo slightly.

Tesla is a golden eagle who is thought to be the only eagle to have survived electrocution in the US, and because of this, is named for Nikola Tesla, one of whose inventions was the alternating current that electrified the world. This evening I met Tesla who accompanied her handler, Andy McBride, a master falconer and PG&E lineman, to a meeting of the Placer County Fish and Game Commission. Andy is working to educate people about the perils that eagles and other raptors face when they land on power lines and are electrocuted. Tesla was injured 14 years ago, losing part of her foot as a result. She could not be released back to the wild after her rehabilitation so she is an educational ambassador for the California Foundation for Birds of Prey, an organization for which I volunteer.

I faced lighting challenges and although I had my tripod, it was not practical to use it. Earlier today I read an article about coping with poor indoor lighting situations and I took the advice in the article. I set the camera to Aperture priority, opened to maximum aperture, and then adjusted the ISO to achieve the best exposure. Even at high ISO settings, the shutter speeds remained very low so I was lucky to get a couple of pictures in adequate focus. I couldn’t decide which of the best “in focus” shots to use and because it’s late, I decided not to agonize, just post them both. Both are cropped. The first required some exposure adjustments in Aperture. Except for cropping, the second is SOOC.

I didn’t think the Sacramento area’s incredibly poor housing market affected board games, but something must have gone terribly wrong in this Monopoly game! The board was torn into four pieces and all the money, deeds, hotels, and houses were strewn near my neighbor’s trash can. Since I always keep my eye peeled for something interesting to photograph, I thought this scene made an interesting statement on the current state of affairs.

Focal Length 82mm
ISO 100
f/8
1/60
WB- Cloudy
SOOC

Preoccupied with other things today, I didn’t get around to thinking about my photo until almost 3PM. I didn’t feel like going out so whatever I did had to come from around here. Once again, I checked the “Our Daily Challenge” for inspiration. “Going Green.” As I stared into space trying to think of something green that was interesting to photograph, I became aware of my companion in the room who was staring intently at me after being ignored most of the day. When I looked over at Bobo, her “greenness” struck me as an obvious choice for a photo. Then I looked at the vase of molted feathers I keep by her cage and decided that one beautiful tail feather would do the trick. This is not necessarily “going green” but “green that got up and went” . . . i.e., fell out.

I set the feather on a piece of non-reflective black velvet and used an OTT light for lighting with the camera directly over top of the feather so the depth of field would be the same over the entire feather. I changed the white balance to Sunny and the tone to a slight yellow cast to capture the exact color of the molted tail feather. Finally, I used the remote so that there would be no camera shake when I depressed the shutter release.

Focal Length 150mm
ISO 100
f/16
1 second
WB Sunny with B1G1 color adjustment
SOOC

Once again, my new Flickr group, the “Our Daily Challenge” group, has focused my attention in a direction I would not have otherwise gone for my photo of the day. Today’s challenge is “purple.” I didn’t think I had much purple in my house and thought the only thing I could do was photograph a swath of purple paint or crayon. While rummaging in my closet for crayons and paints, I ran across the souvenir program from one of two Beatles concerts I attended in the 60’s. It’s purple! I knew instantly that had to be my photo; I still have the ticket stub from the nose bleed seats at the Cow Palace in San Francisco so I used that to add some pop (and context) to the photo.

So here’s the Fab Four minus one (Ringo didn’t fit in my view finder today) from 1964. I didn’t scream. Really, I didn’t!.

Focal Length 82mm
ISO 100
f/16
1 Second
WB set to Sunny
SOOC

I am so happy to be a member of the Flickr Our Daily Challenge Group because it takes much of the agony out of deciding what will be my photo of the day. Some days I enjoy taking the day as it comes wondering what will inspire me. Other days, I’m too busy or tired to be thoughtful.

Today is a combination of busy and tired so first thing this morning I checked the ODC Group’s challenge: “Begins with J.” My mind started racing: joy (not feeling too joyful today); jogging (nope, today’s my day off from the gym and I don’t jog anyway, I walk); jay (my resident scrub jays aren’t in evidence and there are no jay walkers, either); lots of other “j” words crossed my mind but when I opened the refrigerator to get something for breakfast, there it was: my jar of homemade nectarine jam! I used my tripod and my OTT lights for lighting.

Focal Length 200mm
ISO 100
f/11
Shutter Speed 1/3 sec.
WB set to Fine Weather
SOOC

I spent much of today on Interstate 5 riding with my brother to and from my uncle’s funeral in Salinas. What struck me about I-5 in the San Joaquin Valley was its complete and utter desolation. We felt as if we were driving through a treeless alien landscape. On the return trip, I convinced my brother to pull over at Vista Point near Patterson because I hadn’t yet taken my photo of the day and I had noticed Vista Point on the way to Salinas. From this vantage point, we looked down on the east side of the freeway to the California Acqueduct that supplies water to much of California both for agriculture and municipalities in the south state. On the west, that incredible desolation stretched on to the horizon.

I took quite a few photos on both sides of the freeway but the afternoon haze created lackluster photos in the east and facing the lowering sun created poorly exposed photos facing west. I was disappointed with all my photos and was too tired to attempt processing them with my already forgotten Photoshop skills. For inspiration, I looked to Melinda Three Six Five and discovered that today’s subject in the Flickr Group I recently joined is Black, White and Grainy.

I know how to change a photo to black and white and my alien looking landscape appears grainy when changed to black and white. So thanks, Melinda and Flickr ODC Group 2. I needed you both today!

The only tree I’ve seen that has leaves turning red is where else? It is at my gym. So, this morning as I left the gym, I hopped up on the edge of the concrete planter and took some shots with the sun shining through the leaves of an unknown tree. When I got home, I was a little disappointed that my shots were washed out so, armed with my new found knowledge of Photoshop (miniscule as it is), I transferred the photo I liked best into Photoshop, added a few of the enhancements I learned in my Photoshop class yesterday and was pleased with the results. So here is my first “Photoshopped” photo. And it has bokeh!

Focal Length 200mm
ISO 100
f/5.6
1/100
Photoshop enhancements

Yesterday, my friend Melinda gave me a belated birthday present, a lovely scarf she made from colorful, feathery, nubby yarns, silky ribbons, and beads. I have always loved fiber arts (I used to spin wool into yarn and use natural dyes to color them) but it has been such a long time since I have done any spinning, knitting, or other fiber arts that I was amazed at the variety of beautiful yarns that she used to create this scarf. I was struck by its organic feel and texture and wanted to capture that in a photograph.

Focal Length 200mm
ISO 100
f/5.6
1/5
SOOC

I spent the day in Benicia with my friend and fellow photoblogger Melinda. After dinner we went down to the Benicia waterfront at sunset to take photos. This is the old Benicia Train Station. I forgot to change the ISO so the photos were darkish. Melinda helped me tweak the photo in Aperture to improve its appearance.

Focal Length 36mm
ISO 100
f/5
1/40
Tweaked in Aperture

Or pears. Or pairs of pears. I don’t know, maybe it’s the meds I’m on. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

From front to back, a pair of Seckel pears; a pair of Bartlett pears; and a pair of Bosc pears.

Focal Length 35mm
ISO 100
f/22
2 seconds
SOOC

My friend Irene’s flagstone patio is imprinted with the silhouettes of maple leaves created by tannins in the leaves that stain the patio. This is one of the complete prints that adorned the patio. I thought the nearby leaf, with its late afternoon shadow, made an interesting composition next to the silhouette.

Focal Length 95mm
ISO 100
f/5.3
1/100
SOOC

Feeling a bit under the weather today, sort of like these sad sunflowers on their last legs (petals?). Thought this image is a fair representation of how I’m feeling today.

Focal Length 200mm
ISO 100
f/13
1/60
SOOC

I keep trying with my moon shots (no pun intended for those of you who may have heard about or participated in the Colorado River hijinx) so this morning with a mostly full moon, waxing gibbous at 95% to be exact (thanks, Google’s Current Moon Phase Gadget), I set up on the driveway facing the moon in the western sky and snapped a few. Many were out of focus (what a surprise for me!) because the weight of the long lens was enough to cause a slight jiggle despite the tripod when I depressed the shutter release. I didn’t take the time to get my remote shutter release which would have solved the problem. Another day, perhaps. What I noticed when I compared this morning’s in focus shots with one I took a few days ago when the moon was a waning gibbous moon at 96% (I missed the full moon stage) is that despite what I know about the moon, i.e., we always see the same face of the moon, that face actually rotates. So, inquiring minds want to know, does the face change because the moon rotates or does it change because the earth is rotating?

Here is today’s shot, and the shot I took a few days ago for comparison.

Focal Length 300mm
ISO 100
f/16
1/50
Cropped

Focal Length 300mm
ISO 100
f/22
1/60
Cropped and brightened

I spent some time among the branches of the xylosma shrub which is covered with tiny flowers and lots of bees caching nectar. I still have my 70-300 zoom attached in the hopes of finding my now elusive hawk on the way to the gym so I thought I could get some good closeups of the bees this afternoon instead. What frustrated me today was the camera buffer. The buffer holds 7 shots and once 7 are taken, it slowly (in relative terms) releases one at a time as it downloads my shots. What I aimed for was an in focus bee taking flight. That proved completely impossible today as I was thwarted both by my less-than-sharp reflexes and the buffer. I did manage to get a few in-focus bees not in flight because I used the continuous focus setting. One was in particularly sharp focus and so I cropped it severely to get this “macro” shot.

Focal Length 300mm
ISO 100
f/5.6
1/250
Cropped

Every morning for the past week or so, I have noticed what I believe to be a sharp-shinned or Cooper’s hawk perched on the telephone wires that parallel Fiddyment Road. This morning, before leaving for the gym, I changed to my 70-300mm zoom lens so that I could take some closeup photos. Of course, probably because I was prepared, he was not there this morning. But, as luck would have it, I encountered another kind of hawk, a mosquito hawk, trapped inside the gym, flitting frantically about trying desperately to escape through the window. When I got my camera and tried to focus, I discovered that I couldn’t focus my 70-300 lens at the same distance I could have with either my 35mm prime or my 18-200mm zoom lenses. I kept trying to focus at too close a range until I finally realized what the problem was. When I moved about ten feet away and sat on one of the pieces of gym equipment, I was finallly able to focus on the mosquito hawk. He’s mostly silhouetted here because I neglected to change the ISO, but I think the screen background and the fall colors out the window give the photo some interest. I lightened it a bit using Aperture Presets.

Focal Length 300mm
ISO 100
f/5.6
1/125