January 31, 2010

Having a nice hot cup of peppermint tea before bedtime.  I really need to work on a theme for these pictures . . .

January 30, 2010

When you lift the lid on a freshly filled candy jar . . .

January 29, 2010

It was a really grey day, it was freezing, and a group of us in a DataStage class decided it would be a good idea to walk to Panera Bread somewhere on High Street.  Of course, the cold got the better of somebody, so we managed to get as far as Adriatico's Pizza.  But just before we turned around, I shot a picture of a painted wall next door.  It was supposed to be a throwaway shot, but it really grew on me.

By the way - really good pizza.  If only you could park anywhere neer the place . . .

January 28, 2010

The air is pretty clean when it gets as cold as it was today.  I got a nice shot of the Ross Heart Hospital after walking around campus a bit.

January 27, 2010

Rather than get another shot of how grey Ohio is during the winter, I went after a nice, cozy, indoor shot.  The kids have this remnant of a small globe that floats around the house.

I never realized how difficult it is to shoot a picture of an egg.  That was my intended subject - guess I'll have to get inventive . . .

January 26, 2010

Took a shot with my wide-angle lens attachment down seven flights of stairs. Guess that's what I get when reviewing pictures listening to Beethoven's  Allegretto from Symphony No. 7 in a Major, Op. 92.  I think it was the winding melody of the strings. .

January 25, 2010

I was standing on the Ross Hospital parking garage, looking for a good campus shot, when I noticed a good opportunity to catch the Columbus skyline.  I'll have to try this shot again an a clear day.  I was zoomed out to 10x with a polarizer filter.

Did I mention how cold it was?  Cold. cold, COLD!!!!

January 24, 2010

Quick shot of a blank DVD.  I kept experimenting to see if I could get some nice colors.  Auto-focus fought me all the way; manual focus with my camera is a bit of a dark art.  Unfortunately, my camera is not a friend of low light, so the picture is a bit noisy.

January 23, 2010

I got a quick shot of my Yamaha 24 fret superstrat.  I really need to get it restrung - she's sounding pretty soft.  It's leaning against a Peavey Audition that I don't get to use much.

January 22, 2010

I saw this guy being chased by about 6 blackbirds.  Big ones.  You know - 'The Omen'-sized birds.  After they flew off, this guy just sat in the tree for a while - just long enough to get some shots.  I'm at full zoom (10x) on my Minolta Z1.  I didn't think I had time to play with my settings, so the picture is what it is.  Not too bad, though!

January 21, 2010

I took this while walking through campus.  It's a nice trek from Ackerman Rd to the main hospital shuttle stop- if you don't stop to take a bunch of pictures, you can do it in about 45 minutes.

At first, trying to take at least one picture every day was the hard part.  You have to start looking at the ordinary, framing the shot, etc.  Now the task is going over the shot and looking at the favorite.  I'm hoping as the weather gets better, I'll be able to vary my shots a bit more.  I can't wait until spring.

January 20, 2010

I felt bad that I didn't get to make a snowman with the children.  So while walking through a parking lot, I came across some nice snow . . .

January 18, 2010

I wasn't going to do another gargoyle so soon, but I really love the subject matter.  Same little LED flashlight, but I took the ND4 filter off this time.  I converted to black and white in Picasa, which actually made the picture feel more lifelike.

January 17, 2010

New gargoyle!  This time, I had a small LED flashlight for a light source.  I was able to get some nice detail, but you could see the detail of the resin in shiny spots.  I photoshopped a texture to the picture and the result looks pretty nice!

January 15, 2010

It's a big mound of dirty snow.  Not much else to day, really.  It's big, it's dirty, and it's sitting in the parking lot.

January 14, 2010

I got this one in under the wire.  We have a pair of gargoyle bookends that hold up a stack of DVDs; seemed like a good subject.  I sat in a dark room and shined a flashlight on it from different angles and shot as many as I could.  This picture was my favorite one.
When I get a new camera, I think I'll need to pick up a f/2 or faster prime lens (maybe figure out some macro tricks as well).  My trusty Minolta Z1 does f/2.8 wide open, but the sweet spots seem to hang out in f/3.5.  I'd like to do some lower light shots, and a prime looks to be the cheapest way to go.
Side note - looks like there's a decent M42 adapter for Canon EOS cameras.  This means I can get to the Pentax primes I'm liking, but I would lose image stabilization.  The time is drawing short, but the contenders remain the Pentax Kx and the Canon EOS 500d (T1i)..

January 13, 2010

It was the first sunny day of the week.  When I went walking (it was cold!), I saw these little statues along the path.  I took the picture with a polarizer and an ND4 filter stacked together to save the sky's color.  It was so bright that everything was blown out.

January 12, 2010

It was late, and I didn't like any of the photos. So I made a quickie macro studio out of a flashlight and a paper towel, and snapped some pictures of my daughter's butterfly ring.

January 11, 2010

It was bound to happen.  The little cherubs wandered out into the snow, all set for a fun-filled day of winter frolicking.  Here, they are playing 'Tragic Himalayan Adventure.'  Oh, if only someone had found them in time . . . .

Worry not - the truly blasphemous stuff always ends up on BRAAINS!!!

January 10, 2010

I shot this picture in a dark room.  To get a bit more emphasis on the flame, I fired a butane lighter at the flame. The candle hasn't been used in a while, so the dark specks on the wax happen to be dust.  I didn't notice until I brought the image up on a larger screen.  Oh, well . . .