120 Collage

It's day 120 for my 2011 365 Project. So today's picture is a collage of the first 119 pictures taken. I'm about one-third done with this year's project. Since I started in 2009, I've complete 850 daily posts each with a different photo with most taken on the same day. I hope you've been enjoying these past 850 days on CIOPhoto.com. This project was done with Shape Collage Pro version 2.5 software.

Sandbox

Our grandson Robert is spending the day and night with us. He spent much of the day outside enjoying the beautiful weather. The sandbox is always a hit and here he is feeding sand into two different spinner toys and yes that's spaghetti sauce from dinner on his face. Canon G11, 1/25 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 100

Charge!!

- The 18 volt power tool batteries are ready to charge into action. Canon 40D, 1/160 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

Under Pressure

As my current home renovation project continues and continues and continues, there's been little time for photography. So tonight I turned the camera on the project and the pressure to complete. This is my air compressor charged up to power the brad nail gun. A nail gun is a wonderful thing. Canon 40D, 1/200 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens, converted to black & white with highlight color.

Looking Down on Me

My PEZ collection always watches over me at my computer. This is part of a larger shelf with about 500 different PEZ's. Can you spot Popeye, Zoro, Elvis and the GEICO Gecko? This collection leaves just about everyone who sees it speechless. Canon 40D, 1/40 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 800, 50mm prime lens.

Camellia

This white camellia flower was one of the largest I've ever seen with the flower about 6 inches in diameter. The texture of the delicate pedals comes out very nicely in this high contract black and white photograph. Canon 7D, 1/320 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens with supplemental light from an LED litepanel.

Easter Fun

- My grandson Robert thoroughly enjoyed the Easter Basket we made for him. It was mostly cheap toys, the only candy was Pop Rocks - his first experience was priceless. But of course he enjoyed the fake paper grass from the basket the best. He was at "Grammy's house" and she let him spread it all over the house. Here is is throwing a bunch up in the air. I'm not sure who had the most fun - him, us or the cats. Canon 40D, 1/125 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 800, 50mm prime lens and Canon ETTL flash bounced from the ceiling.

Daily Bread

Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors. (Matthew 6:11)

Java

- Took this picture of our first cups of coffee today before I had my first cup of coffee, an achievement in and of itself. Canon 40D, 1/125 sec @ f/2.2, ISO 400, 50mm prime lens.

One Candlepower

- It would be hard to imagine a world without electric lights. Today our homes and work places are well lit. In the 1800's and earlier night was often without light and when it was provided it was a flame like this single candle. The now outdated term of candlepower was use to describe how much light was emitted from any artificial source. The term candlepower has been replaced by Candela which defines a single candle at 1/683 of a watt. Canon G11, 1/500 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800 in macro mode, 3 stops underexposed.

Showy

- Wikipedia says the Iris is a plant with "showy flowers". This is one of my Irises from a 25 foot long bed of them on the south side of my house. All of these come from one plant my next door divided and gave me over 20 years ago. The blooms are really large and stand a top a 3 foot high stem. Canon 7D, 1/40 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200, 100mm macro photographed in full shade.

Dial Me a Number

- It's not everyday that one gets an opportunity to photo a rare and unusual object. This is an antique Tiffany silver phone dialer engraved with the date of 5-17-57. My friend Andrea showed me this piece which belonged to her grandmother. It was an anniversary gift on the engraved date. In the days of rotary dial phones a woman who had a fine manicure didn't want to risk breaking a nail placing a call, so in comes the silver dialer with a fine felt tip for dialing in those important calls. This make's today's litany of fashionable iPhone accessories seem somewhat trivial and trite. I doubt any of those will be a cherished family heirloom in 50+ years. Canon G11, 1/40 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800, converted to black and white in Lightroom 3 with Silver Efex Pro.

Unfurl

- My ferns are unveiling new shoots every day. I love the way they unfurl and quickly expand into a new stem with fully developed leaves. I know I've been giving you a major dose of flower and plant macros lately, but its Spring and there's so much to train the macro lens on. Expect a few more before I find a new creative outlet for my camera lens. Canon 7D, 1/30 sec @ f/9.0, ISO 200. 100mm macro lens.

First Day at the Beach

It was a beautiful day in Virginia Beach so we made our first trip of the year to the beach at Sandbridge. There were lots of surfers but not much ridable surf but it was still a great day to just sit and talk. Canon G11, 1/500 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100.

Snowbells

- The white snowbells are quite a nice addition to any spring garden. Canon 7D, 1/160 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 400, 100mm macro, LED litepanel.

Pretty Boy Blue

- This is Sebastian my cousin Lin's blue tonkinese kitten. Approaching five months old he just gets prettier and prettier or should I say more handsome everyday. He has an amazing social personality and never meets a stranger. I took this picture through a glass window as we were outside in the garden and he was watching every move. Canon 7D, 1/100 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 1600,100mm macro, LED micro Litelpanel.

Solomon's Seal

- Canon 7D, 1/80 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro.

Get the Point

- I've long been a user and collector of fountain pens. This Taccia Ta-Ke" is my everyday pen, one of the best writing and most dependable pens I have ever owned. It is not expensive and doesn't have a famous name or a snow peak on the cap but is a great pen. I think you can tell from this macro photo of the nib that it is well used and not very well taken care of. In fact, I have never cleaned this pen in the almost five years I've had it. Japanese pen with a German nib, a great combination. Canon 40D, 1/50 sec @ f/5.0 ISO 800, 100mm macro.

Captain Sullivan

- Tonight was special as we attended the Virginia Beach Fire Department's 2011 Promotion Ceremony. In this picture our son Brian has his captain's badge pinned on by his wife Kristal and son Robert as Deputy Chief Journigan and Chief Cover look on. Our entire family is very proud of Brian and his career in the fire service. Canon 7D, 1/160 sec @ f/2.5, ISO 800, 85mm prime lens.

The Fork

- A simple piece of kitchenware and a shadow make for a simple photograph. Canon 40D, 1/200 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 400, 100mm macro converted to black and white in Lightroom 3 with Silver Efex Pro.

Wild Wisteria

- This is some wild wisteria growing along a ditch bank in my neighborhood. Wisteria can be a very invasive plant but it is certainly striking when in bloom. This photo was taken in daylight with illumination provided by an LED Litepanel. Between the relatively short depth of field of the macro lens and stopping down to ensure saturated colors, the background went completely dark. Canon 40D, 1/320 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 400, 100mm macro lens.

Build Me Up -

- Buttercup
Don't break my heart

Every time I see of buttercup in the spring I immediately think of the The Foundations hit from 1968. Canon 40D, 1/400 sec @ f/8.0, 100mm macro.

So build me up (Build me up)
Buttercup
Don't break my heart

Tick Tock

- I love old analog watches like this Hamilton that was my grandfather's. They were even more beautiful on the inside than the outside. Canon 40D, 1.6 sec @ f/16.0, ISO 200, 50mm macro.

Hide and Seek

- Sherlock just loves the laundry bag from the dry cleaners. Any time I pull it out, I know I'll find him hiding in there. He has not figured out that's it not a good hiding place. Canon 40D, 1/15 sec @ f/4.5, 100mm.

Time

- Guess what time it is - it's time to make a picture for today. One of the problems with doing a 365 project is scrambling to come up with a picture idea at the last minute. I've done some pretty lame ones during the last 27 months but after doing 825 pictures posts in a row I wasn't going to let today break the string. So I took a picture of my watch. First I loaded up the phosphorous with light and then took the manual exposure macro photo. This was the third frame of three. I used an Adobe Lightroom preset to split tome the image and then converted to black and white. So number 826 is in the can. Canon G11, 1/15 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800, in macro mode.

Drip

- A leaky faucet in a funky cool bathroom at the Twisted Fork in the Triangle Town Center near Raleigh N.C. Canon G11, 1/40 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 400.

Alivia's

- Alivia's Durham Bistro on West Main Street in the Brightleaf District of Durham NC. The stainless steel in the sign was nicely lit by the late day sun. I like the saturated colors of the sky and the building. Canon G11, 1/200 sec @ f/7.1, ISO 200.

Find Your Cool

- "Find Your Cool" in downtown Durham North Carolina. This is a row of buildings fronting on Main Street with the motto of downtown painted in the old style on the brink. Canon G11, 1/640 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 400.

Busy

- This little fly was very busy on the newly open white flowers next door. Canon 40D, 1/60 sec @ f/11, ISO 400, 100mm macro, LED Litepanel.

HDR Miami

- Downtown Miami in high dynamic range (HDR). This photo of downtown Miami at night is actually a blended exposure of 5 individual photographs. Each exposure was captured using a different setting creating a range of images from light to dark. When blended with Photomatrix Pro software the resulting images include a much wider tonal range than the camera can accomplish on a single exposure. This image is more like what your eyes can detect in a scene like this. Canon G11, shutter times at 1, 2, 4, 8, and 10 seconds all @ f/8.0 and ISO 100, mounted on a tripod.