Day 34 - Many Colors

The many colors of the Crayola Crayon.

Day 32 - CFL Go Bye Bye

GE announced today that it no longer make or sell compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) lightbulbs in the US. The company will shift its focus on making the newest and most energy-efficient lightbulbs, LEDs.

Quiet - Day 151 #CY365

Time to enjoy an evening caffè lungo and some quiet time. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/80 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, one LED Litepanel for illumination.

Soul - Day 148 #CY365

A case of Bronchitis this week left me coughing my head off. A visit to the doctor, antibiotics and this cough syrup with codeine was good for my body and my soul. Canon 5D Mark II, 100mm macro, 1/40 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800.

Devotion - Day 140 #CY365

Today is Sherlock's fourth birthday. Yes he is named after the famous fictional detective because of his insatiable curiosity. He goes by many names around our house, Lock, Lockmeister, Lockinator, Trouble with a capital "T", and assorted other names when his curiosity is out of control. But he's my totally devoted little buddy. Join me in wishing him a happy birthday. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/13 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro lens.

Resourcefulness - Day 129 #CY365

Being resourceful, I put an old Hurst T-Handle from my 1973 Mustang Mach I to good use. Meet the ultimate in performance mice, the Logitech-Hurst Darkfield T-Handle. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/160 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800 photographed in a light tent with two LED Litepanels for illumination.

Automatic - Day 128 #CY365

Trust in your skills, learn to not rely on the "automatic" mode of your camera. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/320 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800.

My Eyes - Day 123 #CY365 #Creepy

This was a tough prompt for me. I settled on this tightly cropped closeup of my right eye. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/60 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens and an LED Ring Light as reflected in my pupil.

Uplifting - Day 120 of 365 #CY365

I love watching the ferns come back to life in the Spring. They sprout new stems and uncurl the beautiful leaves from a tightly wound center, one of the many uplifting signs of Spring. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/160th sec @ f/11.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro.

Colorado Blue Columbine - Day 116 #CY365

Our Colorado Blue Columbine has a night visitor. The little spiders are everywhere tonight. Almost every bloom I looked at across the yard had the busy little spiders working away. Canon 5D Mark II 1/160 sec @ f/11, ISO 1600, two LED light panels.

Chicken or the Egg? - Day 104 #CY365

Today's prompt was "Chicken or the Egg?". So I pulled out an Easter PEZ Dispenser and set her in the middle of a basket of eggs. The picture is what it is but the circular cause and circumstance has been debated for all of written history.

Consider this - Macrobius, an early 5th century Roman philosopher, found the problem to be interesting: "You jest about what you suppose to be a triviality, in asking whether the hen came first from an egg or the egg from a hen, but the point should be regarded as one of importance, one worthy of discussion, and careful discussion at that."

Canon 5D Mark II, 1/1600 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

Fill the Frame - Day 97 #CY365

The little assassin bug nymph "Zelus" is stalking a tiny fly on this forsythia flower tonight. I went outside with my LED light panel and macro lens to look for an interesting macro photo to "fill my frame". The wet forsythia seemed like a good place to start. I was amazed at the tiny insects I saw - spiders, aphids, little flies and this cool Zelus. Seconds after taking this photo, the Zelus sprang and caught the fly below.

Canon 5D Mark II, 1/400 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 1600, one LED Litepanel and an LED Ring Light.

Tight - Day 89 #CY365

The Kikkerland Camera Pencil Sharpener is "Tight". Not only does it look cool, it's actually a really good pencil sharpener. It grips the pencil shaft and spring tension pulls the pencil in as you crank the handle. You can also adjust it from more to less sharp. All in all - it's "tight"! Canon 5D Mark II, 1/13 sec @ f/8, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens and an LED ring light.

Arched - Day 85 #CY365

This stained glass window featuring Gabriel's Horn in the center is framed by an arched casing. The bright gold horn is also found atop the church's steeple which was the tallest point in the City in the later half of the 19th century. The Freemason Street Baptist Church is one of three buildings in Norfolk Virginia designed by Thomas U. Walter who was famous for his design of the dome for the U.S. Capital Building. The church was completed in May 1850 in a revival of the style known as "Perpendicular Gothic." This Victorian period revival style was characterized by its reliance on decoration and ornamentation rather than structure. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/250 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 400, 50mm prime lens.

Aromatic - Day 84 #CY365

I have a bunch of hyacinths planted near our front door. The smell provides a nice welcome home. Here I tried to capture the fine texture of the blooms with a little loose pollen in an attempt to invoke the wonderful feeling you get from the aroma. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/200 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 1600.

Spring - Day 80 #CY365

The Pieris japonica 'Valley Rose' are in full bloom for the first time. These wonderful bushes are flanking either side of our front porch and were recommended and installed last summer with our new front yard landscaping design from Bill Maxwell of Maxwell Landscaping Services. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/250th sec @ f/11.0, ISO 1600.

Duplicate - Day 77 #CY365

Batman and his twin. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/50 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 400, 100mm macro lens.

A Shamrock - Day 76 #CY365

The tiny white flowers of the shamrock. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/25 sec @ f/16, ISO 1600, 100mm macro lens with LED ring light.

Mark the Spot - Day 73 #CY365

Fill the frame, use the rule of thirds, blur the background and leave the viewer with no doubt as to what the photographer intended the photo to be about. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/200 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 400, one LED flash light with the beam focused narrowly on the cup.

Arranged - Day 71 #CY365

Today's challenge was to arrange something in a stack and use a shallow depth of field to create a blurred effect. I love photography books, well to be truthful, I love everything about photography. Anyway, I stacked some of my recent favorites, used a couple of LED litepanels, a macro lens and voila - we have a photo of the day. But back to the photography books - someone once said the two most important things you can do to improve your photography are: 1) take lots of pictures, hence the 365 project and 2) look at lots of photographs with a critical eye. While digital photos on a computer screen are pretty cool, in my opinion nothing beats the printed photograph for appreciating the work. Photography books are a great place to both see good photographs and understand how they were made.

Canon 5D Mark II, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400.