Day 14 - Glow in the Dark

My old fashion alarm clock with a pure phosphorous based glow. No ambient light present.

Healthy Vision - Day 121 #CY365 @ThisIsRobThomas

May's #CY365 theme is about vision. While today's cameras are quite remarkable at capturing what we see, their "vision" is not at all equal to our own eyes. Our eyes eye can actually perceive a greater dynamic range than is ordinarily possible with a camera. If we were to consider situations where our pupil opens and closes for varying light, our eyes can see over a range of nearly 24 f-stops while 8-12 f-stops is generally all one can expect from a digital camera. This is most evident in low light photography especially when bright highlights are present, such as a stage performance.

Tonight Cindy and I went to see Rob Thomas at the Durham Performing Arts Center. It was an intimate performance with just two musicians joining Rob Thomas on stage. The overall lighting was low but there was always a spotlight on the star. Even with spot metering enabled, my camera struggled to get the low light background exposed, resulting in an sharply overexposed star. Manual exposure or severe exposure composition is the only way to capture the scene and avoid blown-out highlights. Since the camera can only capture a limited dynamic range, much of the scene is underexposed. So every picture is a trade off, while our eyes make the adjustments consistently and our brains composite the image so we see much more. And yes, the show was amazing. Canon G15, 1/80 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 1600.

Where I Work - Day 93 #CY365

LED's glow blue and green in the coldest room in the place. Canon G15, 1/3 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800.

Escape - Day 51

My escape today is performance art at the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio. I really enjoy art glass and have taken a few couses and made a few projects. But the Glass Studio takes appreciating the art of glass making to new levels with their Third Thursday performance art series. Tonight Hannah Kirkpatrick's performance of "Lights, Camera, Action" a created a giant camera obscura, 20 foot wide - 8 foot tall with hundreds of "lenses" for a dramatic live performance with music provided by members of Live Bison. In this photo we see Hannah and her team behind the "camera obscura" with glass neon lights she created. Below you see a photo of what the audience was seeing. Canon G15, 1/100 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 1600.

Canon G15, 1/8 sec @ f/2.2, ISO 1600.

These were challenging photos to capture given the almost total darkness in the studio. You can tell my Canon point and shoot was really pushed with a high ISO of 1600 and wide apertures of f/2.8 and f/2.2 and in the case of the second photo some camera blur resulting from a super slow shutter speed of 1/8th second. These were all taken using full manual control as the camera's light meter wasn't much use in the dark environment.

Barney

The is Barney, a Belgian draft horse who along with his partner Fred pulled our wagon for a twilight ride at the 4 Eagle Ranch. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/3 sec # f/4.0, ISO 3200.

The Grandcat

This is my son's cat - Haz Mat. He's a great cat with a cool laid back disposition that's required when you share the house with a five-year old boy and a 95 pound black lab.

Canon 5D Mark II, 1/15 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 1600. This was a low light photo with no flash that demonstrates the Canon 5D Mark II's high ISO low noise capability along with Canon lens based image stabilization.

Biker

This biker followed me on Virginia Beach Boulevard. I looked in my rear view mirror at a stoplight and he looked pretty cool illuminated by brake lights. Lucky for me the camera was sitting right there in passenger seat so I took this image looking into the rear view mirror. The low light image has lots of digital noise which is normally not desirable. However, I think it kind of adds to this surreal image. Canon G11, 1/5 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800.

Sleigh Bell

- Added a few gold and silver jingle bells to the garland surrounding the front door. Not only goes it give it a cool look but the doorway now has that sleigh bell sound as you come and go. Canon 40D, 1/80 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800, 100mm macro.

The Mighty ATM

- The automated teller machine or ATM to most Americans revolutionized banking beginning in the 1970's. One could now do banking transactions 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Prior to the advent of the ATM, bank branches closed early in the afternoon so tellers could reconcile their cash drawers and deposits before the end of the work day. The ATM changed customer service in banking as well as the livelihood of many bank employees. Will online banking, mobile devices and the debit card replace the need for cash and spell the end of the ATM? Most likely. Canon G11, 1/25 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800.

Resist Temptation

- Temptation is everywhere. This vending machine is luring you in with bright colors and promises of fat and lots of sodium. One way to resist, make a picture rather than cave in. Canon G11, 1/40 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 400.

Living Room Train

- Robert's train set on the living room floor. We had fun dodging the the oncoming train while taking pictures. Canon G11, 1/13 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800.

Huber Court

From 2010 Blog

- Huber Court at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk Virginia. Tonight we attended the beautiful wedding of my friend Allison and her husband Tom. The ceremony was outside in the Memorial Garden with wonderful late afternoon sunshine streaming in. The dinner and reception was held in Huber Court which was spectacular in dramatic lighting and flowers. The cake was framed by these stairs and entrance to galleries. Canon Powershot SD870 IS, 1/8 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 250, hand held - a testament to the little point 'n shoot's image stabilization.

335 - Shining Eyes

From 365 Project

My grandson Robert was trilled to help setup a Christmas tree first thing this morning. Watching the joy and excitement in his eyes truly made my day and getting a great picture was the icing on the cake. Canon G10, 1/13 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800. The Canon G10 can introduce image noise (graininess) on low light high ISO images like this one. I used Noise Ninja to post process and reduce the noise.