Cheers - Day 75 #CY365

Resurrecting a photo idea from 2009 for today's prompt of "Cheers". Playing off the diagonal. Can you guess how it's done? Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100.

Tipsy Repeat

For the next two weeks this picture entitled “Tipsy” will be on display at Richmond Camera's store on 21st Street in Norfolk Virginia. It was made on New Year’s Eve as the last photo for my first 365 project. Glass can be hard to photograph because of the reflections it picks up. I found a how to blog post on the digital-photography-school.com by Ronan Palliser using martini glasses and colored water.

As he said “The secret to lighting glass is to not light the glass.” This photo was setup on an ironing board in my kitchen. A single off-camera flash is placed below the setup and bounced off the background to light the subject indirectly. Two pieces of black cardboard were placed on either side of the glasses just out side of the frame. The black gets reflected by the edges of glasses giving them definition. Executing the tilted colored water gives the photo its “surprise” element. Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100, 50mm prime lens and one off-camera strobe.

Soup

- It has been said one of the reasons Andy Warhol painted soup cans was that he liked soup. Well, I like soup too and I can't paint but I can light and photograph my favorite Campbell's soup. Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 100, 50mm prime lens, 4 flashes, 1 LED Litepanel for a little fill at the bottom edge and a white light shed.

Scarcity and Demand

- This is the detail of a green depression glass bowl that beloged to Cindy's grandmother. We have several interesting pieces of collectible depression glass. Originally these items were given away or sold very inexpensively during the Great Depression by manufacturers promoting other products. Interesting that this once almost worthless product is now a prized collectible. Ah, the wonder of scarcity and demand to create value. Canon 40D, 1/250 sec @ f/11, ISO 200, 100mm macro lens. Back lit with an off camera flash at 1/16th power.

An apple a day . . .

- keeps the doctor away, or so the old saying goes. Apples are an amazing fruit and the offer numerous benefits in one pretty and great tasting little package. Don't believe me - check this article citing 9 reasons why an apples a day is good for your health and thus helps keep the doctor away. Canon 40D, 1/125 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200, 100mm macro lens. Photographed in a light tent with illumination provided from three directions. Above was a constant LED video light, to each side were remote triggered flashes set at 1/16th power.

Herding Cats

- Tonight's picture documents a photo failure on my part. While this is a nice picture of Sherlock, my goal was to get both Sasha and Sherlock together - looking at the camera for a holiday photo. Try as I might, I could not get them both to pose together. When I started I figured Sherlock with his boy kitten incredibly short attention span would be the challenge. But nooooo! Sherlock was a trooper, Sasha was being being a real diva and totally uncooperative. Cindy said that I failed to get her consent before proceeding, so I was doomed before I started. I'm going to complain to her agent. Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 200, lots of flash. Strobe bounced of the ceiling and two side slave flashes down on the floor.

Red, White & Blue

- Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100, indirect reflected flash from below and behind.

Green Droplet

From Strobist Water Drop

This macro water droplet was captured last July when I was trying a Strobist flash project for my project 365. The color comes from a flash with a green gel bounced off white background. Canon Canon 40D, 1/250 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100, 50mm macro.

328 - Droplets

From 365 Project

The weather today was quite dreary. A very fine mist of rain fell all day long. This is an extreme close up of a nice light green plant in an outside landscape bed in Hampton Virginia. Unfortunately I don't know name of plant. You can see the tiny water droplets formed by the fine mist. At first it looked like ice on the plant but the macro lens nicely captured the droplets. Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100, 50mm compact macro with off camera flash at 1/64th power.

325 - Bloodgood

From 365 Project

My Bloodgood Japanese Maple is showing off some remarkable red colors this fall. The Bloodgood is one of the most popular of the Japanese Maples and is the parent of many other newer cultivars. Canon 7D, 1/60 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 100 supplemental lighting provided by two off-camera flashes at 1/4 power.

324 - Legs

From 365 Project

Photographers love their gear and a good tripod is a must. This collection of great legs belongs to the tripod display at the Richmond Camera store on 21st Street in Norfolk Virginia. Skilled photographers in the own right, Nicki and Jill at Richmond Camera help me indulge my gear addiction as well as providing encouragement and conversation photography. Canon 7D, 1/60 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 400, Vivitar 285HV off camera flash.

287 - Signs of the Season

From 365 Project

Today was our first fall day with crisp cool autumn temperatures. My first attempt at a blog photo was a dismal failure. It was a good picture concept but poorly executed and not worthy of your time or attention. So my wife Cindy came to the rescue with this fall season setup idea. At first the gourds alone weren't doing much so she tossed in some candy corn and voila a picture of the day. Canon Rebel XTi, 1/250 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 100, 30mm prime lens and two off-camera flashes.

285 - Pomaceous Fruit

From 365 Project

Red and green pears on an iridescent carnival glass dish. This still life gave me some more practice on still life photography using a multiple off-camera flash lighting setup. If you're a regular follower of the blog you have seen a few of these recently. Canon Rebel XTi, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 100, 30mm prime lens, 2 off-camera strobe flashes set at 1/16th power and a micro LED Litepanel to highlight under the rim of the carnival glass.

281 - I've Seen the Light!

From 365 Project

Wannabe Green? The compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL) is one way to help save the world. If each household in the U.S. swapped out one 60 watt traditional lightblub it would save enough electricity to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads. Houses in the U.S. have 50 to 100 sockets, imagine if they all had the mighty CFL in them. Canon Rebel XTi, 1/250 sec @ f/20, ISO 100 with two off-camera strobes, one with a green gel. Thanks to Fast Company for the facts and figures and to Strobist.com for the lighting concept.

277 - Candy Corn

From 365 Project

Candy Corn is a sign of the season at our house. Invented in the 1880's, American's buy about 20 million pounds of candy corn each year. Canon Rebel XTi, 1/250 sec @ f/20.0, ISO 100, 50mm compact macro lens. Two off-camera strobes, a micro Litepanel LED and a Light Shed were used in the setup.

272 - Sticker Ball

From 365 Project

This nasty little sticker ball is surrounding those chestnuts that they'll sing about roasting on an open fire in a few months. Do people actually roast chestnuts? Anyway, my next door neighbor has a large old American Chestnut tree in her back yard. The tennis ball sized stickers drop to the ground and open into four wedges releasing the nuts inside. The thorns are very sharp and quite effective at protecting the nuts. Canon 40D, 1/250 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 400, 50mm macro lens with off camera flash at 1/64th power.

271 - Storm Spider

From 365 Project

I've only changed the picture once before after posting it to the blog but I'm going to do it again tonight. A series of thunderstorms just swept through dumping about an inch of rain in a little over an hour. This big spider has been building a web each night just out side my side door. After the storm I stuck my head outside to see if all of the wind and water had messed up the web, but to my surprise she was wet but still hanging in there. Canon G10, 1/250 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 400, in manual mode with manual macro focus (auto focus doesn't work in the dark). The lighting was provided by a Canon 430EX Speedlite also in manual mode at 1/32 power with a wireless controller.