Happy Birthday Jordan

Happy 2nd birthday Jordan. Mommy and daddy love you and miss you lots.

Splash

Splash, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

This is shot number two tonight. Again, I'm not that pleased with the results, but I did learn a few things that will hopefully make the process and the shots better next time.

Water Drop

Water Drop, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Tonight was my first attempt at photographing a water drop. It wasn't what I would call successful. I did manage to get a couple shots that were ok. Nothing turned out great, but it's a start.

The Long Run

I finally got out for a long run today. Madison and I ran with MarcFit. Since we are out of shape, we decided to run 10 miles and straight up hill right from the beginning. Ouch! I think my heart rate says it all.

Day 52: Choices

Day 52: Choices, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

A limited schedule will affect the frequency of shots posted for awhile.

Day 51: Nightlight

Day 51: Nightlight, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Minimalistic

Day 50: Fuzzy

Day 50: Fuzzy, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

I took some time again tonight to put together another close up shot of a house plant. I continue to struggle to come up with enough light to properly expose the shot when I'm this close. Of course, I can spend a lot of money on a solution, but at my experience level there is no need for that yet. I may need to build a cheaper solution.

Madison Laughing

Day 49: iPhone 4

Day 49: iPhone 4, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Another day with a good excuse and little time to do a photo. Here's the reason.

Day 48: Nearly Full

Day 48: Nearly Full, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Yet another moon shot. I've had a great view of the moon over the past weeks. As it fills up, I'm trying to get different shots. I'll probably take another one in a couple days when it is full.

Here are the previous moon shots.
Day 43: Moon
Day 46: Moon Part 2

Day 47: iPad

Day 47: iPad, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Well, I did take a picture last night, but I had many other distractions. So I didn't really spend any time setting anything up for a good photo. This happens to be the main cause of the distraction last night. Gotta love new toys.

Day 46: Moon Part 2

Day 46: Moon Part 2, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

I wanted to try shooting the moon again tonight. My first shot of the moon was quite successful and popular. I wanted to try some different settings and see how things turned out. The moon was fuller tonight giving more details in the shot, but I didn't crop this shot quite as tight so it actually looks smaller. I think I prefer the crop on the first shot. I'll try again in a few nights if the weather cooperates to see if I can get a nearly full moon.

Exposure: 1/250 sec
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO Speed: 200
Focal Length: 300 mm

Day 45: Blooming

Day 45: Blooming, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

This is the next photo in the "series" for this plant that is blooming in the house. The first one was labeled "The Sweat". It just starting to bloom. I stacked two images to come up with this shot. It is nice, but not quite as good as I was hoping for. Parts of the photo were not as sharp as I was looking for.

Exposure: 0.6 sec
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO Speed: 400
Focal Length: 105 mm + 56 mm Extension Tube

Day 44: Flight

Day 44: Flight, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

I was taking a shot today of a bee on this flower. Right before I hit the shutter, the bee decided to leave. You can see it in mid-flight leaving the scene. Even with the shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second you still see the wing motion blurred.

Exposure: 1/1000 sec
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO Speed: 200
Focal Length: 105 mm

Day 43: The Moon

Day 43: The Moon, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Tonight was my first real moon shot. I played around with it one other night, but I had no clue what I was doing. It turns out taking a picture of the moon is not quite as easy as you would think as the moon comes out extremely over exposed. After a bit of research, I decided to try again tonight since I had a good view of the moon through the trees in the backyard. None of the trees made it into this cropped shot, but the details of the moon came out quite nicely.

Day 42: Colorful

Day 42: Colorful, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

I saw this bright flower while out for a walk with the family. The pedals really stand out with the tree trunk in the background. I shot this with a pretty open aperture to give a narrow depth of field.

Day 41: Brilliance

Day 41: Brilliance, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Once again I wasn't able to execute quite as I had envisioned. I had a light shining up through a glass table to highlight this glass piece. I'll have to try again some day.

Day 40: Cabinetry

Day 40: Cabinetry, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

It's nothing special tonight. I thought I would take a break from all the macro shots lately.

Day 39: Voltage Regulator

Day 39: Voltage Regulator, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

I decide to take the plunge tonight and shoot in full manual mode for the first time. I also set my shutter to bulb mode so I could control the length of the exposure. I left the shutter open for 30 seconds since I had the aperture all the way down to f/36. Who knew electronics could look to nice?

Day 38: Echo

Day 38: Echo, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

I had an idea with these Baoding Balls that didn't really pan out here. I got the basic composition the way I wanted it, but it just doesn't look quite right. I tried to save the shot by cranking up the vignetting. I don't know, it's not a completely wasted shot I guess, but it's not my best.

Day 37: Linked

Day 37: Linked, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Tonight I was looking for a high contrast black and white photo. This chain is not my most exciting subject, but turning it black and white really makes it stand out.

Day 36: The Sweat

Day 36: The Sweat, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

We have this house plant that has new leaves coming in. There is a sweat that surrounds each bud. I'm not sure what causes this, but it looks pretty cool being this close.

Day 35: Reflections

Day 35: Reflections, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

This candle was placed in front of an empty glass picture frame to give the reflection. The 2nd reflection came from the flame bouncing off the tile behind the frame. Pretty cool.

Day 34: Microplane

Day 34: Microplane, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

I struggled for an idea again today, but I like taking macro shots. I put the 36 mm extension tube on and took a few different shots at various focus points on this microplane. I stacked the photos and came up with this shot. I'm still experimenting with different borders and signatures. All in all, I think this one turned out pretty good.

I hardly get any comments on the shots. So either everyone hates the shots, no one looks at this site or everyone is in too big of a hurry to leave a comment. if you have a minute, I'd love to hear what you think of these shots. I'm just getting into all this and have so much to learn. I'd be happy with any constructive feedback.

Day 33: Happy

Day 33: Happy, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Here's a cute one of Madison after waking up from a nap.

Day 32: Condensation

Day 32: Condensation, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

I just could not find a shot I liked tonight. Finally, I came up with this one. Someone suggested not making the signature so overpowering in the shot. It's still not a real signature, but it is a bit more subdued this time.

I enjoy doing the macro shots even though I don't have a proper macro lens yet. The extension tubes do a pretty good job for now. The lighting is the biggest issue at this point in these shots.

Day 31: Fuse

Day 31: Fuse, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

I was playing around with a few things tonight. Unfortunately, I used a flashlight to add some extra light to the shot and it messed up the the exposure a bit. Live and learn I guess.

Day 30: Roses

Day 30: Roses, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

I was out for another walk today and spotted some pretty cool roses around the neighborhood. There are some pretty good green thumbs around here or at least their gardeners have good green thumbs. :) I'm still playing with the borders and matte around the photos. I really like how they make the photo stand out.

Day 29: Peek-a-boo

Day 29: Peek-a-boo, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

This was a pretty cool shot of a bird-of-paradise between two trees. I also played around with some borders and mattes. I think they really make this picture "pop". I need to work on the signature though. I think it should be centered at the bottom of this photo.

What do you think?

Day 28: Pottery

Day 28: Pottery, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

It's just a simple piece of pottery we have around the house. I do have limited backgrounds available when I shoot, but this one was definitely a poor choice. I should have closed down the aperture 1 or 2 stops to bring the whole piece into focus, but that would have brought more of the background into the photo. It's a cool piece of pottery that should have been shot somewhere else. Oh well, I'm still learning all this stuff.

Day 27: Headphones

Day 27: Headphones, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Here is just one of many reasons how I personally keep Apple in business.

Day 26: Watermelon

Day 26: Watermelon, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

It must be about summer time. Watermelon is on sale. I think it's time to start adding some colors other than brown to my diet.

Day 25: Wire Brush

Day 25: Wire Brush, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Yet another close up shot. I'm working on getting better detail in these close shots. This might be a bit better.

Day 24: Mommy and Madison

Day 24: Mommy and Madison, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

We are all just recovering from a hectic schedule the past few days.

Day 23: Congrats Ken and Chelsea

Day 23: Congrats Ken and Chelsea, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Congratulations to the bride and groom. The entire day was great. I got to play DJ at the reception and had a blast.

Day 22: Point and Shoot

Day 22: Point and Shoot, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

I'm catching up tonight on my photos from the past few days. Friday night I was trying to get a good reflection on this lens, but it wasn't the best surface or lighting.

Photos Coming Soon

I was doing some wedding stuff last night and got home late. It will be more of the same today. So no time to process pictures that I took yesterday or today. I will catch up on Sunday.

Day 21: Fruit

Day 21: Fruit, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Another late session tonight. I wanted to add take a photo that had some contrasting colors. I got that a little bit with this one. The background definitely takes away from this shot and I probably should have focused on a different piece of fruit. It may have helped to move the melon more to the right as well. As I mentioned in the photo caption, the shadows from the lights were really bad. So I shut most of them off and did a 30 second exposure to get this as bright as possible.

As always, any feedback is welcomed.

Day 20: Dinner

Day 20: Dinner, originally uploaded by Eric Smidt.

Madison is nearing the end of her latest cold as she has handed it off to Dad. Here she watches the next bite of dinner coming in.

Day 19: Speedplay

Day 19: Speedplay, originally uploaded by esmidt.

I took a close look at one of the pedals on my bike. It looks like there have been better days for this guy. This image is not as nearly as sharp as I would have liked it to be and I'm not in love with the composition either. I just ran out of time tonight.

Day 18: Play Ball

Day 18: Play Ball, originally uploaded by esmidt.

Keeping with the recent theme of up close photographs, I decided to shoot this baseball I found over the weekend. Feel free to critique the shot. I'm happy to accept any compositional (or other) suggestions you are willing to give.

Day 17: Sick Again

Day 17: Sick Again, originally uploaded by esmidt.

How many times can one child under 6 months get sick? I think we are going for the record. At least we had a couple healthy days this time.

Day 16: eSATA

Day 16: eSATA, originally uploaded by esmidt.

This is another close up shot with a 12mm extension tube. I'm trying out a couple different things to add borders to some of the shots. What do you think? Does the border add anything to this photo?

Day 15: Ball Point

Day 15: Ball Point, originally uploaded by esmidt.

I do not have a macro lens yet. Tonight I was playing around with my Kenko Extension Tubes and my 50mm f/1.8 and came up with the following shot of a pen on my desk. I think it turned out pretty good. Although, I probably should have cropped a bit to improve the composition.

Day 14: Bright Flower

Day 14: Bright Flower, originally uploaded by esmidt.

Wendy, Madison and I went for a walk after work today and saw this bright guy standing out in a shaded area.

Day 13: The Hawaiian Moon

Day 13: The Hawaiian Moon, originally uploaded by esmidt.

We picked this up in Honolulu last year. It's a nice wine holder made from Koa.

Day 12: Night Lights

Day 12: Night Lights, originally uploaded by esmidt.

This is my 2nd night shot. I'm not that happy with the results since this is not a very interesting photo. It was taken at 9pm with a 10 second exposure since it was so dark. I like the concept of this shot, I just need to find a more interesting subject. This is unlikely to happen any time soon since I can't venture too far from home late at night.

Day 11: A Dark Shadow

Day 11: A Dark Shadow, originally uploaded by esmidt.

No time for photos again today. I quickly put something together so I don't miss a day already in the 2nd week. There is a long way to go yet.

Day 10: Sicko

Day 10: Sicko, originally uploaded by esmidt.

A sick Madison means no time for photos (or anything else) this weekend.

Day 9: A Diamond in the Rough

Day 9: A Diamond in the Rough, originally uploaded by esmidt.

Yet another flower shot. It's a good time of the year for flowers with everything blooming around us.

Day 8: Calla Lily

Day 8: Calla Lily, originally uploaded by esmidt.

It seems there is not enough spare time to do much photography these days. So I'll just take what I can get until my schedule opens up a bit. This calla lily is growing near the front of our house.

Day 7: Precious

Day 7: Precious, originally uploaded by esmidt.

I waited as long as I could. I just had to have a day with Madison being the photo of the day.

Day 6: Weed?

Day 6: Weed?, originally uploaded by esmidt.

I found this purple and gold clover shaped flower in a collection of clover and weeds near the house. I have no idea what it is? Anyone out there know what it is?