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.