Puffer 340/365

I found this in my daughter’s room and knew instantly it would be better than yesterday’s subject. One shot with, and one without the new extension tube. I need to get out of the house….

DIY Waterfall 339/365

It was a desperate search for today’s post. In the kitchen sink I placed a vase and the top to the sugar bowl. I needed a decent amount of water volume to create the spread. Shot at ISO400 ~ f/22 ~ 30 sec ~ 70mm ~ with an ND4 and ND8 filters. Hand held flash with defuser gel at 1/32 power finger fired 3 times during the exposure.

Kiwi 338/365

It was sweet, it was juicy, it was delicious, and it photographed well.

Thurman Munson 337/365

Legendary NY Yankee catcher that wore the now retired number 15. I have a bronze statue of him and I was playing with my new extension tubes for the headshot and back. My minimal experience with the tubes has taught me 4 things already.

1. Forget auto focus
2. DOF – super shallow
3. Tripod is a must
4. New lighting techniques will be required.

Spoonful of Sugar 336/365

I got a new set of Kenko extension tubes today. But I’m far too tired to do anything interesting with them tonight.

King of the Concrete Jungle 335/365

I walked across town tonight and took a bunch of pictures along the way. I had trouble deciding what to post so I asked my wife to pick. This is “Fortitude” one of the two lions guarding the front entrance to the NYC Public Library. The entire building is surrounded by shrouded scaffolding with construction lighting, giving it an odd appearance. Here you’ll find a sampling of the other shots I took tonight.

Wine 334/365

I don’t have anything to say about this, except that I’m pleased with the results.

1996-2008 333/365

The coach’s story and a gift from my daughter.

Cut Crystal 332/365

I shot several things today but they were all throwaways. My wife came up with a brilliant idea but I couldn’t make that work either. So I did what any anyone else would do, I stuck a flashlight in a crystal glass and photographed it . That’s what you would’ve done, right?

Click the photo as the larger size shows some interesting detail.

Ol’ Glory 331/365

Long may she wave! It was a nice day weather wise, so I took a walk during lunch. Looking west on 42^nd Street.

Choices 330/365

Still boggled down with yesterdays assignment… What should I read? I finished “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” Which turned out to be a real page turned and enjoyable. What’s next?

The Rear Exit 329/365

I was very busy shooting a corporate event today. Out the door at 5:30am and home 7:30pm. And I still need to do all the sorting and editing…. This is just a quickie of the rear of a building. What caught my attention was the illusion that the tree was growing out of the stairs. I failed to capture it properly.

For The Smart Kids 328/365

I’m blessed. I truly am. I have two daughters on the honor role who genuinely care about their grades. This calculator has more keys on it than my computer and beyond the basic functions I haven’t got a clue how to use it.

The Money Maker 327/365

The County installed red light traffic monitoring cameras under the pretense of increasing safety. Instead, the number of rear end collisions at controlled intersections has exceeded the accident counts for 2008. Needles to say there is controversy over them on multiple fronts. They are expected to bring in $20M in 2010.

Liquid Soap 326/365

The setup for this was a real doosey, and I wish I’d used a CTO gel on the primary flash so the soap had greater contrast. No matter, I’m still happy with it. Maybe I’ll do some post processing on it. Main flash 380EX with DIY grill camera low, ETTL triggered. Fill flash 580EX with DIY snoot camera high left to reduce shadow on the foam board at 1/64 power.

Click photo for greater detail. Setup shot

Splashdown 325/365

Its been awhile since I tried anything with water and today was a beautiful day so I setup in the backyard. Freefall distance was about 18 inches (45cm). I took about 300 shots at high speed, shutter priority but I liked this because the apple is just breaking the surface. Post processing was cropping, adding the vignette and a little color saturation.

Bright Star 324/365

This is the cover to the drip tray of my coffee maker. Behind it is an LED flashlight defused with wax paper and a purple gel in front of it.

A Brave Soul 323/365

Driving a scooter around NYC is a dangerous and risky endeavor anytime of year. Traffic is insane, everyone is in a rush, people drive in a cut throat manner, no one cuts you a break, and nobody cares. But January? On average it’s 25 degrees out, add natural wind chill to whatever he’s generating and I’ll bet 0 is a heat wave to this guy. I couldn’t help but take this shot while shivering at the corner waiting to cross the street.

The Empire State Building 322/365

A NYC and National Landmark. This is the crown with its television & radio transmission tower. After the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001 this became the primary transmitting site for the region. If you click the photo and look near the roof you’ll see the tourists on the observation deck.

Looking Up 321/365

This was taken inside a NYC eatery, the Jackson Hole Diner where they specialize in oversized burgers and all the good stuff my doctor wants me to avoid. You’re looking up through a skylight. Notice the pressed cooper ceiling… It was very challenging because the place was packed with the lunchtime crowd and the tables/chairs/people were immovable. I hope I get the opportunity to go back at a better time with my wide angle lens.

Desert 320/365

A hectic day with little time for photography or anything else. Acknowledging my commitment to this endeavor I grabbed a quick snap of a rare evening snack.

Shadow 319/365

Same subject as last night only lit differently and a slight variation in the setup. I was pleasantly surprised to have the color of the vase projected onto the wall.

Spot On 318/365

Tinkering with off camera flash. It took more shots than I care to admit to get this one right. I set the dry flowers and vase about 3 feet from the wall and the snooted flash, camera left about 4 feet from the vase at 1/64 power .

Snowy Deck 317/365

Today was another cold day with a light dusting of snow. I noticed this from the window early this morning and ran outside to grab the shot.

Miniatures 316/365

Some leftover craft supplies my wife was working with. BTW-The black background looks very different here.

Black Lace 315/365

My daughter wore a beautiful black lace skirt today and agreed to be my model. The skirt sample was my original idea but a beautiful model is irresistible. The pink gelled backlighting didn’t come out exactly as I envisioned it but I’m still happy with it.

Buried Alive 314/365

We took down our tree today and swept up a respectable pile of pine needles. I went looking in the basement closet for a thingamabob, doohickey, or whatnot. I found this picture statue from when my daughter was 7 or 8 years old. She’s now 16... Speedlight camera right.

Data Recovery 313/365

Despite having valid and up to date Antivirus software my daughter managed to obtain a very nasty virus that, among other things, crippled the Netlogon Service. I tried everything I know but couldn’t eradicate the damn thing. Now I’m forced to recover the data, low level format the drive, reinstall the OS and all the other fun crap that goes along with it. This is why I love my Mac!!!

Patio Snow Patterns 312/365

It was bone chilling cold and windy today. For good measure Mother Nature provided a light dusting of snow. The snow was blown away but remained in the cracks between the patio pavers. This wasn’t a photographic challenge but the pattern really captured my attention.

Bokah Lighting Effect 311/365

I copied the idea from Lance, Tim, and Eric. My daughter used one of her scrapbooking gadgets, a Cricut Machine, to create the flower pattern. Even though it works as advertised I’m still having a problem wrapping my head around the science that 85+% of my lens is covered and I still have full field of view, my foreground subject is in focus and only the lights are affected. I put a few other shots up on flickr if you’re curious. Off camera flash on the left about 2 feet higher than the subject.

Droplets 310/365

If it weren’t for this project I’m confident I wouldn’t have given this a second thought, let alone a close examination and a photograph.