Psychedelic

- Tonight I changed my Facebook profile picture to a photo of me taken in 1973, so I thought it only appropriate to make the photo of the day a reflective of those times. In the 60's and early 70's psychedelic usually referred to drug-induced hallucinations today it is widely used to describe anything with abstract decoration of multiple bright colors. I think that pretty much describes this photo of an LED pinwheel photographed through 3D glasses. Canon G11, 1/15 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 200.

LEDs

- An array of LEDs makes up the latest addition to my photo lighting tools. So I thought it appropriate it to feature it in a photo before putting it to work in creating more photos. Canon 40D, 1/4000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

Holiday Bokeh

- Our Christmas tree lights captured out of focus. The out of focus lights are blurred into the shape of little Christmas trees by using an aperture disk I created with with one of Cindy's scrapbook punches. This effect in photography is known as bokeh and is usually seen in the soft out of focus backgrounds of photos taken with a large aperture opening on a normal lens producing a very shallow depth of field. Interchangeable aperture disks are one of the very cool creative features of the Lensbaby Composer that was used to make this photo. Canon 7D, 1/20 sec @ ~f/4.0, ISO 800.

Star Light, Star Bright

- In this case the start lights are seasonal LED's. Canon Rebel XTi, 1/100 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 400, 50mm macro lens.

Sconce

- Photography is the capture of light and I've taken a number of photos of cool light fixtures. By using the camera's capability to to capture light in different ways, the resulting image can be much different than what your eyes see. This image is way under exposed creating the deep blacks and highlighting the illuminated patterns coming from this wall fixture. When seen with your eyes the brain and the iris will automatically adjust for the light to balance the wide range of bright and dark. The camera, especially digital cameras, are much more limited in the range of light that can be captured. In most cases this limitation is the photographer's nemesis, resulting in a loss of detail in shadows and in bright sun. But here that limited dynamic range creates a different view of simple everyday object. Canon G10, 1/15 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 400.

Jump to Lightspeed

- Well may be it's not exactly lightspeed but it sure feels like it. After crawling through the HRBT, traffic begins to picking up speed as you near the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel". Why is it people drive 25 mph in a 55 mph tunnel and then are magically able to accelerate to 65 once they see the light? These tunnels are the bane of Hampton Roads drivers. Canon G11, 1/4 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200. Canon mounted on a beanbag pod and fired with a remote release.

Solar Tubes

- The lenses of a commercial solar tube pipe daylight into an interior room. Features like these are just one part of making a "green building" and obtaining L.E.E.D certification. Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) is an internationally recognized green building certification system. My employer, Hampton Roads Transit, is in the process of completing a new bus garage that is a LEED certified and a sustainable facility. Canon G10, 1/1000 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 400.

Alamo Lightsabers

- If Davy Crockett and the gang had a few of these lightsabers maybe they could have turned the tide on ol' Santa Anna. These were for sale along San Antonio's Riverwalk tonight and it looked like he was doing a brisk business from the number of kids I saw practicing their Jedi maneuvers. Canon G11, 1 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 200, table top tripod and two second delay timer.

Laser Bubbles

- I was feeling experimental tonight, so this photograph was made using a green laser pointer illuminating a roll of bubble wrap. I got a lot of cool pictures using the laser and wrap, just hope I didn't burn too many holes in my retinas from the random reflections. The green laser pointer was once a sign of true geekness, but they are getting pretty commonplace today. So it might be time to upgrade to a blue or yellow laser to maintain one's status in the world of geeks. Canon G11, 1/15 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800.

Star Light

- Stars explode out from the light core. This is one of those fiber optic light wands photographed with my Lensbaby using the star creative aperture disk. The little different colored points of light at the end of the fibers create a specular highlight. Because they are out of focus, they take on the shape of the camera's aperture. In this case the aperture is a cardboard disk with a star shaped opening. Canon Digital Rebel XTi, 1/30 sec @ ~f/2.8, ISO 800.

$1

From 2010 Blog

- No it's not the Northern Lights but a simple light painting completed with $1's worth of thin chemical bracelet lights from Target. We always check out those dollar bins just inside the door at Target stores. Sometimes we find cool bargains like these lights, other times not much of interest. Canon Rebel XTi, 2 seconds @ f/5.6, ISO 200, 50mm lens mounted on a tripod.

Touch Tone

From 2010 Blog

The "Touch Tone" telephone was standardized when the dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) system in the new push-button telephone was introduced in the 1960s, and replaced the rotary dial. When used to dial a telephone number, pressing a single key will produce a pitch consisting of two simultaneous pure tone sinusoidal frequencies. The row in which the key appears determines the low frequency, and the column determines the high frequency - hence the name dual tone mutli-frequency. Canon 40D, 1/20 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800, 50mm macro.

Rolling Plasma

From 2010 Blog

- I have posted twice before using pictures I took of a plasma globe. The other two were taken with my hand touching the globe thereby drawing the energy to a single point. In this photo the plasma is rolling randomly throughout the entire globe. Canon 40D, 1/15 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 400.

Spotlight on Joe

From 2010 Blog

- Blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa ripping up the stage during his encore at New York City's historic Town Hall Theatre last night. Joe motto is "Always on the road" and his tour truck is the latest example of his climb in popularity. Canon G11, 1/80 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800.

737 Luv

From 2010 Blog

Southwest Airlines only flies one type of aircraft, the Boeing 737. These are lights illuminating the recessed troffer ceiling panels looking towards the front of the plane. Southwest achieves great cost efficiencies by flying on one type of aircraft, one of many reasons they have been a consistently profitable airline. Canon G10, 1/640 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 400, 2 stops under exposed..

A Fixture

From 2010 Blog

I take a lot of pictures of light fixtures. Something about the way the light and geometry of the fixture work together. This one was at a Homearama 2009 house we visited this past October in Culpepper Landing, Chesapeake Virginia. Even though it was a brand new house, the fixture already has a dead fly. Canon G10, 1/2000 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 400.

DPSSFD

From 2010 Blog

DPSSFD (diode pumped solid state frequency-doubled) or better known as a green laser pointer. This photo was inspired by my friend Jeff Carr and his blog post entitled "High Energy" from last week. I experimented with firing my green laser at the camera and capturing the image. Because a green laser is much more powerful than a red laser, I waved the laser at the lens at a sharp angle while firing the shutter multiple times. I didn't want the laser shooting straight at the camera's sensor because of the intensity of the light. I certainly wouldn't recommend this technique because the risk to eyes and camera. The circles of green result from the beam refracting off the many glass elements inside of the lens. Canon 40D, 1/60 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800, 17-55mm zoom lens at 17mm.

Plasma Ball

From Plasma Ball

The plasma ball creates an elegant curve as the charge concentrates and arcs towards my hand. Canon 40D, 1/15 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 400, 50mm lens mounted on a tripod.

348 - LED for the Holidays

From 365 Project

This year has seen the full scale introduction of LED (light-emitting diode) lights into our holiday decorations. They use far less power and thus give off lower heat than standard holiday bulbs. This has allowed designers new flexibility in creating light sets. This set of layered globes looks more appropriate for a summer time deck party than the holidays. Canon Rebel XTi, 1/60 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 400, 50mm macro lens.

339 - Star Light, Star Bright

From 365 Project

Star light, star bright,
May I take your picture tonight;
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Take a great picture tonight.
Canon XTi, 1/100 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 400, 50mm macro.