Poise - Day 127 #CY365

Canon 5D Mark II, 1/100 sec @ f/16.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro lens, LED Ring Light.

My Eyes - Day 123 #CY365 #Creepy

This was a tough prompt for me. I settled on this tightly cropped closeup of my right eye. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/60 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens and an LED Ring Light as reflected in my pupil.

Uplifting - Day 120 of 365 #CY365

I love watching the ferns come back to life in the Spring. They sprout new stems and uncurl the beautiful leaves from a tightly wound center, one of the many uplifting signs of Spring. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/160th sec @ f/11.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro.

Colorado Blue Columbine - Day 116 #CY365

Our Colorado Blue Columbine has a night visitor. The little spiders are everywhere tonight. Almost every bloom I looked at across the yard had the busy little spiders working away. Canon 5D Mark II 1/160 sec @ f/11, ISO 1600, two LED light panels.

At Last! - Day 115 #CY365

Spring is here at last. Several weeks late this year but the strawberries are blooming, so ripe bright red berries can't be too far away. Canon G15, 1/500 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 200 in macro mode.

Chicken or the Egg? - Day 104 #CY365

Today's prompt was "Chicken or the Egg?". So I pulled out an Easter PEZ Dispenser and set her in the middle of a basket of eggs. The picture is what it is but the circular cause and circumstance has been debated for all of written history.

Consider this - Macrobius, an early 5th century Roman philosopher, found the problem to be interesting: "You jest about what you suppose to be a triviality, in asking whether the hen came first from an egg or the egg from a hen, but the point should be regarded as one of importance, one worthy of discussion, and careful discussion at that."

Canon 5D Mark II, 1/1600 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

Fill the Frame - Day 97 #CY365

The little assassin bug nymph "Zelus" is stalking a tiny fly on this forsythia flower tonight. I went outside with my LED light panel and macro lens to look for an interesting macro photo to "fill my frame". The wet forsythia seemed like a good place to start. I was amazed at the tiny insects I saw - spiders, aphids, little flies and this cool Zelus. Seconds after taking this photo, the Zelus sprang and caught the fly below.

Canon 5D Mark II, 1/400 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 1600, one LED Litepanel and an LED Ring Light.

Tight - Day 89 #CY365

The Kikkerland Camera Pencil Sharpener is "Tight". Not only does it look cool, it's actually a really good pencil sharpener. It grips the pencil shaft and spring tension pulls the pencil in as you crank the handle. You can also adjust it from more to less sharp. All in all - it's "tight"! Canon 5D Mark II, 1/13 sec @ f/8, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens and an LED ring light.

Aromatic - Day 84 #CY365

I have a bunch of hyacinths planted near our front door. The smell provides a nice welcome home. Here I tried to capture the fine texture of the blooms with a little loose pollen in an attempt to invoke the wonderful feeling you get from the aroma. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/200 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 1600.

Phone Art - Day 82 #CY365

Calla lily. iPhone 5s, Olliclip macro lens, Camera+ App with an LED flashlight for added illumination.

Spring - Day 80 #CY365

The Pieris japonica 'Valley Rose' are in full bloom for the first time. These wonderful bushes are flanking either side of our front porch and were recommended and installed last summer with our new front yard landscaping design from Bill Maxwell of Maxwell Landscaping Services. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/250th sec @ f/11.0, ISO 1600.

Duplicate - Day 77 #CY365

Batman and his twin. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/50 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 400, 100mm macro lens.

A Shamrock - Day 76 #CY365

The tiny white flowers of the shamrock. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/25 sec @ f/16, ISO 1600, 100mm macro lens with LED ring light.

Asymmetrical - Day 69 #CY365

Asymmetrical - my Transformer cufflinks a gift from my grandson Robert were the perfect solution for today's photo prompt. I love asymmetrical cufflinks and have several pair from Würkin Stiffs and a few others. The first time I wore these to work last year I was sitting in a meeting and the guy sitting to my right asked me if that was an "Autobot" on my cufflink. I said yes, then showed him the "Decepticon" on the left cuff and he laughed out loud. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/1000 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

Emerging - Day 68 #CY365

The cold winter has made all the flowers emerge later this year. These daffodils are just getting ready to open up. With warmer temperature forecast for this week, I expect flowers will be opening up everywhere. Canon 5D Mark II 1/250 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro with LED ring light.

Frustrated - Day 66 #CY365

We still have a copper POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) line at our house. I know, I know - dinosaurs are we. We a few weeks back Verizon called us and wanted to shift us over to the fiber optic network. We scheduled an appointment for this Saturday to have the work done. So we think we'll all set. But Nooooo! Earlier this week the confirmation calls started. Automated calls requesting us to confirm the appointment, again and again and again. I guess most people stand them up for appointments. Each call was a pleasant recorded female voice asking to confirm our appointment and then quickly rattling off an 866 number to call and a 10 digit confirmation code. The code number is not repeated and its required when you call back. You would think they could track this by your home phone number but not so. No confirmation code and no where else to go on the automated menu. So I was popping through the caller ID and decided this was prefect for today's 365 prompt. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/50 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 1600, first use of my new LED macro ring light and post-processed in Picasa using the Lomo-ish effect.

Muse - Day 65 #CY365

I had to find my muse on the Capture Your 365 project gallery today. It was easy because I have been admiring the work of contributor Pam Scott since joining the project in January. She has a great closeup eye for photos. I choose her Day 49 "In the Front Yard" photo of a pink camellia as my inspiration. Here's my pink camellia completely desaturated and presented in black and white. I was looking to capture the same texture and feel as Pam did but with my own view. Canon 7D, 1/125 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 400, converted to black and white using Silver Efex Pro.

Choose a Favorite - Day 62 #CY365

Today's challenge was to choose a favorite color. My favorite color is red but I thought I try a little color theory with today's photo. I formed a color wheel using my grandson's crayons. The arrangement of the colors around the wheel help define both complimentary and analogous colors. Complementary colors can be found by choosing any color around the wheel and then looking straight across the wheel. For red the complimentary color is green, think Christmas. Yellow's complimentary color is violet and blue's is orange. Analogous colors are those on either side of main color. In the case of red, it's red orange and red violet. A color wheel is a very useful tool for decorators, artists, photographers and even a guy when picking a tie or socks to match that shirt. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/500 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro, LED ring light and two LED litepanels.

Predictable - Day 55 #CY365

They don't make pencils like the they used to, or maybe they do. Canon 7D, 1/200 sec @ f/13.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro lens.

In the Front Yard - Day 49 #CY365

Not much happening in the front yard today, so I had to "manufacture" a picture. Went out tonight with my macro lens, two LED litepanels and a jar of bubbles. So there you have it. Oh the things one will do to get a 365 picture. Canon 7D, 1/50 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro lens.