Innocence - Day 126 #CY365

My grandson Robert loves the pool table. The best part, getting the balls racked up in numerical order with the numbers all facing upward. Canon G15, 1/50 sec @ f/2.2, ISO 800.

Small Details - Day 125 #CY365

Blades from a Gillette Fusion razor at 5x magnification. At this level of magnification you can clearly see the grinding marks from the placing of the edge on the blades. Canon, 13 seconds at f/16.0, ISO 100, MP-e 65mm macro lens, lit with a Litepanels Micro LED light, mounted on a tripod.

What I'm Reading - Day 124 #CY365 @ncsulibraries

Behold "bookBot" at North Carolina State University's new Hunt Library. This robot-driven bookBot automated book delivery system holds up to 2 million volumes in 1/9 the space of conventional shelving, enabling the library to provide more space for learning and collaboration. The bookBot is 50 feet wide by 160 feet long by 50 feet tall and is excavated 20 feet below the first floor. You know your a geek when you drag your wife to see a high tech library on your wedding anniversary. Canon G15 1/40 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 800.

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.

May Flowers - Day 122 #CY365

Today's challenge was to photograph a flower from a different perspective. I saw these daisies in a pot outside of a bike shop in Raleigh North Carolina. Following Katrina's lead, I took my picture from below using the face cam on my iPhone. I liked the way it captured the sun's rays illuminating the daisy. iPhone 5s, Camera+ App.

Healthy Vision - Day 121 #CY365 @ThisIsRobThomas

May's #CY365 theme is about vision. While today's cameras are quite remarkable at capturing what we see, their "vision" is not at all equal to our own eyes. Our eyes eye can actually perceive a greater dynamic range than is ordinarily possible with a camera. If we were to consider situations where our pupil opens and closes for varying light, our eyes can see over a range of nearly 24 f-stops while 8-12 f-stops is generally all one can expect from a digital camera. This is most evident in low light photography especially when bright highlights are present, such as a stage performance.

Tonight Cindy and I went to see Rob Thomas at the Durham Performing Arts Center. It was an intimate performance with just two musicians joining Rob Thomas on stage. The overall lighting was low but there was always a spotlight on the star. Even with spot metering enabled, my camera struggled to get the low light background exposed, resulting in an sharply overexposed star. Manual exposure or severe exposure composition is the only way to capture the scene and avoid blown-out highlights. Since the camera can only capture a limited dynamic range, much of the scene is underexposed. So every picture is a trade off, while our eyes make the adjustments consistently and our brains composite the image so we see much more. And yes, the show was amazing. Canon G15, 1/80 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 1600.

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.

Lego Buzz - Day 119 #CY365

Creating a little "buzz" with the Lego man. iPhone, Camera+ App

Four - Day 118 #CY365

The number four is represented in binary as 0100. I created a batch file to produce a "Matrix digital rain" like display on my computer screen and then captured it with my iPhone using the Camera+ app. I then applied a square crop, the Clarity effect and the So Elmo filter to get the final image. Anyone care to guess how many "fours" are in the photo?

Square - Day 117 #CY365

Today's challenge was "Square", as in a square crop - a la Instagram, with a focus on the rule of thirds for composition. So a triangle inside a square crop seemed be the answer for me. iPhone 5s using Instagram with the Sutro filter applied.

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.

April Showers - Day 114 #CY365

Nothing but sunshine in Norfolk Virginia today. This was a close as I could get to an April shower today, washing the pine pollen off my car at the automated carwash. iPhone 5s with the Camera+ app.

Peaceful - Day 113 #CY365

I often walk through the churchyard in Downtown Norfolk's St. Paul Episcopal Church. The oldest parts of the current building dates to 1737 but other church buildings occupied the site for years before. It is a peaceful oasis in an otherwise busy downtown, Canon G15, 1/30 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100.

Barbed - Day 112 #CY365

A little "razor wire" brings a whole new meaning to barbed. I can see where it gets the moniker, "the mean stuff". Canon 7D, 1/800 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.

Multi-colored - Day 111 #CY365

My multi-colored kite against a clear blue sky. Canon G15, 1/1250 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100.

Gathered - Day 110 #CY365

We gathered at my Mom's today for Easter Lunch with the family. My brother Mark and his friend Vicki made these great Easter basket cupcakes for the occasion. They look almost too good to eat. iPhone 5s, Camera+ App.

Come In - Day 109 #CY365

Come on in to Lunar Golf for a little black light fun. We took our grandson Robert to his best friend's Jacob's birthday party today. The kids had a great time and it all looked very cool. iPhone 5s, Camera+ App.

Optimistic - Day 108 #CY365

Optimistic about Norfolk's new Slover Library opening early in 2015. This is the ceiling the restored first floor of Seaboard Building part of the library. The Seaboard Building was originally built 1899 as a Federal Courthouse and Post Office, a role it served until the 1930's. It then became Norfolk's City Hall for the next 30 years. iPhone 5s, Camera+ App.

B is for ________ - Day 107 #CY365

B is for Bunny, or in this case a glow bunny. Chemical glow stick taken with an iPhone 5s using the Camera+ app.

Where I Stand - Day 106 #CY365

Today I stand on one of two large bronze compass point maps of downtown Norfolk's historic sights. This one is located directly opposite of the Freemason Street Baptist Church. Gabriel's bright gold horn is atop the church's steeple which was the tallest point in the City in the later half of the 19th century. The Freemason Street Baptist Church is one of three buildings in Norfolk Virginia designed by Thomas U. Walter who was famous for his design of the dome for the U.S. Capital Building. The church was completed in May 1850 in a revival of the style known as "Perpendicular Gothic." This Victorian period revival style was characterized by its reliance on decoration and ornamentation rather than structure. iPhone 5s, Camera+ app two images combined in Photoshop Elements.

Siesta - Day 105 #CY365

No opportunity for a siesta or a siesta photo today, so I pulled out an appropriate one from a trip to La Jolla Cove last year. This pelican was clearly enjoying the midday sun and an opportunity for a siesta. Canon 7D, 1/1250 sec @ f/10, ISO 200 telephoto zoom at 340mm. Just so you don't think I'm a 365 slacker, here's today's rainy day photo.

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.

Target - Day 103 #CY365

The Target sign looked cool against the deep blue of the late civil twilight sky. iPhone 5s, Camera+ App.

Someone's Shadow - Day 102 #CY365

Canon G10, 1/125 of second at f/5.6, ISO 100, 32mm equivalent focal length post processed into B&W using Photoshop Elements and the Silver Efex Pro plug-in.

Cling - Day 101 #CY365

Water droplets cling to this yellow pansy near the old Victorian era fountain at Norfolk Virginia's St. Paul's Church. iPhone 5s, Camera+ App

A Perfect Duo - Day 100 #CY365

Today's challenge was food photography and the prompt was "a perfect duo". What's more perfect than pie and ice cream; getting to eat the pie and ice cream after photographing it. Had to work fast. Olympus OM-D E-M1, 1/60 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 800, 3 LED litepanels and one overhead room light.

Makes Me Smile - Day 99 #CY365

Sasha makes me smile. Our little Tonkinese gets between me and the TV when she wants undivided attention and she usually gets it. She's the number one diva in our house. iPhone 5s, Camera+ App.