Brown rice

I told myself today I wouldn't do a set-up shot, but it is so miserable and cold that I just didn't have it in me to go outside to shoot... I really like the lighter tones of the rice against the kraft paper backdrop here.

Aperture priority setting: f/1.4, 1/25 sec, ISO 100

Scotch

Mario was drinking some scotch tonight, and I really liked the nice amber color - thought it'd make a nice photo. Of course, I have some dreaded shadows again, but they're not too bad... I blurred the background on this with a Gaussian Blur filter in Photoshop to make the subject pop a bit...

Aperture priority setting: f/1.4, 1/30 sec, ISO 100

A sign of spring...

I love seeing the buds on the magnolia tree in our front yard! A sure sign that spring is on the way...

Aperture priority setting: f/1.4, 1/400 sec, ISO 100

Gumballs

Gumballs (from Sweetgum trees) that seem to appear everywhere out of nowhere - annoying little buggers...

Aperture priority setting: f/1.4, 1/400 sec, ISO 100

In the backyard

Taken in our neighbor's backyard...

Aperture priority setting: f/1.4, 1/500 sec, ISO 100

Colors

I broke out the wine and champagne glasses again for today's photo. This time I put some water in them and added food coloring to the water. With just natural, late-afternoon light, unfortunately, I have some shadows behind the glasses I'm not too happy with. I suppose (?) I'd need to use a reflector or lights to eliminate those shadows - something to try in the future...

Aperture priority setting: f/1.4, 1/100 sec, ISO 100

A place setting

I always like how photos of place settings look so I decided to try one out myself...

Aperture priority setting: f/1.4, 1/4 sec, ISO 100

Miriam

This is a shot of Miriam seated near the north-facing window in the dining room - lots of natural light.

Aperture priority setting: f/1.4, 1/60 sec, ISO 100

Oranges

I bought a new toy today - OK, sickos, get your minds out of the gutter!

I bought a new lens - woo-hoo!! A 50mm f/1.4 lens. I really, really would have preferred the 85mm f/1.2 L II USM, but since that one costs about $1500 MORE than this one, it would have taken me YEARS to save enough money for it... And given the 1.6x sensor on my Digital Rebel, shooting with this is roughly equivalent to an 80mm lens on a full frame sensor so... I bought the lens mainly for portrait work, though I am already envisioning still lifes I can shoot with it... Such as these three oranges...

Manual setting: f/1.4, 1/50 sec, ISO 100

Sidewalk chalk

I like the colors here and how the chalk is a big jumble of broken and used pieces. Of course, being my anal retentive self, I also like a new set of sidewalk chalk, perfect and standing in a neat row...

Manual setting: f/5.6, 1/20 sec, ISO 200

Laumeier Sculpture Park

I went to Laumeier Sculpture Park this morning after dropping Miriam off at school, and I found a whole area of the park I didn't know existed before - cool! I can't wait for warmer weather, leaves, and non-winter skies to explore more in that area...

This photo is a partial view of a sculpture (that I HAD seen before) by Jackie Ferrara. I converted the photo to black-and-white, brought back a very slight bit of color to the whole image, and brought back all the color in one beam on the "doorway". I only wish I'd shot it at a narrower aperture to retain sharp focus in the whole photo - didn't think that one through...

Manual setting: f/5, 1/4 sec, ISO 100

A little creek

This photo was taken in a little creek near our local park. A bit of a shutter speed experiment to capture the water flowing smoothly and ribbon-like rather than freezing the action... Converted to black-and-white in Photoshop.

Manual setting: f/36, 2 sec, ISO 100

Laundry

I'm beginning to feel a bit better today - but not quite 100% - so I decided to tackle the mountain of laundry that somehow built up over the weekend. Had this pile of jeans to put away...

Manual setting: f/5.6, 1/20 sec, ISO 100

Sunday, February 15, 2009

This is a partial view of our basement, from my vantage point on the futon, where I spent all day yesterday and a good portion of Saturday, suffering from the flu. I had no energy to do anything yesterday so this is just a snapshot of my surroundings using the on-camera flash. This is what happens when I'm out of commission and don't do any cleaning around the house for 2 days... Notice the drawer hanging open? I didn't even have the energy to push the darned thing closed (apparently, neither did any of the healthy people in the house!)...

Auto setting: f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO 400

Garlic

I seem to be coming up with quite a few kitchen/cooking related photos - it's the room in the house with the best daytime natural light so I usually end up in there, turning in circles, looking for subjects. Today it's garlic - this'll be part of a sofrito one day. But for now, it's just a photo subject...

Manual setting: f/5.6, 1/8 sec, ISO 100

Windchime on the back porch

This is a shot of the chime parts of a windchime hanging on our back porch. I really like the lines in this photo and the contrast between the silver of the chimes and the shadows.

Manual setting: f/5, 1/40 sec, ISO 100

I knew one day my name would be in lights...

...Of course, I had to put it there, but who's taking notes? Another bulb exposure experiment, this time with a flashlight.

Manual setting: f/4, 5 sec, ISO 100

Corks in a jar

I went into the kitchen to start making dinner - linguine with tomatoes and kalamata olives, yum! - and I realized I hadn't taken my photo of the day yet. I spotted our jar of corks on the counter (don't ask me why I save them, but they do make a fun decoration) and thought they'd make a nice subject. I thought about dumping them out for a solid photo of just corks but changed my mind and left them in the jar. Maybe another day...

Manual setting: f/5.6, 0.8 sec, ISO 100

Which brings me to today...

This is a "daily life" photo if I've ever taken one! This is the bathtub in the bathroom on the main floor of our house. While cleaning the tub surround one day I noticed a tile was loose. Noticing little-to-no grout around it, I hesitantly pried the tile off, afraid of what I would see... Which led me to pull off more and more tiles to discover THIS mess behind them, complete with rotted drywall. Thankfully, that's all the damage there is, and I was waiting for a guy to come today to repair it. He never showed up, but I may have written the wrong day down... Thankfully, we have another bathroom upstairs to shower in...!

Manual setting: f/3.5, 1/5 sec, ISO 100

Monday, February 9, 2009

I returned home yesterday, and this was taken as I drove south on Route 84 - I think I was just north of Cordova, Illinois, here. It was a very misty-hazy morning, and I liked the way the tree line looked in the distance on the edge of the cornfield. The silhouettes reaching up through the morning air...

Manual setting: f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO 100

Sunday, February 8, 2009

We went back to the river this day - this time to Lock and Dam 13 north of Fulton. I was hoping to get some shots of the eagles that nest there, but alas, I need a good, BIG zoom for that. So I contented myself with a shot of the dam itself... I was going to convert this photo to black-and-white to hide the dismal gray sky, but this is a typical midwestern winter sky so I decided to leave it as is...

Manual setting: f/5.6, 1/30, ISO 100

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Fulton, Illinois, is a small town along the Mississippi River with a large Dutch population. An authentic Dutch windmill was shipped over (in pieces) from the Netherlands and assembled on the flood control dike of the river; it was dedicated in 2000. This is one of the arms of the windmill (are they called "arms"?). I like the shapes in this photo...

Manual setting: f/5.6, 1/1250 sec, ISO 100



I took several photos at the river this day, and when it came to deciding which one to post here I just couldn't make up my mind so it's a bonus day with two photos! This is a shot of the riverbank with a bit of the partially frozen river included. The photo was taken late in the afternoon, and I really liked how the setting sun gave such a golden glow to the grasses on the riverbank.

Manual setting: f/5.6, 1/1000 sec, ISO 100

Friday, February 6, 2009

This photo was taken at the Spoon River rest area along I-74 near Galesburg, Illinois. I have a handful of best friends - my BF from home, BF from high school, BF from college, BF from adult-life... I was headed north to see my best friend from home whose husband passed away. Late in the afternoon I pulled over at this rest area and took this photo.

Manual setting: f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO 100

Clay pots

Clay pots that were just taking up space in our garage before I nabbed them for a photo. Now they're taking up space on the back porch.

PLEASE NOTE: I will be leaving town tomorrow, returning Monday, February 9. I will be taking photos while I'm gone but won't post them until I return...

Manual setting: f/5.6, 2.5 seconds, ISO 100

Dolls are creepy

I was cleaning up the basement after the kids went to bed, and I caught a glimpse of Miriam's doll out of the corner of my eye. I thought to myself, "Man, that doll is creepy-looking." And inspiration for a photo hit. I shot this in candlelight against a black backdrop. I lightened the eyes in Photoshop for added creepiness.

Manual setting: f/5.6, 0.4 seconds, ISO 100

Orange peels in a blue bowl

The remains of my afternoon snack...

Manual setting: f/5.6, 1/4 second, ISO 100

Self-portrait

A photo of me I actually like... Of course, Photoshop was my friend here - blemishes and dark circles, be gone! I am a mother of two who gets too little sleep on a regular basis, after all...

Manual setting: f/5, 1/15 second, ISO 100

Treetops

Treetops at Powder Valley Conservation Area. I converted the photo to black-and-white and increased the hue and saturation to create a bit more drama in the photo.

Manual setting: f/20, 1/50, ISO 200