Depth of Field

Wikipedia has a pretty good description of Depth of Field. In fact, I could go as far to say that there is probably more information that most people care to know about...there's even some math in the article. Ick! Today's shot uses a low f-number to limit the depth of field. You see part of the image that is close to the camera is very focused while the view further away is blurred.

Two are better than one

Today, I tried a new experiment with GIMP. This experiment was with the mathematics of photos. PhotoA + PhotoB = ??? In this case, I added a photo of golden synthetic cloth and a photo of a lacquered oak door. The wood was added semi-transparently on top of the cloth. I think the sum is of these two is quite interesting.

Ooo, sparklies!

Based on the number of views of my belt buckle picture on Flickr, I suspect that people enjoy my pictures of other people's art. The belt buckle is quite artistic and I just captured it in a photo. So, today's picture is someone else's art again. The shot is of a hair clip that I bought at a mall in San Jose, CA, 2005. The clip was among many sparkling treasures sold from a temporary vendor cart. Sadly, I've never really found an occasion to wear it. Even so, I think it is quite beautiful.

What is photo art?

What makes a photo art? I have no idea. The last art class that I took was over 16 years ago, and the teacher spent all her time flirting with one of the students instead of actually teaching anything about art. Composition? I have no idea what constitutes good composition. At this point, I will be lucky to get something that I can classify as "cool" looking.

So, today's photo is of a metal belt that I bought from Target, one of my favorite stores. I've never worn this belt, but I consider it to be "cool" looking and a piece of art. Even if it is not functional for me, I do enjoy its form.

Pink

Today, my friend, Shelby, and I walked the Austin Komen 5K Race for the Cure. Over 20,000 Austinites worked to raise money to help screen, prevent, treat, and find the cure for breast cancer. It's such a good cause, and I was very happy to participate and raise donations even if only a few dollars. There were some great speakers kicking off the race, including some breast cancer survivors.

The shot that I am posting is a colorized shot of the starting line. We were blessed with some beautiful weather today.

The GIMP

I have been playing around with GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). I have some fun with it. The tool has many built-in filters that are quite fun to explore. Today's picture started out as a simple photo of a Galileo Thermometer. Next, I cropped out the background and then applied a fractal mapping filter. The result is strangely interesting, and perhaps, a bit like looking into a kaleidescope.

Fall is here

Fall has come to this part of the world. The light's a little bit less intense outside and there is plenty of opportunity for great pictures outdoors. I went over to a local park today. It was a beautiful day with hints of fall in many of the trees and shrubs. Here is a picture of the fishing body of water and the reflection of the trees in the water.

20 out of 180

I've taken about 180 pictures since I got my camera. Of those 180, I feel about 20 are acceptable enough to me to post my my Flickr account. Thank you technology! I cannot imagine using film and a traditional camera to get started in photography. I think the digital camera has really opened the door for more people to explore photography as a hobby.

So, my picture today is of a sprig of rosemary in my back yard. There's not much special that I can say about it other than it was one of the few shots that I was able to take this week.

I struggled to find day light time to take pictures because it was a very busy week at work. By the time I made it home, it was night. As I've mentioned before, I haven't mastered the flash so I have been down on my shots this week.

A thousand words? Really?

Pictures may be worth many words, but are there some pictures that completely replace words? I don't think I have taken any of those pictures yet. I always feel there is something more to be said then that which is communicated through a stationary image. Unless you are inside the head of the photographer, there is a chance that your perception of a photo is different than that intended by the artist. Any ideas what I was thinking with this picture?

Smoke and Mirrors

I stumbled across my first camera trick accidentally. Tonight, I was taking pictures of objects placed on top of a mirror. While I was shooting some of these objects, I noticed a pile of shells that I had collected during my brother's recent wedding. I placed one of these shells on top the mirror and took a few shots. I did not expect anything special when I uploading the shots for cropping. However, as soon as I opened the large image, I noticed that I had accidentally created a clam. Even those I had only half of the shell, the mirror created the other half of the clam. Unless you knew the picture was taken on a mirror, you might think the shot is of a whole clam.

Something I didn't expect

So far, my photos subjects have consisted of random objects or animal around my home. I try to work with day light or natural light because I have not yet mastered the flash. Today, I left the auto-flash on and was pleasantly surprised. In this close up shot of some chandelier chain, I was able to get some pretty interesting hi-lights of the chain and the background was washed out. It makes for a nice affect, I think.

I'm on the search for better lighting and more subjects. There is still a lot of unexplored territory in my home, but I need to venture out into the world with my camera, too.

More than the eye can see...

I have always found closeup pictures to be fascinating. Maybe that fondness comes from how a camera makes up for my poor vision. There are things that the camera can see that I cannot.

My camera is my key to "Gulliver's Travels". Things that are small are made large. Although I always thought Jonathon Swift's descriptions were a little depressing. He describes the extra detail of close-up human skin as harsh and unattractive. When I see the pores of skin close up, I do not think ugly. I am sure he had his reasons, but for me seeing more detail is beautiful.

I'm posting a picture of an interesting texture that I found through my key. Can you tell what it is?

Goal Acheived!

My new Pentax K100D camera arrived this morning via FedEx. I felt really fortunate that I was home when the FedEx courier came by...that never happens. As odds would have it, we were home waiting for someone from Craigslist to come by and take a look at a desk that I'm selling. The potential buyers never came by, but my camera did.

Before I could play with my new toy though, we spent the day at Dolphin's company picnic. After some great food and good chats with his coworkers, we finally made it home 4 hours later. I was so excited to try out the new camera.

When I clicked check-out on Amazon.com to buy this camera, I set a goal that, for the first week, all that I wanted to achieve was a picture of something that wasn't blurry. I wasn't sure how complicated the camera would be so I set that reasonable expectation.

After a few minutes of searching for AA batteries, I finally found some in a couple of Wiimote. WiiSports would have to wait for another time. I put the batteries, and the camera came to life. After 15 minutes of flipping through the manual and pressing buttons, I already had my first picture and it wasn't blurry. I had already achieved my initial goal in just a few minutes.

I'm not going to post the VERY first picture though. It is a picture of my very messy coffee table. Instead, I took this close up of one of my favorite vases. Please, tell me what you think of my first 15 minutes behind the camera.