Pens and bottles (flash and transparency)

Nikon D7000, 42mm (35-80), 1/125, f/25, ISO 200

This week I decided to play around a little with off-camera flash. I also wanted to shoot some pictures of subjects with a mix of color and transparency.

The photo above is a close up of a rack of pens. I put the flash off to the right and triggered it using a remote.

The photo below is of colorful bottles on a glass shelf. The flash is below the shelf.

Nikon D7000, 42mm (35-80), 1/125, f/25, ISO 200

Best of the 365 Blog – March 2017

No dramatic spring break photos this year (we stayed put for the whole week). But a few good ones from our regular environs.

On the drive to work I noticed that someone placed a birdhouse in one of the trees between the highway and the river.

Nikon D7000, 28mm (28-200), 1/250, f/8, ISO 200

Sunbeam cat. A rare good shot from the iPad.

iPad Pro

Clipboard in a paper rack.

iPhone 7

The Kansas City Rowing Club’s dock, on the day we cleaned the boat yard. This was my first time out there in more than a year.

iPhone 7

Glass skull, close up.

iPhone 7

A lion from the Pompeii exhibit at Union Station.

iPhone 7

Toward the end of the month I did a whole week of cats. Usually cat pictures are a sure sign that I didn’t photograph anything out in the world and needed a photo op somewhere around the house. But for these seven days I concentrated specifically on our feline friends and family members. This is the Dutchess, an outdoor stray in the mood to pose for a picture.

Nikon D7000, 80mm (35-80), 1/200, f/5.6, ISO 400, cropped

 And at long last spring is officially upon us.

Nikon D7000, 300mm (75-300), 1/40, f/5.6, ISO 100

Theme Week: Cats

Nikon D7000, 80mm (35-80), 1/200, f/5.6, ISO 400, cropped

Here’s a couple of things you don’t see much from me. First, I typically take pictures of my cats only when they’re being especially cute or when I need a photo for the day. And second, I don’t generally do “theme weeks” on the 365 blog.

But this week was different. It started out with a particularly good photo of The Dutchess, one of the neighborhood strays we’ve been feeding. [subsequent note: the cat died a few days after this photo was taken] And in our own family, Anna Marie’s room got a new door, replacing the baby gate we’d been using.

iPhone 7

iPhone 7 (cropped)

iPhone 7

iPhone 7

iPhone 7

iPhone 7

Pompeii exhibit

Today Ken and I went to the Pompeii exhibit at Union Station. Fascinating stuff.

But after getting stuck lugging a useless camera around the non-phone-photography-forbidden Body Worlds exhibit, we opted to leave the serious equipment at home. Imagine my dismay when I saw at least one of our fellow patrons shooting merrily away with an SLR (though I don’t know if he was allowed to or if he was just doing it anyway).

To spare myself some captioning, all these photos were taken with an iPhone 7.

Bird house in tree

Nikon D7000, 28mm (28-200), 1/250, f/8, ISO 200

It’s funny what you find just sitting there by the side of the road.

On my commute to work I noticed that an old tree by the side of the highway had a bird house in it. Actually, it took me a couple of days to convince myself that the thing was actually there. But of course once I decided it was real, I had to have a photo of it.

This serves as a lesson in the importance of keeping your eyes open. It’s also a lesson in taking photos while you can. A couple of days after I took my photos, the bird house disappeared.

Best of the 365 Blog – February 2017

Things got back to normal this month. I took advantage of the relative calm to put the new phone through its photographic paces.

Anna Marie, looking serious and photogenic as usual.

iPhone 7

Remember last November when we found out ladybugs weren’t all that cute close up? Apparently Arby’s reubens aren’t improved, either.

iPhone 7

The warm weather prompted us to replace the grill. They look so good when they’re new.

iPhone 7

This bit of carpet scrap and dead leaf arranged themselves into an interesting configuration.

iPhone 7

And these pens in a rack made an interesting pattern.

iPhone 7

Even without much exposure control, the iPhone can still get some dramatic sky shots.

iPhone 7

This is one of the blog’s most popular posts. That’s at least in part because I Facebooked it with the comment, “Draw me like one of your French cats.”

iPhone 7

An abandoned chew toy on the floor of Amigos on State.

iPhone 7

Best of the 365 Blog – January 2017

New year, new beginning. Or at least that’s what it seemed like until the middle of the month found me in the hospital. The adventures never cease.

New Years Day as usual found us out at the ballpark for our annual ceremony.

Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 1/160, f/6.3, ISO 100

Winter got off to a warm start, with more rain than snow.

Nikon D7000, 400mm (18-55), 1/30, f/5.3, ISO 800

At the Zum soap shop. If you’ve got exposed pipes, you can at least paint them attractively. This was one of the last photos I took with my old phone.

iPhone 5s

And this was one of the first with the new phone. Our deepest snow so far [added note: this turned out to be the deepest snow we got all winter].

iPhone 7

My pictures didn’t amount to much for the three days I was in the hospital. Fortunately Amy got some good pictures. This one’s the light fixture in the ER.

iPhone 7 Plus, photo by Amy Whitehead

Local meteorologists predicted a huge ice storm, which fortunately didn't materialize. All we got were a few icicles.

Nikon D7000, 36mm (18-55), 1/80, f/5.0, ISO 400

The aftermath of my stay at the hospital left me with several new pills, two kinds of insulin injections, and a blood testing meter.

Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 1/30, f/2.8, ISO 640

An array of sauce cups I photographed while waiting to pick up some carry out.

iPhone 7