Day 253 of 365

Day 253 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Ever wonder what garbanzo beans look like before shelled. We never really thought about it even though we buy dried beans all the time for making homemade hummus. We happen to get some unshelled beans in our CSA (community supported agriculture) box this week. They taste like green peas and are good right out of the shell.

I also got my first professionally printed photograph in the mail today. I decided to try Mpix as they are the primary printer for Zenfolio, which will my store front as soon as I get all my photos I want to try and sell uploaded. Below is a photo of what I had printed. It is a 9x12 metallic mounted on a single weight mat board. I wanted to see how it looked on metallic paper as the photo is mostly black and white but with a hint of color from the toned down colorful pin heads. I know Mpix has a great reputation but I was still impressed with how easy it was to setup an account and go through the ordering process. The packaging was very nicely done as well. The photo was in an paper sleeve with a piece of tissue paper between the photo front and thin card stock. This was shrink wrapped onto another piece of cardboard so there was little chance of bending or other damage unless the package was completely mistreated. Here is the photo I had printed and below is a photo of the photo.

Click on photo for a better look.

Day 252 of 365

Day 252 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

I started out wanting to try my hand of photographing water drop splashes after seeing a cool photo of one earlier today. I'm going to go out on a limb and say you really need a good off camera flash to do this correctly. I tried to improvise with several lights and just couldn't get my shutter speed fast enough to get a good crisp shot.

While looking through all my attempts I ended up liking this shot of the water with a slight ripple on it and reflections of the light and of course the black light, which was below the glass bowl I had full of water.

Day 251 of 365

Day 251 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Same basic setup as yesterday but this time filled the plastic cups with water and there is a sheet of clear plexiglas between the light and the bottom of the cups. Wanted to have water in them to help make the cups appear more solid and to help with reflections and the plexiglass is there to make a stable flat surface.

The black light may come in handy on occasion but there a few issues. It tends to create hot spots because I only have it an inch or so below the cups. The other thing is just how many things can I photograph with a blueish glow :)

Day 250 of 365

Day 250 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Dug out my old black light and was playing around to see how it would look with plastic cups. Mostly just playing around to see what I may be able to do with the light.

Day 249 of 365

Day 249 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Went out for a walk this evening down near the Fisherman's Wharf. Didn't find a lot that inspired me but these two rowboats caught my eye. I cut off the lower parts while composing because of unsightly clutter.

Day 248 of 365

Day 248 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

My wife made herself a purse today. The fabric is a Hoffman print, strap is recycled linen and the fastener is a vintage button.

I took some photos of the bag hanging on a dress mannequin but then decided to see how it would look if I stuffed it with some paper to fill it out some and display it with overhead lighting.

Day 247 of 365

Day 247 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Trying different things out to see how they look. This is a couple strings of different colored yarn overlapped and shot out of focus. Need to play around more with how to light these better. Yesterdays was easier to light as the yarn was in a hoop so could the hoop around to get the best lighting. Today the yarn is just laying on a table on black fabric so lit from above only. The photo seems overly pixelated as well...not sure why as the histogram levels weren't that bad. It may be due to the focus I'm guessing.

Day 246 of 365

Day 246 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Criss crossed yarn in a hoop that I had used a while back for some motion patterns. This time I didn't use motion but held it close to the lens and turned the focus ring so it was completely out of focus. Didn't expect the nice geometric shapes.

Day 245 of 365

Day 245 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

When all else fails I always have smoke to photograph. I'm trying to see if I can control it a little better, probably a lost cause but I'm going to try anyway. Having it come out of a bottle instead of just from the incense sticking out of a jar of sand does offer a bit more control. It tends to come out funneled in a stream a bit better and start straight up as opposed to all over the place when out in the open.

Day 244 of 365

Day 244 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

The moon...

I came across an article Scott Bourne of Photofocus wrote today, titled A Few Thoughts on Photographic Styles, that really came at a good time for me. Since the beginning of this 365 project I've been trying to identify just what style I was interested in and had the most fun doing. I enjoy looking at landscape photos but don't particularly enjoy taking them. I don't have a particular interest in portrait so rarely do them. Sports...meh. Food I want to do more of. Still life is interesting but I have yet to push my boundaries on it. I'd like to play more with building more elaborate still life setups instead of just doing one or two items. Macro and abstract, or the combination of the two has been really calling to me. The one thing that has held me back the most on exploring it fully is the sense that I'm alone in my fascination of this style. I can understand why...I know people love flowers and other common things so something not easily explained away can be ignored.

The article I linked to has informed me that I need to explore, or shoot for the moon (too tie in my boring moon shot) and not worry if other people get my work or even enjoy it. I need to be true to me and my artistic vision. Until I allow myself this freedom I'm never going to fully evolve into the photographer I want to be.

I would encourage all of you to read the article written by Scott Bourne if you don't already visit Photofocus. I'd encourage reading it everyday as Scott and another great photographer and teacher, Rick Sammon, are a real asset to our community. If you listen to podcasts I'd also recommend the Photofocus podcast, which you can find links to on the site.