°°°_D¤n't Be a ¶in HeaD_°°°

Say hello to my little friends!!!

While they look every bit like nails, they are not. They are common pin heads (not unlike most of my friends). Surprised right, that I even have friends??

Now if I was really talented I might have drawn smiley faces and or written quotes on the top of the heads but sadly I am not that skilled nor nearly that patient.

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Of course the hardest part about shooting something that reflects so much light, is trying to get the right amount of light and the angle which will yield few hot spots (completely white spots of light).

I usually just use a single light source for these macro shots, a common 40 watt desk lamp. BUT, I also incorporate diffusers in order to soften/diffuse the lighting. The pink hues below are actually caused by red/pink pieces of construction paper in front of the lamp.

This serves 2 purposes: 1) softening(diffusing) the light, 2) being able to change the colors without ever having to changing the light source.

Enjoy!

♍♍ Juan-der Bread ♍♍

What do you like on your toast?

Me? Nothing beats 0.88lbs of butter and 17 tablespoons of cinnamon and sugar. Now that's table not teaspoons here folks.

Yeah, Timmy has a high motor - not for nothing.

So enjoy the Juan-der (Wonder) bread - except this was store brand and wheat!!!

◊Stop (drop & roll) and smell the roses (note: no roses pictured in this post)◊

It may come as a shock to you, but I do take more than just super close up pics of breakfast cereal ;)
That being the case...

The Set-up: We had a super dry winter/spring so I wasn't able to get many good flower pictures this year.
Which is really a shame in this part of Texas because of the blue bonnets...this year was a sad crop of them to be sure.

The Delivery: But here are some later bloomers from last fall!












I planted some wild flowers 2 yrs ago...I think in another 3-4 years (if we ever get some rain), they will tend to cover about 1/3rd of the backyard - as they have spread decently from the 2 spots I planted them in originally.

They should afford me ample photo taking opportunities :)

∇∇ One is edible, the others not so much ∇∇

Meet some of my random household objects.
I'll often pick up something from around the house that I think will look interesting under the macro lens. Not everything is a home run of course, but then there are also times I get an unexpected pleasant surprise (see toothpicks).




















































































Care to guess what any of them are??

I'll send you a 8x10 print of your choice from my web site if you get it right!!

ΤΦΦthpicks, are you ready for your close-up??

When was the last time you looked at a toothpick and said, "hey - I wonder what this would look like if I painted it and photographed it?"

That was me a few months ago and this is the result.









Just ordinary common household toothpicks, painted with food coloring, and photographed using my 'super-macro' setup. Where I take my 105mm macro lens, attach it to my camera, add a macro reversing ring to the end of the macro lens, and then attach my 50mm lens to the reversing ring (so the 50mm lens is facing the ring and is mounted backwards).

All of the images here are the same, just different depths of field used.

The amazing thing was I never in a million years expected this type of result, where the color fades and bleeds away such that it does.

So know you know, not only are toothpicks extremely useful - they can be turned into art!!!

~TIM~

©u®es what ails you!!

One of the fun thing about macro photography, is the limitless number of items in your house that you can take and try to make interesting.

Pills being no exception....I bet you never saw a Tums©® that close before!!

The biggest challenge is getting good lighting. My lens is usually no more than 2 inches away from the subject and so getting enough light and the right light is quite a challenge!

Tim

♫♫ Club Pics: Flash is for LOOzers ♫♫

One of my new activities is shooting live music here in Austin.

Austin (TX) claims to be the live music capital of the world. Which as far as I know, could very well be true as on any given night you might be able to find music in over 100 clubs on the famed 6th street.

Do I get paid? No.
Is it fun? Yes!






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These are a few of the early ones. Most of the time it's small local acts or relatively unknown acts from out of town. BUT, I have done a few you might have heard of:

• The Used
• Watch Them Die
• Ian Moore
• In Flames
• The Sword
• 311
  

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And of course the key to any good live music picture in my opinion, is being able to take it without using the flash.

Why?

1. Flash just washes everything out!
2. Makes it too bright!
3. Blows away the colors of the stage lighting!
4. Is DIStracting for the concert goers!
   

And with the bigger acts you aren't even allowed to use the flash in the first place so I've always taken all of my pics without flash and I'd stack mine against the hot harsh flash versions any day :)

Ride The Lightning

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Lightning is one of the most interesting and difficult subjects to capture. You might fire of 57 frames before you even get one strike...thank goodness for digital!!

This was one of the best storms I have yet to capture. While I would love to find a great vantage point (overlooking the city/lake/scenic vista) from which to shoot incoming storms, most of the time I just pop outside into our backyard.

The backyard lightning photographer is obviously also limited to the direction from which he can shoot...at least shoot and remain dry. I'm usually hunkered down underneath the awning on our porch.

Timing is also a key element. Most of the storms in Texas are here and done before you even know what hit you. So while the rewards aren't spectacular, I think I'll just remain in my convenient and relatively safe corner of my backyard :)

Now we just need another storm!!

<>TIM<>

Spam: It's What's For Dinner

Don't you just love these???

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I only have 18 spams in my inbox this morning but hey, it's only 8am!!

In the meantime, while I go delete the 54 messages(must have tripled by now!), check out these links:

1. Facts about the product SPAM
2. Top 10 internet spammers
3. Wikipedia's definition
4. Letterman: Top 10...Things to do with SPAM (the meat)!
5. Letterman: Top 10...Things to do with SPAM (the email)!
6. Top 10 spam subject lines
7. The 10 Biggest Spam Myths

8. Top 10 Windows Spam Filters

9. HOW TO FIGHT SPAM!!!

10. Stop Spam! Don't Get Scammed!

edit: I just received a stark reminder of something perhaps far more sinister than spam: chain letters. You know the ones..."here just do it "..."this really works!!!!"..."After reading this, you have 1 hour to send it out to 15 people, and what you wished for will come true within in one week!"

RU serious??? Three words I say to these people: Get Off Me!!

How stupid do they think I am? (Rhetorical!)

Billiards & DOF

Billiards & DOF










1st off, please forgive the MASSIVE signature on the pictures. Obviously I had not refined it prior to posting these online!!

These were just some pictures I shot in the backroom of a bar, waiting for a concert to start that I was going to shoot. (Check back for those pictures soon :)

Needless to say, small acts and venues like I was shooting that night have their very own concept of time and therefore I was left holding the cue ball for quite some time. They started nearly an hour after they were supposed to get the ball rolling...errr show that is.

Of course since then I have been pinched several times with other bars and concert halls that start RIGHT on the money. Little tip from your uncle Tim...get there early, have a beer, read a book, something :P

~TIM~