DAY ONE HUNDRED FIFTY ONE

I am so exhausted today after not getting much sleep last night and I've been processing photos most of the evening. When I was ready to take a photo for the day, I sat on the edge of my bed, stretched out my legs, dropped my face in my hands, and when I slide my fingers down my face, I felt relief in knowing that at the end of a long day, I can always count on my Crocs™.

Strobist Info
- SB-600, 35mm, bare, fired with SC-29 TTL cable in TTL/BL mode

DAY ONE HUNDRED FIFTY

I actually only photographed one star and cloned the others in Photoshop.

Strobist Info:
-SB-600, 50mm, 1/4 power, directly in front of subject, 4ft high, 2 ft away

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY NINE

One of my friends said this picture looked like a postcard so I decided to play on that theme for my photo today.

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY EIGHT

I was scratching my head tonight thinking of an idea for a photo while trying my best not to sit down and write my mojo an angry letter when I looked over and saw one of my water globes sticking in a plant that it hasn't been doing a good job of watering. It's not the fault of the globe - it's actually the fault of the person who should be putting water in it but I'm not calling any names - Lisa!

Anyway, the colors of this globe grabbed my attention. Out of sheer laziness, I didn't setup my strobes and grabbed the nearest white piece of paper I could find to use as a diffuser for my pop-up on-camera flash and took a few shots. The lighting was not half bad in camera but when I looked at the same photo on the screen, it just didn't do anything for me until I applied an invert adjustment layer in PS and viola!

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY SEVEN

Seems like there's so much stuff on my plate at the moment and my creativity is being smothered and my energy is being drained. I really want my mojo back.

This image was shot with on-camera flash. :/

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY SIX

Tonight I was invited to cheer for some friends who are in a bowling league and of course I took my camera. I wanted to make them each a part of my 365 photo for today but the collage just wasn't working out like I wanted so that means I'll be bringing my camera to the next one, Mike! And I'll always be there before 9:30pm unless Mark says otherwise.

Thank you Mark, Mike, Andy, and Monica for being such good sports tonight!

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY FIVE

My sis loves taking pictures of amazing food and we must capture a photo of every super delicious meal when we're together or she scolds me for letting her forget. Her visit has ended and I'm very sad so I took a food pic tonight for my sis. It's not the amazing dishes we're used to photographing but it was all I had after a long exhausting day of driving in Los Angeles/Santa Barbara traffic.

This photo was taken with on-camera pop-up flash.

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY FOUR

I love doing shoots at beaches - there's just a certain sense of peace that you can only get from a beach.

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY THREE

I did a photo shoot for my sister at the beach and this was one of my test shots while I was trying to achieve good lighting. She's looking like that because she said, "Hurry man!, It's cold!" And I said, "Just be quiet and tell me if the flash is firing!" It's how we talk to each other from time to time (mostly in times of frustration) but we love each other. haha

It was very windy so I didn't get a chance to use my softbox for the other photos.

Strobist Info:
- SB-600, 50mm, 1/1 power, thru 24" softbox, 6 ft high, 3ft away, camera left (you can actually see the setup in the shadows on the left)

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY TWO

I used on camera flash for this shot too. It was taken within hours of the shot before. I just had to snap some of the beautiful bokeh in Vegas. Thanks sis for being a real trooper. :)

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY ONE

Right before midnight, I was scrambling to take a photo and I really wanted to take a photo of a stranger but I didn't have all my lighting gear so I had to use on camera flash.

I saw the guy with the hat walk by and I hurried after him down, explained my project, and asked him if I could take his photo. I told him that his hat caught my attention. He seemed a bit apprehensive at first but thanks to his 3 friends who were extremely eager to take the photo, I got my shot for the night!

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY

I finally made it out to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and although I didn't get to take a fantastic shot in the tunnels like Neil, I did get to average about 160 mph. It wasn't as fast as I thought it would be as a passenger. Next time, I'll have to get behind the wheel!

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY NINE

I'm posting this picture late as you all know because I was spending time with my sis and we decided to take a little road trip to Vegas! The clouds were amazing the whole way there so I stopped off & we snapped a few photos of them.

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY EIGHT

This background of this photo originally came out very dark but I brought the photo back to life in Camera RAW. I didn't have the opportunity to adjust the settings and retake the photo because the wind was so crazy at the beach that it was about to blow my softbox right out of my hand. I was lucky to grab this photo before the wind became too much.

Strobist Info:
- SB-600, 50mm, 1/8 power, thru 24" softbox, handheld camera left

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY SEVEN

I originally was just going to take a boring picture of myself but I used my sister as my stand in for focus and she started clowning around in front of the camera. So I decided to join her. She came up with the locstache and I love her for it! We had plenty of goofy pictures from tonight but I just loved the locstache!

Strobist Info:
- SB-600, 28mm, 1/8 power, thru 24" softbox, 6 ft high, 3 ft away, camera left

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY SIX

This is my little sister. Most say when I use that term, "little sister," it's misleading because she's actually not a little girl. And that could have not been more apparent in this evening's photo editing session with her standing right over my shoulder as I was editing her photo telling me what she did and did not like or what I should and should not try even though I'm the photographer. lol

Even as I'm uploading this photo, I'm still listening to direction. smh

Lesson Learned: Don't edit portraits when the client is standing over your shoulder - especially if they're being the "baby" sister about it. hehe

Strobist Info:
- SB-600, thru DIY ring flash, fired with SC-29 TTL cord

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY FIVE

I did my first family shoot today and now I'm processing pictures, not to mention the pictures I have to process from my friend's birthday. Needless to say, I'm a little behind on photostreams but I promise I'll catch up soon.

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY FOUR

Caged hearts are never black and white. True sentiment. And that's all I have to say about that.

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY THREE

Today, I sat at the park trying to catch a butterfly and ended up finding what I've been looking for since spring began - a ladybug. :)

I like this better in Lightbox. You might too!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Strobist Info:
- SB-600, in DIY ring flash, fired using SC-29 TTL cord

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY TWO

Today, I attended a belt ceremony of my friend Ede's. I surprised her - she had no idea I was coming! All of the green belts and above had to perform a board break before performing their favorite technique. It was fun to watch.

I used my SB-600 on camera for this shot but I don't remember what the settings were.

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY ONE

This isn't actually Larry's chicken but I dedicate this shot to my friend Larry who is always willing to talk about chicken. :)

Sorry to make you all hungry again. hehe

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY

Having some fun with bokeh and music tonight!

Strobist Info:
- SB-600, 24mm, 1/8 power, thru shoot thru umbrella, 6ft high, 3 ft away, camera right
- White reflector held next to subject, camera left

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY NINE

Here's my little sweet treat for the day - probably the week since I don't eat many sweets. I'm positive this little cake is not good for me but it's so delicious!

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT

I was determined to get a shot of the beautiful motion and colors in soap tonight especially since I've had very unsuccessful attempts for the past couple of nights.

Thanks so much to alternative_view's for advice on how to achieve this shot!

Strobist /OtherInfo:
- Shot handheld with Nikkor 60mm micro, 68mm Kenko extension tubes
- White reflector attached to lens; lens is fed through a hole in the reflector
- SB-600, 24mm, 1/8 power, bare
- LP160, 24mm, 1/8 power, bare
- Both strobes 3ft high, 1ft away, behind bubble, angled at white reflector
- SB-600 fired with 1/8" cord
- LP160 fired as optical slave

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SEVEN

I'm working on two DIY projects at the same time. I think DIY should be changed to SYO for Stress Yourself Out. The hardest part isn't the work I have to do but driving around trying to find all the supplies and not having the tools I need to get the job done. I was playing with the pliers and the tape while I was lying on the couch frustrated and decided to make my tools and supplies pose for my 365 shot since they've made me spend so much time with them today.

Strobist Info:
- SB-600, 24mm, 1/8 power, thru shoot thru umbrella, camera right, 3ft high, 2 ft away
- White reflector to left of subject
- Flash fired with 1/8" cord

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SIX

This is the second snake I've seen in Goleta/Santa Barbara in the past week among homes. It makes me a bit nervous. I haven't seen snakes lurking in streets like this since I moved from rural areas and I was hoping to keep it that way.

Strobist Info:
- SB-600, 85mm, bare, handheld, 2ft away, 2 ft high, camera left
- Fired with SC-29 TTL cord

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY FIVE

I wanted to photograph bubbles but I went to sleep last night at 5:45 am and just didn't have the energy to do exactly what I wanted.  I'm not beating myself up too much because I spent a good amount of time working on a DIY project this evening that I can't wait to show you all.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY FOUR

I was inspired by Robert Tunstall's Bubble World.

Suds held in detergent dispenser cup. Shot with Nikkor 60mm macro, 68mm, extension tubes. This shot was so difficult to take because the bubbles kept popping so I had to constantly adjust the focus.

Processed in Photoshop.

Strobist
- SB-600, 24mm, 1/4 power, camera right, bounced off foamcore into surface of bubble

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY THREE

Strobist Info:
-LP160, 70mm, 1/16 power, camra right, 3 ft high, 1 ft away
- SB-600, 2ft below, snooted with an orange gel (from Photojojo)

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY TWO

Ah, today was Monday and I needed my macro therapy. In the wee hours of the morning before I went to sleep, my iPod somehow fell off of my desk even though it was pushed back far enough not to and then several hours later, after I woke up, my letter organizer came crashing to the floor in the kitchen. And the DIY project that I really want to complete and show all of you is behind schedule. Ah, Monday...why can't you be like Friday and Saturday. :)

Strobist Info:
- SB-600, 85mm, 1/64 power, thru 24" softbox, 3 ft high, 2 ft away, camera left

DAY ONE HUNDRED TWENTY ONE

I didn't plan this shot but that's not atypical. My tummy started to hurt and usually when that happens I reach for more water. After taking this shot and looking at it on my PC, I realized that my water consumption has pretty much been reduced to this bottle. I used to drink tons of water in the places I've lived where the water was not hard and tasted good but for the last few years, most of my water consumption has been reduced to the size of a 32 oz bottle.

Strobist Info:
- SB-600, 85mm, 1/64 power, camera left, thru 24" softbox