![<span id="date">__02/08/11__</span> <span id="title">Dragon Ball</span>
Here's another shot from the botanical gardens - the fruit of the Dragon Tree (<em>Dracaena draco</em>). Only a few fruits on the entire tree were orange.
I'll be doing iPhone daily photos for a few days while I'm in New Orleans. Woohoo! A non-iPhone gallery will follow shortly after.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#784401228_xN3uu">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-XWwvpRQ/2/7d184bb6/L/2011-02-08%20Dragon%20Ball-L.jpg)
__02/08/11__ Dragon Ball Here's another shot from the botanical gardens - the fruit of the Dragon Tree (Dracaena draco). Only a few fruits on the entire tree were orange. I'll be doing iPhone daily photos for a few days while I'm in New Orleans. Woohoo! A non-iPhone gallery will follow shortly after. [last year]
![<span id="date">__02/08/11__</span> <span id="title">Dragon Ball</span>
Here's another shot from the botanical gardens - the fruit of the Dragon Tree (<em>Dracaena draco</em>). Only a few fruits on the entire tree were orange.
I'll be doing iPhone daily photos for a few days while I'm in New Orleans. Woohoo! A non-iPhone gallery will follow shortly after.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#784401228_xN3uu">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-XWwvpRQ/2/7d184bb6/Ti/2011-02-08%20Dragon%20Ball-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__02/07/11__</span> <span id="title">Chinese Hollygrape</span>
<em>Mahonia lomariifolia</em>
This plant caught my eye last Friday when I only had my compact. Because the plant was in the shade, I just couldn't get a decent shutter speed to get a sharp exposure, so today I brought my SLR. I had trouble capturing what I wanted, but I do like this shot. What caught my eye were the soft blue and green colors on the 'grapes' or whatever they are. The plant leaves look like holly (hence the name) and they're very sharp. I got poked a lot for this photo.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#783514969_CcZ7t">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-LzZm7Zj/2/283f6c0d/Ti/2011-02-07%20Chinese%20Hollygrape-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__02/06/11__</span> <span id="title">Almond Ball</span>
While pondering what sort of desperation shot to take on this Sunday of Super Bowls, it hit me that if I cut two almonds in half and put the pointy ends back to back, it'd look like a football! So... uh... yeah. Here's the amazing result of that eureka moment...
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#782703118_NTs59">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-zhnhg2T/2/04a91fde/Ti/2011-02-06%20Almond%20Ball-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__02/05/11__</span> <span id="title">Sunglasses Shadow</span>
I took this shot earlier today when the sun was coming in through our bay window and onto our wood dining table. I like how the shadow really exaggerates the shape of the lenses. I purposely focused on the wood surface and not the glasses themselves.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#781921239_4M3tm">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-ZKcHRvm/2/73f3706c/Ti/2011-02-05%20Sunglasses%20Shadow-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__02/04/11__</span> <span id="title">Backlit Spines</span>
Some prickly pear in the botanical gardens, some other cactus in the background. I found some other really great subjects today, but I was unhappy with how the S95 photos came out. I'm hoping to take my SLR and macro lens to work next week so I can try again.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#781269949_FE4ax">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-w2RnLgt/2/a2cbc5c6/Ti/2011-02-04%20Backlit%20Spines-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__02/03/11__</span> <span id="title">Pots and Pans</span>
Desperation shot of two pots and two pans hanging on our new-ish pot rack. I experimented with holding the flash so that the shadows didn't overlap at all. Black and white was an obvious choice since the scene was lacking in color to begin with.
Thanks to <a href="http://mccommon.smugmug.com/">Donna</a> for the New Orleans tips! I definitely will visit the French Quarter and I hope to make it to a cemetery, but we won't have a car, so... it'll have to be close. Anyone else have ideas for me? I'll be there next week. :)
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#780569098_afwaU">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-bd3T9Xw/2/5a00cdfe/Ti/2011-02-03%20Pots%20and%20Pans-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__02/02/11__</span> <span id="title">Tentacle</span>
I try to stay modest, but damn, I made a good dinner tonight. It involved frying a seafood mix we got from the farmer's (fisherman's?) market last weekend. I'm not sure if this tentacle is a squid or octopus, but the mix had smaller whole squids, mussels, and shrimp, too. Put it over rice with a lemon-rosemary sauce and roasted romanesco and garlic bread on the side. Wash it down with some delicious white wine.
Yum.
While you sit and ponder my weeknight culinary awesomeness, why not glance at my <a href="http://blog.jawsnap.net/2011/02/water-droplet-photography-lessons-learned/">water droplet photography blog post</a>?
In other news, I'll be in New Orleans a week from today. Any photography or touristy suggestions?
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#779860915_j8CvU">[last year]</a> <em>hazel, yo...</em>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-MmmzCjS/2/ccbb99f1/Ti/2011-02-02%20Tentacle-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__02/01/11__</span> <span id="title">Chrysalis</span>
This, ladies and gentlemen, is a monarch butterfly chrysalis. I hope nothing eats it - it's very exposed.
Overall, I'm a little disappointed in the S95's macro ability. In this shot, the focus is sharp on the plant stalk, but not so much on the chrysalis itself. It's also cropped a bit - the S95's wide angle lens makes it hard to isolate subjects. Still a pretty awesome little camera, though.
In other news, I just posted my piece on water droplet photography! <a href="http://blog.jawsnap.net/2011/02/water-droplet-photography-lessons-learned/">Check it out</a>!
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#779030517_vTrYH">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-FD7Rptf/2/d867ee67/Ti/2011-02-01%20Chrysalis-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/31/11__</span> <span id="title">Cooked</span>
This lime slice helped flavor some chicken we ate tonight. It was tasty.
Pretty much a desperation shot, I used my macro lens and set my off-camera flash to the side of the pan. Converted to B&W in LR3 using the 'Look 3' preset.
In other news, I entered a bunch of photos into an iPhone photo contest. If you have a few seconds (really, just seconds) then please vote for my <a href="http://www.thebestcamerachallenge.com/bin/Rate?image_id=2000307105">sea turtle</a> and/or <a href="http://www.thebestcamerachallenge.com/bin/Rate?image_id=2000307108">leaf drop</a> photo - both were photos of the day. Thanks!
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#778175730_DFMqk">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-9L8XKz6/2/72324802/Ti/2011-01-31%20Cooked-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/30/11__</span> <span id="title">Out to Dry</span>
I went for a quick photo walk this evening before the sun set and liked this shot of two very different mops outside a gym. Have a great week!
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#777289317_qpH4U">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-gVthkV9/3/7736703d/Ti/2011-01-30%20Out%20to%20Dry-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/29/11__</span> <span id="title">Walking in Black</span>
These two women were photographed while walking down an alley in Santa Monica. My position was on level 8 of a parking garage. We had just watched True Grit. I liked it.
You may have noticed that this photo is a bit gritty. Truly, it's because of the ISO noise.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#776411998_XMTot">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-PsmBSrN/2/4ceea77c/Ti/2011-01-29%20Walking%20in%20Black-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/28/11__</span> <span id="title">Framed Fox</span>
The glowing blueish light in the lower left is the Fox Theater in Westwood - I liked how the palm trees in a courtyard a few blocks away framed it. I got this shot while walking to the bus stop after finishing my 3rd week in a remarkably intense fitness program at work.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#775799952_qLwd4">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-jj9rVVm/2/33beec78/Ti/2011-01-28%20Framed%20Fox-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/27/11__</span> <span id="title">Orange Burst</span>
These Dr. Seuss-ish flowers are part of an agave plant in the botanical gardens, growing right across from the agave plant that was last year's daily photo. Obviously the bright orange color was eye-catching, but I really liked being able to isolate the flowers against a pure blue sky. Yeah, we're having pretty awesome weather here. The bees were all over these flowers, but for some reason they were camera shy.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#775021404_ewZrD">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-k8qcN8B/2/6ac8566c/Ti/2011-01-27%20Orange%20Burst-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/26/11__</span> <span id="title">Bottle Drop</span>
<em>Water Drops, Day 5</em>
Well this is it, my fifth and final water drop photo. For now, anyways.
Over the past 3 weeks I've posted 4 other water drop photos and I pushed myself to keep experimenting with each subsequent photo. Today's photo doesn't represent any great leaps in technique - it's mostly that I used a water bottle instead of a much wider container. I also played with half-and-half as a liquid, but I ran into some limitations - read my upcoming blog post to see what I mean.
That's right, I'm sharing all of my hard-earned secrets with you! Eventually... I have to write them down first. Stay tuned.
Read my <a href="http://blog.jawsnap.net/2011/02/water-droplet-photography-lessons-learned/">blog post on water droplet photography</a>!
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#774423305_2D3pf">[last year]</a> <em>firey...</em>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-v8PgMXn/2/b6a5b4d9/Ti/2011-01-26%20Bottle%20Drop-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/25/11__</span> <span id="title">Press for Dashboard</span>
Today's desperation shot features a little Lego man standing over the F3 button of my keyboard. On my Mac, it brings up the dashboard. Isn't that fascinating?
I took it with my S95 and I got the low angle lighting by... wait for it... turning the camera upside down! Also fascinating.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's shot, I hope to set up my fifth and final (for now, anyways) water drop photo! And if that isn't fascinating then, well, I just give up.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#773716231_knGzp">[last year]</a> <em>mmm, these are back in season...</em>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-r3QVq5S/2/5d2f344d/Ti/2011-01-25%20Press%20for%20Dashboard-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/24/11__</span> <span id="title">Veil</span>
Today I ate lunch in the same spot as <a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year3/11272102_ACXDJ#1164066142_GTGn5">last Friday</a> and guess what - the leaf was still there! So, I took some more photos of it. I quite like this creepy one.
Plus, it's not cropped :)
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#772326442_hptvv">[last year]</a> <em>Still don't know what these are...</em>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-RC6CxPs/2/ab4828d6/Ti/2011-01-24%20Veil-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/23/11__</span> <span id="title">Plant Shadow</span>
This is our house's newest plant, a 'bicolor' (<em>Dracaena marginata</em>).
I set the camera on a tripod a few feet away from the plant and pointed down at it. I took the shot by using the self-timer and walking around with my off-camera flash and pointed it down at the plant from behind. Getting the entire plant in the frame would have been nice, but the rug wasn't big enough, and I wanted a consistent background.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#771888782_BvFiK">[last year]</a> <em>we almost never go to this store, but we were there again today, weird...</em>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-FTPK9KW/2/7dac0d47/Ti/2011-01-23%20Plant%20Shadow-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/22/11__</span> <span id="title">Naranjado</span>
We caught this great orange sunset at the end of an afternoon at green sticks... by which I mean the Palos Verdes peninsula near/in Los Angeles. We had a great time eating a delicious picnic lunch and walking around the bluffs and we even spotted a couple whales. I think - without binoculars it's hard to distinguish whale spouts from dive-bombing pelican splashes. This photo was taken from Abalone Cove, and the buildings on the bluffs are part of the Terranea resort.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#770958607_Z8Qcp">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-gWdS44V/2/cb757cd4/Ti/2011-01-22%20Sunset-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/21/11__</span> <span id="title">Skeleton Leaf</span>
I found an enormous half-decayed leaf in the botanical gardens today, so I took some photos of it. I wasn't expecting to like this one so much, but I do. It's cropped but otherwise straight from the camera. I like the muted colors, but I <em>really</em> like the effect of the out of focus trees above through the veins of the leaf. Fun times.
Have a good weekend! Take some fun photos!
Update: Thanks for all the comments, I'm glad you guys like it too! I took <a href="http://arctangent.smugmug.com/">arctangent</a>'s advice and cropped out the blade of grass at the bottom. I was hesitant because I had already cropped the photo, but I think this is a stronger image, even though I'm a little sad it's under 5MP now.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#770313421_Wt2o8">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-gsspnMS/3/8e194789/Ti/2011-01-21%20Skeleton%20Leaf-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/20/11__</span> <span id="title">Hippy Wind Chime</span>
This belonged to my parents-in-law, who aren't exactly hippies, but to me, it looks like something that you'd find hanging in a VW Bus with shag carpet. Just sayin'.
I used the same setup as I've been using for my water droplet photos - the chime was hanging from a curtain rod resting across a white presentation foam board. I had trouble getting the lighting right with only one flash, so I decided to make the shadow a part of the scene. My off-camera flash is just underneath and in front of the bottom bell, pointing mostly at the back of the presentation board. I played around and adjusted the level so that the shadow cast by my on-camera flash would fade into white about halfway down.
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#769679076_K5rWf">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Daily/Year3/i-c6gcrZR/2/75a7d235/Ti/2011-01-20%20Hippy%20Wind%20Chime-Ti.jpg)