Photography Challenge #1: Photo 13 - Abstract 2

After following some lessons in Strobist's Lighting 101 posts, I randomly positioned my light umbrella directly behind my model for the lesson (a large teddy bear who turned out to be much more patient with me than any living model could be) and got a striking silhouette. I instantly thought to myself, "that would make for a cool Sterling Engine photo," so I tried to recreate it.

Unfortunately, due to the size differential and some positioning issues, the ribs of the umbrella were visible in all my shots. Which led to me thinking, "if I zoom in on a portion of the Engine, perhaps I could get a cool silhouette of that." So I slapped on my macro setup, and proceeded to shoot parts of the Sterling Engine back lit by the umbrella.

One thing led to another. A second flash was introduced. I started getting drawn to the reflections in the base plate that were back lit by the umbrella. Eventually, I captured the image above.

What you're looking at is a support arm and part of the brass flywheel reflected in the base plate, and silhouetted by the umbrella flash. Before processing, it was a stark, cold, black on white image, with hints of gold for the flywheel. In LightZone, I played with the white balance to see if I could remove all hints of color. Instead, I ended up going the other way, emphasizing warmth.

The image evokes the sense of motion in me, even though there is none in the object I was photographing. Sometimes I imagine liquid flowing out of a vessel. Other times I see a multi-legged creature skittering across the frame. I would never connect the Sterling Engine with this photo if I had not taken it.

Home Run #48: Macro-SLACKERnomics 4

Originally published on 14 May 2003.

This is the first comic to make me laugh out loud as I go through them again in this republishing effort.

Home Run #47: Macro-SLACKERnomics 3

Originally published on 13 May 2003.

Home Run #46: Macro-SLACKERnomics 2

Originally published on 9 May 2003.

Home Run #45: Macro-SLACKERnomics 1

Originally published on 8 May 2003.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 12 - Strobe

When trying to capture motion, a (relatively) long exposure only gets you so far. You can only capture a small range of motion, or capture such a long exposure that everything just blurs out. Believe me, I've tossed a lot of photos in this challenge because of this.

Fortunately, my camera flash offers a handy alternative: Strobe.

By capturing many discrete, bright-enough exposures, and combining them together -- essentially a multiple exposure with a single drop of the physical shutter -- you can capture the sense of motion over a much larger range of motion. In the Sterling Engine's case, the entire range of motion.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 11 - Motion Blur

What good is a Sterling Engine if the flywheel isn't spinning in some photos?

Sterling Engines are often called external combustion engines. The heat source is external to the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine, where the heat source is inside the cylinders. In this case, heat was delivered via the hot water sitting in the mug that the Sterling Engine was placed upon. I walked up the shutter speed from my initial guess until I could see the blurred spokes of the flywheel, and adjusted aperture for the light as I went.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 10 - Deconstruction

The idea for this photo wasn't planned in the least. In preparation for Photo 11 in this series, I found that my Sterling Engine was no longer functional. It was binding somewhere in the stroke. To fix it, I had to completely take it apart -- almost. The small, plastic cylinder head can be disassembled further, but I didn't want to mess with its alignment or risk bending the fingers connecting the rod to the head. So I left it intact.

It was a very straightforward dis-assembly. Unscrew the six screws from the base cylinder, and the whole thing comes apart. The only thing holding the black foam cylinder head to its rod (just left of the screws in the photo) was friction.

Some graphite for lubricating the main cylinder rod and reassembly, and the Sterling Engine was up and running again. Just, perhaps, not as efficiently as when it was new.

Home Run #44: Accountability 7

Originally published on 7 May 2003.

Home Run #43: Accountability 6

Originally published on 30 April 2003.

Home Run #42: Accountability 5

Originally published on 16 April 2003.

Home Run #41: Accountability 4

Originally published on 15 April 2003.

Home Run #40: Accountability 3

Originally published on 10 April 2003.

Home Run #39: Accountability 2

Originally published on 9 April 2003.

Home Run #38: Accountability 1

Originally published on 8 April 2003.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 9 - Reflection

This dramatic angle showing off the flywheel, axle, and cams of the Sterling Engine is actually a reflection on the top of the base. After eight challenge photos, I finally cleaned the base of the engine, returning it to its near pristine, mirror-like condition that it had coming out of the box.

I rotated the image 180 degrees in post, making it look like you are gazing up towards a giant flywheel, when, in fact, the camera was pointed down.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 8 - Silhouette

Back lit by the sun, the Sterling Engine makes for an imposing figure, light bouncing off the flywheel to illuminate the rear cam and support arm in a warm, golden light.

I was kind of hoping to capture a lens flare, since I was shooting with my kit lens, but I guess I positioned the sun inappropriately. I do like how it's diffracting around the one spoke, though, which is why I put it there.

All without going blind, shooting into the sun. Hooray for live view!

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 7 - Abstract

Moving the Sterling Engine around to position it for shots, I caught the reflection of the brass wheel off the top of the base in my camera's live view. I thought it looked interesting enough to stop, compose, and take some shots to see how it would turn out.

I like how it's pretty much the polar opposite of tack sharp. It offers a dreamy impression of the Engine's flywheel and piston rod instead of a realistic representation.

It's Monet instead of Courbet, and not an area of photography I've considered.

But maybe I should.

Home Run #37: Dross and Taxes 8

Originally published on 3 April 2003.

Home Run #36: Dross and Taxes 7

Originally published on 2 April 2003.

Home Run #35: Dross and Taxes 6

Originally published on 1 April 2003.

Home Run #34: Dross and Taxes 5

Originally published on 21 March 2003.

Home Run #33: Dross and Taxes 4

Originally published on 19 March 2003.

Home Run #32: Dross and Taxes 3

Originally published on 17 March 2003.

Home Run #31: Dross and Taxes 2

Originally published on 13 March 2003.

Home Run #30: Dross and Taxes 1

Originally published on 11 March 2003.

Hey, look! It's Delivery Guy!

This comic has nothing to do with the rest of the comics in this story arc. I have no idea why I put it in with them.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 6 - Base Plate, Edge On

This is a photograph of the Sterling Engine base plate. What looks like an innocuous piece of stainless steel gains a lot of character when zoomed in real close.

The white layer on top is the gasket for the base cylinder. It keeps air from escaping in ways you don't want it to.

The grey layer below is the gap between the base plate and whatever surface it was resting on. It's grey because the engine blocks all but the stray light that manages to bounce around between the surface and the reflective base plate.

Everything in between is the stainless steel plate, maybe 1mm thick.

At least I think it's stainless steel.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 5 - Cam Macro 2

Another macro technique I picked up is reverse-lens photography, where you mount the lens backwards on the camera. So instead of reducing the image to fit on the sensor, the lens magnifies the image. Combined with an extension tube, you can get serious magnification. And a boat load of light loss.

The down side to reverse-lens photography is the camera no longer controls aperture, so you have to do it manually with an adapter ring. When you stop down, the view through the viewfinder is stopped down, making it hard to see anything, let alone focus. Live view, once again, comes to the rescue. At least on a tripod. If you're hand-holding the camera trying to shoot out in the field, I don't know how useful it would be.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 4 - Piston Macro

"A piston engine!" -- Mrs. Gorilla, Monty Python's Flying Circus

My Sterling Engine is, in fact, a piston engine. And small pistons make for fine macro photography subjects. Getting thing oriented so the lens can actually focus on the piston while it takes up a proper portion of the frame can be tricky, leading to reorienting the subject so the lens can get close enough without scratching the glass bits.

So, yes, the Sterling Engine was on its side for this photograph.

Calypte anna

This Anna's Hummingbird decided to build its nest in a tree just outside a window, offering unprecedented views and photo opportunities.

To prepare for what might be observed at the nest, I pointed my browser to Cornell's All About Birds. There, I found out that it is the female of the species that builds the nest, and rears the young (2 - 3 broods per year!). The males have just one role in species propagation, the precursor to which involves a spectacular dance, which I am hoping to observe.

Once again, the Cornell site made an audacious claim.

On rare occasions, bees and wasps may become impaled on the bill of an Anna's Hummingbird, causing the bird to starve to death.

I checked the credits links at the bottom of the page, and couldn't find one that backed up this statement. It might have been behind the pay wall of the Birds of North America Online, but I wasn't willing to pony up the $5 to find out when I've got Google on my side.

"Anna's Hummingbirds With Hymenoptera Impaled On Bills" by Michael C. Long [1] describes two instances (with photos) of Anna's Hummingbirds with impaled insect parts stuck on their bills. The first involved a yellowjacket. The second, a bumblebee.

Body fluids from the insects and perhaps dried sugar solution from the feeder apparently "glued" the heads to the bills and the birds were unable to remove them.

Both specimens, presumably with insects still stuck to the bills, are part of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum collection. Though I doubt they're on display.

References

[1] Long, Michael C. "Anna's Hummingbirds With Hymenoptera Imapled on Bills". Western Birds 24: 267-269, 1993.

Home Run #29: It's a Girl! 4

Originally published on 7 March 2003.

Home Run #28: It's a Girl! 3

Originally published on 5 March 2003.

Home Run #27: It's a Girl 2

Originally published on 3 March 2003.

Home Run #26: It's a Girl! 1

Originally published on 28 February 2003.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 3 - Cam Macro

Once upon a time, I was an avid macro photographer. Of bugs, mostly. I mentioned that in an earlier post, so I won't rehash the details.

Back in the day, I was shooting macro with the kit lens. Fortunately, it could focus fairly close, so I was pretty happy with the results.

These days, I am still shooting macro with the kit lens. Fortunately, I found out about extension tubes, and can get much closer to the subject than back then. Not sure how much bugs would tolerate that, but for this photo challenge, I'm shooting an inanimate object, so it can't complain.

For my macro shots, I am relying on my tripod, a remote shutter release, and live view. Focusing in live view is a bazillion times easier than through the view finder for macro work. Plus there's the added benefit of being able to zoom in on the image, digitally, and really nail the focus. Whether or not you chose the focus point wisely for the composition of the photo cannot be helped by live view.

And yes, that piece of lint bothers me, too.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 2 - Zoom Lens Portrait, Natural Light

A portrait taken with my kit zoom lens at 170mm, f/5.6. I like this one better than the 35mm portrait in the previous Challenge post. The lighting isn't as flat because I had to relocate the engine to get it into the focal range of the lens. As a result, the background and foreground picked up interesting features that the lens length enhanced.

I think it's for this reason that photographers like to shoot portraits at 200mm.

Photography Challenge #1: Photo 1 - 35mm Prime Lens Portrait, Natural Light

First off is a portrait using my 35mm prime, shot with natural light only (no flash). I stopped down to f/5.6 so I could compare it to a portrait shot with my zoom lens (see next challenge post).

I like how the shadow hints at the complexity of the mechanics that isn't evident in the actual object because of the way it is positioned.

I really should have cleaned the Sterling Engine before the photo session.