December 23, 2013: Purple Meniscus

365 Project, Day 144

Here is my day 144 submission to my 365Project:

While trying to figure out what to photograph today I noticed my water bottle sitting with the sun shining through it so I snapped a couple shots to see what I'd get. I liked how the sun shining through the water showed the magnification of the straw and the smooth texture of the water and meniscus it formed on the straw.

Fun fact of the day:

Water molecules like to stick together because water has a fairly high surface tension. So, when they touch the wall of a water vessel i.e. the water bottle with the straw in it, they attracted to the molecules of the straw and water bottle thus clinging to it and forming a meniscus.

Read more about the water meniscus at this USGS Water Science School webpage. 

Oh and here's a shot showing the lovely tiger striped foot tan lines I'm getting from wearing my Keens on my watches. For safety reasons we're only supposed to wear shoes with a backstrap on the heal, so NO flip-flops (this isn't a holiday ;) ...hence the lovely tan lines, ha ha!

October 26, 2013: Playing with water

365 Project, Day 112

Here is my day 112 submission to my 365Project:

I am currently taking a digital photography class (DP200) with Mike at Clocktower Images in Victoria and for one of our assignments we were to take photos of water frozen in motion and blurred. I ended up taking a water fountain photo for my assignment but one of the women in my class did something quite simple and fun...she ran water over a mug in her sink which resulted in some pretty cool photos. 

After that class I decided I would like to do the same to see what results I would get. It wasn't very difficult since I just had to set the camera on a high shutter speed (1/1000s or higher and high ISO 800+); the hardest part was to get lots of light on the subject with the high shutter speeds to get these results. As you'll see below the results varied depending on the glass used and how fast the water was flowing. I also played a bit with post-processing and the colour of the photos. 

Fun fact of the day:

According to Zeiss the largest SLR lens made is the Carl Zeiss Apo Sonnar T. It was custom-built for an anonymous customer who had a particular interest in wildlife photography. It weighs 564 lb/265 kg and has a focal length of 1700 mm and was designed for use with a Hasselblad 6x6 medium format camera!

Read more interesting photography facts at this digitalcameraworld webpage.

August 26, 2013: Fish Ripples

365 Project, Day 66

Here is my day sixty-six submission to my 365Project:

It was so calm today and perfect for observations! This was great not only for looking for marine mammals but also sea turtles and fish...and I managed to get this shot of some fish swimming near the surface off our bow.

Here`s a photo of sea turtle I also spotted this morning. We`ve been seeing a lot of them floating at the surface resting...and they`re often there so long their carapace (shell) dries out!

Fact of the day:

Sea turtles are ancient ocean dwellers that have lived on Earth for 150 million years, since before the time of dinosaurs. Now, all seven species of sea turtles are either critically endangered or threatened. The population of leather back sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) has declined 95% in the last 25 years. 

To read more about sea turtles and their conservation check out Seaturtle.org.

July 22, 2013: Whale Of A Tail

365 Project, Day 32

Here is my day thirty-two submission to my 365Project:

I actually had a tough time deciding which photo to use today...the water was so calm and I got some lovely photos of a pair of whales surfacing together but I decided to go with this tail fluke shot because I already posted a pair of surfacing whales (July 17) and I really liked the tail's reflection on the water and the texture of the water.