omitted.net

Minneapolis Skyline in the background, new Twins ballpark in the foreground.

Minneapolis, MN

Posted by Dan at 08:15 PM | Permalink |

Customized birthday M&Ms, with the birthday girl's face on them.

Here is a better photo of what they looked like:

Posted by Dan at 01:41 AM | Permalink |

Los Angeles, CA

Posted by Dan at 03:42 PM | Permalink |

At some point during my search for gainful employment I decided it would be a good idea to have business cards to hand out to people I meet at conferences and meetings. I wanted something more than just my name and number on a 3.5" x 2" piece of card stock.

I opted to stick my name and number on the back side of a 3.5" x 2" piece of card stock with a nice glossy photo on the front. My goal was to take a photo that was unusual, eye catching, and represented "computational chemistry". I figured even if I didn't impress the recipient, at least they could stick the picture up on a cork board.

Unfortunately, the bleed for the printer I use is 1/8". This is not a big deal for a 8" x 10" sized print, but on a 2" wide card moving the image 1/4" either way makes it look pretty lopsided. I sent my centered image off and hoped for the best, but to my disappointment it came back trimmed exactly 1/4" from one edge. I either need to find a different company with more exact specifications or redo my design so it won't look so lopsided after trimming.

If you are curious about how I took the photo, below are two shots of my setup. I have no real photo equipment aside from a camera and lenses, so as you can see, I need to...improvise. My light stands are inverted stools from my kitchen with $5 utility lamps from the hardware store. The light diffusing tent is a cut up cardboard box covered in tracing paper, and that big pole holding the wires in place is a Swiffer Sweeper.

Posted by Dan at 12:46 AM | Permalink |

If you look real close (big version), there is a spider hidden somewhere in this photo.

San Francisco, CA

Posted by Dan at 06:36 PM | Permalink |

I bet the window wasn't so scratched up in 1962 when the monorail began service (wikipedia).

Seattle, WA

Posted by Dan at 02:47 PM | Permalink |

Seattle, WA

Posted by Dan at 05:14 PM | Permalink |

On picnic day, my friends saw a bunch of sorority girls selling henna tattoos (Mehndi). We must have waited around in line (in the sun) an hour, and maybe 20 minutes more for them to get tattooed. I don't know what they were using for their dye, but it was most definitely homemade. I could have artfully smeared some mud on their arms in about 5 minutes. Same net result. At least they had fun!

Davis, CA

Posted by Dan at 12:45 AM | Permalink |

One of those days...

Wikipedia entry for Thomas Crapper.

Seattle, WA

Posted by Dan at 03:30 PM | Permalink |

I have another LaTeX entry all typed up, but figured I better keep my postings mildly entertaining so people don't give up on me. You probably have never noticed this, but every once in a while you will walk over little bits of glass (often purple in color) embedded in a sidewalk of a big city. I've seen this in San Francisco and Seattle. This picture is taken standing in an underground tunnel underneath the sidewalk, looking up. The plants are growing out of the sidewalk and UNDER the sidewalk...

Under a Sidewalk somewhere in Seattle, WA

Posted by Dan at 05:20 PM | Permalink |

Here is another HDR shot, this time taken from the outdoor viewing area on the space needle, looking toward downtown. I was a little annoyed that most of my EXIF data went away after I saved a photo using photomatix, so I started to play around with ExifTool to copy over the original EXIF data from the raw files. It couldn't be easier!

$ exiftool -tagsfromfile IMG_xxxx.CR2 IMG_xxxx_tonemapped.jpg

Downtown, Seattle, WA

Posted by Dan at 02:48 PM | Permalink |

I'd like to think is my best attempt at an HDR picture yet. My someone special took me on a trip to Seattle this weekend for my birthday. The weather was fantastic, and as you can see in this shot, it was actually sunny! I had a great time.

Space Needle, Seattle, WA

Posted by Dan at 06:49 PM | Permalink |

Yesterday I sat outside in the cold rain waiting for a hundred plus guys in spandex to speed by on their bikes. I positioned myself at the last corner before the sprint finish, hoping everyone would be going crazy trying to get to the front of the pack and get the sprint points. If they were, they rode past too quickly for me to see.

Downtown Davis, CA

Posted by Dan at 04:34 PM | Permalink |

I voted.

Posted by Dan at 06:35 PM | Permalink |

A break in the rain on Saturday let me outside to snap a few photos.

Arboretum at UC Davis, Davis, CA

Posted by Dan at 01:11 AM | Permalink |

Big version.

Global Village, Dubai, UAE

Posted by Dan at 02:48 PM | Permalink |

With so many things being built it was surprising to see one being torn down. The full version is more impressive.

Deira, Dubai, UAE

Posted by Dan at 04:31 PM | Permalink |

Not sure what this is. It was in a different location each day, but I can't say I ever saw it moving. I'm guessing it pounded big things into the ground?

Bur Dubai, Dubai, UAE

Posted by Dan at 02:30 PM | Permalink |

It looks like the sun is gigantic here, but it is just a perfect little sphere of over-saturation. I enjoy the synchronicity of the sun setting behind the dune, while the SUV is sliding down the other side.

Dubai, UAE

Posted by Dan at 02:28 AM | Permalink |

Yes, I am sitting on a camel - preparing for the shortest camel ride ever. The trainer took us around in a circle and sat the camels back down. It lasted no more than 5 seconds total. After getting off the camel he looks at me and says, "tip, tip, tip". Uhg.

Dubai, UAE

Posted by Dan at 04:47 PM | Permalink |

Dubai Marina, Dubai, UAE

Posted by Dan at 02:30 PM | Permalink |

Courtyard, Dubai Marina, Dubai, UAE

Posted by Dan at 03:54 PM | Permalink |

Deira Spice Souq, Dubai, UAE

Posted by Dan at 02:53 PM | Permalink |

The subject here is sorting diamonds by color, cut and clarity, and doing so very quickly. I took a look through the eyepiece and I couldn't tell one from the other.

Posted by Dan at 11:50 AM | Permalink |

It is difficult to snap a photo in Dubai without getting a construction crane in your shot. While roaming around lost one day, I had the inclination to climb a wall and snap a picture of just what these guys were working on. You really need to zoom in and look at the full version to see any details.

Post processing this shot was a bit of a challenge. The biggest problem I've run into with the 10mm is getting the correct exposure for the entire shot. The sun is behind the cloud in the middle, and the construction pit is in the shade. Without Photomatix, this was either completely black in the pit, or crazy blown out at the top. I think I came up with a nice balance using pseudo-HDR. I've also blurred some HDR artifacts, selective color and adjusted the brightness / contrast in selected areas. It was a tad overexposed to start with, so the shadows are a bit grainy. If I wasn't peaking over the top of a wall, I would have broke out the tripod and taken a real HDR shot.

Posted by Dan at 04:26 PM | Permalink |

Aboard one of the abras (water taxies) in Dubai. In a city where you could spend $28,000 for one night in a hotel, I am still amazed it was only 1 dirham ($0.27 US) to cross the creek in one of these.

Posted by Dan at 03:54 PM | Permalink |

in the middle of the desert, Dubai, UAE

Posted by Dan at 03:29 PM | Permalink |

San Francisco, California

Posted by Dan at 01:22 AM | Permalink |

3rd floor, Chemistry Building, UC Davis

Posted by Dan at 04:29 PM | Permalink |

According to wikipedia, the letter U is a fairly recent addition to our alphabet. Prior to this, words were written with only the letter V for both the consonant and vowel "form" of V.

From Angel Island, San Francisco Bay, California

Posted by Dan at 12:09 AM | Permalink |

My previous post was some old airplanes. It is simply amazing how fast technology moves. Here is a huge jumbo jet I captured on the same day. Sorry about the poor quality, but this was pretty much a speck in the sky from where I was standing.

Posted by Dan at 12:18 AM | Permalink |

No, not that Old Navy. These planes were flying around the bay as I was walking around Angel Island. Kind of neat that they were so low.

Posted by Dan at 11:52 PM | Permalink |

I'm not 100% sure this is a doe, since it was a very small deer following its mother. I am guessing it just lost its spots recently.

Posted by Dan at 02:56 PM | Permalink |

It has been a long time since I posted a picture on here. I have been taking some pictures, but not many.

There was a camping experience last weekend on Angel Island. There weren't any light switches, TVs or hot showers. Only... nature. Some people took issue with this. I'm sorry.

Posted by Dan at 02:31 PM | Permalink |

Below is a video of Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) mocking the suggestion that bicycles may alleviate some dependance on foreign oil. I put over 4,000 miles on my bike last year, and not even a quarter that many on my car. I fill up with fuel every other month or so. The reason I can do this is because my city invested in a bicycle infrastructure (a few signs, bike lanes, tunnels, paths, and even a couple bike signals) that allow me to pedal to the store, work, school, etc.

Rep. McHenry - maybe a bike would also help you and your constituency shed a a few pounds?

Watch the Video

Posted by Dan at 11:57 AM | Permalink |

Posted by Dan at 03:52 PM | Permalink |

A bright and beautiful flower to brighten your day.

Posted by Dan at 02:34 PM | Permalink |

Those are my eyes and my cup of coffee, however I didn't trigger the shutter on this one.

Posted by Dan at 10:21 PM | Permalink |

I've been buying these little yellow seedless watermelons from the farmers' market. They are so incredibly tasty...

Posted by Dan at 12:00 AM | Permalink |

I was playing around with an external flash last week and this is about the best that I had to show for it. I think I need some practice or I just need to stick to natural light.

Posted by Dan at 12:00 AM | Permalink |

These two were at the farmers' market Wednesday. They had been goofing around playing with one another for about a half hour when I glanced over and saw this. The one with the hair did not look amused when her friend finally let go. It is all fun and games until someone loses a fistful of hair.

Posted by Dan at 01:41 PM | Permalink |

I have a weakness for flowers. I guess that is what nature intended.

Posted by Dan at 12:00 AM | Permalink |

This looks like it was taken at the bottom of the ocean, but it was with a bunch of cacti.

Posted by Dan at 10:46 AM | Permalink |

I can has fish?

Posted by Dan at 08:43 AM | Permalink |

As I was riding home last night from the farmers' market I stopped by to hear the last song of the evening. BeauSoleil (wiki) was playing on campus as part of some summer concert series. I managed to take a few pictures, below is Michael Doucet playing the fiddle.

Posted by Dan at 01:09 PM | Permalink |

Duck in Putah Creek on the UC Davis campus. If you've ever seen Putah Creek, you know I photoshoped this picture a bit.

Posted by Dan at 08:30 AM | Permalink |

Beignets are French doughnuts. They don't look too hard to make, but a giant pot of oil is always a mess.

They sell freshly made ones every Saturday morning at the Davis farmers' market.

Posted by Dan at 10:01 AM | Permalink |

Fresh produce! I <3 the Davis Farmers' Market!

Posted by Dan at 12:00 AM | Permalink |

Another bee picture. Bees are fast. I feel pretty proud about this one.

Posted by Dan at 12:01 AM | Permalink |

Two bees caught mid-flight. Sorry they're both a little out of focus. It is difficult enough capturing one flying insect with a 200mm lens, let alone trying to get two of them in the same frame. I really like the shadow of the big one against the flower petal.

Posted by Dan at 01:06 PM | Permalink |

I thought I uploaded this one yesterday, but I guess not! This is the yummy looking liquid inside a pitcher plant. This is where the magic happens. The nasty little bugs fly in there, drown in the black goo, and start dissolving releasing the vital nutrients that the plant then absorbs. The plant gets no calories or energy from the bugs, but does get minerals and other chemicals that the soil doesn't provide.

Posted by Dan at 11:48 PM | Permalink |

Lolplants anyone? They just look so cute and lifelike.

I'm in ur gardens drowned ur bugz!

Posted by Dan at 08:04 AM | Permalink |

This carnivorous plant had a tag that said "Hot Lips", and I am guessing it is a Nepenthes Ventricosa but I could be wrong.

Posted by Dan at 11:51 AM | Permalink |

Another carnivorous plant. This one has caught itself a fly and sucked all the life force from it. Check out the full sized picture for a better view.

Posted by Dan at 08:05 AM | Permalink |

I have received a lot compliments on the flower photos so here is one more.

Posted by Dan at 11:20 AM | Permalink |

Until November 4th, 2007 the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers is hosting a special carnivorous plant exhibit. It is worth checking out if you are already visiting [or live in] San Francisco.

I now regret being so focused on taking pictures rather than reading the signage and writing down the names of the plants. I believe this carnivorous plant is of the pitcher plant variety. Specifically I have estimated it is some type of North American Pitcher Plant belonging to the genus Sarracenia. If you are a plant person, feel free to correct me.

Posted by Dan at 12:21 PM | Permalink |

Another lily pad flower!

Posted by Dan at 12:00 AM | Permalink |

You can't tell, but this giant leaf is probably about 4 feet long, and rippled like an accordion. This is a shot down the length of the thing with a shallow depth of field.

Posted by Dan at 12:00 AM | Permalink |

This one feels lopsided to me, but I wasn't ready to jump in the pool and rearrange the pads to get a better shot.

Posted by Dan at 04:34 PM | Permalink |

I've been slacking on the photo stuff. I have pictures to post I just haven't done it. Sorry! I started ordering actual prints of some of my photos again and have been really pleased with the results. If you see a picture or two you want in physical form, let me know and we can figure out what would look best.

Here is a hawk I captured a couple weekends ago in San Francisco near the ocean.

Posted by Dan at 11:59 PM | Permalink |

Sculpture in the Central Park Gardens (wiki) in Davis.

Posted by Dan at 07:49 AM | Permalink |

Yesterday at the Farmers' Market, while everyone else was enjoying the live music, pony rides, bouncy castles, great food, etc.. these two kids were sitting on the sidewalk playing video games.

I wonder what they were playing. The kid on the right looks like someone just sank his battleship.

Posted by Dan at 08:28 AM | Permalink |

It is tough to take pictures of chemistry demos, since many of the ones in the magic show involve something changing color or exploding, both of which are hard to capture with still images. This is just some H₂O₂ (hydrogen peroxide) decomposing into H₂O (water - as steam) and O₂ (oxygen). There was a catalyst in the bottle that accelerated the reaction as he poured in the peroxide. You can see him yanking his hand away as its started up, splashing peroxide everywhere.

Posted by Dan at 08:33 AM | Permalink |

They were giving a chemistry demo for some high school kids today. I showed up to take some photos.

Here is a superconductive electromagnet cooled with liquid N₂ which is supporting a suspended, spinning permanent magnet.

Posted by Dan at 05:58 PM | Permalink |

This is a photo of an aquatic plant. It had a long stem, at least five or six feet up in the air and the alien looking thing at the end was a little bigger than my fist.

Edit: Thanks to ana, who pointed out this thing appears to be a lotus seed pod. Based on my own googly investigation, I would have to agree.

Posted by Dan at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) |

Here is another backyard fireworks shot I liked. It is not framed particularly well, but I like the explosion of light on the left hanging in midair and the reflection on the wet pavement.

Posted by Dan at 02:14 AM | Permalink |

A few of the fireworks pictures from the 4th turned out okay. Here is one I liked.

Posted by Dan at 11:49 PM | Permalink |

If you live in the Sacramento Valley like me, you already know how hot it is. At least 108°F today, and it looks like the high will be over 100 through the weekend. Albert has the right idea splashing around in the water!

Posted by Dan at 12:00 AM | Permalink |

We had our own fireworks this year. There were a little lame. This one was an overpriced road flare.

Posted by Dan at 01:25 AM | Permalink |

I don't know that I am taking pictures of fireworks this year, and it will be the 5th of July by the time I get them home and online, so I give you a flower photo I've titled "Flowerworks" as it reminded me of a fireworks explosion. Taken at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers on Sunday.

Enjoy the day everyone!

Posted by Dan at 05:04 PM | Permalink |

Backlit subjects are hard. I like the way this turned out. If I had to redo it I'd set focus on their faces rather than the glasses.

Posted by Dan at 01:34 AM | Permalink |

Taken at Sutro Baths.

Posted by Dan at 12:00 AM | Permalink |

"Hey honey, did we really need three photographers?"
"Absolutely, I feel like a movie star!"

Posted by Dan at 12:00 AM | Permalink |

Mmmm, cheese.

This is a straight crop. I can zoooom now, but I can't zoooom quite enough to capture a nice, crisp moon image. This is the best I could come up with. About 24 hours before the full moon.

Posted by Dan at 12:36 AM | Permalink |

I got all sorts of neat toys in the mail today. I will tell you about them in future entries. Here is an extreme close-up of a wood matchstick. There is no full sized version, as I just cropped this image from the original.

Posted by Dan at 12:00 AM | Permalink |

Posted by Dan at 12:12 PM | Permalink |

A sunset scrabble game at the farmers' market.

I always like to add a little disclaimer when I do any significant editing on an image, and this one had a some work done to it.

Posted by Dan at 11:52 PM | Permalink |

I didn't feel like taking pictures today, but my friend Melanie sent me this one a few days ago. I liked it so much I wanted to share it.

She asks you email her for permission before reproducing the image, so creative commons does not apply to this one. Thanks.

Posted by Dan at 11:41 PM | Permalink |

I had jury duty today. I was excused without being called. I just sat around listening to them ask all the other people questions. It was not quite as boring as I imagined. Both the lawyers and the judge had a great sense of humor and were cracking jokes the whole time.

I tried to take some pictures of the courthouse on my way out, but the nice men with machine guns kindly told me to move along. Hurray paranoia!

So I give you a picture of the kitchen sink. That guy in the middle? That's me!

I only adjusted the colors a bit with photoshop, no crazy effects were used - only what came out of the camera.

Posted by Dan at 06:55 PM | Permalink |

A big purple vine growing up on the mansion. From the Filoli Center several months back.

Posted by Dan at 11:24 PM | Permalink |

Kind of boring? Yea.

Posted by Dan at 11:53 AM | Permalink |

Right outside my apartment there is a street lined with olive trees, for maybe five or six blocks. Yesterday they did the worst pruning job I've ever seen. Just chopping these giant branches right in the middle on only one side of the trees. They look so lopsided and sad now with these giant bare branches sticking out into nowhere. Every single tree was like this, for all five or six blocks.

Is this the standard way to prune olive trees, does anyone know?

Posted by Dan at 11:54 PM | Permalink |

Just a peach I got at the market on Wednesday. I was going to slice it open and photograph the inside, but I don't want to get my white tag board all juicy.

I still need more lights for my light tent. T