Project 52 – Page 5 – Circadianreflections Blog

P52 28/52 No Boil Spaghetti

July 9, 2015July 9, 2015Posted in Crock-pot, Food Photography, Italian Food, Pasta, Project 52, SmoresTagged Adobe Photoshop, Crock-pot, Food Photography, Italian food, No Boil Pasta Recipe, Project 52, Smores25 Comments

I wanted to make #1 Grandson spaghetti because he asked me for it, but thinking about it I wasn’t really comfortable using a whole stockpot of water to boil the pasta then dump the water down the drain. Since I live in CA and we’ve got mandatory water restrictions in place it just seemed wasteful to me. I couldn’t think of anything else to do with the used water.

But, I thought, ” I’ve tried a No Boil Lasagna recipe and liked it, so why not try Spaghetti too?”

I dug out my crock-pot which is my favorite method for making sauce and crumbled in some leftover meatloaf, poured in 2 jars of my favorite sauce, doctored it up with some Italian herbs, and a half cup of so of water, and set the crock-pot on low to cook all afternoon. 40 minutes before the sauce was done I added a pound of raw spaghetti broken in half to the crock-pot along with another jar of my favorite sauce and enough water to clean out the jar. Stirred in the pasta so it was well coated in the sauce, replaced the lid and let it cook for 40 minutes more.

It’s delicious! The sauce is super thick, and the pasta was cooked through. He-Man, and #1 Grandson loved it. Both had seconds!

I had some for lunch today and as you would hope it’s even better today.

I’m glad that worked out, and I saved some water too.

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 105mm| Hand-held| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6

1 more…

I made #1 Grandson his first smore- I baked it in the toaster oven rather than a campfire. He loved it too, and was a right mess after eating the whole thang! . 🙂

More to come…

P52 27/52: Treasures from the Trail

July 4, 2015July 4, 2015Posted in Acorns, Buttons, Glass, Project 52, Simple Pleasures, Stones, Treasures from the TrailTagged Acorns, buttons, hikes, Macro photography, Project 52, Simple Pleasures, stones, Trail Glass, Treasures from the Trail15 Comments

My hike today turned into a treasure collecting hike. I found lots of trail glass in colors of green, brown, and clear, a little pebble, a little silver button, a penny gleaming off the trail in the bush; my pocket was getting full! Then on the way down I found these little acorns laying in the trail and had to scoop them up too. I carried them in the palm of hand more than a mile down the trail to my car.

When I got home I got out my tripod, Camera, and Speedlights and set about making some images of what I found.

I love this little pick of acorns!

I wasn’t planning to post twice today, but I suddenly realized I hadn’t posted my image for my Project 52 this week, so these found treasures that made me smile, lightened my heart, and made the hike even more joyful get that honor instead of the image of a rose with a bee that I meant to post yesterday.

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 105mm Macro lens| Tripod| SB910, SB600, triggered with an SU800|

I hope you all are having a lovely week-end!

More to come…

P52 26/52: Honey Bee

June 27, 2015July 3, 2015Posted in Flowers, Honey Bees, Macro Photography, Non-Native Plants, Plants, Project 52, Santa Cruz ArboretumTagged Bees, Insects, Macro photography, Non-Native Plants, Project 52, Santa Cruz Arboretum24 Comments

I’ve reached the half-way point of my Project 52. YEAH!!!

“Grevillea Superb” Non-Native

I have been wanting to get a Macro Rail for quite sometime so, I bought one. It wasn’t very expensive at all…(read dirt cheap),but it has good reviews so I thought I’d try it.
I bought the NeewerPro 4-Way Marco Rail. I was so excited to try out the Macro Rail I contacted a friend I hadn’t shot with in about a year to tell him I finally got a Focusing Rail. On our last outing we were shooting Macro Flowers, and he had a Focusing Rail; I watched him set up his shots, and I asked him a zillion questions.

He suggested we get together to shoot macro images and try out my new macro rail. We met this morning at Santa Cruz University’s Arboretum, and photographed flowers for over 3 hours. The morning flew by!

Using the Macro Rail I found it was much easier to get, and keep my subject in focus. The rig is pretty big, and heavier than I thought it would be, and I made it heavier by attaching a Universal Quick Release Plate to the bottom of the Rail for easy attaching, and removing from my ball-head. I couldn’t find my Quick Release Clamp to attach to the top base for easy camera mounting and dismounting so, this morning I had to screw the camera right into the base. It’s ~~a pain in the #$!~~ tricky! The screw is under the tension screw of the top rail.

When I got home this evening I looked more thoroughly for my gorilla pod which is where I have been using the clamp, et Voila! I found it. Now it’s going to be a piece of cake mounting my camera to the Macro Rail base.

It’s early days…I’ve only had the Rail a few days, and have only used it for 3+ hours, but so far I’m happy.

I’ve added the links below for the Macro Rail, Quick Release Plate, and Quick Release Clamp in case you’re wondering what it all looks like. I am not an affiliate with any of these vendors, and I don’t get any money if you click the links. I’ve only provided them so you can see what I’m using and to share the information.

http://www.amazon.com/Neewer%C2%AE-Focusing-Close-up-Shooting-Standard/dp/B009SJ7UWU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435450065&sr=8-1&keywords=neewer+macro+rail&pebp=1435450069580&perid=0WRW1VYZVMJCYRRZYT4A

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/329092-REG/Acratech_2128_Universal_Quick_Release_Plate.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/611828-REG/Jobu_Design_QRR_138_QRR_138_Quick_Release_Clamp.htmlQuick Release Clamp

More to come…

P52 24/52: Nailing it

June 12, 2015June 12, 2015Posted in Focus Stacking, Macro Photography, Project 52, Still LifeTagged Focus Stacking, Macro photography, Nails, Project 528 Comments

For weeks my days have been full of the sounds of banging hammers, and the Pouft! of a nail gun so, thought I’d make an image of nails for this weeks image.

This is 4 images stacked in Photoshop CS6.

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 105mm Micro| @f4.5| 1/200s| ISO 100| SB910 @ 1/8pwr camera left high in front of subject bounced off ceiling

More to come…

P52: 22/52 Anna’s Hummingbird-Female

May 29, 2015Posted in Anna's Hummingbird, Backyard Birding, birding, Birds in Flight, Flowers, Project 52Tagged Annas Hummingbird, Backyard Birding, Birding, Lantana, Project 5214 Comments

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 @ f/8| ISO 800| Hoodman STEEL Digital Film| Hand-held

More to come…

P52 20/52: Checkermallow

May 17, 2015Posted in Checkermallow, Macro Photography, Pink, Project 52, Wildflowers, Wildflowers of Northern CaliforniaTagged Big Sur, Checkermallow, Macro photography, Pink, Project 52, Wildflowers, Wildflowers of Northern California8 Comments

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm w/ Canon Close-Up Lens 500D| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film|

More to come…

P52 19/52: Happy Mother’s Day!

May 8, 2015Posted in Flowers, Images with Textures, LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro Photography, Project 52Tagged Flowers, Gerbera Daisy, Images with Textures, LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro photography, Project 528 Comments

Wishing all Mother’s a wonderful Mother’s Day, and fabulous week-end!

Nikon Df| Lensbaby Composer Pro w/ Soft Focus Optic at f/4, 8mm Macro Converter, and Wide Angle Lens| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Alzo Continuous light 5500K camera right high| Developed in Photoshop CS6 and Nik Suite| Texture “White” by Jennyw47

More to come…

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