http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/ Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:15:16 -0800 http://www.BillHeller.com/images/logo.gif http://www.BillHeller.com/ (c) Copyright 2005-2008 Bill Heller, BillHeller.com http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/June_29_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for June 29, 2008
Santa Barbara Harbor with the last glow of the sunset over the mountains

Another shot from our recent wanderings at the Santa Barbara harbor. It's a nice peaceful scene, but just to my left was a popular restaurant on a balcony overlooking the harbor. There were lots of people around waiting to get in and having a good time. Next time I'll get an image that includes the restaurants.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/June_29_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/June_19_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for June 19, 2008
Sailboats in the sunset light at the Santa Barbara Harbor

We spent a couple of evenings walking around the Harbor watching the sun set this week. I think I could take a walk at the Harbor and the Wharf every night with my camera and never get bored. Every evening when I get home each photo that I love gives me the ideas for three more next time.

This one was partially inspired by another vertical panorama I took at the harbor almost two years ago. It was later in the evening when I took that one, and you can see the stars. But at the time I wondered what it would look like from the other direction with the sunset sky. Now I have my answer!
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/June_19_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/June_9_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for June 9, 2008
360° view of Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens from the Gazebo

When I posted the image of the day on the sixth there was a little disapponintment that it was not a 360° image. Well here it is! Takes a little more time to build this kind of image.

Of course, this is across the lake from the other shot, in the gazebo. This is one of my favorite spots in Santa Barbara. If you are new to the site and like the 3D images be sure to check out another one of my favorite Santa Barbara spots.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/June_9_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/June_6_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for June 6, 2008
Ducks and Lily Pads at Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens

Click the main image for a larger view.

A couple days ago I was working on a particularly difficult statistics problem. (mmm math what a concept.) In the midst of my preparations to fling my computer out the window my wife suggested a nice walk at Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens. Or as we like to call it... Alice Keck Park Park.

The clouds were beautiful and it was a wonderful evening. I wish I could say I came home and solved the problem right away, but at least I got a lot of really beautiful shots out of it. And I was much happier continuing on my statistics project.

Oh yeah, I've also been tinkering with some other images that are not my own. I have not been able to figure out how to get my own camera there yet so I had to work with what was available.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/June_6_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/May_28_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for May 28, 2008
Vegetables fresh from the garden in a stone mortar

Time for a little more food photography! Yet another of those self promotion projects that always gets bumpped by other things.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Wed, 28 May 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/May_28_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/May_24_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for May 24, 2008
Jungle Cactus [Epiphyllum] Blossom

It's a great time of year, time for our Epis to really start blooming. This one lasts a little longer than one evening so I'm pretty sure it is a hybrid of some sort. In the wild they only bloom for a single night. The blossom is about nine inches at the widest. The cup of petals in the middle is about four across. It is quite an amazing sight and makes for some nice night-time photography.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sat, 24 May 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/May_24_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/May_17_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for May 17, 2008
Mexican Tulip poppy [Hunnemannia fumarifolia]

This is a new friend that followed us home from a nice little nursury in Montecito. Nursuries are a dangerous place really, we only have a small backyard and it is getting pretty full.

Last week a similar thing happend with a Passion Flower vine and a dwarf Fingered Citron tree. Both of which will be featured on the Photo of the Day in the near future. Just as soon as their blossoms get a little further along.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sat, 17 May 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/May_17_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/May_10_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for May 10, 2008
360° view of Our Lady of Mount Carmel church Montecito, CA

Back to Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Montecito. This was actually the first image I took with my new panoramic tripod head. But as I mentioned in an earlier post it took me a bit of time to finish all of the shots and in the time it took the light had changed quite a bit. I did not think I was going to be able to stitch it together right. But now that I have had a little practice I was able to get it to work.

Of course that brought up some new problems. The image is so large I kept getting "Hard drive full" errors. Strange seeing as how there was 500 gig of space. In the end I realized that the format of the hard drive only allows a maximum of four gigabyte files. Yeah, it's a big picture... ten feet wide actually.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sat, 10 May 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/May_10_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_26_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for April 26, 2008
Sunset over the beach by Piedras Blancas Lighthous in San Simeon

This was taken the evening before my VR Highway 1 Sunset, just a little further up Highway 1. If you turned around from where we were standing you could almost see the top of Hearst Castle in the hills.

Of course if you looked to the left... and I apologize in advance for ruining the tranquil California sunset day dream you're having right now... there were a bunch of Elephant Seals. And they were quite loud and very comical. I'm sure I have a few shots of them to get on-line soon.

Now back to the regularly scheduled day dream... Right up the road, a little closer to the lighthouse is a scenic point that has less seals, and when we were there they were just laying enjoying the evening sea breeze. One had her flipper over her baby like she was hugging it. So if you'd rather picture yourself there that would work too. :-D
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_26_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_20_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for April 20, 2008
Sun Star [Ornithogalum hybrid] Closeup

Well it's that time of year the Sun Stars are in bloom! This is a beautiful Orange hybrid related to a Star-of-Bethlehem. This particular flower was my first one. It took a rest last year, but it is back strong.

If you landed here looking for care and feeding of your new plant take a look at the Sun Star page. And my earlier shot from the first time this one bloomed. Most importantly, it's a perennial bulb, so No!... you did not kill it! It dies back every year down to the bulb. And pretty fast after it's done blooming! If you're looking for one, they are available as live plants now. Or you can get bulbs in the fall. I've had a few requests for sources of bulbs so I'll try to get some links online soon.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_20_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_19_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for April 19, 2008
Red and yellow variegated tulip petal closeup

More plants followed us home from the grocery store the other day. One of them was this beautiful Tulip. The bellows was still out from the recent Ladybug fest so this shot was inevitable really.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sat, 19 Apr 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_19_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_12_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for April 12, 2008
Ladybug on our anniversary rose

Another lady bug fresh from work on our epi farm. They are doing a great job, the aphids are virtually gone! So she (he?) deserves a break. This is a rose from our first anniversary. Lasted well didn't it? Well, it helps to buy the bush rather than the cut flowers. :-D

Unlike the Ladybug from yesterday I shot this one with a macro lens attachment and no bellows. This was the closest I could get as compared to yesterday when I was actually at the maximum focal distance of the bellows. This way I can get a little bit of the beautiful surroundings. Oh, and as you can probably tell it's dark outside. I was using a hand-held light to get these shots. I'ts best to release the lady bugs in the evening unless you just want them to fly away.

It was interesting though, they were much warmer and therefore much more active tonight. It finally got to the point where I had to go inside because I was covered in ladybugs. Fortunately these don't bite unlike the apparently carnivorous ladybugs in the farm country where my parents live. When the farmers harvest the fields the ladybugs run... and then they descend upon my parents' house in a swarm.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sat, 12 Apr 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_12_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_11_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for April 11, 2008
Ladybug on an Orchid Cactus [Epiphyllum] petal

The ladybugs seem to really love our epis. Probably because when they start to bloom (the epis, not the bugs :-D) there's a lot of nectar around the buds. The nectar seems to attract aphids. This time we tried to get the jump on them. We bought a small bag of ladybugs from the hardware store. Of course I was not going to let them go until the camera was ready!

I used a bellows to get close enough for this shot. The whole background of the shot is the same flower that the ladybug is sitting on.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_11_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_5_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for April 5, 2008
Spherical projection of the Cottage Inn, Pismo Beach, CA

So in the process of stitching the images together to make the panorama of yesterday's image there are a nuber of stages along the way. (Or, to be technical for the cartographers out there, different projections). Taking the flat images to represent a spherical view of the world and then projecting them back on to your flat monitor is not unlike making a flat map out of the round globe. Of course, along the way there is room for a little bit of creativity.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sat, 05 Apr 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_5_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_4_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for April 4, 2008
360° view from the Cottage Inn, Pismo Beach, CA

Well, there were some technical difficulties with publishing to the site so I'm sorry for the wait! I have quite a few images that should be posted in the near future, but with several big projects and tax day (what fun!) it has been hard to get to the maintenance of my site.

A few days ago we were in Pismo Beach for a project. When I went out to get breakfast the morning fog was just breaking up. I thought about skipping breakfast to take pictures, but I finally thought better of it so I would have some energy for the drive home. (Besides they have REALLY good waffles.) The timing was perfect though. This was right after breakfast. All of the clouds in this shot are actually wispy remnants of the morning costal fog. They are almost close enough that you could reach out and touch them. Not 20 minutes later the fog was back thicker than ever.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/April_4_2008/