102. Nut - May 24-30, 2015
Jerry-
I figured nut would be a very do-able subject - even a self portrait would suffice. I found this nut in my desk at work and just took a photo with the camera in one hand and the nut in the other. Just the existing overhead office lighting. I liked it best in black & white. This time my fingers are nice and clean.
D5200 with 40mm Nikon micro lens, f11 @ 1/25, iso 3200.
I figured nut would be a very do-able subject - even a self portrait would suffice. I found this nut in my desk at work and just took a photo with the camera in one hand and the nut in the other. Just the existing overhead office lighting. I liked it best in black & white. This time my fingers are nice and clean.
D5200 with 40mm Nikon micro lens, f11 @ 1/25, iso 3200.
Byron-
I shot my photo early Friday afternoon. About an hour later I read Paul's submission. His choice "B" was amazingly close to my photo. Paul and I having the same idea has happened before. This concerns me. Anywho, I found a nice looking nut of the appropriate size and a peanut that would fit the bill. After some intense screwing (around) I came up with a whimsical object. I shot it on a white surface with a white background. I used the newly converted Leica 100mm macro lens. The lighting was 2 flash units. Each unit bounced it's light into an umbrella.
ISO 100, 100mm, f8, 1/60th sec, main light 1/2 power, fill light 1/4 power.
I shot my photo early Friday afternoon. About an hour later I read Paul's submission. His choice "B" was amazingly close to my photo. Paul and I having the same idea has happened before. This concerns me. Anywho, I found a nice looking nut of the appropriate size and a peanut that would fit the bill. After some intense screwing (around) I came up with a whimsical object. I shot it on a white surface with a white background. I used the newly converted Leica 100mm macro lens. The lighting was 2 flash units. Each unit bounced it's light into an umbrella.
ISO 100, 100mm, f8, 1/60th sec, main light 1/2 power, fill light 1/4 power.
Deron-
This is a Pearson's Salted Nut Roll. The candy bar of creamy nougat, covered in caramel and Virginia peanuts was introduced to the public in 1933 by the Pearson's Candy Company of St. Paul, Minnesota, during the Great Depression. In this photo, the SNR sits on a bed of Anaheim Angels ballpark peanuts.
This is a Pearson's Salted Nut Roll. The candy bar of creamy nougat, covered in caramel and Virginia peanuts was introduced to the public in 1933 by the Pearson's Candy Company of St. Paul, Minnesota, during the Great Depression. In this photo, the SNR sits on a bed of Anaheim Angels ballpark peanuts.
Kevin-
I would like to tell you this is a terrific WPOTM submission. Sadly it is just average. I first got excited as the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is featuring a series of Lego sculptures. I read that one depicts a birdbath surrounded by Lego birds, Lego bees and a “hungry” Lego squirrel. Wonderful I thought, a Lego squirrel probably eating a Lego acorn nut! But sadly research showed it looked more like a thirsty squirrel. Drat.
I tried photographing an avocado nut. But the results were less than spectacular. And most research I did about avocados suggested that the nut is actually called a pit or a seed. Nuts!
So I went back to an image that I played around with on Thursday night. Arranging a couple of nuts, a bolt and some washers. One studio flash for the key light and another one with a blue gel as a back light.
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted, 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens. ISO 100. f/32 @ 1/250th of a second (flash sync).
I would like to tell you this is a terrific WPOTM submission. Sadly it is just average. I first got excited as the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is featuring a series of Lego sculptures. I read that one depicts a birdbath surrounded by Lego birds, Lego bees and a “hungry” Lego squirrel. Wonderful I thought, a Lego squirrel probably eating a Lego acorn nut! But sadly research showed it looked more like a thirsty squirrel. Drat.
I tried photographing an avocado nut. But the results were less than spectacular. And most research I did about avocados suggested that the nut is actually called a pit or a seed. Nuts!
So I went back to an image that I played around with on Thursday night. Arranging a couple of nuts, a bolt and some washers. One studio flash for the key light and another one with a blue gel as a back light.
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted, 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens. ISO 100. f/32 @ 1/250th of a second (flash sync).
Paul-
Plan A. My original idea—well, maybe not original but my “take” on this theme—was to buy some whole walnuts. Then employing an industrial laser (or, alternatively, a Maverick air-ground-missile) I would pry open a few of them. That done, I would pull out all the nut meat and replace it with a few metal nuts. Fun and easy for the entire family, right? Nope. Not at this time of year…whole walnuts are just not to be had. (Though the missiles are available to friendly nations with good credit for a limited time only. So hurry on in.)
Plan B would have been a hilarious (at least to me) if I had had time to implement it this week: I was going to buy a bag of rotini and then head off to the hardware store to purchase a few nuts that would have the appropriate inner diameter to just fit the rotini. So it would look like I was screwing the nuts onto the rotini! Brilliant! Right? Uh, right?
[Insert sound of crickets here.]
So, Plan C. Not extraordinarily clever, admittedly, but you make do with what resources and time you have. Since I am often thought as a big nut, I opted to use one in this picture (3/4”). It’s part of my bicycle rack and seems like a fairly important piece so I’ll probably reattach it where I found it. The dish is sitting on top of a glass you would pour a malted milk into. It supplied the added distance from the blue cloth on which the whole thing was sitting to result in simply a blue background without any texture to it.
Our story so far: Shot at 1/1200 sec.; f/5.6; ISO 3200; -2/3EV; 55-200mm lens to 82mm; center-weighted average; copy stand used; ring light set at highest illumination used.
Sometimes you feel like a nut…
Sometimes you don't…but you’re still a nut. Trust me on this. We’re talkin’ a Grade-A, major league, gonzo nut.
-- Riff on old Peter Paul commercial
Plan A. My original idea—well, maybe not original but my “take” on this theme—was to buy some whole walnuts. Then employing an industrial laser (or, alternatively, a Maverick air-ground-missile) I would pry open a few of them. That done, I would pull out all the nut meat and replace it with a few metal nuts. Fun and easy for the entire family, right? Nope. Not at this time of year…whole walnuts are just not to be had. (Though the missiles are available to friendly nations with good credit for a limited time only. So hurry on in.)
Plan B would have been a hilarious (at least to me) if I had had time to implement it this week: I was going to buy a bag of rotini and then head off to the hardware store to purchase a few nuts that would have the appropriate inner diameter to just fit the rotini. So it would look like I was screwing the nuts onto the rotini! Brilliant! Right? Uh, right?
[Insert sound of crickets here.]
So, Plan C. Not extraordinarily clever, admittedly, but you make do with what resources and time you have. Since I am often thought as a big nut, I opted to use one in this picture (3/4”). It’s part of my bicycle rack and seems like a fairly important piece so I’ll probably reattach it where I found it. The dish is sitting on top of a glass you would pour a malted milk into. It supplied the added distance from the blue cloth on which the whole thing was sitting to result in simply a blue background without any texture to it.
Our story so far: Shot at 1/1200 sec.; f/5.6; ISO 3200; -2/3EV; 55-200mm lens to 82mm; center-weighted average; copy stand used; ring light set at highest illumination used.
Sometimes you feel like a nut…
Sometimes you don't…but you’re still a nut. Trust me on this. We’re talkin’ a Grade-A, major league, gonzo nut.
-- Riff on old Peter Paul commercial