http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/ Fri, 09 May 2008 05:40:23 -0800 http://www.BillHeller.com/images/logo.gif http://www.BillHeller.com/ (c) Copyright 2005-2008 Bill Heller, BillHeller.com 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/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_16_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for March 16, 2008
360° view from the Breakwater at the Santa Barbara Harbor

Another beautiful sunset and another massive image. If you look closely you can see stearns wharf in the image off to the right. (if you have Flash 9 installed, you can use the up arrow to zoom in)
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sun, 16 Mar 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_16_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_15_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for March 15, 2008
360° view from the Santa Barbara Courthouse Clocktower on a cloudy day

This was the same day as the recent Mission shot. It was also the day of the grand reopening of the Granada theatre on state street. That is what the giant tent is for in the gardens in this image. Aparently the reception was at the Courthouse. I actually thought of taking a shot of the Granada, but apparently it was not a priority to get ALL of the boards off the windows before opening night. Of course, those were the office windows and they were probably not very noticable after dark. At any rate, it was a fun day of shooting!
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sat, 15 Mar 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_15_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_13_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for March 13, 2008
Stearns Wharf at Sunset 360°

I have learned to make the most of the clouds when they come out around here. during the summer we just have haziness and fog. Most of the rest of the year it's clear and blue. But as I have said so often on the photo of the day, the clear blue skies don't make for much of a sunset. But the evening I took this shot was just amazing! We almost did not go since we were getting out a little too late for the sunset. Turned out to be a better image with the stars in it anyway!

So now that I have the VR functionality down I thought I would take the time to fine tune the process. I created this image and recreated it from the 120+ individual shots that make it. This is my fourth complete revision, after trying out about ten different programs for different parts of the process. I can now confidently say there is no substitution for hard work. (I'm hearing my 7th grade english teacher in the back of my head asking me if the computer I did my homework on did the work for me when I pushed a single button) Maybe some day, but we're still not there yet. Quite to the contrary, with each new advance in computing power you just get more room to find a new level of creativity.

I hope you enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed making it!
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_13_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_6_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for March 6, 2008
Mission Santa Barbara "Queen of the Missions" 360°

Ok, still taking a while to get these images together this way. But after taking all the time to build the VR interface I could hardly wait to use it again.

I got the opportunity today when the clouds started to get interesting. We dropped everything to try to get some nice images. Turned out to be a busy afternoon and an amazing sunset. This is the first of several nice images that will come out of the adventure around town today.

The clouds look a little ominous, but they were fast moving and quite beautiful.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_6_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_2_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for March 2, 2008
Sunset over the beach in Cambria, CA

If you have Flash installed in your browser, click and drag on the image once it loads, you should get a pleasant surprise.

This image has been quite a few days in the making. I had the good fortune to be in Cambria (north on the coast, 'bout half way to Monterey) last week around sunset and I just happened to have my new panoramic tripod head with me. Seeing as how I don't have a good fish-eye for my digital camera, I used my widest lens available. To get the whole image it took 36 shots. Of course, the difference shooting into the sun, and away was more than a single exposure setting could handle. So I had to take three separate exposures and combine them into a High Dynamic Range Image.

From that point, I just had to see how far I could push my computer. Rather than scale the images down I wanted to see just how big I could make the image. In the end the 108 images combined into a two gigabyte, 240 megapixel image. I figure it would print nicely at around twelve feet wide. I spared your internet connection the full size image. But as I mentioned above, users with Flash should be able to experience a nice point of view. I can tell you the VR interface gives the closest experience to actually standing there taking the photo I can imagine.

Enjoy, and please let me know if you experience any difficulties with the new interface.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sun, 02 Mar 2008 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_2_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_1_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for March 1, 2008
Anna's Hummingbird [Calypte anna]

It was a bit of a gray day today. But there was still enough sunlight to show off this guy's beautiful plumage.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Sat, 01 Mar 2008 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/March_1_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/February_11_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for February 11, 2008
Close up of Ranuculus Flower

It may not seem like it, but I have finally got off the sofa to start to take some pictures again. This was during a nice walk through a local nursery the other day.

I appreciate all your kind notes and thoughts over the last few weeks. Zoe's still a great inspiration. I think of her often when we are out and see something beautiful like this, or the amazing flowering pear trees that are covered in white blossoms right now. The kind of things that she would have got me out of the house to take pictures of. Now it's all up to Tweetums to get us out of the house once in a while! I wonder if he would like to go out for a walk? ...hmmm
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/February_11_2008/ http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/January_24_2008/
Bill Heller's Photo of the Day for January 24, 2008
Zoe E. Heller    ???? - 1/24/2008

"There (is) clearly nothing left to do but flop ... and howl."

Until we meet again, my friend.
]]> Bill Heller RSS@GlobalStudios.com Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.BillsPhotoOfTheDay.com/January_24_2008/