A Photo a Day by Bill Heller

Yellow Photos

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Tulip Feather

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.

 
Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Corn Closeup

Maybe this would have been a little more fitting image for Thanksgiving. :-D

This is another low aperture shot making the the one ear out of focus. This close, the cornsilk almost looks like angelhair pasta. I like the texture in the near husk too.

 
Monday, November 26, 2007

Low Aperture Poppy

I've always liked playing with low aperture shots. I like the way the stem of this poppy goes out of focus fast. For comparison, the apple from Thanksgiving was about as tight (high) aperture as this lens gets. Which kept the nice texture of the skin in focus over the whole surface.

 
Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Ladybug Daisy

I noticed this little guy (or girl) when we were walking The Hound the other day. If you look close enough you can actually see my reflection in his back. I did a little poking around to see if perhaps the lack of spots meant it was a younger ladybug (I thought I read that somewhere). But apparently it's just a different kind of Ladybug and there are hundreds of different kinds in the US, thousands in the world.

I did however, find out that the name Ladybug comes from when farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary to help save their crops from pests. When the small red beetles came to save the day (and the crops) the farmers started calling them "The Beetles of Our Lady".

 
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Yellow Canna Bract

This is another Canna that my mom sent me as a bulb about 10 years ago. It has bloomed a couple of times each year for the last few years but it never had such a cool leaf or bract around the flowers like this. Even in the back yard there are always new surprises.

 
Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Yellow & White Lantana

The Hound likes to walk in the evening when the sun is low. Which is a great time to take pictures!

 
Sunday, August 13, 2006

Shredded Gerbera

This is another beauty from yesterday's trip to La Sumida. I love Gerbera Daisies, but it is particularly nice to see some interesting variations. I usually see them more as cut flowers but this was actually a plant. Might just have to find it a spot in the yard!

 
Saturday, June 10, 2006

Tomato Blossom

This one is called "Mr. Stripey"!

No! I don't name my plants...

Ok, well yeah, maybe I do.

But, not this one, he came with that name! Really! And, when this beautiful blossom turns into the HUGE tomato I know it will, you will see why!

 
Monday, April 3, 2006

Yellow Bells

I love Gelson's! Their produce looks like a farmer's market. They even stack everything with the stems pointing in the same direction. Particularly nice since we went there to find subjects for some still life food photography.

 
Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Strawflower

Yet another image credited to the hound! I should take more walks, and enjoy the beauty around me and she is the one who reminds me of that fact. :-D

 
Thursday, January 12, 2006

Yellow Winter Daisies

Don't get me wrong, I had an amazing honeymoon in Monterey. But, just the seemingly minor change in latitude made me appreciate how good we have it in Santa Barbara. These Daisies are just one of the flowers in full bloom right now around our home. I snapped this shot during a recent hound walk.

 
Saturday, December 10, 2005

Lone Daisy

This was a lone rebel daisy. It must have not been the right time of year for them because, in a large expanse of green, this was the only daisy.

 
Monday, December 5, 2005

Icing Inspiration

I'm starting to practice decorating cakes for a special event the end of this month. I have seen some beautiful roses created in icing and decorated with powdered food coloring so I was looking for an image to use as a reference. If I come close to this I'll post a photo of the buttercream version. If not... well, I'm sure it will be a delicious failure. :-D

 
Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Yellow Rose Close-Up

As I was looking through my images for a project I was considering this one. It has been the photo of the day before, but, I knew you could not see the small spider between the petals.

I always like to get something more than just a flower close-up. Things like this add a little life to the photo for me.

 
Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Kalanchoe Close-Up

Another photo I grew myself.

These plants are extremely beautiful and easy to grow. When the apartment we used to live in trimmed all of the palm trees they displaced all of the ummm... "residents" that live in the dry fronds. For a while we had a bit of a rat problem (outside, thankfully.) The main casualty of this was one of my oldest Kalanchoes. In about a day it was chewed level with the ground. I assumed it was done for. But, a few months later, a small plant popped up in the pot of my large Ficus tree that had been under the Kalanchoe. Apparently a small chewed up piece of the plant feel into the Ficus' pot and took root!

Kalanchoe, members of the succulent family, are native to Madagascar but their name is derived from a Chinese word.

 
Monday, October 10, 2005

Lucifer Canna

My mom gave me this Canna many years ago and it is blooming again. It was never very happy in a pot until we got two very tall (2.5 feet) skinny (12") pots. It seems to love to put its roots down, way down.

It is called a Canna "Lily" but it is more closely related to Ginger and Banana plants.

 
Friday, September 30, 2005

The Yellow Rose of... ummm... Carmel?

This was in a really nice shopping center along Highway one in Carmel. They had beautiful landscaping and one of the best and most original restaurants we've eaten at in a long time.

 
Thursday, September 29, 2005

Orchid

I grow a lot of my flower pictures. But this is one that I purchased while it was blooming from the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate. And, they are having an open house and sale in the beginning of November. So, I'm thinking it is time to buy some film. :-)

Perhaps while I am there they can refresh my memory as to the proper name of this guy so I can stop calling it the "red and Yellow Orchid."

 
Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Primary Posies

Well, I guess the flowers in the background are more purple than blue, but it is the (almost) primary colors of the flowers in this photo that I like.

I stumbled upon this scene in the planter outside of a hotel while wandering aimlessly with my camera. (I like to do that.)

Their name is from "Rana", Latin for frog. Like a frog they live in cool damp places near the water. They are native to Asia.

 
Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Dangling Orchids

Another angle on an orchid from a few months ago.

If you are in the Santa Barbara area this weekend be sure to visit the Art Walk at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. I have been working on new items for the show that I do not normally have available. It should be a great weekend!

 
Tuesday, September 6, 2005

Yellow Daisy

I usually look for more going on in the background of my photos. Kind of like the first image on this site. But sometimes there is something to be said for simplicity.

 
Thursday, September 1, 2005

Yellow Rose

This is the same rose bush from yesterday's photo, just a little different angle. I like the other rose and buds falling out of focus in the background.

 
Friday, July 29, 2005

Glowing Orchids

The one in the lower center looks a little like a dragonfly.

 
Thursday, July 28, 2005

Hanging Orchid

I particularly like the simplicity of this one!

 
Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Yellow Bearded Iris

Another subject that makes a beautiful photo no matter how you look at it. But the backdrop of the other Iris' leaves make the beautiful flower stand out more. After all, you wouldn't put a beautiful picture in an ugly frame.

This is another photo I grew myself... :-)

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