Oxygen[O]8

Oxygen[O]8, originally uploaded by tankgirlrs.

Oxygen is everywhere.. the air we breath, the water we drink... Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen and helium[1] and the most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust.[2] Diatomic oxygen gas constitutes 20.8% of the volume of air.[3]

All major classes of structural molecules in living organisms, such as proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, contain oxygen, as do the major inorganic compounds that comprise animal shells, teeth, and bone. Oxygen in the form of O2 is produced from water by cyanobacteria, algae and plants during photosynthesis and is used in cellular respiration for all complex life. Oxygen is toxic to obligately anaerobic organisms, which were the dominant form of early life on Earth until O2 began to accumulate in the atmosphere 2.5 billion years ago...

Oxygen is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquefied air, use of zeolites to remove carbon dioxide and nitrogen from air, electrolysis of water and other means. Uses of oxygen include the production of steel, plastics and textiles; rocket propellant; oxygen therapy; and life support in aircraft, submarines, spaceflight and diving.

So for my shot i thought to do something with water/bubbles since well the obvious... lol but what i wanted to do was make it look more fresh-water-ie since freshwater has more oxygen than salt water for obvious reasons... :-P

I have been uber busy with both deadlines from work and weddings/photography... I have a gig almost every other week on top of 40+ hours of the day job.... And surprise house guests!! Kill me! Lol so I just got the chance today/yesterday to finally get some work done on this... Lol Hope its still up to par... :-)

Make/Model: Canon EOS 7D
Lens: EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM
Shutter: 1/30sec
f-stop: f/1.6
ISO: 250

<3

Nitrogen[N]7

Nitrogen[N]7, originally uploaded by tankgirlrs.

When you think of Nitrogen, what pops in your head? dynamite? dry ice, ammonia, nitric acid? All very common answers. Did you know that Nitrogen is used as a preferred alternative to carbon dioxide to pressurize kegs of some beers, particularly stouts and British ales, due to the smaller bubbles it produces, which make the dispensed beer smoother and headier??

Nitrogen occurs in all living organisms. It is a constituent element of amino acids and thus of proteins, and of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA). Also many industrially important compounds, such as ammonia, nitric acid, organic nitrates (propellants and explosives), and cyanides, contain nitrogen.

Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere. But Nitrogen also makes a contribution to visible air glow from the Earth's upper atmosphere, through electron impact excitation followed by emission. This visible blue air glow (seen in the polar aurora and in the re-entry glow of returning spacecraft) typically results not from molecular nitrogen, but rather from free nitrogen atoms combining with oxygen to form nitric oxide (NO).

So i thought it would be fun to see how Super Girl would interact with the element :-) It was too bright for my liking though :-P Next up Oxygen!! :-)

Holy Photoshop Batman!! lol


Make/Model: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Lens: EF 50mm 1/4f USM
Shutter: 1/40sec
f-stop: f/1.4
ISO: 800

Uploaded by tankgirlrs on 25 Aug 10, 5.02PM EDT.

Carbon[C]6

Carbon[C]6, originally uploaded by tankgirlrs.

When reading up on Carbon, I found that there is almost too much on the element! I mean Carbon is the fourth most abundant chemical element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen and it is the 15th most abundant element in the Earth's crust.

Not to mention that Carbon is essential to all known living systems, and without it life as we know it could not exist... Carbon compounds form the basis of all known life on Earth, and the carbon-nitrogen cycle provides some of the energy produced by the Sun and other stars. There are several allotropes of carbon of which the best known are graphite, diamond, and amorphous carbon.

I mean its everywhere!! There is Carbon Dating, the Carbon cycle, shoot there is even a carbon footprint now!... lol just start typing Carbon in a Google search and the auto-complete will show so many things... :-P

I was having trouble choosing what to do for this element.... lol too many choices ;-) But i liked that how it is SO essential to all living things that i had to do something that would attest to that... I wanted to be holding the earth... examining the carbon molecules that make it up.... or something along those lines...

I am not too happy with this edit..... i feel like its missing something... :-( maybe i approached it wrong... ugh

So yeah... Photoshop-ness for the win...

Make/Model: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Lens: EF 50mm 1/4f USM
Shutter: 1/50sec
f-stop: f/1.4
ISO: 200

Uploaded by tankgirlrs on 20 Aug 10, 2.57PM EDT.

Boron[B]5

Boron[B]5, originally uploaded by tankgirlrs.

Boron is, among many things, an essential plant nutrient. Whereas lack of boron results in boron deficiency disorder(YUCK!), high soil concentrations of boron may also be toxic to plants. But the main use of boron compounds is in the form of Sodium tetraborate pentahydrate (Na2B4O7) for making insulating fiberglass and sodium perborate bleach like for most laundry and bleach products and teeth whiteners. In the United States, 70% of the boron is used for the production of glass and ceramics. Boron carbide, a ceramic material, is used in tank armor, bulletproof vests, and numerous other structural applications.

For my shot i had few different ideas:

- go the bleaching rout and do a spin off on the orbits gum commercial and change the gum to say 'Boron' and be wearing all white and have my teeth shine so much it would have been viewable from space!! lol

- have myself trapped in a washing machine close to how Mr Craig Sharp did it way back in the day....

- have myself holding up an apple with boron deficiency disorder.... boring...

Or do something with the whole bullet proof vest thing... i thought i would have fun with this one...
well the idea was fun... haha i wanted to have a 'fire-fight' or be crouching while the thing i am standing behind is being shot to pieces like from the scene in the matrix in the lobby when they get Morpheus back...

So i did the last one, and thanks to my friend at work who had a bullet proof vest on hand... lol ... i tried to get something close to what i had in my head... but as always :-) it wasn't quite what i was thinking of but i think it came out ok :-)

And YES i know this is a Kevlar vest!! before anyone adjusts there glasses and says in a snooty voice 'you know that that is not a vest made out of Boron...' and then scoffs away... :-P

OK the Technical stuff:
Another photoshop piece. I think the blood and back/foreground came out nicely... :-)
While i was editing a story formed in my head... I wanted it to look like i had just landed on a rooftop after a battle with some big baddie who clearly doesn't follow Batman's rule about guns... I imagined that i was a newbie crime fighter, who doesn't quite have the costume and clearly still learning how to best combat crime... But i have the passion to get back up and fight!! hahaha

Make/Model: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Lens: EF 50mm 1/4f USM
Shutter: 1/50sec
f-stop: f/1.4
ISO: 640

Uploaded by tankgirlrs on 17 Aug 10, 8.33AM EDT.

Beryllium[Be]4

Beryllium[Be]4, originally uploaded by tankgirlrs.

When i was reading about Beryllium i found out about a lot of cool things...
Because of its relatively high transparency to X-rays and other ionizing radiation types, beryllium also has a number of uses as filters and windows for radiation and particle physics experiments. And because of its very low density, high melting point, high temperature stability, it has been used in rocket nozzles and space telescopes.
Commercial use of beryllium metal presents technical challenges due to the toxicity (especially by inhalation) of beryllium-containing dusts. Beryllium produces a direct corrosive effect to tissue, and can cause a chronic life-threatening allergic disease called berylliosis in susceptible persons.

So i had a choice for the picture, i could do something with x-rays or the the disease berylliosis. I took the shots for both a few nights ago and since i was sick last night (and well almost always lol)i thought it only fitting to do the berylliosis. :-) I thought a miner coughing would portray that nicely :-) Since part of the symptoms include cough and shortness of breath chest pain, joint aches, weight loss and fever. Ultimately, this leads to restrictive lung disease. :-( It is treatable but curable lol kinda like what i have! lol

I ended up staying home sick today too. I am starting to feel a bit better, but am still down for the count. its too bad too since its such a nice day out!! lol But there is nothing like watching cartoons all day in my PJ's :-P The kitties are all hanging with me too!

In this shot: Again mostly photoshop, CS4. (but soon to be CS5!)
Shutter Speed: 1/100sec
ISO:200
Lens:EF 50mm 1/4f USM

Uploaded by tankgirlrs on 10 Aug 10, 5.44PM EDT.

Lithium[Li]3

Lithium[Li]3, originally uploaded by tankgirlrs.

Lithium has a lot of uses including heat-resistant glass and ceramics, high strength-to-weight alloys used in aircraft, and lithium batteries. But it is also useful as a mood stabilizing drug due to neurological effects of the ion in the human body. It is used in the treatment of bipolar disorder since, unlike most other mood altering drugs, they counteract both depression and mania, though more effective for mania or manic episodes.

So the idea i had for Lithium would concentrate on its uses in the medical industry... And i want you to think about this for a second....

Lithium is a metal. And so people who need to take it for medical reasons, are essentially putting metal in their body. And depending on how much you are prescribed and how much your body can handle at a time... you could reach dangerously high toxicity levels..... Not good. :-(


The shot at hand is from the 3rd shooing attempt. I knew that i wanted to show the crazy bipolar side of the element, and i had a few ideas on how to execute the shot... But it was coming together lol. But i had one more go at it last night and i think it worked out better this time around.

Again almost all Photoshop.... I think the fake DOF came out ok :-)

Well off to think about my next element... Beryllium!

Shutter Speed: 1/50sec
ISO:200
Lens:EF 50mm 1/4f USM

Uploaded by tankgirlrs on 5 Aug 10, 5.05PM EDT.

Helium[He]2

Helium[He]2, originally uploaded by tankgirlrs.

Done with number two.. I had so many different variations with this one! lol It took me forever, and i still think i could work more on it... lol

So the 2nd element is Helium, and i know that it is known for its use in balloons and MRI scanners and arc welding, but its largest single use, accounting for about a quarter of production is in cryogenics. :-) So i thought of Mr Freeze and his wife from Batman :-)

For those who don't know Mr Freeze is a scientist who's wife was stricken with an illness that could not be cured. Mr Freeze put his wife in a cryogenic chamber to preserve her and halt the process until he found a cure. But while truing to save his wife, an explosion in the lab caused him to become who he is now, a man that needs to be in below zero temperatures for the rest of his life. But its a rather tragic love story :-)

I think i pulled it off ok :-) another mesh up of photoshop and tons of layers :-)

And i am in the process of shooting the next one, but it may be hard to pull off... :-) we'll see...... :-P

Shutter Speed: 1/50sec
ISO:800
Lens:EF 50mm 1/4f USM

Uploaded by tankgirlrs on 2 Aug 10, 9.32AM EDT.