I had a lot of fun with this particular topic. For a while now I have wanted to play around with Christmas lights to create interesting bokeh, and this challenge seemed like the perfect time to try it out. I chose drink glasses and a container of olive oil as my “everyday things.” Here are a few of my favourites from this photo session:
Some tips for taking these types of photos:
-Use a macro lens and shallow aperture to create a pleasing bokeh in the background
-Use a macro lens to create some interesting abstracts of ordinary objects
–Use a tripod so that a longer shutterspeed and low ISO can be used (low ISO to minimize noise in the photo)
-I used the manual setting on my camera, but the aperture priority setting would also work in this case
-Use a small flashlight to paint the bottle of oil with light. I used a shutterspeed of approximately 6 seconds in order to give myself enough time to paint
-I also did this photo session first thing in the morning before the sun came up – if you would like to paint with light during sunlight hours you will need a room that you can make very dark. A washroom or den may work as these often have no windows and you are able to turn out all of the lights. Too much sunlight, in combination with the long exposure needed for painting with light, would cause your photos to be over exposed.
I have included some links to sites that explain terms such as shutterspeed and aperture – just click on the underlined term and it will re-direct you to Photography Life, an excellent photography site with great explanations of different photography terms. There are also some good introductory photography courses online that you can take as well – one of my favourite sites is Lynda.com, which has a wide variety of different photography courses.
Happy creating!
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