Here are my latest two photos for the 365 Project. I am trying to get the hang of bokah with Christmas lights so they're both of my tree....
The first one I set my shutter to 1/6s (I'm not sure if that equals 1/60th or not but I think it does), had my focal length at 32mm, my aperature at f/4.8 and my ISO on 1600. I like it but I had to go into PSE10 and lighten it so you could see the outline of the tree. Before it was just really dark and I still think that it could use more lightening up. I should have done that in camera.
December 21, 2011
Also, can you tell that the top strand of lights blew?! Oh, our tree is such a dysfunctional tree but it is ours so that makes it ok =)
December 22, 2011
So, I created my own shaped bokah filter. Here's how! I am not a good craft person and the heart (can you tell the filter was heart shaped?) was slightly skewed. I'm going to "perfect" this though. I went online last night and printed out some cute tiny shapes and will try them today or tonight.
Camera info for this one was:
Shutter Speed: 0.6s
Focal Length: 55mm
Aperature: f/5.6
ISO: 1600
I do like Christmas. Although I'm not really in the Christmas spirit yet (and Christmas is only two days away) and the lights are fantastic to try different photography tricks on.
I'd love to hear/see your attempts at bokah at Christmastime. Share some stories with me and if you have pictures, leave a link in the comments!!
Sara
It's me, Sara. I decided to start this blog as an offshoot of my photography website, mainly because I wanted to begin blogging about my learning experiences as a photographer and it's kind of weird to tell about your learning experiences and mistakes on your photo site (where you're supposed to come across as a professional who has it all figured out). So, here I am!
Last night I was able to photograph a friend's two children. Her boy, J, is 6 weeks old and her daughter, A, is 16 months.
J was very fussy so I was only able to get a few pictures of him. The best ones were with him on his tummy. I got in close so that the background was out of focus. The one thing I wish I would have thought of was I should have posed him so that the background was the Christmas tree and lights (what nice bokah that would have been!) but I didn't think of that until I was driving home =(. Oh well, that will be something I remember next time.
Earlier in the day I had gone to Lowe's to purchase some lights since my friend said that their lighting wasn't that great. I am so glad that I did. I purchased two shop lights with clamps and two sets of 150 watt and 60 watt bulbs. The lights worked beautifully but I did find out that 60 watt is really very bright when shooting kids in small rooms so I should have gone down on the wattage. Another learning experience for me.
Photos of A were good. I was able to use several different props with her and towards the end of the session she began relaxing, laughing and being silly. I got several of her teeth in this big, goofy grin!! =)
I am excited to begin editing the photos. Any suggestions on edits for photos with Christmas trees in the background?
Sara
