Can’t. Resist. Bokeh.

I caved and did a totally bokeh shot for Christmas.  I have to say, despite it being overdone all over flickr, I really enjoyed the result.

Time keeps on ticking…

I haven’t been able to spend the time I’d like on lighting techniques or photography in general. One of the things I need to do is take my camera with me everywhere. Already I’ve seen a few things that I wanted to shoot and realized that I was out of luck because my camera was sitting at home on my dining room table. I threw together a few shots today just to keep my feet in the water. I think they can be improved, but I’m not interested in staying up until midnight to figure it out. I’m hoping to devote more time in the coming weeks to taking photos.

Strobist: One strobe at 1/16 power to right of balls and slightly above. Shot through white fabric to soften and white foam-core on right to bounce the light back.

This is a cup and saucer set that was my grandmothers.  I was looking for something to shoot and my eyes landed on this.

Strobist: Strobe through side of macro studio at 1/16 power just above the base. I wanted to try to get some of the detail to pop out.

Star Magnolia

Our magnolias are blooming, the first sure sign of spring.  I had to capture them before I missed my opportunity.

Strobist:  Vivitar 285HV at 45 degrees behind the flowers at 1/4 power (I think)

Orchid

Strobist: Nuked with one Vivitar 285HV at 1/16 power placed slightly behind and level with the flower about 3 feet away. Sharpened slightly in photoshop, and fixed the background. It was a velour type material and the light raked it badly.

This was mostly an experiment to try to get the best focus and sharpness out of my kit lens. I’ve been struggling with finding the sweet spot, and I realized that I’m going to have to do a little sharpening in PS to get the results I’m looking for.