Bokeh

If your memory serves you and you have been following this space for any length of time then you will know I'm a pretty big fan of the unpronounceable Bokeh caused by out of focus light sources so it is about time I posted on it.

Why is it that only now a post is being made you ask? Well if ever there were a season for Bokeh - this is it. Christmas lights are the go to Bokeh source for their numerable sources, convenience and variety. Perfect. That and I also came across some inspiration recently (I would have linked the 'inspiration' but the artiste does not yet have a web site (if you're reading this get on it! (also brackets within brackets within brackets!?) ) so suffice to say it's a fellow photographer that used it to great effect.)

The above is also inspired by a shot I saw and this is a fairly poor attempt at a reproduction, though there are enough pictures of this concept on Flickr for it to have a category of its own anyway.

So I raided the Christmas decoration supplies in my flat (whos' existence I was completely oblivious of until today) and forked out the lights as well as a couple of focal points.

About 2/3 of the way though the shoot my flat mate arrived home - I don't think he has come back to the flat before while I have been mid swing in a session so I think he got a bit of a shock when he realised I had rearranged the living room to take some photos - which is surprising cause it happens fairly often ... He will get used to it I guess.

I also found this in the box and thought it rather lovely so needless to say I got on the case despite the need to utilise yet another piece of living room furniture to suspend it from, totally worth the effort.


Also - a particularly unhelpful shot of the setup ...

Title font used 'Neon 80s'

Repetition

I have the tendency to get a little excited with each new concept/shoot I do and pre-emptively post the pictures without actually doing a good job of it and then later reposting about the same subject, just with improved results. This post is no exception to said tendency -the seed pods ... AGAIN!

Oh and just a quick word of explanation, the reason the previous pictures were so far zoomed out is that the minimum focusing distance for my lens is 45cm - the reason I was able to get these so big was due to a brand new +4 dioptre filter attached to the lens for this shoot. By my estimation and the use of a ruler, the dioptre brings min focus distance down to about 12cm well worth the money at £10 for 4 varying strengths of dioptre.

You may have noticed a little or rather big difference, These photos are much bigger than any previous post! Ironically I actually reduced the size of the pictures to about 1/5 their full size in lightroom and then made blogger show them in their 'original size' rather than X-Large

Light Box

I recently purchased a light box, essentially a light bulb with some hard opaque white plastic wrapped around it. It is a simple yet effective way of tracing, though that is not the purpose for which I have it, I got a light box for back lighting translucent macro subjects. Less of these words more of the pictures!

This was just a first rushed attempt but you can compare this picture to the originals I took against a plain white background.

Still Life

I saw these seed pods in my mums garden - I knew immediately that they must be photographed, the intricacy of the veins coursing through the leaves, the perfectly formed sphere in the centre, the extravagant yet regular shape. Unfortunately I am yet to do them justice with my photography but here is what I have so far.