45/52 - Ace

Ace

I was quite sure that the strings on a Tennis racquet could be used to produce bokeh if lit from the correct angle. I decided to test this out yesterday and produced a couple of photographs which doubled up as this week's entry for my project. The main problem which I had to contend with was working out an angle which produced bokeh as well as a half decent composition for the photograph itself.

Lighting setup shots inside.

Lighting Setup - Ace

This again was a two light setup.

The main light was a bare Canon 430 EX II fired at 1/64th from camera left. This light was used to light the closer edge of the racquet. I placed a white foam-core board at a slight angle under the racquet to bounce the light from the 430 EX II back onto the under side of the racquet and create some separation on the black bottom edge. The effect is subtle and can be seen on the bottom edge of the racquet on the right hand side of the "Wilson" sticker. If I hadn't placed the white foam-core board under the racquet, this section would have been black and would have merged into the background.

The bokeh was created by a Canon 580 EX II fired at 1/128th from in front of the camera and slightly to the left. This flash had a CTB gel on it. The light from this flash also created the highlights on the further edge of the racquet.

I used a black foam-core board as the background.

20/52 - Wall-e Meets Bokeh

Wall-e Meets Bokeh 

I decided to use Wall-e for this weeks shot too. I wanted to do something with Bokeh as I hadn't created any Bokeh for my more recent shots. This was a two light setup which took a bit of time to perfect. I suppose the fact that I didn't know exactly what I was after when I started, didn't help. I took a few different shots, each with their own lighting setup before settling for this one.

Lighting setup shots inside.

Lighting Setup - Wall-e Meets Bokeh

This shot was lit with two strobes.

I used a Christmas wreath to create the Bokeh in the background. A Canon 430 EX II was fired at the wreath at 1/64th through a CTB gel to create the Blue Bokeh. I used the same wreath in this shot as well as this one.

Wall-e was lit using a snooted Canon 580 EX II fired at 1/64th through a CTO gel. I used a piece of white A4 paper just out of frame on the right of the camera to bounce the light back onto the opposite side of Wall-e. The effect of the piece of paper is subtle. 

11/52 - Goodnite

Goodnite - Melody Gardot  

I wanted to take a photograph of an iPod for this weeks entry in my project 52 but wasn't sure how I was going to compose it or light it. It clicked when I was flipping through a jazz playlist on the iPod and came across Goodnite by Melody Gardot. I decided to go for a fairly dark image with the iPod on one side and bokeh in warm colours filling up the other.  I'm quite happy with the image but in hindsight there are a few improvements I could have made.

Read on for lighting info and setup shots.

Goodnite - Setup shot

To lighting this image I used a pretty straight forward two light setup.

I used a canon 580 EX II fired at 1/128th and zoomed to 105mm from camera top right to light up the table. The flash is aimed at the table around a foot or so in front of the iPod.

A snooted Canon 480 EX II was fired at 1/64 through a CTO gel and aimed straight at the iPod.

The bokeh was created using tea lights and warm coloured tea light holders.

I should have used a 1/4 CTO gel or no CTO gel on the snooted flash. The gel really warmed up the light and made the black iPod look almost brown..... at least I'll know for next time!

6/52 - Bauble

A Bauble for the Christmas tree

It seems to be getting harder to come up with ideas for this project.... and I am only 6 weeks in! If any of you have any suggestions as to where to look for inspiration, please let me know via the comments.

The Christmas decorations have now gone up at home. This is one of the Baubles from the Christmas tree.

For those of you who are interested in lighting information and setup shots, please read on.

Lighting setup for the "Baubles" image

This was a pretty straightforward shot in terms of lighting. A single Canon 430 EX II was used to light the whole image. It was fired at 1/64 and 70mm. A 1/2 CTO gel was used to warm the light up a bit. I fired the flash from camera left, just behind the subject. The light coming in from behind helped define the Bauble. The light was then reflected off two foam-core boards placed on the right and front-left of the subject. The camera was positioned between the two foam-core boards. If you look closely at the image, the two boards are visible.

I placed a piece of glass under the baubles to create a reflection.

The bokeh was created using a small pile of Baubles and a wreath (which I used for bokeh in this shot).

Cherries - A second take

Cherries!

We picked up some fresh Cherries during the weekly grocery run and I decided to get a few images of them before they disappeared. I've been playing around with off camera flash for sometime and took the opportunity to experiment a bit more. I photographed some cherries a while ago and really liked the rich   shades of red on the fruit. I was hoping to light them in a way which accentuates the colour and texture of the cherries and I'm pretty happy with the results. Read on for more info and the setup shot.

The lighting setup for the image above

I used a Canon 430EXII as the main light source for this shot and fired it into a reflective umbrella at 1/32. I used a reflective umbrella as I wanted to light a section of the image evenly and didn't want too much light to spill onto the glass. The umbrella was half closed to control the spill. If I fired the strobe directly onto the Cherries, the light would have been too harsh. In order to get warm light I used a Full CTO gel on the flash. In hindsight (which is always a bit of a bitch...) I should have used a 1/2 CTO gel instead.

A sheet of glass was placed under the Cherries to create a reflection. 

The pile of Cherries to the left were about 4 - 6 inches behind the main subject so that they would be out of focus but add a layer of interest to the image and give it some context. I used a few tea light holders (which were around a foot behind the subject) to create some "home made bokeh" and balance out the composition.

The shot was captured at a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second and an aperture of f/2.5. I used a slow shutter speed to allow the ambient to burn in a little and light the image a bit more evenly. If I wanted to use a faster shutter speed, I could have used a reflector on the right of the subject to achieve the same result.

This shot was captured with a Canon 7D and the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Brownies

My breakfast