Bubbles of Light

I have been taking lots of pictures during this lovely autumn weather with plenty of sunshine and beautiful fall colors. But I noticed that some of my pictures are turning out like these:

Bubbles of light in the photos

f/10, 1/25, ISO 400

Like this horse was taking a bubble bath...underneath the sun

f/14, 1/15, ISO 400

Besides the fact that Lola did not want her picture taken, bubbles of light filled this one too...

f/8, 1/100, ISO 200

At first I thought it was time to clean my camera lens, perhaps the dirt particles had caused this phenomenon. Could be true. But it turned out to be lens flare. This happens under very bright conditions in which the light does not go though the intended path in the lens, and instead the light is reflected within the lens before finally reaching the film.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lens_flare_scheme_en.svg

Although I should practice capturing bubbles of light in a more "artistic" sense, flare makes images look washed out with loss of contrast and color saturation. No good.

Here is what I need, a lens hood that can reduce the amount of unnecessary light entering the lens.

http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Product/Lens-Hoods/4337/HB-36-Lens-Hood.html

Hmmmm....I think Christmas is around the corner.

Anyway, I can't complain about this sunny fall weather I am enjoying and it's even better that I accidentally "discovered" this bubbles of light.

On a final note, a big thank you to all the brave men and women in the military. Happy Veterans' Day!



p.s. Regarding the previous post on Claiborne Farm, I might have gotten a little confused over the annual fee for each horse. I meant to say "cover fee per occurrence"...think in breeding term.

Basic Lighting

Last Friday there was a UK Photo Day hosted by the University of Kentucky Department of Arts. It was a whole day of lecture/events all on photography, from Photoshop to night photography. Most of the classes were too advanced for me and due to time constraint I only attended one class on basic lighting.


The arts department was in this old warehouse next by an abandon train track and surrounded by cyclone fence.

f/10, 1/160, ISO 200

The wooden floor creaked and paint on the wall was all chipped.
I guess they are going for the rustic effect.

f/5.6, 1/250, ISO 800

There are 3 positions for placing light source and 4 settings in each position.
High (10 feet high): Front, back, side, and 45 degrees
Medium (waist level): Front, back, side, and 45 degrees
Low (ground level): Front, back, side, and 45 degrees

f/6.3, 1/100, ISO 800

All of 12 positions and heights of placing the light source will give very different feel to the picture. For example, when the light is on the low level and in the front, it would give a horror and spooky feel. Think holding a flashlight in front of your face when telling a ghost story in front of camp fire. Any kind of light would make a good light source, even the ones for construction that can be purchased at Lowe's.

f/7.1, 1/160, ISO 800

I have not done much with indoor and studio photography, occasionally food photography in my dark kitchen. Next time I am going to try moving my desk lamp into the kitchen.

Blueberry Picking

Yesterday I went blueberry picking in a nearby family-owned farm, and of course I brought my camera along.

f/5.6, 1/640, ISO 200

I got my basket ready.

f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 200

And started picking!

f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 200

We harvested about 2 pounds of blueberries.
I had some for breakfast, a little for snack, and some more for dessert.
Blueberry jam, anyone?

f/5.6, 1/40, ISO 200

Then I found a peach orchard, so I picked a peach for tasting.
Okay, they are not quite ready yet but I had to make sure.

f/5.6, 1/50, ISO 200

You might hear this a million times already, but natural light is the best light source. Natural light = your best friend in photography. From my kitchen experience, you probably understand. However, on a sunny day like this, pictures could become too bright...almost like overexposed. Like this sunflower.

f/6.3, 1/640, ISO 200

And this:

f/5.6, 1/100, ISO 200

I learned to move around and find the best spot where the light is not reflecting back directly. At the same time, I made sure my shadow is not in the picture.

f/5.6, 1/320, ISO 200

f/6.3, 1/400, ISO 200

You see what I mean?

f/6.3, 1/500, ISO 200

Have a great weekend!

Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill: Indoor Lighting

This weekend Jake and I went to Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill 25 miles south west of Lexington. It's a restored historical village of the Shaker community dated from late 1800's. We started the tour in the Craft Store which had an array of hand-made wooden Shaker boxes, bee-products like beeswax candles, and wooden furniture. Most of the restored dwelling houses and workshops are located along a main street. The largest dwelling house once boarded 200 people. The workshops including laundry, weaving room, kitchen, and wood shop, were built to hold a team of deacons or the Shaker workers.

The Shakers was a closed-knit community where everyone was responsible for every aspect of daily living, from crop harvesting to textile production. Since the Shakers believed in celibacy, the Shaker population grew from outsiders joining in the community.

Every house we visited were large enough that some of the top floors were converted into rooms for the inn guests at Shaker Village. Plenty of windows in every room with natural sunlight. Sounds all nice, but not with my photography skills. I was trying to figure out the best aperture and other settings that would help me take pretty indoor pictures with natural lighting. For every picture and every room I took, I adjusted the aperture several times until I am satisfied with at least one of the 10 pictures.

Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. Main street. Note the maple syrup tapping going on in the picture.

f/4.5, 1/2500, ISO 400

Meeting Hall

f/14, 1/40, ISO 1600

Kitchen with the largest wooden mixing bowl I have ever seen

f/6.3, 1/10, ISO 400

And the largest bundt pan

f/4.5, 1/125, ISO 1600

A shot of overexposed Stairway to Heaven. What am I doing wrong here?

f/4.2, 1/500, ISO 800

Some what better this time, but I still couldn't get a shot of the whole staircase. I forgot all about exposure!

f/5.6, 1/3200, ISO 800

f/3.8, 1/400, ISO 800

f/4, 1/4000, ISO 1600

f/7.1, 1/100, ISO 1600

f/3.5, 1/160, ISO 1600

Beautiful Shaker boxes.

f/4.5, 1/320, ISO 1600

f/4, 1/60, ISO 1600

Lesson from this weekend, always be prepared and be able to adopt to different lighting conditions. There are so many things to consider when it comes to taking a good picture. For every picture I posted above, there are at least five other pictures with the same scene but different settings. In indoor lighting, larger aperture like f/7 allows more time for light to enter through the lens. Yet, there's a balance between high and low aperture to achieve the best light exposure.

Practice makes perfect pictures. I am slowly getting there.

Happy Birthday: Food Photography with Kitchen Lighting

How do you celebrate your birthday?

Every year I have different feelings about celebrating my birthday, but there has to be a cake. It doesn't have to have candles or fancy sugar flowers, as long as it's rich and chocolaty, I am all good. The first time I celebrated my birthday with my man (my lover, that is), he did not know I need a birthday cake. He learned his lesson that year and surprised me with a rich and chocolaty cake that he made.

This year, however, I decided to make my own cake. No this will not turn into a food blog even though I love talking about food. I researched on the best chocolate cake recipe there is and found Beatty's chocolate Cake Recipe by Ina Garten. Don't call me a food dork, but I loved every process of making my own birthday cake.

Although the cake and frosting were heavenly, photographing with the lights in my kitchen required skills. I am not a big fan of flash, or let's say I have not found the usefulness of it. Flash does bring more light into the picture but I hate how it makes thing look "deer in the headlight". I set my ISO to 1600 and adjusted the aperture to around f/5.

Two layers of chocolate cake. f/5.6, 1/13

Boiled frosting. That's whipped egg white! f/5.6, 1/30

Oh heavenly. f/8, 1/13

A dark cloud set over the cake...me. By changing my position, I drastically changed the light source of the picture. f/8, 1/50.

Happy Birthday to me~ f/6.3, 1/25

Then the cloud came back again. f/6.3, 1/40

I changed my position and voila!

I learned not only how to make a heavenly cake but also understand the light source. I am only given so much light and how I should work with it to produce good results. It took me about 30 pictures to figure out where I should stand in the kitchen. Happy Birthday :)