I Got to Drink for This One!!!

I loved Jay'me's latest post. I've discovered that I'm drawn to the abstract and Jay'me really played that up. What a fun shot to follow!

Originally I kicked around ways of capturing light refracted through a prism, or maybe a different piece of glass. But ultimately, I decided I needed some wine tonight and I might as well play with shooting a wine glass. Plus I have about 1.24 million beads (think Mardi Gras) that my dad has given my 2 boys and I've been dying to try something with them. I know I know, my dad must be one heck of a blast to party with but the truth is he's never been to Mardi Gras....or maybe he has! Dad, if you're reading this, I don't want to know!

Moving on, I used a single hot light to the right of the shot and hand held my camera using a small aperture to really notch up the butt kicking bokeh of my 50mm (sorry B, you'll have your own someday - unless you pick up a Canon and borrow my gear anytime you want!).

Next, I poured a glass of wine and sat down and drank it (you ever have one of those weeks?). Then I poured a refill and started playing around a bit. I shot about 30 photos, down from my norm. That's because one of my New Years resolutions is to shoot less and shoot smarter. Historically, I'm a big fan of "shoot early, shoot often." But I'm trying to apply what I've learned before the fact and get the shot I really want with less waste. So far, I've kept this resolution. Here's the final product:

Canon 30D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4
Shutter 1/200
Aperture f/1.6
ISO 200
1 Hot Light, white balance 3200K

My tie in is the points of light that are just out of focus, something that's unavoidable when shooting so close with a small aperture. Yet the soft focus really is part of the draw. It's easy to get lost looking at a photo with such buttery bokeh, especially when you're 2 glasses in!

I should also add that the light I used has a color temperature of 3200k, something that is just awesome to know and use, making white balance a cinch! But for this shot I actually upped the color temperature to 3400k just to warm it up a bit (why do the Brits spell it colour? You know, they're probably right, since they are English and it's the English language - sounds like a Deep Thought by Jack Handy). A tick up in color saturation and contrast and some sharpening and I was finished.

It was nice having a photo done quickly because I took the time to think a bunch before I shot. I'll have to keep this up. The wine didn't hurt either - gotta love Bordeaux!

I'll leave you with this from the "real" Jack Handy:

"As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and how I named him Flint."

Tag B, you're it!

from, hiccup...Scott.