My Get Pushed challenge this week from Jackie was for some festive bokeh with something sharp in the foreground. As I used a Helios lens for my first attempt, I tried a telephoto lens this time. I learned a lot about focal distance! I did have the idea of capturing the spray from the can of furniture polish but to get the can in focus, it had to be out of arm's reach. The room still smelled heavily of polish for some while:)
@30pics4jackiesdiamond Well Jackie, if someone had told me I'd spend a pretty long time this morning up close and personal with a can of furniture polish, I would have denied all knowledge ... Thank you, I really enjoyed this challenge. Annoyingly the lens worked better in Auto mode on this, but I usually do things the hard way, and this is Manual. I lightened it a little in Viveza, but that is all. Don't want to see a can of polish for a while now! Felicity
Hi FB. Challenge well met!! I hope you don't mind if I ask a silly question? With your bokeh photos am I correct in thinking that you have produced the colored blobs by utilizing specific lenses and camera settings? How thne do you actually control the colour of the blobs - or is it just a random "luck of the draw" thing? :)
@robz Hi Rob, I used the telephoto zoom here when you have to be at least 6-8ft away from the subject (the can). To get the bokeh you need to have the can 6 ft or so away from the fairy lights. The lights were on the sofa in the lounge, the polish was on a stool, and I was across the hallway in the spare room. The colour of the blobs is just how the camera picked up the colour of the fairy lights, and you can alter the blob size by changing the distance between the stool and the sofa. I think the further away they are the bigger and more out of focus they get. When I got the right focal distance I was miffed to find the Auto mode did a better job of focussing on the can than I could, but the exposure was too bright. So I left the position of the camera where it was and changed the mode to Manual and tweaked the f stop. Sorry for the essay, thanks v much for your interest, hope this helps! FB
@fbailey Thanks so much for your very detailed answer! It is a great help and I'm going to have a go at producing some on purpose - they have always been an accident so far! I really appreciate your kindness in explaining it so well. Cheers Rob.
@30pics4jackiesdiamond It wasn't planned Jackie. I had intended to get a sprig of holly instead. I used the polish to experiment with focus as it was sitting on the side and the title just popped into my head. It also saved a trip to the woods!