Bonnie Rannald's Photo-Explorations in focus with nature. : Nkon

Monday, May 30, 2011

Photographing Smoke

Smoke Gets in your Lens

For quite a while I have been wanting to try and photograph smoke. After doing some Googling, I discovered that the best way to photograph smoke was with a stick of incense against a dark backdrop. Also of most importance was a fast shutter speed and side lighting to highlight the smoke.

I set up a black velvet backdrop against the dining room wall where the morning sun comes in through the patio door. I tried one stick of incense and found that two gave better results with more smoke. With my D90 secured to the tripod, I used a Nikon 35-70mm 2.8 lens. The incense stick was placed on the table, close to the backdrop.

After adjusting my ISO from 400 to 3200, I found that 3200 gave the fastest shutter speed with the dim smoke against the black backdrop. The D90 was set on manual focus and on Aperture Mode at f/2.8, giving me a shutter speed of 1/80 seconds. The recommended shutter speed was 1/250 seconds, however without the use of studio lights it was impossible to get the shutter speed that fast.

In the future, I will set up studio lights and experiment with more of the effects. This was fun and I even tried catching a fireplace match as it lit. I think next time, I will try with different matches. I would like to get the spark as the match first ignites.

What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been. I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences.

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

"Reflecting Nature's Artistry"

Many of these images are available on my website:

http://www.bonnierannald.com/

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

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Monday, October 25, 2010

How to Trick and Treat with your Kittens

Happy Halloween

Halloween is my favorite time of the year, and not just because it happens to fall during autumn, which is one of my favorite seasons. I am intrigued by themes of witches on broomsticks streaking across the night sky, bats flying around a full moon, but best of all, I like eating the treats!

Getting in the spirit for this year’s Halloween, I made a Jack-O’-Lantern by carving my cat’s face on a pumpkin. When my Jack-O’-Lantern was finished and ready for action, I took it outside to have some fun with the camera.

The bright orange Jack-O’-Lantern was placed by one of my kittens favorite play areas, in hopes that curiosity would take over and they would investigate this new addition.

With my Nikon D90 camera and 35-70mm 2.8 zoom lens secured to the tripod, I waited nearby because I knew that sooner or later the kittens would come and check out the big round shape. I ran the ISO up to 800 for a faster shutter speed, set the aperture at f/8 for depth of field and adjusted the shutter speed between 1/250 to 1/125 seconds.

I took around 80 photos of the kittens before they became bored with their new toy. Here’s a tip on how to get your cat to become interested in the Jack-O’-Lantern, place catnip around and inside of it. If the catnip doesn’t do the trick, try their favorite cat treats.

After dark, I came back out to have some photo fun with my Jack-O’-Lantern and a tea light candle. I lit the tea candle and placed the Jack-O’-Lantern on a black base, where it was level with the camera. With the D90 secured to the tripod, I made several exposures at different settings.

A 15 second exposure on Aperture Mode at f 5.6., 800 ISO, the 35-70mm Nikon lens at 70mm.

On Manual Mode, at f/7.1, shutter speed on bulb, a 4 second exposure with 800 ISO.

So from Sasha, Sophie and everyone at PhotoGraphic Expressions, we with you a happy Halloween with all the treats and no tricks.