Christmas lights

Three years ago, I took some pictures using a Christmas tree with lights to produce some special effects. This year, I tinkered with some special effects to produce a Christmas tree with lights. Here is how I did it:

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Using a tripod at night, I manually focused on a blank wall.

The camera was set to exposure priority, and the two shots varied between 5 and 13 seconds. Then, I turned out the lights.

My hand formed an upside-down "V," to mask the shape, as I drew a zig-zag on the wall with a cheap, pen laser. (Remove any reflective jewelry so you don't blind yourself!)

In post-editing, I changed the red lines to green.

The ornaments were done by guessing where the tree was, and just dotting inside the triangle with the same laser.

Then, I put the two images together as an overlapping collage.

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I tried combining more exposures to get a variety of ornament colors, but I liked the simplest one best. I wonder what else we can try with light.

cool rains

Cooler weather is setting in (finally), plus it has been raining. I like the rain. I like the pitter-patter off the roof at work. That sound comforts me, but I don't know why. I like the swishing sound of cars driving on the rainy streets. I like the optical accents that come from the wet pavement and the extra lights.

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This second photo makes the oncoming Jeep look like a surfer locked in the hollow. That's when the surfer can ride inside, completely covered up by the wave, without having it break on him... like riding in a tunnel. Do you see it? The crest of the wave is formed by the trees on the left side of the image.

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Thank you Lord for the cool rains, for golden sunsets, and for every visitor that passes through here.

think n-ice thoughts

"Glimpses of heaven in twenty-eleven." I left that comment at a new friend's blog and it got me thinking.

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There is something about this row of icicles... it is merely a transparent substance in the dark, but it catches the light and a careful observation will reveal some wonderful blue and even orange colors. I took the picture, because I noticed something beautiful in what I saw. Let me encourage you this year to keep an eye out for the things that are good.

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"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Philippians 4:8

people pics

This boy makes a good subject. (I have his dad's permission to post the pic.) I know that the photographer is supposed to make the subject feel comfortable, but it was the opposite with him. I asked, "would you stand by that tree? on the other side? come out a little more. now step back just a smidge... He let me tell him how I wanted him to stand on a nearby fence, and let me take several photos with the sun behind him, as I messed around with the flash. He was so accomodating, and put me at ease from the start. When I looked at this picture, I got to feeling pretty competent.

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Ha! Then I asked a visiting telecommuter if I could take her picture. She said yes, but I felt sooooo uncomfortable. I don't know why, but the creep-o-meter was off the scales. My confidence waned to zero. (I don't know why--it didn't make any sense.) She asked what I was going to use the picture for, and I didn't have the heart to tell her, "probably nothing, because most of what I take is thrown away." The LCD screen was dark, but I didn't want to take any more time to fix the lighting, so I told them (2 coworkers) thanks, and crawled back into the hole that is my cubicle. That is all.

salt-n-peppa

A few days ago, we got to talking about ethnic diversity [different is good]. That spun off into an email conversation about photographing a lighter person and darker person together. My thought is that it could be much more challenging than when taking a family portrait where they're all nearly the same color. Kapish?

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I saw a photo of a couple of young people who were on opposite ends of the light spectrum. My nephews here, are not as extreme, but this is the best I've done yet with these two. It was purely by accident, but the general background was was kind of a neutral gray, light behind the darker nephew and dark behind the lighter one. I used flash for fill-in, and then edited the image to remove just a little of the color saturation, because that red shirt wanted to steal the show.

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What do you think? What kind of poses, lighting or other tips do you think might be helpful for creating a good photograph of a combo light and dark subject? Maybe you can even point to some good samples??

nite lite

No post editing manipulation here. This is straight how I got it from the camera.

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While most of us were roasting marshmallows, D2 walked by with a flashlight and a water bottle, and I got an idea. I asked to borrow them for a picture. Setting the camera on a picnic table, I lit the tilted bottle from underneath and braced the subject at the side of the table. No flash. The macro setting and spot meter took care of the rest.

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I like how dark the background was in this photo. I like how dark the night while we were camping. After we put everybody down to sleep, I took one last walk outside by myself. There is always a sense of awe and wonder that I feel when looking at so many stars in a clear, dark sky.

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If I could have my way, we would use special, directional light fixtures, even in the cities, that would be sufficient for navigating, but that would not excessively light up the night sky. I heard one person refer to that unneccessary saturation as "light pollution." Our streets and parking lots are so brightly illuminated, that we cannot properly enjoy the celestial lights.

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I get a neat kind of satisfaction every time I find a constellation that I can identify. (sigh) We never had that, growing up in Chicago.

arrested

Stop!!!

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The young helpers have been dropped off after Food Pantry night, and the Craver minivan waits for the corner light to change. Presently, my light turns green, but there is no one else waiting to turn at this lonely intersection, so I sit motionless for a few seconds. I sit arrested by an unusually stark vision. The cross traffic's red signal and some tail lights illuminated this tree in such an unnatural way that it forced me to pause and take notice. I have observed this numerous times, but I finally stopped to capture it.

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Same tree with a green traffic light and after fiddling around with post editing.

were you there?

Sometimes it causes me to tremble.

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This photo was taken in low light without flash. Good Friday's program included a study of the different people we find at the cross of Christ. These gents represented the soldiers who gambled for Jesus' clothes. The actors did not speak, but acted their parts out while a narrator read from Scripture. Then the actors froze in place while the house lights were dimmed and with spotlights on the scene, a pastor gave a brief devotional thought before moving to the next scene. I set the white balance to a light gray (almost white) canvas to make the colors stand out just a little more, and used a tripod on account of the veerrrrry long exposures.

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There was a hush and stillness in us that was finally answered with the entire congregation reverently singing "Were You There" a capella.

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Coincidentally, my Pennsylvania friend, "Lime" posted overlapping thoughts in her Good Friday poem.

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Unrelated: I am a fan of Susan Boyle!

complimentary colors

One streetlight overwhelms the otherwise dark corner, leaving an enigmatic yellow tint to everything it touches. Not so for the rest of the lights. They were instead, quite blue... almost opposite.

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This shot taken while standing in the middle of the street, using a tripod and a long exposure. It was cold that night. Very cold. I wonder what the neighbors thought when they saw this fool standing out there, looking at a tree. I'm sure they could hear my teeth chattering from inside their houses.

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I was happy with the shot. I was also happy with the mug of hot cocoa I drank as soon as we returned home.

dark so soon

It gets dark very early now.

And yet, the most impressive thing about the darkness

is still...

the light.

sky watch?

Monday's fog was the thickest I think I've ever seen. Mrs. Craver said that it was even heavier just an hour before we drove through this soup together! She offered to take the wheel, and so I sat, gazing with amazement at the soft, beautiful haze.

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A few hours later, on our way back from the house where Goo Goo stays (see previous post), I was struck by how one spot looked like sun streaks, except that it was not a celestial spectacle. Rather, it came from a combination of a streetlight, trees and a low, hazy fog. Unfortunately, it was too late to stop the car and mess around with the camera; I had to take the family home.

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So what is this picture? Well, it was only 2 or 3 blocks from home, so after dropping them off, I went back to see if I could capture the image, and here it is. :-)

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Is this heaven? No... lower.

new year's ignition

My wish for the new year is that God would ignite fresh life into His people.

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There is no "resolution" per se for 2008. I don't usually do those kinds of things anyway, though I wonder each year, whether this time I should think of a new year's resolution. The thing is, if I have something that I felt I needed to do, like lose weight, or more exercise, why wait until the next calendar year? If it is a worthwhile venture, why not begin right away?

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This weekend, while hearing/singing the words "Don't let my love grow cold. I'm calling out; light the fire again. Don't let my vision die. I'm calling out; light the fire again." it came to me, that the change I want is not one that is put on by me in an external way. My desire is to be changed from within. At first glance, it looks like we are simply talking about motivation, but it's more than that.

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I want to be more consistent about Scripture reading, pray harder, forgive better, etc. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings these changes about. And He is God, not an it.

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Let me put it this way, if this were a car race, my emphasis is not about trying harder to push to the finish line, it's more about making sure that God is in the driver's seat for 2008.

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Light the Fire Again by Brian Doerksen © 1997 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing

bound by light

Thick darkness blankets the house, except for one night light in the upstairs bathroom. The kids say they have trouble sleeping without it, and I find it to be of practical value, especially if someone doesn't want to step barefooted on something like renegade legos or a lazy dog that sleeps in the middle of any old floor.

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Inside the bathroom, I realize that there is another light source. Glass bricks force light from outside to bend into uniform geometrical patterns. Multiple prisms and the hundreds of diffracted rainbows unlock candy jar. No... a bubblegum machine in my mind's eye.

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Like an addict, I rush to fetch my precious... my camera.

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Glancing over all my freshly downloaded pictures, I realize that I am much more drawn to taking pictures of colors and light, than people and events. Maybe because they are less subjective... universal. Maybe because it is much more challenging and complicated. But light is good, and it conjures memorable quotes.

"Whatever light you then receive should be used to the uttermost, and that immediately. Let there be no delay. Whatever you resolve begin to execute the first moment you can."

-From John Wesley's Notes on the New Testament.

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"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."

-Abraham Lincoln