Inside the Photo

Having just poured a pint of a new ale from my local brewery, I had a flash back to a nifty photo I took a year or two ago on the rail of my porch. The shots against an almost dark, but still bluish sky were okay, but then I realized that my Christmas lights could provide an interesting element…

It’s bokeh baby! This is an effect you can generate when aware of the light situations (or you get lucky), and you use a wide open aperture- this one was at f/1.6. The small light sources in the background are blurred and reflect back the shape of the lens, creating those lovely bubbles of lively color.

With the shallow depth of field, the focus on the label was not quote as sharp as I like, but this is remedied in Aperture using the brush tools to increase the sharpness of a selected area.

I was torn whether the white light in front is a distraction, it does add to the depth of the image, and if you notice, it casts some highlights into the glass label. I also very much lick the diffused bokeh caught in the top of the glass.

It is worth spending some time on doing these shots, but do not let that beer go to waste, its more than a prop!