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Thanks, Elena, for this month’s challenge, which really made me think about creative backgrounds and the sorts of “things” to use to create various effects. I wanted to create effects that added to the image story and not become the focus and draw attention away from the main character. I think that for many people, backgrounds are considered secondary, when in fact they are a critical and essential component. One landscape educator I follow suggested going out for over a month and focusing only on the background, which made me really think more deeply about their role in the image’s success.
For this, I had fun in our local $2 shops and our fabric/craft store “Spotlight.” I used the kitchen sourer, some crunched up Alfoil( the flattened out, some bubble wrap, Crafters Choice – Adhesive foam glitter sheets( 9 inches x 6 inches – $9 for pack of 12 – 10 colours) and also some Holographic Silver foil wrapping paper (instead of CD disc) which worked a treat. I also have a number of coloured gels that I could put over the torch. I can then use clips to attach these to a plastic board to take U/W. I did have lots of fun in my blacked-out garage for sure.
1000 lumen torch on background at camera left, Backscatter Atom strobe with restrictor to light my “water dragon” on camera right. The subject was 8 inches form lens – background 8 inches from the subject. Background ( 9 inches x 6 inches )Nikon D850, 105 micro lens. Shutter speed and F stop varied. F5.6 or F8 seemed to give me a good balance between image sharpness + DOF, and a softer background bokeh.:)For me, F16 made the background bokeh too harsh. I would try F2.8 or F4 to get a nice creamy background bokeh. The kitchen sourer, crunched up Alfoil( the flattened out, and bubble wrap all created similar results and nice bokeh effects. The Holographic Silver foil wrapping paper was wild 😊
Still need to try these U/W – think about how to hold/position them?
Images SOOC.
Ian
