Practical Photography - UK (2020-02)

70 PracticalPhotograPhy

1

Setup

thescene

Placeyourfairy

lights in the background

of your scene in a loose

ball and switch themon.

You’ll want the lightsto

be at varying distances

to your camera to give

di fferent-sized lights

and to add depth

to you r image. Set up

your chosen subject

on a surface, such as

a table, with the fairy

lights positioned two

metres or so behind.

2

Mountyourcameraon a tripod

Fixyourcamerato a tripodandsetup at

a low angle towards your subject. Look

through the viewfinder and make sure the fairy lights

fill the frame in the background. If they don’t, move

them closer until they do.

T

here’ssomethingso

enchantingaboutbokeh,

especiallyatthistime

ofyear.By definition,

it ’s out-of-focuspoints

oflight,andit’soften

associatedwithtwinkling

chris tmaslights,as theyadornshops

and housesduringthelongeveningsof

thisseason,stretchingintothedistance.

so whil e yourchristmasdecorationsare

out of theatticanddustedoff, takethe

opportunityto pulloutyourfairylights

and capturea bit of thatmagicby

shootingstunningbokeh.

Createyourbokeh

allit takesto capturea bokeheffect

isa stringof fairylightsanda wide

aperture.shootingthiswaythrows

a backgroundoutof focusandthisis

wherethefairylightswillbe positioned.

thelightswillblurfromindividual

pi npointsintolargecolouredcircles,

creatinga bokeheffect.to maximise

thiseffectit’simportantto shooton the

widestapertureyoucan– f/5.6would

work,butf/3.5wouldbe evenbetter.

Pl acethefairylightsaroundtwo

metresbehindyoursubject,andturn

themon.shoot witha longfocallength

sothatthebackgroundfillstheframe–

weused100mm,butdon’tworryif you

haven’tgota lensthislong,juststick

withthelongestlensyouhave.tofill

the framewithbokeh,youmightneed

tomovethefairylightscloser,or get

yourhandson morefairylights.

Cr afta foreground

Bokehis an enchantingbackground

effect,butin thiscaseit won’tworkas

the mainsubjectof theimage,which

meansyou’llneedto findsomethingto

photograph.this canbe anythingyou

want,buttryto matchit withthecolour

and feelof yourlights.christmas

decorations,candles,andfestivedrinks

al l makeforexcellentsubjects,especially

atthistimeof year.

Gr aba tripod

Fairylightsdon’tputouta greatdealof

li ght,so it’slikelythatyourshutterspeed

will be quiteslow,buthowslowwill

entirelydependon yourlights.since

thereareno movingpartsin thescene

tocreateblur,a slowshutterspeedwon’t

bea problem.Whensettingup your

composition,graba tripodandattach

yourcamerato it. thiswillmeanthat

yourshutterspeedcanbe whatever

it needsto be to producea correctly

exposedimage,whileyouwon’thaveto

worryaboutcamerashakeblurringany

detailsin yourshot.

shooT magical

fairy-lighT Bokeh

projecT #3

Still Life Projects

AboveSpreadthelightstringsout to

adda bit of depthto thescene.

AboveFairylightscomein many

colours.Don’tfeellimitedto white.

AboveShootlowdownto fill your

backgroundwiththe lights.

Get the shot Enchanting bokeh