Project 52:4 {life}

So this week's assignment for our Project 52 was Bokeh. Bokeh refers to the out-of-focus portion of a photograph that's achieved by using a shallow depth of field.

This is the moment when I imagine I'll lose everyone. The folks who've been studying photography and know all about bokeh will groan. Not this again. And those who are just picking up their cameras will say, Bokeh? What the what? I remember the first time that we worked on shallow depth of field in my photography classes as MOCA, and it was such a revelation. The idea of deliberately blurring portions of your photograph was thrilling to me. I'm so funny about photography. I feel like I'm trucking along nicely and then I'll stumble over bits of information that it seems like everyone already knows about, and then I feel so stupid! It was like that when I learned that this blur was called bokeh in this article. I still think it's a great description. Wikipedia does a pretty good job too.

Basically, with the camera, bokeh is achieved through a shift in your apeture or f/stop. My brain does not like processing this information very much, so I'm sure I'll do a terrible job of explaining it, but here goes. Aperture controls how wide open the lens gets, and a wider aperture, (which is actually a lower number - I know, forehead-smacking time), means a shallower depth of field, which creates bokeh. A wider apeture lets in more light, which also makes it appealing.

In these photos, the focus is near the front of the photo, on the toast, creating a blur for the tea cup. That's the effect I was going for. A hint of the idea of tea, promised in the blur.

I had a lot of fun with this assignment. Despite the cold I was catching closing in, I tried to pull together some of the disparate threads of things I've been working on with learning Big Daddy and what I've been doing in my photography class. Plus, it was fun to focus, for awhile, on something that I just wanted to do. No laundry folding or writing or blog work or dusting. Just exploring the camera and putting together a still life. Exploring a project from concept through completion. At first I was worried that I wasn't getting bokeh "right." So many people were posting beautiful photos of sparkly lights (If you want to get some great shots of bokeh, aim your camera into a tree on a sunny day, focus on one point,  and let the leaves and sun blur together.), but then I relaxed and just went with it. I know what I want to take picutres of! Next week, on Tuesday likely, I'll take you behind the scenes in my thought process as I put together this mini-shoot.

But back to bokeh! I thought I'd dig through some of my old photos to illustrate the point a bit. The quality may not be the greatest in some of these, but you'll (maybe) get the point.

In the first photo, we have nice bokeh, that lovely blur hinting of a scene outside. The second blurs the rose to bring the scene outside into detail.

These two shots play with bokeh in a natural setting. Hydrangea vines along our fence. I took these pictures early last spring, March maybe, when I was really starting to play with a shallow DOF and enjoying how the blur of the fence highlighted the early buds on the vines.

Bokeh is often used for portraiture, as you can see in this first picture of baby Landon. The blur in the background highlights Landon's face, but by closing up the aperture (by raising the f/stop) both boys and the grass are in focus, making the full effect about two brothers playing on the lawn on a summer day.

Bored yet? Confused? If you're not in full manual mode on your camera, switch it to Aperture Priority (either A or AV). This means that while you choose the aperture or f/stop, the camera will choose the shutter speed to help you get the correct exposure. That way you can play around with your depth of field and have some fun. Another important point (and trust me, this bokeh thing gets way more complex than I have any interest in being) is that distance between you and your subject and your subject and what you're blurring will make a difference as well. But I'm not going to say any more about that...just go have some fun. You can't do it wrong, you know!

we went for a walk {life}

There really hasn't been any sort of winter to speak of. I posted a comment on someone's blog yesterday that I should stop railing against this fact and embrace the warmth. On the drive home from school, I asked Callum if he wanted to go on a walk with me and my camera. He was lukewarm on the idea. He wanted to get going on his homework. Luckily I have some walk-y neighbors.

When Rebecca texted asking if some of us wanted to walk, I ditched Callum in a heartbeat. But not Big Daddy. As you can see from the first photo, I kept falling behind.

Noreen does such an amazing job of taking us along with her on her runs or her early morning rambles. I honestly don't know how she does it! I need to stop and pause and think too much.

We really do live in a beautiful part of the world, and I feel so lucky to be surrounded by so much stunning water. I love the juxtaposition here of the swing (can you see it?) and the calm water of the river and the cranes of the International Terminals in the distance. This stretch of river is so soothing to me. When I get to missing mountains too much, I should come here for a recharge.

I want to thank you all for your kind and sweet comments yesterday. Cath's right. I was having a pity party! And I look at her gorgeous blog, and think what?! You're having a pity party?! Come on! And Seamane's comment cracked me up. Duh. She's my editor, so you know she can boil anything down to essentials. Still, I think you can only generate momentum for so long before you hit a moment and think, wait, is this it? Am I on the right path here? It's been such a crazy start to the year, and I feel pulled in so many directions with no real routine or rhythm. That's changing though, and I'm getting a routine down a bit better. I always feel better when I've got a system to work within.

And you're right. Waaay back when we were in Blogging Your Way (That class really did change so much for me, can I get an "amen?!"), I realized that the blogs I love to read are the ones that take me inside the author's life. And of the design or photography or other blogs I love, my favorite moments are when the author surprises us with a sneak peek behind the scenes of the great photo or the awesome design choices and gives us a glimpse into their private world. I knew that before; I just needed reminding. So here I am. And you're stuck with me, I suppose. Sorry!

I am excited to speak with Jackie's photography class. (Even though I told her that this new class could never be as cool as we were.) I love introspective projects like that. But still, I ask you. If you were coming to hear me speak, is there anything specific you'd like me to answer? Anything about my photography journey or my process right now that you'd like to hear?

Quiet night, calm water. Truly the golden hour. That gorgeous sunset sky boded well for a new day ahead. Callum's doing so much better. I got the nicest email from Squarespace about my blogging issues. Sometimes all that matters is that you know you've been heard, you know? I've started writing my to-do list the night before and after a few hours of work today, I'll spend some time taking pictures so you can see a Project 52 for tomorrow. I feel better, except I think I've caught Neel's cold (and it looks as if Joe Biden may have too, if you saw him on the State of the Union last night!). I have that loopy feeling that made me fuzzy-headed enough that when I went to grab a seltzer this morning I opened the dryer instead of the fridge! xoxo