After several days of monochromatic snow scenes, I was determined to take a picture of something with some colour. But what? Certainly nothing outdoors. Shooting snowflakes (not colourful, but an interesting experiment) with my point-and-click Kodak was a fail. There were no fresh flowers in the house. I didn’t cook anything colourful.

So I went online in search of ideas. I discovered something called Cameratoss. I know what happens to cameras when they hit hard surfaces. That’s why I have a new camera. So that idea, as intriguing as it sounds was out.

I started playing around the long exposure setting. I lit some candles and messed around with making squiggly lines and wobbly circles. Fun, but hardly worth sharing. Then I set the camera on a stable surface (I put the tripod ‘away’. Now, where is it?) and shot the candles on the fireplace mantel. The room was almost completely dark, with only some stray light from the street.

While hardly original, the effect is pleasing. I did learn a few things too. For instance, I thought a higher ISO would produce a clearer photo. When I saw I had shot this with an ISO of 80, I figured I’d get a better shot with an ISO of 1250. Not true, unless you’re shooting a fast moving fireplace. Since my fireplace wasn’t going anywhere, this picture is about is good as it gets, with a two minute exposure and ISO of 80. Longer exposures, up to four seconds, were brighter, but I like the warmth of this one.

(This information might be useful when one is taking pictures in say, a riding arena, where the horse and rider will most likely be out of range of the flash. ) So I hope I haven’t bored you with my voyage of discovery here. And oh yes, here is the photo…

From 365 Days of Photos

Tomorrow–something colourful.