Well, the holidays are blessedly over, and not a moment too soon, I say! Despite my vows to the contrary, I almost killed myself in an orgy of over-consumption; turkey, gravy, potatoes, apple pie, Toblerone, wine, beer…all fell before my gastric Kung Fu! I secretly, however, wept at my utter lack of self control…or perhaps that was just gravy leaking out of my tear ducts. This over-indulgence combined with my willful two-week absence from the gym (a filthy word during the holidays, I might add), had me popping Pepto Bismal tablets like Pez in a futile effort to combat my heart burn. Actually, heart burn sounds desirable compared to what I experienced. My heart felt something akin to a flaming canned ham. Yesterday was the first day back to the gym and though it had only been two weeks it felt like I had never worked out a day in my life. Yes, it was painful, but chanting “that which does not kill me can only make me stronger” seemed to get me through the worst of it. Thank you Frederick Nietzsche.

I guess this means that we have to turn our brains back on and descend back into our comfortable (or not) routines. The near suicidal forays to the malls are mercifully done, and all the frenetic Boxing Day deal hunters have been assuaged for another year and are languidly smoking a metaphorical cigarette about now, mulling over their most recent consumer conquest.

So, what does all this have to do with photography, you might be asking? Umm, nothing actually. I just sometimes get overcome by these urges to type something.

Actually, this posting will cover something that eludes many of us in our scramble to get all the gear we feel we need to accomplish our photographic goals. And that is sometimes we just need some stuff lying around the house to get the job done. In this case, I’m referring to lighting. Sure, by all means, go buy some new flashes. In my opinion you can never have too many portable flashes. Buying used helps keep costs down. However, some friends of our asked if I wanted a chess set of theirs that had a broken piece. They thought it might have some photographic potential. I eagerly accepted. While I almost immediately knew how I’d arrange the shot, I was a little baffled how I was going to light it to get the effect I had in my mind. No matter what I did with flashes and various light modifiers, it just didn’t turn out like I wanted it to. Then I asked myself, why do I need to use flashes? It’s not like the subject was mobile. There was no action to stop, so I could use as long an exposure as I wanted. So, setting up my tripod, I set about experimenting with a long exposure combined with light-painting with a small flash light. Nope. Still not what I was going for. Then I noticed a couple of tea lights (small candles) sitting on the counter. Then I remembered that I had already lit a similar picture using candles a year or so ago that worked out pretty well. So, I lit two of them up and used a long 30″ exposure at f/16 with my Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 Micro lens and it generated the look I was going for. Here is a diagram of this uber-simple set up:

Here is the final photo:

Notes:
-The room was pretty dark when I took this. Just be aware of any ambient light sources that might complicate things.
-I sharpened the shot a bit in Photoshop as well as removed some inadvertant dog hair that my Golden Retriever contributed to the shot. I swear Goldens are the best dogs in the world, but, my god, the hair!!! You pretty much forgo the priviledge of owning any black clothing when you own a Golden Retreiver. But, they’re worth it.

Special thanks go out to my godson, Cael Vallentyne, without whom the shattered subject matter wouldn’t be possible. Good job Bam-Bam…

Wilson out.