Candles /// photo day

Candles are so much fun to shoot! (plus they smell really nice, which is a given, but needed to be mentioned) 

Getting the exposure right is a challenge though. When you want to shoot it as if the candle is the source of light in the photo, you can't use the ceiling lights. Natural light from the window is touch and go. Mostly, I just turn on the lamps in my room for a softer light, or maybe I'll light another candle and place it just barely out of the shot.

Oh my lands, y'all. Getting this one right was a challenge. I don't think I used any sources of light outside of the candle. The exposure was a nightmare. I would get it so the candle was perfect, but then I couldn't see the title of the book, of even the book itself. And then I'd get it so I could see the title, but then the candle was a bright blob. Finding that happy middle took several shots of experimentation. Getting it focused properly was no easy feat either. Auto-focus was wanting to focus on, of course, the item nearest the camera, while I wanted it to be focused in the center. So auto-focus was a no-go. I'll admit, I didn't even try to shoot through the viewfinder. Turning the screen on to see through the lens is a crutch that I am not ashamed to fall back on, haha.

Compared to the last photo, this one was relatively simple to figure out. I did have a lamp on in the room, and I think that helped tremendously. I would have liked the background to be completely black, and I may have one that is, but this photo had the best composition of all the ones I shot of the setting. 

This one was a spur-of-the-moment idea, actually. It was late and I was about to blow out the candle when I noticed how the light was bouncing off of the things around it on my nightstand. Of course, I rearranged everything to make it all more pleasing to look at, but I did not have the intention to take photos that night when I lit the candle. 

This one was pretty cool to shoot, I think it was an iPhone photo. I had lit it for the first time and thought that the color was so pretty.

This one I believe I had a few lamps turned on, and you can also see the light of a second candle just out of frame in the upper left corner.

This one, I really like. Simple, yet festive. 

And this is one of my favorites. It took me a while to set up. First, I had three candles set up around the corners, and some of those really did turn out nice, but of the set, this one turned out the best. The light works to highlight the folds and crumpledness of the map, yet still is not so bright that the candle becomes the main point of attention. The composition makes it very clear that the map is the focus, whereas with the others I took, the eye went more toward the corners where the candles were.