Art of Photography: Assignment 1 - Many/Few

Whilst at the shops I spotted one of those candle mirrors where the light is reflected in the mirror. I decided it might be good for the many/few category, with a photograph of the candles 'as is' for the few photo, and then a photograph of them reflected in the mirror for the many photograph.

I set up the candles at home, on a black background, but knew I didn't want to use flash but rather the light from the candles. I first tried to photograph the three candles for the 'few' image, trying to find interesting angles and compositions. Then for the 'many' image I had to line up the camera in front of the mirror. At first I could see the reflection of the camera and tripod in the image, so I had to block out as much light as possible in the room and cover the camera and tripod with a dark sheet. Then it was just a case of finding an exposure and focus point I was happy with. I tried a few different things including focusing on the mirror, blurring the front candles, overexposing and capturing light bursts around the candles, but I eventually settled on trying to get a sharper image.

To begin with I thought this was probably one of the weaker idea's, but I am quite pleased with how both images turned out.

Few


Image taken at f/2.8, 1/4 sec, ISO-100, and 100mm.

Many


Image taken at f/32, 5 sec, ISO-400 and 100mm.