12.10.2010

day 344: hot chocolate, candy canes & bokeh

I was soooo in love with Darcy's shot for the Holiday Bokeh Party yesterday, I had to try a similar shot of my own.
I think I love it! :-)

Photobucket


I was going to show you a pullback of my shot, but there's a bit of construction going on in our living room so I didn't want to embarass myself.

For my lovely studio: I set a piece of white board (from Lowe's) on top of a giant package of paper towels, on top of an unopened Christmas present (the massive dollhouse).

I threw a white blanket over our couch and laid a string of white Christmas tree lights over it.

Snow = epson salt ;-) (clever, I know)

I also ended up using my Speedlite because the natural light from behind me was being blocked by our Christmas tree. I set the flash on 1/16 power, and bounced it off the wall to my right.

Happiest of Fridays to you! :-) ♥

41 comments:

Aleasing said...

This just made my Friday very happy ^_^ ***

Ashley said...

I LOVE this! It's gorgeous! You seriously need to do a book or sell your pictures or maybe a giveaway like Ashley is doing? heehee. You are so creative, I'm crazy jealous. Thanks again for the tutorial!

Naomi said...

umm-gorgeous! It's looks delicious and beautiful at the same time :) I might have to try doing something like this too!! Love it :)

SarahinSC said...

What???!!! Beautiful! Now that would be an amazing Christmas card!

Brooke said...

AHHHHHmazing! Of course :D I expect nothing less from you.... (read: overachiever :D)
I love the soft glowy feel!!!

allie k reid said...

LOVE it! This is so pretty!

Lori Allberry said...

Oh. My. Goodness. That is GORGEOUS! Absolutely GORGEOUS!

You go girl!!!! =)

♥Lori

Anonymous said...

Beautiful shot! And thank you so much for sharing the "recipe". It makes me feel so much better for draping the lights over the buffet and precariously balancing the little bundle of lights on one of the boxes I just took them out of to get my shot.

I will definitely be using my couch in the future. =D

bek

Anonymous said...

Lovely lovely shot!!!

Lindsey Clair said...

What a fun photo, I love it! Makes me want to curl up on my couch with some hot chocolate lol

Blog
http://www.peacefulislandmother.yolasite.com

Sarah Andrews said...

So pretty!

Skye said...

Wow. So pretty ... and when I read about how you did it, it seems just a slight bit more realistic like "Oh, I might be able to do that" lol (NOT!)

Discovery School at First Baptist Heath said...

Brillant... well done! and remember that little email chat we had going on//// I did not mean ME!

stacey said...

Super. Now I need some hot chocolate. Thank you very much.

My hubby is seriously going to think I'm going nuts when I get out the spare lights and start draping them over everything in our house to create bokeh shots.

kitten said...

bokeh shots are my favorite! :)

Natalie said...

Holy moley! That is beautiful ! Here is a link to my bathtub pics I got last night if you have time/wanna check them out and let me know what ya think! I love your tutorials/tips/work...I have learned a lot for yours and others blogs! So I shared some tips on mine for my type flash, which isn't speedlite but someone may have a similar one!

http://dillonsmommajonswifey.blogspot.com/2010/12/flash-tips.html

Happy Friday!

happy me said...

Gorgeous! I feel a "KopyKarli" coming on! :)

Unknown said...

Karli - seriously??? That is GORGEOUS! You are really talented! :-)

I can't wait to get our Christmas tree this weekend and begin playing around. First tree of my entire life!

Hugs and love,
Jill

Ashley Sisk said...

Very clever my friend - I love that. I may have to use my speedlight to retake my shot like yours. I want more light on my lens and while I'm getting beautiful bokeh, the lens looks a bit like a black hole. Anyways...enough of me, this looks awesome!

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh! I love it. You are so creative!!

Mandy@ a sorta fairytale said...

Oh you are so creative!!! I love the soft colors in this shot. And the candy canes, I'll take one of those, please? :)

DASH Photography said...

Wow...SOOO cool! :) I think I love it too! I may have to have a little fun with epson salt this weekend! Your ideas are so fun! Keep 'em coming!

Courtney said...

You are so CLEVER! This really looks awesome! :)

Kathryn said...

Perfection! I loved Darcy's shot, too and had in mind to try and copy but I had no idea how. So.....thanks for the tips! My boys will be thrilled that I now have a reason to buy candy canes and spray whipped cream which I'm sure they will be begging for when I'm done. ;)

cooperl788 said...

Beautiful! I want to reach into the picture and drink it up. Your bokeh is gorgeous!

Mama Monkey said...

This is just a gorgeous photo!!! Wonderful job :) I had no clue to even think of using the speedlight as I thought it would wash out the lights. Bouncing it off to the side was a great idea I'm still learning how to use my speedlight! HAha)!!

Natalie said...

I think I love this too! I just bought my white string of lights to copy Darcy as well. lol Now I have to try and out-do this one too?! I'm in trouble.

Anonymous said...

I'm dying for this photo right now. It's GORGEOUS!!!! (ps. Thanks for your comment!! You need to go back! I know I do!)

Kari said...

How do you manage to make a stack of papertowels look like a crate & barrel store window display (if not better)? Gorgeous! XOXO

Amy H said...

Love it! It looks like it should be in an ad.

Anonymous said...

This is so gorgeous! I'm working so hard to get my tree up so I can try some of your techniques, although I'm thinking I should just buy you a plane ticket to come here and do my Christmas photos!!

Natalie said...

Yeah. I'm looking at this one again! L.O.V.E

Wendy said...

Impressive DIY home studio! And, indeed, very clever snow. Very nice bokeh, sweet!

Unknown said...

Holy Wow. This is too gorgeous for words!

Anna said...

*gasp* This is GORGEOUS!!! One of my favorites yet...the colors are just brilliant, and you so perfectly captured snowy, wintery, peppermint-goodness! Love, love. :)

Michelle R said...

Wow! This is absolutely wonderful! Seems like such a warm, welcoming Christmas shot (warm, but you know it's cold somewhere!) Great creativity with it - I'd never had thought about making fake snow out of salt...

Julie said...

Wow. You sit and think about stuff like that. Very cool. gorgeous. :)

Katie said...

You are amazing! AMAZING! Apparently I haven't visited you for like, oh the entire month of December, so I had to do some catch up. Your tree shots are so so cool! And this shot is gorgeous. Thanks for sharing your set up! And thank you for showing us that your house does indeed look messy at times! ;) ...I wish I was allergic to avocados...and I think that's most of it. Hope you have a wonderful next few days!! :D

Unknown said...

Wow! This is just gorgeous. I love circular bokeh - just beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the mention!

You did great. I think if people could see my pullback I'd embarrass myself as well. Food photography is not as glamourous beyond about a foot from the focal point! ;)

well done, my friend!

darcy
http://my3boybarians.com

Unknown said...

That is absolutely gorgeous!!!

I wish I had about half of your ideas... and talent. :)