A Cup of Hope

A Cup of Hope, originally uploaded by rickirick.

Chinese say: Where there is tea, there is hope :)
.. and when there is hope, there is life, wish you a happy life! cheers

I have been wondering how to make a bokeh photograph with big light rounds in the background, while the main focus (object) remains well exposed.

Through some readings and photos in flickr, tonight I start experimenting with my standard equipment (d90 body + afd 80-200 lens + tripod). I open the curtain at my room, hoping the distant light at the street make something different on the bokeh, and the last one, have myself as the model :) i'm alone, nobody else here, self timer + tripod + manual focus are the keys then.

I have learned important variables to determine the size of light round: long focal length (here i go with 120mm), bigger aperture (here is f/2.8), and distant light in background (here about 10m).

Well, not bad for first attempt, isn't it? :) The lighting setting is surely the apparent weakness, there is annoying shadow in my face. I am now considering to learn flash photography and buy necessary stuff, such as nikon SB to improve my experiment, as the bulb light is the only source of light at this picture.

ricki @ wuxi 2009