Friday, April 4, 2008

Photographing glass blowing

I made a trip to a nearby glass blowing studio to both watch the glass blowing and make some photos. It turned-out to be a very cool photo opportunity; the dark studio with the glowing molten glass. The dim lighting did present some challenges.

I wanted to have relatively dark photos, with the molten glass glowing in the frame. I also wanted to avoid the 'snap-shot' look I get when using a flash. I really had to push the limits of the light gathering capability of my gear. To get adequate shutter-speed to freeze the action and have the moltel glass 'glow' I had to shoot @ f2.8 and ISO 1600. Here are some of the best shots from the day:

Canon 5D Camera, Canon 200 f2.8 lens, Aperture priority shooting mode, Aperture of f2.8, ISO 1600, 1/400th of second shutter-speed (selected by the camera), flash is off, Handheld.

Canon 5D Camera, Canon 100 f2.8 Macro lens, Aperture priority shooting mode, Aperture of f2.8, ISO 800, 1/125th of second shutter-speed (selected by the camera), flash is off, handheld.

Canon 5D Camera, Canon 200 f2.8 lens, Aperture priority shooting mode, Aperture of f2.8, ISO 800, 1/125th of second shutter-speed (selected by the camera), flash is off, handheld. [I should have had ISO @ 1600, because 1/125 it too slow a shutter-speed for a 200mm non-IS lens handheld.]

If you haven't seen glass being blown, it really is amazing to watch and a neat subject to photograph. If you have lenses in the 85mm to 200mm range, bring 'em.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Exactly what I needed to read for a shoot today using 5D Mark 3. Thank You!