APARTMENT SIZED FRIDGE

Strobist Sunday -- theme: candlelight

I love the way those little flaming wick fingers look! (and that shallow DOF)

Busy weekend, I only found out the theme today. Not much time to do much. Fortunately I had three pink birthday candles here. I made a jig from aluminum foil to hold them upright in some half-tall ice cubes, then filled the cells up the rest of the way and froze them. And hour later I used one, got lucky, and managed a fascinating series of shots with that first one. (Still have two in the freezer for next time this theme comes around!)

Lighting: I never realized how bright one flame is up close. I set exposure for the flame, but not too bright. I wanted to see the wick in it. I wanted shallow DOF so kept aperture wide, but found I needed a surprisingly high shutter speed Then I built up lighting into the rest of the scene with a couple incandescents from behind and on the right, a flashlight blasting into the ice cube just out of frame on the left, and I held a big LED Maglight for front fill on the pink candle, using a piece of aluminum foil on the table in front of the ice cube for beauty bounce, just out of frame.

Toughest part was holding focus with such shallow DOF. Every two exposures the candle burned itself right out of the focus plane. If I did it again, I'd stop down a bit for more fudge factor.

I place them upright in rows in gallon zipper bags and set them carefully on the freezer shelf. Next day, lift the bag out, let the muffins find their places in the bottom of the bag, use a straw to suck out the air (don't choke on a crumb!) and zip it up again. Keeps a long time; take them out as you need them, and thaw in microwave.

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