Buddha 1 & 2

Buddha #1

Buddha #2

WHAT

These two photos were taken on my dining room table using a wooden Buddha statue and a red metallic tool box.

WHY

I love this Buddha statue and thought it would look nice contrasted against the shiny red background of the toolbox. I was happy with the reflections produced on the left side of the tool box in image 1 by opening the blinds of a nearby window.

HOW (#1)

I placed the toolbox and Buddha perpedicular to the aforementioned window. I opened the blinds slightly to let small streaks of light in which gave Buddha a warm glow.

I used a tripod and spent a fair bit of time composing the shot to ensure the edges of the tool box could not be seen. The camera was set to Aperture priority. Due to the relatively low light levels, the camera automatically increased the ISO and shutter speed (about 1-2 seconds, I think).

HOW(#2)

For this shot, I positioned my tripod directly in front of Buddha and placed him on some phone books to lift him above the surface of the table top so that it would not appear in the shot.

I closed the blinds to reduce the light coming in from the window and increased shutter speed to about 3-5 seconds.

To get the 'light beams' coming out of Buddha effect, I zoomed in and out with my lens after the shutter had clicked open. I played around with this technique, sometimes zooming both in and out while the shutter was open.

I particularly liked this photo as it appears that light beams were coming out of Buddha's heart.