Refraction | Glass sphere Reflects transmits bends Electromagnetic radiation |
S ince I have been recently working with sphere images derived with image processing, I decided it would be enlightening to experiment with directly photographing a crystal glass sphere. In this example I placed the sphere in front of a cut flower arrangement with enough spatial separation to allow for “good bokeh”. Although it might not be readily apparent in this image, the sphere inverted the flowers, just like what happens with the images focused on our retinas. A challenging difference that must be dealt with here, compared to digitally manufacturing spheres, is controlling the reflections of bright areas of the environment off the surface of the glass. This spring when the weather gets better I plan to take the ball on location.
Bokeh is a Japanese word meaning "fuzzy" and refers to the out-of-focus areas resulting from shallow depth-of-field. A lens is said to have "good bokeh" if the out-of-focus portions are pleasant and appealing but do not detract from the main subject. A lens with good bokeh produces out of focus smooth-edged highlights and reproduces an out of focus point of light as bright in the middle and progressively getting fainter with a vignette edge.
“ Every time someone tells me how sharp my photos are, I assume that it isn't a very interesting photograph. If it were, they would have more to say.” - Author Unknown
