THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME...

ISO 100, f/20, 8 seconds, 50mm

  Since Thanksgiving is a couple of days in our rear view mirror it is officially the Christmas Season. As is usual in the Denham household, and not many things are, the day after Thanksgiving is when the Christmas Tree gets put up.
  This season's colors are Turquoise, Silver, and White. To don the new colors is a new 7' Spruce Tree that we purchased from K-Mart. It is perfect for the living room and about as easy as you can get to assemble. 3 sections, pre-lit, and all of the branches are hinged to fold down when put together.
  My wife put a beautiful picture taken with her phone on Facebook of the tree standing in front of our living room window with the red drapes symmetrically centering the tree between them. I of course couldn't top that so this morning I mounted the good ol' 50mm on the camera and got up close to bring out some intimate details of the tree. This bell ornament was perfect for the new season and actually displayed the 2 main colors the tree was decorated in.
  I was torn as to how to approach the depth of field in this shot. I took this one at f/20 so I could get the sunburst off of the background LED lights. I also took the same shot at f/2.8 to blur the background and draw all attention to the ornament.  For me, the sunburst on the LED lights won out. Some burning of the background leaves and shadows helped make the ornament stand out more.
  Still waiting for the Christmas Spirit to hit me this year. I hope in the next couple of weeks things will change.