A Good and Sweet New Year!
!לשנה טובה ומתוקה

The Challenge

I often play with point of view (POV) in my photos, which you can see by looking at the archives in this blog. In fact, the photos in my September 2nd post for Weekly Photo Challenge: Sea show this, especially the first (where I look straight down a castle wall at the top of a statue and the sea far below) and last in the series (a sad picture of a sea turtle that died on the beach).

Play “…with point of view…by breaking the rules.”

In Photography 101: Establishing a Point of View, Lynn Wohlers writes that she’s “played with point of view…by breaking the rules when using my camera. I’ve moved my lens in and out while shooting, and I’ve even walked slowly around my subject while keeping the lens open (using a longer exposure in manual mode).” This caught my attention, so for this week’s Photo Challenge by Cheri Lucas Rowlands that asked us to consider Wohlers’ article and an unusual POV, I played with the lens during a longer exposure, moving it in or out for different photos.

The Photo

Besides playing with zoom focus, I also set the camera resting on the table in front of the subject, a pomegranate on our table for Rosh HaShannah (the Jewish New Year). Behind the pomegranate in the photo I selected for the top of this post, you can see part of a green glass vase (Moshe had picked some flowers) and a holiday challah cover (challah is the bread loaf for a Shabbat—Sabbath—or Holy Day meal, usually braided, but for Rosh HaShanna often round). To the left (and a bit behind) the pomegranate, a salt and pepper shaker add some visual interest.

Our attention focuses…on the pomegranate.

The point of view enlarges the perspective on the fruit. The lens zoom creates an effect of light rays emanating from the pomegranate, which enhances the spiritual symbolism of the fruit at this time of year, while also making it the center of our attention. The lighter and larger “shadow” version of the fruit suggests a spiritual dimension over and above the physicality of the pomegranate, but also draws attention to the smaller orb in its center. The lens zoom during exposure concentrates color saturation in the smallest image of the fruit. The f36 aperture also increases saturation for the whole photo. (Mouse over the photo for full technical details of the photo.)

The Pomegranate

Our attention focuses, though, on the pomegranate. Symbolically, the pomegranate represents a fruitful and sweet New Year, its seeds said to number 613, the same as the number of mitzvot (commandments) in the Torah (specifically, in the Five Books of Moses of the Hebrew Scriptures). The seeds may also represent a bountiful and productive year.

Overall, I like the painterly effect of this image. And I did it “in the camera,” without using Adobe® PhotoShop® (or other photo editing software) to get such a cool image.

So, during the Jewish High Holy Days, with this blog and photo, I wish you all L’Shana Tova v’Metuka, a good and sweet year!

Here are some other photos from the pomegranate-zoom shoot

Zoomed in to focal length of 105, open aperture at 2-second exposure
(Mouse over for more technical details)
©2013 Michael Dickel

Zoomed out to focal length of 18, open aperture at 1-second exposure
(Mouse over for more technical details)
©2013 Michael Dickel

Zoomed in to focal length of 200, open aperture at 2-second exposure
(Mouse over for more technical details)
©2013 Michael Dickel

Zoomed in to focal length of 200, closed aperture at 2.5-second exposure
(Mouse over for more technical details)
©2013 Michael Dickel

May you be inscribed in the Book of Life!
!גמר חתימה תובה

(Tried out <!--more--> feature from a past writing challenge.)