The Parable of the Prodigal Son
Luke 15:11-31 in the New Testament of the Bible records the story of the prodigal son. My mom did a series of sculptures of significant Biblical stories. This one, that illustrates the story, has always been my favorite.
You can read the entire story here:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015:11-31&version=ESV
This was shot with my 1950's 50mm Nikkor F1.4 lense which is just amazing.
Assignment
We've had a macro challenge this year, which was basically getting as "close as you can" to your subject with the gear that you have. This week, we're interested in seeing your image using using the "widest possible aperture" that your gear allows. This is NOT as complicated as it may seem, if you are new to the concept. The w i d e s t aperture is noted by the smallest "f-stop number" your lens can go, and it is usually denoted by something like "f/1.4 "or "f/2.8". The lower the number, the wider your aperture, the shallower your depth of field. What's a depth of field? I'm glad you asked. It just means that it's the amount that will be in focus from a distance point from your camera to your subject, and from that subject and whatever is behind it. So, a "shallow" depth of field (wide aperture, low f-stop number) could show a blade of grass in focus, and everything behind it blurred out. A "deep" depth of field could display a scene with mountains and waterfalls and lakes that all entirely in focus with nothing blurred in the background. Shooting at your widest aperture will get you those professional looking shots where your subject is in focus and the background is blurred. This works great for portraits! It also lets in the most light, which can come in handy in low-light situations. If you're shooting at night, the blur (or "bokeh") in the background can take on those cool circular shapes that you often see in higher end photography. Mobile phone users, you can do this too! Use your camera's PRO mode or another app that lets you select the your aperture setting, pick the widest aperture and you're well on your way to accomplishing this week's challenge. If that's too much to ask of you, get in close on a subject in low-light conditions (night, indoors, etc..) and your phone will probably be automatically setting you to its lowest aperture setting! Don't worry about the number. Shoot at whatever lowest aperture your gear can go. If you are on a zoom lens, you may find that zoomed OUT will give you a lower number, than when you are zoomed IN. This challenge is a hybrid of a technical and creative challenge - think about why you want to take this picture and then what you need to do to make the image work - look at your choice of lens, shooting distance, lighting and time of day and of course, your location.
