Cheryl presented a set of three wooden items for Random Object Wednesday.  All items were handmade by her ex-husband roughly 30 years ago.  This is Part 2 of the presentation.  Thank you Cheryl, for the opportunity to photograph your items!

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Bokeh.  This was a new vocabulary word I heard repeatedly out of my friend Tore’s mouth.  (Until writing this blog, I thought it was spelled as it sounds:  boca.)  He was always commenting on how he liked the bokeh in my photos.  I usually nodded my head but eventually I caught on to what he meant.  (a blurry background)

I hung Cheryl’s wooden ornament very carefully and snapped photos.

But I knew I needed bokeh—and not just any bokeh.  I wanted lights.  I climbed into the attic and found my Christmas lights.

I piled the lights on the table top and photographed the ornament.  I achieved bokeh with Christmas lights!

Then I decided a different colored background would be fun.

During the process I accidentally moved a light while taking pictures.  That’s when I decided to have some fun.

Different background with movement.  To make the shot, I swung the lights from one side to the other while the ornament stayed still.

This blog is my favorite so far.  It required me to stretch my skills, experiment and find ways to make things work in my home studio.  The first obstacle was figuring out where to hang the ornament.  Who would have guessed a luggage rack would do the trick.  It also came in handy for stringing the Christmas lights.

Here’s a behind the scenes look at the set-up.

Camera:  Big Bertha (Canon EOS 5D Mark II)
Date:  November 2013