Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Grey skies, wet weather & new ott light

It's early morning and I'm posting before leaving for school. We've had a 2-hour delay today so this gives me time to look at the photos I took last night with my new ott light that arrived yesterday.
An ott light gives out a natural light. It's great for doing crafts, excellent for reading, and it lends itself well to taking pictures when there's no available light. (And I rarely use the flash. It just doesn't look right.)
These photos haven't been touched other than to size them and I love them! They make me happy.
This is the cyclamen plant that I bought last week. The previous photos are down below on one of the earlier posts and every time I scroll down to look at them, it's almost embarassing because well, they're just not good. It's the lighting.
But now, with the ott light, I can capture the true colors when I take pictures in the evening. I've never used one of these lights before and am really excited about not having to rush home and take pictures before I lose the light.
It's a dreary little day back East here. Ice on the ground, a steady rain coming down, and cold. But I'm happy. I'm happy because I've got a new ott light and I know how to use it!
(Um, you just plug it in).

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I KNOW! I'm so glad you posted Riva Berkowitz's site and I saw that folder of ott-light pics, or I never would have thought of using my ott light!

These new pics you took are amazing. Hope you enjoy using your ott light as much as I'm enjoying using mine!

Russell said...

Great post! Yes, to a photographer, light is everything! Well, okay, almost everything...!

I rarely use a flash, too. I am going to learn about an ott light as the pictures are beautiful.

By the way, my guess is that there is a bit more (!) to using the ott light than just plugging it in...!! I think the person using it has a LOT to do with it!!

Take care.

Mary said...

Wow, those photos are amazing! I never use my flash, either, and I've always hated the yellow light of evening indoor photos. thanks for the tip!

It's a snowy, rainy and slushy mess here in NJ, too. Ick!
xoxo,
Mary

Anonymous said...

Oh my! Beautiful!! I need one, too. I find I have to take most of my photos at night, too, due to being busy all day with the kids. An ott light would be perfect...

Now to convince hubby that I *need* one. :-p

Jeannelle said...

Very interesting about the ott light. I know of people by that last name, "Ott". Maybe the light is named after it's inventor.

My husband mentioned that he had heard there was a huge swath of icy weather across the mid-south and east. He says he'd rather have our sub-zero temps than ice. Stay safe on it.

Country Girl said...

The light WAS named after the inventor. I'm doing a post about it soon because I thought what I read on the box was interesting.

I got my Ott lite on sale at Joanne Fabrics online for $40. Mine is the TrueColorTM Portable 13W Task Lamp.
Joanne has nicer ones, but last week when I ordered mine, there were only a few on sale. Now they've got a whole slew of them on sale!

And really, you just turn it on and move things around underneath and that's all there is to it.

Riva Berkowicz (go to her site and read the NYTimes article written about macro photography!) told me that her friends are using theirs as reading lamps as well. They're excellent for reading.

Riva's site is at the bottom left of my page, under "Sites I'm Liking Lately".

Thanks, everyone.

~C.G.

Minna Dyer said...

I like the contrasting background. It gives the flowers that extra pop!
Ott lights are great, I will attest. I wish I could light up our entire NE-facing apartment with them!

tj said...

...You go girl! Those photos are breathtaking! So you didn't Photoshop them at all? The close-up at the bottom, how did you get the background to blur out like that? Thanks for sharing the beautiful photos!

...Blessings... :o)

dlyn said...

They really do look so much better! Impressive. And so is the mushroom soup which I will make soon.

Mental P Mama said...

Oh great, now I need to go get an Ott light, too.

Anonymous said...

ooh la la on the photos with your new friend, Ott. I still REALLY like the flower picture, I think it was an iris. You didn't say what it was, but you did tell the funny story of watching that dumb Austin Powers movie. We were all crowded into Judy's living room except, I think, for one of our siblings. It's a fond memory though, laughing so hard. I cried a lot on that trip. Dad had seemed to have given up and was intent on dying. I know he feels differently, but I'm glad he's still around. Really pretty picture though, with that post. And I love the cyclamen. Just beautiful. I'm glad you're pleased.

Another Sister

Country Girl said...

Yes, Ott is my new boyfriend. The picture I used on the Austin Powers post is a slice of an iris and I used the flashlight filter inside of it. I printed it out for Ginny today as a 5X7 and wasn't so impressed. Maybe it's my printer. Andrew is jealous of my blogging friends. But he's not jealous of Ott yet.

Love you, my sister!

Barb said...

I never thought to use my Ott lite for photography. Thanks for a great tip.