click photos to enlargeAs I was sitting picking at one of my guitars I decided it was time they featured in a photograph or two. The filtered light through my study's vertical blinds was throwing repeated lines on the polished sound board so I tried for a shot that included those lines as well as the lines of the six strings. But, whilst it was easy to see and imagine the shot as I sat there idly working through my musical repertoire, it proved much more difficult with the camera to my eye.
I found that the shot I wanted couldn't be composed with the lenses at my disposal. Everything was fine if I wanted all the reflected blinds - a big, light rectangle - but as soon as I tried to isolate part of the reflection along with the sound hole and the strings the reflection lost its sheen and the composition its force. So I decided to try for two shots with shallow depths of field that included the sound hole and strings, one from the fingerboard end, and the other from the bridge. I'm reasonably pleased with the outcomes.
By the way, what is it that makes men end up with more guitars than they need? I have the Yamaha classical guitar that I bought when I first began to learn the instrument, an Epiphone steel-strung folk guitar that I got to replace a second-hand one that I bought then sold, an Ovation electro-acoustic guitar with a moulded fibreglass bowl-back, my son's cast-off electric guitar that I was given after we'd bought him a Gibson Les Paul Studio, and a bass guitar (a copy of the Fender Precision Bass). I really shouldn't have kept most of the guitars I've accumulated during my life and need to think about getting rid of a couple and reducing the clutter.
photographs & text (c) T. Boughen
Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 14mm, (28mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f3.5
Shutter Speed: 1/20
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
