That's One Humble Bumble

I'm forever mystified by my flash.  Some days, it works exactly how I want it to.  Some days it decides that no matter what angle, diffuser or method of bouncing light I try, it refuses to co-operate.  That's one of the reasons why I end up using it so much.  It frustrates me so much, that I need to keep hauling it out of my camera bag and using it to take pictures in the hope that one day I'll understand it perfectly.  The model-du-jour in this case ended up being some little Christmas ornaments in the shape of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and some of his friends.  I don't think I need to explain who Rudolph is.  Thanks to his bright red nose, we've all been fortunate enough to receive plenty of gifts from Santa Claus over the years.  I picked up these little guys a few years ago because the little kid that still exists in me manages to take over my adult mind from time to time.  Every December I'd look forward to seeing the story of Frosty the Snowman, A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming To Town and of course, Rudolph.  That same inner child actually led me to buying most of those shows on DVD so I can watch them for the rest of my days, or until DVD's become obsolete and a new format takes over.  Though that rant is for another day.  Included in this set of ornaments was Rudolph, his girlfriend Clarice, Hermie the Elf and The Abominable Snowman.  The Abominable will forever be called 'a Bumble' in my house thanks to the inimitable Yukon Cornelius.  For some reason, Yukon wasn't included in the set even though he was as important a character in the cartoon than any of the others.  I sat down at the table the other day and brought our miniature tree with me.  I pulled out my Macro lens and flash and decided to try my luck with some little portraits.  I think I was having a good flash day because they all seemed to turn our fairly well.  It was only the Bumble that I had to photograph several times, but seeing as he's not exactly known for being very pleasant while having all of his teeth, I guess that was to be expected.  If you take a close look at the little silver ornament in the bottom right-hand corner of the photograph of the Bumble, you just might spy a reflection of yours truly and the blast of light coming off of my flash.  I though about hiding it with my watermark, but I finally figured I'd just leave it there and see if anyone notices.  We'll keep that little secret between us the rest of the internet.  The photograph of the Bumble was taken at f/7.1, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 60mm.  The photograph of Clarice was taken at f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 60mm.  The photograph of Hermie the Elf was taken at f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 60mm, and finally, the photograph of Rudolph was taken at f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 60mm.  For those of you wondering about the different ISO levels, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I try all kinds of different methods while using my flash.  I even tried taking some of the photos withoutflash.  Since there wasn't very much light available, I raised the ISO to 1600 to try some handheld shots.  I didn't like the way they ended up looking so I turned my flash back on and ran smack into my old habit of forgetting to rest my ISO.  As for shooting the Bumble at f/7.1 instead of f/4 like the others, it once again came down to some trial & error.  Shooting at f/4 made some of the needles close to the Bumble stand out way more than I wanted.  I also have to admit to liking my reflection, which is a little clearer at f/7.1 than it was at f/4.

For those of you who have made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read this, and all of the other long winded posts that I put up here on the web.  I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad, or however else your family says it.