Hunter Tourism Awards 2009 Gala Dinner

Tonight we went to the gala dinner of Hunter Tourism Awards 2009 for excellence in tourism. We made their trophies with star for last 3 years  and this 4th year we changed the design.  We submitted once for our event and won when the trophy was plastic. It was a good night for networking. 

A slow day

It was last day of glassblowing today. I have set up the temperature controller of our melting furnace witch was on all the time 24/7 for last few years to shutting down mode.  It takes 10 days to complete the process .  I am going to have a break from glassblowing for a couple months to refresh my self and reorganise my life for next. I will be back to glassblowing in April.

 

I went to our workshop to check the furnace temperature at night and saw the sky. 

I made a mistake with today's my cooking. I just made "minestrone soup"witch I had some successes with using tomato juice in past. But I saw a tin tomato soup in my cupboard, so I put the soup instead of juice. My soup became too sweet and awful, and could not fix it. I was so disappointed. I will never buy the tin tomato soup in my life again. 

Photography note 2: Exposure Bias, Aperture and Shutter speed

As my today's test shootting, I understood about Exposures bias , Aperture value and shutter speed.

Test 1: The image of bottles is darker in Exposure Bias 1.00. Another image of bottles is lighter in Exposure Bias 1.50 ( Both are same aperture value f 6.7)

Test 2: Both of bottles in focus at f 13.00 Aperture Value. A front bottle is in focus and the back bottle is out of focus at Aperture Value f 5.60 ( Both are same exposure bias 1.00 ). Click and open the bigger images to see the difference.

The shutter speed is changed automatically as changes of above. If shutter speed is less than 60, it needs to use a tripod. 

Taking photograhes of glass

Glass is a most difficult medium to be photographed. So I have been having a great difficulty to take my glasswork by myself. Yesterday, John Harrison who is a local professional photographer came to my studio and gave me an important technical advice. Before I forget, I would like to leave a note here. 

Setting the room and lighting ( I use the back room of our gallery which does not have windows )

• Tune off the celling light because it is different type to other lights. when I add more light, keep same sort of light. It effects to the "White Balance" 
  
• My current light setting is almost good. Add another barrier ( Use bubble wrapping ) between the lights and the perspex sheets to make the light more even.  

Camera setting ( I use Pentax SLR Digital Camera for my glasswork )

• Set to AV ( Aperture Priority) on Dial indicator.
• Set to 400 on ISO ( Sensitivity). Press the "Fn"button to go ISO to change. 
• Set to Tungsten Light on White balance. Press "Fn" to go the menu to change.
• Aperture Value shown on right hand side in the view finder "+1" More + is lighter, - value makes darker. Press +/- button and slide e-dial.
• Shutter speed in view finder - If less than 60, it need to use a tripod.
• Focus on wider area needs bigger F number in viewfinder. Focus on closer object and out of focus on father object need small F number.  I cannot remember how to change the number. 

I am still confused about Aperture, Shutter speed and Focus .... 

My milk jug

We had  another great day today. We visited Christine. She served coffee with a milk jug I made. I was very happy to see the jug been using and looks good on the table.  Just feel like watching my child behaving well on somewhere else and doing well alone.