{"id":2180,"date":"2013-01-10T22:38:34","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T13:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2013-01-10\/2180"},"modified":"2013-01-10T22:38:34","modified_gmt":"2013-01-10T13:38:34","slug":"japanese-candles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2013-01-10\/2180","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Candles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 100 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nJapanese Candle<\/span>\n\u548c\u30ed\u30a6\u30bd\u30af\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I've long enjoyed the “So, What<\/span> the Heck is That?” column<\/a>\neach month in The Japan Times<\/a>\n(Japan's main English-language daily), written by Alice Gordenker<\/a>. As the titles<\/span> of my blog posts that reference her\narticles indicate, the subject can become quite wacky:<\/p>\n\n

\n“Golden Poo: Feces of Financial Fortune<\/a>”\n“Snugglies for Trees, and More<\/a>”\n“The Wonder of Japan\u2019s Open-Air Urinals<\/a>”\n“Kyoto\u2019s Slightly Odd Tanukitanisan Fudouin Temple<\/a>”\n<\/div>\n\n

Somewhere over the years we became acquainted by email, and somehow last\nmonth I ended<\/span> up doing the photography for her\nnext column, on the decidedly non-wacky (but unexpectedly interesting)\nsubject of Japanese candles, scheduled to appear in the paper and online\nnext week (Update<\/b>: here it is<\/a>).\nI've been wanting to write this up this since before my new-year trip<\/a>, but I'm\nperpetually behind.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nSame Shot in B&W<\/span>\npaying attention to B&W because that's what the print version will use\n<\/div>\n\n

I'll leave the many interesting details to Alice's article<\/a>, but in short, the interesting points of\nthese candles are the shape and construction method, the wick, and the\nmaterial: they're not made of bee's wax. Prior to her explanation, I hadn't<\/span> even known that there was any other kind of\nwax, and now I know<\/span> that there are many, including from nuts(!)<\/p>\n\n

Update:<\/b> Alice now has on her blog more details about the wax and how it's made<\/a>, and ends with a video<\/span>\nshowing the intensively-manual way the candles are produced. Also see\nthis video<\/a> of someone with 50 years of experience making candles,\nand I've posted a short<\/span> followup<\/a> with a few<\/span> more pictures.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>13 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 5600 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nJust Lit<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nInteresting Wick<\/span>\n(crop from the photo above)<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I have some small and insufficient experience with the “product\nshot” type of photograph (most recently in “Prucia Plum Wine\nfrom France<\/a>” and “Failing a\nNew<\/span> Portraiture Challenge: Reflective Pottery<\/a>”) so I was<\/span> excited to give these candles a try.<\/span> Alice had interviewed a\ncandle<\/span> maker here in Kyoto, so she arranged for me to pick up some\ncandles from him to photograph.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>20 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 1600 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nDue Diligence<\/span>\nwith a color chart<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 100 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nUnruly<\/span>\nthese candle's flames are bright, and at times can be a bit<\/span> energetic\n<\/div>\n\n

The shots above are from my initial tests with the first candle (I was<\/span> given a pair<\/span>). To get the<\/span> shape-enhancing highlights on the sides of the candle, I'd flanked<\/span> it in solid white,\nvia a dry<\/span>-erase board and a large<\/span> kitchen cutting board propped up by a plant<\/span> pot:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 1000 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nFirst Setup<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

After hearing back from Alice and her editor on the first set of shots, I gave it<\/span> another try with the other candle. This time, rather than a dark<\/span>\nbackground, I tried<\/span> some very nice golden cloth-like Japanese rice paper\nthat St\u00e9phane Barbery<\/a> had shown me\nwhile doing some portraiture practice<\/a> at\nhis house (here's one of the shots he\ntook\/processed of me<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n

I first set up some lighting tests with a western<\/span> candle...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 100 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nQuick Test #1<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Then I brought in the half-used first candle for a closer<\/span>-to-reality second test...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>13 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 100 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nQuick Test #2<\/span>\nwith the half-used first candle\n<\/div>\n\n

Then finally I lit the fresh candle...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 100 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nInitial Flame<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Alice needed detail more than a full<\/span>-body\nshot, but I took<\/span> a few<\/span>\nanyway for this post. I extinguished<\/span> the flame and\nrecomposed some shots in the normal room lighting:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>5 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 100 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nclose crop of the prior shot\n<\/div>\n\n

Then back to the candle-light shot of the candle...<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>6 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 100 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nFull-Body Shot<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 100 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nJust About the Limit<\/span>\nbefore the wax spills over the edge\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nB&W version of the prior shot\n<\/div>\n\n

Except where noted, the illumination was all candle light, but in order\nto get even illumination, I used more<\/span> than one candle. Here's the\nsetup this time:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 29mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 1100 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nSetup For the Second Candle<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I used white foam-core boards on both sides and above (far enough above\nto be safe!) to keep as much light as possible and to provide neutral\nreflections. And having<\/span> learned a painful<\/span> lesson in reflections in the prior month's\n“Failing\na New<\/span> Portraiture Challenge: Reflective\nPottery<\/a>”, I made sure<\/span> to have a white<\/span> board clipped to the tripod, just under the\ncamera, to avoid unsightly reflections on the front of the candle. (A black<\/span>\nboard would have been better from the shape-enhancing point of view, but I\ndidn't<\/span> have one.)<\/p>\n\n

I included two western candles with relatively small flames to add\nadditional light where the main candle's light wouldn't suffice. I had to<\/span>\nhave them very close to make them bright enough, but far enough to the side to avoid\ncasting shadows of the candle onto the gold background.<\/p>\n\n

All in all it was a fun project, and I hope<\/span> the future lets me team up with Alice again.<\/p>\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I've long enjoyed the \"So, What the Heck is That?\" column each month in The Japan Times (Japan's main English-language daily), written by Alice Gordenker. As the titles of my blog posts that reference her articles indicate, the subject can become quite wacky:<\/p>

Somewhere over the years we became acquainted by email, and somehow last month I ended up doing the photography for her next column, on the decidedly non-wacky (but unexpectedly interesting) subject of Japanese candles, scheduled to appear in the paper and online next week (Update<\/b>: here it is). I've been wanting to write this up this since [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}