Half light

In Digital, Nature
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Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
–William Butler Yeats

The idea of capturing dreams and light and half light, as so beautifully stated in Yeats’ poem, inspired me to take a photo walk last week. It wasn’t immediately clear how to express dreams and half light on a bright summer afternoon. But I brought along my 50mm lens, (which often makes magical images), and started to play.


I set the aperture to 1.8 and stepped down the exposure.  And then I played in the “light and half light,” bending down, pointing my lens at the dark spaces while tipping the camera towards the light.   I hoped to capture light and dark, blur and abstraction, and maybe a little magic.

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Is there a poem or phrase that inspires you to capture images that seem a little magical?  I hope you have the opportunity to play in “the night and light and half light.” Just remember to tread softly …  xxoo

–Lucy

7 Comments

  1. Utterly stunning, Lucy. How magical perfectly in touch with Aedh’s Cloths of Heaven.

  2. oh! well done, Lucy!
    lovelovelove that Yeats inspired you in this way and all these beautiful images followed…

  3. Swooning over your images. They sing to me with their dark/light contrasty beauty. I must be a fan of the half-light too.

  4. Truly exquisite, Lucy. I love that you chose the 50mm fixed perspective, which is our own natural viewpoint when cameras aren’t in hand, and those wide apertures really draw us into the half-light with all the softness and twinkle that it holds.

  5. most definitely a magical set of images. just beautiful! xxoo deb

  6. Yes! These are beautiful images. I love the mingling of shadows and light…and that bokeh!

  7. That slice of focus is my favorite. Being inspired by a poem and then going out and shooting sounds like a great practice.

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