A Colorful Photo

One assignment that I had for my digital photography class was to have the longest focal length and smallest f-stop that my camera was capable of using manual mode to take the photo.  Here was my result:

ISO 100 135mm 0ev f/5.6 1/6

I really ended up liking this shot.  I suspect part of the reason I like it is because of the contrasting blue and orange colors.  This photo is marbles in a candle holder, sitting on top of my Mac that has a blue cover.  A pretty easy to stage photo.  As a bit of a weird side note, this is the second thing that I have taken a picture of that has broken within the next day.  The other was my mailbox, which I wrote about here.  This time it was the candle holder which shattered the next day.

Given the slow shutter speed, a tripod was necessary to get the shot.  I used my kit lens which is a 28-135mm.  The lowest shutter speed that you can get here is a f/5.6.  Given that it was a sunny day outside, there was more than enough light to get a good exposure, so I could have my ISO at 100 without a problem.

I think the other reason I am liking this photo today is that it is cold and rather dark here.  A bit of cheerful color just helps to brighten my day, I hope that you enjoy it as well.

Cheers!

How would you approach this?

This is a Harris Hawk:

ISO 125 50mm f/5 1/25

I used the 50mm lens because I thought it would give me a more detailed shot.  I am trying to show the lovely variations of brown that are in the feathers of this bird.  They are nice, but it is hard to get enough contrast to really show what is there.  The fact that it sits mostly in the shade is working against me too.  Any thoughts on how you might approach it?

Cheers!