I’ve been very quiet this week, unfortunately I have been struck down by that most deadly of diseases Man Flu.
Luckily the kids thus far seem to have avoided it so I can’t even blame them for being disease carrying pests as I would normally do when I’m sick.
The poor dog has also suffered as whilst I have walked her a couple of times this week it’s not been as frequent or for as long as I would do normally.
Anyway moving on from my sympathy gathering attempts I’d like to talk about this weeks photography theme which was playing with light. I was really excited about this as the majority of my free time for photography is at night anyway but the battery in my little Canon IXUS died and the charger is buried under a whole bunch of kids stuff that we’re planning on selling but haven’t gotten around to doing yet. So I decided that I’d take out my other camera my bigger and much more obvious Fuji HS20EXR, something I have historically avoided during my nocturnal wanderings for a couple of reasons.
One being that we don’t live in the nicest of area’s and I’m not that keen on being mugged for it, not that I’ve ever personally felt threatened but I know plenty of others who have.
Two it’s pretty bulky and difficult to shoot single-handed which is something I need to do with the dog being held by my other hand.
With these thoughts in mind I was pretty nervous about taking this weeks shots but I must strike a pretty imposing figure in my bulky coat, baseball cap and heavily muscled Staffordshire Bull Terrier Straining at her leash as I’ve still not had any issues with the drunken yobo’s who inhabit our neighbourhood. It’s taken my a while to figure out the best settings for night shooting with the Fuji, the automatic settings that I initially tried (one-handed and looking for a base to work from) produce incredibly unacceptable levels of noise even if I limit ISO to auto 400 (capped at ISO400).
The shot I submitted after playing with the settings is below
Camera: FinePix HS20EXR
Exposure: 0.357 sec (1/3)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 29.1 mm
ISO Speed: 400
As you can tell the noise levels are still pretty high but I liked the varying aura’s around the lights enough to decide that I could live with it.
I’ve still not dug out the charger for the little Canon and have continued to tempt fate and play with the larger Fuji during my walks, I’m still not happy with the levels of low light performance that I’m getting but my shots are definitely improving especially if shooting in black and white.
Will you still love me will you still need me....
colour's also improving but I'm still not that confident with it.
a different perspective
This coming weeks theme is Night so I’m going to have to keep focussing on my low light skills to provide you with something I’m proud of. Until the next time TTFN Mr Bunny Chow
The life and photography of Mr Bunny Chow 