(no subject)
Mar. 5th, 2007 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickReasonably good day today. I took my digital camera out in the dark. (Assignment for photography club meeting that really, for real, I am planning on making it to this coming week for sure was "Take pictures in minimal light". Right, then.)
Not too bad, really. I'm getting the hang of the manual controls (Yes, these would be the manual controls on my point-n-shoot Canon. It has them. I don't generally use them. However, it keeps wanting to flash at night and I don't want flash. Minimal light does not include flash, for fuck's sake.)
I waited until dark. And then, well, I went out and took pictures. Since this is the country, it gets pretty damn dark. I had a lot of black-screen going on with my poor little digital camera, which did not think it should have to be running around outside in the dark and the cold taking pictures. (These are all reasonably-sized things generated by irfanview. Full-size images have way visible grain in them because I'm a n00b at this and still need a primer on things like setting exposure and what the hell ISO is and so forth. Mostly this evening I was just pressing random buttons, which doesn't strike me as a recipe for success. Also, I need a tripod. Totally and completely, I need a fucking tripod. There is no way that I can hold the damn camera still enough for long enough to manage this shit in low light levels. It's nearly impossible so auto-mode sets the exposure too short and then there is grain.)
First, we have The Shed Needs A New Door. This was grainy as hell. Fortunately, I live right near it and can try again with something to prop the camera on after I've read about how to let the camera spend more time taking the picture.
Next, we have what A Streetlight With Grainy, Piss-colored Halo. It doesn't really look like this and I need more clue so that I can find out how to make the camera see what I see. I'm going to have to (after four years of owning the camera) read the boring parts of the manual. There are pre-provided filters, allegedly. I wonder what those do?
This one is Dead Culvert With Snow. I like the diagonality of it. It's black on the top and white on the bottom and the dividing diagonaly culvert is reverse because of the snow on the top and the unsnowed part on the bottom and... hell. If I were better at this, I would not have to tell you about the diagonal-y bits, you'd be able to see them on your own.
Semi On The Turnpike -- you're going to see a lot of these because I live right near the turnpike and have a great set of vantage points for taking pictures of semi trucks on the damn thing. Also, there's always traffic, so I don't have to wait forever for a car to come along, something that is a possibility if I were trying to take pictures of, say, Semi On The Road To Mench. (This complaint does not include Milk Trucks.)
Breezewood At Night -- see note for Semi. There's a big bark of a mountain right outside of Breezewood and I live on the other side of it. At the top of the big bark of a mountain, there are no trees. There's a nice spot for pulling over, as long as you don't pay too much attention to the "No Stopping" signs. I have seen more Mountaintop Vistas Including Breezewood than you can shake a stick at, in all kinds of weather and all kinds of lighting and all seasons. Shoot what you know? I know Breezewood. By the time I'm done, so will you.
Rusty Milking Stool By Firelight About the tripod? I meant it. Lots. I want longer exposures and clearer shots of things-by-firelight. Interestingly, my cat sits still enough that it should be possible to do a picture of her via the fire. (Making the woodstove produce enough light for pictures is nontrivial and requires some planning, just so that you know.)
Torch and Pipe. Yes, I do have a torch and, er, as-yet-unrecycled copper pipe sitting around in my living room. Wanna make something of it? Lookit ther pretty colors!!
Cheap Candle In Corning Dish. It's surprisingly yellow, candle light. Tripod. I gotta get a tripod. My hands are not very damn steady and I either get grain (insufficient light) or blur (moving the camera while it's busy trying to collect photons or whatever).
Blue Coat By Candlelight I actually really like this (despite grain in larger size). It's dark enough to be the suggestion of a coat instead of really-a-coat.
Not too bad, really. I'm getting the hang of the manual controls (Yes, these would be the manual controls on my point-n-shoot Canon. It has them. I don't generally use them. However, it keeps wanting to flash at night and I don't want flash. Minimal light does not include flash, for fuck's sake.)
I waited until dark. And then, well, I went out and took pictures. Since this is the country, it gets pretty damn dark. I had a lot of black-screen going on with my poor little digital camera, which did not think it should have to be running around outside in the dark and the cold taking pictures. (These are all reasonably-sized things generated by irfanview. Full-size images have way visible grain in them because I'm a n00b at this and still need a primer on things like setting exposure and what the hell ISO is and so forth. Mostly this evening I was just pressing random buttons, which doesn't strike me as a recipe for success. Also, I need a tripod. Totally and completely, I need a fucking tripod. There is no way that I can hold the damn camera still enough for long enough to manage this shit in low light levels. It's nearly impossible so auto-mode sets the exposure too short and then there is grain.)
First, we have The Shed Needs A New Door. This was grainy as hell. Fortunately, I live right near it and can try again with something to prop the camera on after I've read about how to let the camera spend more time taking the picture.
Next, we have what A Streetlight With Grainy, Piss-colored Halo. It doesn't really look like this and I need more clue so that I can find out how to make the camera see what I see. I'm going to have to (after four years of owning the camera) read the boring parts of the manual. There are pre-provided filters, allegedly. I wonder what those do?
This one is Dead Culvert With Snow. I like the diagonality of it. It's black on the top and white on the bottom and the dividing diagonaly culvert is reverse because of the snow on the top and the unsnowed part on the bottom and... hell. If I were better at this, I would not have to tell you about the diagonal-y bits, you'd be able to see them on your own.
Semi On The Turnpike -- you're going to see a lot of these because I live right near the turnpike and have a great set of vantage points for taking pictures of semi trucks on the damn thing. Also, there's always traffic, so I don't have to wait forever for a car to come along, something that is a possibility if I were trying to take pictures of, say, Semi On The Road To Mench. (This complaint does not include Milk Trucks.)
Breezewood At Night -- see note for Semi. There's a big bark of a mountain right outside of Breezewood and I live on the other side of it. At the top of the big bark of a mountain, there are no trees. There's a nice spot for pulling over, as long as you don't pay too much attention to the "No Stopping" signs. I have seen more Mountaintop Vistas Including Breezewood than you can shake a stick at, in all kinds of weather and all kinds of lighting and all seasons. Shoot what you know? I know Breezewood. By the time I'm done, so will you.
Rusty Milking Stool By Firelight About the tripod? I meant it. Lots. I want longer exposures and clearer shots of things-by-firelight. Interestingly, my cat sits still enough that it should be possible to do a picture of her via the fire. (Making the woodstove produce enough light for pictures is nontrivial and requires some planning, just so that you know.)
Torch and Pipe. Yes, I do have a torch and, er, as-yet-unrecycled copper pipe sitting around in my living room. Wanna make something of it? Lookit ther pretty colors!!
Cheap Candle In Corning Dish. It's surprisingly yellow, candle light. Tripod. I gotta get a tripod. My hands are not very damn steady and I either get grain (insufficient light) or blur (moving the camera while it's busy trying to collect photons or whatever).
Blue Coat By Candlelight I actually really like this (despite grain in larger size). It's dark enough to be the suggestion of a coat instead of really-a-coat.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 02:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 12:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 03:40 pm (UTC)Torch and candle photos = kewl
Date: 2007-03-06 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-07 01:08 am (UTC)very nice, for one of those little canon doohickies.
i guess i should learn the manual controls on my sd400... (or at least figure out how to kill the damned flash)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-07 02:25 am (UTC)I know that these are fairly craptastic images and that there is a blurry/grainy issue going on. However, they were the first try. I now (see previous post before yours) have a tripod. It has helped considerably. Day two of taking pictures in the dark went rather better than day one. It helps some that I'm getting a feel for what the different camera buttons do. (Dummy mode is not really suited to taking pictures in the dark without any flash and while I'm pretty handy with dummy mode, I'm not at all good at using the actual *settings* on the camera. Part of the taking-pictures-at-night project is to teach me how to use the settings on my camera.)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-08 03:29 pm (UTC)tripods are pretty key for doing low-light photography. in the event that you don't have one handy, tho, there's always the lean-against-something-solid trick.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-08 04:20 pm (UTC)