I ventured out with my new camera for a few hours yesterday. The Irish Fair takes place every year over Father's Day weekend, and this year it was held at El Dorado Park in Long Beach. These are some of the highlights...
The Young Dubliners are a local band who often play at the fair.
And so are the Fenians
There were several Irish Wolfhounds roaming the grounds. They are the size of small horses. This is a 4 month old puppy!
Dancers from the local dance schools competed as well.
I'm still just learning all the things this camera can do. It was the first outing with it. I can't say I was pleased, but I'm trying to be patient.
I don't think you've much to be disappointed about. I think its done its job nicely in fact. And if you use the crop tool you'll find some really gorgeous photos. (there's two in portrait with the dancers backs viewing the stage)
ReplyDeleteI think I know why you are disappointed, and how to solve it.
OK, you were in a tent which you have to think of as a huge light source, like a shoot-through umbrella at a studio. But there is a fall off of light between the canopy and the stage. You'll note the faces are absolutely lovely bathed in a soft light. But from the face, nearest to the canopy, the light lessens by the square of the distance. The only way to overcome the issue is to aid the canopy by shooting a flash up into it. Of course, there is a problem though with the band. The tent is divided, so you'd no be able to drive a light into it.
The issue with the pipers, is much the same. If you had a strobe you could have pointed it straight up or slightly back and got more light fill. Then you could've closed to aperture to sharpen things.
It'll be little harm to get a speedlight/flash/strobe (same thing) for the in built flash is shite, and will make people look like criminals. Better to have a directional strobe to point up to the ceiling. Many of them have little cards that you pull out to give a catchlight in peoples eyes.
The dancer, you have to think of her as a sports person, where you either freeze the action or like in the 2nd one have motion blur. You'll improve those shots no end by going into photoshop and lighten the pixels in their eyes. There's a tool for it.
Overall, I was right, you do have a good eye, an instinctive eye. And the camera is not half bad. Further if you've got those shots in M, stick to M. Going to Auto would only be useful to have a belt and braces of something you absolutely have to have, like the Washington Memorial/Lincoln/Jefferson for the kids next year.
Yes, the tent was where I was most disappointed. In auto it kept popping the flash up, but when I turned it off I got such dark shots. But, like you said, the flash mucked them up too.
DeleteI was SHOCKED with the color in the dancers' dresses. I have never had that much saturation in color with a camera, ever. It's almost overwhelming.
There are several settings for many of those scenarios - people, sports/action, etc. I've been reluctant to try them (mostly since I can't remember where they are :) but I'm going to get into those as soon as I get this week of school work out of the way. Logically I know it's all trial and error, and patience is needed - but often I lack that personality trait. :)
And thank you for the thoughtful information. I very much appreciate it.
DeleteI didn't know you got a new camera. I am assuming it is a DSLR. Don't worry. It will take about 2 years to learn how to use every feature. And even after you have all the features down pat, it will take a couple of years of practicing before you can say you are killing it! : ) The festival looks fun! I love the dogs!
ReplyDeleteYes! DSLR, the new little Rebel. Years?!?!?! Oh sheesh! ;) My plan after my work commitments are over is to get out and about and maybe focus on one or two features at a time as I'm getting a bit overwhelmed thinking of everything it can do.
DeleteThe pictures at least indicate that you must have had fun at the fair.
ReplyDeleteMeh, I think it might be on its last legs frankly. We've been going for years and the quality of everything from vendors to performers has kind of taken a nose dive. I really like the two bands I shared above and will see them when they perform in bars in LA. They're really why we went this year, because the rest wasn't all that great. But I did enjoy testing the camera there - something different.
DeleteDid you tell us what kind of camera it is? I'll go looking in past blog posts to see. Yes, be patient with the camera sometimes it can be something as simple as tweeking the factory settings so they please your eyes more.
ReplyDeleteYes, patience is a virtue blah, blah, blah. ;) I am appreciating that advice about the small adjustments against the auto settings. Thinking about using all the features (or figuring them out before using them) is very overwhelming.
DeleteThose settings are on the main dial beside the M. I forgot what canon call them, but it is not the first thing you'd think. Then a sub menu will show up on the screen, it might be Cl.
ReplyDeleteAs to the pop up flash, it simply won't get the best from the scene. You can get a yongnuo new for $60, used for half. It will simply break your heart if you are going to be doing lots of indoor shots for the light from the popup is so hard and unflattering. And you can be always holding a sheet of white printer paper between it and the subject.
The saturation in the color may be due to the internal process when it is forming the JPEG. But it may be the sheer volume of the dresses too. They're not exactly watercolour tints are they.
And I'll stop now on the advice, unless you ask. You need the fun of finding it. :-)
I began a reply this morning during breakfast when the dog smacked me in the eye with her paw, scratching my eyeball. I couldn't open my eye for about 30 minutes and then had to leave for work. Now I don't remember what I was going to write. :)
DeleteI will ask, because I do appreciate the advice. I have had the booklet out the last couple of days, trying to make heads or tails of where things are, getting more familiar with the controls. There are a lot embedded within those settings on the knob. It's kind of cool that this camera's menu is touch screen, but there are layers of settings within those controls using the menus. It's amazing what it can do! Even after all the reading I did about it before buying it, I really didn't have any idea how many options there truly were.
And is the eye OK. Were you not shifting your ass out of bed fast enough for her liking. My one will wait calmly if I ignore her after wakening but the instant I look at her I get a welcome like she not seen me in days.
DeleteIf you can download the bit of the booklet you want and print it. That makes things far easier, I found. You can then hold it while reading, and flick between the two with your good eye :-). Those booklets are designed for 30:20 vision, and who has that.
You know where a good spot to crash learn would be that amphitheatre up in the Hollywood hills you went to a while ago. It has focus pts through the distances and in and out of different light. There's probably other places that gives that down and up that you know that are probably prettier. Something like a Japanese garden in a glen.
Yes, it's fine, thank you. I kept my hand over it as I finished getting ready for work and then it started to feel better. She had already been out, been on a walk, been fed, she was really just fine until she was the third most important thing on my mind behind breakfast and the ipad. That's when the paws came out. :). It's my own fault really as she is quite animated and a little pushy, using her paws and "talking" to get your attention. I think it's kind of cute so let her do it. But it's not so cute when I have guests and she whacks them in the head or howls at them if they stop petting her. :)
DeleteYes, the Hollywood Bowl is a beautiful place. I've plans to attend a show there in mid July. That would be a good place to practice for sure.
A bit like one of those boxing kangaroos.
DeleteHow does she whack em on the head though. Is your dining room Japanese in layout. Darn cool if it is.
Ha ha ha! No, I was sitting on the edge of the bed and she was sitting on the bed too. With company she tries to climb into laps but isn't allowed to be on the couch so does it very sneakily, ya know one foot at a time so we don't notice. That keeps everyone off guard and she'll have her head in a lap and before you know it she has her front feet on you, and maybe even a back foot or two. Once you realize there's a 50 pound dog sitting in your lap and try to push her off or stop petting her the "gloves" come out. As I said, it's my own fault. But I think it's kind of funny - she has such a personality. :)
DeleteEl Dorado Park is across the street from my sister's condo! That was so funny when I read that...there is always some cool festival going on there. The Indian one is awesome.
ReplyDelete