50mm saves the day!

Firstly, I have a huge queue of photos needing sorting and processing, which include some shots from the party...which I will upload eventually!

Thought I'd post about photography at the Great British Beer Festival last week - which always proves to be the most challenging location photographically for me every year.

As you'll see from the first pic (for information really, it's technically messy!), it's a nightmare of not-very-bright mixed lighting (white balance is always fun), bad backgrounds, hot spots, high ceilings and nothing to bounce flash off.

Initially, I tried using the flash, but with no bounce opportunities, found I was getting harsh foregrounds and too much drop off in the backgrounds (second pic). Forced to use ISO 800 and a wide aperture anyway to try and balance everything a bit more - with the associated noise - I figured I might as well try some flash-free shooting with the 50mm...and got some much better shots - like the third pic.

Interestingly enough, having snooped on the file info for the shots taken by the pro on the first day, he took a very similar approach - no flash and ISO 1250...his shots with a Canon 1D3 and rather more expensive zoom lens were outstanding considering the difficulties.

16-85@16mm, 3s, f/22, ISO100



16-85@38mm, 1/50s, f/4,8, ISO800



50mm, 1/50s, f/2.5, ISO800

A noisy noise etc Pt 2

Rather than just being a sad pixel-peeper, there is a reason for the 100 per cent cropping! This example, again shot at 1600ISO, but when the idiot behind the camera realised he had a VR lense and wasn't taking advantage of it!

f5.3 and shot at around 1/15s this time - clear difference how less noisy the image is if the shot is properly exposed...which is a lesson I'll try and remember (or perhaps pack either my old film Richoh, ditch the D300 and stick to the lower MP D70 or buy a monopod re Kev's suggestions! ;) )

Again, first two images are unprocessed, converted straight from RAW. Second two are with very light noise reduction applied.

A noisy noise annoys a photographer pt 1

Lacking the budget for a decent travel tripod and the fact the £30 Jessop finest I do have doesn't actually fit into my "three-day-trip" size bag, I ended up experimenting with low light, handheld photography in some dark and dingy Czech breweries illuminated by dark and dingy late-november light.

First example is a massively underexposed 1/60s, f8 at 1600ISO shot, with 100 per cent crop to show just how nasty it is and then, really just as a bit of fun, what slamming Photoshop's noise reduction filter through it at max settings does. Result: some really odd smearing and additional texture, but I'm surprised how much detail gets retained.

Dark wedding dances

Often a problem at events, and not just weddings, lots of people, lots of motion, dark room, mixed lighting, high ceilings and nowhere to use bounce flash. Traditional approach is relatively fast shutter speed , perhaps dragging it a little to try and bring up the background (in this case
1/30) and keeping fingers crossed. Personally, I find this gets pretty lacklustre results, flashed out foreground (thanks for unwittingly demonstrating Alice!), dark background and "frozen" motion doesn't tell the story.

Been playing around with a really long dragged shutter (1 or 2 secs) and rear flash for the last few weddings I've been to, to see what effects I can get.


Might just be me, but I prefer the second approach - warmer, more dynamic, goes someway to actually showing what was going on in terms of motion and excitement, but rear flash rescues enough detail so you're not just seeing a mess of blur!

Interested to find out what you guys think.

(I've not touched the images, other than to save as JPGs by the way - I'd crop both tighter and I'm sure playing with D-lighting or similar on the first could help it)