Pretty girls and a compact camera.

Pretty girls, wonderfully bright clothes, a lightly clouded day, and a camera. Sounds perfect. I took these photographs back in 2010. I have been going through my old photos and looking for images I can use. I have digital images from around 2002 and film and slide from before that. Covid, it turns out, has given me the perfect opportunity to peruse through the past. Besides, it gives me a break from painting.

I used a Canon SX1-IS, which is a compact 10 megapixel camera that boasts a 20x zoom lens. Although today's standards would scorn 10 MP, the fact is that there is plenty of detail present; enough for serious cropping or enlarging. This is one of the reasons I encourage people starting out to consider buying older equipment to learn on. It still has plenty of functionality and most digital DSLRs are rated for well over 150,000 actuations. Most people wouldn't take that many pictures during their entire lives. This particular compact camera used a small sensor with RAW capability. An intriguing combination; it performed reasonably well overall.

The function I attended presented ample opportunity to use the camera. I have lots of interesting photos from the event but particularly liked the two photos I took of the young ladies dressed in festive heritage attire. As is my ken, I took two photos of the girls, one with and one without flash. The flash was a built-in unit and was not especially powerful. The light cloud kept harsh shadows off their faces meaning that a stronger flash wasn't required. There was just enough light to make a difference. You can see that the bottom image (with flash) has better colour (more saturation) and less harsh facial features. There is also the presence of slight shadows in the top image around the eyes and under the chin. These detract from the overall appearance and are responsible for the overall harshness.

Turning a flash on when none is required is applying a technique called fill flash. I have done blogs on this before; it is a valuable method of improving photographs with people. There is much more that can be done with an external flash; the built-in one on the compact I was using would not have done much good on a bright, sunny day. The light cloud combined with the fact I could get close to the subjects meant that I could keep the aperture wide open (f/3.5) and the flash could make a significant impact on the image.

Using fill flash is a simple affair. It just means turning it on when taking the picture. Built-in flashes are notoriously underpowered and require a few simple guidelines for success. Use aperture priority and keep the aperture to its minimum value. Use a wide-angle setting. Keep fairly close to the subject. Once you get more than 5 or 6 feet away the effect is seriously affected. I suggest that you take two photos - one with the flash turned off and one with the flash on. Compare them later and see for yourself.

Most cell phones have a flash built into them. I often find that it is an impotent device and is rarely capable of making a dent in an image when fill flash is attempted. The bottom line is to use a proper camera when attempting fill flash, and an external flash (guide number 100 or better) when working in bright sunlight or when your subject is farther away than previously indicated.

I did have fun. And the girls were pretty. And I got some nice photos. It was a glorious day.

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I found a black widow spider in a plant pot today

Image
The spider I found is a western black widow spider, one of three species of black widow that occur in North America.  The fact that this one has another red patch on the back of its abdomen above the spinnerettes tells us that it is an immature individual. The one thing that people know about black widow spiders is that they are extremely poisonous.  Their venom is something like 15x more toxic than that of a rattlesnake.  The saving grace is that there is very little venom injected from a black widow bite than what a rattlesnake can deliver.   The good news is that black widow bites seldom lead to death.  You are more likely to suffer nausea, muscle pain, and swelling around the bite.  Symptoms usually last only 12 hours or so.  Death may be a result in people with compromised immune systems or in the very young or the elderly.   In 2018, it was reported that there were 1015 cases of people bitten by black widows.  Of those, there ...
Read more

The passing of a generation

Image
Kathryn's mom and dad with our children, Josh and Leanne. A generation, for North America, tends to be between 20 and 30 years.  During that time a couple will give birth and raise children to see them repeat the pattern as they themselves have done.  Each generation has its own set of standards, values, and ideals based upon their experiences and culture, and some of that is passed down to their offspring.  What changes are the life experiences of the following generation and the new customs and ideals that are blended together as a couple becomes a family. Kathryn's mom passed away a few days ago, she was predeceased by her husband several years ago.  Both of them were the grandparents of my children, the mother and father of my wife, Kathryn.  It was my pleasure to know them and to love them as my own, for to me they were Mom and Dad.  And they were there to welcome my children into the world just as my children were with them in spirit when they left it...
Read more

Hang in there, things will get better.

Image
The Svendsen Family - Eric, Samuel, Leanne, Joshua (top row), Nora, Kathryn, Chanelle, Emma If I could go back, in my mind, to a day in my life when I was really down, it would be nice to be able to see into the future.  If could see things as they are today, with the many blessings that have been given to me, it would give me hope knowing that things wouldn't always be so discouraging.   The message here is we do not know what the future holds.  When things are bad, it is hard to raise your head out of the mire to see beyond the darkness.  There are no guarantees, of course, that things will be better, but I think it is true that fortunes ebb and flow as tides do.  The trick is to see beyond the low points and not be too haughty during the high ones.  I know that, at this moment, things are very good.  What the future holds is unknown, but low and high points are likely in the forecast.   This is why taking satisfaction from the moment ...
Read more