Grain or Noise

In the bad old days of film, pushing film meant exposing the film at a higher ISO setting than that for which it was manufactured. The resulting image had greatly increased grain. The more you pushed, the greater the grain. Push 400 ISO film to 3200 ISO and the grain could get downright nasty.

Today's digital cameras also have an ISO setting at which they are most comfortable. This is the lowest ISO setting that the camera usually handles. 50 ISO or 100 ISO are common. Set the ISO higher and you are, in effect, pushing the CCD or CMOS chip with a resulting increase in electronic noise. This looks a lot like snow on a television screen.

To give you an idea of what happens when you set your ISO too high, I shot today's picture at 1600 ISO. I like the composition but hate the noise. In situations like this, if you must push the chip do it, but only if you must. If you can wait and take the picture under brighter conditions. Wait. You will be rewarded with much cleaner, stronger, more appealing pictures.

Personally, I prefer the image noise to the harsh and almost shadowless light from the on-camera electronic flash. Generally, the only time I prefer the on-camera flash is at parties when shooting couples and groups of posing friends. At these times, we are not going for art but clean record pictures.

Think support_Steady that camera

After getting the shot in the park (see yesterday's post), I returned to Horton Street to await the return of my wife with the car. There was a street sign beside the roadway that I could use as an improvised monopod. With my little camera it is best to refrain from shooting at the high ISO settings, the images get grainy or noisy. I prefer to support the camera, accept the motion blur, and shoot at the usual 50 ISO. It works for me.

This is a worthwhile tip even if your camera has built-in image stabilization. The IS system helps to keep the image pin sharp, heightening the contrast with the motion blurred automobiles. My old camera does not have an IS system.

The advantage of a one size fits all camera

If you have a bag of lenses and fully manual camera, you think you can do anything. You can't. You can do a lot but not everything.

If you have a small point and shoot, like my Canon SD10, you think, "I can't do anything." It is so restrictive. Restrictive? Yes. But, you can do a lot. And once you have faced the problem, tackle it with imagination and a whole new world of photography will open for you.

I like long lenses. If I had had my equipment from the paper, where I worked just a few months ago, I would have been much farther back from this scene with a 200mm f/1.8 lens. I'd have made a picture that was flatter, more compressed.

With my Canon SD10 I have but one lens, a 28mm* lens. For a working pro, it is a slow lens at f/2.8 but for a point and shoot it is fast as it is always f/2.8. This constant lens speed was achieved by simply not offering a zoom. A low tech solution but still the lens is always fast.

This long lens lover is being forced to get friendly with the wide angle lens. It is at this point that doors begin to open. The moment captured in today's picture is but a brief moment. The fog was thickening and thinning as I viewed the scene and the effect, when combined with the setting sun, was shifting literally by the second.

Forced to use a wide angle, I ran into the park to get close to the trees. I needed something in the foreground. I had to work with, and accent, the steep perspective that a wide angle can offer. I got close and then I held the camera high above my head to capture more of the curving sidewalk. I took picture after picture, checking the composition of each one after it was shot.

I had just a minute before the moment passed.

I also posted this image on London Daily Photo.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Got this comment on another blog. I like the line.
"Nice shot! You know they say the best lenses are those two legs!" Comment by: Christopher Szabo

f/8 and be there

The rule used to be, "f/8 and be there." When I left my job at the local television station to move to the local paper, my friends at the station gave me an f/8.

Today's point and shoot cameras have buried the f/8 part of the rule. My little Canon SD10 does not allow one to set an aperture. Aperture?

But being there is still important and if you have a little point and shoot at the ready, you've got your picture.

Is it art? Should I be proud to of today's picture, a picture which owes so much to my choice of camera? Of course it's art and I am proud. I made the choice and clearly I delegated wisely.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Is it art?

If you haven't done so, please read my take on why photography is art. You can find the essay on Rockin' On: the Blog.

Now, about this picture. Yes, like almost all the other images on this blog, this picture was shot with an aging Canon SD10. The sky was way too bright compared to the toilette in the foreground and so the sky was washing out in order to capture detail in the john.

First, I turned on the flash. As a rule I keep the flash off but rules are meant to be broken. Then I aimed the camera at the sky and exposed for the warm, sunset sky and the clouds. Then, I re-composed the picture to include the toilette. When I took the picture, the flash filled in the detail in the white porcelain throne. It even gave it a bit of a neat sparkle that takes away the dirty old john feel.

Even using a point and shoot, it helps to keep your brain in gear.

Add a little action

Yesterday, with only my little, aging, Canon SD10 ELPH, I shot pictures of the annual Terry Fox Run. I saw people lined up here for pictures and there for pictures but I so no one actually shooting pictures during the event.

I use my little camera in fully automatic mode. This does not mean that it does everything; I have to add a wee bit of brain power. For instance, I try to shoot action pictures only in bright sunlight if both the subject and I are in motion - in this case jogging. If I am in deep shade with lots of leafy tree cover, the camera will choose too slow a shutter speed.

I've heard the complaint that in bright light it is impossible to take pictures as the screen is impossible to see. The solution: don't worry about seeing everything perfectly.

When I was a news shooter it was common to hold your camera high above a crowd to get a clear shot. It didn't always work; you didn't always get a good picture. But, if you didn't try you would never get that photo. Never!

So, the next time you are involved in a walk or a run, don't just line the family up for a "four against the wall" photo. Try for an action picture. Just remember to have the four in a line photo on which to fall back.

Cheers,
Rockinon.

Scale Is Important

This little baby girl, Fiona, is only minutes old. Her mother's hand, adjusting the newborn's pink blanket, seems so huge next to the little infant. Fiona is only six and a half pounds and it shows in this picture. The window light is soft and neutral in colour and creates an all important catch light in her eye and the little yawn, such alertness in child but minutes old, also adds interest. The composition is rather classic, almost following the Rule of Thirds. The camera used was my trusty little Canon SD10. The relatively fast f/2.8 lens is a plus in these situations. Staying away from straight on strobe is almost always a good idea.