Another Noteworthy Fire Hydrant

Here’s a shot I took a few weeks back at the Chalmette Battlefield with the Promaster 35mm using the 28mm lens. Kodak Portra 400 was the film but unfortunately I can’t remember what aperture and shutter settings I used.  I guess I am going to have to get a little notebook or something to jot that info down as I take pictures.

I really like the idea of shooting fire hydrants with landmarks or other noteworthy subjects in the background. It just kind of underscores the fact the fire hydrants are one of the most truly ubiquitous objects around.  The of course challenge is framing and composition. As much as I love trees I would really have liked to trim a few limbs in this picture. The Chalmette Monument sits just to the right of the Beauregard House, obscured by a couple tree limbs.

Thoughts on Film vs Digital

I do love the convenience of picking up the Nikon P-300, putting it in my pocket, snapping a couple of pictures whenever I want and immediately seeing the results. I can also upload them to the blog or where ever I want or need them, all within minutes if I so choose.

Here’s a couple shots I took with it to prove that we do indeed have Fall colors in South Louisiana. Of course, of the 50+ trees on the property this is the only one showing Fall colors.

This one was shot at f3.7, 1/400 and ISO 160.

This one was shot at f3.3, 1/1600, and ISO 160.

Why the P-300 program chose those particular settings is somewhat of a mystery to me but the pictures came out pretty good.

Had I been shooting ISO 400 film (I really like the Kodak Portra 400) in my 35 mm SLR, I probably would have taken the shots at 1/250 or 1/500 and varied the aperture from about f6 to f12 to suit the available lighting situation. The smaller aperture would have given better depth of field but the Nikon did okay considering it was set for full auto (photography for idiots) mode.

There is little danger of me switching completely over to digital however. In my opinion (and that of many others, including some professionals) there is really no comparison between film and digital. To even approach the kind of results I get with my 35mm using digital camera technology I would have to spend many times what I have invested in my cameras & lenses. Besides, the whole approach and philosophy of digital photography is completely different than with analog photography.

When I shoot my digital camera I just keep shooting until I get what I want and rarely if ever take just one or two shots. With analog I plot and plan, wait patiently for the exact right moment and then take “The Shot.” I can’t think of any clever analogies. It’s just two very different ways of taking pictures. 

Darkness Descends On Us Next Week

There’s nothing like putting your feet up at the end of a long day and watching the sun go down with something cool to drink.

 

Here’s another shot taken with the P-300 on full automatic although I did use the EV adjustment dial to overexpose 1 ½ stops to help balance out the inside and outside light intensities. I also tried to use the built in flash for fill flash but kept getting glare on the window.

I also just realized that this weekend we switch back to standard time. No more daylight savings time means sunset at about 5 pm and severe limitations on photographic adventures, at least for old single aperture/single shutter speed cameras and the Holga.

I can still shoot available light with fast film in the 35mm and the digital seems to like night shots. I have been toying with the idea of mounting a flash in the Holga to see how that works out. Some versions of the Holga come with a built in flash and a color wheel for special effects.

Of course there’s still the weekends; lots of daylight available there, but don’t be surprised if you start seeing more nigh time shots posted here.

The Proof is in the Pictures

Here’s a couple shots taken with my new Nikon P-300 with everything set to full automatic (pictures for idiots) mode.

This shot is basically the same one I have taken with my 35mm and the Holga (see Sept 28 post). Not bad! The 35mm shot is much sharper and the color saturation is better. The Holga is, well, it’s a Holga – what can I say?

Here’s another interesting shot, sharpness is good. Color is okay.  I brightened things up a bit in Picasa (it’s a digital shot after all so no foul there) because this time of year the sun is setting earlier so this one was a little dark.

I am really impressed with the sharpness and overall performance of night time shots like this one. I guess it’s the vibration reduction function that allowed me to hand hold this ½ second shot and still get a clear sharp image.

So far I am pretty happy with this little camera. The quality of the pictures is good. The menus are easy to navigate and the controls are intuitive (for me at least). I appreciate the compact size that lets me carry it in my shirt pocket but sometimes I wish I had a little more to hang onto when actually taking a picture. Yeah, I know, you can’t have everything!

It does have aperture priority, shutter priority as well as full manual mode and the controls are fairly straight forward and simple to use for any of those. It also has a Program mode which I haven’t figured out yet, and then there’s all those scenes and special effects modes. I haven’t done anything with those yet either.  The lens/sensor combination (on automatic) is plenty fast and allowed me to take night shots that came out pretty good. The built in flash is of limited power but decent. The camera and flash worked together seamlessly to produce pretty good pictures with no “red eye,” so far.

Once I get more familiar with it I will try some tougher assignments and let you know just how user friendly it really is.