San Diego’s Second Rainstorm in 2010

Some Braved The Rain While I Sought Cover

Cats Don’t Like The Rain

        This cat was content to watch the rain from the cover of a porch. On a side note, I’d like to say that I really like my f/1.8 lens… The bokeh in particular. I’ve never had a lens this fast, and when it is attached to my Nikon D5000, it’s hard NOT to get great shots. That’s right, my shots are great!

Christ Lutheran Church – La Mesa, CA

        So, I had to choose between video capabilities on Canon cameras, or low noise at high ISO’s on Nikon cameras. I went with Nikon.

Street Lights Reflected On The Wet Street

        My old camera is a Panasonic DMC-FZ28, and at ISO speeds above 100 the shots are just not usable, because of the noise. With this Nikon D5000 however, ANY speed up to 6400 can be used for display… At least on the web.

Neon Is Not Exactly Photo Friendly

        Back in the days of shooting with my Panasonic DMC-FZ28, night photography was easy. Simply put, any ISO above 100 was too noisy, so all my night stuff with the FZ28 was at 100 ISO with a long shutter speed. Now that I have a Nikon D5000, noise at high ISO is not an issue, other than I feel like I have a whole new chapter of nighttime photography to learn. Other than that, everything is great.

The Mirror Above The Head Chef Tells All

        The first picture in my last post is a shot a really like, and this opinion was echoed by a fellow photographer that looked at it. That was all the encouragement I needed, so I set about capturing lightning in a bottle once again, and I failed. The pic above was taken on the sly. No one knew I was there except for the bouncer at the bar next door.

American People Being Served Chinese Food

        Yes, I admit that this shot is much less interesting than the shot I took from the outside of the San Diego Culinary Institute, but I was trying to capture lightning in a bottle, so I’d appreciate it if you’d ease up off my back about it.

San Diego Culinary Institute

        My Nikon D5000 has a boosted ISO of 6400, so that’s what I set out to test tonight. I wanted some real, after dark photos shot with ambient light while gunning the ISO throttle of my D5000 all the way to the max. The biggest lesson I learned tonight was that when you are out testing a specific “thing” on your DSLR, don’t forget that you don’t have to stick to the thing you are testing. In this case, I was out testing the 6400 ISO of my camera when I camera across the scene above. I had the presence of mind to switch the ISO to 200 before taking the shot. This resulted in the dark exterior of the building creating a frame around the soon to be chefs inside.

Compass Card Validator

        The Compass Card validator to the left was shot at 6400 ISO, and is presented to you here WAY smaller than actual size because full size was pretty noisy. Anyway, I was out looking for any dark alley type place around my neighborhood so that I could give 6400 ISO a real stretch of the legs, and my general consensus is that 6400 can not be shown at 100%, even on the web. You can still get very low light shots that will blow your mind, especially if you are from the days of film, but for the sake of passing images on for posterity, I’m going to have to hold back on 6400. What I will do is work with 3200 ISO because it is WAY less noisy than 6400, and yet is still very light sensitive. I’m going to find the sweet spot for high ISO and my f/1.8 lens even if I have to stay up all night every night. SO, with that in mind, here is where I am with this post. That pic above is ISO 200, because I remembered to change it down from 6400. The pic to the left is 6400, as is the pic below. I am now wishing that I had remembered to dial the ISO down from 6400 for the pic below because I really would have liked the sad detail in the man’s face to show through.

Unnecessary Use Of 6400 ISO

The World From 6400 ISO

        My Nikon D5000 has two things that have become important to me. High ISO with little noise and a quiet, FAST shutter. 6400 ISO to 1 four thousandths of a second. The photo above was taken at 6400 ISO! The clarity and lack of general noise is astonishing to me. The photo below was cracked at 1/4000th of a second at 200 ISO.

One Hidden Propeller Blade

        My portfolio lacks anything fast. This new shutter speed is going to change all that. Oh yes it will. The Marine helicopter above flew right over me, allowing me to freeze it for 1/4000th of a second, and then headed toward downtown San Diego to fight Godzilla or something. The scene of the miniature carousel below was shot at 6400 ISO, and again, with very little noise.

Year Of The Tiger 2010

        It was Ni that first explained to me what the right camera can do, with or without Photoshop. Bi first loaned me a proper camera for a tricky photo-op at Technomania Circus. That was what brought me over. I had to enter into DSLRS’s and I have the beginning and end of Nirobi to thank for it! Thanks guys!

Burning Man at Technomania Circus

The DJ Spins @ Technomania Circus

Burning Man Parody Up Close

        Before the show even began, the DJ entertained the crowd with music from the late 20th century, warming us up and setting the mood for “The Parody Show” at Technomania Circus. This was the first show for 2010, and The Technomaniacs pulled out all the stops, including fire, burlesque, juggling, Elvis Presley, blacklight theater and Lady Gaga even made an appearance, as did Martha Stewart. For The Parody Show, the cast of Technomania Circus made fun of just about everyone, including the audience, themselves and Tiger Woods. This was three hours of fun and satire and it closed with a fast moving awards ceremony honoring many of the most talented performers in San Diego. The show is so easy to get to, especially on the orange line trolley. Technomania Circus is located at 2438 Commercial St. San Diego, in Logan Heights, right across from the 25th & Commercial Orange Line trolley stop. Trolleys come by every half hour, and the schedule can be seen here. I was fortunate enough to be using a borrowed Canon T1i for the evening, so I shot every frame at 3200 ISO and a shutter speed of 1/15th for almost every frame as well.

Dr. Techno

Martha Stewart & Lady Gaga

        Dr. Techno started things off with his guitar playing balancing act and was also our host for the awards show that followed the performance. The cast were all presented with trophies that varied from a small statue of a three headed dog to a diorama that contained a hula dancer and shrunken skull. You just never know what will happen at a Technomania Circus show.

Sarah Palin Going Rogue

        Lady Gaga took cooking instruction from Martha Stewart, and one of the rhyming orders by Martha was something like: “Lady Gaga take this please and bake that bitch at three fifty degrees.”

The Cast Of Technomania Circus

        The entire cast was all smiles for this show, and rightly so because most of what they did was very funny, with several moments of outright hilarity. Their awards ceremony, which wrapped up the evening was just as funny as the show itself and even a lucky audience member won an award.

Fire At Technomania Circus

        Fire is my favorite part of these shows, and the cast always makes sure to add extra elements of danger. You’ll want to take note of a few things in the photo on the left, including the spaceship in the background, the fact that the left performer is balancing on a two point ladder, the juggling pins on the stage and the woman in the center wearing a bathrobe with possibly nothing else underneath. Saturday nights that hold a performance from Technomania Circus are just so easy to attend and are so much fun to watch. They are full of energy and engaging for the audience so the more you cheer the better and funnier the show is. Next time I will bring a tasty beverage because after three hours of cheering, I was feeling a little parched. Their next shows will be on February 13th & 23rd, with the doors opening at 7pm, pre-show at 7:30pm and the show starting at eight. The show is entitled “A Mob Show: Happiness Is A Warm Tommy Gun.” See pics from previous shows: The Fire & Blacklight Show, and The Wild Wild West Show .

San Diego’s Technomania Circus Cast & Crew, January 9, 2010