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

A World Heavyweight Coffee Title

        I don’t drink coffee, but my co-workers do, so my present to them for the week will be two bags of coffee grounds from two corporate mainstays in the morning coffee empire; Starbucks & Dunkin’ Donuts. I will listen to comments about the coffee and whichever is better received will be purchased next week, along with a new challenger.

Compass Cards Are Not Clear Yet

        I’m trying to like my month old Compass Card. I really am. In theory, there are a handful of convenient ways to purchase and reload a Compass Card, so I chose to reload mine at a ticket vending machine at my local trolley station. I walked away empty handed because the only monthly pass reload option I was given was for a $100 pass. My usual $72 pass was not available as an option to purchase. This had me going to plan B which was to reload it at Vons which was done in a few minutes. So even though I’m good for February 2010 on all San Diego Trolleys now… What the Hell?

Compass Cards Do Not Yet Have My Support

        I had these plans for making a video showing how easy it is to reload your Compass Card with cash at a ticket vending machine, but there was no $72 pass option available. There was a technician working on the machine next to me, so I’m all feeling like a character from the movie Amelie’ but all I really wanted was to buy a monthly pass. I was so put out that I couldn’t even snap a photo of the offending machine, or the technician… I just went to Vons.

Just Before Blue Hour In San Diego

        Very recently I found out about the blue hour and blue hour photography in general. Blue hour happens twice a day just after sunset and just before sunrise. About ten minutes after I took this shot, the entire sky was a darker blue than the top of the photo above, and that is when the blue hour occurs. I wasn’t actually trying to capture a blue hour shot, I just thought this sunset had a chalk drawing look to it. The purples seemed to me to be hanging artificially in the sky alongside the clouds, and to me they looked like marks from a giant purple stick of chalk.

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!