Dec
04
2010

Killer Photography

The Search Thereof - Las Noches De Las Luminarias

(Add / View Comments) (0)PhotosSaturday, December 4, 2010 - 09:01:08 pm
(Posted Under: This Desert Life This Desert Life, Photography)
Two days ago my new camera, the Nikon D5000, amazingly arrived. Just in time, which I really doubted was going to happen.

And as such tonight, I headed out to the Desert Botanical Gardens for Las Noches De Las Luminarias, prepared and armed with it and a tripod, on the search for the killer photo.

I'd already conquered this beast. With two days and shooting off around 1,500 exposures, and then shooting for the AZ Republic Simple Entertaining event this morning, for all extents and purposes I had this thing completely covered. And to boot a much better understanding of concepts I'd never worried about understanding that much before over some intense research over the past two weeks while deciding on what was to be my new camera. Like aperture, which I never really previously understood. With my old trusty (most of the time - kinda) Nikon point and shoot, I couldn't adjust it, so understanding it wasn't terrible important. But by the time of making the purchase, I was all over it, as well as every other technical aspect of photography that I've over looked. Last year for Las Noches De Luminarias I fired off some amazing shots with that sed Nikon Coolpix L1, so I was completely set to blow those results out of the water, and without too much effort.

And as such, tonight was quite humbling. And with that sort of cocky confidence, maybe that's fair enough. While I'd found in my 2 days of firing off test shots and this morning's shooting, it was literally impossible to "take a bad shot", that didn't necessarily translate 100% out at the gardens after dusk. Admittedly I have to accredit that somewhat the constraints and pressure of 2.5 hours out there, and a sell out attendance to contend with. But all the same, to my complete surprise, the simplicity of dialing in the perfect setting for the shot and atheistic I wanted - that I had memorized - was gone. As was reliably finding the right buttons quickly in the dark. As was the being able to fire off the perfect shot with lightning speed. And I probably shouldn't have been surprised by this, after all it was absolutely my first experience shooting in this environment with this new baby. But still, it was an eye opener.

And as such, of what I did shoot, the volume I cared to keep was half of what I shot and kept last year with the Coolpix. That figure could be slightly influenced by being more selective and critical of what constitutes a "keeper" this year. Even so, the half figure still seems and feels pretty accurate. I was certainly expecting and opposite effect on that number, and that it would be more painful to par down the number of shots taken. But it was actual quite easy to weed out the bad ones. There were many, and they were quite obvious.

My largest mistake: It's freakin' dark. Use the freakin' tripod. After all, why else have you been lugging it around? I think this mainly came from false confidence. In all my shooting with the D5000, I've been amazed at how easy it is to take a still photo, regardless of the lighting. Just probably not this lighting. Lesson learned. I think my second biggest downfall was being all over turning off VR while using the tripod, but neglecting to turn it back on when not using the tripod. Easy mistake, but a fatal one, and probably would have made the first one a little less of a problem.

Up next would probably be some slightly over the top self expectation and inexperience with the camera. Maybe the expectation that I was going to shoot 200 absolutely killer photos was a bit high, and dare I say maybe even unrealistic. [wink] And I guess after all, I've only had the camera for two days. Certainly getting a good feel for shooting at night is going to take a bit more time. Especially when it comes to getting the right exposure that I want for a given shot.

Now, with all that said, I can't say that I didn't get any desired killer shots. Because I certainly did. And while I did overall have higher expectations of some of my shots, there is absolutely no possible way to miss the incredible quality difference of the camera. Nor the power of it. Despite the actual impressive results that I got last year with the Coolpix, and renewed appreciation of them, there is no mistaking the impossibility of the shots I got with the D5000 when it comes to that camera. One of the best examples of that being this landscape shot with Camelback in the distance.

Photobox ImageThere was a decent amount of cloud cover, so it wasn't the darkest of nights, but with that said, still darker than this photo would have you believe. Taken at a shutter speed of 8 seconds, double of what my old camera is even capable of, which brought out such great detail.



And lets not exclude these highlights.

Photobox ImageI could have framed this slightly better, but it was after 9:30pm and there wasn't enough time. All the same, this is a hell of a photo. The sky in the background looks amazing.


Photobox ImageThis is arguably my favorite. Shot with exposure bracketing for HDR, this is the middle exposure. It's just awesome. Haven't had much luck with HDR yet, but I probably need to give Photoshop a go.


Photobox ImageDitto on exposure bracketing and HDR on this one. I got a very similar one last year. Without a doubt, the D5000 is incredibly more true to the scene. However, I'm not convinced that last year's shot doesn't invoke more emotion to me. But then again, maybe I don't have to be.


Photobox ImageThis is the shiz. 'Nuff said.


Photobox ImageI love these too. Admittedly it was at this point I had a moment of crisis though. What's better, auto exposure (on the high side) and great detail, or less exposed for a closer approximation of what we were actually seeing? It was hard to tell. And frankly, it still is. Still great shots though.


Photobox Image


Photobox ImageThis is absolutely a shot I tried to do last year with no success. It would have been great to have had plenty of time to kill organizing the perfect shot here, both in terms of framing and exposure. It would have required a fair bit of playing around, which I just didn't have the time for. It did however highlight the potential with what I could do with the butte as a subject at night. And thankfully, I'm pretty sure this is lit up all year round, Luminarias or not. Still a pretty sweet photo though. Like the "hell on earth, right here on the earth" version too.


Photobox Image



As for the event itself, it was great again. No real surprise there. It was cool to see Mike & Meredith performing out there. That gal has come along way from the days of open mic at The Yucca Tap. But with pipes like those, it not at all surprising.

It would have been nice to have seen a bit more color variation in the lights other than white this year. The blue lights scattered through the trees last year was kinda missed. We were also running about half an hour late, so no opportunity for any dusk or sunset shots. However, with the cloud cover, I'm not sure there was such an opportunity there to begin with. And as such, we didn't make it around to as much as the gardens as we did last year. While it would have been nice, not as critical having seen it before.
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