Quick Test.

It feels like a Friday, because I just photographed a company holiday party, and because this is my fifth straight day of photo shoots. But it's not over yet. A shoot tomorrow and Weds too. I've truly forgotten what it's like to have a weekend. You know, a day where one has time to do dinner and a movie, and then wake up late the next day. It's been months. I'm really looking forward to my vacation. Eight more (non-stop!)days!

Anyways, Levi's had gone all out with the decor - much in the way of visual effects, including video on the ceiling (snow flurries, much like the Harry Potter dining hall as well as fireworks), changing messages projected on banners. And giant neon letters. Here's the back of the A and M. In its entirety, the letters spell "America". Fantastic DJ. A gourmet cornucopia of food.

Speaking of food, have you ever wondered what happens to catered leftovers? I did. I asked one of the catering staff. (Side note, like making friends with wedding DJs, one of the fun aspects of being an event photographer is meeting other event staff, and knowing you can be candid with one another as neither is customer/client). Yep, you guessed it, All In The Trash. It's heartbreaking. Especially noting the large portion of cheese platter that remained. And vegetable soup. I even felt bad for the salami. It's a matter of health code, no other reason. I wonder, if I signed a waiver that said I wouldn't sue if I got sick from the leftover cheese, could I have all the leftover cheese?


I've written 3 paragraphs without actually talking about photography. Figuring out camera settings to capture light effects is tricky. I put my camera on shutter priority mode, and had an external flash (that just means Not-On-Camera flash- that's the thing that pops up and is permanently attached to the top of the camera) with diffuser. For this low-light situation, approx 1/5 sec setting seemed to work well; long enough to capture the colored lights through the darkness, but short enough that I could hold it completely still for the duration of open shutter. Compare the above MA with the lower MA. Quick test. Which was taken with the faster (shorter) shutter speed?

The lower one! Well done.
Shutter was open for a shorter period, less light detected by camera, darker photo. But crisper - the top photo was subject to camera shake - not being able to hold the camera perfectly still for the entire open shutter period.