Paris through a Pinhole

www.nyclondon.com/blog.

This is one of the best example of B&W photography I've found on the internet so far. The subjects are from all over the world, from Britain and France to Australia. The work is very artistic and expressive... great avatar stuff.

kamster

A Better Shot III: Film Speed

You know, a couple weeks ago I asked my peeps about my camera and it's apparent inability to take photos in low light conditions.

Scott emailed me and asked if he could find a way to fix it.

"Can I take a look at that?"
"Yeah, sure."
"... Ok never mind"

Crap! Ok so I did some research, and I actually did find a way to at least mitigate the effects of camera shake and slow shutter speeds in low light conditions. Ok so basically this is how cameras work; the slower the shutter speed, the more light is let in, the longer the exposure and the higher chances of blurring are. When there is an abundance of light (for example on a very sunny day), the film speed is automatically set to high, because the lens does not have to be open for a long time (whereas in low light conditions, a longer exposure must be used to capture more light). However, a longer exposure almost inevitably means blurring (unless of course you are using a tripod), and even more so if your subject is mobile (which of course they almost always are, in my field of... photography).

So... the way to fix this... is to set your ISO higher. What this does is decrease the amount of time the lens is open and (in digital cameras) increase the sensor's.... sensitivity to light. What this means, is that you have a fast shutter that produces a relatively well-lit shot, even in low conditions.

However, increasing the ISO not only increases the sensor's sensitivity to light, but also decreases it's sensitivity to colour and tone. Therefore, your picture will come out relatively sharp but grainy and with more noise. This can be annoying especially if you're taking a picture in a very dark place, but in places where the light is just a little less than is required for a 1/10 or 1/13 of a second shutter speed, a higher ISO works great (Ok yeah by now, I absolutely hate AUTO mode).

Hope that helped.

kamster

I may post pictures giving examples later.

Oh and... you may have realized that A Better Shot isn't actually weekly... try... bimonthly.

Collect the Moments, One by One

Huah huah huah. I am just way too lazy. I haven't had time to blogz lately and I don't think I will have much time in the future, either.

Hum dee dum, Cafe Blanc went awesome. As usual, being a crazy stage-fright person, I tried hard to stay away from the mic (which happened to be a good thing because I did mess up once)... people told me they couldn't hear me during the last couple choruses but at least they could see me. But yeah... first 2 verses and choruses? Awkward standing and looking around. Wow that was weird.

Holiday Concert was great too. Hehe, Tudor is stupid and is probably going to get kicked off stage crew for messing up the lights... "Could someone please turn these lights on right above us?" Stupid Michael being a douchetard. I like how he knocked down the mic and got yelled at by Isaac and the dude in the hat. And Isaac lost his guitar? That's just gotta suck.

In other news, leaving for Cuba soon... Hopefully we don't run into any secret communist police people eager to harass Canadians; sheesh. Cuba is communist... isn't it? Oh and after that... Lake Eerie FTW! Yesss... I am excited but I gotta get my

1. jacket,
2. board bag,
3. and helmet

before that. Sheesh hopefully I can pick it up sometime soon.

K, Candygrams! I have a feeling like I should have realized this earlier, but this year, I'm not going to do any of this stupid like... "merry christmas and a happy new year =D. Love, kamster" kinda crap. I mean, no one really wants that right? In any case, it doesn't help. And I think I need to buy more... hopefully this doesn't sound like cocky or crap but 14 is definitely not enough.

Oh and I got my snowboard fixed up at the shop. It's nice... black... with a seashore decal on the tail and a nice map decal on the front. Hmm. The bindings match, hopefully my jacket will match it too? Although, it does look a bit used (on account of it being handled by hundreds of people over like... 3 years); just a couple scratches and such.

And yessssss classes are almost over. I'm definitely going to go to the holiday breakfast; it's like the friggin highlight of the year, hehe. And this week... what's with the stupid surprise tests, quizzes and papers due? It seems almost as though the teacher's pile stuff on us during the last days just to make the holidays seem that much further away.

But as the old saying goes, "they can make it harder but they can't make it longer."

kamster