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| a shutter speed fast enough to hold detail | yet slow enough to show motion |
you never know ... larry calof
One of the things I have learned from my workshops with Steve, is that you can’t get a frame if you don’t open the shutter. Stanford University sponsors a Native American Powwow every year in the spring. While there are a number of booths for crafts, the highlight of the Stanford Powwow is ceremonial tribal dances that start in the early afternoon and continue throughout the evening until 10:00 or later. Dancers come from several tribes and there are competitions for different styles, gender and ages. There are also general intertribal dances. All the contestants are dressed in traditional costumes.
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| panning with the subject creates motion direction |
I went to the Powwow this year to enjoy the dances, but had my camera in hand to see what I might shoot. I was hoping to be able to use my tripod and get a good crystal clear shot of dancers in a well-lighted dance area. There were too many people around the dusty circle that constituted the dance area to be able to use a tripod, or even get close enough to use flash. While there was lighting, it was not sufficient to be of much use for what I had in mind. For a while a just watched the dancers. Then I was able to drop the mind set and expectations I came with, and decided to just hand hold my 70-200 lens. Turn on the image stabilization and open the shutter. It was too dark to see either the histogram or what I was shooting, so I just shot for a while and had fun.
A few days later, I opened Photoshop to look at what I shot, expecting to do a fast delete of everything. Much to my surprise, I found that I had caught the dancers moving through my frame, with their colorful costumes adding a blur that I think I like better than if I had been able to shoot them at fast speeds in good light, stopping the action. For me, it was a much more interesting effect. Experiment and explore. Even if you get nothing, it is still fun and instructive, and every once in a while you get lucky.
Comment
Today's sophisticated photo equipment present unlimited opportunity, especially I've found, if you are open to experimentation. Finding new ways of being creative keeps the spirit keen and the voice strong. Larry seems to have opened to us a different world of color, motion and dance while simply having fun with his photography!
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