Tonight I joined the photography society for a late night photo shoot on the beach. A couple of members of the group decided to do some steel wool spinning in order to create some beautiful shots of the sparks against the dark, beach background.
During the photo shoot I had to do something I've never really done before - take the camera settings off auto. I've become quite comfortable with auto settings on a camera and have produced some fairly good shots in the past. However, this workshop quickly made me realize how little I know about the technical side of photography.
Although we were given a template of the optimum camera settings for this shoot, I found I only got around 2 decent shots (which aren't brilliant compared to other member's of the group).
For reference I set my camera up to around 100 ISO with an aperture of f8 and a shutter speed of around 10 seconds. I used a tripod to stabilise the camera too. I found it quite difficult to manually focus the camera and above all, adapt settings quickly in order to capture shots in time.
Even though my images didn't turn out as well as I'd hope I really enjoy the effect of this kind of photography. Capturing motion this way creates a beautiful, abstract outcome and I would like to learn how to adapt the camera manually in order to do this kind of photo shoot again.
This photoshoot made me truly appreciate the level of skill and dedication that went into Mike Mezuel II's photoshoot of the blood moon. To be able to create such a breathtaking image in such an uncontrollable environment, is a sign of a true photographer.
