Santa on a Fire Engine
Local fire companies traditionally have Santa riding a decorated fire engine through local neighborhoods a few nights before Christmas. I took some digital pictures as he rode down Point Road (by my house).
The freedom of digital cameras can also be a liability. I can snap as many pictures without worrying about having bad shots developed and printed. Even better, I can take some quick test shots and see results immediately, making adjustments as needed. But knowing I can do this makes me lazy - had I given some more thought, I could have adjusted "film speed" as well as shutter speed.
When I heard the sirens I quickly put on a coat, grabbed my digital camera and ran outside. I took a few test shots of the neighbor's light decorations and quickly stepped down shutter speed to 1/1.6 sec. with aperture f/2.8 (the widest setting) - but kept "film speed" at ISO 200! So the photos I took suffer from camera shake. The one I took perpendicular to Santa's direction of travel actually looks like abstract art!
Had I the presence of mind to increase speed to ISO 800, I could have had a shutter speed of 1/6 sec. and perhaps less camera shake. Had I given more advance thought, I would have set up a tripod to get rid of camera shake.
Maybe next year. (GRIN)
