Casual Snaps from the Salcombe Festival

[Geoff F]

Just a couple of quick snaps of scenes which caught my eye.

The light was wrong and although I used fill flash these were just quick one off shots without any pre planning, so forget the quality issues; I just liked the expressions.

Crew from one of the visiting vintage lifeboats having a laugh in the pub garden. Yes I over exposed the shot then did what I could to recover something during processing.



One of my neighbours with her grandchild



I had problems here with flash on the sunglasses so I have tried to salvage something, which I think worked reasonably well. It is certainly easier to correct sunglasses than spectacles.

[rob marshall]

Just a couple of quick snaps of scenes which caught my eye.


I had problems here with flash on the sunglasses so I have tried to salvage something, which I think worked reasonably well. It is certainly easier to correct sunglasses than spectacles.

Do you have a diffuser for the flash? Or were you using the on-board flash? I find my Gary Fong diffuser does make a difference to the harshness of the flash, making it softer.

I made an important discovery yesterday about polarising sunglasses. If you are painting the outside walls of your house (as I am) in bright light, polarizers will make a huge difference to the reflected glare, and you can see where you have painted!

You wouldn't get these tips anywhere else, you know.

[Geoff F]

Decorating tips as well - two for the price of one!

I wasn't using anything fancy here, just the basic Speedlite 580.

Chiefly, I was shooting more distant scenes which were giving problems with highlight and shadow conflict and saw these quick possibilities but didn't have a chance to think about correct settings.

Normally, I don't do a lot of 'flashing in public'.

I tend to find that shooting with manual settings and adjusting the flash compensation as required, like my macro photos, works best for me.

In many ways, I prefer not to use fill flash for general street photography because I find it tends to make people feel uneasy about you intruding into their world. They usually ignore a standard camera, particularly if you have a smallish lens.

It isn't quite so bad with professional performers but even some of these seem a little uneasy when they see a large flash unit.

However, this year's Festival photos with flash did work out a lot better than last year when, without it, I had a lot of harsh contrast problems.

And it poured with rain on the second day so no photos were taken at all.

ps. A selection of photos from this event is here http://www.pbase.com/crustacean

[JohnC]

You're right Geoff, you can get away with a quick shot and most people won't mind but stick a flash on it and you're in different territory,they've turned out well anyway,nice natural shot of the lifeboatmen who I take my hat off to.

[Antonio Correia]

... I made an important discovery yesterday about polarising sunglasses. If you are painting the outside walls of your house (as I am) in bright light, polarizers will make a huge difference to the reflected glare, and you can see where you have painted! You wouldn't get these tips anywhere else, you know.

And, if you drive under harsh light the reflection of the asfalt is suppressed most of the times what contributes to safety driving.
However, be aware that not all polarizing glasses are suitable to drive. The very strong ones, which are to be used for snow for example, are no convenient. See the leaflet when you buy them A correct choice of the color is also something to bare in mind.

[rpcrowe]

I don't know about other photographers but I have problems seeing my LCD screens when I am wearing polarizing glasses.

[Antonio Correia]

I don't know about other photographers but I have problems seeing my LCD screens when I am wearing polarizing glasses.

Indeed...
And so may happen looking at the back screen.