Playing with Light - SilverGenes Photofix

Patterned Curtain

These are my first digital photos taken with a Sigma SD9 about 8 years ago. Because there was an expanse of white fabric in the foreground, exposure was lowered to capture more detail outside. Same problem though in low light situations – noise present in the foreground. Again, minimal adjustments here. Shadow Highlight with masking brought out detail in the curtain on the right side of the window but once again, Levels had to be adjusted to avoid confusion in the shadow zones.

LESSON LEARNED:

It’s much better to slightly overexpose than underexpose. The math of digital photography maintains more information at the light end and allows more detail to be recorded and rescued when needed.

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Washed Light

Photo taken at Upper Canada Village about 8 years ago with a Sigma SD9 in RAW and adjusted recently in Aperture and Photoshop. This is what should be an impossible shot but I was going for the mood of deep shadow in the interior. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of noise in the low light areas so made minimal adjustments to these areas. High Pass filter was used to Sharpen and a final Levels adjustment was used to unify the shadow zones. If I were doing this again, I would make multiple exposures at the time of capture.

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Sunset on Glass

This photo was taken on a snowy evening just as the sun was setting.

Unfortunately, the camera did not fully capture the drama in color that I saw reflected on the windshield. It was taken as a high quality Jpeg with a Fujifilm F-10 and it’s not a bad shot for a simple point-and-shoot camera.

I am constantly surprised by how well this camera handles low light.

However, the most important part of how well this camera works is the batteries seem to last forever! It’s the perfect camera to have in your pocket for all those moments when we usually say, “Oh, I wish I had my camera!”

Update on this great little camera: As of summer 2009, it is at the bottom of Lake Winnipeg.

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