Exploring Techniques - Las Vegas Experiments

On the plane over to Vegas I started exploring F stops with my standard 18-55mm lens using no flash and the shutter speed set at 1/60. Although I am studying portraiture I could not miss the opportunity to experiment with different techniques in Las Vegas. I was advised to use these settings by Scott Harrison a US based photographer who often shoots in Vegas.

I started with F stops at night time using an ISO of 100 through to 1600, fast and slow shutter speeds using a tripod and sat in a moving car and hand held. I also took shots of reflections and various patterns I came across including a tank full of fish and various depths of field.

I was quite pleased with some of the results. It rained in Vegas on one of the evenings so it was great to take shots through the glass which acted as a transparent barrier on the bridges which experimenting with depth of field gave bright blurred light shots. I also used very slow shutter speeds 0''4, f stop 5.6 and ISO100 making sure I used my travel tripod to secure the camera in position to avoid camera shake.

Following a power point presentation on Techniques given by Steve our lecturer, I tried to cover the following areas in Vegas as well at the back of my house where I walk my dog these include;

• Depth of Field

• Framing

• Patterns

• Reflections

• Shadows

• Texture

• Colour

• Shutter Speeds

• Rule of Thirds

I spent twelve hours on the plane to Vegas and followed some of the tutorials from a book I purchased from Amazon called Complete Photography Course by John Garrett and Graeme Harris. The tutorial I particular that has helped me technically was on Exposure and understanding F/stops. It really helped me in the various lighting situations I encountered in Las Vegas from the artificial lights to the bright sunshine conditions outside of the hotel and casinos.

Overcoming Indoor Lighting Obstacles

I wanted to find interest textures and whilst walking through the hotel Caesar's Palace notice a large fish tank in a Sushi restaurant. This was excellent to practice several techniques - the indoor lighting conditions meant I had to play around with exposure, shutter speeds and aperture.

I wanted to find interesting textures and patterns. Whilst walking through the hotel Caesar's Palace I noticed a large fish tank in a Sushi restaurant. This was excellent to practice several techniques - the indoor lighting conditions meant I had to play around with exposure using different shutter speeds and aperture.

Initially I tried shooting the tank using my flash which of course reflected off the glass of the tank. I had only really started understanding F stops on the plane over to Vegas so knew I had to turn the flash off and increase the F stop number. Understanding the lower the F stop number the darker the image would be due to the narrow aperture and because I was using a relatively fast shutter speed as I did not have a tripod to stop camera shake.

I decided to select a higher ISO of 1600 in the hope of allowing more light through the lens - the quality however was abysmal due to the grainy effect, I also did not have my tripod which meant I had to use a 1/60 shutter speed and not below or else my images would be blurred due to camera shake.

My only option was to use a lower ISO number and to use a slow shutter speed, I found a ledge to place the camera on and used ISO 100 and reduced my shutter speed to 1/25 which still was not slow enough and the F stop set at F/5.6.

Tank of fish photographed using flash. The image was also very dark I have lightened the image in photoshop using levels.

The image here shows ISO 1600, again the image is too dark possibly due to my shutter speed of 1/60 and not being able to use the flash. What is great about the image is the textures created by the fish - I also think it depicts movement of the fish swimming.

Here you can see the camera is being hand held at a low shutter speed - the image has become very blurred. ISO 100, 1/8 shutter speed and F/5.6.

The fish have started to become clearer, the vibrancy of their gold scales is evident - it was quite hard to shoot the fish constantly moving so I set the ISO higher to allow more light through the lens and to capture their movement. ISO400, shutter speed 1/25 and F/5.6.

Here I have used an ISO 800 so it is not too grainy - shutter speed 1/25 and f/5.6 - because I have used a relatively high shutter speed I feel them movement of the fish has been captured - there is various yellow and gold tones, texture and pattern.

Reflections

Many of the hotels exterior in Vegas is reflective glass - this gave me a perfect opportunity to take shots of various reflections.

Framing

Here I was in a taxi using ISO 100 we drove between two bridges and I could resist framing the lights of the buildings in this shot. I wedged the camera in between the window and on the door frame of the cab to secure it in place so I could use a slow shutter speed 0.6 F/4.5 whilst moving. I really like the abstract shapes and colours.

This image shows a frame within a frame with the dark contrast of the archway which then reveals the main strip.