metrocake

I’ve posted my pictures from the Village Halloween Parade. These are not the best pictures I’ve ever taken (hell, at least a third aren’t even in focus), but there’s something surreal about them that I really like. :)

We were using the class to work with slow sync — it’s where you try to expose your subject with the flash, and the background with the ambient light. Basically, you’re trying to avoid the “flash on the subject, black as the background” look. My problem for the parade is that I don’t have a separate flash — I was using the one on my camera. Not so great, when one’s trying to get it over people’s heads and expose what’s on the other side of the street. If I do more of this work, I’ll need to go buy a real one. (New equipment to play with, oh noes!)

The other challenge with the parade is that we literally were trying to get over people’s heads. Class met for lecture at 6:15, and then left for the parade an hour later. I could have done with a shorter lecture — I missed most of it anyway, as people were already gathering for the parade around 6:00. I had to go through tons of detours and people (cursing quietly to myself) to even make it to lecture. Happily, a man let me through almost to the front — but my left arm was completely pinned to my side by the crowds, and I was shooting around some guy’s baseball cap. Fun! XD

Last but not least, after I shot most of these, my teacher and I realized that my flash was firing twice. We’ve no idea why. I got the dreaded, “You know how to fix this? Go home and read the manual,” which I’d managed to successfully avoid getting for the entire semester. Frickin’ figures I’d get it in my last hour of class. >:/ Grrrrrrr!