How I Shot That - After Hours near the Bahai Temple
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| Get this photo Sony a6000: https://amzn.to/2GiWa2T Sony 50mm f1.8 OSS: https://amzn.to/2E24YEx Bahai Wilmette Wikipedia Page |
When you are in town for a visit with family and you find a little bit of time... go do something.
The other day I was in the Chicago area and after dinner I had a little extra time. I asked my brother, if we could go see the Bahai Temple in Wilmette, IL.
If you haven't seen this place, it is huge! It is the kind of thing that in most cases, a small lens was made fore. But I really like the 50mm. I like it so much, I still use it for getting scenic shots. Could I have had done this with something else... probably. But I'm still very happy with this.
That night was very much spur of the moment. The night had actually gotten a bit more chilly than I expected, too. But being the upper Midwest, we are not unfamiliar with this change in weather. After we found a parking spot it was a small walk up to this location.
But, since it was cold, my brother and I did a couple of things before leaving the vicinity of his car. We checked our batteries in our Sony cameras. Changed our lenses, and then started walking.
As we got closer, it became apparent just how massive this structure is. But since I had the 50mm lens on my APS-C sized camera, I had to find my first photos be from a ways back. And that is where I found the location for this photo.
Where most people would take the photo of the building dead center, I wanted the off-center look. But when you do that, usually it helps to have something that makes up for the empty space. That is where a leading line comes into play. That is why I took this spot to start snapping away. The lights for the parking area lined up a little to point towards the top of the dome.
Some of the first photos were a little fuzzy, and had too much noise. I didn't have my tripod with me, so this was going to require me planting my feet in a very steady position. I held the camera a little extra tightly, and against my head by the eyepiece. Then I started to lower the shutter speed to 1/15 of a second and then lowered the ISO to 500. After a few attempts, I got a clean shot.
If you want to see a clean, enlarged photo, go to my Google Plus Post Here.
An interesting thing is hearing out there all of the talk about photography gear. People look at the new toys out there, but not at what they already have. Or, they are convinced that this one particular lens will be all they need. But the truth us going to be messy. That is because as artists, we are usually a little messy.
And I think that night illustrates some of this point. I sure would like different gear, but the distraction of other gear for me will be a detriment. If I had kept my 70-210 lens with me during this walk, I would have been distracted with other 'options' and couldn't have focused on what was in front of me. It helps me stay in the moment.
Thanks for letting me vent a little bit!
And I think that night illustrates some of this point. I sure would like different gear, but the distraction of other gear for me will be a detriment. If I had kept my 70-210 lens with me during this walk, I would have been distracted with other 'options' and couldn't have focused on what was in front of me. It helps me stay in the moment.
Thanks for letting me vent a little bit!
