Re: Hand held shots at 1/2 sec.

[chucko@eskimo.com (Charles E. Albertson)]

     I had to get good at shooting slow shutter speeds last November, when
the Irish family I was visiting asked me to shoot some pictures of the
people lined up outside their Co Donegal farmhouse to pay respects to the
head of the family, who had passed away the day before, coinciding with my
arrival. We had left Dublin that morning in a bit of a rush, and I'd barely
time to grab my M6 and a tub of fast film. It was pitch dark and pouring
rain outside by the time the cortege got up to Donegal, and the scene was
only lit by a streetlight out on the main road.  Over two thousand people
were lined up in the driveway and out on the road (the gentleman had been
their representative to the Dail, the Irish parliament, since 1948 and was
enormously popular among his constituents). 
     The only way to get some good overall shots of the crowd was to clamber
on top of a crumbling rock wall near the front door of the house and shoot
at 1/4- and 1/2-sec in order to get some depth of field. Despite being
severely jet-lagged and (yes...by that time I think we *had* consumed a few
pints...) slightly drunk, I managed to stop swaying in the wind long enough
to squeeze off a half-roll of what turned out to be fairly sharp frames.
     It was the beginning of a several-day glimpse of a side of life in
Ireland that's not on the standard itinerary. The family encouraged me to
take all the pictures I wanted throughout this very difficult time,
especially since I wasn't popping off a flash in anyone's face, and they
were as pleased with the results as I was.

Chuck Albertson
Seattle, Wash.



At 02:33 PM 3/19/96 +0800, leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>Speaking about low light shooting, I shot my church choir with my M3 and
>90/2.8 under artificial light.  My Gossen Sixtino 2 could not register the
>reading so I had to bracket with lens full open at f2.8 all the way from
>1/30 sec to 1/2 sec.   Every shot was hand held, elbow braced against my
>chest, took my  deep breath and pressed the shutter gingerly.  I took 5
>bracketed shots on Ektachrome 100.   The exposure gradation was superb.
>What surprised me the most was that when viewed under 10x loupe the
>sharpness hardly deteriorated from 1/30 to 1/2 sec.  The hand held shot at
>1/2 sec was definitely more than acceptably sharp.   I'm impressed!!
>