More Shots from the Hip

Here I am in The Eternal City. The place is full of Roman ruins, ancient statues, Renaissance art and armed police officers.

And the latter have handguns on their hips. I tried candid photographs at the airport, bu a combination of low light, fast movement and a desire not to be arrested produced blurred and generally useless pictures.

But here's one taken outside the Capitoline museums. There are thousands of cameras all around, and I was some distance away. Check out the minuscule depth of field.

Nikon D300s
Tamron 200-400 at 400mm
F/6.3
1/250
ISO 200

Calling the shots

What might you find on your hip? Why, a hip flask, of course.

And what does a hip flask contain? Shots!

So this month's subject matter, Shots from the Hip (flask) becomes rather easy. Less easy was finding a hip flask - I don't own one - and setting up the shot.

What I've ended up with is two different techniques on the same subject. Both involve a dark wood table, dark background wall, and reflections in the shiny table. So the decision boils down to this: To flash or not to flash? That is the question.

Nikon D300s
Sigma NiftiFifti
F/3
1/15
ISO 200
Tripod

I like the dark, moody lighting. The lamp provides all the illumination, but despite most of the subject being dark, the bulb holder and top of the lamp have blown out to white. All detail is lost and no amount of burning it in will produce detail that's simply not there.


Nikon D300s
Sigma NiftiFifti
F/4.8
1/60
ISO 200
Camera-mounted flash
Tripod

The flash brings some life to the picture, with all those shiny reflective surfaces. But the lamp is flat. However, the texture on the lamp has not been lost, and the bulb holder is visible.

So I'm torn. Which is the better, or at least the preferred, photograph?

Child bearing HIPS

Hi All,

Okay very very tenuous link to this months shooting from the hip but I'm a bit busy, so close enough.
Also was very much shot on the run, so also kind of shooting from the hip.

They say the softer the subject the softer the lens, well I guess you can't get much softer.

So here she is, Elizabeth Rose Bailey (aka Bess) born 11:30 Friday night, 3.505 KG, 56cm for those who want the EXIF data.



Other EXIF
Manual mode, f1.4, 1/100 sec, ISO 100, and then flash on camera bounced of the ceiling in eTTL mode.

A very small hint of a pink vignette to accentuate the one that was already there from the blankets.
No other real PP.

==== EDIT ====
Please feel free for C&C


Cheers,
Richard B.

August = Shooting from the Hip

Hi All,

Thanks to Paul for 17, the Radom topic generator for has come up with "Shooting from the hip", so off you go get out there and blaze away, but still not to late to post some Tofu knitting bunny huggers.

Cheers,
Richard B.