The Gasmen of Ireland

dadwtwins

Recently I pushed my camera to the limit trying to shot in an Irish Pub called the "Plough and the Stars" in San Francisco. A friend of mine wanted some casual pictures taken of some of the members of a Celtic group called "The Gasmen"

Unfortunately I was not allowed to use a flash or even fixed lighting. I had to use available light and if anyone patronizes pubs knows, light is not that available :scratch. Very particular these lads were, they did not want to be distracted by bright lights or flashes. My fastest lens is a f2.8 but supposedly the D3 takes decent pics at ISO 6400. This ISO setting is unheard of when i had my D200 or even when I was shooting film.

The following results were noisy but it seemed to add to the atmosphere. All be it, these pictures will not win any contests but I wanted to share my experiences shooting at the ridiculous ISO setting of 6400.

This particular pub has the atmosphere and the patrons of a typical Irish pub. I was the only one in the place that spoke with an American accent and the Guinness is almost as good as from the home land.



Members of the Gasmen Group

John


Kenny


Vincy


One of the great things of a true Irish pub is that when someone wants to join in with the band, they are welcomed warmly. Even other musicians jumped in to play the classic Celtic folk music. Most of it talking about fighting of the Brits, death or broken hearts. Hmmm..except for hating the britd, it almost sounds like American country:huh





With Celtic music, there is always someone dancing. Even in a crowded pub, people still get up and move to their favorite song.





Finally, this wouldn't be a true Irish pub without the characters that make-up the pubs patrons.











Well, there you have it. A few shots taken at ISO 6400 in horrible light conditions but at a Pub that was full of great characters that made my shooting experience a pure joy. It was a great reminder of why I love Ireland. It is not the countries land that I enjoyed the most but the down to earth, terribly kind and generous people that make up Ireland:lust

JulieLawsonPhotography

Very nice story to go along with wonderful pictures. I couldn't imagine shooting at such a high ISO, but I agree that it really adds to the images as does the black and white. Lovely shots!

Richard

Nice set. I don't think high ISO noise matters much for pub shots as long as you get the exposure right. That's out on Clement St., right? I'm pretty sure I crawled through there once or twice when I lived in SF. Nice to see that it hasn't turned into a Starbucks.

DonRicklin

And here I was thinking you we going to show workers that still go around and light Gas Streelights! Instead it's a bunch of 'old pharts' playing music!



I sure it was a great listen, as well as shooting!clap

Don

dadwtwins

Richard wrote:

Nice set. I don't think high ISO noise matters much for pub shots as long as you get the exposure right. That's out on Clement St., right? I'm pretty sure I crawled through there once or twice when I lived in SF. Nice to see that it hasn't turned into a Starbucks.

Spot on Richard, Clement & 2nd

DonRicklin wrote:

Hand here I was htinking you we going to show workers that still go around and light Gas Streelights! Instead it's a bunch of 'old pharts' playing music!



I sure it was a great listen, as well as shooting!clap

Don

, that would make for a great picture

JulieLawsonPhotography wrote:

Very nice story to go along with wonderful pictures. I couldn't imagine shooting at such a high ISO, but I agree that it really adds to the images as does the black and white. Lovely shots!

thank you Julie

NeilL

I like these very much, dwt. Fine performance from photographer and camera (was a great deal of NR necessary, or did you do none?).

Neil

dadwtwins

NeilL wrote:

I like these very much, dwt. Fine performance from photographer and camera (was a great deal of NR necessary, or did you do none?).

Neil

I did not use a third party NR like my fav noise ninja but when I converted the color picture to B&W I did reduce the blue channel and upped the yellow which does reduce the noise. The noise in the color photos were very noticeable.

I will post one of the unprocessed pics when i get home from work for comparison.

NeilL

dadwtwins wrote:

I did not use a third party NR like my fav noise ninja but when I converted the color picture to B&W I did reduce the blue channel and upped the yellow which does reduce the noise. The noise in the color photos were very noticeable.

I will post one of the unprocessed pics when i get home from work for comparison.

Thanks. dwt. Interesting way to treat noise. Anyway, as I said, you got a fine result here!

Neil

dlplumer

These are great with no noise visible to my eye. Maybe if you showed us large images we would see the noise. Great story

dadwtwins

Ok, here is an example of a before and after processing. As you can see the color picture noise level is much more obvious. B&W is your friend when it comes to hiding any anomalies:D. Color pictures just highlight any non-purposeful defects as destractions to the picture.

jeffreaux2

All the BW's are super nice and contrasty!!! Excellent!

NeilL

Thanks for the color sample, dwt. Very impressive result at ISO 6400 with so little light, from the camera and you!

Could you please comment more on why you targeted the blue channel to treat noise? My understanding was our eyes are least sensitive to noise in the blue channel, and most to noise in the green. Also, you mention boosting the yellow channel. Were you in CMYK?

Thanks.

Neil

ladytx

Great job under hard conditions. I really need help and guidance when it comes to low light. Want to be able to do it though. You did a great job.

dadwtwins

ladytx wrote:

Great job under hard conditions. I really need help and guidance when it comes to low light. Want to be able to do it though. You did a great job.

low light = expensive equipment

Using a high quality quick lens with an f-stop of f2.8 or greater will help gather available light paired with a high ISO setting, >800, on your camera is the first step.
Second choose a lens 80mm or wider to be able to hand hold at slower shutter speeds. I can usually hold a 80mm f1.8 with shutter speeds of 1/30 with good results and not much effort. If you are able to use a flash, it will help greatly with stopping the unwanted motion blur.

NeilL wrote:

Thanks for the color sample, dwt. Very impressive result at ISO 6400 with so little light, from the camera and you!

Could you please comment more on why you targeted the blue channel to treat noise? My understanding was our eyes are least sensitive to noise in the blue channel, and most to noise in the green. Also, you mention boosting the yellow channel. Were you in CMYK?

Thanks.

Neil

Please forgive me Neil, I did not use the correct nomenclature nor explain my comments very well.

In my post processing when converting colour to B&W, I use CS3's B&W filter on its own layer. In these particular pictures, the blues and reds were the noisiest (dark colors) so I moved the blue and red color sliders to the left while the yellows help smooth out the noise (light colors) by moving the yellow slider to the right.

Here is an example of what I am trying to say:

ladytx

low light = expensive equipment

Using a high quality quick lens with an f-stop of f2.8 or greater will help gather available light paired with a high ISO setting, >800, on your camera is the first step.
Second choose a lens 80mm or wider to be able to hand hold at slower shutter speeds. I can usually hold a 80mm f1.8 with shutter speeds of 1/30 with good results and not much effort. If you are able to use a flash, it will help greatly with stopping the unwanted motion blur.

Thanks for the explanation. I have a 50mm 1.7 and a 28mm 2.8. I will try my hand with those.

NeilL

Gotcha! Thanks for the info, very nice!

Neil