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Shooting Indoors Without a Flash
Am going to the CA Academy of Sciences next Tuesday. They don't allow flash photography in the Rain Forests exhibit, and it's been years since I haven't had an exposure control on the camera (e.g., on the Olympus OM1 and 2) or indoors where I can't use a flash. I'm using a Canon S3 IS, and will have to go to use the manual setting, but does anybody have a quick and dirty solution for various lighting situations where the subject can move (butterflies, iguanas, whatever)? Although I've been told that the building has plenty of light, I want to be prepared.
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Is the S3IS your only camera? The basics of the Canon S3IS can be found here
You are limited to an ISO of 800, but probably really can't shoot much above 200 ( maybe 400 but I doubt it ) without serious noise issues. Your maximum aperture is f2.7.
In the dark shadows of a rain forest, without flash, this is going to create very challenging situations for capturing butterflies in flight or iguanas ( I can't capture fluttering butterflies in bright sunlight reliably:D )
One thing that could be done is to take a reflector of some kind along to reflect some incandescent or sunlight back into the shadowed areas. No flash allowed.... Have they also forbidden a bright 3 D cell flashlight as well?
The limitation of ISO 200 or so, along with no flash, in the deep shade of a rain forest will make for very challenging conditions.. Time exposures with a tripod is the usual way to deal with limited ISO and poor lighting. Just very hard to do this with moving creatures.
I have shot in aquaria and butterfly pavillions in available darkness, but usually that is done with f 1.8 lenses and ISO 1600 or so. Hard to make 3-4 stops difference in light gathering capacity with your camera's limitations.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
-mrlassiter
Yep, my S3 is my only camera. Gave my daughter both my SLRs and all the lenses, motor drives, and other stuff. In my "golden years," I'm going light - in that context. Anyway, I was afraid of the limitations you point out. Well, I'll expect the worst, and be happy if I get a few shots. At least I'm not shooting film.
Thanks for the advice. I could always take a trip to Costa Rica. It's easier than getting into San Francisco from here (walk, train, muni, bus, walk).
Btw, I'm always wary of fools, but first you have to spot them.
Ethan
Re fools: Yours is the first response to my sig line!:D
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Well, I just got back from the San Francisco Academy of Science. With the exception of a few butterflies, two fish, and an albino alligator, they were all disappointing - grainy as we knew they would be. But I didn't use the flash and was a good citizen. My reward was that we passed by the San Francisco Botanical Gardens where I took 397 photos, and half of them are good to excellent. Only problem was we didn't have enough time to take pictures of signs, and now I've got weeks of work to discover what they are. Soon to be posted in a new gallery. And we'll make another trip there before summer's out. What a marvelous place it is, and though it's only 28 miles from where we live, SF is a coastal climate and ours is hellishly hot. 45 degree difference is not unusual. Therefore, they have very different flora than we. Maybe fauna, too, but a squirrel is a squirrel is a squirrel as Gertrude Stein would say.
Don't feel bad: I have a photo of a caterpillar on a geranium, and the title is "What's Eating Gilbert Geranium." Not one post. Nada. Zero. Zip. Only my family gets me.