St. Kilda, Melbourne

A couple of days ago I posted a photo taken in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, and it prompted me to highlight some of the issues that arise with the smaller sensors on compact digital cameras.  Not wanting to talk exclusively about the limitations of compact cameras, I thought I should post another photograph from that same trip, using the same camera – an image I am very happy with.

I tended to photograph things in automatic mode back when I was using my Fuji Finepix s5000, though it was around that time that I took the Beginners Digital Photography course in Dublin Camera Club, a course which would prompt me to take more photographs and ultimately join and become an active member of the camera club.  So I had an interest in learning more about exposure, focus, metering and all those things.  But I’m pretty sure when I took this photographs of the harbour at St. Kilda, just outside Melbourne, that I had the camera in automatic mode.

One of the risks about understanding the technicalities of photography is the prospect of over-complicating things.  A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.  And if I was to stand in front of this scene today with my SLR camera and my knowledge of all its controls, I might well ruin the photograph by putting too much emphasis on exposure compensation to get the sky right, or where to place the focus point, or what white balance to use.  And I might end up with a shot that does not reflect the view in front of me, satisfying myself instead that “well, at least I got the sky looking moody”.

When I actually stood on the jetty that juts out alongside these boats, I was ignorant about a lot of these details of photography, and instead trusted that this camera on which I had spent a few hundred euro would know more about what to do than I did.

I do take credit for the composition, and the timing. It was that boat in the foreground that caught my eye, and the light shining on it that prompted me to take the shot at that moment, and I still think that boat makes the shot.

In terms of exposure and focus, the camera did its thing and in this case did so with good results.  Admittedly the day being overcast probably helped as it meant it was possible to get a good range of shadow and highlight detail throughout the image in a single exposure.   And I did post process the image to enhance some of the contrast, tone down the colours, and cool down the colour temperature slightly.  But the camera still gets the credit for the technicalities of the shot.

Much like the previous post, it goes to show that there’s no harm in trusting your camera every now and then to know more than you do, and if you find that the technical aspects of photography begin to deter you from taking photos, there’s alot to be said for putting your camera on automatic mode and seeing what happens.

Speaking of the technical aspects, for those that are interested the details for this shot were as follows:  f/4 @ 1/2000s, ISO 200, Fuji Finepix s5000 fixed lens at 10.7mm.  Where they usually appear on the photo would obscure the main point of interest in the shot – that boat in the foreground – so I thought it best to just put them here instead.