P52 Week 5 - Low Light Photography (plus Gymnastics!)

Have you ever had it happen where you're in a situation and think "ooh this would be such a perfect photo" and then regret you're doing something that stops you from being able to capture it?  That would have been the case for this week's picture for the P52, except I happened to hit a red light, and my camera was in my gym bag next to me.

I guess I should back track.  I was driving on my way to gymnastics, heading up Broad St (in Philly) and saw City Hall all lit up.  I pass this every day, especially if I'm driving home from work, or trying to leave the city, but I've never taken pictures at night. (Fun fact, it seems like everyone who gets married in Philly takes pictures standing on the center median of Broad St during the day so they can get pictures in front of City Hal).  Anyway, it looks very cool, especially with the colored lights from surrounding buildings, and I realized this would be perfect for the theme - Low Light Photography.  Only one slight catch - I was in my car.  Driving.  And pulling out a camera, futzing with the dials (since I shoot in manual) and framing a shot just isn't a safe thing while operating a moving vehicle.  Luckily for me, and the photo, the light turned red.  Giving me just enough time to flip the camera on, bump my ISO and go for it.  No time to take a few different shots to get exposure right, I just had the opportunity for the one.  And when I imported it tonight, I loved it.

(Settings - ISO 6400, SS 1/320, F 4.0)

This is another example of why I love my D600 - my old camera would never have handled this well in low light and I never would have been able to get this shot.

So I got a nice photo, however, my night was just beginning.  I headed to my adult gymnastics class, tripod and camera in tow with the hope of getting some cool action shots.  Hopefully soon I'll have some other ones to show you (including a composite image of me tumbling), but here's what I got tonight.  The first 2 were taken by me using the tripod.  The 3rd was hand held.  And the 4th, is actually me!  Taken using the tripod and the self timer set to intervals so I could try and get myself flipping.  I'm hoping to get to play more with this soon.

So here we go.  First up, the Cheerleading tumbling kids (1st is a layout full, 2nd was part of a triple full attempt)

Next up, one of the adults in my class, mid Back Tuck:

And finally, me.  Not my best back tuck, but given I was trying to get the timing right, it worked out pretty well.

I'm definitely looking forward to play more in the gym.  I know I need to work on getting things a little sharper (hard with how fast flipping is), and I wish I had a better backdrop, but I work with what I can :) Does anyone have any tips for action photography when you can't adjust the bad gym lights (or use a flash since that's dangerous)??

Until next time...