For my next self-appointed assignment with my new Nikon D3200 camera I decided to give taking pictures at an evening event a go! I wanted to take pictures in a darker environment of both people and of interesting objects and when I was invited to a local children’s museum for the launch of their latest exhibition I knew it would be the right scene for the pictures I wanted to capture. I knew there would be lots of people, it would be dimly lit and also plenty of interesting items on display that I could capture in hopefully an artistic and unusual way.

I’m still on the automatic mode I have to say and I’m beginning to realise that just because it’s automatic does not mean my photos will be perfect and that I still have to use lots of thought in order to get the sort of photographs I am wanting to create. I have a long way to go and feel there might be quite a few more projects using the automatic function while I get to grips with the camera. Not that it’s too difficult to work out, it’s actually really user-friendly (or so I’ve found so far) but the quality of the pictures is so good that you just can’t afford to lop the top of someone’s head off for example!

I had lots to contend with, camera round my neck, two children on the loose and a cocktail in hand (well, it would have been rude not to)! I needed to capture some interesting people shots and something interesting too. It was dark, there was lots of chatter and obviously I had to keep an eye on what the children were doing, it’s a good job I had the automatic mode firmly chosen!!

Funny faces!

What I wanted to do with this trio of photographs was to capture Florence, who was pulling all these funny faces, and show that she was just sat in the middle of the party, having a bit of fun on her own while all the adults partied around her. She was having great fun sat at a table enjoying an alcoholic free cocktail and I think, just enjoying people watching while livening it up a bit by pulling funny faces which she started to do when she saw I was snapping away. The camera is super light, looks are quite deceiving, and it’s really easy to pick up, hold and take pictures with. Despite having to concentrate on other things, lifting the camera from the strap around my neck and taking a quick succession of photographs like this was really easy to do and not at all hindering!

I am actually really pleased with these three because I think it really shows the movement going on around her. I’m obviously a bit of a novice but for me, I’m pleased with these!

I found my next part of the project more difficult. I quickly found what I wanted to photograph but I just couldn’t get the picture right. In the stairwell, looking up, they had planets and other things hanging down like mobiles and I thought it would be great to take a picture from lying on the floor and looking up. I put my cocktail down on the floor, realised I looked like a nutter but didn’t care and lay down while I tried and failed to take the picture I wanted…

The first two were AWFUL! 

These were just not what I saw in my mind when I looked at the scene and pointed the camera. It proves that just because it’s an automatic camera you do still have to be creative… What I did find helpful was the fact that as soon as you press the button it takes the image. The mobiles were constantly moving and I wanted to catch one star at a particular angle. With my little camera I would never have been able to do this without a lot of guess work when pressing the button. I knew with this camera that it would take the picture when I wanted it to.

From a different angle but no better!

I tried laying in a different position but still the photograph wasn’t interesting in the slightest and I was starting to lose a bit of interest in the subject I had initially thought would be an excellent choice for my ‘object’ piece.

Then I realised that as well as the mobiles hanging in the stairwell there was also something really interesting on the wall and perhaps with that in the frame too, my picture might not be so boring and the thing I had initially seen for something interesting, might translate as so in the picture. So, I sat on the floor instead of laying down and took the picture from a half looking up but not directly pointing at the ceiling and caught the 3D artwork on the wall too.

The final picture!

Finally something that I was pleased with. Not the original shot I had envisaged but taking elements from my initial idea I think this one hasn’t worked out too badly at all. The camera takes such clear pictures and the colours are EXACTLY as they are in real life. I’m pleased with this, what do you think?

Next time I’m going to use my camera to try to take some interesting and different family portraits… Not just snaps, this camera takes excellent quality pictures so I would like some really good pictures of all of us but not in a traditional way… I’ll get my thinking cap on! I’m even going to try to take a picture of all of us together by setting it up to take one on a timer…

Well… I’d better get practicing for my next post!

I have not been paid to write this post.