Chapter 8 Assignments

Now that we have looked at the possibilities of shooting after dark, it’s time to put it all to the test. These assignments cover the full range of shooting possibilities, both with flash and without. Let’s get started.

How steady are your hands?

It’s important to know just what your limits are in terms of handholding your camera and still getting sharp pictures. This will change depending on the focal length of the lens you are working with. Wider angle lenses are more forgiving than telephoto lenses, so check this out for your longest and shortest lenses. Using an 18–200mm zoom as an example, set your lens to 200mm and then, with the camera set to ISO 100 and the mode set to Tv, start taking pictures with lower and lower shutter speeds. Review each image on the LCD at a zoomed-in magnification to take note of when you start seeing visible camera shake in your images. It will probably be around 1/125 of a second for a 200mm lens.