32 | OHCC LIVING | MARCH 2024 |
We love to go to museums, and sometimes there are special
showings of things you don't often see. At the Musée d'Orsay in Paris
there was the Van Gogh à Auvers-sur-Oise exhibit, where we got to
see dozens if not hundreds of Van Gogh paintings that we had not
seen before, all with a thousand or so of our closest friends. I took
photos of most of the art works with my digital camera. Most people
were using phones, but I found that my zoom lens worked well for
isolating the works of art in between people's heads and shoulders
and phones held up in the air. Sometimes people would park in front
of a painting and not move, but I could work around them.
Some ideas I have about taking photos at a special exhibit when
there are already tons of people there before you got there. (It was
supposed to be timed entry but it was not being enforced, luckily
for us, because we had not registered.) First of all, be at least six
feet tall, or be agile enough to get around all those heads in the way.
Secondly, know how to work your camera. I'm not just talking about
apertures or shutter speeds, I'm talking about knowing what your
camera can do and what it can't, and how to manipulate the zoom to
frame correctly. My Nikon D7200 does exceptionally well in the poor
light you find in art exhibits. Light is the enemy of paintings, so the
museums tone it down. The newer iPhones do well in low light as
well. My third suggestion is to prepare for when that head gets out of
your way. Frame the shot, keep your finger on the shutter and focus
on the painting, not the head, and as soon as they move fire away,
quickly, before the next head gets in there. Alternatively, you have to
have patience and wait for them to let you in front. We might still be
there had we tried that.
The OHCC photo club is open to all residents. Annual dues are $10.
We meet mostly on the third Thursday of the month at 1 pm in the
Lamia Room. Written by Jim McDonough – jamespmcdonough@
gmail.com – (760) 593-9994
Photography
