<<< o >>>pig palace 18 comments + add yours
chromasia.com

We took the kids out this evening to see the Illuminations which, for those of you who aren't familiar with them, stretch for about five miles along Blackpool's sea-front. From the North Pier upwards, in addition to the various displays above the road, there are numerous tableau (children's TV characters, Alice in Wonderland, a boat-full of pirates, and so on) including this one – the Pig Palace (whatever that might be). I don't think this is a particularly great photograph, but it was shot at night, from a moving car, in the rain, at f1.8, at ISO 400 – so I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out.

capture date
camera
lens
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
white balance
cropped?
8.31pm on 1/10/04
Canon 20D
EF 50mm f/1.8 II
f1.8
1/125
aperture priority
+0.0
evaluative
400
no
RAW
auto
minor
 
3x2 + fylde coast + night shots
comment by Garth at 10:16 PM (GMT) on 1 October, 2004

So you are saying that this was a "drive-by shooting"

I couldn't resist.

So glad it is Friday.

comment by Jessyel Ty Gonzalez at 10:25 PM (GMT) on 1 October, 2004

Hey, they had a similar pig light display here at the Denver Zoo during Christmas time. Very cool!

comment by brenda at 12:21 AM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

I love it...so cheerful. And a great capture.

comment by Turfdigger at 12:31 AM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

Absolutely surreal subject matter and a superb shot! In the rain??
Brilliant color and detail for the circumstances...

I MUST get this lens - Dave over at east3rd swears by his.
I'm sure that new 20D helps a bit also:-)

comment by djn1 at 12:38 AM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

Turfdigger: I really like this lens, especially in low light, though I initially bought it as a portrait lens (i.e. the 1.6 multiplier of the 20D makes it an 80mm). It doesn't have quite as wide an aperture as the f1.4, nor USM, nor full-time manual focus, but it's a third the price and is razor sharp, even at f1.8. For the price I really don't think you can go wrong.

And yes, the 20D does help :-)

comment by Alec Long at 01:56 AM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

First reaction: Wow! Great shot!

Second reaction: Gotta read the explanation.

Third reaction: That...bastard. How does he get such clean shots from a moving car? In the rain? At 1.8?

Dave, this one's really cool. Great framing, even if the clarity isn't all there. The colors, as per your usual, are outstanding.

(muttering) rassafrassa riggin romasia... ;)

comment by Seth Thomas Rasmussen at 04:42 AM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

That is disturbing and wonderful.

P.S. The tab index order of the fields in this comment form are completely out of wack. Tabbing from the comment box, the first field on the page, sends you to the beginning of the list of links at the top...

It appears as if your template probably was programmed to go name->email->url->comment but that you moved the comment box around without changing the tab index? I dunno.

Just FYI...

comment by tiffany at 06:24 AM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

This is very, very weird. :-)

comment by miklos at 07:52 AM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

Dave: See what I mean? This relates back to my doggy doo comment. Honestly, I don't like this too much.. It doesn't look like it's raining (those people are just too calm to be standing there in the rain).. Were you driving the car and taking this picture? If yes, then it must be rotated a bit, unless you have a water level built into your hand or something to get this so perfectly horizontal.. Also, those pigs dancing around would freak me out. Especially in the dark. They look very fake and kind of psychotic.. I suppose that's what I don't like.. the overall fakeness feel that I get with this. I'll give you credit for the clarity and the colours though. Nice camera.. My f828 is far too noisy in these lighting situations.. 1/125?? forget it.

comment by djn1 at 09:28 AM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

I'll comment later, but:

Seth: I've fixed it.

miklos: it was only raining a bit, the pigs are a static display, I wasn't driving, and the car was moving very slowly at this point ;-)

comment by John Washington at 12:17 PM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

I love the mood of this shot, The contrast between the excitement of the display and the passive look of the few people.

Great.

comment by Ged at 04:31 PM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

that's a good shot!

comment by Seth Thomas Rasmussen at 09:12 PM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

Cool, David! Thanks!

(After URL it goes to the top now... ;) I'm not trying to be a nag, honest, just trying to help...)

comment by djn1 at 09:17 PM (GMT) on 2 October, 2004

Seth: ok, thanks, but I'm a bit stuck now. Where *should* it go next and how do I achieve it?

comment by djn1 at 12:05 AM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

Thanks everyone.

comment by wookiee at 04:38 PM (GMT) on 4 October, 2004

I suddenly must eat barbeque.

comment by Marc at 04:46 AM (GMT) on 6 October, 2004

I really enjoy this shot. The clarity, color, contrast and framing are all excellent. Not to mention the subject matter is really great and offers a lot of activity. Impressive shot considering the conditions, too.

comment by Eve at 01:20 PM (GMT) on 6 October, 2004

Umm . . really gets my appetite going, my tastebuds are calling for bacon!