Nae B-Day footage (Dust-cloud Silhouettes)
A little random adventure on Naomi’s 30th.
GEAR: Messing around with the Canon T2i ($699/ebay) and Canon’s 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens ($125/ebay) & 50mm f/1.8 ($99/ebay)
During this little adventure I decided to try out the hand-held video performance of my newly acquired Canon T2i and kit lens + a cheap 50mm I picked up on ebay. I quickly realize that the ambient street lighting at night can look pretty decent with the kit lens. With the 18-55mm @ f/3.5 and ISO 1600, the porch lights look awesome on Cody (and we are talking about 23w CFL). The parking lot lighting is beautifully capturing the intensity and complexity of a Douche-Clam-Bro session by Zapper and DatGirl with the 50mm, again @ ISO 1600.Obviously the Technicolor picture style would have helped a lot here, but it wasn’t available to me at the the time of filming so I lost a lot of details in the dark areas. Also, some form of stabilization is desperately needed with this setup. Even a wrist weight or small mono-pod would have greatly improved the shots. Even if your lens does have some IS action built in, be prepared to weigh it down somehow.
That night I also crossed paths with a forgotten love: Dust-cloud Silhouettes (with car headlight edge-lighting). I saw this many years ago at a rave out in the woods and instantly fell in love (and instantly regretted not capturing it). I nearly forgot about how interesting that shot looks until Naomi’s BDay footage accidentally reminded me. Can’t wait to give that look another try in a more controlled situation. I would call it a form of atmospheric perspective. The dust creates such a gritty atmosphere that it just cannot be duplicated by fog machines. Fuck fog machines, let’s get dirty! (Disclaimer: I still love fog machines.)Watch the full video HERE
