New Camera - People

 As a rule, most of my photos are of flora and fauna and food and occasionally, family and friends. Taking pictures of people occurs and I wanted to try out the capabilities of my camera doing just that. So here are my initial assessments of the Canon R7. The user's guide that came with the camera had just the basics on camera operation, and a more extensive manual can be found online.

To start, I have been using the "Automatic" mode of operation. My friend Philine took this photo of me. She said the focal point was on my eyes, one at a time. She took both shots but I have included only one since they were very similar, my big stomach being the true focal point...

We were visiting friends in Satellite Beach. We walked from their house to Long Dogger's on South Patrick Drive. What was interesting about this shot was the sun was very bright behind them. Usually this darkens the faces of the people but the camera seemed smart enough to adjust for this bad lighting. Emy and Gordon look happy and not affected by the bright sun behind them.

Likewise with this photo of Phyllis and Fred. You can see it is even brighter behind them but their faces look good, well lit. I think the camera is smarter than me.

We had seven of us having dinner at Long Dogger's. You can see my leftovers. Philine is on the left, she took the earlier photo of me. That is Ron behind her, my first room-mate in Florida after moving out of my parent's trailer. Other side is Emy, Gordon, Phyllis (look at the camera please) and Fred. The camera did recognize that there were multiple faces and appropriately set the f-stop.

I did not realize that when I bought the camera that it did not have a flash for inside photos. There is a spot to attach a flash. It does not bother me because most of my photos are outside. Regardless, these new cameras can adjust the ISO to extreme numbers, allowing for well lit indoor photos like this one of Ron, Emy and Gordon.

The post was going to be about people photography, but Emy's neighbor cat wanted to be part of the picture taking.

On Saint Patrick's Day I headed down to the party on New Haven Avenue in Melbourne. More people pictures. This was a band of bagpipes and drums playing on the closed street. The camera has a viewfinder which I stick my eye into, but I can also see the image on the screen so I can hold the camera away from my face. The screen is just like most smart phones.

Another inside photo in the darkness of a bar. I did not realize that the bags were filled with beer.

Since this is a mirrorless camera, the viewfinder is not what you see, but an electronic image of what the lens is seeing. I am still learning to get use of that but the framing of a photo is still done the same. Here are some Irish dancers on a stage in the middle of the street.

This girl was really good. Normally I would have taken this with the sun behind me, but although the sun was across from me, the camera adjusted the lighting nicely.

Another inside shot of my friend Jose having a beer. Lots of green all around.

Jose's wife Nancie on the right still works at Ensco. I forget names now that I am over 65 so I am not sure who is on the left.

Another forgotten name, but I see the same group of people every year at the Melbourne St Paddy's Day celebration. Again, we were in a dark bar but the photo is well lit with no flash.

I know the Mad Hatter...he runs excursions and Pub Crawls.

Why do you were red on St Paddy's day? The camera adjusted for the extreme color contrast...

Some of the regulars in front of the Leprechaun outside Meg O'Malley's...

There was plenty of food at the street party but the lines were long so I decided to take a walk down to the Hell n' Blazes Brewery. They had a special lunch menu. What is interesting about this photo is that I was taking the picture of my beer but the camera decided to focus on the bartender. The logo on the glass is unfocused, but the glare from the girl is revealing. Was my camera trying to tell me something. Don't take a photo od someone without asking.

So I asked the other bartender and got this great shot of her with a nice smile and beautiful hat...

The lens has a wide angle capability and this shot of the stage just past Meg O'Malley's captures the afternoon band playing a set. No, that is not Stevie Nicks...

So, my new camera takes pretty great photos of people. I need to be more social...