My big problem in covering the ‘Big Six Energy Bash‘ protest outside the UK Climate Summit on 3 May was too many unsharp pictures – mainly a bad case of camera shake. You can see it in this picture:
but in many images it was much worse, making them unusable. The picture above was taken at 1/30 f4 with a 16mm lens, and some of the lack of sharpness may be due to subject movement, but most of the ruined images were at faster speeds – 1/50 or 1/60 – and with the 16mm I would normally expect most of them to have been sharp.
Of course in retrospect I should have increased the ISO above the ISO1250 I was working at, but that had served perfectly well for pictures earlier in the event – even when I was photographing people on the move. I just had not realised how dim the light was in the street in front of the hotel where the picture above was taken.
A little movement blur – as on the figure in white at the left above – I always thinks adds a little life to images like this, taken a little earlier around the adjoining side of the hotel.
I think the real difference was not in the light but in what had happened to me. Shortly after taking the second picture I was knocked to the ground as people surged back when police rushed into the crowd of protesters, and just a minute or two before taking the top image I’d been hit full on by a protester bodily thrown in my direction by a police officer, again getting knocked to the ground.
Fortunately I wasn’t injured – just the odd bruise – and nor was my equipment, but I was quite shaken, and I picked myself up, said “Don’t worry, not your fault” to the protester who had landed on me and was apologising profusely and kept on working. Although I felt fine, judging by both the blurred pictures and the number of colleagues who came to ask me if I was ok, I was obviously not quite. The adrenaline rush was keeping me at it when really I should have gone and sat down somewhere quiet for a few minutes to recover. And perhaps have had a cup of tea.
I did get some pictures that were reasonably sharp, although my personal favourite isn’t quite as sharp as I would wish.
Even with a 16mm there are limits to depth of field when working wide open (1/80 f4) and the woman at the front is very close to me, and was walking past, so may show some subject movement. I did a little local brushing to sharpen her eyes (increasing sharpness and clarity) and also increased both contrast and exposure a little.
Other pictures were mainly in better light and I had fewer problems, though getting quite the picture you want in fairly fluid circumstances isn’t easy.
It was a protest with dinosaurs and I did my best to capture some of the rather surreal possibilities. You can see more of the pictures I took in UK Energy Summit – Big 6 Bash on My London Diary.
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
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