Tuesday 13 May 2014

Whoopsies!

So our Sunday hike had a lot of little adventures and I realized today how much more solid my relationship with Jason is than it was when we first met.

I mean, I know that's how it's supposed to work and everything, but it was still nice to sort of sit and reflect on the fact that when we get out and do things like this, we both enjoy ourselves and I go home, smiling and happy.

One of the things that I will forever remember about this hike is a goof I made, but didn't realize until a few hours in.

See, at some point mid week last week, Jason and I went for another photo taking walk.  When we got back into town we were both hungry so we stopped at a restaurant and had a nice meal.  He was making a phone call while I waited in the car when I saw how cool the light was (just after dusk, neon lights just kicking in) and decided to try to take a picture.  It wasn't working, so Jason suggested I kick up my ISO (the setting of how "fast" your film... or "film" is, you know...100, 200, 400, etc?)  Well, digital SLRs these days can do some ridiculous ISO settings so I cranked it up to 3200 and took a couple of shots of him out in the "dark", marvelling at how I could actually see him as if it weren't 9 o'clock at night.  Cool!

(Do you see where this story might be going?)  (I didn't.)

So this and that happened (another post, I still have to wrap my brain around it) and we got to the "lookout" point and I stopped to relax and found myself wondering how many photos I'd taken.  I tend to take WAAAY too many and then get home and go blah because I have a few hundred photos to sort through, so I wanted to see what the damage was so far.

I looked down at my display and depending on if your camera is on or off this particular part of the display with either show you how many shots you have left on your SD card, or will show you your ISO.

So I looked to see if I'd reached the two hundred mark yet and what I saw there was 3200.

3200?

3200???????

Oh no. 

(said my brain)

Because I suddenly flashed back to the middle of the week and Jason and I fooling around with taking shots in the dark with my camera in the parking lot.

3200.

Awww man!

Jason came back up from exploring the shore and I told him I'd done something kinda stupid.

We both laughed (it wasn't a big deal for me as I already knew I hadn't taken anything I *LURVED* yet and I also wasn't in a place I'd never be able to return to, and so I wasn't upset, just annoyed at myself for being careless) and I mumbled "3200" at various points for the next half an hour or so.

Even more frustratingly, I thought back to our very first point of stopping on the trip when I was amazed at how much light there was coming into the camera and how high I was having to set my settings.  I even asked Jason why there was so much light here!

He told me it was because of all the reflected light from the cliffs and the water and I nodded at his light-wiseness but still kind of wondered why my camera wasn't wanting to be in the ranges I thought it would be.

At no point did I think (duh) to check my ISO setting at this point (double duh.)

So major note to self.  Always check that my camera's settings are where they want to be.  And if things aren't doing what I think they should be?  Check my camera's settings (again!)

Anyway.  I flipped the camera back to 200 ISO at that point and still managed to get a hundred or so shots in after that.  I'd asked Jason what might have "gone wrong" with the shots I'd accidentally taken at 3200 and he said that they would be really grainy.

I downloaded them when I got home and while they look fine "normal" size, when I zoom in, it looks like I made a painting with MS Paint.

So... not going to be keeping any of them I don't think.

So, yeah.  I guess I'm glad I learned that lesson the easy way, no harm, no foul, only a mild self-smack to forehead.

D'oh.

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