Slight underexposure in available
light images is sometimes good in order to give such photos the mood that they were
photographed in. The first two photos (below) were deliberately shot by 2/3 underexposures
to enhance the darker surroundings.
The final two (lower sets, above) were slightly different in the sense that the first one was photographed by underexposing it by half-a-stop while the second was shot correctly. From these differences in the exposures, I was able to create a feeling that the first photo was shot in a dimmer overall lighting than it actually was and the second image showed the actual scene of the lighting condition. The majority of the photos shown so far are of available light images photographed indoors. How is the lens' performance during available light conditions outdoors? The four photos shown below may indicate that the lighting condition was still bright but that was not the case in reality since the film used was an ISO 100 speed type, hence the shutter speeds usable had ranged from as fast as 1/125 sec down to 1/15 sec - based on the maximum aperture of f/1.4 of the lens. The photo of the man sitting in the extreme left corner of his clothes stall was not shot indoors but alongside a busy street. His stall was partly covered (not shown in photo) by awnings that shielded him from the sun or bad weather. The slight overall bluish cast in the next photo of another stall-holder and her customer was due to the dimmer evening light. This was shot at 1/30 sec. at f/1.4.
The photo above (lower left), was also shot underneath a "shade" that was caused by huge pillars that support one of Kuala Lumpur's Light Rail Transport (LRT) services. The passing bus added to the overall darkness of the photo. The motion created by the bus will give you an idea of how slow the shutter speed was. Finally, as with any wide-angle lenses, the EF 24mm f/1.4L USM wide-angle lens provides plenty of perspective distortion for creativity, as can be seen in the photo of the guy (foreground) heavily engrossed in his reading and the smaller background view that looks even further away than it was in reality. Ask yourself this question first: Do you really need to invest in the EF 24mm f/1.4L USM lens? Given that Canon already has the wondeful EF 17-35mm f/2.8L USM zoom lens in its EF line-up, which adequately covers all the focal lengths in super-wide and wide-angle photography that you will ever need, the EF 24mm f/1.4L USM is to be seriously considered only if you are a keen follower of single focal length lenses than zooms. Also to be considered if you really need the large maximum f/1.4 aperture of this wide-angle lens for use in both available and low light shooting. Text and photos by Philip Chong. Copyright 2001 by Canon Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd << Back to Main . 1 . 2 . 3 . |
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