Penning Photography Daily

It may be a high ISO (ISO 3200) self portrait, but I’m still amazed at both the dynamic range and detail in this portrait.

I walked into my basement from my attached garage, and saw the light pouring through the sliding glass doors.

The small blinds were blocking most of it, but that’s what made it interesting.

This is a fairly accurate view of what my eyes were seeing - meaning it was dark.

I put my Pentax K20D on my trusty gorillapod, and mounted it to a seldom used piece of exercise equipment. The tilt just adds interest.

I did my first test shot at ISO 1600, but thought, hey, let’s show what this fine camera is capable of doing.

I bumped it up to ISO 3200. ISO is a measure of light sensitivity. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light the camera sensor is. One side-effect of increasing the ISO is it increases digital noise - the graininess seen in the shadows especially here.

The K20D does a superb job of handling the noise without reducing the detail, unlike so many other cameras do. When the detail is reduced, the photo takes on a smeared, almost painted-with-a-brush look. A look not usually wanted.

I struck a silly pose, and was pleased at the result. I was even more pleased when I brought it into Lightroom (2 Beta).