Switching Lenses and Shooting Modes

Today’s Post by Mildred Alpern

I’m back in the saddle again

Out where a friend is a friend—Gene Autry and Ray Whitley

No, not back in the saddle again but having a vicarious thrill shooting the whirling Jane’s Carousel in Brooklyn, NY. The whizzing horses were richly caparisoned, silver and gold gilt no less. With laughing grins and glinting eyes, they spun past as though racing into the wind.

Images of merry-go-rounds evoke childhood memories of scrambling to climb on an up-and-down horse for the musical magic ride. Nix on the oversized chariot.

Here is where shutter speed counts. Usually I shoot in Aperture Priority mode and I did with a 14mm pancake lens on my camera as riders boarded the stationary carousel. Then I switched to a 60mm lens and Shutter Priority mode to freeze the action of the horses as the carousel speeded around. I stepped in close to confront the dashing movement of the powerful steeds. What could be more engaging and nostalgic than capturing their brilliant colors against a distorted skyscraper backdrop.

All of the images were shot with the Olympus EM5-Mark II, the merry-go-round with the Lumix G 14mm. f/2.5 ASPH lens with an exposure of 1/640 sec at f/7.1 and ISO640; the other two images with the Olympus M. Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 with an exposure of 1/250 sec at f/10, -2/3 EV and ISO 400. Here I used the traditional shooting mode of the lens.