|
|
|
Snap Shots: by Harry Flashman
|
|
Help me! It’s Songkran again!
I am not looking forward to Songkran. In fact, I dislike Songkran. If it were
one day it would be fun, but days of being soaked, is not. However, there is no
getting away from the fact that Songkran is a festival you should photograph -
even if it is only once! I will also admit that the first time I experienced
this annual water throwing event, I too thought it was fun.
By the way, despite what you may be told, this is not a uniquely ‘Thai’
festival, but one that is celebrated in many countries in SE Asia, hence those
who would like to flee must go further than the immediate neighboring countries!
As a visual spectacle it is definitely worth recording for posterity, but this
should not be done at the expense of your camera equipment. As mentioned, this
is a water festival, and cameras and thrown water (and powder and ice) do not
mix. (For that matter, water throwing and alcohol do not mix either, which is
just one of the reasons for the horrendous death toll.)
Since great volumes of water will be thrown (despite the fact that Thailand is
always in the throes of a drought) this does offer some great photo
opportunities, but unfortunately also presents some great opportunities to
permanently damage your expensive camera gear.
There are several ways around this problem. The first is to go all out and buy a
Nikonos underwater camera at the cost of many thousands of baht. This is a
wonderful underwater camera but for this instance - totally impractical, unless
you want to stand at the side of the road in a full wet-suit!
The second way is to purchase a fancy plastic underwater housing for your own
camera. Now these can range in price, depending on complexity. Built like a
perspex box to house your camera, you can operate all the adjustments from the
outside. These are not cheap either, and the cheapest in the range is literally
a plastic bag with a waterproof opening and a clear plastic section for the
lens. You open it up and literally drop your camera inside it and seal the bag.
These can be purchased from major photographic outlets and I did spot one in a
photo shop for B. 750.
A third way is a waterproof disposable (yes, they do make them). Good for about
three meters, so perfectly suitable for splashing water. If you can’t get one of
those, then even the ordinary cheap disposables are a better option than getting
your good camera gear doused. I must admit to having dropped one of these
overboard one day and the boatman jumped in and rescued it. It survived the dip
and the final pictures were fine. But neither I, nor the manufacturer, recommend
this!
So now let’s get down to some serious photo techniques to get that magic
Songkran shot. Since you are trying to capture the movement of the water, a slow
shutter speed will help. Hand-held you are probably not going to get down below
1/30th, but you could try some at 1/15th, it’s not impossible, especially if you
are using a wide-angle lens.
However, since you are trying to get far enough away to keep the camera dry, you
may be forced to use the longer lenses which means you cannot hand-hold at even
1/30th. The answer here is to find a good vantage point, some distance from the
action, and use a tripod.
If you are going down this route, then the best vantage point is a high one.
First floor balconies get you high enough to escape the water, but not too high
that you cannot get into the activity with a 150 mm lens or longer. Since you
will be using a tripod, I would even set the shutter speed slower than 1/30th,
and a few ‘experimental’ shots at 1/8th or even 1/4 of a second are worth
trying. Remember that some ‘blurring’ denotes motion, and at Songkran there is
plenty of activity.
Finally, you can always cheat by photographing through the windscreen of the
car, as I did with this week’s photo! “Chok di bi mai! May your camera stay
dry!”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|