Cabin fever anyone?

[another view]

I looked around for an event to photograph and found an Indian Pow Wow in Milwaukee today. Never been to one before but figured that with all of the colors it should be pretty productive photographically. I shot these with the Fuji S2 and Nikon 85 f1.4, ISO 800. Really getting to like that lens.

I did shoot jpegs and wish I would have done a custom white balance due to the metal halide lighting in the room. Did a little photoshop to get rid of the green cast, but it helps to get it right in the camera. RAW files would help here but I shot alot of frames to work with motion blur with flash, and didn't want to deal with that many large files.

Anyway, their main event is outside in September, I'll have to check that out too.

[Charles Hess]

Good job with the color correction, as the colors look really good. Nice variety with these...your set would make a good photo essay on this tribe or Native Americans in general.

[I_Fly]

I agree with Charles, the colors look good on my monitor. I really like the results of the motion blur. I think you got it just right to convey the feeling of the dance.

Just curious, do you know what tribe this was?

[another view]

I'm not sure what tribe this was - from where I was standing it was a little hard to hear what was going on. I was standing to the side near the end and was facing the side of the speakers. From shooting other events, sometimes your odds are better to stay in one fairly well chosen place with a clear line of sight than to try to find a better one. That one spot is where I shot most that day - 2 out of 3 here.

I'm happy with the color correction, it's not much more than hue adjustment actually. I also de-saturated the colors a little, especially reds in the last one. This surprised me because I shot in "STD" color mode which is middle of the road, like Provia.

Thanks for the comments.

[I_Fly]

Ah just curious. Technically I belong to a Cherokee tribe. Got several ancestors that were full blooded Cherokees and had enough documentation to be able to join. I just don't have the time to be active. Too many other irons in the fire.

How do you like your S2? I've got a friend, a Nikon shooter, that is trying to decide between the S2, S3 and the D100. I'm not much help to him since I'm a Canon shooter.

I can understand your staying in a well chosen place. I try to do the same when shooting at airshow/avation events.

[another view]

Ah just curious. Technically I belong to a Cherokee tribe. Got several ancestors that were full blooded Cherokees and had enough documentation to be able to join. I just don't have the time to be active. Too many other irons in the fire.

How do you like your S2? I've got a friend, a Nikon shooter, that is trying to decide between the S2, S3 and the D100. I'm not much help to him since I'm a Canon shooter.

I can understand your staying in a well chosen place. I try to do the same when shooting at airshow/avation events.

Here's the event website: http://www.indiansummer.org The Winter Pow Wow that I went to is listed under their other events although they don't say much about it there.

I love the S2 - had it since August '03. I've made a few big prints - up to 24x36 with some Photoshop work. Primarily I shoot the interpolated 12mb jpegs, only tried RAW a couple of times. I can't really comment on their conversion software, but it seems like Nikon has an edge here. The jpegs usually look pretty good right out of the camera, especially skin tones. I don't think they've announced much about the S3 except that it will cost more than the S2 and have a sensor that handles contrast better (not too much problem with the S2 - it's like shooting chrome). It will still be built on the N80 like all of the ones you mention, but the S3 will have a vertical release. It also uses Nikon DX flashes which I don't think is necessarily a big deal (still far from perfect). When I shoot with flash, I use "A" mode for more consistency. If I had to replace it, I guess I'd try to wait to see what the S3 will cost and how soon it's available. At that point the S2 will probably come down in price, too. Not sure about the D100 - seems like they will have a replacement for it at some point fairly soon.