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Mitt Romney in Rockford, Illinois (Machine Shed Restaurant)

My family and I decided to attend an event Mitt Romney was hosting in Rockford, Illinois at the Machine Shed Restaurant. I took my camera along and tried to get a few decent photographs. This isn’t a political blog, (edit) though I consider myself someone who is not fond of the 2-party system and not especially fond of either party’s policies. I’d like to see a lot more cooperation and understanding between people.

My photo results were not that positive, but it’s good to get some practice in a situation like this regardless of the result.

I shoot with fixed focal length lenses most of the time, which makes things like this a big challenge. For this event I brought along the Pentax K-5 and 31mm f1.8 lens. Inside the restaurant it was dark with strong light flooding in through the windows. Without the use of flash, there isn’t a set way to counteract the large difference in light intensity. In addition to the difference, there is the issue of lens flare, which the 31mm suffers quite a bit from.

This issue of a dark interior and strong white light coming from the walls also causes problems for auto-focus.

Settings wise, I should have emphasized on higher shutter speeds and also should have used selectable point auto-focus, or even manual focus (many of the indoor shots were not on the intended focal point). The lens I decided to use was probably not the best choice, I probably should have gone with the 14mm lens instead of the 31mm. I would have preferred a fast zoom lens like the DA* 50-135mm f2.8, but I don’t have one.

I faired much better outside with crowd photos. I think those turned out nicely.

Photography is a never ending learning process, which is part of the fun.