Low-light Shooting Tips (at Wonderland Express)

From November 23, 2018 – January 6, 2019 the Chicago Botanic Garden held their "Wonderland Express" show, a series of miniature Chicago area landmarks with trains running thru them, similar to their Model Railroad Garden which goes year-round outside the Regenstein Center. The Wonderland Express was billed as "an annual holiday extravaganza featuring magnificent model trains, magical and glittering indoor snow, and meticulously crafted Chicago landmarks in miniature. Plus, see intricate ice carvings and hear beautiful music from carolers".

Well, I waited until January 2019 to go to the show one day, so I missed the ice carvings and carolers, it being after Christmas and all. But when I went I went prepared with my Sony A7RII, three lenses, and, not least, a monopod with a foot! I knew Now, I assumed I could actually use a tripod, (you can use a tripod anywhere in the Garden except for restricted events like The Orchid Show), but I also knew that on a Thursday when schools were still closed there would be a TON of people there, and I didn't want to be in their way. Besides, I never used the monopod feet before! I was using the Koolehaoda Professional 65-inch Camera Aluminium Monopod with Folding Three Feet Support Stand (k-288), $43 on Amazon. This monopod is supposedly listed for 7Kg, or 15.4 Lbs, and folded up nice and small for carrying in your backpack. It was VERY helpful for low-light shooting, as I was able to use 1/10 of a second shutter speeds that I would never be able to handhold.

Beautiful dioramas of Chicago landmarks were fun to shoot, if challenging in the low light!

After a while I switched to the VERY challenging Lensbaby Composer Pro (with Sweet 80 Optic), and tried to battle both the low light situation and the creative blur brought on by the lens. I tried to get the most blur by shooting with an open aperture, like f/2.8 or f/4. Needless the say the percentage of keepers went way down! Below is one of the better ones!

Finally I went back to my 28-75 f/2.8 Tamron lens (Sony) and got some easier shots!

All-in-all I love a good challenge, and I hope you will enjoy one soon! Makes you a better photographer!