P365 Aug18: Mini golf party!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was my birthday today! In case the above photos aren't enough explanation, we went and played glow-in-the-dark mini-golf at Puttz! I turned 33 in case you're wondering, and no, I'm not too old for glow-in-the-dark mini-golf :P Who is ever too old for fun? Naturally I had a great time, sinking puts and taking photos. You can see a small gallery of photos taken.

 

**Warning - photographic talk, skip three paragraphs if you're not interested!**

 

For those who follow this blog out of photographic interest, here's a few details about photographing the event. This was one of the most challenging places I've ever tried to shoot! The light levels were incredibly low, and focus was almost impossible. The viewfinder was too dark for manual focus, and autofocus was very spotty and slow. Following and trying to focus on moving players was an extreme challenge. I ended up with about a 70% discard rate.

 

To complicate things further, I wanted to use a remote flash to illuminate the players, so that I'd be able to see my friends' faces, rather than their silhouettes. I was using the Cactus wireless remotes, and reliability was patchy at best. The flash failed to fire about 50% of the time. Also I was asking friends to hold the flash for me, which of course meant that the flash to subject distance varied considerably from shot to shot, and mostly I wasn't able to get the flash exactly where I wanted it. I didn't exactly want to slow things down, or make my friends work at my birthday party.

 

Given all the difficulties, I'm pretty happy over all how the pics came out. I shot excessively, knowing I'd be forced to throw out most photos. In the end, I didn't have to throw out as many as I had feared, and some of the pics capture fun moments, which really was the whole point! 

 

 

After mini golf, more friends joined us for a lovely dinner at Bar Bosh, before we returned to my place for cake, playing Monkey Ball and Wii Sports, and cuppas. Also, coincidentally, that day our ever-variable finances allowed for me to get some upgraded components for my computer, which were installed with some minor problems with the help of friends. My machine now is massively faster, and processing photos is a joy rather than a chore! That'll make writing this blog even more fun :) 

 

 

 

 

All-in-all, I had a wonderful day, and really enjoyed sharing fun with my friends. Thanks to everyone who came or who wished me happy birthday!